Orion's 8th birthday

My firstborn is eight years old! Wow! He is getting SO big and is learning and growing so much. He is such a special kid and we are lucky to have him.

What he's up to and into:

-Orion has always loved and continues to love video games and all things technology related. Right now he's most into playing a racing game we recently bought. On TV he loves watching video game playthroughs and other video game shows.
-He continues to excel at reading and is doing well in all of his school subjects. He is able to do most of his school work himself. He's learning cursive right now and I'm very impressed!
-Orion really loves Hazel and is helpful in keeping her out of trouble. He loves to give her kisses.
-All of the kids have continued with Tae Kwon Do, and Orion has his orange belt. Sometimes he talks about playing soccer, but we haven't done so in a long time!
-Orion reads all the time. His favorites are nonfiction (cars, science) and comic books (Calvin and Hobbes, Captain Underpants). He almost always brings a book to the table when he eats, except at dinner when he's not allowed. We've actually banned books from his bedroom because he used to wake up all hours of the night and read by nightlight!
-He randomly gives me hugs and kisses or winks at me from across a room. I love it.
-Orion got to play Pope Leo X in our church's Reformation Day (500th anniversary) Play.
-He loves to whistle and sing and listen to loud music.

Orion has been very into Minecraft lately, so we went with that theme for his party! We were lucky enough to have both sets of his grandparents here to celebrate with us!

The day before his birthday, we drove to Columbus to visit Allie (Nathan's sister), Joran, and Josiah. We had a super nice visit with them, and we were even treated to donuts to celebrate the birthday boys- Joran and Orion share a birthday :)

On the day of his birthday, we had a couple of Orion and Desy's friends over to spend the afternoon and play at our house. They had a great time!

Our birthday interview (done a couple months late):

What's your name? Orion
What day is your birthday? November 19th
How old are you? 8
What's your favorite color? Blue
Favorite number?10,000
Favorite letter? Z
Favorite shape? Circle
Favorite food? I would say French fries and chicken nuggets because it's really good
Favorite candy? Warheads chewy cubes
Favorite game? Forza Horizon 2
Favorite movie? Stay Wars
Favorite TV show? Video game videos
Favorite book: I'd say Calvin and Hobbes
What do you want to be when you grow up? A movie artist
What is your Daddy's job? Working at the Salvation Army office
What is Mama's job? To watch us. 
Favorite place to go? The Farmersville pool
Favorite restaurant? I like McDonald's because it sells that Coke Zero
Favorite animal? I'd say a Tiger
Do have brothers or sisters? Yes
Any pets? Two. Yes.
Favorite song? Vincent
Favorite ice cream flavor? Salted caramel truffle
Who is your best friend? Kylie Vaughn
Favorite cereal? Reece's Puffs
Favorite thing to do outside? Use my helicopter
Favorite drink? Coke Zero
What toys do you like to take to bed with you? Anything, I don't care.
What's your favorite holiday? Halloween
What are you good at? Racing video games
Who is the coolest person ever? Jesus
Favorite toy? The Switch
What makes you happy? Playing Forza
What makes you sad? I don't really feel good when everyone ignores me
What are you scared of? Tornados
What's your super power? Fast running

Orion's 5th Birthday

Holy moly, we have a five year old.

Our first baby turned FIVE yesterday!! Can you believe it has been five years since:

Honestly, it feels like Orion has been with us forever. It is certainly weird to me that I have a five year old child, but weirder to try to imagine my life without him. Orion has been a HUGE part of my life these past five (or honestly, closer to six) years. I can't describe how much I love him.

Orion is my analytical child. He is extremely literal, and until very recently would get super frustrated/mad when people imagined things were something else (NO! THAT BOOK IS NOT A CAKE!!!). We're so thankful Desy is soooo opposite him in most ways and that they are so close together in age, because Des has truly taught Orion the art of make-believe. Now the two of them are constantly pretending to be superheroes/ninja turtles/doctors/what-have-you.

Orion often comes across as serious, and doesn't always show on his face what's going on in his head. I posted on facebook yesterday that I live for his blunt, stoic "I love you"s. Then again, he can make the BEST facial expressions and without a doubt loves to have fun and be crazy with his friends!

Orion's favorite kinds of play are generally more active, like tag, chasing, kicking a ball, wrestling, jumping/tumbling, etc. He also likes some board games and building toys. His dearest love is definitely digital media, and he is a total whiz with technology. He can play NES, Playstation 3, X-Box 360, gameboy, any tablet or phone, or anything else he can get his hands on. We really limit his game time (he generally plays something once or twice a week these days) because it's all he would ever do if he had a choice and it can negatively affect his attitude, but he just loves it. Same goes with TV. If it's a screen, he loves it. I'm really OK with that... I love that he totally understands tech and can figure out how to do anything. I'm also glad we've figured out the media/attitude link and can adjust consumption as needed :)

Orion loves music! Above you can see him (behind the manger) singing in the kids' Christmas musical at church. He did great with the motions and sang every word (loudly.). He likes to listen to Switchfoot and Sanctus Real in the car, and Disney music on Spotify at home. He also sings a lot on his own :)

We knew Orion liked babies before Cecelia was born, but we weren't sure how he would react to having a baby at home. The first week or two he watched from afar, but since then he has been a huge help and SO sweet with her. Like... really, really sweet. Is it too much to hope that they'll be this loving when they're older??

Orion is an amazing reader. He can read pretty much anything now. Sometimes he'll just grab a pile of books and look at/read them for a long time. When we go to the library, Desy plays with his friends and Orion reads. Sometimes I forget that his reading ability is unusual, but then he'll read some complicated word in front of someone who doesn't know him well and they get this look of shock... haha! Obviously he is challenged by other skills/subjects, but I love that he's a great reader :)

I wonder what the future holds for this smart, bossy, sweet, bullheaded, loving, loud, precocious, clever, tenacious, talkative, intense, fun little boy. I'm so very glad he's mine.

Here's the yearly interview! Some things are accurate, others I don't know what he was thinking. It does NOT seem like a year since his last interview. I got "coolest person" and "makes me happy" this year, so I call it a success :)

What's your name? Orion
What day is your birthday? November 19th
How old are you? 5 years
What's your favorite color? Red and blue
Favorite number?100
Favorite letter? Q
Favorite shape? Triangle
Favorite food? Birthday cakes, peanut butter and jelly
Favorite candy? Jolly Rancher (he had probably his first one today)
Favorite game? Kinect Adventures
Favorite movie? League of Incredible Vegetables
Favorite TV show? Team Umizoomie
Favorite book: The Sleep Book (I can't even remember the last time we read this)
What do you want to be when you grow up? A firefighter
What is your Daddy's job? Working in church
What is Mama's job? Taking care of Cecelia
Favorite place to go? The park
Favorite restaurant? McDonald's
Favorite animal? Zebra
Do have brothers or sisters? Desy and Cecelia
Any pets? Bill, mouses
Favorite song? Everything is Awesome
Favorite ice cream flavor? Vanilla
Who is your best friend? Waverlynn
Favorite cereal? Reece's Puffs
Favorite thing to do outside? Slide on my slide
Favorite drink? Chocolate milk
What toys do you like to take to bed with you? Scout my doll
What's your favorite holiday? Halloween
What are you good at? Doing tricks
Who is the coolest person ever? Mama!
Favorite toy? My bear (tells the Christmas story)
What makes you happy? Mama
What makes you sad? Getting booboos with bleeding
What are you scared of? Ghosts
What's your super power? Running

Preschool at home

Orion is turning five soon, and though he isn't old enough to start Kindergarten until next year, we felt that he should do some kind of structured learning this year... mostly because he kept asking for it! Desmond needs to start learning his letters and numbers, so I (via a recommendation from a friend) found a curriculum that they can both use! It's called ABC Jesus Loves Me and is totally free! Weekly lesson plans are available for ages 2-5.

We have been having fun so far! We are five weeks in. The boys ask to do school most days, so I call that success. We usually do school three days a week, but we're flexible. This week we are only doing two days (we used one day to celebrate the first day of fall at Windmill Farm). The length of the day varies, but I think we usually run about half an hour or so.

Because I'm using the same curriculum series but teaching two different ages, I chose to mainly use the three year olds curriculum and supplement with material from the five year olds where it fits in. Combining the two is definitely more time intensive than just planning for one would be, but the actual teaching is easy because they do the same things for the most part.

The ABCJLM curriculum is really good at using/teaching a wide range of skills and learning styles. They encourage the use of tactile numbers and letters (my homemade version above) and provide activity ideas for gross and fine motor skills, music, etc.

Although the website certainly provides a lot of ideas, I have supplemented with ideas from Pinterest and other websites when I feel the need for something different/more. I like the flexibility.

If I can stay organized with planning, I think we will have a successful school year! Orion and Desy are already learning a lot; they can both sing along to the song we listen to listing the books of the Bible! I'm so glad the boys are loving it so far :)

Oh brother

 

Today at bedtime we had our nightly battle trying to get Desmond to let us brush his teeth, asking if he wants Mama or Daddy to help him, if he wants a turn first, etc. He kind of laughed and said "Orion." ...yeah, he wanted Orion to help him brush his teeth. He knew it was funny, but he was also totally serious. So we asked Orion to come brush Desy's teeth and he nonchalantly said, "ok," and went at it. It was so funny and cute we just had to take a picture. 

Desy LOVES his brother and asks for him all the time if he's not around for some reason ("I meed my Owion..."). Orion, on the other hand... he certainly loves his brother, but he also can't wait to get rid of him sometimes.

 We let the boys watch movies/videos in their room sometimes when we have friends over to play board games, and the last couple times Nathan has set them up in the top bunk of their bed under the canopy. They looked like they were hanging out in a cool fort.

This pic is from a month or two ago when we got our first snow of the year. The boys were so excited to see the dusting of white.

We totally have a case of "monkey see, monkey do" with Des. He wants to do everything Orion does, and have everything Orion has. It's really pretty funny if they're walking one after another, if Orion touches something as he walks by, Desy will touch it too. Orion had better be a good role-model! 

My boys may fight a lot (as most siblings do), but I am so, SO glad they have each other. They teach each other so much, balance each others' personalities, and are built-in friends to one another. They are so different, but brothers are brothers. I'm curious to see how their relationship evolves as they grow up, and I really hope they become good friends for life.

What am I up to?

Oh, I'm just sharing a giant bowl of ice cream with this cheesy little boy. And what are you up to?

December Days

-I stole an idea from Pinterest and threw the boys in a box with some markers and let them go at it. Later I gave Des a separate box because it was a tight fit. It didn't entertain them for as long as I expected, but they did have fun!

-I've felt the first little kicks from Baby the last couple days! I thought I may have possibly felt movement earlier in the week, but now it's distinctive tiny kicks. Feeling the baby move is my favorite part of pregnancy, so I'm very excited. 16 weeks today!

-We got a big snowfall this weekend, and the boys were so excited to play in it! They had a ton of fun. Des got cold and wanted to go inside, but Orion stayed out with Nathan for a long time, and then went back out with Larry later. He could stay out there all day!

-We're hoping to get our Christmas tree today (or at least soon)! We have all our other decorating done, but I'm anxious to have a tree! Pretty sure Des is going to throw ornaments all over the house. We have almost all of our Christmas shopping done, and everything we have (that's not still being shipped) is wrapped! We love Christmas shopping and wrapping, so it'll be fun to watch everyone open their gifts :) Do you think the snow will stick around for Christmas?

The Silver Screen

This week we took the boys to see the new Disney movie, Frozen, for Desy's first movie theater experience. The boys did great, especially because the theater provided booster seats. They only got restless the last ten minutes or so, and we just let them stand up and walk a little bit down the row because the theater was pretty empty. The movie was really enjoyable- I was worried the boys might be afraid of the big snow monster, but they were ok. Orion really liked the snowman :) We tried to take a selfie picture of all of us, but it was not a pretty site... this one would be better if Desmond's eyes weren't closed ;) Nathan even treated the boys to McDonald's after the show, which just made the day extra special for them.

 

Apparently I didn't post about Orion's first movie theater outing on here, so let's flash back! I took Orion on a date to see Planes in August while Des napped and Nathan worked on school at home. O had to sit on my lap the whole time because the seat tried to eat him, but he did great anyway and watched the whole movie. We shared an orange pop which just thrilled him. We ended up getting Orion the Planes DVD on his birthday, the day it was released :)

It's really fun that they boys are old enough to go to the theater and enjoy movies with us! Of course, we only go on $5 Tuesdays or to the cheap theater or else we'd go broke ;)

Orion's 4th Birthday Party

  

 We had Orion's birthday party the weekend after Thanksgiving because his aunts were in town! Orion wanted a tractor cake, so we went with sort of a farm/tractor theme. OK, so we had the cake and tractor plates and Orion wore a flannel shirt... not so very themey.

 Orion loved his cake- it turned out really cute, and it was so easy!

Singing to the birthday boy (on chairs, of course).

Blowing out the candles!

Mmm, cake :) Vanilla: Orion's favorite.

Our family :)

Look at that pile of gifts! Orion looks so blank... I promise he was excited!

 

 Opening his Peter Pan toys. This boy loves Peter Pan!

 

The marble race from Mama and Daddy was a big hit!

At the park with cousin Alyssa.

Awww :) What a fun day!