Sunday, September 22, 2019

Matthew and Kayla are 8.5 Years Old!



Matthew:

- Loves volleyball.  He was able to assist Auntie Candice at a tournament in the spring (he loved retrieving their balls during warm up!) and has become obsessed with volleyball since.  His favourite hoodie is his "Force" hoodie (the team Auntie Candice coached) and his favourite colours are now red and black (the Force team colours).
- Loves soup
- Has just finished the first "Wings of Fire" book and has excitedly moved on to the second.
- Is good at running, but not really athletic otherwise.  He has great enthusiasm for sports, but lacks the competitiveness/aggressiveness.
- Enjoys building with Lego and coming up with his own creations.
- Loves watching reality competition shows like Big Brother and Survivor.  His understanding of the strategy behind the games/shows is unreal.  He remembers more than I do!
- Has messy printing
- Is not shy when showing affection.
- Is good at doing tangrams and other visual logic puzzles.
- Is good at doing mental math.
- Is good at playing with younger kids.
- Wants to be a science teacher when he is older.
- Weighs 54.4 lb and is 51 1/4" tall.  Definitely not big for his age, but is definitely not the smallest in his grade; he's probably in the middle of the pack.

Kayla:
- Enjoys playing basketball, but doesn't like to admit it.  She is signed up for her second year with the Athelite league.
- Favourite foods are BLTs and quesadillas.
- She doesn't care for chocolate chip cookies; they are too sweet for her.  Same with chocolate in general.  She would much rather have an oatmeal raisin cookie.
- Loves to read.  She quickly read the first two Harry Potter books and is patiently waited to be gifted the third.  Her favourite books to read are fantasy books: ones with animals with magic powers are the best.
- Has neat printing
- Is very reserved and is not affectionate.
- Is typically quiet when outside of the house, but when she is home (in her comfort zone) she can have moments of craziness.  Her crazy antics make Matthew literally roll on the floor in laughter.  No one else has that affect on him.
- Does well at school, but lacks confidence to raise her hand to answer questions, just in case she gives the wrong answer.
- Likes crafting.
- Wants to be an author when she is older.
- Weighs 64.2 lb and is 53 5/8" tall.  One of the tallest girls in her grade.
















(Watching Survivor)



(Submerged himself in the creek at Cultus)
















Friday, September 20, 2019

Olivia is 4 Years Old!



Olivia, today you are four.  Where has the time gone?  When I think back to your first days, weeks, and months here, it seems like so long ago... but at the same time, it has gone so quickly!  You are growing up to be such a sweet, independent little girl.

You tell me you love me a few times every day.  "I'll love you forever, Mom."  It makes your Dad jealous, I think :).  If you aren't verbally expressing your love for me, then you are physically showing it to me by giving me big hugs and non-stop kisses.

I can confidently say that I am your favourite person.  You like to sit by me at the dinner table.  Somehow, you actually stole my spot at the table somehow and now I sit where you are supposed to be sitting!  

Your favourite things to do are: play on the iPad, play Barbies, play with dolls, play playdough, paint.  Because it's summer, you also love to bike, run through the sprinkler, and swim in the pool.  You passed your first two levels of swimming lessons both on their first try.  You can easily swim between 2-5 metres doing rocketship arms, and have just figured out how to put your head up for a breath of air, so I'm sure if you tried, you could go even further.  We didn't even have to teach you how to dive for sinkers underwater, you just tried and could do it right away!  You play very well on your own, but you also play very well with your siblings.

Kayla is your favourite sibling.  You like to show her anything that she would be proud of, seeking her approval.  If I need you to change your mind about something, I have Kayla convince you for me.

You are very independent and stubborn when it comes to what you wear.  Unlike the others, you actually have an opinion.  Every day you want to wear a dress.  You don't care if it's the right weather for the dress or if it's appropriate or not for the day's activities: you just want to wear a dress.  I bought you a few from Value Village that you love, and so now you have enough dresses to wear all week long.  Your favourite one to wear is the one you often wear to church: the hand-me-down flower girl dress from when Kayla was a flower girl for Uncle Jason and Auntie Jamie.

Your hair is still as beautiful as ever.  When it dries after being wet (especially when it hasn't been washed for a few days), the curls are amazing!  They are cute little ringlets.

When strangers approach you and try to have a conversation with you you avoid eye contact and barely answer their questions.  There are random people that can win you over with little effort, and it's so unusual who you open up to.

When you are having fun, you have a cute (and sometimes fake) giggle that makes me smile.

You still share a bedroom with Kayla, sleeping on the bottom bunk.  You fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow (usually around 7:30pm), and so you obviously aren't bothered or distracted by Kayla reading in bed at night.

A couple nights of the week you climb into our bed in the middle of the night.  You try to cuddle closer to me.  When we were camping in Fort Langley you woke up just as we were going to bed.  We tried to "shhh" you and tell you to go back to sleep, but you wouldn't, so I eventually called you into our bed.  As you climbed in, you looked at your Dad and smiled, and then laid down on your pillow and fell asleep.  Stinker.

You can count to 20, thanks to the numbered stairs at the school.  As for recognizing the letters of the alphabet...well, we need to work on that this year.  You probably can only recognize half of them.

In my opinion, your favourite thing to eat for breakfast is a No Name blueberry waffle.  You like to have icing or chocolate/coloured spinkles (or all three!) for lunch, and you would never tire of having french fries for dinner.

You weigh 37.6 lb and are 42 3/4" tall.  You fit your size 5 clothes and size 11 shoes very comfortably.


































1. What's your name?  Olivia   
2. How old are you?  4 
3. What is your favourite color?  Pink
4. What is your favourite toy?  Babies.   
5. What is your favourite fruit?  Strawberries 
6. What is your favourite tv show or movie?  Babies (?).  Lego (?).  Anything with princesses.
7. What is your favourite game?  Mario Kart  
8. What is your favourite animal?  Dog
9. What is your favourite song?  One of our church songs. 
10. What is your favourite book?  Babies (?).  Princess books.
11. Who is your best friend?  Kayla
12. Who are you going to marry?  You (Mom) 
13. How many kids are you going to have when you are married?  200
14. What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast?  Waffle
15. What is your favourite cereal?  Lucky Charms  
16. What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch?  Cookies (?)  
17. What is your favourite thing to eat for dinner?  Cake (?)  
18. What is your favourite thing to do outside?  Play games.  Tag.   
19. What is your favourite drink?  Chocolate Milk 
20. What is your favourite snack?  Strawberries
21. When is your bedtime?  I don’t know.   
22. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Babies
23. What is your favourite holiday?  Go to the hotel.  The hotel we went to stay for two nights. 
24. What do you want to be when you grow up?  A princess.   
25. Name one thing you do really well?  Ballet   
26. What makes you feel sad?  Being mean.   
27. What makes you feel happy?  Playing together.   
28. If you could choose a different name, what would you choose?  Isabella
29. Where do you want to go on vacation?  Camping.  The one where we are going to (Penticton). 
30. What is your favourite thing to do?  Play babies.   
31. What is your favourite thing to do with Mom?  Read books.   
32. What is your favourite thing to do with Dad?  Play.  Wrestle.   
33. What is your favourite thing to do with your siblings?  Play together when our cousins are gone.