We’ve got six year olds!

Myles, Jack, and Colton are six! This year has gone so fast! It seems like life is so much busier now with them in school. I am so proud of the boys for all of their “firsts” this year.  They are loving school and all the fun that goes with it! It wasn’t long ago I was registering them for kindergarten and today they ran off to school so proud that they could bring a birthday treat for their classmates. As I watched them run into the school doors, I stood there trying desperately not to yell out all sorts of embarrassing things about how much I love them all while hoping they wouldn’t have a problem sharing in the “passing out of treats duties.” I’ve never seen little boys so excited over Pirates Booty Puffs in all my life… Their kindergarten teacher worked hard to give each of them a “special day” with their helper duties to her. They each completed their own day by walking out of school with their birthday crown on their head and a smile so big and wide that you couldn’t help but feel their joy. They apparently had agreed with her before all their festivities that they would take their days in “reverse birth order.” I only wish I could have seen that conversation go down! It took three days of patiently waiting (mostly on Myles’ part) and then I was able to line them up together to get a picture of their kindergarten birthday crowns. 

They’ve been talking about having a “builder birthday” for the past year so they happily settled on a Lego theme to celebrate their six years. Though they started out wanting another burger cake like last year, they all agreed that a cake that looked like a Lego head would be pretty fun, too. They celebrated with family and spent several days happily putting together Legos. Kylie enjoyed herself quite a bit and liked being able to help them put together all their sets. Nothing gets her talking about HER birthday more than celebrating THEIR birthday so she’s already convinced she’s going to go with a Barbie theme. I’m sure the boys will love it! Ha!

I’m continually amazed at how quickly these kids are growing up. Myles has always been our happy-no-matter what guy who loves to play. His teacher says he is the most quiet and reserved in class though which makes me laugh. Oh, if only she could catch a glimpse of him at home where he lets his true personality shine. He will often respond to any request with a cheerful, “I sure can!” as he races off. He loves being put to work and he is so easy to please! He still loves to share his last minute snuggling with me on the couch before bed and I love it too. 

Jack has spent his kindergarten days loving the creative corner- he has such a creative little mind! He will come home daily with pictures of houses he drew. He is so sweet and is always writing notes or working on some sort of masterpiece. Every picture has a house and every time it touches my heart. He still loves the idea of building a house someday and he loves creative building in general. He gravitates towards magna-tiles and Legos and he’s been having a blast continually constructing houses out of some giant magna-tiles we got for Christmas.

Colton, like Kylie, was born for school. That has only become more obvious over the past year. He is always thinking and he loves to be part of a project. With our recent bout of snowy weather, we’ve had a lot of “puzzle-paloozas.” The kids think anything is fun if I throw “palooza” at the end of it… Colton became my best little helper on a 500 piece puzzle and he was so proud at how many pieces he could find on his own. Also, I love looking at the papers the boys bring home from school. Colton has so much attention to detail and I can tell he aims to please. I had to laugh at the beginning of the year when the boys brought home their “New Years Resolutions.” Colton’s was so sweet but I felt like I needed to reassure his teacher that I’m just fine. I don’t typically spend a lot of time laying around on the couch crying… I hope…Me being sick over the New Year must have really pulled on his heart strings.

The boys are growing up so fast and truthfully it’s kind of amazing to watch. We are working on becoming independent with more day to day things as we’ve progressed through the school year. Apparently, some of it is going well and some is not… The boys still struggle with their ability to get dressed without flinging their underwear all over the room. I will never understand the mind of a little boy enough to figure out why this is so difficult. I still have a mini panic attack daily as we try to CALMLY walk through the parking lot to and from school. There’s simply too much to be said and too many puddles to jump in along the way. And their mittens…. For the love of God… I have bought so many mittens. Every day a different one loses their mittens. Not even both mittens, sometimes it’s just the one. Apparently, they are more prone to losing their right mitten because I’ve got a stash of left mittens just waiting in the wings if they should ever lose that one. I’m anxiously waiting for the snow to melt so I can stop taking daily inventory of their snow gear bags. With all that being said, the boys have been doing a lot of growing, too. They are all hard workers and they have learned so much this year. It has been so fun to volunteer in their classroom and see them in their element every once in awhile. They are kind and, most importantly, they are happy. We talk a lot about what it means to be a gentleman. Somewhere in the past six years of watching Curious George, they learned that gentlemen bow. And so, it started making sense to them that, when I ask them to go to bed like gentlemen, they stand at the top of the staircase and bow as I leave. Someday they’ll figure out that’s not necessary, but I won’t be the one to tell them. It makes me smile too much.

Kylie is quite possibly growing up TOO fast. I can almost see little glimpses of the teenager inside her and I’m not ready for it. I’m sure John isn’t either. She loves gymnastics and dance and all sorts of creative outlets. She’s finished writing another book about fairies, we’ve got a chemistry ooze lab kit sitting on the counter (8 experiments down, 12 to go), and she’s been baking up a storm with her mini-verse kitchen set. She still loves playing school and is pretty convinced she’ll be a teacher someday. I’d say she gets a lot of credit for getting the boys up to speed to allow them to sail through kindergarten this year.

Apparently, she has quite the reputation at school and the custodian likes to tack on “even if you have three little brothers” to whatever he’s saying when he sees her in the hallway. I think she secretly likes it. She’s never once stopped taking her role as the “big sister” seriously, no matter how hard I’ve tried to convince her. These past six years have been quite the wild ride and she’s been there through it all.

So there we are- another birthday down- here’s to hoping for another fabulous year for this crew! Happy birthday to Myles, Jack and Colton!