Emma is 4!

Birthday season continues at our house. We celebrated Emma's arrival to the life of a 4-year-old on April 18th. It began, as has become tradition, with a birthday breakfast. We believe in having as many opportunities to blow out candles and make birthday wishes as possible. It seemed that on birthday morning, folks were sleeping in, so the parents were hanging out with John-John (who had risen early), trying not to make too much noise, and taking their time getting down to the kitchen to start cooking. Spencer came in with a disapproving tone. "What are you guys doing? You're supposed to be making Emma's birthday breakfast." Well, we snapped to it after that! Your brother sure loves you, Em. Both brothers do, in fact. John lights up with a big smile every time he sees you.

Some things I love about 4-year-old Emma: You have a best friend named R___, and having a best friend has taught you so much how to be a kind, loving and generous person. You are a fashionista, demanding skirts and dresses as daily wear, unless it is time to play soccer. You are one SMART little lovie; at your birthday party, you impressed the parents by "reading" the names of your guests based on the first letter of their names because you know the sounds the letters make. You are responsible, spreading your blankets many mornings without a reminder. You are musical and love going to concerts and plays, especially in what you have dubbed your "concert dress" (right now, that one is the polka dot dress with the floofy skirt). You still love to snuggle, will entertain John to help Mom, enjoy making "recipes" (ones I am working on or those of your own creation), like to hang out on Dad's lap while he works at the computer, and are Spencer's ready playmate and friend. We are so glad to have our very own Emma.

Emma at birthday breakfast time


Emma and BFF R___


Emma decorating her own cake. Spencer had the good idea of using oreos as the center of flowers, and Emma took it from there using pink frosting for petals and lots of sparkly sprinkles. The perfect cake for our beautiful lovie.


Birthday celebrations: preschool snack time, birthday breakfast, family party, and friend birthday party

Spencer is 6

Hard to believe how quickly the time has flown. Spencer Glen Wride, my firstborn, is SIX years old today. We've had a string of celebrations: a big family dinner last night, complete with presents, cake and ice cream; breakfast in "bed" with the whole family this morning (more candle-blowing); cake and candles with Emma's preschool friends; more cake shared with the neighborhood friends at school bus time; family presents and choco-mint-chip ice cream, just like you requested (kid after my own heart). We skipped the evening installment of cake, but couldn't miss out on the ice cream.

I never want to forget how you didn't go to sleep last night until nearly 11pm because you were SO excited about your birthday. Then, in the morning, you awoke a full hour earlier than necessary and passed the time putting together a Lego Star Wars creation until we arrived with your breakfast cinnamon rolls for a family breakfast in your bedroom. Tonight, you claimed once more that you couldn't get to sleep, so you hung out on my lap reading me stories while I worked through a few "to do" items on the computer. When I asked you if you'd had a good birthday, you responded "A GREAT birthday, and not because of the presents. Because of people like you, Mom." Not to say you didn't LOVE every Star Wars or LEGO-related gift you received. The plastic sword you unwrapped today was met with immediate approval as well and was put to immediate use with Emma countering on the light saber you got from yesterday's present-opening. (Thanks Uncle Joel!)

When I was asking Sunday night what we should eat for the family dinner, you were throwing a baseball up and catching it and responded, "You pick, Mom. I just don't want you to have to spend too much time cooking."

You've always been like that, Spence. Super sweet, considerate of others, and mature in so many ways beyond your 6 years. You still break into belly laughter if anyone says the word "underpants," but what kindergartner doesn't succumb to such silliness? It's part of the charm, really. And it is truly charming to be your mother, Spencer. You're growing into such a fine, handsome young man. We love you!

Baby Spencer


Big Boy Spencer

April Fool's

I was never really much for April Fool's Day celebrations growing up. I suppose I was too preoccupied with birthday anticipation to care much about the first day of April. Clearly the THIRD of April was much more momentous. However, I have been persuaded to get in on some of the fun; I have a boy who LOVES the tricks and jokes that accompany April Fool's Day. While I still stay away from any mess-making jokes (saran wrap on the toilet seat...just gross), we have had some good laughs. So far:

-Adam froze the kids' cheerios and milk overnight. (Spencer remembered that one from last year and requested it).
-We gave the kids real breakfast, but I hid a little plastic figurine in each bowl. Surprise!
-Spencer had the idea to call Dad, Grandma, and Grammy and, when they answered, ROAR really loudly then say "April Fool's!" If you have our number on your caller id and no message, that's why. Emma thought it was a pretty good idea, so Grandma got 2 phone calls. (Thanks for being such a good sport.)
-Spencer made a sandwich for Adam (at about 9:30am because he couldn't wait any longer) and left the wax paper from the cheese slices inside. Tricky, tricky!
-I got a raisin in my toothpaste cap, courtesy of Spencer, and then constant reminders to brush my teeth, plus an audience as I did so. Sneaky Spence.
-We dressed John up in a dress, which little man thought was hiLARious, big brother and sister got a good chuckle, but Adam only found mildly humorous. Don't worry - it was more of a Scottish kilt, really. A great plaid.
-The kids have been sneaking around trying to spy on my next April Fool's joke. Here's what Spence will discover when he opens his kindergarten snack today - HAMBURGERS!

Or ARE they? It's actually Nilla Wafers, Grasshopper cookies, and colored frosting. Yum! That's my kind of April Fool's.

Kid Update on St. Patrick's Day

John is crawling up a storm...and up the stairs. He's a happy, happy boy who loves to play with, follow, and wrestle his big brother and sister. He used to sit, flapping his arms when Adam played monster with the other kids, just dying to get in on the action. Now he crawls on over, yelling all the way in his somewhat gruff boy baby voice, to join in the fun. It's a pretty great stage he's discovered. He eats anything and everything, preferring the rubber tips on doorstops to just about anything else he can scavenge. Needless to say, we are trying to be careful about closing doors since we have removed most of those little rubber things.


Emma continues to prefer skirts and dresses to any other apparel and wears her shiny ruby slippers anytime she can...that or her pink snow boots. She plays almost daily with a friend up the street named Reagan, who is just a few weeks older than her and shares her appreciation for the color pink. It's fun to watch Em as a big sister; she loves her little brother (even listed John as one of her "treasures" in a preschool activity today). She has also become an excellent and imaginative playmate for Spencer. She can play Star Wars and build Lego creations with the best of them. Emma is taking violin, and can play the first phrase of "Twinkle."


Spencer is thriving in kindergarten, loves all things Star Wars, rides his scooter perpetually, and has taken up a recent interest in basketball. We have a spring soccer league starting in a few weeks, which he is also excited about. A few weeks back, Spencer started taking piano lessons, and he is doing SO well; I am really proud of him. It is wonderful to watch him as he tackles a tricky part or a new piece, gets frustrated, comes back to conquer it, and gains a whole new level of confidence as a result. Spencer is my project man, always creating something out of markers, construction paper, tape, staples, and any other supplies he can get his hands on. He is also very handy. We finally (today) moved John out of our room, and as I was setting the crib up, Spencer was the one who noticed I had put one part on backward. I was glad he was there to help since I'd already tried righting the piece once before...I have never, not once, set that crib up correctly on the first try.



A tricky leprechaun visited our house this St. Patrick's Day. He drew a shamrock on the kids' hands while they slept, and they awoke to green toilet water AND green milk! Sneaky little fella. (The kids were thrilled! Anything for a holiday. Spencer has declared that April 2nd is "Spencer Holiday" when we all get to eat sugary treats all day long. Sounds like a good excuse to ingest some delicious Easter candy.)

Piano Man

piano man
Originally uploaded by Adam W.

We interrupt the regularly scheduled catch-up blogging for some current news. Spencer is now playing the piano! He has had 3 lessons so far from an AMAZING teacher (Melaney Tagg), and he is loving it. At yesterday's lesson, he played his first duet; today, he asked me if I would play it with him. Never mind that it has 7 flats and is written in the bass clef (NOT a friendly clef for a violinist). I figured it out, and we played this about ten times this morning (yes - still in our pj's). It was a fantastic, fun musical moment. Emma even had her dollhouse people dancing to the tune.

Later today, I went in to volunteer in Spencer's kindergarten class. They were reading from their writing folders when I walked in, and Spencer proudly showed me the "story" he had written, complete with illustration. "I play the piano. I play the piano really well" it read.

Yes, you do, Spence, and we are so proud of you!

John at 5 Months

This baby needs his own October post to note some milestones. I cannot look at this sweet little face without smiling. John-John is a champion bouncer in the exersaucer (thank you, Papa). It's one of his joys in life to make lots of joyful noise by going into jumping Johnny mode when he is in that fun contraption.


John is also an all-star sitter.

...when his brother and sister don't mow him over by smothering him with lovin'.


October meant solid foods for John. He LOVED rice cereal the first 2 times he tried it.

Look at that face - pure joy at having something solid. It didn't last long, though. He took a look at what we were eating, saw what he was getting, and noticed that there was no crossover. He only wants food with substance - the bigger the better. When I put a banana on his tray to cut it up, he dives for the biggest uncut section he can sneak. Applesauce even makes him mad - not enough texture to satisfy the palate. That's okay, though. I had high ideals of making my own baby food this time around. This saved me all the effort. Straight to the solids for our little man.

October

I am committed to some level of completion when it comes to this family record. In an effort to achieve that, I give you the month of October 2010 in recap:

I chaperoned Spencer's kindergarten field trip. We went to a local farm to pick pumpkins and see the animals. I got to keep an eye on this group of cuties.


Here's my favorite of the bunch picking out his pumpkin.


We did another round of the daddy-coached soccer league with some friends from church. Spence has decided soccer is his favorite sport. As I am writing this recap in February 2011, I can note that we pass the time waiting for the kindergarten bus by passing ice chunks back and forth trying to score a goal on each other. His idea, not mine, but I go along with it. Quite fun, actually.


Our local airport sponsors an annual air show; the airport is small, and the event is free. We love planes in this family, so we were off to check it out. We got to bring Gpa Barnard with us, since he came to spend a few months in VA. (We miss you, Gpa B!!!)


We checked out the fancy planes, trick flying, and wing walking.


Adam talked shop with Barry Barbini, a friend and FAA inspector who was working the event.


We saw some friends at the show, too! Here's Spencer with "the other Spencer."


My favorite picture of the day has nothing to do with airplanes. It's lovely and her lolly. Doesn't take much to keep this girl content, even on a hot October Saturday.


Because we can't get enough of planes, we headed from the air show to the Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian Museum for the Air and Scare, a trick or treat event. It was a fun time, but we'll never do it again. Traffic was HORRIBLE trying to get to the museum, and once we were inside it was difficult to maneuver because there were SO many people. Still, it was worth it to get a picture of my two aviators. (Spencer wore the costume John has on for his first Halloween. Spence's outfit comes from a dress up area at the museum).

It was also fun to meet up with some Storm Troopers. The kids are on a major Star Wars kick right now, so I need to pull these photos out to show them again. Spence watches the Endor battle scene over and over from Return of the Jedi. Emma likes the part where the ewok pokes princess Leia, so the film is a crowd pleaser.

We went to the museum with our friends and neighbors, the Abramsons. Thank goodness we had people to chat with as we made our way through the crowds.


On to more dressing up. Here is Emma with her preschool buddies for their dress-up day. She loves this dress from our dress up box. She was a ballet shoe-wearing princess - always a happy combination with this little lady.



Spencer's school doesn't allow dressing up in costumes, but they get into the fun of the season by having WACKY DAY the Friday before Halloween. Siblings were invited, and Emma was just as into it as Spencer. They had a great time planning their outfits. Spencer grew his hair out for a month before the actual day to achieve some pretty impressive height with this mohawk. It was his idea to do a little swirl of hair in the front as a departure from the traditional mohawk. I love that boy.

Emma's peep-toe pink shoes deserve a mention here. She wore them EVERYwhere, no matter how cold it got, until the snow came and, with it, the arrival of pink snow boots. Fashion before comfort for this girl.



Our final opportunity to dress up came when we saw the Pickwick Players' production of "The Wizard of Oz" starring none other than Papa as the GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ. Other characters of note: Joel as the Winkie General, Sarah as the poppy/Winkie/Oz resident, Trina as the munchkin barrister. We prepped for the production by watching a few of the songs on youtube, but our kids didn't know much about the storyline in general. Spencer enjoyed the production; John slept through most of it; Emma was ENTHRALLED. Obsessed, really. She went back with me to see it a second time with the Young Women. Emma can sing most of the songs, quizzes everyone involved about the characters, requested the chapter book "Wizard of Oz" for her bedtime story, and can effectively mimic Papa's antics from the Jitterbug number - an absolute highlight. Ask Em about Wizard of Oz, and get ready for a long, entertaining conversation. She LOVES to watch videos of the performance on Grammy's iphone.

Here's Emma getting Dorothy's autograph. THRILLED to be near her.

Maddie has long been a Wizard fan. She was even Dorothy for Halloween and dressed up for the play.

The group shot. The kids wore Halloween costumes, since the performance was on Saturday, October 30th.