Jude--5 1/2 years old

In January, right at 5 years old:

Height: 43 7/8 inches
Weight: 50 lbs

Oh Jude. When I think of Jude, I think of a storm that ebbs and flows, leaving destruction but also rainbows in its wake. He is a whirlwind of loud voices, crazy antics, hugs and kisses, smiles and laughs, messes, and love. He reminds me of the song in “The Sound of Music” where the nuns are trying to find the right words to describe Maria. If you replace "Maria" with "Jude" and "she" with "he", this song is so, so Jude:

How do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you find the word that means Maria?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown!

Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her
Many a thing she ought to understand
But how do you make her stay and listen to all you say
How do you keep a wave upon the sand?

Oh, how do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

When I'm with her I'm confused, out of focus and bemused
And I never know exactly where I am
Unpredictable as weather, she's as flighty as a feather

She's a darling! She's a demon! She's a lamb!

She'd out pester any pest, drive a hornet from its nest

She could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl
She is gentle! She is wild! She's a riddle! She's a child!
She's a headache! She's an angel! She's a girl!

How do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you find the word that means Maria?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown!

Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her
Many a thing she ought to understand
But how do you make her stay and listen to all you say
How do you keep a wave upon the sand?

Jude has no interest in reading, writing, coloring, or any other part of the written language. He’d much rather run, jump, play games, watch movies, or play outside. I guess there must be something to the boy/girl stereotypes because Jude fits in the “boy” category perfectly. We are slowly learning the alphabet and it’s my hope he’ll have it down along with the sounds each letter makes when he starts kindergarten this fall. He's almost there!

Jude has been taking picky lessons from Lance and is now almost as opinionated when it comes to food. We used to be able to convince him to eat just about anything, but that ship has sailed and most dinners are a bit of an arm-wrestle trying to get Jude to eat enough bites of “good things” before filling up on his favorites.

He is a carb lover. Any kind of bread, toast, noodle, rice, cereal or cracker he will devour and come back for seconds. Vegetables and fruit are another story. He will eat cauliflower and corn and will eat grapes or an apple, but only if I peel off all the skin and leave it a whole apple. None of this slicing for him.

George recently asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. Jude’s response: a daddy. It makes sense because he and George share a special bond.

Jude continues to be one of the friendliest kids I’ve ever met. He’s always telling me how he has hundreds of friends and no matter where he goes, he will find someone to play with, doesn’t matter if they’ve known each other a year or just 2 minutes.

His latest obsession is YouTube. This kid would watch YouTube all day if I let him. His favorite channels are Skylander Boy and Girl, EvantubeHD and DiamondMinecart. My favorite ones he watches are the Skylander Boy and Girl videos. They are a cute family that review games Jude enjoys like Skylanders (obviously), but also Minecraft, Pixelgun and other games for the tablet. They are funny and promote good family relationship and values. 

Jude now wants a snake. He's convinced that since Lance loves his snake Molty so much, obviously a snake makes the perfect pet and he needs one. I have my doubts, but there may be a snake in the future for Jude. 

Jude also started piano lessons this past year and has done very well! He has a good ear for music and seems to pick it up easily. Practicing is his downfall--not because he hates it, but because he has a hard time sitting on the bench long enough to play through one song, let alone several. I find myself constantly redirecting and by the time our 15 minutes of practice are over, I feel like I've run a marathon.

He just learned how to swim! We've been working on it all summer and just this past week while we were in California it seemed to click and he was swimming all over by himself. He still has trouble taking breathes while he swimming, but he's already quite the fish!

Jude brings such a fun spirit to our home. He's ecstatically happy 90 percent of the time and his enthusiasm is contagious. He LOVES people and has no qualms being immediate friends with random people he meets at the store, on the street, at the gym or the pool. The concept of personal space continues to allude Jude--he invites himself right into everyone's, totally unaware that being two inches from someone's face might be a bit uncomfortable. I can't get enough of my wiggly, snuggly, crazy boy. I am constantly amazed by his energy and ability to love everyone. I am excited for him to start Kindergarten--to be surrounded by kids his own age playing games, reading stories, playing on playgrounds and learning will be a dream come true for him. 

We sure love you, Jude! Thanks for being ours!

Lance--9, almost 10 years old

Once again, I was hoping to post updates on the kids at the start of the year and it's taken me almost 8 months to actually do it. Better late than never!

First up, Lance.

As of February (9 1/2 years old), his stats run thus:

Height: 4 ft, 5 inches
Weight: 71 lbs

Lance was in 3^rd grade this past year. This was the first year at a new school and while he missed his old school, he adjusted well. I drove him to school every day. His bus came between 7:10 and 7:15, which I think is way too early, so I woke him up around 7:15, got dressed, had breakfast and then dropped him off at school around 7:50. 

Lance’s favorite sport right now is baseball. He just finished his third season and loves it. He has a mean swing and can really get the ball flying. I’m so glad we found a sport he enjoys. I was starting to think this kid would grow up without playing even one.

Lance has gone through several “interests” in the past year: Minecraft, Pokemon, Clash of Clans, and earlier this year a computer game called Bloons. Not entirely sure what he sees in it—the object of the game is to pop balloons using monkeys and machinery with varying skills and abilities—but he loves it and plays it all the time. He even draws pictures about it at school.

He is very shy. He has a difficult time interacting with people he doesn’t know. It’s been a struggle for him since he was little, and his circle of close friends is very small. It’s something we’ve been working on and I think school and baseball have helped.

His favorite books at the beginning of the year were the Wimpy Kid Diary series and the Bunnicula series. He can fly through those books. In fact, he has told me a number of times that he wants to write the author of Wimpy Kid and ask them to increase the reading level of the next book so he doesn’t finish it all in one day.

Now his favorite books are the Harry Potter series. He and I were working on the Harry Potter series for the past few years, reading a chapter before bed each night, and we finally finished last fall! He is now working his way back through the series on his own and is plowing through at a tremendous rate. He finished the entire series all by himself and started over again! I think he’s caught the reading bug because that book goes with him everywhere. He told me the other day that the neat thing about reading is that you get to travel to other worlds. Yep, love that this guy is becoming a book lover.

Lance continues to have a love/hate rivalry relationship with his brothers. Jude is getting older and the two of them share many interests, enough for them to play together and enjoy similar videos and games. The majority of the time, though, these boys are finding new ways to pick on each other. There is light at the end of the tunnel as their interactions are evolving and maturing. I have a sneaky suspicion that they will be good friends one day. ;)

He was a busy boy! This kid has scouts, Spanish tutoring with his dad, baseball, and even had a sculpting class he attended at the beginning of the year for the third time. He also started taking piano lessons at the start of the year. Between all his extracurriculars, this guy is here, there, and everywhere each day of the week during the school season. It's been nice this summer to slow down a bit.

Lance is the pickiest kid I know. He has a short list of favorite foods, which would be fine if the list stayed the same. It is constantly changing, however, and we usually find out a certain food had been demoted after we’ve made a dinner that would have been acceptable yesterday but for some reason is disgusting today. He is our trickiest kid to feed. It’s a good thing he loves milk. He uses it as a filler and could drink half a gallon of milk a day. I have to buy milk multiple times a week to satisfy this guy. His latest love is meat, mostly steak. For an afternoon snack he will usually ask if we have any steaks ready to be cooked. Thanks to Grandmom and Pop Pop who like to fill our fridge with all the good things we’d never buy because they’re too expensive, we usually do have some kind of beef that George will cook up. He has no idea that most people eat filet minion once or twice a year for a special occasion, not as an after school snack because it’s lying around in the fridge.

Lance continues to grow and mature. It’s been neat this past year watching him grow into a young man. He’s helpful around the house and will even help with his siblings, sometimes without being asked. He still likes me to lie next to him at night and scratch his back while he reads his book before sleeping. His views of the world is expanding and deepening, as are his questions. It’s been insightful, humbling, and terrifying trying to explain issues like sex, racism, love, political policies, religion, and standards in such a way that an almost 10-year-old can understand. Lance is incredibly intelligent, deeply passionate, overly-opinionated and has a tender, sweet side that surfaces more and more often. I am so glad Lance is a part of our family. We love you, son!