Happy 12th Birthday, Anneliese!

Anneliese is 12 today! Which now, in the pandemic year of our Lord 2021, means the birthday of the vaccine! Yay!

(Allllll these 2009 fall babies -- remember how many there were?? -- were born in the middle of H1N1 swine flu which changed hospital rules and caused a need for extra vax boosters, and now they're the very specific slice of age group that wasn't old enough for vaccines last spring when it came open for teens, and will already have them by the time eligibility opens for younger children later this winter. Life is funny. Time is funny.)

Here's my sweet girl, last week at (almost) 12:

Happy birthday, Anneliese!

At 12, Anneliese is in middle school (and kicking so much ass at it, finding her groove way sooner than we would have guessed), and loves music, baking, daydreaming, taking the city bus with her friends, facetiming, social studies, cookbooks and food magazines, kindle YA rom-com books, riding bikes, skiing (we did a white Christmas in Minnesota last year when our whole lives were remote anyway, might as well be remote in a new/snowy place right?!), swimming, shopping, and spa masks (as well as a good moisturizing routine in general).

At 12, she still doesn't love feeling rushed, feeling criticized, feeling misunderstood, most meat, getting sweaty, being too cold, pie crust, or remembering to take literally anything from the stairs up to her room.

Some memories of Anneliese this year:

(If you can't see the video embedded above, click here to view it on YouTube.)

Memories from past years:

11th Year

10th Year

9th Year

8th Year

7th Year

6th Year

5th Year

4th Year

3rd Year

2nd Year

1st Year

Happy 10th Birthday, Charlotte!

 *** Update 10/13: I came to post a birthday update about Anneliese, and realized I never pushed my birthday post about Charlotte live! We were at the beach when I finished her video, and I never added links. But I want it to have a home here as our online scrapbook/memory book, so I am posting now. ***

Charlotte is TEN! A whole decade with this baby Booler! Happy birthday, Charlotte!

At 10, Charlotte is growing ever-more into her own independent person, branching off from her siblings in ways that feel natural to her (and also feed her natural inclination to differentiate herself). She is in turns very traditionally girly (she is getting her ears pierced next week and is so excited) and then very resistant to what being girly actually means (do not pigeonhole her, or any girls, etc etc). 

This year she has leaned into skateboarding, swimming (she's fast!), video games, her viola, her short hair Lewk, hitting a new stride with actually wanting to read, drawing and art, sassiness (that sometimes needs toning down), and trying to establish herself as More Grown Up and for sure most definitely Not A Baby (she is still my baby) (don't worry, Sheepy is still steadfast in her arms).

And she is ready to lean way out of cleaning her room, chores or tidiness in general, and remote school (she loves math and loves her teachers and loves me, but by the time school was done in June she was SO sick of Meet calls and missing her friends) -- she is beside herself about going back to Real School in a few weeks. I am very anxious about it since we signed her up for this when we thought she'd be getting a vaccine in September but it looks like that won't happen now until sometime this winter. But! Our district is staying fully masked and even with the Delta variant, this is just what we need to do (I am starting a new job, I can't supervise remote school, we have to make peace with the precautions in place, it's been 20 months and school really is essential, etc). 

We love her exactly how she is, we are grateful for every day of snuggles that this year has brought us, alongside the fear and cusses, and we are delighted watching her turn ever more into who she is.

We are spending her birthday this year (as many years) at Bumgarner beach week, which makes her happy beside herself, which makes us happy to watch.

Some memories of this bizarre year with Charlotte:

(If you can't see the video embedded above, click here to watch it on YouTube.)

Previous years' videos!

Ninth year

Eighth year

Seventh year
Sixth year
Fifth year
Fourth year
Third year
Second year
First year

Happy 14th Birthday, Nathan!

Nathan is fourteen! Happy birthday to my tiny infant baby boy who is now funny and empathetic teenager, outgoing and smart* (*sometimes a knowitall, very normal fourteen) and athletic and hard working and friendly, with SO MUCH PHYSICAL ENERGY, I mean... mostly he is just... SO GROWN. 

Right now Nathan's favorite things in life are football (and sports in general), singing, chinese food (and all food), being outside, iced coffee, youth group, dystopic YA books, fanfiction podcasts, and getting his back scratched. He broke his arm two weeks ago which put a major damper on the high school football he's been counting towards for literal years, but he's still going to make a go of it and do the best he can with cardio workouts until he's cleared for more.

HIGH SCHOOL YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT.

Life comes at you fast. (Weep.)

He has pulled through another pandemic year with (mostly) (?) good cheer, remote schooling through the fall and winter (including two beach rental weeks, a road trip to DC for outdoor sightseeing and immigration appointments with Grandma, and a seasonal rental up north for a white Christmas while we had some home renovations done here in Raleigh), and he was able to go back to school this spring all "vaxxed and relaxed" to finish up his eighth grade year at his beloved middle school. (Who knew a middle school could even BE beloved, but here we are.) He missed his friends and his normal life but he is ready to take a deep breath and face what's next, with a normal social life and sports life and classroom life.

Some favorite moments from this absolutely weirdest of weird years in the life of a pandemic teen, making the best of it all:

(If you can't see the video embedded above, click here to watch it on YouTube.)

Past years and memories:

Nathan's 13th Year 

12th year

11th year

10th year
9th year
8th year
7th year
6th year
5th year
4th year
3rd year
2nd year
1st year