Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Graham turned 6 (in April)

Here are Graham's answers to his annual birthday questions! 

Name: Graham Howard
Age: 6
When is birthday: April 23 (close)
Favorite color: orange and green 
Favorite food: z bars, fig bars, chicken nuggets, cheese pizza, pesto pasta, candy
Who is your best friend? Jack
Favorite song? Luigi’s Mansion Theme song
Favorite animal? Koala
What are you scared of? Monsters, bees 
What makes you happy? Jack
Where is your favorite place to go? The Variety Store
What is your favorite toy? Fox Lodge Lego, Waddle Dee stuffie, and other birthday gifts 
What job do you want to have when you grow up? Robot maker
What is Mom’s favorite thing to do? Clean
What is Dad’s favorite thing to do? Work




Monday, January 2, 2023

20 Years Away From "Home"

Twenty years ago today my parents were helping me unload a bedroom's worth of stuff from a U-Haul into an apartment I had never seen before. Micah and I had both just moved across the country as we were transferring from our separate colleges in Michigan to the University of Colorado at Boulder. He moved in with his sister in Westminster, and I moved into an apartment in Boulder with a couple of girls I had never met. 

It was really scary to move across the country, especially since the only people I knew in Colorado were Micah and his sister. This was before FaceTime or social media. I didn't even have a cell phone yet! I was young, and I didn’t know much about the world, but I was determined to make the move work. 

Within the first couple of years of living in Colorado, I remember flying back to Michigan for a visit. I met someone on the plane who had moved away from Michigan 20 years ago. I remember thinking how crazy that sounded. Twenty years sounds like an eternity to someone in their early 20's!

The "20 Years Away From Michigan" mark has stuck with me over the years. Occasionally, I’ve thought about what life would be like when I have lived away from Michigan for 20 years. It was impossible to imagine, but fun to think about.

Now I am here. I am 40-years-old and it's been 20 years since I left "home." So much was unknown, but I am glad I took that first giant step as life is truly interesting and amazing when you allow yourself to be brave. I’m excited to see what will happen in this next decade of our lives.

Micah and I at the overlook above Boulder when we first moved

My parents and I at the overlook above Boulder when they dropped me off


My room in my first apartment

My room after I rearranged the furniture a few months later








Tuesday, June 7, 2022

9th Birthday Interview Questions




I've been asking the kids the same questions every year since their 3rd birthday. It's fun to see how their answers evolve each year!

Alexis

What is your full name? Alexis Joy Howard 

How old will you be on your birthday? 9

When is your birthday? June 7, 2013 [they finally know their birth year]

What is your favorite color? purple

Favorite food? hot dogs, ribs, and drumsticks 

Favorite dessert? chocolate and vanilla twist ice cream

Best friend? The Halls and the Clubbs 

Favorite animal? dogs and wolves

What are you scared of? Spiders and other bugs

What makes you happy? A bunch of presents and a birthday cake

Where is your favorite place to go? To a park

What do you want to be when you grow up? Vet, dog rescue person, dog foster person, or a dog walker 

What is your favorite thing to do? Being with my family and reading

What is Mom’s favorite thing to do? Bake

What is Dad’s favorite thing to do? Run and snuggle

What is your favorite subject in school? Math 



Jack

What is your full name? Jack Micah Howard

How old will you be on your birthday? 9

When is your birthday? June 7, 2013 [they finally know their birth year]

What is your favorite color? blue

Favorite food? pesto pasta

Favorite dessert? ice cream

Best friend? The Halls (Lily and Maggie)

Favorite animal? tiger

What are you scared of? criminals, bank robbers, and Putin

What makes you happy? Legos

Where is your favorite place to go? Legoland

What do you want to be when you grow up? Aerospace engineer [just like Dad] 

What is your favorite thing to do? Building with legos, making cardboard creations, and watching Star Wars movies with Dad

What is Mom’s favorite thing to do? I don't know, go for bike rides?

What is Dad’s favorite thing to do? Watch me play baseball

What is your favorite subject in school? Language Arts


Faith

What is your full name? Faith Elizabeth Howard

How old will you be on your birthday? 9

When is your birthday? June 7, 2013 [they finally know their birth year]

What is your favorite color? pink

Favorite food? watermelon

Favorite dessert? moose tracks ice cream

Best friend? Lily & Maggie, Mr. & Mrs. Clubb, and the Krafts

Favorite animal? dogs

What are you scared of? dying

What makes you happy? Waking up in the morning (because I'm alive) and petting a dog

Where is your favorite place to go? To the pool, the Hall's backyard, and Mrs. Clubb's house

What do you want to be when you grow up? Work at a dog shelter. Or maybe I'll just have a dog and let my husband go to work.

What is your favorite thing to do? Doing something with my family, reading, and drawing

What is Mom’s favorite thing to do? Have the kids go to bed so she can relax.

What is Dad’s favorite thing to do? Go for a run, work with the kids on sports

What is your favorite subject in school? Math



Sunday, June 5, 2022

Graham is 5!

Graham turned 5 in April and I kept meaning to finish his birthday blog post, but I've been struggling to find time. Although it's cliche, the truth is that things don't get easier or less busy as kids get older, it is just different. When the kids were younger I could plan on some down time during naps, but I haven't had a child that napped since Graham turned 3! And although our kids spend more time playing independently than when they were younger, many evening are busy with sports. Plus. the kids go to bed much later now, so there isn't as much time (or energy) after they go to bed to get stuff done. 

In addition to the normal busyness of life, we did some traveling and we were sick right around Graham's birthday. We traveled to New York over Graham's birthday to visit Legoland for a day and to go to NYC. We had a great time, but we must have caught Covid while we were there. Covid made its way through our family, but thankfully the kids only had mild symptoms (fevers, sore throats, headaches, and coughs for a couple of days), Micah was asymptomatic, and I never got it. After having Covid, we traveled to Michigan and finished up our homeschool year. Things just never seem to slow down!

He opened some of his presents before we went on our NY trip

Legoland!


His last night as a 4-year-old (in the hotel)

Opening gifts on his birthday

His favorite gift - a Pokemon battlefield backpack

We took a carriage ride around Central Park on his birthday

More Central Park

We got cupcakes from a fancy shop


Graham has a little toy minion that he named "Sycamore." He was excited when he saw that the minions had also been to the Empire State Building.



Although this post is delayed, here are some things about Graham at age 5.

Height: At 42 inches he is the same height Alexis was at this age (he’s taller than Jack was and shorter than Faith was). He grew 2 inches in the last year.

Weight: Physically he’s our heaviest child at this age, which is funny because he’s only 35 lbs (still very light compared to other kids his age). He gained 4.5 lbs in the last year!

Sleep: Jack and Graham continue to share a room and it actually works out quite well despite the age difference. Bedtime is between 8:30 and 9:00, and lights out is around 9:15. Most nights Graham decides to just rest while Jack reads in bed, and sometimes he even falls asleep when Jack is still reading. Graham wakes up between 8:00 and 8:30 most mornings, although sometimes he even sleeps later. None of our other kids slept in at this age, but homeschool has allowed us to be on a later schedule. 

Food: He’s not a very adventurous eater. His favorite foods are Iced Oatmeal Z bars, Fig Bars, Chobani Mixed Berry yogurt, applesauce pouches, pesto pasta, pizza, quesadillas, chicken nuggets, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and salami. He also enjoys most fruit and he’ll eat broccoli (steamed) and carrots (cooked and raw). He'll also eat all desserts!

Preschool: School was great for Graham. I was sad that he missed out on a year of preschool because of the pandemic, but this year he went MWF from 9-12. Although most days he complained about having to go to school, he always came home with stories about what he did there. He really seemed to grow as a person during the school year. The school, St. Aidan's, focused on moving and playing outdoors, but they also spent some time working on letters and such. It was a wonderful school and I felt great about dropping him off there while the big kids and I worked on homeschool.

Writing His Name: For some reason, Graham was resistant to learning to write his name. For Valentine's Day, though, he was supposed to write his name on cards for his classmates. He decided to sit down and do it all in one day, and that was the day that he memorized how to write his name. He still didn't know the letter names, though, so Grandma taught him to sing the letters of his name to the tune of Happy Birthday (they did a little bit of "Grandma School" while our family was stuck at home with Covid). 




Music Class: On Thursday mornings the kids and I attended an outdoor music class for homeschool families. This was a highlight of our week as all of the kids enjoyed the class, and it was great to interact with other homeschool families. At the beginning of the year Graham didn't participate much, but by the end of the year he happily did drum solos, danced around with the class, and sang along to the songs. It was awesome to see him grow musically this year.

Drumming during class

In the spring we spent a lot of time playing in the muddy stream while dancing to music!


Speech: Graham's speech has come a LONG way in the last year. He started speech therapy right before his 4th birthday with a private therapist. In the fall he switched to a speech program through the local school system, and it worked out well. On Monday afternoons I brought him to the neighborhood elementary school where he met with the speech therapist for 30 minutes 1:1. On Tuesday mornings a preschool resource teacher came to our house and worked with him 1:1 for 45 minutes. Going to speech at the school was one of his favorite things to do every week, and it was amazing for me to have 45 minutes of someone working with him in our home while I worked with the other three on homeschool. When we first had him evaluated for speech over a year ago we were told that he had a stutter, but that seems to have disappeared on its own. He will continue with a private therapist over the summer and then he'll probably switch back to the school program in the fall. He still drops his S at the beginning of some words and he has a lateral lisp that makes his speech sound a little slushy, but his articulation is so much better that I rarely have to help others understand him these days.

Art / Creations: Graham loves to draw and recently he’s really into coloring in his drawings (and he colors well!). He also loves to create things out of paper and cardboard, just like Jack. They spend hours working next to each other creating things like Star Wars weapons and such. I'm always amazed by what he comes up with. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings when he didn't have school, he mostly spent time making things or drawing while we did our homeschool. 



He made the letter G out of math manipulatives

Yoda

We decided to do topic and country posters for homeschool, and Graham wanted to do them too. He studied Koalas as his topic and then Australia as his country. 

Graham's corner of the schoolroom for displaying his art



Sweet Personality: He's very affectionate and randomly he’ll say, “Mom I don’t think I’ve given you a kiss, a hug, or an I Love You today.” He loves to give me kisses on the cheek and to be held. I'm trying to savor these moments as I know that they won't last forever.

One day when we had our baby chicks he decided to "teach" the chickens.

Holding a baby chick.

When we went to Mount Vernon recently he did an excellent job of reading the map all by himself.

His room for the last two years. Sadly we have to move soon, but it's been fun to have this giant mural by his bed.

"Meditating" while we were on an evening walk. I have no idea where he comes up with these things.



Play: He’s into playing with the big kids now. He still plays by himself a lot (he gets really into his imagination), but he can easily play with the others too. He loves to play Legos with his siblings. He also likes to ride on the “B machine” (teeter totter swing) in our backyard. Jack and Graham like to play with their Harry Potter wands and do other reenactments from tv shows or movies. He also enjoys riding on the back of the Trail Gator that is hooked up to my bike.




Photos: Most of my photos these days are of Graham (his request), or taken by Graham of something he’s created. 

He has the best bedhead

"Take a picture!" We were doing a geometry lesson outside with toothpicks and marshmallows and Graham joined in.

I have tons of random stuff like this on my phone

"Take a picture!"



Reading: Like his siblings, he really enjoys books. He loves being read to, but he’ll also spend a lot of time looking at books by himself. He's even written some of his own short books!




Conquering Fears: He’s still not that excited about play structures at parks because he doesn’t like being up high and looking down at the ground, but he will go on them. He shocked me when we went to Legoland and he decided to do the rollercoaster. Admittedly, he did not really enjoy it, but he tried it!

He was really nervous about this slide, but when he finally agreed to try it he loved it.

Climbing the Magnolia tree in our yard.




Annual Birthday Questions

What is your name? Graham Andrew Howard

How old are you turning? 5

When is your birthday? April

How old is Daddy? five a hundred

How old is Mommy? five a hundred

What is your favorite color? All the colors

What is your favorite food? Z bars and ice cream

Who is your best friend? Luke (a friend from preschool)

Favorite song? Ninjago

Favorite animal? Koala

What are you scared of? The darkness and the Dark Lord (in Star Wars)

What makes you happy? Koala

Where is your favorite place to go? Australia and New York

What is your favorite toy? My minifigure and koala

What do you want to be when you grow up? A koala hospital person

What is Mommy’s favorite thing to do? Listen to Alexa's music

What is Daddy’s favorite thing to do? Eat candy


Empire State Building


Birthday cupcakes in the hotel room

Saturday, June 19, 2021

Eight-Years-Old

Eight. This age seemed like a lifetime away when Alexis, Jack, and Faith were born, yet somehow we are here already! In the fall they will start 3rd grade. But as unbelievable as it is that they have already been in our lives for 8 years, it’s also hard to remember them as younger versions of themselves. I’m so thankful for my old blog posts and Facebook posts as, without them, I don’t think I’d remember anything!

Family vacation in Hilton Head

Alexis

Faith

Jack
The 8th year of their lives was unusual. COVID had a huge impact on our daily lives as it limited our outings and interactions with others. We were used to going to school, going to church, going to others’ houses for church Community Group and play dates, and going to fun places like the zoo, Botanic Garden, and parks. With COVID we were cautious. Compared to what we used to do, we have hardly been anywhere in the last year. The funny thing is that we have all become accustomed to staying home, and now I forget that there are a lot of places that we can explore in the area. 

Of course, besides the pandemic, our lives also looked different because we moved across the country to northern Virginia last summer. We were fortunate to be greeted by friendly neighbors, which helped us feel at home very quickly. Alexis, Jack, and Faith have enjoyed playing with the other kids on our street, especially during the fall and winter when the local school was still 100% virtual and sports weren’t really happening. They played hours of four square, kickball, and other outdoor games with the kids in our culdesac. 

Since we moved right before school started, and we weren’t sure what school would look like in our new area with COVID, we decided to homeschool. In a way, it felt like we got to take a step back and just let them be kids again. We did about 4 hours of school a day, and then they had a lot of free time to play, read, and play outside with the neighbor kids. Although having triplets obviously has its challenges, I have been very thankful that the kids have each other during the pandemic. They do fight like other siblings, but they also spend hours at a time playing well together. 
Although we plan to send them to the local public school in the fall, homeschool was definitely the right decision for us last year. I enjoyed being very involved in their learning, and we were able to do many things that they won’t get to do in public school (daily Bible lessons, cursive, watching random videos to figure out answers to questions they asked, etc.). I will miss teaching them, but I’m also ready for a break after spending almost every day with them since March 2020. And I think it will be good for them to learn from others and spread their wings a bit. 

Faith

Alexis

Jack

Building 3D shapes outside

Alexis

Faith

Jack


Jack's LA worksheet for the day. I loved his drawings.

In Albuquerque we spent a lot of time at the climbing gym, and we spent many weekends climbing. The kids and I haven’t climbed at all since March 2020, because of COVID and moving (there are climbing gyms here, but we haven’t made the effort to go). The kids also usually ski every winter as they've been doing it since they were 4-years-old, but it didn't work out to go this year. They noticed that neighbor kids were doing organized sports, and they were interested in trying them. This spring we signed Jack up for Little League, and Alexis and Faith signed up for soccer. Organized sports were a hit! All three kids looked forward to every practice and game, not only for the sports, but also for the social aspect. 

Micah has taken them running several times (and I ran with them as well, before I got injured)


We have gone on numerous family bike rides this year.







Here are some other things about Alexis, Jack, and Faith at age 8.

Reading: All three are avid readers. Jack is working his way through the Harry Potter series and both girls read all 60+ books of the Puppy Place series. I often find them reading on the couch at random times throughout the day. Jack is an earlier riser, so he likes to read or draw if he wakes up before the rest of the family. The girls like to wake up a little later and then read in bed. All three enjoy reading before bed every night.

A common sight

Faith reading in bed on her last night of being 7

Alexis reading on her last night of being 7

Jack on his last night of being 7

Siblings: Graham is playing with Alexis, Jack, and Faith a lot more these days. He joins in with their pretend play and tries playing actual board games with them. Although they definitely get annoyed by their (sometimes demanding) little brother, all three are also quite patient with him. Alexis, Jack, and Faith play well together a lot of the time, but in the last year I've noticed that quite often two of them will be playing together while the third one is doing their own thing. I'm glad that they are finally learning how to be alone as they have always had each other as entertainment. Plus, it must be tiring always having your siblings around.





Easter Sunday


Cousin Kinsley, Faith, Graham, Alexis, Jack

Music: Jack started taking virtual violin lessons in August. He mostly has enjoyed learning the violin and when he's really enjoying it he'll practice without any prompting. The girls have continued to learn songs on the piano, with me as their teacher. I hope to find them an actual teacher soon, though, as my elementary school piano skills are quite rusty and they probably aren't progressing as quickly as they would with a "real" teacher.

Pretend Play: I am still surprised by how well they play together most of the time. They love to create things to go along with their games, and they really get into their play. The only downside is that they are always creating a bit of a mess, and there is usually some grumbling about picking up after themselves.

Faith drew Dr. Suess characters on the driveway


Graham and Jack in homemade mustaches



Alexis playing a game in the backyard

Dog Lovers: I honestly don't think I've ever met anyone who loves dogs as much as the girls do. Jack and Graham both enjoy dogs too, but Faith and Alexis LOVE dogs. They know the neighbors by the dogs that live at the house. Unfortunately Jack has a fairly severe dog allergy, but it seems inevitable that we will get a dog some day.

Outgoing Personalities: I can't get over how unafraid my kids are to talk to adults, both those they know and those they don't. I was definitely a shy child, and it amazes me that they run up to random people to ask them questions, especially if a dog is involved. Jack tends to hold back a bit more than the girls, but all three are excited to meet new people.

Lost Teeth: Faith has now lost 8 teeth, Jack has lost 6 teeth, and Alexis has lost 7 teeth (although 2 of those have been lost since her birthday!). Jack visited the orthodontist last week and the girls will go for the first time in a couple of weeks. Jack will probably have braces in the next year.

Birthday Celebration

The kids and I went to Michigan at the end of May / beginning of June, and Micah helped us drive home the day before the kids' birthday. That meant that we were home on their actual birthday, but I was exhausted from the drive and Micah was taking a class from home that week. We squeezed in birthday activities when Micah had breaks in his class, so they opened a couple of gifts in the early morning and they opened the rest mid-morning. At lunch time they quickly decorated their own cakes, and then we sang and ate cake. I took the kids swimming at our pool in the afternoon, and then they had their first swim team practice in the evening. We ate a late pasta dinner (that Micah cooked while I took the kids to swim practice), and then we ate more cake and played outside for awhile. It was an odd birthday in some ways, but the kids still had fun and felt celebrated. The two big surprises on their birthday were that I had ordered a large yard sign that was put up during the night while the kids slept, and that I had organized for us to dog sit for 10 days at our house (the closest we can get to having our own dog right now). We also had an early birthday celebration for the kids with my family while we were in Michigan. 

Ready to celebrate in Michigan


Donuts on National Donut Day in Michigan. The kids were born on National Donut Day in 2013, so we always celebrate with donuts!

Birthday morning at home

The giant sign

We live on a corner on a street you have to go on to get out of the neighborhood, so EVERYONE saw this giant sign!

We laid paper down to cover the frosting that we didn't want sprinkles on, and then carefully peeled the paper up after the cake was decorated.

Faith

Alexis

First swim at our pool in Fort Hunt

Ready for their first swim team practice

The finished products