Spring is a little late this year... but I think she's coming. We had one last big dump of snow and took advantage of it. The snow was perfect for a showgirl. Ira and Enoch love kicking and breaking up clumps of snow, so I rolled them their own snowballs to break which also happened to be very fun to slide off of. It's been a loooong winter and I'm grateful for these happy moments.

My sweet little Maeve Alberta is 6 years old! How did this happen? Maeve is everything. She has the best, most infectious laugh. People around us have always commented on her laugh and still do. She is thriving in kindergarten in a way unlike her older sisters (is it because of the pandemic or her personality?). She loves school. She loves learning her letters and numbers, she loves the rules, she loves her teacher and her friends. It's been an absolute joy to watch her blossom and show real maturity I didn't even know she had developed. Maeve is missing her bottom 4 front teeth and thinks the gappy adult teeth coming in look like castles. Her mind works in the most interesting of ways. She loves the cross country electric towers - "look my favorite things!" she said to us once on a road trip. Maeve's favorite thing is to play Toca World on the iPad. She also loves skipping forward in whatever show she watches (drives me nuts!). Enoch worships her. Maeve continues to be a snuggler, and when I recently denied her entrance to my bed in the middle of the night and she responded, "but we usually snuggle in the night," I knew I had to hold firm and tuck her into her own bed. Maeve loved having friends over to build gingerbread houses, eat cake and play traditional party games. It felt so normal and delightful. Her birthday gifts were things her sisters liked to do. It was heart warming and so special to watch Maeve build lego with Greta and then craft with Holly. How lucky she is to have 2 amazing older sisters.

Here's to many more years with my Maeve. Gosh, I love her.

I did a couple of my favorite Halloween crafts with Maeve. I always love to see what expressions my little ones draw for their pumpkins. This combo reminds me of when I took Maeve to the dentist last week to have her 4 bottom teeth pulled. She had an adult tooth coming in behind them and the little ones were not wiggly. Maeve was so excited and nervous, she told me, "my feelings are all mixed up."

The handprint spider with a yarn web is another favorite of mine. And Maeve's kindergarten teacher provided the pumpkin craft for the children to do at home and then take to school. I really enjoyed saving up orange items and then gluing it all together with Maeve. Creating with my kids is something I like a lot!

Whoa dear, Maeve is playing soccer! She kind of likes it? I'm not really sure. She really likes if there's a snack at the end of a game and is known to cry if there isn't one. This past week, her own goal was open and it looked like she just couldn't resist kicking the ball into a goal, any goal, so she did. Watching her play is cute because I can see her mind sending signals to her body and her body responding but she's not quite in it yet so her little body is bopping around and she's taking all these quick little steps. It's been a good learning experience for her!

Here we go! Not sure that the math is correct here, it seems to me that if I have 3 children going to school, I should have less than 2 at home... but I guess it does add up because I really do have 5 kiddos. Whew! I think and hope that having the older three at school will free up some of my life a bit, but the first day all three were at school, there was dirt all over my living room (my poor house plants) and toys everywhere. So am I winning? I think I just need to buy more toys, haha. Or an heirloom play kitchen, right Conor?!

Here's Greta on her first day! She's in sixth grade this year, her last year in Elementary school, although you could say she's a middle schooler because she's doing a middle school curriculum. I really hope Greta has a good year. She has some pretty great friends and she's going to try some new things (basketball, an instrument) this year while continuing with activities she knows and loves (cross country, soccer). How is it possible that she's already this old??

And my Holly girl! Holly is in eighth grade, her last year of middle school. Next year, we won't use numbered grades, instead she'll be a freshman! Okay but let's stay present in this moment. This girl has a heart of gold and I'm really proud of her. She's a hard worker and I'm so grateful she has an awesome friend group at school! I can't imagine Holly having anything other than a good year. Crossing my fingers because those middle school years have the potential to be hard.

And oh my little baby off to kindergarten. I joke that her teacher is going to correct all of our parenting failures, but am I actually joking?! Maeve is very excited about kindergarten. Greta helped her pick out her outfit and did her hair too. When Conor told Maeve he would miss her, Maeve told him that she was going to come back. And then when we were all walking with her to school, she asked us why we were coming. She's just so eager to be a big girl walking to school with Greta and the neighbors. When we were within sight of the school and she could see the quantity of children, Maeve became nervous. And so then I think she was glad her parents were with her! I walked Maeve into her classroom and she was definitely nervous, but she had a great day! Next week she goes every day, full days! I think she's going to be so tired and grumpy, but we'll get through it! She can do it!

And now I'm trying to not think too much of next year when I have 3 children, in 3 different schools and maybe Enoch in preschool? I don't need that anticipatory anxiety!