Sutton is 13!

 We officially have a teenager! Happy 13th birthday, Sutton!

You are just the coolest kid ever and so responsible. If I ask you to do something, or not do something, I can count on you obey. At least 9 times out of 10, haha. Your brother is a different story! I love that we can have real conversations about real things and that we have the kind of relationship where we talk about everything. 

At your doctor's appointment wee just had, we found out you are now 5'4"! You're only a half inch below me now. 

You are a pet lover and insisted on getting some of your photos with Riddick. He isn't great at posing...notice how he's getting ready to bolt in that last photo.

You also love allllllllll our cats. Currently we have just Blueberry who lives inside. But then outside, we have Luna and her 5 kittens (OJ, Smoky, Snowball, and the math twins - Times and Divide), Oreo and her 2 kittens (Cici and Preston), and then Coconut and Kyle. You and your brother are trying to convince me and Daddy to let Snowball live inside too. 

Our school is K - 6, so you graduated from elementary school this year! It was pretty emotional for me and I can't believe you are now going to junior high. You started weights class with your friends this summer, which also sounds like such a teenager thing to do. 

You are still loving soccer! Last year, you played mostly defender and some goalie on your club team, the VC Fusion. This year the main goalie won't play in the fall season, so you get to be goalie! Very exciting but nerve-racking for your mother. Daddy will be coaching this year, so that will be fun as well. You also do goalie lessons with your hero - Steven Hamersky - who used to be the goalie for the Wichita Wings. We go to all the Wings games together, and we LOVE it. It's so cool to have that special time with you since Daddy is down on the sidelines filming the games, and Ren doesn't enjoy them so he usually stays with Grandma.

You guys can argue like crazy people (and it drives me INSANE), but you and your brother are seriously the best together. You love each other and do everything together. He sleeps downstairs in your room on the weekends and in the summer for "brother sleepovers." He rarely uses his real bed because he just wants to be with you. You also include him when you have friends over, which is very admirable, and I appreciate that so much about you.

You're obsessed with spicy Cheetos, Lipton green tea with citrus, and anything with buffalo sauce. You love Chic-fil-a (for their Mac n cheese), McDonald's (for their spicy chicken sandwich), Noodles and Co (for their Mac n cheese), and Chili's (for their chips and salsa). You either order a bacon cheeseburger with ranch or something buffalo when we go to most other restaurants. You haven't ordered off the kids menu for quite awhile, but now you're too old for most of them!

When we go to the pool, you like to get a Twix at the break. You also love plain Hershey's chocolate bars, Milk Duds, Juicy Fruit gum (you just recently taught yourself how to blow bubbles).

During the school year, you usually eat toast with peanut butter for breakfast. On the weekends and the summer, I leet you have whatever. Usually I make chocolate chip banana bread (which you're obsessed with) or chocolate chip muffins. If I haven't made any of those, you'll do a bowl of cereal (Cinnamon Toast Crunch, dry), or an egg sandwich.

Your best friend right now is Brayden. You guys are always asking for play dates and sleepovers - which we have done quite a bit of this summer! You had your first sleepover at his house this May (other than a random one when you were 4, and aside from staying at grandparents houses). It went well and you didn't get homesick! You and Brayden are constantly texting each other, and playing video games together (while online, at your separate houses).

You love to play Gorilla Tag (GT) on the VR with your friends. Once again, online while at your own houses. You get such a workout and get so sweaty from it. You also do a lot of Minecraft. You have a YouTube channel with your brother - the Rad Redheads - and you love posting short videos of our cats there.

We did the inflatables at Splash Aqua Park for your birthday party with a bunch of your school friends and two soccer buddies. It was a blast and everyone loved it. 

You still love swimming, we go to the pool as much as we can, but you decided you didn't want to do swim team this year.

Daddy had given you his old phone a year or two ago but it wasn't hooked up to a number. If you were at home, it was connected to our Wifi so you could text or FaceTime us if you were home but we weren't. We let you have only us, grandparents, and Brayden on there to contact. But for your 13th birthday, our big gift was that we turned it into a REAL phone. So now you have a number, you can be online even when you're not connected to Wifi, and you are in the process of gathering more of your friends' numbers. You also have been added to our "stalking app" (Life360) so we can all always see where each other is.

We have been leaving you home alone, or alone with you brother a lot more often this year. It's so weird. SO WEIRD. But you seem to love it...I think it makes you feel more "adult." If I'm gone too long, you always text me to ask where I am though and when I'll be back. So you DO love me. 

You have the best sense of humor and are actually funny. Even your main teacher last year (Mrs. Ferguson) pointed that out. I love that you are positive, you don't try too hard to be cool, you are kind, you care about people and animals, you love your grandparents well, you still get excited about things like a little kid, but you're able to understand more complex things like a grown up. 

You still have some OCD-type tendencies which has always been the case with you. But I think you might be loosening up on them a bit. We always have to do the same bedtime routine (brush teeth, hold hands to pray, you always have to hold my right hand while Ren holds my left), then I have to kiss you both on the forehead and say the EXACT SAME PHRASE every night. Yours is "Love you, goodnight, see you tomorrow." I always have to say "Good morning," as the first thing to you when you come up from your bedroom. I also am always supposed to make you aware of the plan for the next day and if I don't, you get a bit upset and say "WHY DIDN"T YOU TELL ME?!" You like to keep a lot of things that I would prefer to throw away. And (as evidenced in these photos), you always wear entrance bracelets until they fall off. This one was from your birthday party. 

You got braces! You've had them just over 10 months now. You got them in August last year. Your teeth look SO STRAIGHT, especially when you compare them to last year. You are supposed to have them for a total of 24 months but I don't know why, when your teeth are already looking perfect. Wishful thinking that maybe wee'll get them off sooner? You've done really well with them, the worst was when you first got them on and then had to go to school, and ended up crying at school from the pain. Some of your adjustments since then have left you a bit sore, but nothing like that first time. You do pretty well with your elastics too.

We weren't consistently going to church for awhile because we couldn't really find one that felt right. But recently, we started going to Riverlawn mostly for you and your brother. At the beginning of June, your age group was promoted to the youth group and you have been loving it! A couple of your soccer friends go there, and it's a pretty big group that holds some fun events. You love Jesus and love learning about him, you are outgoing and like meeting new people. You make new friends easily. So it has been really good for you and I am thrilled that we seem to have found your place.

(Please notice Luna and Coconut photobombing in the photo above.)

You love to wear your Crocs constantly. With socks. You also prefer to wear those dry-fit type of shirts but will pretty much wear any t-shirt. You still don't love jeans. You have like 2 hoodies you rotate in the winter.

You're a smartie! You got pretty much all A's...ended each semester with all A's but had a B or two on your quarterly grade cards.

You play the trumpet in school and have the most amazing natural talent for it! You are doing "Sweet Dreams" and "Feliz Navidad" and "the Can Can" while the other kids are doing "Hot Cross Buns" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb." You also took the skill you now have of reading music, and taught yourself to play piano on a little keyboard that my mom gave you from when I was a kid. You Google the notes for songs you like or you figure them out yourself. So cool.

All in all, you're the best son a mom could want, and you love your family and friends so well! We are so beyond proud of you and LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

(We found Kyle lounging in the woods as we were taking these photos.)

And here's the birthday video:

Ren is 9!

Ren turned NINE a few days ago!

It's our last year in the single digits and insane that we are already here. Ren is one-of-a-kind in the best way. Here are some things about Ren as he is now that will be fun to look back on:

-He is very artistic! He loves drawing, painting, coloring, creating. His current project is drawing (in detail) Minecraft weapons and then tacking them on the bulletin board he got from Grandma Nancy. He loves talking about colors...and is always trying to explain the EXACT shade of blue that is his favorite. I think we have decided that it's called Azure.

-His most favorite thing is hiking and climbing on boulders. He could take or leave a walk or a flat hike, but if it involves climbing or hills, he is all about it. He's gone on several mile long hikes and loved every second. He also loves playgrounds where he can climb, and he likes me to make "challenges" at playgrounds. Like: go across the monkey bars, up the spider web, through the merry-go-round, up the stairs, down the slide....as fast as you can!

-But he doesn't like sports. He has zero interest in playing any type of sport, competitive or otherwise. While other boys do some of that at recess, he'd prefer to play a pretend type of game. So he plays with girls a lot at recess.

-He says his best friends (besides his brother) are Leanna and Vance. He and Leanna have a very cute relationship and she recently got them corresponding Best Friends keychains.

-He is very very very very smart. He will learn new words at school or on a TV show, then incorporate them (correctly!) into every day conversation. Examples are exponential, hyperbole. He also pulls out the most random facts to tell me at the most random times. Recently he told me that Mercury is the only planet without an atmosphere.

-He does this funny thing where he alerts us when there is a "fact family" on the clock. Like, if the clock reads 6:33, he will say "FACT FAMILY" because 3+3=6...and don't forget that 6-3=3. Hence, fact family. He has recently added the tidbit that when there's a 5 and 2 next to each other on a normal digital clock, it looks like a mushroom cloud from a nuclear bomb.

-He still makes some of his letters and numbers backwards. It's never consistent and it's becoming less and less but it still happens at least once on nearly every assignment. We have just decided it's because he doesn't care about the details, that's not important. It's just getting the right answer. I'm sure he'll grow out of it!

-We had a little trouble at the beginning of the school year with him not obeying his teacher, or forgetting what she told him and doing it again. At conferences, we came up with a little system to help remind him of what he should be doing and also to give him a goal to work toward each day - red, yellow, and green - his teacher would write where he was at that day. We never got any reds, occasionally got a yellow, but he got to the point where every day was green and his teacher said he was doing so much better that we don't have to do it anymore. She said she has been very proud of the changes he made this year, the leader and friend he is becoming.

-He took speech this year. The teacher noticed some things about his speech that I didn't even, and after being evaluated we found it was an issue with S and Z sounds, and how far his tongue goes forward. He looks forward to speech every week but I think she has just about phased him out since he's made good progress.

-On school days, the normal routine is that Ren gets up around 7am and snuggles with me on the couch for a few minutes. Then I make him a bowl of oatmeal and some chocolate milk. He generally prefers that I pack a cold lunch for him than eating the school lunch but there are a few school lunches he will eat. Cold lunches consist of a meat-cheese-and-mayo sandwich, strawberry applesauce, SunChips, and a Capri Sun. We get to school around 7:50 and I pick them up at 3:20. We come home and he chills out on the couch to watch TV for awhile. If we don't have evening activities, he will do legos, drawing, or play with his pets. If we DO have evening activities, they are mostly his brother's sports, so Ren is drug around to a lot of Sutton's things all the time. He always packs a backpack with drawing things and Legos. An iPad if we allow it, which isn't often.

-He has discovered a love of reading this year. Mostly graphic novels, but he is slowly branching out to some chapter books too. 

-His room is ALWAYS messy. When you ask him to clean it, he will be in there for like 20 minutes and then you go check on him and it looks like he hasn't done a thing. 

-He can have trouble focusing...I think his mind is just constantly working and wondering. I have to get on him and on him and on him to do something and I don't think it's (usually) disobedience, more that he just forgets.

-His stories can be verrrrrrrrrrry long-winded. Like he gives all these tiny details and over-explains things. My personality (enneagram 3 = efficiency is life) has a hard time with this (he's enneagram 4 = boho and feelings and seeing the beauty in things) and I sometimes try to rush him to get his thoughts out. I do try to be aware though, and not rush him all the time.

-He does this thing where he asks you something about yourself when he wants to tell you something about himself. It took me awhile to catch on. He was always asking me things like "What are your top 3 favorite superheroes?" or "What is your second favorite color?" or "If you could buy any one thing in the world, what would it be?" And I would answer him and move on. But then I began to realize that he wanted to tell me his answers to those things. It's a very interesting way for a 9-year-old to go about conversations.

-Favorite things: Doc Greens. Mac n cheese. Mac n cheese with hot dogs and ketchup. Dog Man. Wings of Fire graphic novels. Sweats and hoodies. Footed pajamas. Cottage cheese. Yoohoo. Cute animals. Azure. His brother. Weekends. Show - the Owl House and Phineas + Ferb. Movie - Lightyear. Legos. Stuffed animals. Foxes. Gum (but not mint). Orange pop. Twix. Swimming. Trampolines.

-He doesn't love not sharing a room with Sutton, even though its been over a year since they got their separate rooms. He says he has trouble falling asleep often, we put a little couch under his loft bed and he chooses to sleep on that sometimes. He will come to our room still, every so often, saying he can't sleep or he had a bad dream or he can't stop thinking about sad things. He spends the night down in Sutton's room every weekend day for a "brother sleepover" so they just keep an extra mattress down there at all times. 

-In general, Sutton is still his favorite thing ever. Their relationship is the best. Even though they annoy me because they just pick at each other.

-He is very kind. If he has a yummy treat, he will always ask if you want a bite. Or if he does something he thinks is fun, he will ask if you want to try it. He is always so good about sharing and being thoughtful in that way.

-He mostly showers now instead of doing baths, which is new this year. He still has to use the No Tears baby soap because he's not good at keeping it out of his eyes. Another new thing is that after his shower, he likes to get fully dressed in the bathroom (instead of coming out in his underwear like he always used to) with his hair perfectly brushed, plastered to his head. He spends a really long time doing these things, and talks to himself in the bathroom the whole time, we can always hear him and it always makes us laugh. 

-He is definitely an introvert, and likes to be in his own head. I think his mind is just going going going, which explains a lot of his quirks. He needs alone time after being around too many people, this year for his birthday he just wanted to take one friend to do something. He doesn't like loudness and can be found hunched over with this hands over his ears. He's not nearly as outwardly expressive as his brother. 

-He gets in moods where nothing is happy and everything is wrong. He will throw his body around and pout and not respond appropriately to anything. These are few and far between....we find it mostly happens if he's had a bunch of unchecked electronics time.

-Speaking of electronics, his choice is to be on his iPad but he also got a hand-me-down computer and hand-me-down phone this year. Phone isn't hooked up to a number yet, but he can play games on it when he's connected to Wifi and he got a Starry Nights phone case that he loves. He likes to play Minecraft, Roblox, My Little Universe, Freeform.

-We joke that he has "cute aggression". We got a kitten a few months ago and he was just constantly saying he wanted to squeeze her so hard because she's so cute. He loooooooves animals.

-He continues to be one of the most clever kids I know, as in, he has really great comedic timing. I love it.

-We have had a mohawk since the fall. He loves it. I think he loves having something different about himself:

-He kept coming up with great ideas for poses or spots for his photos this time. He really wanted one hanging from a tree:

-One of the things we love most about him is how much joy he has for simple things. He sees the beauty in things around him, which I think can be lost on kids a lot. 

And the birthday video:

Sutton is 12!

Okay. I begin every one of these birthday posts with a "I can't believe my baby is..." (insert the age). But guys. This one is LITERALLY the last one before teenage years. It's so surreal to think back to how I started this blog when I was struggling with infertility, and not knowing how my journey to becoming a mother would go. Now I have a 12-year-old. I cannot. Cannot even BEGIN to describe how grateful I am.

Sutton is the coolest kid. He loves cats, dogs, raccoons, playing the trumpet, playing soccer, swimming, Minecraft, YouTube, 3D printing, being with friends, playing with his brother, being silly, Legos, space, and so much more that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

Here he is with the current favorite cat: Apollo.

Sutton is kind and caring. He genuinely cares about people's feelings and will go out of his way to make someone happy. 

Sutton and Ren are two peas in a pod even though they are very different! They literally do everything together (even sleep together since it's summer!). They play Minecraft, build legos, build foam forts, film YouTube videos, watch TV, and just hang out together. Obviously that also comes with a lot of little arguments and nitpicking at each other...but I'm so glad they have each other. 

Sutton is so smart. He got all As this year! He says he wants to be a NASA scientist. I tell him that's fine, as long as he doesn't move away from me ha! Not sure how that's going to work.

During the school year, Sutton gets up at 7:15am and goes to bed at 8:30pm. Now that it's summer, we make the boys go down to Sutton's room around 9pm and they usually sleep in til 8 or 9.

He is currently swimming in his second summer of swim team for our local town. Even though he moved up an age group from last summer, he still has been rocking the breath stroke/breaststroke. He got first place at the first meet this year!

He played his first season of club soccer this fall. It was rough, but not just for him - the team was playing up and didn't win a single game til the very last one! He has decided that he loves playing goalkeeper so that is his passion now. He has been taking goalie lessons from his favorite Wichita Wings player Steven Hammersky, who just so happens to be friends with Sutton's dad.

Sutton began playing trumpet this past year at school. He has a natural talent for it! He will decide on a song he wants to learn and then figure out the notes himself, write them on a piece of paper, and play it for us. He's amazing. While his classmates were playing Hot Cross Buns at the band concert this spring, they saved Sutton's solo til last and he played Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics. Amazing!

He will generally eat a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast in the summer and on weekends. During school, I make him have something a bit more substantial and he usually has an egg sandwich. Sometimes peanut butter toast. He's not as big of a fan of sandwiches for lunch as his little bro, but he would love a cheeseburger, Mac n cheese, pepperoni pizza, fish sticks, or PB&J.

He still loves to read and is in between series at the moment. I am reading Harry Potter to Ren this summer and Sutton always listens too, even though he's been through the series twice already (first time with me reading, second time reading it on his own).

Sutton knows every word to every country song that comes on the radio. Listening to too much country music with his dad.

Sutton is obsessed with Pokemon cards. Like, obsessed. He trades at school all the time with his friends and has been through several different binders, trying to find the one he likes best. He's always talking about "shinys," "evolutions," or "shadow..."-something that I don't remember.

Sutton had some school friends over for slip n slide time, water balloons, pizza, and ice cream cake for his party this year. They had lots of fun!

And here's the birthday videos, we had an interruption so we had to pause filming and break it into two videos.