Happy Birthday Laurel!

Our kind, thoughtful, beautiful, challenging, appreciative daughter Laurel turns 11 years old today!  She is such a fun friend, diligent student, hard worker, gifted athlete, and loyal sister.  Laurel continues to be the most logical child we are raising who takes her time reasoning through new ideas before she comes to conclusions.  She asks thought provoking questions that throw us off guard sometimes, but is very content to discuss the answers to those questions without getting bored or frustrated.  Laurel leaves the sweetest notes for her family members to encourage them and tell them how much she appreciates them....she is very heartfelt with her writing!  She is the first child in the family to break a bone this summer and was such a brave young lady....she shed no tears the entire 24 hours it took us to realize her wrist was actually broken and not just a little sore from falling off her bike. She didn't get upset that she had to wear a cast for four weeks during the summer, which meant limiting her water activity time (one of her favorite things to do!) and being at church camp with limited activities.  Laurel doesn't strive to be the center of attention, but is always drawing people to her with her calm and pleasant and consistent personality.  She does like to be first and we are working on humbling ourselves and allowing someone else to see/do/experience things before she does.  She loves eating meat, watching television, using sweet smelling body lotions, chocolate, animals, soccer, and interacting with elderly people.  Laurel has a short temper that only comes out occasionally, but when it does she is quick to react.  She is doing very well with working to control her temper and finding ways she can deal with her emotions.  She does not like cleaning her room, chicken pot pie, being interrupted from a show she is watching, lasagna, and waking up early.  Laurel will say the most kind words to her siblings out of the blue and has made it a goal in her classroom at school to give someone a compliment every day.  We are so proud of this young lady and thankful every day that God has blessed us with her.  We love you mightily, Laurel Annie!!

1. What is your favorite color?  Pink
2. What is your favorite sport? Soccer
3. What is your favorite fruit?  Watermelon
4. What is your favorite movie? Avengers End Game
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Meatballs
6. What is your favorite subject in school? Math
7. What is your favorite game? Papa’s Milkshakeria
8. What is your favorite snack? Goldfish crackers
9. What is your favorite animal? Flamingo
10. What is your favorite song?  Behold Our God
11. What is your favorite book? Little Women
12. Who is your best friend? Maddie
13. What is your favorite cereal? Cocoa Pebbles
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on the rope swing
15. What is your favorite drink? Chocolate milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What is your favorite restaurant? Red Robin
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Sausage and bacon and eggs
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Hamburgers
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A physical therapist

Happy Birthday Levi!

Our witty, kind, helpful, and fun loving boy is 9 years old!  We are so blessed to have Levi in our family.  He is the best brother and very good about his role as youngest in our family.  This summer when Laurel broke her wrist, he was so helpful and asked her, without any prompting from us, if she needed help carrying anything.  One night, Laurel told me "I think Levi is the best little brother in the world."  And she's not wrong!  This year, more than ever, we noticed he is much more willing to go play by himself in his room or outside if he doesn't want to do what his sisters are doing.  Levi can play Legos and with his Avenger action figures all day long!  He also was outside almost all day every day this summer.  He loves swinging on either the rope swing or the regular swing.  He also found every stick on our property that he could turn into a wand and made several different wands to play with.  He is very much an outdoors kind of kid....loves hiking in the woods, swinging sticks into bushes and trees, fishing and hunting with Dad, and being around our fire pit.  Levi loves Avengers, blueberries, helping everyone, McGriddles, Harry Potter, and swimming.  He doesn't like lasagna, when plans change at the last minute, cleaning his closet, his sisters jumping out and scaring him, and Panda Express.  He is such a kind friend and his teachers praise him for his example of a good and respectful student.  He gets upset a bit easier the older he gets, but he also knows how to take himself to a quiet area to calm down.  He doesn't stay upset for long and is learning how to think about his reactions before they come to the surface.  We love Levi so much and are lucky to be raising such a wonderful young man.  Happy birthday, Buddy!

1. What is your favorite color?  Blue
2. What is your favorite sport? Fishing
3. What is your favorite fruit?  Blueberries
4. What is your favorite movie? Avengers End Game
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pita bread and honey
6. What is your favorite subject in school? Art
7. What is your favorite game? Clue
8. What is your favorite snack? Apples and caramel
9. What is your favorite animal? Dolphin
10. What is your favorite song? Are We Out of the Woods
11. What is your favorite book? Dragon Masters: Saving the Sun Dragon
12. Who is your best friend? Noah, Cameron, Leah and Brandon
13. What is your favorite cereal? Honey Bunches of Oats
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Exploring the woods
15. What is your favorite drink? Sprite
16. What is your favorite holiday? Valentines Day
17. What is your favorite restaurant? Red Robin
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Waffles and bacon and hash browns
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Hamburgers
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? An astronaut