Edwin is 5!

 February 5th 2022 Edwin turned 5!

Our little peacemaker boy turned 5 on February 5th! We were so excited to give this boy all the attention, and he ate it up. 

Edwin is our quiet observer he learns most by listening and only responding when he wants to.

Edwin loves to have 1 or 2 close fiends and does wonderful in small groups. He loved preschool but he would always take a couple hours to "warm up" then he was super chatty and playful. There's nothing wrong with this I love that he is thoughtful about what deserves his attention. 

Way back, pre-covid. Edwin was my little buddy where we would run all the errands and have that one on one time while his big brothers were in school. I didn't know why at the time but every day I would feel like it was such a privilege to spend my days with him. I felt strongly that the time was precious and I needed to soak it up and be grateful for that time we spent together. I could have never guessed what the world would turn into and that our one-on-one time would be changed quicker than expected. 

Granted he loves having all his brothers around and we do figure out times to have one-on-one time and he's happy with that as well. But it was just interesting to know I had those feelings so strong and I have no regrets for how we spent that (shortened) time. 

This boy is strong. And runs SO fast. All the kids in his preschool would talk about how Edwin was the fastest and won every race, but the funny thing is that Edwin didn't care. He never gloated about it, he just enjoyed running with his friends. Another parent pointed out that he thought it was so rare for a child his age to be so humble. I guess I have his older brothers to thank for that, they're always keeping him humble. 😉

Edwin loves doing schoolwork. He's been excited to strat putting letters together and figuring out how to read. It will be a fun school year this year. 

His imagination runs wild and he and Miles are always making up new games and ways to play. 

He is probably the least interested in his baby brother, ha! He rather run with the big kids. I know he loves Walter.

But he sure does love his puppy and I've seen him go to the puppy for snuggles when he's feeling overwhelmed and frustrated which is really one of the main reasons we wanted a puppy. 

For his birthday celebration, we started the day with crepes. A favorite for birthdays around here. 

We went to swim lessons at some point during the day. And then did gifts.

Can you see Edwin in this photo?

And then there is this cake, which needs some explaining. Edwin kept telling me different designs he wanted for a cake so I ended up saying that I would make him a cake and a couple kinds of frosting and he could decorate it however he wanted it. So once it was cake decorating time, he decided he wanted Max to do it but he explained how he wanted it to look. So Max made these frosting people according to Edwin's very detailed specifications. 

Then Edwin decided that the candles needed to be in the people's belly buttons, that's right, belly buttons, nothing more. He thought the belly button candles were funny. Miles gave a little smirk thinking it looked funny and Max and I had a good laugh thinking about the belly button candles ever since. 

He got a little shy with all of us singing to him. 

Anyway, we had wonderful evening and movie night and enjoyed giving Edwin all the birthday love!

Beach Day

February 2022

We had a quick beach field trip in February. Our cousins were heading to Lincoln City to search for glass floats so we jumped in the car to meet them. We got there in the afternoon. And played on the beach for a bit. It was kinda cold but the boys had a great time running around with their cousins and jumping from rock to rock. 

After awhile, Walter was wet and cold and grumpy so I took him up to the car to change and warm up for a bit, when we were walking back it looked like everyone was done because they were all hiking back to the car and Charlie had a decent gash on his leg. It wasn't super deep but it was pretty bloody, and luckily he was so numb he barely felt it. We didn't want to stop playing so after we all got warm dry clothes on, we went to a nearby playground that was a tiny bit more inland so it was less windy. We stayed until it started getting dark. 

Walter borrowed a cool hat from his Auntie. 

Nobody wanted to leave when it was time. The cousins had a campsite so we were tempted to go join them for dinner but I decided I wanted to start the drive home.

February 2022 Photo Dump

February started with preparations for our Edwin turning 5 so as I was taking his 5 year old photos (another post), Walter got really distracted in a puddle. And it was at nature school so I just let it happen, actually I always let it happen, ha!

Sometimes I find my kids sleeping in weird places in the morning. 

One day at the park after Edwin's taekwondo class...

More progress, the shower was installed!!

Puppies are helpful with schoolwork. Also, a good glimpse into how our floors look 85% of the time. 

Deck framing looking pretty good

A collision while carrying bongo drums and tripping over the dog. He was okay!

Perfection!

Helping in Edwin's preschool. 

It was just a beautiful sight to see a shower in our bathroom. 

Some morning science lessons look like this. 

Walter approves. 

And then it was time to get tiling. Max had never done this before, and apparently doing a herringbone pattern is a whole lot more complicated than a subway pattern or other patterns, especially around the curved shower. 

It's fun when they come out of their rooms like this. 

We were excited to have Edgar over while his family did a field trip downtown. 

Edwin's preschool did a field trip to Tualatin River Wildlife refuge so we got to go back and had a great time. 

It was a beautiful February day. 

His boots were causing blisters. 

Edwin helped me build a little chicken coop so we could bring our chickens over from our old house. 

Framework painted

Saturday swim lessons started

Still setting up. 

An early spring!

Walter was really into reading this Primary clothes catalogue for awhile. 

The chickens came home and Maisy has been obsessed. 

It was so nice to get fresh eggs again. 

Max cutting tile in the freezing temperatures. His hands would get so numb and it was super tedious to make each little cut because the tile saw was across the house, outside, and he had to jump up and down from the side door since our deck wasn't done and there were no stairs. And some times he would need to go back and forth for one little tile until the cut was perfect.  Not complaining just a funny memory. 

Max set up a "pin cupid's arrow on the heart" game for Valentine's day and somehow this is the only photo I took. He also surprised me with chocolate and a couples massage and the promise of a bidet which he had already secretly wired our bathroom for. 

Love finding old pictures of our house. 

More park days. 

Tiling is happening

They had a whole thing they were acting our that I happened upon. 

Walter decided he liked to live on the edge and walk over the bridge. 

Chicken photos. 

Probably day dreaming about chickens 

The absolute cutest little daffodils that were planted accidentally. 

Checking on the chickens

Walking to preschool

Really, this became Walter's favorite thing. and he got a whole bunch sturdier with his walking and running because of it. 

Walking to pick Edwin up from preschool 

Trixie is the queen and the ultimate survivor of all chicken massacres. 

And they somehow wanted to sleep on the saw instead of in their coop. 

Hew was almost as excited as me for new curriculum. 

Fun little things I happen upon. 

Got some free coats for Maisy from a neighbor. She wasn't amused. 

Fun little home date night while my mom took a couple of the boys for an overnighter. 

And Grandma took Edwin to Build a bear to pick out his birthday gift. 

Progress!!

Preschool buddies.

Finding large chunks of ice, and cuddling with them. 

I told him he could stay up late if he did his math test. Mr. Charlie is a night owl and it worked out great. 

A chilly day at nature school 

Cozy by the fire. 

Edwin had his own cheering squad for his preschool fun run. 

I found him carrying and looking at and babbling about this family photo a lot. 

And that was our chilly February!