Budding with Personality

Every year I try to remember to write a personality blog post about the kids.  I don't read the previous years' posts until after I write the current year's, but I make sure to link back to the previous one.  This should make it easier to one day go backward through the years to see how each of our children have grown and developed into the wonderful people I am sure they will become.  It is also usually a time to show off pictures of them :)

 These silly goobers are growing like weeds!  Everyone tells you that time goes quickly, and while I believed them, it still seems to take me by surprise how old they are already.

 These are the good pictures where no one is falling down or getting pushed or picking random berries.

Henry aka Hen, Henny, Hank, Henry-Benry, Henny-Hen

 Henry's allergies are definitely getting better - I feel like this time last year he probably woke up at once a night because he was itchy and needed more medication and some snuggles approximately 6/7 nights.  Now it is the opposite, about 1/7 nights he may be affected by his allergies.  I hate to start out his personality post with allergy stuff, but it has been a big part of what defines him so far.  I am hoping that it will become less and less a part of who he is and that he will begin defining himself more and more. 

 Henry is usually easy going and happy.  He is SO EXCITED to begin kindergarten this fall and go to the same school as Stella.  He has been counting down for months.  He loves to tell me that even though he is younger than me he can write his name smaller than I can.  I would say that probably isn't entirely true, but he does proudly write it as small as he possibly can to sign birthday cards.

 He still believes in magic - he can't quite decide if I am pulling his leg about my "back eyes" as he calls the eyes in the back of my head.  I got him to choose the pair of tennis shoes I wanted him to get yesterday by convincing him that they made him run faster than the pair he had originally chosen. 

 This is his meanest face.  I hope it never gets any meaner.  He can stay sweet.  Henry is very helpful.  He likes to help set the table, vacuum, and do anything else he thinks will earn him a sticker for his chart.  He was the first one to fill his chart this summer and earn a toy. 

 Henry is very into super heroes right now - he loves to get books about them at the library.  He had one book that he checked out and was looking through on the way home in the car and he got to the end and belly laughed so hard because of something that he saw in the book!  His belly laugh is the best sound.

 Henry is my snuggle bug.  He loves to give hugs and kisses and show affection.  I hope he never changes.  He loves on his sisters too and only occasionally gets pushed away.  He is happy to tag along with either one and do whatever they are doing - he wants to do all of the big kid stuff he can.  He even learned to ride without training wheels already this year.  Slow down baby boy!  I am not ready for you to be a big kid yet. 

  Leila aka Lulu, Leila-Lula

Leila turned NINE this year.  I can't believe my first baby is already nine!  Look at her being sassy!  Leila is still very sweet and reserved.  She is an old soul.  She definitely knows herself.  When we were camping last week she and I took a walk along the beach.  We were talking and I commented on a beautiful house on the water, asking her if she thought she would like to live there and if so, if she would begin to take the beauty for granted?  She responded that no, she did not think that she would love to live on the beach - it would not suit her.  Which I agree is probably pretty accurate as she spent very little time in the water while we were down there. When did she get so wise?

 Leila appreciates neatness.  She packed for herself for each of our vacations this year, not just so that she could choose which clothes to wear, but because I would not have organized it to her liking.  She is even a bit braggadocious about it; she and Stella shared a basket for their clothes (which she separated the halves with a piece of cardboard so that nothing would overlap) and kept asking people to guess whose side was which.  She rolled the pants inside the matching shirt and carefully put each bundle in place.  I hesitate to put away her clean underwear as I might upset her system. 

 Her teacher last year was convinced that Leila will likely grow up to be a teacher.  I think she definitely has it in her if that is what she wants.  She loves rules and to make up crafts to teach her brother and sister to do.  She loves to be in control.

 Leila's mean face is kind of silly too.  I don't like it when she fights with her siblings - there has been a lot of bickering lately and I am taking comfort in the fact that they are learning how to interact like normal human beings and will come out better for it, learning which buttons to push and which to leave alone. 

As reserved and quiet as she tends to be, she will sometimes surprise me with some spunk or be suddenly very loud or crazy.  She can play as hard as the rest of them if she is in the mood.  

 Leila is her own person and knows herself well.  She will stick up for herself and be assertive if something is important to her.  She did four years of soccer (semi-willingly) and made a case to be done this year.  She said that she had put in her time and tried it, and it was not something that she enjoyed.  We are hoping that she puts more time into her piano or another area that does spark her interest, like reading.  She is a voracious reader - but do not give her a book she did not choose, because she will just ignore it.

Stella aka Stelly, Stella-Wella, Stelly-Welly, Stel

Stella is still our firecracker.  She is always described as full of joy by her teachers and others, which I love because they don't even know that Joy is her middle name :)  She has so much energy and approaches everything with full power. 

 Her muscle tone is still slightly lacking and she has more work to do to strengthen her pencil grip and just work on overall tone.  Stella is slightly clumsy and can be quite messy.  I can always tell if a shirt on the floor has been worn or just dropped.  :)

 She loves to goof around and make people laugh.  She tries to remember jokes and retell them, but a lot of the time she forgets the punch line or rushes to the end. 

 Stella is very caring - she is the first to think of running to get a comfort item for someone or a kleenex or a bandaid to make something better.  She does not like to see someone hurting.  She remembers to pray for people if she hears that they are sick or hurt. 

 Stella is a good friend to others.  She loves to play with anyone and will try to keep everyone included if she can.  She is excited to go back to school to play with her friends that she hasn't seen over the summer. 

 She still loves to chase birds at the beach (or wherever she may find them).  After she chased some seagulls last week Jeremy told me that I needed to remember to add that to this post.  She is spontaneous and follows ideas on a whim just like her Nana did.  Occasionally all of her energy runs out and she needs to sit back and recharge.  Right now she tends to need direction for some of her emotions at that point as they can all come out at once.  Hopefully as she grows she will gain more self control but won't lose her genuine, uninhibited nature.

We love each of you so much and our prayer for each of you is that you stay true to yourself and continue to walk the path that God has laid out for you.  We hope to support you through life's ups and downs and that you know that you can always come to us if you are struggling with anything, big or small.