6 1/2

Will was so excited to turn 6 1/2 on Monday. How can he be so big already?  

I asked Will these exact questions last year, and I thought it would be fun to see what's changed in 12 months.  Here goes.

All About Will at 6 1/2

My favorite foods are pizza and hamburgers and special sweet treats.

My favorite sport to play is football.

The best show on TV is Wild Kratts. My favorite movies are The Incredibles and Despicable Me. The best computer games are Scooby Doo and coolmath.com.

My favorite thing to learn about in school is how to type.

If I could go anywhere in the world, I would go to Africa because of the Safari Party. I want to see dassies (an African rodent). 

My favorite color is yellow. My secret favorite color is golden.

When I grow up, I'm going to be a teacher.

My favorite song is anything by the Chieftains (except for the songs with singing). I also really like the OkeeDokee Brothers.

The best book I've read lately is Dragon Rider.

Three words that describe me are smart, smart and smart. (I also suggested kind, silly, and hard-working.)

When I was little, I used to say the wrong things (mispronounce things).

My favorite season of the year is summer because I'm off from school.

My favorite snack is graham crackers.

One food I really dislike is milk.

My best friends are Ethan, Chloe and Karis.

If I had one wish, it would be that Henry wouldn't fight me so much.

My best memory is going to the Children's Museum in California.

My favorite toy is Zoologic.

At night I like to read and sleep.

I really like to have early dismissal, go to the Children's Museum, and go hiking.

Will is such a smart, funny, goofy, sweet little boy. He reads nonstop. We literally have to take books and the newspaper (comics) away from him at mealtimes because he will focus completely on the book and make a huge crumb-y mess because he doesn't pay attention to eating. He loves books about dragons (see Dragon Rider above as his fave), wizards (he has read the first two Harry Potters independently!), and magical creatures, but also devours non-fiction, poetry and joke books. He will reread a favorite book again and again. I'm guessing he reads on a 5th grade level, which has its own challenges because not all books written for 5th graders are appropriate for 1st graders!

Will also loves to write and has authored at least one comic strip (The Adventures of Toilet Man). He is curious and absorbs every single thing he learns. He will come home from school and recite facts about rocks or commas or fairy tales. Will is a fantastic speller and usually only misspells words if they are ones he hasn't seen before.

Will is still an excellent eater and has won the "best eater" award (a made-up award given by one of the room moms) twice now. Will is sometimes picky, but in an oddly healthy way. For example, he loves cauliflower, carrots, and green peppers but only if they are raw! He won't touch them if they are cooked and dislikes overly sweet veggies. I can't complain though because he eats pretty much everything I put in front of him.

Will is super silly and makes friends with the goofiest kids at school. He and Henry still love to play "pookies" each night and are as silly as can be. Will loves comics and jokes and potty humor (thank you, Captain Underpants!).

Will has his difficult moments (he can be very stubborn and bossy) but overall he is a very sweet, loving 6 1/2 year old boy and I am so lucky I get to be his mama!

Weekend Fun with Gramma and Grampa

We spent a lot of time with Gramma and Grampa this weekend! I went back to the Prado exhibit at the MFAH with them on Friday morning, and then picked up Henry and we all ate lunch at the Cafe Express at the museum.

After lunch, Henry suggested a visit to the sculpture garden. It was perfect weather to be outside looking at the sculptures!

Where is Henry?

There he is! We had so much fun using the mirrors on this piece to play peekaboo.   

Back at home, Grampa and Henry built trucks with his Magformers.

And after I picked up Will from school, we decided to check on our bouncing egg experiment from last week. This egg had been sitting in vinegar for seven days. The shell was gone so we went into the powder room, turned off the lights, and shone our flashlight on the egg. It was transparent!

I bounced the egg a couple of times in the bowl, and it did indeed bounce, but as soon as Will dropped it from a height of just a couple of inches, the thin inner membrane burst, so the boys never did see it bounce. It was still a fun experiment, though!

On Saturday, we went up to Kingwood to celebrate Will's half birthday with Gramma and Grampa. They are never in town for his real birthday, so we decided a half-birthday celebration was in order. The lucky duck even got some birthday gifts: the Zoologic game (which is a huge hit!), a new shirt, a dragon finger puppet (ROAR!),

and this cool, pose-able running man!

While Will was busy playing Zoologic, Henry and Grampa searched for a new button for his pillow. 

Henry was fascinated and so very thankful that Grampa could fix his pillow!

And even though it was Will's half birthday (6 1/2 already?), did you hear that someone else is turning FIVE next month? So big.

After an afternoon of games and fun, we headed across the street to meet up with Chloe and Bella at the park.

It had been way too long since we'd seen them!

The kids ran, climbed, teetered and tottered, and had a blast together.

We had a wonderful weekend and Will really his half-birthday celebration. What a fun new tradition!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was so fun this year! I was surrounded by vases of beautiful roses from our own backyard. 

Gene got to start the day with a special father's breakfast at Henry's school. This is the invitation that Henry made for Daddy.

Henry also drew a picture of Daddy. Apparently Gene is a head with long legs! His description of Daddy is hilarious too: My daddy's name is Gene. He goes to work. He makes money. That's all I really know about his job. I like to play Portal 2 with him. I like him to take me to a restaurant. He tells me he loves me a lot and I love him a lot.

Henry came home with this picture of the two of them. Precious!

Will's class did a lunch swap for Valentine's Day. It was so much fun! Each child pulled a name from a hat and that person became his secret valentine. Will had to decorate a box for his valentine and pack a special lunch based on his secret valentine's wish list. The box was later stuffed full of valentine cards and treats from friends. I got to photograph the class as they did their swaps, and these kiddos were so excited to see who made their lunch and box. Will made a box for his friend Louis and Mia decorated Will's box.

Sweet first graders.  

Will also made a map of his heart, full of his favorite things, which are presents, soccer, knock-knock jokes, hamburgers, his house, sweets, hiking, and reading. That's my boy in a nutshell!

After school, we took a tin of heart-shaped sugar cookies to our elderly friend, Mrs. V, in the neighborhood.  She is a sweet lady who we met before Christmas through a service project at Will's school. The boys and I enjoy spending time with her so we're aiming for monthly visits. Henry gave her lots and lots of sweet hugs and she said we made her day. Next time, I'll snap a picture!

Gene taught his class Thursday night, so the boys and I were on our own for dinner. I decided to make breakfast for dinner, and tried my hand at some free-form heart pancakes.

They're not perfect, but they sure were a hit with the little boys!

Henry and I like ours topped with peanut butter, bananas and chia seeds.

Best breakfast for dinner ever!

I may not have spent much time with my own valentine, but the day was still full of love and lots and lots of fun.

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, there lived a brave knight named Henry.

Sir Henry and his brother, Sir Will, climbed the highest tree in the land to keep an eye out for dangerous dragons.  

They found a lot of dragons, but none of them was scary. The first dragons they came across were members of Sir Henry's very own soccer team, which, for reasons unknown, was named "The Tornado Dragons."

Sir Will found lots and lots of dragons in books.

He read so many books about dragons and knights, including The Dragon Rider and The Knight at Dawn, that he joined the 50 point club in his school's AR program and got a shiny blue medal.

Sir Will also found dragons in fairy tales. 

In fact, the dragon was the bad guy in Sir Will's very own published work, "The Knight's Quest," but of course he wasn't a real dragon.

Once the kingdom was deemed free of scary dragons, the brave knights' quest was over,

and they lived happily ever after. 

Snapshots from the Week

Last week was full of museum explorations, hanging out with friends, getting ready for Valentine's Day and eating.  It's always about the food!  

Henry's school was closed Thursday and Friday so the teachers could attend a conference, so we met up with some friends at the park on Thursday. Henry and Noah are best buds.  

On Friday, Henry and I headed down to Sugar Land to visit the science museum.  Henry was so excited and kept telling everyone we were going to Sugar Land! 

We did the dino dig pit, caught a show at the planetarium and checked out the new exhibit:  Zula Patrol: Mission Weather.  

 Henry found fog 

and aliens.

On Saturday, we went to see the Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado exhibit at the MFAH with Nana and Pop.  This was part of Pop's Christmas gift from us and we had so much fun! We had no luck finding a babysitter so we took the boys and they actually did really well. Will really enjoyed the art and Henry (my art-museum-lover) just tolerated it. He prefers three-dimensional works at this age.

After visiting the museum, we continued our Spanish theme by going to dinner at Mi Luna. It was the perfect place to take the boys because it was noisy (so were we!), the food came out quickly, and we all shared the tapas plates. The boys' favorite dish was calamari. So thankful for my good eaters!

Speaking of good eaters, check out this bright green smoothie made with romaine, apples, bananas, water and lots of cinnamon. We had romaine from our CSA box to use up and it actually made a pretty good smoothie.

These eggs are currently sitting on my counter but they are definitely not for eating! We started a week-long science experiment on Friday. One egg is sitting in water and the other is in vinegar. After just a few hours, the shell of the egg in vinegar completely disappeared because the vinegar ate through the shell! The egg is soft and squishy.  By Friday, we are supposed to be able to bounce it like a ball. The boys are intrigued.

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, 

so the boys have been busy coloring some Valentines for their classmates. 

Cute, right?  

We also made a huge batch of sugar cookies yesterday. 

We want to take some to our elderly friend in the neighborhood 

and also deliver some to Will's teacher as it is teacher appreciation week at his school.

Here's a shot of last night's dinner, which was halibut with garlic-infused oil, romaine salad and veggies, and homemade bread. Gene worked his tail off in the kitchen yesterday!

The after-dinner table -- our plates were pretty much licked clean!

We pack a whole lot into our weeks but we enjoy every minute of it!