League champions!

 

Reed at 7

 A few fun facts about Reed at age 7:

Still has some of the language remnants from his toddlerhood, and I have advised everyone NOT to correct these cute Reed-isms that I love:

                            Hunormous (meaning really big)

                            Extracise (meaning exercise)

Beckett also reminded me that he used to say Shobel, instead of shovel, and that it was the cutest thing. He's right, it was.

Reed is not so into unicorns and pink these days, more into Fortnite and soccer and Lego. He just retired the My Little Ponies, at least for now, as well as his pink rainbow backpack.

After participating in a speech study at Syracuse University (I told him he could earn $30 for talking for two hours and he agreed!) we learned that he has an "R" speech problem and so now we're pursuing speech therapy for him to help him practice saying Rs correctly.

Sleepwalks. From time to time he does weird stuff at night, like we hear laughing and go into his room and he's in bed laughing but won't respond to us. Or last night he came in and just stood in the room and started laughing. We couldn't tell if he was laughing or crying so I asked him and he said "crying" but then laid down in the bed and started laughing again. Jeff told him he would take him back to his bed and tuck him in and he said ok and then laid down in our bed crosswise. Jeff carried him back to his room. Sometimes we hear someone up and when we go in to check on him he's just standing up in the middle of his room or in the doorway to the hall, eyes closed. It's very weird and sometimes creepy and sometimes funny.

Philadelphia trip

Our original Philadelphia trip was scheduled for February school break, but then we all got covid and had to reschedule our trip. Luckily, Aaron and Paul were still available to host us Memorial Day weekend, and I was able to transfer all our tickets and arrangements for then.

We surprised the kids with tickets to the Harry Potter interactive exhibit at the Ben Franklin Institute, which was not sciency at all but was very fun. We also went to Independence Hall and some of the other buildings there.  Our last day there we separated so Beckett and Daddy could go to the American Revolution Museum while Reed and Theo and I went to the Museum of Art. In between we had lots of great time to visit with Aaron and Paul and Ziggy (their dog) and spend time at their awesome community pool.

A highlight of the Independence Hall trip was trading cards with the rangers. I've never seen it at another park but there the rangers had lots of playing cards with historical figures or places, and if you asked them for cards and then answered trivia questions, they would give you the cards. Beckett especially loved working on the Junior Ranger booklet and getting his Junior Ranger badge.

 

Theo and Mama NYC Trip

One weekend in June Theo and I went to New York as our solo kiddo-mom trip. A big bonus was staying in Brooklyn with Uncle Jon! Theo made up the itinerary: ferry to Statue of Liberty, Museum of Natural History, playing video games with Uncle Jon. We also snuck in some additional fun adventures, including the Empire State Building, Grimaldi pizza, Mexican food (always Theo's favorite), and Ellis Island. 

The photo above is Theo at the Empire State Building. There is a long section of the walk to the elevators where you can see the Empire State Building in TV and film

Below is Theo explaining what he learned in botany this year, describing different types of leaves in front yards in Jon's neighborhood.

Sharks exhibition at the Museum of Natural History.

A favorite highlight from the Night at the Museum movie.

Interactive shark exhibit at the Museum.

Hanging out with one of his namesakes, Teddy Roosevelt.

Acting like a real grownup using his Apple device on the subway with Uncle Jon.

 

Science fair at school

 

Getting boosted!

The day after the boosters were approved for kids under 12, I got an email from Reed's school that there was a booster clinic that afternoon offered by the school district. I made appointments for my kids and was excited to tell them we got to get boosted when they got home. Then Reed came home with his two best friends Artie and Iris, a planned play date, and I realized I could take the whole lot of them and get everyone boosted at once. Once their parents signed off, we took five kiddos to HW Smith to get shots! Artie and Iris had had their cards stolen so we were even able to get replacement vaccine cards for them. And Gannon's Ice Cream to celebrate afterwards, of course!

 

Theo and Beckett’s birthday

The Big Eleven!

For his party, Theo chose to take a few friends to Dave and Buster's. For his party, Beckett chose to invite 18 kids to play soccer at Roberts school and then come back for pizza and an ice cream sundae bar. 

Theo's favorite gift--a gaming chair!