We love having a 5-year-old! For me, age 4 was when parenting started to get really fun with Jack. I love being able to have actual conversations with him. Have him tell me what's going on in that little head of his and see his full personality coming through in many different areas of life. I love being able to reason with him (usually--I feel like no one can always be reasoned with, not even adults) and teach him about subjects I love like math and English. But lately, my favorite thing about having a "big kid" is watching him have so much fun and cheering him on in a team sport.
I mentioned in a previous post that Jared and I have never really been "football people." Well, color me a football person now because it is a blast watching Jack in his element out there. Granted, 5-year-old flag football is NOT the same as tackle football. Phew. Obviously there's no tackling, and at this age there isn't even ball throwing or catching. The "games" are basically an hour of one kid handing the ball off to another, and then that kid tries to run the ball to the end zone while the other team tries to pull off one of his or her flags. Repeat over and over for the rest of the game until every kids has had a chance to run the ball. They're not even keeping score at this age, so it should be more fun and more engaging to watch him play in future years. (He's already asking if he can do flag football again in the fall instead of soccer, which we'll almost definitely agree to.) Each kid only gets one run per game but it's cute to watch Jack really commit to that one run. Here he is with his mouth guard! I don't really understand why a mouth guard is required at this age when there's literally no contact. I'd guess it's just about the practice of getting used to it.
In other news, we have our built-ins primed and ready to paint! This week we'll decide on a color. Next week we'll hopefully paint and be done. Everyone in the house is sick with pink eye at the moment so we're taking it easy and keeping expectations low for this week. I am hoping to plant a few flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Very excited to enter my gardening phase of life. I'll start out with just a few plants this year to dip my toes in. Now some random pictures from our week:
^^Big girl sitting up in her baths now!
^^Football bb. Don't get me wrong, our kids still have their MOMENTS (in all caps) (why yes they did both cry for a full hour all the way home from Sunday dinner last night), but mostly I just love this stage of parenthood a lot.
I'm here to post the last half of our pictures from Utah, including Easter. Let's do this!
^^Easter Sunday
^^Four generations of Merrell+Roper+Haines+Lambert girls. I am so happy we took some pictures, and hopefully next time I'm in Utah we'll do another one. The older I get, the more special this mother-daughter-granddaughter-greatgranddaughter bond is to me. Each of us was an only daughter with several brothers. Instead of having biological sisters, we have each other (also wonderful sisters-in-law now!). I love them so much.
^^Some final snapshots from Sunday dinner at Grandma's house.
^^Grandma told us that when she was young, the tradition was to go picnicking on Easter morning, or maybe it was the day before Easter. Her family would have a picnic brunch on their farm property. We decided to have a picnic breakfast down by Utah lake. My mom made some delicious breakfast burritos and we enjoyed the scenery and each other.
We spent Jack's spring break last week in Utah. My sweet Grandma Roper is well into her 90s, and going up and down the stairs daily in her 4-story house with no main-level bedroom was getting to be troublesome. She made the decision to move into an assisted living home, and it was really important to me to be there. I wanted to attend the last official Sunday extended family dinner at grandma's house and be there to help with the move, and see her new home. Mostly I wanted to make sure Grandma was happy and introduce her to baby Alice, who is getting bigger much too quickly. I took lots of pictures, so I will divide them into two posts and add captions when I have something to add:
My pictures always load backward, so I will begin with pictures from the night we moved Grandma into Jamestown, and end with pictures from the family dinner.
^^It makes my. heart so happy to see my extended family come together to work and serve each other. I feel like this is a crucial part of my upbringing and family culture that I want my children to experience.
^^Jared and I got to meet our newest nephew, Walker, while we were in Utah. He is adorable.
^^For dinner one night I made my favorite bolognese sauce (I use Marcella Hazan's recipe). I made a triple batch and we invited Grandma over to enjoy it with us.
^^Jack's version of heaven. Grandma and Grandpa and cousins to play with all day.
^^Jack learned a new game and roped everyone into playing several rounds of Stratego with him.
^^So many baby whisperers in our family. This is only a small portion of them. We are so very lucky, and I only wish we had more time with all of them!
And now for some scenes from our last Roper Family Dinner at Grandma's house:
^^I have so many childhood memories of gathering at the base of these stairs with my siblings and cousins while the adults sat and visited in the living room.
^^A snapshot found in Grandma's office: Me, brother Jordan, cousin Cameron, and brother Chris with Grandma in 1995 <3
^^My last spin on Grandma's swing. I held it together pretty well until this moment when the tears started to flow. I'm so grateful Jared pulled me aside to take and document one last swing. I hope this swing hangs from the patio forever and makes many other children happy for decades to come. I am so grateful for the hundreds of happy childhood memories I have spending time with family at Grandma's house. This is the yard where Jared and I had our wedding reception, and where my parents had their wedding reception too. So many happy memories.
^^Nearly 50 family memories came from in and out of the state to attend this dinner. It was a wonderful thing to see and visit with them all over some favorite family dishes.
^^Great-grandkids running and croqueting. A beautiful thing.
^^The Grandma and Grandpa Haines House scenes my own children will remember for the rest of their lives. We are the luckiest and I am so grateful we were able to spend last week with family and with Grandma Roper. I will gather the rest of the pictures and post Easter and the second half of our Utah trip for Monday's post next week :)
^^I have many memories drinking out of these same colorful cups when I was Jack's age.
^^I will remember this scene as long as I live. The kids usually ate in the kitchen or downstairs or on the patio while the uncles and aunts and Grandma laughed and shared stories at this adult table in the living room.
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