What age 6 looks like

She will only wear pants that are fuzzy inside because why not? Fuzzy pants are just so much better. Fuzzy sweatshirts too, including this lamb one (a favorite). Favorite color is light blue and for a long time she aspired to grow up to paint nails. Something happened in the first semester of kindergarten though and now she wants to be "a doctor or a biologist." She also loves rocks and crystals, Rapunzel and reading "BOB books." She's still our iron lady who can never be persuaded once her mind is set and who is always up for a good dance party. She opted to forgo a birthday party with friends to go to a jump place with her family, so we invited the cousins. Turns out the day after Christmas is a great day to have a birthday.

Christmas 2019

We had an elf helper this year, which was wonderful and much needed because Daddy got into a bike accident on Christmas Eve, crushed his ribs and spent the nexty 5 weeks sleeping in a recliner. Yet Christmas came all the same... We feel incredibly grateful.

Spooky bananas

A successful Halloween is three kids with three costumes going in three different directions (and a big rainstorm that held off until bedtime!)  Littlest insisted on the simplest of costumes and waited for mommy to get home because "she does whiskers best." That's not true but I'll take it. 

A beautiful mountain wedding

 You could feel Papa smiling...

School!

This was the summer of sewing camp, a fractured hand from skateboarding, Harry Potter and a book called "Refugee" that Xman and his mom read together. Then our baby marched off to school with her siblings. And just like that, the house was suddenly very quiet.

These would be costume glasses that she says make her "feel smart." 

Sisters are the best

The Beach and Cousins!

Bonus pics from Fourth of July because I will miss this dress we inherited from the neighbors ... 

Swim team ... again

I can't express how special this pool is for the kids. Bandit made All Star relays this summer with a few other 8-year-old girls and got to eat spaghetti at the coach's house with the junior couches. Our littlest did minis again and got her very own swim meet at the end of the season. And of course Xman is in it all for the costumes. (If any teeth are blue in the pictures, it's probably due to one of the 500 ring pops they had this summer.)

Goshen

No bears this year, but the kids' first 10-mile hike completed with the help from Aunt Snooz who delivered a Camelback water pack as a birthday gift. 

Goodbye preschool

Each of the kids spent three years at this wonderful place. We will miss Mrs. Bramlet, who carried Xman around when he spent several weeks in a cast, and Mrs. Smith, who prepared each of them for kindergarten. What mom will probably miss most are the songs ("We're going on a walk to a place that's dark and spooky!")

Hip Hop!