Leo is 12!!

Leo's year has been big and turning 12 is no surprise given that he is thriving in middle school! 

School: Leo started Moore Square Magnet Middle school in late July and has done a wonderful job of navigating his classes: including getting around the facility, being efficient with his time to knock out projects and homework, writing his teachers with questions, and being really at home in the newness that comes with changing electives every quarter. He has taken a lot of science electives like Astronomy, Myth busters, and Forensics. He also has enjoyed Strategic Games and Team Games.

Sports: Last spring, Leo played his third season of baseball and then switched to soccer at the Y this fall. Nicholas coached and they both had a great time...enough so that they are back at it again this spring. :) After Jason had done a few weeks of basketball practices in November and all the boys in the cul-de-sac were playing basketball a lot, Leo said that he, too, would like to play. We were able to get him a spot on the Y U14 team, and he had a great time!

Books: Since the school year began, Leo has read the Pendragon series and the Ranger's Apprentice series. Since the start of 2024, we have been listening to the Hunger Games series on the way to and from school. Leo is excited that the 5th book of the Inheritance Cycle series just came out, too! By the end of fifth grade last year, he finished all the Harry Potter books and we watched each movie after each book.

Friends: Leo continues to be lucky in his friends around the neighborhood. Jason, Leo and they all meet up many days of the week to play basketball, soccer, shoot nerf guns, play in the woods, play Legos. Leo's got a good group of friends who sit together at lunch at school, too.

Other interests: Leo got back into Legos a bit this year and often can be seen building with tiny blocks/pieces that he got in his stocking at Christmas. After Astro died in May, Leo is the one who talks about him to me the most and just recently asked me for pictures of him. Leo still likes to climb trees, play on his Xbox with Luke, Jason, and Luke's friends, swim in the summer, and hike whenever we go to the mountains. Leo loves homemade chicken noodle soup, orange chicken, hot chocolate in the mornings, and hot tea at night. His go-to fruits are blueberries, apples, pears, and mandarin oranges. He also loves chocolate and cherry cordial ice creams. His favorite cookie is chocolate chip. Leo still wears almost all black...but I am trying to get him to budge on that point!

Birthday weekend

Indiana trip to see cousins

Christmas at home

Thanksgiving

Fall '23 track out--climbing trees

Fall '23 Soccer

Halloween: Leo and his friend Aiden are the ones in blue and yellow. They are Roblox "noobs."

At the museum of Life and Science

Using his bow and arrow

Here are Leo's physical stats as of 2/13/24:

Height: 5' 0.75'', 79%

Weight: 95 lbs, 61%

Finally, the birthday quiz!

1. How old are you? 12

2. What makes you happy? Video Games

3. What is your favorite animal? Capybara

4. What is your favorite thing to eat? Cake if it's good...Costco chocolate cake

5. What is your least favorite thing to eat? Mom's chocolate cake

6. What is your favorite thing to do? Play video games

7. What is your favorite TV show? Mandalorian

8. What are you really good at? Existing

9. What is your favorite movie? Peppa Pig

10. What is your favorite color? Blue

11. What is your favorite song? I don't have one

12. Who is your best friend? Luke

13. What do you and your Mom do together? Listen to books

14. What do you and your Dad do together? Watch shows

15. What is your favorite sport? Soccer

16. Where is your favorite place to go? Indiana to see Luke or the mountains

17. What is your favorite book? The fourth Inheritance Cycle book: Inheritance

18. What do you want to be when you grow up? Something with STEM...maybe software engineer

Professional photos

Jason is 9!!

 Jason is 9!! What?! How did our baby grow so fast?! This year has been good to Jason and he is so independent, happy, amazing, and smart! This school year, Jason is in 3rd grade and has shown a lot of independence getting to and from school with cul-de-sac neighbors walking together. He likes to get to school early to make sure he gets all his "morning work" finished. Jason still likes playing Rummy, playing Legos with friends, by himself, or with Leo, playing outside with friends, and playing video games with Luke & Leo. Jason's independent reading has exploded this year and he is ten books into the "Wings of Fire" series and finished the "Diary of an Eight-bit Warrior" series. Jason played soccer in the spring and fall and is playing winter basketball, all on recreational leagues. Jason likes crafts, science experiments, and figuring things out.

For his birthday, Jason had friends over after his basketball game for pizza & cake & a pinata! He was also showered with gifts from our families!

Hustling at basketball!

Putting up a shot!

Happy birthday, dear Jason!

Pinata time!

Mechanical hand that he built all by himself from a kit Mutti gave him!

Christmas morning!

Professional photos from the fall of '23

Soccer shots from fall '23:

Idiom Day: The best day of third grade!

"Under the Weather"

Halloween: Soccer player, Noob, and Mega-noob!

Here are Jason's physical stats as of 1/30/23:

Height: 4' 6.5'' 80%

Weight: 76lbs 88%

Vision: 20/20 

Finally, here is the birthday quiz!

1. How old are you? 9

2. What makes you happy? Nothing; Screens

3. What is your favorite animal? Lion

4. What is your favorite thing to eat? Boston Cream Pie

5. What is your least favorite thing to eat? Broccoli & my mom's meatloaf

6. What is your favorite thing to do? Play basketball with friends

7. What is your favorite TV show? Voltron

8. What are you really good at? Soccer & Basketball

9. What is your favorite movie? Scooby Doo and Crypto, too

10. What is your favorite color? Black

11. What is your favorite song? Chug Jug with You by Toad

12. Who is your best friend? Owen

13. What do you and your Mom do together? Talk

14. What do you and your Dad do together? Everything

15. What is your favorite sport? Soccer

16. Where is your favorite place to go?  Indiana

17. What is your favorite book? Wings of Fire

18. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Electrical Engineer

Olive is 13!

 And now we have a teenager in our house! It's been a year and, oh, how Olivia has grown! Olive has really come out of her shell this year. She has had blue, red, and purple hair. She has cut it off and grown it out (a little). She still loves to read and logged an impressive 111 books during the 22-23 school year. She loves music, loves swinging, and loves being outside!

Olive's favorite cake: lemon with raspberry frosting! In an outfit totally her own!

 

Non-uniform approved heels!!

This pantsuit was my great grandmother's! Heels from Mutti for Olive's birthday!

 Braces came off in early May 2023!

NJHS induction!

Birthday painting with Olive's friend Palak

Birthday with Mutti!

During the summer of 2022, Olive went to "learn to row" camp. There were three "Olivia's" in her 8-person boat, and that is when she decided that she wanted to go by Olive, the nickname Leo and Jason had been calling her since about 2020. Olive has completed a year of rowing and still loves it enough to erg without being told to do it! She is looking forward to summer rowing practice.

Olive also just completed her 7th grade year at Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy (WYWLA), and had a great year--academically (all A's; inducted into National Junior Honor Society; received a county award in PTA Reflections Art Program) and socially (she loves riding the bus morning and afternoon to hang with friends and goes to all the block parties and school dances).

In addition to rowing, where Olive has been lately been rowing in the stroke seat of a 4 or an 8, Olive also goes to sewing class once a week. She sewed a dress, a bag, and many accessories this year. Olive learned to crochet more this year and is steadily creating with yarn, too!

Here are some highlights from the year!

Spring 2023 regattas:

Beach day, spring break 2023 with mom

Hiking in the mountains February 2023

Fall 2022 pictures

Fall 2022 regatta

Stats:

May 25 Well visit

Height -- 5' 6.25" ~ 95 percentile

Weight -- 122 lbs ~ 78 percentile

1. How old are you? 13...actually 12 years, 364 days, and 20 hours

2. What makes you happy? School

3. What is your favorite animal? Snake or Owl

4. What is your favorite thing to eat? Food -- raspberries or strawberries

5. What is your least favorite thing to eat? Dip (I make dip -- chicken with salsa and black beans -- in the crockpot, and Olive is not a fan. )

6. What is your favorite thing to do? Hang out with friends

7. What is your favorite TV show? Next in Fashion/Clone Wars

8. What are you really good at? Rowing

9. What is your favorite movie? Enola Holmes 2

10. What is your favorite color? Green or pink

11. What is your favorite song? Digital Silence by Peter McPoland

12. Who is your best friend? Palak Chan

13. What do you and your Mom do together? Drive in the car

14. What do you and your Dad do together? Play cards

15. What is your favorite sport? Rowing

16. Where is your favorite place to go? The mountains

17. What is your favorite book? The one I'm currently reading: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

18. What do you want to be when you grow up? Fashion Designer/Business Management