Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 

With Love, 

The Williams Crew 

And he's seven!

Happy 7th birthday, Collin! 

For birthdays, I decided I wanted to try to simplify my life and only do one every other year. But since his birthday was the first day of Christmas Break, I told him he could invite two friends over for a play date. I asked if he wanted to do an activity with them, and he chose decorating gingerbread men. After making all the icing, baking a multitude of shapes, buying all the candy decorations, and setting everything at each one's place with little bowls of all the choices, I realized I DID throw him a party. Sigh. I can't seem to take the easy street. He did have a ton of fun, and his friends were super well-behaved, so I guess it is all good.

Collin loves first grade. September was rough as he adjusted to full-day school, but he is doing great now. I still really miss having him around though. He is a good friend and a hard worker. He has a tendency to be too much of a perfectionist and unable to complete his work on time, but he's trying to manage his time better.

Collin is becoming a self-taught piano player. He took lessons from our neighbor January through May, but then she had a baby. I've been on a waiting list with another lady ever since. I could take him somewhere else, but this new teacher lives close by and would be far more convenient. He is getting really good at figuring out the melody of primary songs he knows. Sometimes I buy music for songs online he really wants (Gethsemane), but other times he figures them out on his own (I Know My Savior Loves Me). We also have all the "I Can Play It" songs printed from the Friend magazine and easy Christmas songs too. The new teacher says we are the top name on her list now, so he should be able to get in sometime next year.

He is becoming a very good reader. He still tires easily with chapter books, but he can decode Boxcar Children and Magic Tree House. Now to just work on his stamina. His comprehension is off the charts. He is also good at understanding math concepts, but he needs to work on his math facts.

He played soccer last Spring and again in the Fall. He loved his Spring team (super noncompetitive and just plain fun), but his coach in the Fall was very into drills and skills and winning games. Collin hated it. He learned a ton though, and he really got good at being in the right place at the right time. He just isn't a competitive kid by nature and always seemed a little afraid of the ball and the other kids. At the last game, at the last second, he scored his first goal! It really was the end, because they didn't even line up for another kickoff afterwards. Then, of course, he decided he wanted to play again in the Spring. Silly boy. We'll see.

Collin loves to ride his bike. He mastered the two-wheeler this summer, and now he rides all the time. He rides every day to and from school, and he always wants to ride after school too. We got a lot of snow last week and it still hasn't melted, and it's killing him to have to walk everywhere. He loves his bike!

When I pointed out he would be getting baptized next year, he said he didn't want to. When asked why, he told me he didn't want to go all the way under water, even though he does want to follow Jesus' example. Here's hoping we can work on that this coming year.

He lost his first two baby teeth (the bottom ones) the summer before kindergarten, and then he didn't lose any more for a LONG time. Then while we were driving home from Utah after Thanksgiving weekend, he pulled out one of his top ones all on his own. Tough kid. Unfortunately, he has a MASSIVE gap, and I know we are now headed into the goofy years of not-cute pictures.

He loves to play with Brennan. They have elaborate games of pretend: ninjas, spies, cowboys. They love to dress up the most. I have a hard time getting them to school on time because they don't want to stop to get ready. They particularly like to climb under our basement stairs where all our moving boxes are; they call it the "box cave."

Who couldn't love this girl? Even without a cute outfit and no bow, don't you just want to smother her in kisses? 

Collin still couldn't really care less about Katelyn. I did hear him ONE time say "it's okay" to her when she was crying in the car, but just that once. He is also pretty much only ever annoyed with Ethan. All he ever says to him is, "No, Eefie. No!" He just finds kids generally pretty annoying. And lest he appear almost perfect (though he really almost is), he is developing a bit of a mouth, especially with his dad. He loses "screen time" regularly for talking back to his parents.

Okay, back to the good stuff. He has become an adventurous eater. His favorite meal is steak, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. I don't know many seven year-olds begging for steak! He also likes to use chopsticks when we have stir fry.

For his birthday, he got a Optimus Prime transformer. He's in heaven. Truly a perfect gift for him.
Here's a funny side story: So Ryan took Brennan shopping for a gift for Collin a few Saturdays ago. Brennan picked out this Transformer for him. He was SOOO excited about it. He kept saying he was going to tell Collin what he got him, and we kept telling him not to. Then one morning on the way to preschool, Brennan told me he had told Collin that morning what he had got him. Ryan and I didn't know what to do. So, we decided they'd both still be surprised if Collin got it for his birthday instead of for Christmas. Brennan's face when Collin opened it was CLASSIC. He was so confused. Anyway, the gift we wanted to give Collin for his birthday will just wait until Christmas morning now. Gotcha!

Happy birthday, Biggest Boy! Love you!