The Van Alstine Family

  This birthday is his first during this Covid pandemic. He even lucked out and had gone back to school the day before his birthday. However, due to Covid, the school isn't allowing any outside treats to be passed out so he couldn't even celebrate with his classmates at school. And on his actual birthday, which was a Wednesday, he didn't have in-person learning anyway since Wednesdays are continuing to be distance learning days.  So his actual birthday wasn't how he would have liked it to be. We did go out to lunch at The Olive Garden since in-person dining is now open again! I started to take the boys out to lunch on Wednesdays a few months back so that they would get out of the house at least once a week. Wednesdays for school are the one day of the week that they don't have their live class meetings so it's easier to work around them having on-demand assignments. So Wednesday "out-to-lunch" day coincided with his birthday and he picked Olive Garden....

Stats at 11 years: Height- 5'1" (94.4%) Weight- 80lbs (52%) Clothing size: L/XL boys Shoe size: 6 Favorites: Color- purple Activity- amusement park rides Food- French dips Candy- Milk Duds Animal- Wolf Sport- soccer Book- Projekt 1065 TV show- Raising Dion (Netflix) Pet- Dog Holiday- Christmas Best Friends- Caiden, Mason and Zach What he wants to be when he grows up- Project Manager like Joe

Luke age 7: Stats:  Height- 4'4" (97%) Weight- 56lbs (72%) Size- 7-8 boys Shoes- 1-2 Teeth lost- 5 Favorites: Color- green Candy- Runts Food- candy Animal- alligator and snake Movie- Star Wars and Jurassic Park Book- Fly Guy series Sport- Football Best Friends- Brody, Jax & Riley What he wants to be when he grows up- Landscaper

Favorite book: Harry Potter Series Favorite TV show: Teen Titans Go Favorite song: Wavin' Flag Favorite toy: Xbox Favorite movie: Star Wars: The Last Jedi Favorite Color: Purple Favorite animal: wolf Favorite sport: soccer Favorite activity: soccer Favorite holiday: Christmas Favorite candy: Sour Patch Kids Favorite pet: dog Best friend: Mason What he wants to be when he grows up: Soccer Player Stats: Height: 4'9" Weight: 66.5 lbs Popping his birthday balloons filled with money Boys at Olive Garden Birthday dessert

Stats : Height: 3'10.75" (98th %) Weight: 45 lbs, 6 oz (77th %) Size: 5T/6  Shoe size: 13 Interview with Luke, age 5: Favorite book: ? Favorite TV show: Blaze and the Monster Machines Favorite song: ? Favorite toy: Legos Favorite Movie: Cars 3 Favorite color: Green Best Friends: Eli & Jonah Favorite animal: hippopotomus Favorite sport: Soccer Favorite food: Lettuce wraps Favorite activity: play toys, Legos What he wants to be when he grows up: Soccer Player If he could have any pet it would be: a kitten Favorite Holiday: Christmas, Halloween Favorite candy: all! Luke continues to be our harder child...he's very stubborn, sneaky, temperamental and likes to push boundaries. Basically a normal second-child! He seems to have pretty much out-grown his temper tantrums, boy, thought they'd never end! He does still fly off the handle on occasion particularly when told No if he wants something and he'll do and try anything to...

Yearly trip to the pumpkin patch! We've realized over the years that a) pumpkins cost like 10x more at the patch vs. the grocery store b) pumpkin patch visit planning is quite a feat c) we are lucky to live so close to so many pumpkin patches! a) Why don't we just buy them at the grocery store!? Because the pictures are so adorable at the pumpkin patch! b) So trying to find a day to go is always a struggle. We've been to probably 8/10 of the pumpkin patches in our area and now know what each venue has, how much their activities cost, and how busy they tend to be. We've gone on weekends and during the week. What we've determined after our visits is that we much prefer to go on a weekday vs. the weekend to avoid the crazy crowds. However, lots of the venues don't have their activities open during the week or aren't even open some weekdays. c) So that's how we have selected going to Carleton Farms the past 2 years.  It also helps that it's barely...