My apologies for not updating this in months. This year with the girls at school and other things left me feeling like I was treading water for a long time. But we did make it to the zoo twice and the aquarium at the shore, and had a lot of wonderful things happen, too. We did make it to Duke Gardens near my birthday again to catch sight of all the tulips and grab some photos.
Catherine thought this would make a great picture and she was right, and naturally Jake had to jump in and help. Catherine has really impressed me this year in her maturity sometimes, especially when one of her siblings gets overdramatic. At school she showered off her prowess as an artist. I, and my principal, and her teacher, are so impressed with her sense of order and symmetry and color, but sometimes she has to be told she can't do everything in rainbow stripes, it takes too long. She is gaining confidence in her sight words and wants to read more and more. She also made it through the school year without getting into too much trouble, a boy tried to kiss her, and another proposed marriage. (She said no and he was pitifully sad the rest of the day, apparently). Her PE teacher said she is like the road runner, her legs move so fast you can't see them. She is working hard on her Spanish and Señora is impressed with her dancing skills, too.
Bubbles and golf are Jake's two new favorite things and that can look like this:
This March the girls turned 5!! They had a birthday party at the park on a cold day but the rain held off and everyone had a great time. They continued to thrive in separate classrooms and I am sad that I'm not going to see them on the playground outside my window next year when they move to the 'big kid' playground in the front of the school.
You can feed the giraffes at the zoo! How cool is that!?
It did snow but it was a lot of ice underneath and the girls slid down the driveway and front walk without making a dent. So we had a few snow days and enjoyed ourselves making cookies and playing Trouble and Candy Land. They all got new snow suits and mittens for Christmas and loved getting chances to try them out. Jake not so much. He liked the snow, didn't like the snow suit.
The girls found an inch worm at Duke Gardens and wanted to put him someplace 'safe and pretty'.
We took a trip to Nashville and while I attended a science conference Dave took the kids to the zoo and they all got to see kangaroos! I think Dave was most excited about it.
They had their first gymnastics meet and they loved it. The kids were split into very small groups for medals but they still would have at least placed in the top 5, especially Catherine. As it was, they tied on 2 events and Cat won the other 2 and all around. We have some work to do and we're taking the summer off to try t-ball (can't wait to see this!) but they still really like going.
I LOVE this picture on the podium! Catherine loves pointing out that she has more medals than Dave and me now.
Samantha has done so well this year. I was worried about her being without Catherine, and she still really gets upset with some separation things (Mommy, I miss you when you're at work. Sam, I work in the same building where you go to school.) She is reading so well and working hard at sounding out words she doesn't know by sight and we're so impressed. Still so cheery, she's easy to get up and get ready for school and she gets upset when it isn't a school day or she can't go because she's sick. (I won't say anything about Catherine except that I seem to remember similar issues). She loves music and Spanish and, of course, recess like everyone else. Everyone is her best friend and she hugs everyone in the building.
I LOVE this picture of her, it completely captures her spirit and joy, and the next one is just pretty.
Jake is a manipulative little stinker and I let him get away with it because he is, as he says, 'dorable'. He loves to do EVERYTHING that his sisters do and because of that he knows his letters most of the time and most of his numbers, too. Colors not so much, but he'll get there. He plays golf and baseball and anything that the girls play and that means teaching him to take turns so he can attempt to be a part of Candy Land and Uno and Trouble games. Everyone on the phone is either Daddy or Papa (can't say Grandpa yet) or Nana and he insists on talking to them, which means holding the phone while we cross our fingers he doesn't hang up on the person. We had to get a new babysitter and our new one has a daughter a few months older than Jake. It has been very good for him. He has a playmate and someone to learn social skills with other than his sisters. He is sweet and caring, though he is still learning not to hit or pull hair, and he still gets 'hangry' but it is getting better. Or maybe I'm just learning how to distract him better.
"…and good night to the old lady whispering 'hush'."
We took the side off his crib after he jumped out twice and turned it into a toddler bed, and this past week we took the side off so it is a 'real bed'. He loves it.
Elephants are this way!
And he is 2 now! Birthday celebrations were so much fun with him, he gets so excited and now blows out every candle he sees. He still knows where the camera is at all times, and even was asked to be in a photo shoot at the local museum. Hopefully he ends up someplace famous and earns some college money :-)
So that's it for now, a short update on a long period of time. I'll try to do better this summer.
