After school work with the girls. Megan has started tracing her letters. Alyssa watched her do it and was so excited that Megan can “write” now. Now we just need to teach her how to hold the marker.
(Yes we have a bird sanctuary in the backyard)
After many attempts using different strategies, Alyssa finally got the hang of riding a “two wheeler” as she calls it. She has been balancing on the bike by just coasting with no feet on the pedals for a few weeks. But once Oma got her in the street today, a little push, and she took off. I think she rode for about 40 minutes non-stop. She is so proud of herself. Her friend down the street was watching and cheering her on too. Kudos to Oma for getting her going.
Proud bike rider and her toothless smile.
Nana was here earlier in the week too. We have been spoiled for a solid week with cooking, cleaning, dish washing, and babysitting. It rained for mom’s whole trip, but I have a feeling she enjoyed it just as much.
Soccer is going again. Alyssa is still enjoying to play and runs her heart out most of the time. Not many goals yet, not much contact, but she is in there. I think she is mentally picking up all aspects of the game and in a few years she will be awesome! She is visualizing. She is also on a team with several of her friends from school and 2 of her very good friends. I am looking forward to a season of fun for us all.
The first of many hot days for the little sisters.
And she’s off. I successfully took her to the 1st grade hall and we found her room. SO much different than Kindergarten where she had already met her teacher and had a few half days of practice. She was a bit hestitant before entering the room, but did just fine. We sorted her supplies, found her desk and she was good. Bitter sweet memories ran through my mind as I walked out the door. Checked on some of her friends in other classes. Took a deep breath and kept going. I guess no matter their age. No matter how crazy they drive you. They are still your babies. Still your responsibility. And I will always feel a little strange leaving her behind.
The week has been busy already. We played with the cousins this weekend and the girls are in swim lessons 4x a week. Alyssa did great, and Megan…well, she acted just like Alyssa did at her age. Sometimes she needs a little convincing to try something and her teacher decided she didn’t want to “break her trust” with Megan. So we sat on the edge screaming. Today was much better, in fact completely opposite. She walked right over to her teacher, hopped in and then screamed when it was time to get out. I cannot win with this child.
We have swam everyday so far, went to see UP with Daddy tonight and attempted to get Alyssa’s ear’s pierced. She wants to do it so bad, but just can’t sit still and let the girls do it. I can’t say I am too disappointed. I am the one who keeps asking her, but then secretly inside, I really don’t want her to do it.
Then Audrey. She seems to be growing before my eyes. She is happy, talking and rolling her way from the rocking chair into the coffee table and more. She cannot sit up yet, but appears to be trying to crawl. What? Can you physically crawl before sitting up?
We flew into Houston for spring break last week and will head home tomorrow. It seems there is always someone to see and things to do when we visit that I am not sure we got much rest. But at least I didn’t have to do laundry or dishes, actually had a date with my husband, and went to the coast for some bird watching together… ever seen a flock of pelicans flying in formation above your head? So here is our week in short:
We spent some time with my brother and his family:
Alyssa and cousins
Brother Brad and my dad
Braden, the oldest grandchild with the youngest
We celebrated Lauren’s 2nd birthday and played for the day:
I wanted to sign up Alyssa and Megan for swim lessons when we return in June, so Megan had to take her evaluation class. She did great. Walked right in the door to the pool with her instructor and did what she was asked. She only slipped off the step once while waiting for her turn. Luckily the instructor was right there to scoop her out of the water. Where is the panic button in that place?
We visited with friends and just hung out. It is nice to come home and see our family, but God has a funny way of showing you that he knew all along what he was doing. And we are in the right place for our family right now. We are so happy to be in Tennessee.
Audrey did roll for the first time from back to stomach…or so I hear. I was on a date.
And Megan has taken coloring to a new level.
I think it is a sign that you have slacked off on blogging when you have several topics to cover. Life just seems so busy lately, that I rarely have the energy to think of something to write about. From school, to managing 2 year old tantrums to the routine of a 4 month old, I am honestly exhausted by lunchtime. It is sad, I know. But lately the sun has decided to come back to Nashville and the weather has been great. I forgot how much fun being outside can be. Audrey has “kind of” upgraded to the exersaucer. She still spends most of her time laying around, but can hold herself up for a brief time and sit in this thing. Megan too can sit in it. However her knees are resting on the bottom of it and she gets herself stuck. Now that I think about it, that would have been a better picture.
This picture of Megan makes me smile. She is a little bit of my baby because she is holding “Lumpy” her elephant that she has had since 3 months old but has on her big girl panties too. She is so darn cute that I can hardly stand it sometimes. But so darn strong-willed. I am constantly re-thinking my parenting strategies with her.
And here is Alyssa and her friend, Mayson. They are in class together and have been playing in the neighborhood together too. We went bowling with her last week and had a great time. I love how kids can connect so easily. How they can like each other so much that they run with arms stretched out screaming each others’ name when they meet. How they can overlook differences and forgive so easily. I pray that Alyssa always has good friends like this in her life.
Soccer has started again. This time it is a bit more difficult for me. Ethan is usually on one of the two fields coaching and that leaves me with Megan and Audrey. It wouldn’t be too hard if Megan wasn’t the “I hear you, but I am going to continue to walk all the way across this other field and make you chase me” type of kid. She was eventually bribed to sit still with Daddy’s iPhone (I am not proud of that.) Audrey eventually fell asleep and I was able to see Alyssa’s 1st goal of the season. She did a great job!
Thank you Mr. Sun for visiting us this weekend. It was so nice to be able to play outside.
1 down and … how many times do we have to do this? What started over 2 weeks ago with a little wiggle ended tonight as Alyssa’s first baby tooth literally fell out of her mouth. We have tried to get it out for the last several nights because her adult tooth is already coming in behind it. Let’s just say that she did not like the method that Ethan and I were using. The sessions usually ended with all of us frustrated, Alyssa crying and asking God to just take it out. I finally let it go and accepted that it would come out when it was time. Tonight we were reading books before bed and I asked her to just wiggle the tooth while we read. One book later she spits something out of her mouth and gasps as she realizes it is her tooth. Painless. She screamed, danced around, ran downstairs to show Daddy. She decided she wanted to take it to school before she left it for the tooth fairy. What is the going rate for teeth these days? I wish we were done but now the other bottom tooth is loose too. I think God made this into such an aggrevating experience so I would not recognize that my baby is growing up. She is loosing teeth…. really?
This iPhone has been over-used since Ethan got it. We use it for movies on the airplane or restaurants, Alyssa practices math and other games and lately Megan has been enjoying it. She says, “I want play games.” Sometimes I feel that this little device is taking over our life, checking email just because you can, entertaining children and even acting as Ethan’s alarm clock. But it is a pretty awesome phone.
Here is Alyssa before school.
And here is smiley Audrey. She still has some feeding issues and constantly spits-up, but she is so darn cute. Were the others this cute??