Soaring in School

We are officially in the school routine. Each day starts with me waking up Analise at 7:20. Thankfully she gets up without complaining. She gets to see daddy for a couple of minutes, and then begins the countdown until we leave for school. I don't know if it's just Analise or all kids this age, but she has one pace in the morning. It seems I am frequently telling her to hustle; she keeps the same pace regardless. She needs to learn how to multi-task...at least learn to talk and do something at the same time. :) We usually leave for school 3 minutes later than I want to. However, I have tried a little different route, and that has saved us those precious three minutes. At our school we have the zone out front labeled the "Kiss and Go" area. Analise seems to take her sweet little time giving each of her sisters a kiss on the head, gives me a kiss and then has to squeeze out of the van. If you read the previous post, Miss Sadie is still facing backwards in the car seat since she is under 20 lbs. It makes getting out of the van a little tricky. Usually after she gets out, she stands on the sidewalk, waves and yells goodbye. I love it. So sweet and yet grown up enough for school.

She looks higher than she really is. :)

Analise is loving each part of school. You name it, she enjoys it. She is making friends (actually she is one of those girls that is friends with everyone) but I don't see her attached to any one friend. She just plays at recess with whomever may be doing what she wants to do.

She brings home little books each week and loves to read them to us. I hope she loves reading as much as I do.

We had parent/teacher conferences this week. It was a nice time visiting with her teacher and finding out how Analise is doing. No big surprises for us. She had a packet of things Analise has drawn or answered. These things always crack me up. Here goes:

Analise's favorite thing about kdg: recess

Least favorite part: blowing her nose

What she wants to learn in kdg: how to read (One kid wrote "How to mow") lol

What she likes to do with her family: watch football. She had a picture of her, Maisie and me watching football. We had just watched the MI game last weekend.

If she had a million dollars: she would buy more fish

What she wants to be when she grows up: a race car driver

Right now she is testing out awesome on her letters/sounds area so that is great.

We also visited with her music teacher, and we learned that Analise already has perfect pitch and rhythm. I can't wait to see how God is going to use that!

When Analise gets home from school, she is hungry! Most days she doesn't seem overly tired, but some afternoons I see her having a more difficult time adjusting from school age friends to younger sisters. Thankfully it doesn't take too long, and she and Maisie are off playing.

Each night we try and get the girls to bed by 8:00, and each night we walk out of their room at 8:30.

In addition to school, Awana started back up this week. She was so excited to see her friends and officially be a Sparkie. Also one night a week, I take her to a children's music class. It's a parent/child class, and we are both enjoying it. I love being with her, and she loves learning about music.

We have a short week this week, so I am looking forward to having her around more. (and sleeping in. :))

18 Months

My baby is 18 months already! (16 months corrected age) She is doing great! We went a couple of weeks ago to see her pulmonolgist. Her lungs "sounded like a symphony." However, she isn't gaining the weight like she should be. She only weighed 19-8...a few ounces more than a few weeks ago. Thankfully, the doctor said it would do him no good to worry about it. I am just supposed to double butter everything, and try and squeeze in as many calories as possible. She is a good eater, so I am thankful for that.
Sadie has been bottle free for 5-6 weeks. After our long day of traveling home from IN, I realized she had gone all day drinking from her sippy. So the next day we went cold turkey and didn't offer any bottle. She did awesome! She now loves her sippy cups and drinks a lot of whole milk. I will admit I was a little sad as I washed the bottles for the last time and put them away. Another reminder of a season passed and a sign Sadie is growing up.
Sadie is where she likes to mimic, and she has some great sisters to learn from...most of the time. :) She will even "spit" like the girls after she is finished brushing her teeth.
Sadie loves to look at books, and she is beginning to make some animal sounds. She has puppy down for sure.
Sadie has her own fun language she uses. I don't remember the other two ever doing this. Analise seemed to talk from the womb, and Maisie just didn't talk. So I love to listen to Sadie babble. I can't even replicate the sounds.

Sadie has officially joined the family at the dinner table. So long high chair! She just beamed the first time she sat with us. I know she loves feeling grown up like the other two. We rearranged where everyone sat at the table, and I like the set up. It's working well. Sadie is now also coloring with Color Wonder markers whenever the other two color. She loves it!
I gave Sadie a spoon and yogurt the other day, and she did really well. Honestly, she wasn't much messier than Maisie is when she eats a yogurt. :)

The most exciting thing to see is Sadie walking around the house! I would say she is 60% crawling and 40% walking, but each day I see her choosing to walk more. I was at a church meeting last week with her, and she stood up in the middle of the room and began walking. I was so excited that I have no idea what anyone was talking about. The girls cheer her on and love it when Sadie walks towards them.

I am reminded that this "16 month" age has always been a challenging time. Oh, I love all the ages, I just find this age a little more frustrating. She knows what she wants, but she can't usually tell me. She does a lot of pointing, which helps. However, it's the "I am mad" attitude she expresses with a loud squeal the gets on my nerves. Maisie did the same thing, and we broke it with her. I know there is hope. It just doesn't help when the selfish 3 year old takes something from Sadie, making her scream. Then I am upset with two daughters. Thankfully they do have their moments where they laugh and play. I know it's just a stage we are going through.

Sadie is becoming quite the ham...playing the last child role really well. She will look at me and give me the cheesiest grin, just for a reaction. I love it! In fact, not too long ago I aimed the camera at her, she grinned and said, "Cheese."

I have Sadie in a Kindermusik class once a week with Maisie. It's a good time for the three of us. Maisie is one of the oldest in the class, and Sadie is the youngest. She seems to enjoy it, and I think she learns more from the class than I realize. Sadie loves to listen to songs and join in on the actions.

So all things considered, not gaining weight quickly is a minor thing. She might be little, but she makes up for it in spunk!

Maisie is three

Actually, Maisie has been three for three weeks. Her mama is just behind again in the blogging world.
Maisie is excited to be three, and she does a great job of telling others. She even includes three fingers in her answer. :)
Maisie loved celebrating, and she got several opportunities. I felt like we celebrated all month long. We finally got to do her real birthday party with the family here in town a couple of weeks ago. I made dinner - rotisserie chicken on the grill (kudos to dad there!), baked potatoes with topping, fruit (served in a watermelon that I made look like a truck) and homemade bread (kudos to grandma on this one.) I also decided to make Maisie some monkey cupcakes, because she loves monkeys right now. She refers to them as "hee haw haws." She was so excited when she saw her cupcakes. I call it a success when the 3 year old knows what you've created! :)
Maisie, Maisie, keeps me on my toes during the day and makes me crash at night. Oh, I love her dearly. Not too long ago, she said hi to a stranger. (A nice lady). The lady said hi back and then said to me, "I bet she's your little firecracker." This lady hit the nail on the head.
She can make me laugh and smile like no other, but she can also make me shake my head in wonder...how did I get such a busy girl? I don't have to wonder long...I am married to her daddy. :) She is such a hands on learner. She touches everything! Telling her not to touch something is like telling the sun not to shine. It just can't happen. I really do try and work with that, but more often than not, her little hands get her into trouble. I have felt lead to pray for her a little differently. I pray that her little hands can bring HIM lots of glory!
At the birthday dinner, we asked Maisie questions and family members tried to guess her answers. Let's see what I remember:
Favorite toy: Markers. She loves to color, and I love it when she chooses Color Wonder markers.
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite food: Fruit, fruit, fruit...with cheese a close second.
Maisie is a good middle sister. She loves to follow and mimic Analise, and yet she will lead the fun with Sadie. She still loves schedules and routine. She still listens to her Boz cds every day at nap time. Maisie is my night owl. She gets all goofy around bed time. She does better if she can sleep later and wake up on her own in the mornings. However, most mornings she gets up when I have to wake up Analise.
She is speaking more, and her sentences are getting longer. She still mixes or misses beginning sounds, but it's cute. Her owies are still howies. Gum is bung. Thomas - matas. Fruit snacks: new nacks. Movie: Moonie. Sorry: Rorry. Analise is still "Me." and Sadie is still "Baby." She calls her bottom, "Button." :) Every time we are in the van running errands, she will always ask "Home, home?" after every stop. And I mean every.
She loves to help. Give her a simple task, and most of the time she is thrilled. She loves to help me in the kitchen. I enjoy it, but it is a real test of the "no touching." :)
She knows all her colors; she can name several letters, and she can put together a wooden puzzle amazingly fast. It's almost scary when she just knows exactly where every piece goes. No thinking or figuring out pieces. It's simply memorized.
She is beginning to pray at bedtime, and I love it. Precious time. She also knows most of her Bible verse which we have said with her almost every night since she was home. Zeph. 3:17 - "The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He takes great delight in you. He quiets you with His love. He rejoices over you with singing."
Maisie, we love you dearly! Keep sharing your love with others.

Colorado Weekend

Back in March, I began planning for Brandon's birthday in April. I wanted to surprise him with something fun and different. I knew that he loved Lincoln Brewster (who wouldn't?) and thought it would be so much fun if I could take him to a concert. I looked online, and the closest city was Denver. Denver was definitely doable! I called his sister Sarena and asked if we could crash with her, and if she wanted to babysit. She was thrilled, so I got the tickets. Several months later, and away we went!
The first week of school, and I ruined Analise's chance for perfect attendance. Her teacher was very gracious in letting me pick her up early. Brandon's boss was also gracious and let Brandon leave at lunch. We packed up and hit the road at 1:30. Let the long drive begin...I drove the first half so Brandon could get some work done in the van. After a couple of quick stops, and feeding the girls dinner in the van, we made it 7:30 our time. Sarena and her friend D had dinner ready for us. The girls unwound while we ate. It was great to be there!
Saturday morning was Maisie's 3rd birthday! Sarena had decorated things so nicely and had a fun gift for her:

Brandon and I wanted to take the girls for donuts (Maisie calls them nunuts), since that's always a favorite. Being in CO, those donut shops are kind of scarce. We finally settled for some from a grocery store. We then went to Focus on the Family to play down in Whit's End. Here is Analise with Whit:

They also have a really fun, tall slide that Analise loved:

The girls enjoyed playing around....all for free! :)

Maisie with her decorations:

After we left FOTF we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch...one of my faves! The girls ate and played. We went back to Sarena's house for a few more gifts and cake. It was definitely nap time, but the girls pulled through and enjoyed it.

Brandon and I helped put the girls down for naps, and then we took off. We were meeting friends in Denver for supper. We decided to take a more scenic route through the mountains. It was a beautiful drive, and nice and quiet in the van. Ahhh...

We met N and J at their place for a yummy, adult meal. Then it was concert time! I went in expecting a big mega church with a big concert feel. We got to the church, and I knew that my mindset was going to have to change. It was a smaller church (with no AC!). We were in pews and only nine rows back. I bet there was only ~400 people there. Once I got over the fact it wasn't what I expected, I loved every minute of it! He was so down to earth and real with the audience. And what a great worship time. LOVED IT! When he finished the concert, he hadn't sang my two favorite songs: God You Reign and Everlasting God. I figured one would be the encore. Sure enough Lincoln came back out. A lady from the audience yelled out, "God You Reign!" Lincoln, "Really? I haven't done that song in a long time. But sure, I'll take a request." So, he ended up singing both songs! :) I will admit I got teary eyed singing Everlasting God. We sung that at Rachel's funeral, and the basis of that song is from Isaiah, one of Rachel's favorite verses. I remember the pain of singing that at her funeral, but I also got hope when I imagined her worshiping her Savior in Heaven. Thank you, Jesus...

Sunday morning came too quickly, but we were able to go to church with Sarena. We really enjoyed it! We went back to her place for lunch, packed up and hit the road for the long drive home. We got home at 10:20. We enjoyed the whole weekend and crammed as much as we could in such a short time. Just being near the mountains was wonderful. Add the family, friends and worship times, and it was extra wonderful.

Another Family Photo

Just in case the prior post didn't have enough family portraits, I thought I would include the picture Analise had to draw for school. Sorry it's hard to see, but I think it's hilarious and had to share. Poor thing doesn't have art in the genes....