2nd Grade

Today my sweet Leah started 2nd grade. Hard to believe! She loves her teacher and was so excited to start school today!

Her lovely teacher...Mrs. Bracken.

Remember this how distraught this girl was last year? This year, Carly doesn't seem to mind a bit.

Leah we hope you have an amazing school year!!

Carly Conversation

Carly's conversation on the way home from the zoo last night.

Carly: Mom, Leah's taking a cat nap.

Mom: That's ok. Let her sleep.

Carly: But she's not a cat!

Mom: (laughing) Cat nap just means a short nap.

Carly: Oh! Well I'm taking a dog nap. (then her loud funny laugh)

This girl cracks me up!

Preschool Graduation

My baby at her preschool graduation. She still has another year left before kindergarten but all kids participate on graduation night. It was such a fun year for her!

She had the sweetest teacher...Miss Darla. The epitome of church lady, grandma, and preschool teacher all wrapped in one bundle!

My Favorite People

Could not imagine my life without these three gems!!

...and one of my favorite pictures ever!

7

Wow! It's been a loooooong time since I've posted! So today, my sweet, adorable and loving Leah turns 7! So hard to believe! She is an amazing girl and I am blessed to be called her mama! She is loving, kind, beautiful and loves to care and think of others! She ADORES her little sister (most of the time). God has certainly blessed us!

I would like to thank Chick-Fil-A for sponsoring breakfast, Krispy Kreme for her school birthday treat, Subway for lunch and Bob Evans for dinner! A few of her favorite things for her 7th birthday!

So to my sweet Leah - May your heart always be focused on the Lord. May you always know you are loved and treasured. You are beautiful in every way and created perfectly! Thank you for 7 wonderful years! You may stop growing now!!

I LOVE YOU! Happy, happy birthday my sweet girl!

Carly Goes to Preschool

Carly started preschool a couple of weeks ago. It's only on Tuesday mornings from 9:30 - 11:30. It's perfect for her and she loves it.

1st day of preschool

Her Dora backpack

Today was Donuts with Dad! She was so excited to take her Papa to preschool. This is his first time seeing her new school. Hope you two had a fun, sugar-filled morning!!

School Picture Day

Leah wanted curls for picture day today. What a beautiful girl we are blessed with!

Monkey see, Monkey do

If you want curls, I want them too!

Our cute Carly-girl!

1st Grade

Leah started 1st Grade today! Hard to believe that she will be in school all day, every day now. It helps that we love, love, love her new teacher!!

However, Carly is already having Sister withdrawal. This is her just moments after leaving Leah at school. Good thing she starts preschool in a couple of weeks!

She's my little Minnie Mouse...

Way back in June, Leah had her dance recital. A cute little jazz routine to "Minnie's YooHoo". Here's our little Minnie Mouse.

Leah and Papa

Leah and her teacher, Miss Vanessa

I am so pround of you my little dancer! May you always dance freely like no one is watching!

Recent Conversation...

Here's the conversation between sisters at the doctor's office.

Mama: Leah, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Leah: I'm not sure. (It used to be a doctor, a baby doctor, and that is just what Carly said she wanted to be right before I asked Leah.)

Carly: A clowoon?

(family is laughing)

Leah: No! I don't want to be a clown. (with slight attitude)

Carly: A horse? You wanna be a horse?

(more laughing)

Carly: A clown horse?

Carly is our very funny child and she draws out all her vowel sounds. Definitely some southern roots in that girl. It was quite a humorous conversation between a 6-year old and a 2-year old.

Land of a Thousand Questions

I forgot how questioning a 2-year old can be. Here are some questions I hear multiple times a day...

What's that noise?
Who's there?
Where's my sister?
Can I watch Dora? (or Dragon Tales - that's her new favorite)
Can I do play-doh?
Can I wear a swimsuit? (her clothing of choice)
Can I do that?
Can I ride my big girl bike?
Can I do my scooter?
Can we read that (book) again? (and again, and again, and again)

Leah has even bigger questions.

How big is God?
If God created everything, who created God?

I think I'll take the 2-year old questions please!

Breaking the Silence...

I have not meant to be so absent from the blog for this long. We have been in a state of transition and I may write about that in another post. But for now, I'll leave you with a couple pictures from our Fancy Nancy story time at the library. It was a marvelous time! And my girls had an extraordinary time getting fancy.

Random Updates

Just some random stuff about the girls.

Carly: I would have said we are potty-trained since she has had no accidents and has been dry at nap and through the night for the last three days but today she decided to pee downstairs. Nice.

Breakfast: The girls love carnation instant breakfast shakes in the morning. We usually add a banana and peanut butter for some flavor boost. Carly calls them "chocolate movies."

Manners: When I encourage Carly to use her manners, she says "ok my dear". In fact, I think her favorite thing to say is "my dear". Here you go my dear. Yes my dear.

Christmas: The girls favorite Christmas gift by far is their dollhouse from Mimi. The both play with it so well together. Yes together! It's slightly taller than Leah and has an elevator! The L.O.V.E it! Here is a picture of what it looks like.

Picnic: Today we had an inside picnic complete with white paper spaghetti and pink pipe cleaner lemonade. Leah made Carly and I a delicious meal.

Leah: is starting to really read well. It's fun to have her read books to us. She is also designing and planning her own bakery. It's fun to encourage her to think about all the things she will need for it and what type of sweets and treats she wants to offer. She still says she is going to be a doctor or teacher when she grows up.

Carly: is alphabet obsessed. She calls all letters "super letters". She can spell her name and recognize most of the letters of the alphabet - upper and lower case. She can also count to twelve and recognize most numbers up to 10. I'm amazed by her knowledge and how she communicates with us. Her language skills blow me away sometimes. And speaking of blowing me away, she has started climbing out of her crib. AND THINKS IT'S FUNNY!! We are encouraging her to call us. It worked with Leah. But I'm not so sure it will work with the little daredevil.

We Wish You a...

Merry Christmas!

We have had a fun and busy month preparing for Christmas and celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus! Elfie has been a little bit mischievous - eating Leah's twizzlers and oreos, cutting balloons from a bouquet to float to the ceiling, hanging from the chandelier and other fun stuff. The girls loved having him here for the last 24 days. They awoke this morning, Elfie's last day, to find presents from him. New Christmas pajamas and new books. Carly got a Dora book and Leah got Priscilla and the Pink Planet. How did Elfie know their favorite things?? He must have been paying attention to the girls.

We hope your Christmas is full of joy and blessings and hope.

Live in freedom that Jesus was born for YOU!

Have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Our Newest Addition

Meet Elfie.

He's the newest addition to our family. He arrived very early this morning to greet the girls. Leah spotted him right away perched on top of a picture over the fire place. We read the book. Leah wanted to name him "Santa's Little Helper". I suggested "Elfie". She loved it. Carly loved it. Now we have Elfie. And it's the second most popular name behind "Buddy." I'm hoping he won't cause too much mischief around our house this month while he reports to Santa each night if the girls have been good or not. So far Leah has done the laundry, changed sheets on the beds and has been all kinds of helpful. I think we need an elf for all seasons. :) Stay tuned to find out some of Elfie's adventures this month.

I think we've created a monster...

an M&M monster that is! Every time Carly goes potty she gets an M&M or two. Tonight she was purposefully sliding on the kitchen floor but fell really hard and hit her head. So I offered her one M&M to feel better. She said, "That's good." I asked her if she needed another one and she said "Yes." To this I thought, "Duh Mama, she is not going to turn down an M&M." After her second M&M she said, "I'm all better." Whew! M&M's to the rescue.

Later that same night, she fell in the hallway or ran into a door, something that caused her to get hurt. Guess what she promptly asked for? You guessed it, an M&M to feel better. So I think we are on our way to an M&M monster!

The ABC's

Carly is quite taken with all things regarding the alphabet. She calls letters "super letters." Every time she goes potty (which potty training is coming along very nicely - I think it's the drive for M&M's and putting balls in her potty jar) we have to do super letters. She knows almost all the letters and we are working on all the sounds too as well as several words with each letter. It's so fun to see her so excited about learning.

She loves to sing! And when she sings the alphabet song she has several versions.

A B C D E F G (repeating those letters only)

A B C D E F O (I think the letter O is her favorite. I'm sure that has nothing to do with all the Buckeye cheers we do at our house! O-H-I-O)

A B C D E F G W X Y and Z (this is her latest version)

I think I may need to get her some alphabet soup!

Wacky Wednesday

I really need to start updating the blog more. We have tons going on and lots of funny stories from both the girls.

But today and every Wednesday for the next month are going to be extra wacky - as in we are so busy. So busy shuttling Leah to her various and numerous Wednesday activities.

Here is a "normal" Weds for the girl:

1. school

2. daisy scouts (right after school)

3. home for a quick dinner

4. soccer practice

5. AWANA

6. home to unwind and bed

What busy days Wednesdays are going to be through October.

But who could resist shuttling this precious one around?

Oil Pastels

So as Leah was coloring today, she said, "Oh look these are oil pastels." Which promptly stopped me in the midst of working to look over at her. How in the world does she know what oil pastels are? I guess she is paying attention in art class.

Dance recital 2009

Here are some pictures from Leah's first dance recital. Her class did a tap routine to "I'm a Big Kid Now." Not only did she learn tap, but she also learned ballet and tumbling. Two of Leah's favorite friends, Ava and Phoebe, were in her class too. It was such a fun year of dance!