Monday, October 24, 2022

Happy 8 years, Lydia!


She is EIGHT!

Weight: 74lbs (90%)
Height: 4' 4.5" (80%)
Clothing size: 8/10
Shoe size: 2/3

Likes: dancing, crafting, reading, playing with the neighbors

Schedule:

7am Lydia is usually the first one down in the morning! She likes to choose yogurt with granola for breakfast. 

8am (or before!) School begins. This year she is learning to type and loves it!

11am Lunch time. Lydia likes leftovers and turkey sandwiches.

After lunch she helps clean up, finishes any school work that is left, and reads or plays in her room. 

Once everyone is mostly done for the day she heads out to play with the neighbors. They like to draw with chalk, bike, learn dances, and imaginary play.

5:30pm Dinner time. Lydia loves mac and cheese and often doesn't love meat.

7pm She gets ready for bed and reads for about half an hour before turning off her reading light. We love spending our days with Lydia!

Fun things:
- She played soccer this fall and loved being goalie.
- She took dance over the summer and is participating in an outreach dance crew during the school year. Their season is a little shorter than most classes and they perform at nursing homes once a month rather than participating in the studio recital. 
- I'd say this is the year that she became a confident swimmer. Things clicked during swim lessons and she moved up several levels.

A Chronological Look at the Past Year

Riding the carousel at the Seminary Fall Fest

Receiving what has become a favorite

Apple picking

Starbucks school is the best kind of school

Halloween

Her portrait for her bear





Catching a wave at the Children's Museum

Helping cook


Easter

Goalie skills!


This little hole in the rock at Zion was a favorite

Bryce Canyon

Sunrise at Zion

Holding up Balance Rock at Arches

Canyonlands

Beautiful girl on a beautiful soccer Saturday


Checking Anna's ear with the otoscope

VBS

She passed several levels during swim lessons

Decorating cookies for 4H



Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL





Her friend made matching bracelets



4th of July face painting

Lydia wanted to decorate her birthday cake

She made a butterfly!

Eight years old!



Ended her birthday with a rainbow dinner

What a special year with our dear Lydia!


Friday, July 1, 2022

Happy 6 years, Anna!

Six years old! Anna is now older than Sarah was when she was born. That is a real brain twister for us- and so fun. Big kids are awesome!

Weight: 51 lbs
Height: 3' 10.25"

Clothing: 6T/7T
Shoes: size 13/1

Likes: singing, crafting, playing with the neighbors, cuddling up for a read aloud 

An Anna Day:

7:00am Anna shares a room with Sarah. They tend to come down right on time and head right to breakfast. Anna can mostly fix her own breakfast, though she is sometimes distracted by other fun. 

Morning: School time! Anna did Kindergarten work this year. We saw growth in her knowledge and work ethic, but I don't think she would say that school is her favorite. It was a challenge. 

Lunch: Anna can make her own PB&J, which is awesome! Her favorite lunch item would probably be grapes.

1:00-3:00pm: Rest time. Anna mostly plays in her room and keeps and eye on what everyone else is doing. She has never been one to love looking at books by herself, but she loves when one of the big kids volunteers to read to her. Occasionally we'll find her tucked in and asleep, but not too often anymore.

Afternoon: Play time with the neighbors! This year Anna graduated to being allowed to go down to the neighbors' house to play. She is very conscientious of the road and driveways and has done very well with safety. But we are still working on not throwing fits when we don't get what we want :)

Dinner: Anna slowly and with negotiation eats most things, she just is much more concerned about what is going on around her than her food. She still loves mac and cheese best!

7:00pm: Time for bed. She loves a bubble bath when there is time. We do a lot of reading during the day, so bed time it is a simple teeth-jammies-bed situation.

How we celebrated:
Anna chose to start our day with Rise N' Roll donuts. Dave has been taking the kids on dates there over the last year and it has become their favorite donut shop. We played at home and opened gifts throughout the morning, then had Burger King for lunch. This was followed by an exploding sprinkles cake which was mostly made by Sarah. She chose High School Musical 2 for her afternoon movie and had an all fruit rainbow dinner plus corn dogs. It was a lovely Anna day!

Fun Things:
* "Terribly" was one of her favorite words this year. She used it to mean extremely, as in "that was terribly fun." "Inside" for any preposition is a new favorite. "I don't love it" was a classic.
* Anna lost her first two teeth this spring. 
* First year of Classical Conversations is in the book. She had a great time! Presentations were fun for her.
* She's seen the Grand Canyon, which is kind of amazing at 6 years old!
* She attempted soccer for the first time, enjoyed another summer of dance, and took swim lessons. 
* One of Anna's greatest strengths is copying- if she is looking at words she does a very neat job of copying what she sees. 
* Encanto was her favorite movie of the year. Isabella by far her favorite character. She even sang Isabella's song, What Else Can I Do, for her last presentation of the year.
* "Slow food" is what she calls food that takes a lot of chewing or cutting, thus a long time to eat.

A Chronological Look at the Past Year:

Enjoying a quiet imaginative moment.






In the Olympic spirit, performing a beam dismount.



First library card!!!










Signing Christmas cards is great for getting more comfortable writing your name.






She LOVED this map of the zoo.



Her first solo PB&J.









Our little hobbit :)




Lost her second tooth on vacation.








We love our Anna!