Happy 7 years, Lydia!

This wonderful kid is SEVEN! And what a wonderful seven year old she is. 

Weight: 69 lbs
Height: 4' 1"
Clothing: 8 T
Shoe: size 1

Likes: coloring, reading, poetry, imaginative play

Schedule:

7am Lydia received her own room on her birthday! This means more sleep and occasionally a little sleeping in. She most likes cereal with no milk.

8am School begins! Her favorite subject is handwriting. (Then she said no, reading is her favorite :) She likes most things.)

12:00 Lydia loves to make a turkey sandwich or have leftovers for lunch.

1:00-3pm This year we do our together school after lunch followed by quiet reading time in their separate spaces. Lydia is so self controlled to read and stay in her room during this time. 

3pm She heads out to play with friends or just outside if she weather allows. 

5:30ish Dinner time! Lydia is a good eater and great conversationalist. Over the past year she has gotten really good at helping clean up after dinner.

7pm After dinner and clean, she heads upstairs and can get ready for bed by herself. She get to read again for 30 minutes and then turns off the light.

Fun things:
- She has lost 6 teeth!

- Lydia really is a fantastic reader and has a wonderful memory- I'm sure those things go hand in hand.

- She took dance and swim lessons this summer. Swim lesson made her nervous!

- She is becoming one of the big kids in our homeschool group- it is neat to see her take on that role. 

A Chronological Look At the Past Year

Her year kicked off with her baptism!

Sweet school project :)

A friend from church pulls a wagon behind his lawn mower.

Fairy princess for Halloween.

Dancing through life.

Gum in her hair!
Dad to saves the day!

First snow

School presentation.

She loved the activities that went along with our reading curriculum. 

Make your own pizza night.
Give this girl all the pineapple.

Our library had a health challenge.

She fell asleep in Dad's arms while waiting to pick up the big kids.

Meeting Baby Levi!

A tooth offering.

We were measuring mailbox letters with a Lydia for scale.

First soccer game!

At Dave's graduation.

Always reading :)

Our first cicada sighting.

VBS

The Cade's Cove Loop

Ancient history year.

Fair Oaks Farm

Happy birthday, Lydia! 

Your love blesses us all!

Happy 5 years, Anna!

Our baby is FIVE! Having big kids is turning out to be quite fun- we are happy to add to Anna to the club! 

Weight: 47 lbs 4.8 oz (87%)
Height: 3' 7.5" (72%)

Clothing: 6T
Shoes: size 12

Likes: dancing, being read to, singing, painting

Dislikes: nap time, not being able to keep up

A Day Her Life:

7:00am Anna shares a room with the girls now. They tend to all come down right at 7am. She still loves a warm cup of milk in the morning and still abhors starting with a banana. But she actually does like bananas!

Morning: During school days Anna would play or snuggle while the big kids did school. These summer days have been filled with make believe and library/playground trips.

Lunch: Anna enjoys peppers and fruit. She usually has a PB&J for lunch. Chips are a special treat, but she sure loves them!

1:00-3:00pm: Nap time! Most of the time Anna looks at books and plays in her room. Often an outfit change just for the fun of it is involved. Occasionally she'll tuck herself right in and get a good nap.

Afternoon: Neighbors often come knocking in the afternoon. Anna loves when they play in our yard so that she can play along. They are all very kind and inclusive.

Dinner: Anna loves pasta, cheese, and bread. She isn't a very fast eater unless she is very excited about what we are eating. In most cases she prefers the company and is less interested in the food.

7:00pm: Bed time! She can do most of her evening routine on her own, then we tuck her in with a prayer and a song. If she napped, it is a long evening. If she didn't, she goes right to sleep!

How we celebrated:

Anna chose cinnamon rolls and bacon (which she called toast and decided she didn't love) with apple juice for breakfast. We played at home for the morning and then had rainbow lunch. She picked Frozen II for her nap time movie and McDonalds for dinner out. Her cake of choice was decorated as a unicorn.

Fun Things:

* As Anna's vocabulary grows she is finding her unique voice. A few favorite phrases are "literally", "I don't even know", "I don't loooove it".

* Anna had her first experience with swim lessons last week. She had the time of her life despite being the only kid not to move to level 2 and she even got her hair all the way wet on the last day.

* She got super tickled watching Dave drink from a water fountain recently. We realized she didn't remember them from before the pandemic! It will be interesting to see how COVID shapes our youngest, who doesn't really remember life before.

A chronological look at the past year:

Pockets!

Wearing "all my skirts"

Matching her Sarah :)

That time she traced her hand on the wall.
No hiding the offender!

Anna won a library coloring contest.
Hoppy is as big as she is!

Dad
Anna
The words she writes with confidence!

Sarah had a math project that explored reflection.
A few days later, Anna figured out how to do it with her name.

Working up the courage to step in.

Library craft for the win.

Last day with a 4 year old.

Five is going to be great! We love our girl!