Monday, June 30, 2014

Two Months


We are 0 for 2 on taking Alden's "month" pictures on time.  Poor third child. ;)  I think he still knows we love him.






These girls adore their baby brother.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Family visit

We had Granny here for a week last week, Uncle Alden & Cody for the weekend, and Aunt Becky & Uncle Brian for Saturday afternoon.  :)

 Granny arrives!

 Uncle Alden arrives -- and his fan club is pretty excited.

 Alden meets his namesake!


 birthday presents... new princess outfit!



A long awaited walk up the stream on a perfect summer afternoon...















First Montshire water play of the summer.

Playing with Mommy's swim gear (after my first swim of the season!)


Thursday, June 26, 2014

Baby smiles

There's nothing better. :)

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Ten Year Reunion



10 years later, we still adore these people.  It was so fun to have a houseful of college friends and their kids, and to spend some time on the Green running into others.

 friends in my kitchen!

 running around campus in the rain

 popsicles on the green 

 Tami Taylor!

 Alden's first photo on the Green






(We took the group picture after the Nti's & Jorgensens had left, and before Philip & Jen arrived.)





Saturday, June 21, 2014

Five.

 

My first baby turned five last weekend.  She's smart, observant, affectionate and silly.  She loves school and can still play outside by herself for hours.  She wanders in our little woods, climbs her rock, catches frogs, and picks leaves.  I love that although she is maturing physically and socially, she still lives in her own world most of the time.  She is a wonderful big sister, going out of her way to find Adara and include her in her games, and often is the one to comfort her when she's sad or hurt.  She's very sensitive - cries easily and will tell us exactly why she's upset (ie. "when you said that, it made me feel like I wasn't important"), and still has a habit of falling over and running into things.  She's definitely an introvert, but plays well with other kids at school and attaches easily both to children and adults that she's comfortable with.  Her teachers regularly tell me how well behaved she is, which is encouraging given her recent tendency to test the limits at home.  Alasdair picked out her birthday gift this year - a set of the Little House on the Prairie books - and she's been loving reading them together.  The day of her birthday our house was full of college friends here for our 10 year reunion and their kids, so we put a candle in her pancakes at breakfast.  Sweet girl also wanted us to give a candle to the other kids so that no one would feel left out.

I asked her the same series of "favorites" questions as the last couple of years, and the most striking difference was the increase in her awareness of what I was doing.  When she was three and four, I'd ask her a question or two here and there before she lost interest.  This year, she was sitting next to me at the table, and watching closely while I typed what she wrote.  "Are you those all my favorite things you're typing up?  Why?"  She really considered each question, and was very interested to read what she'd said in past years.

Who is your best friend?  Kaelynn (a girl in her preschool class)
What is your favorite color?  Purple and pink
What is your favorite book? Go Dog Go
What is your favorite animal? Papa Bear
What about a real animal? Giraffe 
(I had no idea she liked giraffes, but she gave the same answer last year, and on a paper she filled out for school lately.)
What is your favorite food? Ice cream sandwiches.  Maybe a healthy food too... oatmeal
What is your favorite game?  Candy land at school
What is your favorite song?  That fishy song 
(and then sings... 1 2 3 4 5 once I caught a fish alive, 6 7 8 9 10 then I let it go again...)
What is your favorite thing to drink? Pineapple juice
What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Swing!
What animal do you sleep with?  Papa bear
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy: Play chess
(He's been teaching her the basics over the last year or so.)


What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy: Snuggle

Anything else you want to tell me about your favorite things?  My birthday!  And playing and romping and wrestling.  (Who do you wrestle with?  Alex)
What is something you're good at?  Pumping!  
(She's very proud of having just learned to pump on the swings.)


Thursday, June 19, 2014

Last day of Preschool


Today was Emily's last day of preschool!  

Here she is back in September.  She was so excited and nervous this first day.  I've loved watching her love school as much as I thought she would, and grow in confidence and maturity through the year.  I'm so thankful that her first foray into the classroom was such a good experience.

 Adara wanted to be in a picture with a sign just like Emily.

 She was very excited to come to the graduation party at Emily's school... mostly so that she could get a chance to play with the toys!

 The class with Miss Susan, Miss McCarthy, and Miss Lexi
*Parker, Davie, Pharoah, Luke, Graham, Niveah, Lily, Emily, Felipe, Savannah*
(Emily's two closest friends in the class, Brynlee and Kaelynn, both moved away near the end of the year.)


Kindergarten here we come!