May wrap-up

Not much has happened this past week. I have a rare moment when I can sit and blog though so I should at least let everyone know that. Chris is showering off screaming children as they've lost the privilege of baths for bathing. The bath water kept ending up outside the bath so for the next week or so they get showers.  We are literally hosing them off with the showerhead and going from there.  They aren't to thrilled about it, but maybe they will learn to keep water in the bath.

School is school right now and work is work.  A is slowly becoming a bit better about minding, though not always. She is still the strong willed child, and we desperately want her to keep that will because in 10 years we want her to not be easily persuaded by friends, but now, accepting a "No" or "Eat" once a day would be nice. She does remarkably for a 4 year old though. G continues to be a fun toddler that toddles about and toddles into everyone.  He loves to walk around the church in the morning before stopping in front of the band and staring at the drummer. Then he starts a beat with a foot, his whole body, some hands, etc. and mostly they are all in time with the beat, sub-beats, etc. Because of this everyone at church knows him, and thinks he's the best.  Tonight at church (we had a congregational meeting) I met a few new people and they were like, "Hey, your boy is the one that watches the drums right?! He's so precious!"

Miss A is in a new classroom at school. She is having to make new friends, and rekindle some friendships from kids that were in different classes this past year since they were all over 3. (The school they go to has 1 room for 2-3 year olds, then around six for 3-5 year olds.) Her latest "new" old friend is "R." It was rather sweet when A and I went for ice cream yesterday and were talking about her week. She wants to tell R about God, and all the other new friends in her class as well. I find this to be a fantastic idea as she taught them all "Jesus Loves Me" in the 2 year old classroom. 

Chris made it through week 1 of summer term. Hopefully this week will be straightforward. Pray for him though as he is rather dis-illusioned with academia right now. Pray for guidance and what comes next for him.

Both May birthdays went off without much ado.  Now for a 10th anniversary next week! Hard to believe that Chris and I have been married for 10 years, but have and are excited about it.

Pray for us and our church as well.  There are some issues we are working through that will be trying in the next year or so. It will all work out according to God's plan, but hopefully all the people realize this and are at peace with that fact, despite what they personally think. 

Princess Party

Yesterday we had a princess party at our house. It was fun to see A with a few of her friends, mostly girls from church and one little girl from school. The party confirmed our fears that we don't have to worry about A being bullied, as she is the "mean girl." Really this means she is a super sensitive, sweet person and just doesn't want people to know. We recently got into "Sophia!" and are adapting to adding a princess to our Elsa world. Sophia seems to be holding her own though, and the idea behind Sophia is pretty good. We had some Elsa stuff and Sophia plates. We also wore Sophia like tiaras since they didn't have any crowns for the Elsa party stuff.  Fun was had by all and the kids entertained themselves quite nicely.  For the cupcakes I made the standard chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. We got some tips from a friend though and did some designs on the cupcakes (A and me before the party) and I hope to get to try and decorate more cupcakes sometime.

In other non-A news, G is going to hit a growth spurt soon. At least that's what we expect with all the eating he's done this weekend. He ate 4 (yes, 4) pieces of pizza -- so half of the medium sized pizza we got for the party, had a cupcake (the whole thing, not just the icing) during the party. Then he ate a good dinner. For breakfast this morning he ate a bowl of oatmeal, a banana muffin, a pancake and had some Kix. He's eaten Kix off an on all day for the past two days, as well as oatmeal. We are going to be in a ton of trouble when he gets bigger. For the picture above, he was super hungry and Chris had instructed him to go sit and eat his pizza. Chris was expecting G to go over to the girls and eat, but G just sat down and started shoving food in his face. 

Summer classes start for Chris tomorrow. We have a rare day off, so we are going to do some mom and kid stuff and possibly end up at the pool. We shall see.

Yearly Stats

We went on our annual check for A, and the 18 month check for G. She weighs in at an astonishing 32 lbs and 38". He weighs in at 22 lbs and 32".  Both are doing well and remaining in their respective percentiles. The doctor did well with both kids as always. We are going to a Pediatric ENT specialist in a near by town in the next month or so for G's ears. Hopefully we can get some answers.

Biltmore 15k

For our birthday girl we woke up super early and went to Biltmore. We spent last night in a hotel, something that A LOVES to do. Then woke up around normal time and got on the Biltmore grounds by 630. It was a good race and A had a fun time telling everyone it was her birthday. The last selling older shirts when gave her one to sleep in. She enjoyed wearing her tiara and is excited to wear it for her birthday party next week. 

Cheer squad that is ecstatic to be up a bit early

Ready to go run a few miles around the Biltmore Estate

Best signs on the route

Now that the race is run, can celebrate with the birthday girl!

Me Tarzan, you, Jane.

Our neighbours are trying to trans the wilderness that is encroaching on their backyard. This wilderness has many vines from trees and invasive plants. This past weekend we kind of had an impromptu block party as we helped them attempt to get rid of some vines. After swinging on them and attempting to chop them down the neighbours have it all up and just said have fun to all the kids. I mean, if it will hold all the grown people and not budge what will a 10 or 4 year old so to it?  A had a blast after she figured out she could go really fast. We would give her a push but since she is so small she goes really far. She went again today though the vines today goes in circles. She fell off, and we are working on teaching her the "get back up and try again philosophy."

Work is work for both Chris and me. The semester is basically over for him though so he has a few weeks with no students.  Work for me continues to be crazy with no end in sight for that.

Church is going well and A had decided she is going to learn to play guitar while G plays drums. The kids love to stand and stare the band during the services.