Sadie, age 19 months

Here are some pics of Sadie! She is a busy little toddler and spends most of her day copying her older sisters. Whatever they are doing is exactly what she wants to be doing! You can't take her into the garage without her begging to "ride" a bike. If she sees a soccer ball in the front yard she usually starts dribbling it around the yard just like her older sisters. If you say the word "gymnastics" she runs to the carpet and does a (usually perfect!) forward roll, or reaches her hands high in the air, leans back and tries to do a back bend!!

She goes to bed very easily for Joel (not so easily for me!). If Joel comes in her room while she's crying then she "hits the dirt" (as Joel says) and lays right down. Joel thinks this is hilarious and always says he's going to go in and "lay down the law." 

She is talking more and more each day. She does think that I can read her mind though. Sometimes if I am carrying her and she wants something she just says, "Mama. Mama. Mama." and gingerly grabs my face and turns it towards her, and then leans in super close and stares at my lips, continuing to say "mama mama mama" and waiting for me to say whatever it is she is wanting to say. It always cracks me up!

monkey see, monkey do!

Larkin and Willa like to collect cold water out of the tap and use it for "makeup." Sadie started copying them and here she is applying makeup to Larkin!

Joel and I always place bets on who we will wake up next to in the morning. This night we had two make it into our room in the middle of the night!

19 months old means there are some impressive melt-downs!

What else would you do with a bag of flour?

I thought Larkin was good at gymnastics until I saw Sadie. Lookout!!

Just one of the girls!

Willa, age 5

 At Willa's five year well-check the doctor asked how Willa was handling being a big sister, and if she ever got frustrated with Sadie. I was speechless for a minute because I couldn't figure out how to best describe just how great she is with Sadie! I am always amazed at how patient she is with her. The two of them spend hours each day playing together and Willa loves every minute of it.

Not to throw Larkin under the bus or anything, but it's just different to watch Larkin play with Sadie and then watch Willa. It comes so naturally to Willa and the two of them seem to have their own little language together. Larkin will play with Sadie for a short while and then will be ready to work on her own activities, while Willa will sit and be totally involved with Sadie for close to an hour.  Sadie is very attached to Willa and calls her "Ya-ya".

 Willa starts kindergarten in August, and she can't wait! Almost everyday she gets up early and gets dressed so that she can come along with Joel to drop off Larkin. In the morning the kids get dropped off in the cafeteria and sit in rows for a morning assembly. Lately Willa has been bringing along her backpack and sits down in Larkin's row "just like a real kindergartener" (much to Larkin's dismay).

Their school had a kindergarten registration day and I took Willa to get her all signed up. When it was time to leave she said, "Wait! I've got to go say goodbye to all my new friends!" and then she ran around hugging about 10 kids (most she had just met for the first time) and a few adults, all of whom knew her name! She is quite the social butterfly, just like her dad!

Willa also played soccer this year. A friend of Willa's plays soccer and one of her teammates broke her arm, so there was an opening on the team (called "Pink Lightening"). Willa had never really played soccer before so didn't know what to expect. The night before her first game she said, "So are there going to be millions of people watching and cheering for Pink Lightening, just like at a Packer game?"

The games were so much fun to watch. Each week you could tell that Willa was understanding the game a bit more, and with each passing week her skills got better and better. Her coaches called her the "natural defender" because she would always sprint like mad when the other team got the ball and would put herself into just the right spot. She got good at stealing the ball away from others too--and  almost every time she scored a goal she would turn and find us with her eyes on the sidelines and give us a sheepish smile, amazed and happy that she scored! 

Larkin age 6.5

It's sounds cliche but it's true--Larkin is growing up so fast! I remember one day when she was about four we were reading a book together in her bed. We finished the book and she pulled her foot out of the covers to look at an itch. We both simultaneously noticed that her foot seemed different. Suddenly her eyes grew wide and she said, "Oh my gosh, my foot is huge!!! I think it grew last night!"  I feel like I have that big foot moment with her every few months--only it's not just her foot! 

 About two months into the school year she came home and told Joel, "Dad, I've fallen in love." In the ten plus years I've known Joel I've never seen him speechless--until this day! She explained that her friend Kian was just so nice, funny, and polite to everyone and that she "just loves him." Kian feels the same way about her and they've been great friends ever since. They get together for playdates, play with each other at recess, sit by each other at lunch, and hug at the end of the day. They did endure some teasing from other kids--"Go play with your boyfriend!" but Larkin did a great job of explaining that he was not her boyfriend but was her friend, and didn't let all the teasing affect the friendship.

Inside the envelope was a cute picture with hearts, a Catholic prayer card, and a third place ribbon.

Larkin also joined Girl Scouts this year and I am the leader of her troop. At the beginning of the year they had an information session about Girl Scouts and Larkin was at first excited to join. Then when it came time to walk into the cafeteria to sign up she was crying and clutching my leg saying, "Please don't sign me up! Please don't do it!! I DO NOT want to be a Girl Scout!" She often has anxiety with new things, so of course I signed her up and also volunteered to be the leader! It's turned out to be a lot of fun though-she has made some good friends and I've had fun watching her interact with everyone.

headed out to sell Girl Scout cookies

all dressed up for Girl Scout father-daughter dance

tie-dying shirts with one of her favorite friends from our troop

Larkin's reading has also taken off this year. The other day at home I couldn't find Larkin and asked Willa if she knew where she was. Willa said, "Well wherever she is I bet she is either reading or writing because that's all she ever does anymore." As soon as she gets home from school she usually gets a snack and then grabs a sheet of paper and starts to write. Or she grabs a book and asks if anyone wants to listen to her read.
I have to be careful now what I leave sitting around the house--she reads the newspaper, text messages, my to-do lists, really anything she can get her hands on. The biggest challenge I have is just keeping enough books around here for her to read. The other day I went to the library and got her enough books that I thought would last about a week. She read for probably two hours that day (on and off) and finished the whole stack!!

here she is making a venn diagram for fun

she is always reading-even in the grocery store!

Larkin is also a great older sister. She is my ultra-responsible one that I can always count on if I need an extra pair of eyes to watch the baby. The other day Larkin was making a list of "things to do in the summer when you are bored" and one of the items on her list was "play with Sadie if she is awake." I thought that was sweet that playing with Sadie was something that she would choose to do!

Camping

For spring break back in March we took the girls to Brazos Bend State Park near Houston. We rented a screen shelter and also brought our tent. The screen shelter was so nice we never bothered setting up the tent! Here's a few pics from our two night trip. The park is known for its alligators (which are not aggressive like crocodiles) and we spotted over 20 of them on a one hour hike! 

Smore's

Larkin loves to clean and kept our cabin well swept!

Girls thought these crab legs were so cool until they smelled them!

chomp chomp!

Everyone was tucked in their beds for the night and then Sadie got the giggles!

Note to self: princess sleeping bags don't cut it when it's 45 degrees at night!

They had very nice hiking trails around a lake filled with alligators--wish we would have brought bikes!

petting alligator in the education center

Naptime!

Poisonous water moccasin along left side of sidewalk.