4th of July

We gave the kids TNT to hold on the 4th of July. Don't worry. We kept them at least 3 feet away from the gas grill.

Flight of the Bumblebee

Sydney was in a ballet recital on Friday. Her performance was called Flight of the Bumblebee. Here are some pictures from the event. You'll see that she's fiddling with her cap. Scroll to the end to see what the cap did to her ear. Apparently, Sydney was allergic to something in the cap.

Here's Julia entertaining herself before the show starts.







Normal healthy ear.


Infected ear. This is after she's had some medicine and it's already gone down some.

Happy Birthday Horris!

Our Windy Adventure at the Orchard

We met Chuck, Erika, Madison and Owen at an orchard in MD. We flew our kite from the Outerbanks, rode ponies, jumped on a moonbounce, and saw bunnies and chicks. It was so very cold but the kids didn't seem to mind much. Afterwards, we went to Rio Grande for lunch and fed tortillas to the ducks in the pond outside. We were all about the farm animals today.

The Playground with Olivia

Olivia came to visit us on her Spring break. We had a great time hanging around the house and at the playground. We're very proud of Sydney who can now navigate the monkey bars! She also climbed up a rainbow and subsequently got scared when she had to come back down (not sure if you can see the worried look in her face). Hollis had fun too. I was embarrassed to be seen with him. I guess that's par for the course.

Bunny Day

On Easter Sunday Syd woke up grumpy and didn't want to get dressed or brush her teeth. Until... I mentioned that maybe the Easter bunny came. All the sudden she became very cooperative.

Julia's Preschool Progress Report

Every six months we get a progress report for Julia noting her progress on motor skills, cognitive skills, language, self-help skills, and social/emotional development. She can "score" an always, sometimes or never. I thought some of the tests were cute and I don't think she'd mind if I shared some of her test results with her dearest fans.

Motor Skills
Walks approximately on a line - S
Kicks ball forward - N
Turn pages singly - S
Holds crayon with thumb and fingers - S
Walks up and down stairs, alternating feet - S (She would have totallys scored an Always if they didn't have the alternating feet part in there. SNAP!)

Cognitive
Recognizes self in mirror - A (yay Jujy!)
Knows colors and is able to match colors - S
Imitates adult actions, such as sweeping and ironing - N (Hollis hasn't exhibited this skill yet)
Has limited attention span - S

Language
Understands "in" and "on" - N
Understands big and little - S
Points to pictures of common objects - A
Uses pronouns I, you, me, correctly - N

Self Help Skills
Spoon feeds without excessive spilling - S (yes, we're working on this with other members of our family)
Pulls pants or shorts off and on - N
Pours well from a pitcher - N

Social/Emotional
Verbal scolding replaces physical aggressiveness - S
Begins to participate in associative play - S
Helps put away toys - A/S