Jane

Jane is a sweet, compassionate girl. She is just so kind, and she is great with Graham.  She is so often such a helper around here.

Jane's curls are losing their "curliness" and settling more into a wavy style.  She has lost three teeth and has a loose one right now.  She has FINALLY stopped sucking her fingers.  Hallelujah!

Jane is excited about kindergarten in the fall.  She is going to play soccer (along with Sydney), and I think it will be fun to watch them!  She loves art, playing school/work/library/store/etc, and she loves her American Girl doll, Sarah.

She is a beautiful girl, inside and out.

Sydney

Here's the latest with Syd!  Her big news is that she FINALLY has a loose tooth.  She has been waiting for this for a while....ever since Jane lost her first.  Jane has now lost three, so you can imagine Sydney's delight when she finally made hers wiggle!  She is constantly messing with it and telling me it is ready to come out.

 She is equally thrilled about her new school shoes.  What says Sydney more than light-up zebra shoes?  And just like the rest of her, she has a tiny foot.  She is wearing a full two sizes smaller than Jane.

Sydney loves to swim, and we go to the pool quite often.  When Syd has been in the sun a lot, her freckles really come out.  I love her sweet freckels!

Sydney still loves her dolls, to play outside, friends, make-up, and adventure.  She loves it all!

This girl is one smart cookie, and I know that she will knock 'em dead in kindergarten.  She is going to love having friends around all day.  I just hope she doesn't love it so much that she forgets to listen!!!

Sydney makes life fun!  She has a magnetic personality, is a great conversationalist, and has a witty sense of humor.  I think we'll keep her!

The Secret Garden

Clare was quite thrilled when it was time for Missoula Children's Theater camp this summer!  This shirt seemed appropriate for theater camp!

This is her second year to participate, and she loves it!  The play this year was The Secret Garden and Clare was cast as a firefly!

She was mostly thrilled about her hiney-shaking part during the play!

Unfortunately, the day of the two performances, Clare wasn't feeling her best.  But she powered through, and we were all so proud of her!

She had quite the fan club....her sisters, our neighbor, Deedee, and Casey and I all saw the show!

It's always fun to see your name in print!

I am so impressed with the way the camp operates, and I am so glad that Clare has the chance to participate.  Next year, we'll have three actresses!

Graham

Graham is 26 months old. 

He is quite the ham.  He loves to put on a "show" and have all (familiar) eyes on him.  He dances, jumps around, runs laps and does "the robot!"  He enjoys puzzles, books, sports, and being outside.

He is a busy little dude who spends his days tagging along to his sister's activities.  It is amazing the stuff he has done at the ripe age of two.....Sea World, movies...all stuff I never would have dreamed of taking Clare to at that age, but the situations are different!  We recently took the family to see Monsters University.  Although it didn't seem like Graham paid too much attention, he has certainly taking a liking to Mike and Sully.  How could I resist these socks?

While Graham is usually happy and laid back, he is asserting his two year old self a bit more!  He likes to do things by himself ("me do it") and on his own terms.  He desperately wants to do the things his sisters do ("me go too!"), but he just isn't quite big enough for everything that entails yet.   He has recently developed this new 'tight upper lip smile', and he shows it off quite frequently.

 He is still so snugly at bedtime.  He loves to read books and then he curls up in my arms for a song or two.  I know those times will be gone before long, and I am trying to enjoy every minute

The girls love Graham to pieces.  They are really so good to him.  Recently, Clare said, "I am so glad I have a little brother."  I think the rest of us would agree. 

On another note....Happy Birthday Casey!

Six on Saturday

1.  During these lazy summer mornings, I am wondering how on earth we will make it to school on time in the fall.

2.  How cute is this "Little Dude"?

3.   When I saw Back to School supplies at Target out, my heart sank a little.  I am not ready to send three off to school in the fall. 

4.  We did attempt to get ahead of the game and pick out backpacks (two backpacks and one messenger bag!)

5.  Syd made herself some sunshades!

6. Clare has entered the orthodontic phase of life!  How are we already there?  She had spacers put in this week and more to come in the next few weeks!

Have a great weekend!

Belly Flop

Graham is quite the swimmer.  He is a crazy man in the water!  

 He loves to go "fwimming", and he wears his puddle jumper with no problem.  He was especially thrilled when he found a mask that no one was using!

He has been jumping in all season, but tonight he mastered the belly flop!

Who knows what he will be doing by the end of the season?

Fun on the Fourth

We had a fun Fourth with LoLo, Pop, Mamma, Nathan, Megan and Brody!

Mamma had special shirts made for her grant-grandchildren that say "My Mamma loves me to the moon and back."  So, of course, we needed a picture!  I think we got a good one!

We did some swimming and enjoyed lots of good food, including some fun drinks!

Graham spent most of his time near the chips and dips (which explains why he didn't eat any dinner!)

 

Brody and Sydney are two peas in a pod.  They have a great time together.

An unexpected part of our holiday....Jane pulled her tooth!  This is the third one she has lost.

This is how our kids will know that we love them.....we agreed to participate in a parade around the house.  Clare, of course, served as the parade marshall as we marched around, waved our flags, and followed her direction!

Then we headed to fireworks!

Food, family, fireworks....a fun Fourth!

San Antonio Vacation

We ventured down to San Antonio for a fun-filled few days with Deedee and Papaw and Emmy and Grandad.  It was an action packed trip including days at Sea World and Sea World's water park, Aquatica!

But first, the Alamo!  We went down to the Riverwalk, had some good Mexican food, and took a walk by the Alamo.  The Alamo means almost nothing to my younger three, but Clare has learned about it and she was glad to see it.

The next day we headed to Sea World. 

 We saw dolphins,

penguins,

and blue horses!

We saw several shows, and they are all so well done.  We sat in the "splash zone" for the Shamu show.

And splash he did!  We got soaked!

There are some fun rides at the park too.

Graham was able to ride several rides too.  

He was a happy boy in the splash area!

The days we weren't at the park, we hung at the house, enjoyed the pool, and did some crafts!

 The last day, we headed to Aquatica.  It was a fun water park with lots of slides, pools, and sun!

And, we even met Shamu!

Graham is such a trooper.  He goes and goes and goes....and then crashes!

It was a really fun trip.  Thanks so much to Dan, Dale, Scotty and Mary!