Pre-School graduation

Madelyn "graduated" from pre-school this morning. While I find the idea of a pre-school graduation somewhat silly, it was a fun little ceremony and Madelyn was so excited and proud. J.D. is working from home today, so he could go to the ceremony.

Madelyn has learned a lot this year. It is so cute to hear her recite the Pledge of Allegiance, to observe her reasoning skills (she can out-reason me at times), and hear her read (when she decides that it's worth her time). She also has some pretty impressive math skills and would much rather do math/puzzles/reasoning games than sit down with a book. I'm not sure I can stand her asking how many more days until kindergarten for another 3 months.

Getting her diploma:

So proud:

Posing with Daddy and Isabel:

and posing with Mommy and Isabel:

And with her truly GREAT teacher, Mrs. "V":

The best thing about business trips

is when Daddy comes home! Welcome Home, Daddy!

Fun with pictures

8 Month Old Comparisons

Madelyn:

Pierce:

Isabel:

It is pure coincidence that Isabel and Madelyn are wearing the same shirt.

8 Months Old

Isabel turns 8 months old today. She has entered the stage where it is nearly impossible to get a picture of her. She will NOT sit still. If she sees the camera, she crawls to it immediately. I take about 50 shots and end up with about 4 that aren't blurry. She's crawling everywhere, getting into everything, loves putting paper in her mouth, and I hadn't realized how many things are on our floors until recently. I've had to remove several non-food items from her little mouth. I definitely have to watch her and the big kids so that they don't leave choking hazards all over the floor.

In addition to amazing mobility, other fun changes have happened. She's not a real chatter box yet, but she's definitely making a lot of new sounds--I've heard the occasional ma, but her favorite sound right now is boo. I've heard a few ga's as well. She's learning to feed herself and is really starting to prefer real food to baby food, but I'm not really for that transition yet. She's trying to give up her third nap, and I am so ready for that, but every now and then, she needs that third cat nap. She's holding strong with her two teeth, but her upper gums are looking a little swollen.

Her tear ducts are still clogged, but we're praying that they will unclog on their own before she turns one. Otherwise, we will see an ophthalmologist about having them surgically unclogged--YUCK! We took her in for a weight check last week, and she's gaining weight but she's just gonna be lean. She's hanging out around the 6th percentile, at 14 lbs, 14 oz. Here are some pictures of Isabel at 8 months:

Spring Social

Last Saturday, we hosted a "spring social" with our Sunday school class from church. We had a great time, and the kids soaked up all the extra attention. Our friend, Barrett, took some great pictures, and I borrowed some of his to post. Our kids also love Barrett and Melissa's son, "O", as you can tell from these pictures. If you want to see more, click here.

The kids loved the hammock:

and the canoe:

Big blue eyes:

Isabel loves faces:

Time out for dinner:

Some more face time:

Please swing me more, Daddy:

Okay, one last time:

Thanks for the great photos, Barrett!

This is what Isabel learned last week

Our earliest crawler at 7.5 months, and she's gotten really good at it. Kinda took me by surprise.

Happy Birthday, Hon!

Today is JD's birthday. We had such a busy weekend, but we squeezed in a celebration on Saturday evening and opened presents this morning. Thanks for being such a great dad, a loving and supportive husband, and my best friend. I love you!

Cubbies Graduation

For the last two years Madelyn has participated in the AWANA (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed--taken from 2 Timothy 2:15, which states: Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.) program at church. She has been in the Cubbies program, the first level of AWANA, the past two years. Last night, she received her award for completing the second book. This means that she has memorized Biblical scriptures and their references from the workbook and recited them to her teachers every week. She loves going to Cubbies and is so excited to move up to Sparks (2nd level of AWANA) next year.


Look at that vest full of patches--the kids get patches along the way as they memorize scriputure:

The hard work finally pays off--she received a certificate and blue ribbon:

Posing with the oh-so-popular Cubbie Bear:

Backyard camping

The kids have been wanting to go camping for a while now, so we decided that this weekend would be a good one--no rain and warm weather. On Friday, we borrowed our neighbors' "fire pit" and cooked hot dogs and s'mores. Madelyn and Pierce slept in the tent on our back patio with JD. Isabel and I enjoyed the comforts of our own beds. Not much sleeping took place, but the kids had a lot of fun. Pierce was awake at 12:30 am wanting to know if it was time to get up, 1:30 am because he was cold, and again at 2:30 am wanting to know when he could get up. JD finally called it off at 6:30 when the kids were treated to a round of Toy Story and a pancake breakfast.