The End

This blog has been a labor of love. I never thought I'd keep up with a blog (and I barely did). I'm so glad though that I kept track of your milestones, funny moments, and special outings. I committed to keep it going until Sophie was five years old, so I will end it hear. You three made writing a blog easy with all your interesting conversations and fun activities. Thank you for being the special, fabulous young ladies that you are. You enrich my life every day.

I love you.

Mommy

Beginnings, and Endings

I started this post when Zoe was two. I didn't realize I never finalized it, so it wasn't added to the blog in order...



Zoe started preschool today. She has been talking about the "Hippo House" for some time now, and when the day was finally upon us, she seemed pretty excited. It was "preschool-light" today though. She went for 1 hour, while Scott and I were upstairs getting a make-up briefing since we missed the 'back to school night' (bad parents!).

She learned where her cubby would be, where the bathrooms were, who the other kids and the 'directress' was, and was generally acclimated to the class. Tomorrow she goes for a full day which is 8:45-11:45 ish. 

She was completely at ease about the whole thing. I don't think she fully understands yet that it's every day though. The day was also bolstered by her coming home to a birthday cake we were making for Aimee.  

Those are only a few of the 'beginnings' for Zoe this week. She also rode a horse (not a pony) at a party recently. And, she dug for potato's and went down the big slide at the farm.

Sophie - Six Years Old

Sophie, it has been so fun watching you learn all kinds of new things this year. Early in your fifth year, you began tying your shoes on your own. We had to convince you that you didn't need multiple double knots to keep your shoes on. You also starting running this year. You ran a 1mile fun run and two 5K's. As a Kindergartner in your Montessori class, you helped orient incoming students and even teach some lessons.

You had some amazing trips this year to places like Montana, Virginia Beach, and Alaska. 

For your birthday, we turned our house into a balloon paradise. You wanted a balloon party, so we had balloons everyone, made balloon animals and toys, played balloon games, and ate balloon cupcakes.

 And at school, you participated in the Montessori birthday celebration one last time. Ms. Dasbach read the book "On the day you were born", then you picked a globe and walked it around the lit candle that represents the sun six times while the class sang the birthday song one time for each year as you walked in slow circles around the sun candle. Then you blew the candle out. I will miss this celebration.

Happy sixth birthday Sophie!!! We love you so much.

Love,

Mommy

Sophie - Bye Bye Tooth

Sophie, you've been asking us when you would lose your first tooth since you were four years old. When your little front tooth started wiggling about two months ago, you were in heaven. After excessive wiggling over the past eight weeks, it was still hanging by a thread. You asked me routinely to look at it, wiggle it, touch it, etc.

I've had these same requests from Zoe and Mia. Here's my routine. I'll use a piece of dental floss to test how lose it is, and if I can get the floss most of the way under the tooth, I'll ask if you want me to wiggle it with the floss. Only if you say yes, I'll give a small pull on the tooth, and out it goes. 

This weekend was special because we went through this routine FOUR times. Zoe lost three teeth in the same 36 hour period that you lost your tooth. It was a busy weekend. 

Congratulations on your first lost tooth!

Love,

Mom

Mia - Eight Years Old

Mia, you are EIGHT!!! Wow - that's great! :) Each year with you has been more and more fun. You are just growing into the most fun little girl. 

You love school and are making more friends. You participate in Girl Scouts, soccer, Hebrew school, and piano. This year, you started playing travel soccer which is a bigger commitment than recreational soccer. You have a uniform, practice more often, and play tournaments. You LOVE it!!

This year you also got braces. That was a big deal. At first, we met with one orthodontist who wanted to use a full frontal head gear and braces. None of us liked that idea. We got some other opinions and found a great orthodontist who felt braces and expanders would do the trick. We all really liked Dr. Iverson, and that's who put your braces on. You get to change rubber band colors every time you have a check up, and they give you coins for doing what you are supposed to do to take care of your braces. That's super motivating, and you take great care of them. (As an aside, I could not get over the amount of recruiting that orthodontist's offices do to get families to come to them. It felt like a college recruitment process with lots of give aways. Crazy.)

For your birthday, you had a climbing party at Climb Zone. We made cupcakes with rock candy, and you had a great time with all your friends. You actually had two parties, because on the day of your birthday, there was a big snowstorm and everything was closed. We agreed to meet about six other families at a restaurant we could all walk to since the roads were closed, and we brought cupcakes for everyone. You were so surprised and happy. 

Happy birthday Mia! We love you!!!

Kid Speak - Politics

Tonight Zoe wanted to talk about politics. In particular, she asked me the following: "If Donald Trump is elected President of the United States and we go to Turks and Caicos in later November, will he let us back in the country?"

Paris

This was a big trip. We were so excited and also really curious how it would go. I wondered if it would be essentially a 'kid trip' in Paris, or if it would be a real sight seeing, get-lost-in-the-culture trip. I also wondered about how we'd manage the flights.

We started by connecting through Miami with a visit to Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Ed. We saw lots of family, went to a farmer's market, went to the beach and ate at Joe's Stone Crabs like always. Grandma also gave you each a make-over which you loved. While there, Zoe wrote President Obama a letter about climate change concerns, and grandma helped you mail it. On the way home from Paris, we stopped in Miami again. While there, daddy spontaneously shaved his mustache. The kids were so surprised!!

Paris exceeded all my expectations. You were such great travelers, and we were able to do everything we wanted to do. We walked everywhere, went to museums, tried new restaurants, took the train, and participated in all kinds of winter holiday celebrations. Two things that really helped: you each had a camera and we sampled a treat at nearly every bakery we passed. Another surprise, Uncle Brad and Jordan surprised us for a ride at the carousal. We also got to celebrate daddy's birthday in Paris and Miami. It was fantastic!!

In front of the Eiffel Tower

Montmartre 

Outside the Louvre - we spent a lot of time here

On the Champs Ulysses

On the train to Versailles

These little handsets were fun for you to carry and use to learn about Versailles.

Ice skating

At the top of Notre-Dame

On the Pont des Arts bridge where people put locks as a sign of love.

This was a really fun day. We had a lot of walking to do, and you each were requesting piggy back rides. We told you that we'd give you piggy back rides, but you needed to first compose a song that included rhyme, a chorus, and several observations about our outing. You worked so hard on this song. When you finished, we were back at the train. It was awesome.

Fall Fun

We've had a few chilly, rainy fall days - perfect for trips to the indoor pools or bowling.

Sophie and her buddy Sam

We can finally bowl with out chasing anyone all over the alley, and most of the balls now make it all the way down to the pins too.

However, it's been warm enough to be out biking and playing at the parks, so we've been doing a good bit of outdoor activities too. At ZooLights this year, we didn't even need jackets!

Chanukah

I totally overdid it this year. We haven't been shopping for much of anything in a long time. I've mostly been weeding out. So when thinking about upcoming trips and cold winter months, I had lots of things that I'd hoped we'd have on hand to engage the kids.

Over the course of the holiday, Zoe, Mia and Sophie each sang in holiday concerts at school, at Temple and out in the community (pictures to come). Sophie was the dreidel at the Chanukah party at Hebrew school.

Sophie getting spun around during the dreidel game.

We had latkas and donuts and whatever other fried food we were offered.

Only down side was that we need more time at home to play. Last night, we pondered keeping the kids home from school one day this week so they could just play with their toys. Still thinking about that one.

Now, the clean up begins!

Turkey Trot - Thanksgiving 2015

We were better prepared this year than we were last year when we ran the Turkey Trot. Our practice runs definitely payed off! Scott finished his SECOND 5K, and everyone did great. The weather was terrific, and the mood was really fun. Now, if only we could do something about the little hills on the course.  After the run, we went out to breakfast with friends and then home to get ready for Thanksgiving with grandpa, grandma and friends. Great way to start the day!

Before

After