The four

photos courtesy of the girls

Rosie's hand at the camera without any guidance from me.


Daisy's hand at the camera without any help.

The girls at the pool

Boy, I'm glad my girls like each other. They were inseparable at the pool yesterday. Oh, and they were all smiles, too.
These may be the last of the pool pictures for awhile. It's too hard to do AND keep an eye on all four of the kiddos. (And I'm afraid that I might drop the camera in the pool....)

The boys at the pool

We finally got to the pool yesterday. We'd planned on going Tuesday but it rained all day and again on Wednesday. So, Thursday morning we were ready to go! Well, actually, it was a bit too cool for me but the kids couldn't stand it anymore: They were out of school and ready to swim!

Tate going off the diving board

Lake going off the diving board

The boys going down the slide together.

Leap frog at the jubilee

Last weekend we went to the annual balloon festival. We go every year and love it. We usually take a picnic and eat on a blanket while the balloons fill up the sky. My camera battery died when the sun went down so I don't have any pictures of the balloons "glowing" which is a beautiful sight....

Lake: Third grade beginning and end

At the beginning of third grade, Lake was slightly apprehensive. In a class of twenty, he was one of only three boys. He wanted to be in class with his best friend and he wasn't.

Shortly after school started, he and the two other boys in the class banded together. It really turned into a neat friendship between the three boys with hardly any arguing (I think they realized they only had each other, so they had to protect the friendship!) He made straight A's and he learned the joy of reading a book from cover to cover!

Tate: Second grade beginning and end

At the beginning of second grade, Tate was READY for school! He had an incredible teacher and couldn't wait to get started.

He made straight A's this year and according to his incredible, he was a leader in the classroom. He encouraged many of his classmates to strive to do better. He says his favorite subject this year was math. He read lots of books and even went to dinner with his teacher as a reward for his accomplishments in reading.

Rosie: Kindergarten beginning and end

At the beginning of the school year, Rosie was very shy. Painfully shy. She cried in the mornings when she walked in.

By the end of the year, she has changed so much. She is friends with all the chidren in her class. She is the only child in her class that didn't have to 'pull a card' the ENTIRE year. Never. For those of you wondering what not having to 'pull a card' means, well, it just means that her behavior was good.
She will be changing schools next year since she was invited to the magnet program (like her brothers).

begging for more

I started reading to the kids at night several weeks ago. The boys are fine to read by themselves but Rosie is just learning to read and still needs me by her side when she reads most books. However, since the boys are getting older and reading more in-depth books, I felt it was time that I started reading along with them (either reading to them or at the least, reading the same book mainly to monitor content.)

For starters, I read Swiss Family Robinson since we had visited Disney World and they completely loved visiting the tree house based on the story. We enjoyed the book - yes, even me because it was one I hadn't read as a child. Next I let Lake choose the book and he picked The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket. For the first few nights of reading, I only read one chapter a night. On Thursday I read two chapters because we were left hanging after one! Well, last night we were four chapters from the end. After two chapters (evidently I spoiled them Thursday!) they were begging for more. They both exclaimed, "Mom, you can't stop there! It's just not fair! How will we sleep without knowing what happens? Pleeeeeeease, Mom?"

I love it! We finished the book last night (geesh! I didn't want to be left hanging either!) I'll let Tate choose what we start tonight. We'll read The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket soon as it's the next in the series. I'm sure we'll be going to the library this week and we'll pick it up then.

Oh, and don't worry, they are still reading books on their own, too.

something my family can agree on

I am not a big fan of video games - I feel nervous or jittery when I play them so I usually don't play them. John Henry is a big fan of video games and my boys are following in his footsteps. We limit the time they play and closely monitor the games, etc..

Well, John Henry's birthday was a few weeks ago and after much debating with myself, I asked John Henry's mom (Grandma) if she wanted to go in with me and purchase a Wii for his birthday. He had been looking at the Wii when he and the boys were out running errands and Lake suggested to me that we get that for his birthday.

Evidently these game consoles are in short supply - after several days of searching we finally located a store that had several in stock at an average price. Grandma took it home with her to wrap it and to generally keep it out of the house until his birthday.

It is an understatement to say that he was excited - he really couldn't believe that we had picked this for him. (We usually do sensible stuff for birthdays.)

So, it's been a few weeks and the whole family is loving this game system. It came with a sports package that includes golf, tennis, baseball and bowling. Yes, bowling! You have to stand up and 'bowl' - none of this sitting on the sofa pushing buttons - you have to move when you play! You create your own person which are actually cute to work with (mine has sparkles in her eyes ;)

Up until yesterday I had been content with the bowling - it was a game I could play with all of the kids and it's fun. Last night John Henry wanted us to play baseball. It was OK. I won.

Then he wanted to play tennis. It was a hoot. Or, rather I must have been a hoot. I was jumping all over the living room swinging at the ball. And mostly missing the ball. At one point I tripped over Annie and landed on the sofa. I laughed so hard that, well, I laughed too hard.

All in all, we love this. And I calculated the cost of bowling for a family of six and we have gotten our money's worth from that game alone already!

Best pillow in the house

Today was Daisy's last day of school (the rest of the gang finish up next Thursday.) When we got home we found Annie curled up on the sofa which makes sense as it is raining a slow, steady, sleepy kind of rain.

Well, it didn't take long for Daisy (a cat for the day) to join her!

This mother's dream

For as long as I can remember, I always wanted lots and lots of babies. When I was a child, dreaming of my prince charming and all of the little children we would have to fill our home, I don't think I was gender specific about the actual children that would be filling our home. Which, when you think about it, worked out quite well since we have two of each!

So, for Mother's Day in my family, things were near perfect. There were a few key people physically missing but they were present in my heart.



Daisy, so full of sunshine - you see the world through your rose tinted glasses.


Lake, ever the serious one.


Tate, bubbling over with a love uncontainable.


Rosie - the world is her pallet.


Oh, when I look at the four of you, my heart nearly bursts from the love I feel. Sure, we have our ups and downs (daily!) but you are so quick to forgive and even forget and move on to the next adventure.

Mother's Tea

Today all of the mothers were invited to a 'Mother's Tea' at Rosie's class. We had to wait in the office until they were ready for us. The children escorted us to the room, sang two songs and then provided refreshements.

Can you believe we only have 11 days of school left?? And then my sweet little kindergartener Rosie will be a FIRST grader??!

Oh, and just an update for those interested: She did get her invitation to the magnet program.

Can you see how tired she is?

Last night was the spring program at Daisy's school. It didn't start until 7 p.m. and she had already had a long day. On the way to the school, she nearly fell asleep. I kept trying to keep her awake by talking to her. At one point she said, "I'm not sleeping, I'm only resting my eyes."

Oh, where has she heard that before??

"That was AWESOME!"

This is the comment Rosie made after her hour of gymnastics yesterday afternoon.

Daisy gets a turn at gymnastics on Thursday and she is so excited that I don't know how we will make it until then....

If she enjoys it, too then I'll sign them up for the abbreviated class this summer.

Pure sweetness

This morning while Daisy and I were enjoying a tea party along with roughly fifteen of her favorite stuffed animals, I received a phone call from Lake. He was suffering from a migraine and wanted to know if I would bring him his medicine. Daisy didn't complain ~ she only asked if we were coming straight back home. When I told her we were, she hopped into her car seat, buckled herself (hurray for another milestone!) and off we went. By the time I got to Lake his class was on the way to the cafeteria for lunch. I told him I would stay and see if he felt better after eating. Well, I quickly changed my mind when I saw "the look." You moms know what I'm talking about: the 'uh-oh, I think I'm about to be sick' look.

So, we changed our course and gathered his stuff and headed home. On the way out of the school Daisy (who had been quiet the entire time we were inside the school) said, "You can sleep with one of my animals. That way maybe you will feel better."

Right now he is resting on the sofa along with Daisy's prized 'chewala' (chihuahua.)