Kendall is 3!!

My little one, Kendall, turned 3 on Sunday!   It was a beautiful, fall day, and we had a delightful little party for her.  I think the highlight for her was the cake...she had talked about it all week and kept asking about it during her party.  It doesn't take much to please a 3 year old, thank goodness!

Here she is with her two little friends, Connor Anderson and Adelyn Hunter.

So, with the birthday posts I like to give a little update on the special girl, so let's see...

* Her little personaliy is coming out more and more.  She is a pretty easy-going little girl, but can also demand her own way at times.  She gets along well with her sisters and is in such a cute stage right now.

* She's talking a lot now!  It took a little while, but now the words are flowing.

*She's my dancer.  Of all the girls, she is the one that seems to love to dance.  I got her some new, little, black, "ballerina" type shoes and she immediately started dancing when we put them on her.

*Definitely likes to sing...fits into the family well.  Sometimes I have all 3 girls singing different songs at once!  It can get a little crazy!

*She potty trained very quickly and easily!  It was awesome!

*Loves animals, especially dogs and kitties.

*This is funny and maybe hard to explain, but she ends a lot of her words in the /u/ sound (the short u).  So for tea she'll say "tee-u", play will be "play-u", and so on.  It's very cute.  :)

All in all, we are so blessed to have her in our homes and hearts.

We love you, Kendall!

Bye, Bye, Baby!!

I guess I can now say that we are officially out of the baby stage. Wow!

Kendall went out of diapers and a crib and into a big girl bed within one week.  She did an amazing job of potty training quite quickly and took to her new bed with ease.  Definitely my easiest one in both cases!

So, it's goodbye baby for us and hello preschool years.

Fall Concert

Jaclyn had her first concert today with the Odyssey Chorus.  They did very well and I am very pleased with the quality instruction she's getting and the fun she's having!  Yes,singing (and music in general) is very important to us, so I'm happy to have found a chorus that she can be in that is not dependant on where she goes to school (in school you're kinda stuck with whatever teacher you get...could be great, could be less than great.)

We all enjoyed a great performance today!

We're Back in School

Yep, you read that right.  We've decided to discontinue homeschooling (for now...I never want to say that we won't go back to anything!  I for sure do not know what's in store for us!)

While there are so many positive things about homeschooling ( I actually wanted it to work out for my family 'cause, in theory, it really seemed like a  great way to go) it just wasn't the right, long-term option for us.  I guess the combination of our social personalities and mom's high ambition kinda got the best of us.  :) 

So, I decided to check out a little (and I mean little) Christian school in Coralville, Hillside Christian School.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I kinda liked it.  It was a great atmosphere and a safe place for my kids to be themselves, learn from others and make friends!  So, we enrolled and have been there now for maybe 4 weeks or so.

The girls are really enjoying it.  They have made some great friends and are really enjoying all that the school offers.  I can't say for sure where our schooling journey will continue to take us, but for now, it's a great place to be.

Here are a few first day pictures:



An Intro to Cheerleading

Jaclyn had the chance to participate in a one-day cheerleading camp recently through Upward, a Christian organization with a goal to develop the athlete both in the sport and in character. She really loved it and is hoping to do it some more, so we'll see if it works out. She's been asking to do cheerleading, so I'm thankful to have found a good, non-competitive environment for her to have fun!

Here are a few pictures of the girls while they were "watching" their sisters perform.  Here's Kendall with her little friends, Adelyn and Elise.

 

Ahhh, so sweet.  Ashlyn and Adelyn.

Kids Day!

Back in September, Living History Farms had a homeschool kids day, so we were able to go to it with some friends. We had a great time, and they had a lot of hands-on activities for the kids to do.   Here's our little group.  We were with Aubrey & Cameron Miller and Sophie, Annabella and Adelaide Mosher.  It was a fun day for all!

 

A big attraction for Ashlyn and Kendall was pumping the water and hauling it to the horse trough. They did it for a long time!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Jill!

We had a great day with Aunt Jill today. We started it by going to Kent park and walking the trail around the lake. The girls love Jill's dog, Ellie, and had a great time walking with her.

Here are some pictures:

After our walk and lunch, we pulled off a little surprise birthday party for Jill. Most of her family and some friends were at our house when we got back and we celebrated. The girls LOVED being able to yell "surprise" when she came in the house and probably enjoyed it even more than Aunt Jill! Happy Birthday, Jill. We love you!