Luke Update

Luke is almost walking. He can stand without holding on to anything. He can walk behind his car as he pushes it. He has taken a couple of steps between the coffee table and couch or between Andy and me before he falls down. He has seven teeth now, 4 on top and 3 on bottom. He has had a lot of problems that the girls didn't have. Besides the reflux when he was little, he has seasonal allergies and eczema flare-ups. We are really enjoying this age though! He has such a personality and it is really fun to watch! The girls enjoy making him laugh by pretending to fall down.

Here are his 9-month pictures that we got taken a couple of days ago:

Sarah Update

Here's what Sarah has been up to the last few weeks:

She recently retired her tricycle and learned to ride a bike with training wheels. She was very excited and can't wait to ride well enough to bike on our family biking trips, instead of riding behind Daddy's bike.

Sarah went to the dentist for the first time last week. She was so excited...when she skipped into the office ahead of us, she cried, "WooHoo!" to the receptionist as she threw her arms above her head. :) Everything looks good with her teeth, thankfully! She wanted to use her new Dora toothbrush as soon as we got home.

As mentioned in the previous post, I took Sarah and Eliana to "Disney On Ice". She loved it!

She is doing really well in school still. She FINALLY got the hang of sounding out blends. Once she figured it out, she couldn't wait to show anyone she saw! Today, she started sounding out three-letter words, by sounding out a blend and then adding a letter to the end. We are right on schedule so far with the curriculum this year. In the past, I've gotten behind by this time. I've found that Sarah needs to do school work every weekday though in order for her not to get frustrated so I hope I can continue to stay on task. She still doesn't like to color much. Most of the time when there is a sheet that says, "Color the ____", she tells me that it says, "Do today or save for tomorrow." I don't push her to color. Most of the time, we save it and she works on it with Eliana in the afternoons.

Sarah had her first choir performance of the year in church. She was one of the few kids singing as it is a group of 3 to 5-year-olds and a lot of the kids were shy once they got up in front of the church. She loves singing though and loves making up hand motions to go with songs that she knows.

Eliana Update

Here's what Eliana has been up to these days:

She is now a Brownie Girl Scout. She joined a new troop that meets weekly. I have a hard time getting her to leave after she's been there 2 hours because she is having so much fun. She participated in her Investiture Ceremony last week by lighting one of the candles. She recently earned her first badge on Playing Fair.

I recently took Eliana and Sarah to "Disney On Ice". They got to see the stories of The Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, and Tangled performed on ice skates. They were both really excited! Actually, I was excited too! :)

Eliana started a new school this year as well. She is now going to Emily's old school. She recently won an award for being the top reader in her class by having the most AR points. Andy and I recently went to a mandatory parent/teacher conference. Her teacher said she was doing great!

She also went to the dentist for the first time last week. She had x-rays done and the dentist noticed that there are two permanent teeth behind baby teeth on top that are at angles. We are going to go back in six months and see if the teeth have straightened out by then. Eliana was disappointed that we had to wait a whole six months before we could go back! I hope that lasts!!

Emily Update

I'm going to try to catch everyone up on things that the kids have been doing lately...one kid each day. Here's what Emily has been up to the past couple of weeks:

She was in her first chess tournament a couple of weekends ago. She doesn't play chess alot, but she enjoys it so she wanted to give the tournament a try. The tournament was for kids in grades Kindergarten through 8th grade. She lost two rounds, tied two rounds, and won one round. She got called up to receive a participation ribbon in the below picture. She plans on working on her game and competing in another chess tournament in January.

She is in a new Girl Scout troop this year. This is her fifth year in Girl Scouts. She is a Junior. This new troop does a lot of neat things. So far, she has gone on a campout in a leader's backyard. She almost made it the whole night, but got homesick around 9:30 p.m. so I picked her up. The next weekend, they spent the night in the Pink Palace. While there, they saw an IMAX Show called "Born To Be Wild", a Planetarium Show, had a Scavenger Hunt, watched a Science Magic Show, and toured the museum. She stayed the whole night without getting homesick much, but she said she was a little scared because her troop slept in the exhibit room that had the human bones in it.

Emily is doing excellent in school. She is in a new school this year. She tried out for the school choir and made it. Her first performance is next week. She recently won $1.00 and a certificate for being the top reader in her class. This year, she switches classes between two teachers which took some getting used to. She had her first official school dance this past Friday. It was during school hours and very informal.

Last Saturday, Emily and I attended a seminar called "Secret Keeper Girl". I do a devotion with the girls before school each morning (see my current reading list). The author of our devotion book created this program for 8 to 12 year old girls and their moms that emphasizes modesty and true beauty. Emily got asked to participate in a skit on stage! She played a kazoo as one of two trumpet players. It was a lot of fun and she learned some great things!

Emily recently decided to become an acolyte at our church. Her first acolyte performance was last Sunday. She did a great job and didn't spill the offering plates during the doxology and prayer! I let out a sigh of relief and realized that I had been holding my breath during that whole section of the service. Everything with the candles went well also, thankfully!

Sarah's School Update

Now that a new school year started a couple of weeks ago for the older girls, I have started teaching Sarah again at home. She is doing the Abeka Pre-K 4-year-old curriculum. She is excited about learning how to read and writing cursive. Here is her writing paper from the first day. I wrote her name for her at the top of the page, but she was learning to write the lowercase i. She traced the first few on each line, but then she wrote a couple.

She is still trying to get the hang of holding her pencil properly and making sure she doesn't do loops, but we were both proud of her first attempts.

Recent Outings

We have been trying to get outdoors when the weather is cooler, as in less than 100 degrees.

At the park:

At the zoo:

Sewing Projects

Emily got a sewing machine for her birthday. Her first project was a quilt. She used this tutorial to make it. It took her a while to handsew the border around the edge, but she finally finished it.

She also made this cloth book for Luke:

She has already started her next project: a couple of drawstring bags.