Callen height

We measured Callen today and he was 36.5" and 30.6 pounds.  He's in the 10-25th percentile for height and almost 50th for weight.  We thought we'd measure him since when he went to his Allergist the weeks ago, the allergist was surprised to find he'd gained three pounds since his end of August visit.

Elodie was 44.8 pounds and 47.5".  Elodie is close to the 75th for height and between 25th-50th for weight.

Love daddy time

Daddy reads to the kids.

We finished the second Little House Christmas book today. Love those heartwarming stories.

L's heart

L has such a sweet giving heart. When she found out I was going to deliver food to a friend who had dislocated her hip, she wanted to make her a story and a coloring page.

Here's my friend's thank you note to Elodie:

Dear Elodie,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful picture that cheered me up so much!
However, I especially liked your story about the 4 Pigs!
I liked that you gave me their names. Your handwriting is very neat, and I noticed that you paid attention to your spacing and used your first capital letter at the beginning of each sentence and remembered your punctuation mark. That is what good writers do!
You are a very creative writer and your illustration really made the story come to life. I hope you will keep up the good writing. You are already an author and your story cheered me up! Thank you so much!

Callen says

Callen says ghosts-s-s

L my little reader

L is now loving to read. I think she must have 60+ books checked out right now.  I found her tonight in her room reading in the dark.  :)  Too cute.  She even read the first two paragraphs of Little House in the Big Woods by herself.  It's so fun to see her so excited to read. It's been a long road to get here but it's finally here. It's also nice to be able to show her where all her hard work has gotten her.

Callen saying

Callen: me like hornets, spiders, and zombies

first peek of sunshine in 5 days!

first peek of sunshine in 5 days! Our basement carpet is wet but not sopping. Most of the water on the cement has receded but there's still some puddles and of course ruined boxes but I think we saved everything that was worth anything (lots and lots of empty boxes ruined). Hubby & my dad are working on solutions and we're waiting for people to come fix carpet but no one will even tell us a day in which they can come b/c they're so busy.

Crowns

today's the day. 2 root canals and 2 crowns for my darling daughter. She rocked it. They gave her gas. waiting for glue to harden now

Water park

Thank God for awesome daddies that make their little girl's dreams come true! D surprised L tonight with a night out at the water park (he let her pick between the water park and the amusement park). Her expression was priceless and she said, "this is going to be so special!!"

8/18/13: bark rubbings

 

 Elodie with her bark rubbing of the Silver Maple

  

 

Signed like a real artist :)

 

Callen drawing on the Silver Maple

 
 Callen with his bark rubbing






Callen's finished product

 

Callen's leaf rubbing

bbq

success! 40 people in our backyard for a bbq and it didn't rain! yay! so fun to meet all the families of the men who went on the Mexico Mission trip with Dave and to hear all the men share how God impacted their lives on the trip

7/18/13: First Grade

We started Elodie's First Grade year last week on Tuesday, July 9th with My Father's World Learning God's Story.  Her grandma came down the morning before for some good grandma time and then she had her first day of dance camp in the afternoon so that's why we didn't start on Monday.

 

 This is her on Monday.  So cute for her dance camp!

 For the past 8 days, she's been reviewing handwriting and working on making a scroll.  We've started patterns this week in Math and she's so bright at patterns.  She's been able to complete the ones in her math book ("CBOM") and with her Unifex Cubes with no help.  Tonight, we read a book "Fish Patterns" and she was able to complete all the verbal patterns in the book.  She was also able to label ALL the patterns in the book correctly, ie: AB, AAB, ABB, ABC, ABBA, ABBCD, etc.  It was pretty incredible.  I also realized this week that she can read what I'm typing on the computer over my shoulder and, for awhile now, she's been able to tell us what Dave and I are spelling out loud to each other.  We've also been doing a short devotional to start each school time.  We also do a little science time each week.  Last week, we found an anthill and laid honey-soaked bread on it and watched what happened.  Our chrysalises also hatched into butterflies so we released our butterflies last week after daddy got home.  This week, we made a soil and water jar to see how soil separates into hummus, clay, sand, and rocks.

7/4/13: Independence Day

Dave caught a cold Tuesday morning but was feeling better after spending yesterday home in bed. This morning we started out the day by driving Dave to the airport to meet up with his team going on a mission trip to Mexico City, Mexico to work construction for a week at a home for rescued girls.  After we got home, he called to say that security confiscated his peanut butter (lame!) and that Andy had spilled coffee on his shirt.  Later, I got a text saying his flight was delayed.  Then I received another text saying his flight was cancelled due to volcanic activity near Mexico City.  He finally called to say they were getting rebooked on a evening flight to SFO and then to Mexico City.  I called him back to ask if he wanted a new jar of peanut butter and he said yes.  Only problem: the kids and I needed to eat lunch, I needed gas in my car, and I didn't have another jar of PB.  :)  So the kids and I scarfed down our lunches while I made two PB&J sandwiches for Dave, in case he needed them for his late night/overnight flight or tomorrow if they didn't get to a grocery store before leaving for work.  Then I grabbed a shirt for Dave and clothes for Callen (he was still in pjs) and we took Dave's car to get PB because it had gas, and we headed out to the airport for a second time.  The kids were excited to see their dad again and I took the opportunity to get photos of them in their Fourth of July attire together.  Later Dave told me that on his second time through security, they confiscated his shaving cream.  And of course, they later found out that the Mexico City airport did not have any ash on the ground and was open the whole time.  The U.S. was the only country that had airlines cancel flights.  Lame-o.

Tonight the kids ate popcorn while watching the Capital Fourth show on tv.  After Elodie saw Neil Diamond sing, she exclaimed, "Now that guy can sing," and all I could do was laugh!  Then we watched the fireworks and I've never seen two kids SO excited to see anything.  They danced and danced to the music and squealed with joy watching the fireworks. :)  They are currently marching along with the Army Band.  Callen was so proud of himself b/c he was bowing with his hands behind his back

Elodieism

Elodie to her dad:  "Say 'Elodie likes to ride horses.'"
Daddy: "Elodie likes to ride horses."
Elodie: "No! Use your pronouncer voice."
Daddy, in his announcer voice: "Elodie likes to ride horses."

6/19/13: 6 yr old well visit

I can't believe Elodie turned 6 years old yesterday.  Happy Birthday beautiful!!  She looks so much older and taller than she did a year ago.  She's got a ton of energy, passion, and spunk.  She loves to hug and hug you so tight you're afraid she's going to break something.  Elodie is strong-willed and wants to be right all the time so it's hard for her to take constructive criticism or admit mommy or daddy is right.  She loves Jesus and won't go to bed at night unless we've prayed together.  We can't wait for God to get a hold of her heart because we know they'll be nothing stopping her for living for Him then.  She loves her brother and knows just want to say to annoy him or lead him into trouble.  They're quite the pair.  The other night they were both lying in bed in their own rooms yelling back and forth to each other "I love you" and "I love you too."  It was so cute.  She also likes to watch 19 Kids and Counting with mommy and some home improvement shows as well.  Her best friend is her cousin Sara, whom she'll spend hours video conferencing with.  They play games and make believe and have a general great time together.  She likes to dance so we've signed her up for a dance camp at a local dance academy this summer.  She also likes to sing.  Academically, she's bright.  Last year at school, she was awarded "Best Reader" and "Most Dramatic."  She really isn't motivated to read though so we've been trying to make her read 15 minutes per day for the library's summer reading program to give her more practice and confidence.  We also need to be working on her math skills over the summer but she's still technically ahead since she's in the 1st grade math program.  She really enjoys drawing and making art projects and spends most of her free time doing that.  She loves making cards and projects for other people.

Elodie requested a balancing bike for her birthday like her brother Callen has. She had it a couple weeks now and is already picking her feet up for extending periods of time, while riding down hill.  It's so rewarding to see her excited and proud about her achievement.

Today at her doctor's appointment, Elodie weighed in at 45 lbs. (50th percentile) and measured 46" tall (almost 75th percentile) so she's still tall and skinny.  Her BMI was 15 (50th percentile).  She's basically a healthy child, but we're supposed to add Calcium supplements since she's currently still dairy-free.

6/15/13: I love you too!

Two days ago, Callen started saying "I love you too!"

Now my kids are currently yelling back and forth at each other from their beds, "I love you too" and "sissy love too."  Too funny and too cute.