Lucy's Half Birthday Party

Lucy's birthday is two days after Christmas--not the best time of year to throw a birthday party with friends. So I promised her in December we would have her friends party in June on her half birthday.  She's pretty easy going so she went along with it but when June rolled around she was not about to forget it.  She decided she wanted to have a Fancy Nancy party so we did some girly fancy stuff and had fancy cake (thanks to my neighbor).  The girls made jewelry and tiaras and Lucy insisted on hitting a pinata too.  Isaac also wanted IN on the pink tiaras.

Lucy on two wheels

Neither John and I can take credit for Lucy learning to ride a two wheeler.  She got her new bike for her birthday last year and after tipping a couple times with the training wheels on it she stopped riding it at all.  I finally decided to just take off the training wheels since her bike wasn't getting any use.  Slowly, after months of slowly going down the driveway and pedaling attempts all on her own-she wouldn't let us touch the bike--she finally figured it out.  That's how Lucy rolls--she is a stubborn and very cautious and that's just how she had to learn to ride her bike.

Swimming lessons

Swimming lessons went much better this year than last year.  We only had one instance of crying and it was actually Esther instead of Lucy.  I didn't even put Isaac in because he is a pretty big chicken like his sister Lucy when it comes to water.  But the girls learned so much this year and by the end of the week they WANTED to jump off the diving board.  Lucy finally figured out that her body really can float and she doesn't need to have her teacher constantly holding her.  Esther learned all the strokes--even a bit of the butterfly and she looks pretty good doing it.  Esther got really nervous about jumping off the diving board--that's why she cried before her second day but then once she did it a couple times she realized she liked it!  

I'm glad it wasn't as stressful an experience this year (for the girls AND for me!)  We are looking forward to lots of practice on their new skills for the rest of the summer.  Private lessons are the way to go!  

Pink party

While my dad was at a scout camp we girls decided to party--in a girly way!  We had a pink party and we let Isaac and William come too.  Isaac never shies away from getting his toes painted--especially if there are sparkles.  I was happy to have my sister paint my toes for me!  The girls loved all the cupcakes, pink candy, and watching Tangled.  After they went to bed the older girls watched a show too.  Too bad my only pictures were slightly blurry!  

May happenings

Now I am down to blogging by month... I need to do better.  Life has been challenging and crazy but I still feel very blessed.  I can't believe May is over, soccer is over, school is over and we are into summer!

It flew by but here are some highlights:

 Mother's Day and my birthday--lucky me on the exact same day.  John and the kids tried to spoil me but I'm always glad when both those days are over.  I do love being a mom... best job in the world.  

 Lucy had her pre-si-chool program--I will miss hearing her say that word with three syllables.  She was so excited all week for it and I filmed a lot of it but forgot to take many pictures.  She sang a lot of cute songs and had a great time performing.  Then she gave me this cute card of a small survey she filled out of information about me.  I probably need to work on things if she thinks my favorite thing is napping--but I am pregnant!  Plus I'm only 13 years old!  ha ha ha

 Esther had a mother's day program too--she sang cute songs and then we got to have refreshments together and read some books together (she's on the back row as it goes for tall girls--just like her mom growing up).  I can't believe how much she has learned and how much she loves to read now.  Her favorite books are these fairy chapter books that she can't get enough of.  She even has traded or borrowed some from her friends at school.  It's adorable to see her discover the joy of reading.  

 Esther had her last soccer game.  She had a great time playing this year and really improved from the first to the last game.  One game she even scored six goals!  In the first half of the season she didn't score once so she definitely found her game.  

 She was pretty pumped to get a trophy--
"Mom, my FIRST trophy ever!"

 We had our traditional last day of school picnic on Esther's last day of school.  I don't usually get lunchables for my kids so that's the special treat they get to have at the park.  John even got to come with us because he had a rare day off work.  

 Isaac devoured his lunchable by the handfulls.  

 Lucy couldn't wait to eat her "ricepie crispie treat"

 The funniest thing was watching Isaac cross this little bridge over a stream--he got really nervous and had to take it really slow.  He is definitely a cautious little guy which his mom is okay with. He is starting to talk a little more--lots of sentences even--for example he told me twice that he was "so mad at me"-once when I knocked Esther's carseat on the ground to vacuum her seat and once when I told him he needed to take a nap because he was being whiny.  I'm glad he's making speech improvements! 

Then to finish off the day we decided to get Esther a summer-ready haircut and chopped her nice and short. She loves it and it looks pretty cute.  But make sure you tell Lucy how cute her hair is too because she started feeling a little self-conscious of her hair by the end of the day and we had to remind her that she has gorgeous cute hair as well.  

And we are onto summer!