How does he make it look so easy?

John was able to get these shots of the kids after church:and more cookie baking...

Capturing the Joy...

Trying to take pictures of three kids 5 and under, in their dress-up Christmas outfits, post Christmas-program and post-bedtime is no easy task.

Mom, we're so mad that you want to take our picture!

We're happier now, but Bridgette won't cooperate...

OK, we'll sit and smile and even put the chokehold on Bridgette so she stays put!

Making gingerbread cookies with Mom.

Some of the finished products.

Cassidy's preschool Christmas program.

The Halloween of Many Princesses

This year, Halloween seemed more like a "season" than just a day. Thanks to her recent birthday, Cassidy had a different costume for each event. Here's the breakdown:

Last weekend we attended a Halloween party and Cassidy was "Ariel" from the Little Mermaid.

This was on Friday, lining up for the parade at Alex's school. Here, Cassidy is sporting the "Sleeping Beauty" costume. Oh, and the kid on the right is a bucket of green slime!For this one, the whole family gets into it. This was a neighborhood Halloween party, and Cassidy is a sort of fairy princess.

And finally her Trick-or-Treating costume, her "super, super, fancy dress!" Alex was a Power Ranger.

Milestones

Dear Alex,

You are my spunky little five year old boy and I love you to pieces. Right now you are so excited about starting kindergarten in the fall. Today you asked me: "Mommy, the day after we move to Kansas, I'll start kindergarten, right?" I explained it would be a couple weeks and you said "well, there's only 7 days in a week, so that's not too long!"

Yesterday, you learned how to pump on the swing all by yourself! It was such a proud moment for both of us! You said you couldn't wait show your kindergarten teacher that you can swing all by yourself. You've spent A LOT of time out there on the swing by yourself lately, just swingin' away.

You also learned how to read a couple months ago, and that is a HUGE milstone that Daddy and I are so proud of your for. You started out back in February sounding out words and you just kept at it until you were reading short books. We got you a set of "Bob" books with twelve little stories in the set, and you plugged through the first set, and then it seemed like you just breezed right through the second 12 books. We are so proud of you. You are reading lots of things now!

You are so outgoing and friendly and I'm so excited for you to make new friends in Kansas. You make us so proud Alex!

Love,

Mommy

Right on the Money

Yesterday as we were driving home from preschool, Alex asked me, "Mommy, why were you teaching Daddy's class?" Excellent question, son! John teaches juniors and seniors in the R.O.T.C. program. With the seniors this year, he is focusing on skills they will need as lieutenants, entrusted with the leadership of America's finest son's and daughters, Army soldiers. In order to set the example in all areas, lieutenants need to make wise financial decisions. That's where I come in! I gave a 1 hour presentation on personal finance for lieutenants yesterday and today. It was a lot of preparation and logistics, but it was worth it and was a great experience. Thanks to my great hubby for working me into his class schedule :-)

The girls were at a friend's house for the morning. Alex was at preschool, but John picked him up and brought him to the classroom for the last minute or two, so Alex was indeed very confused to see me teaching in Daddy's classroom!

Sittin' Pretty

Well, lookie there....our little Bridgey-Boo learned how to sit on her own! Seems like, all of a sudden, she's sitting up! She is such a cheerful baby. And, get this, she loves music. If you sing to her, she will bop her head and smile.

A little slice of a 4 yr old mind

So, tonight I was putting the kids to bed. We read a story, and then I ask the kids what they are thankful for and if there's anything they want to ask God for help with, and then we say our bedtime prayers. Usually, they say things like "I'm thankful for Mommy and Daddy, or Jesus, or my pink blankie." When it was my turn I said I was thankful that God created my children healthy and whole, with all their bones and muscles working, and everything inside them working right. Apparently this statement set off a huge waterfall of deep thoughts by Alex. "Mommy, before there were people, did God create some Mommies and Daddies and then they had babies? Do all babies look exactly the same when they are born? Mommy, next time you have a baby I want to be there. I really wanted to be there when Bridgette was born."

Whew. So all in one conversation, we've touched on creationism/evolution, the different kinds of people in the world, and watching babies be born. Someday, I really do look forward to explaining all of these things! I don't know how I escaped that but all I can tell you is he's now sleeping and life is good.

Who's dat girl?

Well, here she is. Our little spunky 2 and a half year old. She loves to snuggle and be "in arms" quite a bit, yet she is becoming more and more adventurous. One minute she'll be sweetly singing the ABC song and the next she is wrestling with Alex on the floor. She is big into Band-aids for "owies" right now. One time she slammed the door really hard and I told her to be careful and she said "do it nicely? not owie?" Yes, sweet pea, not owie :-)

Spring Break in Williamsburg

John's spring break is always early - the first or second week in March. After the snowy and cold winter we've had, we jumped at the chance to get away, even though Williamsburg is only usually about 5-10 degrees warmer than we are. Well, it was a good week weather-wise for the whole state. Sunny and 60's for the first part of the week and 50's for the rest. Not too shabby. It was great to just get away, and not to have to cook much or clean!

This is pretty much all we did on vacation - hang out at the pool. The kids loved it and couldn't wait to go everyday.

Bridgette's all decked out in her swim suit. She liked the pool too!Here's Cassidy on our walk from the room to the pool. It was chilly some days and she loved her new "towel dress!"

How Did That Happen?

January is gone. It's February 4th...how did that happen? Our big December snow finally melted, and we even had a few days of 50 degree weather where got out and played without hats or mittens. Then it got cold again, snowed again, and it's about to snow yet again...a whole bunch! January was a good month. We are getting into a routine. By that I mean that Alex isn't 30 minutes late to preschool anymore...maybe only 5-10 minutes late and sometimes he's even on time!

Alex is learning so much both at school and at home. He loves his friends; he is quite the social butterfly these days. He loves his baby sisters too...even though he and Cassidy fight, if she gets hurt, he's usually there to comfort her before I am. And he loves to talk baby talk with Bridgette, kiss her head, head-butt her (that was just once)... you get the idea.

Cassidy is little miss "I wanna do it." She can get almost completely dressed herself, she even gets really close to zipping up her coat some days. Notice I said "can," and not "execute on command," which gives you an idea of why we are often late to preschool. She loves trains, dancing, singing, and taking care of her baby dolls.

Bridgette is the most easy-going of the bunch. She eats well, and sleeps even better (as long as she's not sick). At 4 months, she can now reach out a grab toys which has opened up a whole new world for her. She's starting to suck her thumb more and more... it is nice not having to find that darn pacifier for every nap or every time we went out like we did with the older two.

We're starting to gear up for our move to Fort Leavenworth this summer....de-cluttering the house and fixing up things to get it ready to show. We will miss our friends here but are really looking forward to being in a military community again.

Well, tomorrow we should be blanketed in 12-20 inches of snow, sipping hot tea while the kids run around the house. I hope this is the last big snow....would love to see my tulips start coming up afer this snow melts!

Happy New Year

I thought I would post our Christmas card pictures here for anyone who didn't get one. One of my friends told me that her card arrived without a stamp or my return address. So, here's the lesson, if you forget your stamp, also forget your return address so the post office can't return it to you and they will take pity on you, deliver it, and not throw away your Christmas card. Thank you USPS!