Serene's yearly doctor visit

Serene had her annual NF visit back in November and it went wonderful. Again we got great reports. Her vision is fantastic and the rest of her checks out wonderfully. NF kids around this age can start to show signs of learning issues as they enter school and this is where we have really seen good things with Serene. She has not only shown no signs of learning issues but has actually excelled at learning. She reads well, writes well and does well in math. So thankful to the Lord for this being a non-issue for her. This summer she will go back to children's for a series of evaluations that are commonly given to NF kids between 6-7 that check things like learning capabilities and general brain functions in regards to ease of learning. Even though she is doing remarkably well we still feel like since I am her educator that this would be an VERY valuable tool for me to have to know where her strengths lie and where she might be lacking. This a very extensive two day evaluation that will give us tons of great info especially for our home education! All in all though she is doing GREAT! So grateful for her health and her continued growth!

Anna's 9th birthday

Somehow in the midst of Christmas craziness I forgot to blog about Anna's birthday… so here are a few picture highlights of our precious first borns birthday! We love this girl so much and can't believe how grown up she has become this year. Such an amazing young lady with so many talents.

Piano recital

The girls started piano lessons this fall. It has been such a fun experience for them and VERY convenient for me since their teacher comes to our house! YAY MOM!! While we do have a piano, it sits at my parents house and instead we have chosen to use a keyboard that we keep in our school room and incorporate at part of our daily school routine. This has worked really well for us and been super easy to just go right from "reading, writing and arithmetic" to piano. The girls both picked up on it really quickly but Anna seems to be the one who actually enjoys it. Serene did practice VERY hard and did great at her recital. She was the youngest at the recital and probably the least scared and shy of anyone there. She was the first one on stage and just bee-bopped her little self right up there and played and then smiled away at the crown awaiting her applause! Anna on the other hand had a flawless performance but was a wee bit shy and reserved. Both enjoyed the reception afterwards the most though with Christmas desserts and punch! =) We are proud of them both and they are both looking forward to spring recital already!

Happy 6th birthday Serene

What a precious joy this little girl is to our family. She is always peppy and laughing and hardly ever has a frown. She cares for others and adores her baby sister. Over this year she taught herself how to read, grew about a foot (almost), learned to swim, learned to play the piano and graduated from speech therapy. I would say this was a REALLY big year for our little curly haired girl. We love you sweet Serene and can't wait to see what great things happen for you in 2014.

Tooth fairy time for Serene

I can't believe my baby girl has reached this age….how is it possible? She was so happy and so proud and the tooth fairy was very generous since the tooth fairy didn't have anything else in his wallet. =)

Christmas photos round 2

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I can't say enough times how much I love this time of year but especially how much I love it with a house full of children. From the simplest thing like watching a Christmas movie or having hot cocoa to seeing their faces light up over their new golf cart this Christmas will be left behind full of wonderful memories! I would call this year the year of the Christmas movie. Our kids were just big enough this year (minus Patience) that they really enjoyed all the classics and all of our family favorites so since getting out and about was a little more difficult this year due to weather we watched a TON of Christmas movies. It was so nice to snuggle up on the couch with our big girls and Ben (while Patience and Rivers played various things around the living room) and enjoy those moments together! So many wonderful times this year! This is a holiday season we won't soon forget!

Shopping, five kids and a baby bump

To the people who give me annoyed looks when they see my five kids, and I can clearly hear you say "and she's pregnant too" (with disgust in your voice): What are you so upset about? My kids are well behaved, they aren't being loud or rude or running around. They have smiles on their faces and so do I. It's obvious I'm enjoying being around my children and that they are happy little people… so what really is the issue? To the elderly gentleman who rolled down his window in the parking lot and said "Wow, now that is a happy and good looking family there, congratulations miss": Thank you for making my day and reminding me that there are still some people in the world who find joy in seeing happy children who are loved and truly enjoyed by their parents!

Ice Days

Only in Texas can your children be playing outside in shorts and t-shirts in 80 degree weather one day and wake up less than 12 hours later to inches of ice covering your yard. Snow days happen maybe once a year here and we enjoy the few hours a play time in it and then it melts and its gone. Not so the case this time….. It's been 5 days and schools are still being closed and our yard is still covered in snow. Jimmy did make it to work today for the first time since Thursday (this is Tuesday) but things are still cold and white. Our children have enjoyed hours and hours and hours of sledding mostly thanks to all their leftover ski gear from our trip to Breckenridge last year. Snow boots, ski gloves and ski coats mean the difference in minutes of fun outside and hours! We've had hot chocolate, made mini indoor smores with mini marshmallows roasted over candles, done gingerbread houses, made dozens and dozens of cookies, watched every single one of our favorite Christmas movies and gotten all caught up on our advent reading! I can honestly say these days have been some of the most memorable times of our life. We always tend to find reasons to get out and about on the weekends and so staying home and doing "nothing" for five straight days has been so refreshing and a reminder that we need to do it more often! I LOVE these people here so much and can't imagine spending my ice weekend having any better of a time!!