Goodbye Kindergarten!

Today was Ella's last day of Kindergarten. It was harder for me than I anticipated. People always tell you how fast your children will grow up and I've never felt it more than now! We couldn't have asked for a better first year. She loved her teacher, Mrs. Fishman (as have I), and she's walked away with some wonderful friends. Ella was a little concerned about having to say goodbye to everyone but we had a long talk about hopefully she will be with some of her friends next year - in FIRST GRADE! Her final report card came with glowing remarks. On a scale of 1-4, she finished Kindegarten with mainly 4's in her math, reading, and writing. She improved her P.E. to a 3 - yay - she can jump rope now :) I'm trying not to focus on all the that babies that seem to be fleeing from my grasp, and instead trying to enjoy the wonderful, still little, human beings they are :)

dessert time!

i have no idea where this came from?!?!

bath time!

Norah is 3!

We celebrated Norah's third b-day this past weekend. She wanted all Dora :) Her cake said "She did it! Norah the Explorer is 3!" She had 9 friends over for pizza, cake, and a treasure hunt. It was a wonderful afternoon.

she went to bed that night wearing her new dora backpack and sleeping with her new minnie pillow :)

father's day

we took danny out to eat at a seafood restaurant on the water. he was pretty happy :)

Out and about

heading to a friend's birthday party :)

playing at a friend's house

before getting her hair cut

ella & layla got some new summer hair-dos :)

i know i'm bias but come on! she's cute!!!!!

ready for church

sneaking a snack :)

a little bit of this and that

2 weeks ago we went on a nature walk during low tide on Alki Beach.

Ella only has 6 days left of Kindergarten! I'll save my thoughts on that for another day :)

Layla had her 5 year well check this week. She's 3'10 (95%) - she's trying to catch up to Ella and she's 43lbs (75%). She's super excited to start school in the fall. She knows all her numbers, letters, sounds, and can pretty much write anything. She still loves reading and anything to do with art. she loves to paint, draw, color, etc. she tells me she's going to be an artist one day.

Norah turns 3 on Monday and we had her well check this week as well! I am constantly impressed with all she does! She can count 1-20 and knows all her letters. She is desperately trying to write with her older sisters. She is still our little peanut but has gained a good amount of weight since our last visit which is always nice to hear :) She's 40 inches tall and weighs 30lbs. She's gone from the 25% to the 50% in her weight. We have hit the ground running hard this week with potty training. We haven't had any overnight success, but we'll get there! she is so stinkin smart but so stinkin stubborn :)

                                               

enjoying a sunny june day (haven't seen too many of those yet!)

mulch - yum!

maren is 16 months old now and doing everything she can to be just like her sisters! she has mastered climbing the bunk bed ladder (all by herself!), loves to use the bathroom step stool to wash her hands and brush her teeth (all by herself of course!), climbs up the playground equipment (all on her own), refuses to sit in a booster seat at the table and eats and drinks with big girl utensils (all on her own) . . do you notice a pattern? where does mommy fit into this picture?!? :) she can say "mama", "dada", "ball", "book", "baby", "dog", "duck", "hi", "bye", "car", "night night", "tada" (my favorite), and "ella" (ella's favorite, of course!). she runs more than walks these days.

 ready for the beach :)

maren has a new best friend! her "dog dog"

he even went in the bath with her the other night :)