Fruits of the Spirit and other happenings

Last night Taylor's preschool presented their spring program - the theme was Fruits of the Spirit and all the kids were so cute and did such a great job, Taylor being the child who was the cutest and did the best job of all! Her teacher Miss Meagan is great and her love of teaching is obvious, the kids really listen to her and are learning so much. Taylor's class sang a song about wiggling and how you are supposed to be still when listening in class or church and it was hilarious as Taylor is the wiggliest kid I know :) We were just notified that Taylor was tested for Kindergarten readiness and passed with flying colors. It's up to us to keep her practicing everything she's learned this year all summer so she can be ready for big girl school this fall.

Emilee found out yesterday that she won an honorable mention in her high school's art show, which is judged independantly by one of the university's art professors, so we are really proud of her accomplishment. We'll be having that piece of artwork framed and find a place for it when it comes home next week!

Sara and Chuck are demolishing their house and rebuilding it one room at a time. They are completely redoing their bathroom, putting in a clawfoot iron bathtub and matching iron sink, all new flooring and wallpapering - I can hardly wait to see it. Next, Chuck better be building a chicken coop for the chickens, because I want to go visit them soon and I am not sleeping with Lolita, Lucille, Rosa, and Harriett (lol).

Spring Flings

This weekend was jammed packed with activity. Emilee went to her sophomore class "Spring Fling"...it's a fund raiser to make money for future events in her high school life. There was a newly formed Christian rock band made up of LU students that performed for the kids that had Emilee wanting to skip the rest of high school and move on over to the university and get to know guys like the ones in this band (two more years, girl!).

Taylor had a birthday party to attend on Saturday afternoon - her friend Sophia turned 6 - before Emilee went to her event on Saturday evening so there was LOTS of driving done on Saturday. I anticipated Sunday to be a day of going to church and relaxing all Sunday afternoon. but nooo....

On Sunday afternoon, Tom decided to take Taylor and Emilee (and me along, to hold the camera I guess) fishing. Taylor caught her first fish! I don't understand the lure of fishing (no pun intended haha) but Tom really likes to go when he gets the chance and wants to share this activity with his girls. Taylor loved catching the fish but when Tom asked her if she wanted to touch it, she screamed like a, well, girl, and said "NO..that fish scares me!". He gently unhooked it for her and released it. I don't think he's got a great fishing pal in this one.

another month - time flies!

It seems like a month goes like a week - I don't know where the time goes. Taylor has been in our family 8 months - we're going to this Chinese restaurant that's supposed to be great on Sunday to celebrate another month of being a family - Taylor doesn't care why I like to remember each month as a milestone, she's just happy to chow down on some good Chinese cooking!

Emilee has her license now and can "fly solo". She has a great part time job that will be full time through the summer and we need her to be able to drive herself - I'm spending so much time getting her to and from her work place that we decided to help her get a used vehicle and she is now the proud owner of a little red truck! She plans on "dressing it up" with a Washington Redskins steering wheel cover and floor mats - I let her drive to work by herself yesterday for the first time and literally walked the floor and prayed the whole time til she called me and told me she was at work safely...it doesn't get any easier as they get older!

Sara and Chuck have decided that they are going to raise chickens and have their own organic eggs so they bought 4 little chicks. I'm waiting on that quiche, Sara! Sara loves these little ones, their names are Rosa, Harriett, Lucille and Lolita. They are living in her house right now in a large rubbermaid container while Chuck builds a chicken coop...he'd better get busy before they learn how to fly!

Easter Day

Taylor's first Easter... the time is flying by and she's had a great week learning all about this wonderful and special day. I love to hear her tell me the Easter story, and today was a beautiful day for all of us. Sara and Chuck came in to share in Taylor's first Easter and the day was full of fun and me having to yell at Sara and Taylor to behave themselves as they are both so crazy (at one point Sara threw Taylor's shoes off the deck and threatened to spit on them, but Emilee retaliated on Taylor's behalf and threw Sara's flipflops in the back yard and tried to spit on them for Taylor. By the way, Taylor was very grateful to Emilee for this :)

Taylor went to "big church" and stayed through the service with us and was so good and we told her how proud we were of how quiet she was...much better than the little boy sitting behind us! NewSong was on hand for the special music and she loved that part - she definitely will get the chance to take piano lessons when she's a little older - that girl loves music!

Slinky had to go to the vet this week and he's now a whopping 5.4 lbs. - all the kids are growing so fast LOL