Thankful

We just wrapped up a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  It was filled with lots of family, friends, food and drink!  Really it was perfect mix of all those things.  I feel so lucky to have family so near to us and friends that really feel like family.  We started off with the Friendsgiving.  It was a fun new tradition we are doing with what Kerri calls our Framily.  We saw my mom's family in Delaware, Sean's family, friends at the 5k (which was the first 5k Maura and Maggie ran, and they got 2nd and 3rd in their age group!)  It was a fun, fun weekend.

It ended with conferences for all 4 girls.  I am so thankful that when I go into these conferences, I am confident that the teachers will have nothing but positive things to say about our girls' personalities... for now!

Our kids are squares

We got the health report from the school with weight, height, BMI, etc.

Maura is 52 lbs, 52 inches
Maggie is 49 lbs, 49 inches
Kerri is 42 lbs, 42 inches
and
Bridget is 48 lbs, 49 inches (a little more rectangular!)

My baby is six.

I know, I say it every birthday, for every girl, every year... stay (insert her current age) forever please.  It used to be cute, funny even, but now it is starting to really upset me.  I mean, I am not kidding.  Please, I don't know if I have it in me to go to the next year, the next step, the next level of parenting.  As a matter of fact, sometimes I think I am failing miserably at the current step, so how could I possibly go on to the next with success?

Well, guess what, I don't have a choice.  So Kerri went and did it.  She turned 6, a year older and loved it.

Kerri is stubborn.  She has a temper.  She will NOT do what she does not want to do.  She will beat you in a show down.  She will refuse to do her homework.  And you know what?  I think all these traits will serve her well in life.  Not only is she the youngest of four, but she is younger than her eldest sister by only 4 years and two months.  Her mama and daddy were quite busy when she came along, and she had to make sure people heard her, knew she was there.  And she has.  She may be stubborn but 98% of the time, she is occupying herself in her classroom or bedroom.  She plays by herself so well and really can keep herself busy with any arts and crafts project you give her.  If you ask her to clean up, she will refuse.  But if you leave her alone, she will, in her own time, clean up her mess.

Her artwork is still astounding.  She can draw things that her older sisters can not.  Her creativity is great too.  She will come up with the neatest uses for all of her art supplies and can make a princess, snowman, reindeer, dog, you name it, out of anything.

Kerri is funny.  She has a great sense of humor and can make you laugh.  She likes to laugh too, and still has a great belly laugh when you get her going.

Her best friend right now is Kate Gallagher.  The two of them can play for hours and never be seen! She loves gymnastics, but went to one of the shooting stars practice and chose to not go back!  I thought she loved it when she was finished (she said she did) but the next week when I told her to go get dressed for gymnastics, she said she was not going back... it was too hard.

She started soccer this year and loved it.  The first game she went nowhere near the ball for the first ten minutes, but then somehow she touched the ball, happened to score, and never looked back.  I think one game she scored around 12 goals!

She likes kindergarten but would be much happier if it were full day.  Every day I pick her up she gets upset that it is just her and me again.  Her sisters, on the other hand, are so jealous that she gets a "mommy date" every day.

Kerri is a smart, funny, talented, and stubborn gal and we love every inch of her.

Summer, School, Birthdays, oh my...

Yes, lots has gone on since March.  School ended (everyone passed, thank goodness).  Bridget turned 7!  7!  I can't even stand it.  Summer was full of good things.  I did not work this summer, so we had lots of time for things like hikes, the pool, play dates with friends.  Girls went to camps off an on.  It really was an ideal, relaxed summer at home.  We went camping with Lisa and Laura and their kids, so fun!  We went to the Chesapeake for Bridget's birthday.  We spent a day at Dutch Wonderland with the Arlington O'Reillys.  We took our annual trip to Avalon with the O'Reillys.  And we started a new tradition of going to the Outer Banks with the Gallaghers, Browns and LeComtes.  It was a blast and we have already booked for next year!

School started.  Some of the girls were nervous about their teachers, but all are happy and thriving now.  New friends have been made.  Soccer season started.  Everyone played.  Turns out Kerri is following in her sisters' footsteps.  She is quite the player.  She was hesitant at first, but after she scored her first goal, she got the fever.

I turned 39.  Sean surprised me with theater tickets for me and three friends.  We had dinner dowtown and saw 9 to 5.  Maura turned ten.  We had a big party in the back yard to watch an outdoor movie.  Very crazy, but fun.  Sean turned 40!  We did a bar crawl on the R5 with lots of friends.  So much fun! Maggie turned 9.  Still waiting to celebrate that and Kerri turns 6 on sunday.  Holy moly!

Maggie had her first competition for gymnastics.  She did great.  She got three medals.  One for beam... 4th place.  One for bars... 6th place.   And 8th all around!  Her team got 1st place!  It was so much fun to watch.  I was so proud of her.  It can't be easy to go out there in front of everyone.  She did three two things that she had never done before even in practice.  Her coaches all hugged her and were so excited.  I can't wait until the next one in two weeks.

Kerri is doing great in kindergarten.  She does not love the half days and hanging out with me, but never complains about going (just coming home).

Sean started a new job and The Pinehill Group.  We were used to a laid back schedule at the end of his last job, and this one is not, but he is happy and is doing well, so I am happy.  I am very proud that he made this move.  It was not the safest choice, but I am so glad he did it.

We celebrated another new tradition with what Kerri calls our "framily."  we had Friendsgiving on Sunday.  It was so fun and I am looking forward to many more friendsgivings.

We are all healthy.  Life is good.  

Leprechaun Trap

As a monthly homework assignment, B was asked to build a leprechaun trap.  I read the directions, and once it said a moving piece and demonstration, well, I felt overwhelmed.  I called in back up... Grand Dad.  Well, after spending the weekend with my parents, Kerri and Bridget came home with what I guarantee will be one of the best kindergarten traps there is.  Once again, I am so grateful to have grandparents close by that the girls just love and adore.

So Sean and I breezed by this weekend with just two kids.  What fun.  Maura had a soccer tournament.  Very fun, but hard, as they lost all three games!  Ugh!  We had dinner out at Aronimink Friday.  That was so nice and cozy.  We went to BT to celebrate Nick's b-day (again)  it was all good things!  Love it.

Some much needed vitamin D

We just got home from a whirlwind trip to see Tim and Sue in Florida.  It was really a perfect trip in every way, except it was too short!  We packed it full of good stuff, from the pool to the beach, from the zoo to mini golf with the stagnaros. The girls are quite the swimmers.  Very happy about that.  Might even skip West Chester lessons this year.  We ended the week with a little dinner and dancing outside.  So much fun.  The girls are so lucky that they have such fun grandparents and get to see them so much.  They are so close to both sets of grandparents.  They go to them without question or fear.  i did not have that growing up, and I am so happy they do.  There was a girl at dinner at the table next to us that brought three of her friends from chicago to celebrate her 18th birthday with her grandparents.  I could totally see our girls doing that, and it makes me very happy.

Snow, Snow, and more snow

Well, 2014 has brought us lots of, you guessed it, snow.  So far we have had 10 snow days and I do not even know how many two hour delays.  Well, we have survived in tact.  In the beginning it was exciting, sledding, shoveling, snowman making were all lots of fun.  Now that girls barely notice the snow even though it is piled up higher than them on the sides of the road.  We had an ice storm where our area lost power for days.  Luckily, we were able to go to Tim and Sue's from Wednesday until sunday and stay warm and entertained.  The Gallaghers and the Smiths joined us too, so it was kind of like a mini vacation.  Lots of fun for the kids, and the grown ups too.  Too many late nights though!

Now that the snow is melting, the damage that was done is starting to reappear.  Lots of branches and sticks and trees down all over.  When it all melts it will be very messy and there will be lots of stick picking upping going on.  I am happy that we are headed to Florida on Tuesday.  Maybe we will return with a renewed energy and better outlook!

We took all four girls skiing last wednesday.  I have to admit, the first half hour, well, hour if you include getting the rentals! was pretty shaky.  I thought it was going to be a quick day, but once again these girls (pleasantly) surprised me and we had a full day of skiing.  It was lots of fun and everyone did great.  Kerri was a solid little rockstar for her first time.  The other three girls got much better at steering and controlling themselves.  Impressive, considering they only ski once a year.  I hope we can go more as they get older.