Miscellany

Here are a few cute things the kids have been saying/doing lately. First of all, Finn has gone from having lots of words but not putting them together, to having a million more words and putting long sentences together. It's so fun. Yesterday Grant was helping him cut his pancake and Finn said, "Thank you, Dad, helping me, Dad." And he's been saying, "I sorry be mean, Maggie," a lot, sometimes even when she's the one who's been mean! He also says "no thank you" and "yes, please". He's been telling us "Don't say that" and "Don't sing that" but he does also request certain songs. Yesterday he wanted to hear "Channel Pooh" over and over again. What? You aren't familiar with that tune? It's "Happy Birthday to You," obviously! (We always sing, "And many more from Channel Four, and Winnie the Pooh, from Channel Two.") He has some really terrific tantrums, like if I very cruelly refuse to let him pour all of the coffee beans on the counter, or if I won't let him play with the knives, but we are really having so much fun with him, too. My mother-in-law calls this age the "Terrific Twos" and although he has his trying times, I have to agree. It's so much fun...most of the time.
We're growing a pretty big garden (we'll see if anything grows and is edible) and he loves to go out and see the "bob-tatoes" (tomatoes, named after Bob the Tomato from VeggieTales videos that he watches at church sometimes). He sometimes pulls small, green bob-tatoes off of the plant and brings them to me.
Carolina officially has two teeth (on top) and the lower ones are somewhat close to coming in. She, like her big brother and sister, did not have any trouble getting new teeth. They just popped up overnight with no big fuss. She is crawling really well and pulls herself up to stand now. I went into her room the other night and it was pitch black so when I reached in there I was surprised to find she had pulled herself up to sitting, too. She says "mamamamama" and "dadadada" and is imitating us saying other words like "hi". This week I was waving goodbye to Grant as he drove off and looked down to realize she was waving, too. Now she's waving all the time!
Here's a photo of just the girls. I'm not sure where the sunglasses came from but all three kids have worn them (never to actually block sun, just randomly inside because they're funny!). Sorry for the low quality.
Can you believe we're past the first week of July?! Where has time gone? Maggie's school goes through the summer but this year I decided to take July off. This past week Maggie has had soccer clinic with her friends Caleb and Abby and she has loved it. Next week she has art camp with the always amazing Tiffany Dupree. The week after that we don't have anything planned but I will pack in lots of fun summertime activities. And the week after that I ended up deciding to send her to school to have one last week with her BFF, Riley, before they both start kindergarten.
We don't know exactly what we're going to do for kindergarten. The school that Maggie is zoned for is not a place I would send my child. She's on the waiting list for a school that has a lottery admission for some of its spots. It's a Spanish immersion school that's about 10 minutes away, we know lots of people there, and I think the Spanish would be a good challenge for Maggie. Right now it's looking like we'll stay on the waiting list for that school until the first week or so of school, and if she doesn't get in, then I'll home school her but still send her 3 days a week to Miss Heather (where she's been going the last two or so years). I feel really conflicted about this. I think home school might be the best thing for her as she could be taught 100% on her level and at her own speed, but I feel somewhat stressed thinking about being responsible for her education and trying to do a good enough job in our small house with two little ones underfoot. If you had asked me two years ago if I would ever consider home schooling I would have died laughing at you and thought you were crazy. But now...we'll just see what happens. Life is always exciting around here!