Happy Birthday, Rachel!

I can't believe you're turning 5 years old today. It's gone by too fast.

I was laying in bed last night thinking, "We only have 3 more cycles of this (5 years at a time)" and you'll be all grown up."

 

Five years used to be such a long period of time. Now it's just a blink of the eye...

You said to Mommy last night, "I don't want to grow up!"

I'm right there with you, baby girl...right there with you.

But I also can't wait to see the young woman you'll become.

Like I said when you were born...I never knew my heart could be full of so much love.

Happy birthday, my sweet girl.

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May 2011

Dear girls,

May has come and gone, and now we slide into another summer, full of vacations and birthdays.

Rachel, in a few days, you will finish up preschool for good. You're going to be an honest-to-goodness big kid, going to school. Not that you haven't been going to school for the past 2 years, but now it starts getting to be a big deal. There will be tests, and measurements of your success. Of course, your mother and I aren't really all the worried about how well you'll do in school. Like I've been saying for months now, you're already reading and writing way above your age level, and I'm more worried about you being bored rather than worrying about you trying to keep up.

Another thing you'll be finished with in a few days is soccer. We decided not to put you in a league this summer, just to give you (and us) a bit of a rest. We weren't as happy with your team and coaches this go-around, but we certainly have seen a lot of improvement in your play since last summer. We'll take another look at soccer in the fall, or maybe give you some other choices of things to try out.

Emily, you're getting to be such a ham. One of the things I've noticed about you this past month is your awareness of cameras. I've been able to get great candids of you for almost two years now, but now you've started posing. And what a pose. You'll tilt your head up, bare as many teeth as you can manage, and say "sheeeez" through your clenched teeth. It cracks me up every time. And then there are the times you don't want to be bothered by the paparazzi, and you'll turn your head or run away, yelling "NO!" at me.

Your speech is getting better every day. Most of the time now you'll tell us what you want. We may have to listen to you 3-4 times to put together what it is that you're telling us, but we usually get it, and you've stopped getting so frustrated with us when we don't understand the first time you tell us. Oh, don't get me wrong, you still have quite an attitude sometimes, but you're getting more patient with us as we try to understand you. And when it's something you can't quite explain, or you just want us to come with you to do something, you'll wave your hand at us and say "Mon, mon" (as in "come on").

Rachel, your birthday party is coming up this weekend, and I can tell you're still trying to figure out why it is that we don't have your party on the same day as your birthday. You keep telling everyone, "My party is on Sunday, but I won't really be 5 yet." We've invited a lot of your friends, and we're having it exactly where you asked: Pump It Up.

Emily, I am really impressed at how much you're growing up. Like I said last month, you have an independent streak that's going to kill us, but I think it will serve you well in the future. You and I got to spend a morning together this past week, and it was really fun to spend time with you without your sister around. You are quite a different kid when you're not having to share toys, and share my attention. I don't remember that you've ever helped wash a car...maybe you helped with your mom's at some point, but as soon as I got out the bucket to wash my car, you went and found all of the rags, threw them in the bucket and started washing, despite my protests. You did a great job, too! You're one smart cookie, and you love playing in the water. I can't wait to take you swimming this summer.

We're really excited to take both of you to New York this summer to meet your new cousin, and to see the sights in NYC. I'm also looking forward to spending my time off with you. Any time we get to spend time playing together is time I that cherish and love. I love watching the two of you grow up, and I love watching you learn.

Your mother and I love you both more than you will ever know.

Love
Daddy.

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Emily and Daddy's morning together

Emily's sitter is out of town, so we got to spend the morning together. After breakfast at Wendy's, we went to the park, then came home and washed my car. While I was waxing, she played Indy Car driver.

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Braiiiiiins!

While we were skyping with Mom and Dad tonight, Rachel made this face and said : "Do you know if you go like this, you can see your brains?! "

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Too smart for our own good...

Monica: "So, later for the P - A - R - T - Y...do you want to go?"

Rachel: "You mean party? What party?"

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Don't be mean

Rachel has been walking around the house lately singing Taylor Swift's "Mean" which she said she learned from a friend at school. She actually heard it while she was roller skating last weekend, which I think is why she started singing it so much. But she screws up the words.

"Soooome day, I'll be livin in a big ole ciiiity, and aaaaall you're ever gonna is be mean."

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Someone's got a new boyfriend

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Head, shoulders, knees and toes....

OK, maybe not all those parts, but she does know a lot of them.

 

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Happy Mother's Day

The girls were practicing being mommies with Raggedy Anne and Andy this morning.

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April 2011

Dear girls,

The first thing I want to mention this month is that the two of you now have a new cousin! Your Aunt Sarah and Uncle Britton had their baby girl, Sabrina on April 15. You got to "meet" her when Grandma and Grandpa went out to New York and we talked to them all on the computer. We're all going out to New York in June to meet her in person, and I'm sure you'll have a great time.

Emily, we'll start off with you, and the question of the month: who in the heck taught you the word "NO"? It seems like that's all we've heard from you this month. One day, you just started shouting out "NOOO" as clear as day. "Emily, do you want some milk?" "NOOOO!" "Can you please eat some of your meat?" "NOOO!" all the while vigerously shaking your head.

I guess that's not a totally fair classification of the words you're saying, it just seems like all you say is no. You've also started saying "please," but you have to be prompted, and you'll try repeating most of the words we say. You've also started stringing two words together to form sentences, which is very exciting for us. You'll say "zzhoos ah" (shoes off) when you come in the house, and "ma puh" (more please) when we prompt you to ask for something.

Along with this new found language has come an independent streak that's going to kill your mother and I. You are pushing your limits, and we have to remember to inform you of everything we're planning on doing before we do it, or you'll throw a fit because it doesn't necessarily fit in with your plans. Sometimes, even when we do let you know what's coming up, you don't want to have anything to do with it. And you like to go off exploring on your own. We were playing in the driveway the other day, I turned to talk to Rachel, and the next thing I knew, you were at the end of the driveway about to go into the street.

Rachel, we got you all registered for Kindergarten next year, and you'll be going to a new school. I think you're going to do just fine, as you've continued to improve your reading and writing with every passing day. The other day you were reading out of a 2nd grade book to me, and you did a really great job with it!

You have really been enjoying playing soccer, and you even scored a goal! Of course, the ref blew the whistle right before you scored, but it still counts in our minds! When you first started playing soccer last summer, I wasn't sure how you would do because you didn't seem to like the games very much, but now you look like you're having so much fun out there.

You've also become very concerned with your birthday part, as birthday party season appears to be in full swing. You keep telling us where you want your party and talk about it on an almost daily basis. You tell us about the kids in your class that are already 5, and we can tell you're very excited to turn 5 yourself. Even though it's still over a month away, we're already planning for the big day.

We are looking forward to May and all of the new things you'll learn. We are always amazed at the new things each of you show us every month. We love you very much.

Love
Daddy

 

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An Easter Bike Ride

Today, Rachel and I took a bike ride along the Leon Creek Greenway with Emily in tow. We rode 2.5 miles, and Rachel didn't get tired until we were close to the end.

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Viva Fiesta!

We went downtown to Main Plaza earlier in the week. I love shooting with the Retro Camera App for Android. Almost enough to make me not carry my regular camera. Almost.

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March 2011

Dear Girls,

Another month goes flying by. It seems like they go by faster and faster. You are both growing up so quickly, and while it's exciting for us to see you do and learn new things, I know that one day I'm going to turn around and you'll be leaving home. We had a lot of fun this past month, and we got to spend a lot of time with you because of spring break.

Rachel, you got to do a lot with us during March. One of the most exciting things for us, and I know for your Grandpa Rick, was the fact that you caught your first fish, ever! We had gone out fishing for the day just to putt around on the boat, but we ended up finding a great fishing spot and you caught four fish. You were pretty happy with your first one, then it seemed to get less interesting for you with each subsequent catch. On the last fish you caught, you didn't even want to reel it in. Nana had to do that for you.

Emily, you were not so excited about the fish. When we tried to show it to you, you screamed and yelled, and tried to get away from it. The problem was, there wasn't anywhere for you to go on the boat. You did a really good job of being patient while we all fished, though, and you really enjoyed the water splashing all over the place while we drove the boat around.

You have been very excited about going to play at the playground, though. You really like going down the slides, and climbing up on the equipment by yourself. I think you would go down the slides all day, if we let you.  You always have the biggest smiles when you're coming down. You still need to work on the body control a bit, but it's getting better!

You started cutting some more teeth at the end of the month, too, Emily. Your teeth have just taken their sweet time coming in, but you don't seem to have any problems eating. And speaking of eating, you're getting really good at using your spoon and fork to feed yourself.

Rachel, you started playing soccer again this month, and this time, you're with a whole new group of kids. Your mother and I were a little sad that none of the kids you'd played with before were on your team, but it's a good experience for you to play with different kids. You having played before seems to put you at a bit of an advantage, too, as you seem to be more confident in going after the ball.

You've continued to get better and better at reading, and you've even started reading books to your class. Your teachers tell us all the time how amazed they are at how well you read, and how much confidence you have. We're very proud of you for being so quick and eager to learn new things, and your love of reading. You read to one of us almost every night, too.

Your grandparents left at the end of the month to go back up north. Rachel, you were very sad about the whole thing. You cried and cried when they left, and I know that this is going to be a yearly thing. Emily, I think you knew that something was different, but couldn't quite grasp what had happened. When they got home, we skyped with them like we usually do, but it's been 4 months since we'd done it, and Emily, you have a completely different understanding of the world now than you did 4 months ago. When you saw your Nana and Grandpa on the screen, you smiled shyly at them. I know you recognized that, but weren't quite sure what they were doing in my computer.  After a while you warmed up and started playing with them. It was really interesting to see how your mind worked, though.

This next month will be very exciting. You're going to get a new cousin! And maybe your Aunt Sarah will start blogging again...

We love you both very much!

Love
Daddy

 

 

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