More Catch Up

I knew if I didn't get the Disney posts knocked out they wouldn't happen, but that has left me with a lot of catch up about our day-to-day lives in the last part of January and the first half of February.  So here we go, in no particular order.

Weekly orchestra practice for Leah means a weekly trip to Des Moines.  She is loving the newest song they are working on, 

and my little buddies love our visits to "the big library".

It's tricky keeping the Des Moines, Ankeny, and school library books all sorted, but totally worth it.  We all love reading.  

I had a parent teacher conference for Emma a few weeks back and learned that she only recognizes 14 letters of the alphabet, which entirely explains why she's not reading yet.  We've been having dedicated letter time since, and she's vastly improving already. 

 She's starting putting letters together to make words now!

 She's been resisting preschool just a tiny bit lately (because it's so much more fun to stay home with you, Mommy!  Just don't do anything fun while I'm gone.) but I'm extra grateful that she has a few hours each week to get some focused help with her learning.

Emma's still napping at least 4 days a week, and some nights she just can't sleep... she thinks.

She also got to celebrate her half birthday in preschool!

And when preschool doesn't get in the way, we have plenty of fun at home.  I've committed to exercising five days a week, and it's easiest to accomplish right after the big kids head out the door.  Emma and Noah are the best of playmates in the morning while I tackle the treadmill or some other method of sweating (I'm loving Fitness Blender right now!).

Isn't this just the ideal picture of a happy-at-home three year old boy?

Look!  Dere's rainbows on my hands!

Look!  I'm a fishy!

When Daddy is gone we try to have fun!  The five of us paid a visit to Pie Five one afternoon, and it was delish!

One afternoon Adam set up an elaborate Jedi training activity.  Emma was the faithful young Padawan, Adam was the Jedi trainer, and I was surprised to see a Darth Vader appear to fight them both.

Another day Emma and Noah became my diligent kitchen helpers.  Emma was delighted to take charge of flipping the tortillas,

Noah was her helper until 4 seconds in when he touched the griddle and got relocated to the bean rinsing station.  It can be so easy to shoo the kids out of the kitchen, but nothing warms my heart like the words, "What else can I do to help, Mama?"  And this day they were very helpful indeed.

Best. Nap. Ever.

We've had beautiful weather for the past week or so- sunny days and up into the 70s!- and we've been outside just as much as possible.  

The kids always want to go to the school park.  I'm guessing it must be more appealing when it's not crawling with hundreds of other kids?

And the sunsets are as beautiful as ever.  Every night the sky fills with pinks and oranges- Leah just had to take a picture of it on Sunday evening.

Oh, this vitamin D makes us so happy!

and the ponds are thawed and the ducks are back!  Even though we all know it's temporary, it has been a blessing from Mother Nature to get some fresh air and sunshine. 

Adam finished up another season of basketball.  He is getting to be a pretty good shot!

 And this is what happens when Daddy is away for too long... estrogen takes over the house and everyone goes crazy!

 And one more picture- this silly fish of ours is still swimming strong!  She's almost 18 months old now, which just baffles me.  But she's also dutifully filling the role of "family pet" for now, so I'm hoping she hangs on a lot longer.  Once she's gone we just might start talking about getting a dog!