Time for Kid Updates

It has been awhile since I actually WROTE a blog (not just posting a ton of pictures), so I thought I would write about what the kids have been up to the past little while.

Elise has been loving preschool. Everyday she asks if she can go to another one of her friends' houses. She recently got a report card which reported that she is doing well in almost every area. Ellie now knows how to spell a few names and is always putting her own name on papers along with her siblings' names and every name of every child in her preschool class. She is always quite helpful in making sure that Owen's name is ALWAYS on his coloring papers. Along with this she is starting to recognize familiar words, but mostly she sees letters and lists a bunch of words that can go along with the letters. Ellie is also anxiously awaiting next month as it will be her 4th birthday. She is excited to go to the beach to celebrate but mostly she is excited because as she says, "4 is almost 5 and when she is 5 she will go to elementary school". She also tells me almost daily that her grammy says that when she turns 8 she can sew on grammy's sewing machine. She is really eager for that apparently.

Owen is also enjoying preschool. He is the youngest in his class but also the biggest. Last week I was changing his diaper and I just said to myself, "this has got to stop, this boy is enormous, I can hardly lift his leg to change his diaper!". So, this past weekend we started potty training. I must say that it has really gone better than anticipated. I took a note from a friend and bought a bunch of matchbox cars and gave him a car after each success. Now he is AWESOME at going #1 in the potty. #2, ugh, still a work in progress. Owen is pretty obsessed with CARS and watches it a lot and is in love with anything with the CARS brand. Owen has started talking a lot more, but has gotten to be a lot more difficult at church. I think this is because I secretly thought to myself, "our kids are pretty dang good at church!". That is when it got bad.

Magdalyn is nearing the year mark and is clingier than ever. She is definitely a momma's girl. Even with intensified effort she is making it clear that she is not ready to stop nursing even though her mom is. She also is loving the comfort of mom and dad's bed... I often find her spooned up against Daniel in the middle of the night and I just have to laugh because it is usually me she is on. Maggie can stand on her own but doesn't care too very much and doesn't seem to be motivated to take steps. She basically has no interest and prefers to have her knees dirty from crawling. Finally, the girl has hair so we are rocking the bows as much as possible... cause every girl needs a bow. Maggie has a funny little personality and we are always saying that she is 50% cute and 50% goofy. Her smile is pretty contagious and she will flash one to anyone who gives her the time of day.