Family Pictures

So, we had pictures done with my family this past weekend!  It was so nice to have everyone together for family time!

Amy does a great job of capturing pictures that I never thought we would see--since our kids are not always all that agreeable when it comes to picture time!  But as usual, she caught some amazing photos of our family and children; we are always so happy with her work!  I haven't seen the whole disc of pictures yet, just the sneak peak plus one.  There was one picture that was just too good to have on the disc or the link, so she sent it to me via phone.

This is what it looks like when the photographer says "Surprise her from behind with a bear hug...."

Not cool, Luke.... not cool....

Here's the rest of the sneak peak:
http://photographybyamy.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/the-g-family-2/

Update on the Kiddos!

So, I've officially decided that I'm terrible at keeping up with a blog.  Just as it is for everybody, things just get too crazy from October through February.  I'm pretty sure that I didn't blog for at least 4 months at this time last year, too.  At least I'm consistently awful at this.

So the kiddos:

We had a great Christmas (all three of them!), and we loved visiting with our families!  Amelia is always super sad when her cousins leave to go back to Kansas.  Glad that, even with the distance, she can still have a good relationship with her cousins!

1.  Amelia is doing really well in school.  We just had her parent/teacher conferences recently, and Ms. Loos informed us that she is already reading like she should be at the end of kindergarten.  So she's a whole quarter ahead in reading!  And a few weeks ago, we received her report card.  While walking across the playground at school, Mimi said "Please let it be all 3's and 4's."  Not sure where this need for perfection came from (haha!!), but she did, indeed receive all 3's and 4's.  Last night, she didn't want to listen to me read "Are You My Mother?" for the umpteenth time (Pierson's choice), so she took over and read the middle third of the book!  We are just so in awe at how much she's learning and how fast!  We are kind of nervous for the point in her schooling when we can no longer help with her homework.  At the rate she's going, I think it will be 3rd grade when she will surpass us!  We learned to tie our shoes in Kindergarten, and she's reading!!  Yikes!!

Girl Scouts are going very well!  Amelia seems to enjoy being around the girls for meetings and when we had a cookie booth.  She likes to wear her tunic to school and church.  I hope she sticks with it for awhile.  I'm excited for when our troop can start doing some stuff outside of our meetings!

2.  Pierson seems to be enjoying staying home with Aunt Naynay during the days.  Although he did ask yesterday "Naynay, why do you always come over?!"  He's like every typical 3 year old--very outspoken and busy.  Most recently, my sister has taken on watching another little boy and they are best buddies!  I just love that he has a playmate.

He's still super interested in sports, and yesterday we went to the Spring Game.  He liked being at the football game, but was even more interested in the track meet that we walked past after the game.  He was GLUED to it.  We watched several runners and a few high jumpers--not sure he'll ever be tall enough to be one of them, but he sure liked to watch!!

3.  Eleanor Rae is talking so much now!!  She's up to dozens of words and repeats nearly everything!  We've also been working on more signs with her, and she now does "help, kitty, puppy, milk, owie" and a few others.  It's just the cutest thing!

We recently got the movie "Frozen" and this one loves to sing along with "Let it Go!"  It mostly sounds like "Goooooo, goooooo" but it sure is adorable!

I will have to end this for now, but will try to get some pictures and updates of our holidays and new family pictures posted.

Last couple of months of 2013!

Just wanted to give a quick update on the last few months, since I haven't been very good at updating the blog.  (whoopsies!)

1.  Amelia is doing amazingly in school!  She is like a sponge, absorbing everything she can--even things we'd rather she didn't.  We can't spell words in front of her as often as we used to, and when we do, we have to spell fast, hoping she doesn't catch on.  She recently (this week) earned her name and photograph on the wall for recognizing all her letters and sounds.  She's always trying to sound things out to write sentences on her own.  For example "Betil is in the bathroom." ("beetle is in the bathroom"--she did ask for help on what makes the "th" sound)... and then she said "It needs a period right, because it's a sentence?"  Please, look for her book on shelves in the next couple months, folks.... she'll be writing one by then, I'm sure....

She didn't care for the fact that there was no school on what was supposed to be the first day back after school break. She stomped her foot in the kitchen at me, like I can change the fact that it was supposed to be -25F outside the next day.  I'm glad she loves school so much--I give it two more years before she's begging for a snow day! 

2.  Pierson is potty training!  One day he just wanted to wear underwear and off we went!  We did full-blown underwear during the day and pull-ups at night.  He did the pull-ups for about 3 weeks, until recently when he decided he didn't want to wear them to bed anymore.  He wakes up dry every morning, so we decided to go ahead with that.... but of course, it happens just when I buy a giant pack of pull-ups and we've only used 4.... (oh well) Haha!!  He's only having an accident about once every other day now, and it's usually when he has to go, but doesn't right away, and then gets sidetracked so he potties in his pants.  I'm glad to report the last few days have been awesome because he has actually been doing the #2 in the potty too!  Sorry, if TMI, but it is a big deal to not have to hose out and bleach underwear daily!  And I'm so proud of how fast he's catching on!!

I'd also like to add that he is nothing less than a normal two-year-old when it comes to his behavior.  He has definitely been the most exhausting lately with his outbursts.  He is so incredibly strong-willed and stubborn, and will often scream louder than you are talking, just so he doesn't have to listen.  We have had to do far more time-outs with this one and he often spends several minutes in his room just cooling down.  Boy, he sure does keep us on our toes.  He is still quite the lover tho, and if he slows down for more than a couple minutes, you might get a snuggle or hug or kiss from him.  Pierson quote that melted my heart recently:  "I love you faster, Mama."

3.  I've decided to run Amelia's Daisy Girl Scout Troop. We've had one meeting so far, and she just loves it.  She was disappointed when we had to cancel our December meeting.  I've gone to lunch with her at school and seen her flash her GS friends the GS sign!  So cute!  (PS If anybody needs cookies in February, you have a connection now--she'll be contacting folks soon to sell you tons of boxes!!)

4.  Eleanor started walking at the end of the year. She's not super fast yet, but she gets around!  She had a great first birthday in early November.  She actually got into opening gifts at her party, and P and Mimi were ever helpful and pretty much opened the second half of all her gifts.  She is also very jealous of her new cousin, Faye.  She can't stand it when I'm holding her and will pretty much use all of her strength to, unsuccessfully, push her off my lap.  But I'm sure they will be best friends, eventually!

I will update soon on Christmas and the kids' birthday!!