1st semester report cards

It's that time again to see how the girls are doing in school.

Here are some areas where Alexis fully meets her milestones.

Pre-reading/Language
-Recites rhymes, songs and familiar text in a group
-Speaks in complete sentences
Cognitive/Math
-Role counts from 1-20
-Uses words to describe time
-Follows and retells three step directions
-Identifies attributes of shapes
-Identifies characteristics for comparison such as size, color, and shape
-Sorts objects by two or more attributes
Multicultural/Social studies
-Demonstrates culture and home experiences during play
-Engages in simple games with rules in small groups
-Plays cooperatively with a few peers for sustained periods of time, sharing and taking turns
Science
-Identifies safety rules and consequences of unsafe behavior
-Able to identify and locate all common body parts
-Names foods that can keep us healthy and classifies food by their groups
Technology
-Moves through programs with purpose
Art/Musical
-Responds to different forms of music or dance through participation or discussion
-Represents fantasy and real life experiences through pretend play
Physical
*Here she meets ALL her milestones except for:
-Uses writing and drawing instruments with correct grip to make pictures and shapes
-Cuts on a line continuously

Avery is doing great but here are a few areas we need to work with her on
-predicts story content based on cover
-Discusses events based on cover
-Identifies the beginning and end of a story
-Recites the alphabet and identifies some letters in own name (I KNOW she can do this!)
-Understands basic concepts of maps
-Demonstrates an awareness of the uses of money
-Categorizes common living things into plants and animals-living
-Identifies the physical properties of some living and non-living things
-Identifies items that are helpful and harmful to our planet
-Differentiates numerals from letters
-Recalls 3 hidden objects from memory
-Uses classroom tools independently (scissors, glue, brushes, etc.)
-Creates age appropriate representations of real objects and concepts in artwork

Very proud of our girls. Alexis is now going 3 full days a week and Avery continues with 2 half days. In the beginning of May we take Alexis for her first orientation day at Barclay for Kindergarten! She is very excited!

Blizzard of 2016!

I believe it was "Storm Jonas." It snowed all night, all the next day and into that night. Thank goodness it fell on a weekend because we got at least 30-34 inches. The wind was terrible and it made for a lot of drifting snow.

Here is Ariana looking out at her first sight of falling snow!

 Looking out our kitchen window.

 This was looking out our Living Room window.

 Our back enclosed patio.

 It covered our air conditioner!

 Looking out our kitchen bay window.

 Having fun inside with our animal hats!

 Night-time and it's still snowing.

 It was up to Ben's hips and as high as the snow blower.

 The girls went out for a short time. Really too cold and too much snow. There wasn't much time to "play" in the snow because it really did take all day to clear the driveways and sidewalks.

Better late then never. I seem to be saying that a lot lately. The snow was last weekend and now Avery has Croup (which is a really bad bark/seal sounding cough with trouble breathing) with a high fever. I took her to the doctor on Tuesday and she is missing school this week. Today Ariana is starting with a cough and Alexis has the runny nose. Just another reason why I dislike Winter.

Thankfully we weathered the storm just fine. We had heat and never lost electricity. We were very lucky. I hope everyone else made out well too.

Come on Spring!

Ariana's 1 year Well Check

I finally had Ariana's 1 year check up. She's doing great! She is growing nicely and the Doctor is pleased. I am excited that she is now walking! She can finally keep up with her sisters!

She has her bottom two teeth and her top two are getting ready to pop through.

She weighs 18 lb 12.2 oz and this puts her in the 29%tile
She is 2' 5.49" tall and in the 51%tile
Her head is 17.76" around and in the 50%tile

I've tried to give her whole milk and she wants no parts of it! I first have to ween her off breast milk and then slowly introduce milk mixed with formula. She's a smart cookie and knows whats coming whenever I try.

Here are a few recent pictures and a few pictures to show how she ALWAYS has something in her hand(s).

Dinner time! The first time she did this.

 Cheese!

 This was a new remote control dino she got from Grandmom from FL.

 She also got some V-Tech Go-Go Animals. The farm, the zoo, and she was given the airport and garage. All the girls love playing with these. They can all connect. Not sure who likes them more...(it may be ME!) Haha

Here we go.
Combs

 Kitchen spoon and alligator

 Hair clips

Brush and fork

 more hair clips

 Brush and measuring spoon.

 Brush and mirror

All these things are common for her to hold. She also holds tampons, cotton balls, little dolls and figurines. She is too cute!

The 1st birthday party!

What fun this was!
Myranda came down early with Mom-Mom to play with the girls.

 Here's the birthday girl!

 Showing off her shoes! It's really hard to keep anything on her feet.

 The girls are ready for the party!

 The cake! Alexi's teacher made the cake. It was amazing! Not only did it look this gorgeous, but it tasted fantastic too!

 The favors. Chocolate covered pretzels and then wrapped with live greens.

 Outfit #2, cake time!

 Mom-Mom, Aunt Carol and Aunt Debbie

 The Harpers

 Uncle Bob

 Grand Dad

 The Walsh's

 The cousins

 more cousins

 Aunt Brooke and Aunt Susanna

 Avery having cake with her good friend Shannon.

 It just so happens that Heather and Frank were wearing exactly what me and Ben were wearing! Too funny. (Notice outfit #3 for Ariana!)

Thank you to everyone who was able to come for drinks, dinner and celebrating Ariana's birthday. I hope everyone enjoyed their time as much as we did. It's so special to be surrounded by tons of love from family and friends!