Ten-to-Ten

Our family doesn't do sleepovers, but we all agreed that ten years old is a milestone birthday to celebrate. So we created a 10 am to 10 pm birthday party for Mali this year. Her friends came over after church to hang out and prep for the rest of the day. We then headed to a gymnastics studio for the main event  (we had won a party from there at a charity auction with Jonathan's work) and a quick lunch. So much fun! The studio had a party limit of 16 guests so the younger girls each brought a friend along too. (Thanks to Grandma Sandy and Grandpa for watching the twins during their naptime!) All the girls loved it. We used up any remaining energy they had with a trip to the Tosa Pool that even the twins got to enjoy.  The birthday girl had requested a baked potato bar for dinner that night after that as well as Italian Ice for her treat. The big girls all collapsed in front of a movie until the 10 pm pick-up time arrived. It was a busy but sweet and fun day for our girl. She is SUCH a celebrating-personality that it was great to watch her plans all fall into place. And someday soon we hope to listen to her play her new guitar!

Ten!

Our own Amalia June Ward is ten years old! How is that even possible? That sweet seven-pound, ten-ounce girl that we met a decade ago is well on her way to grown up. She is a blessing and a delight to all of us, with an individual personality of her own. This year was her first chance to play on the school basketball and volleyball teams and she loved everything about the experiences. She has yet to score any points, but leads her teams in hustle and positive attitude. She's still a die-hard Pittsburgh sports fan and is now allowed to stay up late to watch any games with her daddy. She's a strong swimmer and hasn't met a water slide she doesn't like. But she has absolutely no use for running for fun, as much as her mama would like her to. She has a big heart and is excellent around her babies, and hates missing them. She dreams of being a home ec teacher or pastry chef or dress designer someday but we hope she uses her God-given gift of planning activities in some manner. Mal-Doll, we love you so very much. Thanks for teaching us how to be parents and loving others with your gift of time. You are such a gift to us!

40!

Happy 40th Anniversary to my mom and dad. I am abundantly blessed to be their daughter. What a lovely example they are of love and dedication!

(Here's a few shots of our celebratory family dinner)

Last Days of School

I cannot believe that we now have kiddos in 5th, 4th, 2nd, and PK4! The big girls all wrapped up their school year last week with a beautiful closing Chapel service. At the end of the service, each grade is called up by their teacher to receive their report cards and individual awards were also given. Carrigan received a ribbon for breaking the 1st grade record in the 400-meter at Track and Field Day. Brinnly received her class's prize for highest number of AR points. Mali missed that award by a few last-minute points to one of her good friends, but blew away her own goal for AR. I'm proud of them all for their effort this year.

We celebrated with an afternoon trip the pool and enjoyed hot sun, warm water, icy root beer, and carmel brownie ice cream. The babies played along sometimes in the water, sometimes in the sand nearby and even snoozed in the stroller. We look forward to more days like this!

Quick Updates

The twins are 14 months old today! They have both been walking, running, climbing, teething, and demonstrating their distinct personalities every day. It has been a busy start to spring for us, but it has been filled with things we love and celebrations for people we love even more. Happy birthday to Jonathan/Daddy, the leader of our gang and Happy Mother's Day to grandmothers, great-grandmother, aunts, great-aunts, great-great aunt, and godmothers that add so much to our family. We are blessed by you all.

And--here's a short update on each of our kiddos, just since it's been awhile.

Amalia is wrapping up fourth grade and is super-excited to start middle school next year. She misses the excitement of fall and winter sports, so she had the idea for the older girls to start swim lessons through our rec program this year.  She passed a new level in it this year and continues to work on the crawl stroke. SHe also discovered Pinterest (!) so plans for her daddy's birthday, party desserts, 10th birthday parties, and hairstyles have been now taken to a whole new level.

Brinnly just loves third grade and is usually found with her nose in a book. She has finished all of the Harry Potter series and is starting on the Percy Jackson ones. She's also been working hard on her piano lessons and learning some good songs. She's excited to bake more this summer and to sleep in.  Then read some more.

Carrigan is doing great in first grade and recently had a compliment from her teacher about how she has really worked on slowing down, double-checking her work, and her grades reflect that. She is the one most excited about our new garden and worked really hard at planting it. It's hardly spring-like weather here on a regular basis, so she still insists on wearing corduroy pants every day to school. She has been a terrific roommate to the babies and they love greeting her every morning.

Delaney has been busy in preschool with a field trip to a nature center AND watching baby duck eggs hatch. At our Mother's Day Tea there we were able to hold each of the eight baby ducklings and delight over them. Delaney's swim lessons are Parent/Child so she and her daddy have a date there each Tuesday night. She still loves riding her bike and teaching the babies how to play on the swingset.

Everly survived the first round of teething, but it was rough on her. She learned how to walk several weeks ago at my Moms' Group, but then didn't do it again for at least 10 days. When she did do it, she really appreciated people clapping for her and quickly learned it was the most efficient way to steal toys from her brother. (Too hard to crawl away with the desired toy in hand). Her words are coming quickly now and we just love her sweet voice. She's quite the fashionista and loves choosing pretty things out of her draw for us to put on her and admire. She's also drawn to baby dolls and likes to make sure they are properly taken care of

Grant learned to walk at the exact same time as his twin and we are amazed with how quickly they kept up with each other. It is so fun to see them toddle around!  His jackpot moment was when he sneaked an Oreo from the panty and walked to the living room window to watch the construction vehicles working on our neighbor's garage. He loves the outdoors and could spend all day with a ball in his hand. He loves typical boy things like buttons that make noise, tools, and his grandma's vacuum. It is so fun to see the world through our little dude's eyes!

Swingset!

The twins would like to say thank you to everyone for their birthday gift of a new swing set.  It is getting lots and lots and lots of use!

Easter Joys (Better Late than Never)

 It was a month ago already but we had a most joyous Easter weekend. We had celebratory birthday meals for both Grandpa Gregg (breakfast at Joe's) and Grandma Deni (pizza at Silver Beach). Egg coloring was fun as always and the weather was absolutely perfect. Then Easter Sunday was filled with church, delicious food, Easter Egg hunts, and baskets. Oh, and marshmallow gun wars. I used Pinterest of all things (!) to plan a color-coded Easter Egg hunt including eggs filled with coupons for things like "pick your favorite dinner" and "get out of one chore". I had also sneaked into the the school book fair the week before and bought a few basket treats. The girls were also super excited for new spring shirts in their baskets and then new flip-flops as well as handmade towels from Grandma Deni.

Of course, all of these gifts were lovely reminders of the gift Jesus gave for us in his resurrection on the first Easter Sunday. To quote the beautiful hymn--"Death, Where is Thy Sting?" We are blessed as always to celebrate this holiday with family.