Idlewild Birthday!

Let's not address how woefully behind I am in posting.  But before even more fun things happen around here, I need to post the pictures of how we celebrated Brinn turning five.  Instead of a big party, we took a family trip to Idlewild Park with our friends the Bindenwalds.  Love, love, loved it.  The weather was perfect (early September is ideal for amusement parks) and the park provided fantastic rides on picturesque grounds.  Carrigan especially loved the fast rides and could barely wait to get off of one (i.e. the roller coaster) before planning her next venture.  I think we'll be hitting this place again.  It was a special day for a special girl. 

Nine months old!

We are totally claiming that she said her first real word on her nine-month birthday on top of her regularly scheduled cuteness.  She had been saying "mamamama" and "dadadaa" sounds often, but on her first morning of being nine months old, she reached for her daddy's arms and said "Daddy".  We're sure that's exactly what she meant.  (Have you ever known a Ward girl to be uncertain of her wishes?)  Precious.  She has started to be more of a Daddy's girl sometimes and hates when he leaves for work or meetings.  Her favorite thing in the world right now is Italian food and she has a strong dislike for safety gates.  She would really, really, like to play with all the tempting things in the bathroom, but her mean parents don't let her. We doubt she'll be crawling too much longer since her eyes are on the vertical prize that is walking.  Just has to keep up with her sisters.

Birthday Girl

 Our five year old had a pretty good day for a Tuesday birthday this year.  It was a school day, so that's always a winner for her.  We started the morning with chocolate chip oatmeal muffins, by her request. and she opened a few gifts.  Multi-colored headbands were a hit, as were the purple clothes and accessories.  (Thanks, Deb!!!).  She was "Star Student" all week at school so she was able to bring in some special toys in the "Star Bag" to present to her class.  Her baby doll made the cut for that day.  Carrigan had school, so Delaney and I showed up at Brinnly's snack time in the cafeteria with donut holes.  It was a pleasant opportunity to watch her interact with her new friends.  There are three "Isabellas" in her class!  It's a sweet group in there and donut holes always add some extra smiles. We saw this first grade cutie at her snack table and couldn't resist giving her a donut hole too:

After some Happy Birthday Skyping, we enjoyed macaroni & cheese and egg roles for dinner.  Brinnly's request, again.  Tomorrow we are off to Idlewild to celebrate the day away!

Five

Five years ago today, we met our family's first "little sister". Brinnly Ruth Ward.  And what a delight she was--especially after a extra-long labor and a worrisome delivery.  She was 7 lbs, 1 oz of sweetness and even though we were exhausted (we did have a one-year-old Amalia to care for too!) we knew she was a special one.

Brinnly quickly gained a reputation as the high-maintenance one in our family. She liked to be held, refused bottles, and established strong food preferences early on.  But one bat of those eyelashes and we were all suckers for her.  She could snuggle up to her parents in an extra-special way. 

Somehow, along the way, she's lost most of those high-maintenance ways.  She's lately as independent as they come.  Dresses herself in the morning, preps for bed without prompting, etc.  She marched off to Kindergarten at age 4 3/4 and loves every second of it.  Her sisters are always eager to choose her to sit by them, or play pretend, or any number of games.   Delaney, especially, appreciates her tenderness.  I hope to always remember Brinnly singing to newborn Laney after one of her first baths:  "Rub, rub, rub a dub, two bears in a tub.  Mama and her baby cub, singing rub a dub". I have visions of Brinnly being a loving Mama to her baby cubs someday.

She's still our sensitive one.  She's aware of the needs of others and can show of a good display of stubbornness with a side of foot stomping for her self on occasion.  She gives affection freely and fiercely.  We love the notes and pictures she makes for us and her willingness to share--even from her piggy bank. Music is big to her.  She loves dancing and singing and hopes to play the flute and organ someday.  In addition to her gymnastics and ballet careers.

Brinn loves the color purple, good books, princesses, and fancy shoes. She's barely surviving the school's new uniform dress code which limits her ability to add as much flair to an outfit as possible. She still won't touch fruit in most forms but has added shrimp and sushi to her list of favorites.  Although she'd probably eat a bowl of cereal for every meal if she could.  With chocolate anything for dessert.

Brinner-Bugs, you make our world such a sweeter place.  We are glad to have you in our family to learn how to love even more.  Thanks for filling our arms with hugs and our faces with smiles.  We look forward to watching you grow and flourish even more in the year ahead.  Purple suede boots and all.

Homework Club

 Brinnly was overjoyed to bring home her first homework assignment today.  Mali had homework most days last week: usually one sheet of phonics and one of math.  Brinn was itching to feel as grown-up as that.  Thankfully, they are both still in the stage where they enjoy it and don't complain (much).  Homework at this stage is fairly labor-intensive for parents since there are always directions to be read and instructions to be explained. so I am glad the girls don't usually put up a fuss.  It's a good chance for me to see their academic progress.  After a few adjustments, I think we've got the afternoon routine of snack-homework-clean-TV-dinner down pat.

  Laney is of course, always ready to help with any big-girl project.  Especially if it's at the table.  There's always a chance food may be involved and she wouldn't want to miss out.

Castle Blocks to finish out the Labor Day weekend

We did a lot of great things over the long weekend:  Wizard of Oz Exhibit at the Children's Museum, impromptu dinner with friends, meeting up to visit a new baby, and the Blackridge Pool Closing Party.  But the only one that was captured in pictures was how Mali & Carrigan chose to close out the weekend. They were so proud of this castle that they built with their daddy that they asked that I take picture of it on all sides.  (Brinnly & Laney were content to cuddle, read stores, and talk to Hata & Hoshish during the building process.)  Overall, we are declaring this holiday a winner.

Amalia J. Ward, Toothless Wonder

We thought we were winding down from two very exciting days yesterday.  By the time Mali's bus dropped her off in the afternoon, she was exhausted, famished, but still bubbling about everything to do with school.  Homework and dinner time were pretty high-maintence for all of the girls, so we started an early bedtime to coordinate with our weekly Skype date with their grandma & great-grandma.


Just when we had read, prayed, tucked, and kissed goodnight...Mali ran back into our room.  She was trying open something with her teeth (what that was, we still have no idea) and her loose tooth popped right out!  Honestly, we hadn't really believed her when she had mentioned it was loose.  We thought it was wishful thinking.  But, she proved us wrong once again.


It was great that she got to quickly Skype her grandmas again to so they could see her "after" smile and call her other grandma as well.  And she's pretty thrilled that the Tooth Fairy paid $5 (enough to buy a real treat) although she's been informed that subsequent losses will be at a lower rate.

Here's her picture this morning with Delaney.  As Mali put it, "We both have gums!"  (And for some reason, Delaney is wearing a reflective running bracelet)

First Day of School!

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The morning our girls have been waiting for!  They were ready on time, dressed in their new uniforms, and had time for a few before-bus pictures.  Brinnly's purple boots and red socks really made the outfit. Carrigan doesn't start until tomorrow but wore her backpack this morning anyway. 

The girls ran to the bus and climbed on together.  It was so precious to watch them sit together and know they they have a partner there in each other.  All of that hard work when they were babies/toddlers together?  Totally worth it for that moment.  According to the teachers, when they arrived at school, Mali dropped Brinn off in Kindergarten first, before heading to first grade.

Helicopter parent that I am, I then loaded up the little two and drove to school to make sure the bus had delivered them safely.  When I saw Brinn, she was hard at work playing play-doh with her "new best friend".  (She is one of the three "Isabella's" in the class, but Brinn doesn't know which one).  Brinn was positively beaming.

Next stop--first grade.  Amalia (as she has chosen to be called this year) was hard at work coloring an outer-space picture.  Outer space is the classroom decoration theme this year. Her teacher is from Michigan and loves science and baking.  Amalia is beyond thrilled with those facts.  She wants to get to school earlier tomorrow to organize her pencil box better.

All reports and the end of the day were good, although Amalia is not happy at all that school started today with only a half-day.  Now that she's in first grade, she plans on going to school every day, all day. I hope 3:05 tomorrow afternoon will be adequate for her.

We thought they would always stay that little

 Remember these little girls?                                                              

 Today they looked like this.

And then ran out to the school bus together and rode to their first day of school.

School doesn't start until tomorrow...

 So here are two quick shots from the weekend.  (Thanks to Kellie for knowing what buttons to push so my camera produces more than blurry streaks of light).  I love the shot above with a few of the Ward-Ryan clan playing in the "baby pool".  They were so, so busy in there!   And check out the one below--Carrigan is wearing a floatie back-back but Mali's on her own.  She has officially passed the deep-water swim test so she's allowed free reign in the big pool.  And tomorrow we'll kiss her good-bye and send her off to first grade. 

I hope Laney is okay being a Longhorn

Amalia has decided and announced that she will go directly from college to grad school.  Two reasons why:  she thinks it will be the best way to manage both of her career goals (fashion designer and chemist) and it will also mean that she can be on campus when Delaney starts her college freshman year.  I'm not sure which reason makes me prouder.

Eight Months Old

I am sorry to report that after two days of picture attempts with Pooh, this was the best we can come up with.  Eight month old Delaney has no interest in sitting still for anything these days and was much more interested in wrestling Pooh.  Or climbing the couch.  Or pulling her sisters' hair.  The list goes on.

Our sweetie keeps charming us although her mealtime demands are getting, well, demanding.  As soon as she sees that there are better offerings than cheerios or crackers, she gets a little frantic.  Something with red sauce is more to her liking, although meat and fruit are big winners too.  We can't believe how well she travels--even across states!  (Don't tell anyone, but the piece of orange licorice rope we slipped to her may have something to do with it.  Yes, she is clearly our fourth kid.  Mali would have been offered whole-wheat crackers and breast milk).  Her belly laughs are pretty contagious and she's especially cuddly early morning right when she wakes up, ready to play with her little Eeyore or a board book.  We love that little one--wildness and all.

Porch Painting!

We were so grateful to wrap up our summer traveling and host Grandma & Grandpa here for a few days  Not only did that give us a chance to unpack and attempt to get organized (school starts Monday!) but a huge home improvement project was finally tackled--the porch was painted!  Jonathan and Grandpa coordinated the efforts and had enthusiastic assistance from three verteran painters.  Delaney supplied the entertainment.  Well, actually she spent most of the weekend demanding more sloppy joes and pizza.