June Activities

Happy 4th of July everyone! Hope you had a great time yesterday. I know we did, but I'll save those details for another post (hopefully soon), as I am still trying to catch up on all our June activities!

First of all June saw my beautiful Emma complete 2nd grade! I still can't believe she'll be a third grader in a few short months.I love this snapshot because if you look closely, in the background it has the portrait of Emma as a toddler that my extremely talented sister-in-law, Marianne, drew for us a long time ago. Also, after at least 7 months without one of her front teeth, it finally cut! Now Emma has all 8 front adult teeth and can more fully enjoy apples and summertime corn-on-the-cob. :)

Isabelle graduated from her weekly speech therapy class, and officially no longer needs any speech therapy. Maya and Tristan also completed their year of preschool, which they had started in January. They participated in a musical completion ceremony which was very fun to watch, and on one of their last days, they got their faces painted.This paint came off really easily, but was not a pleasant experience as it was impossible to keep out of their eyes. I know it wouldn't have looked as cool if they hadn't painted right to the edge of their eyelids, but I think next year a few artistic sacrifices are in order to save parent-child relationships and maternal sanity. :)

A couple other exciting developments for Maya and Tristan:

• Two weeks ago Maya finally "got" colors and shapes. She has really struggled with conceptual learning, but lately it seems she has been relaxing more in our family life, and all of a sudden everything has started clicking! Her teachers are going to be so surprised! Now she goes around telling me the colors of everything. She is so proud of her new knowledge.
  
• The first Sunday in June was "Fast and Testimony" meeting at church. That is where everyone fasts from food for a special purpose of their own choosing and then during the church service anyone who wants to can go up to the pulpit and share their testimony of the gospel. We practice this occasionally at home during our weekly family night, but none of our kids have ever done it at church yet. Well on this Sunday, Tristan told me he wanted to share his testimony, so I walked him up in front of the whole congregation and he did it all by himself! He said, "I'd like to share my testimony. I know Jesus loves me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." He was so proud of himself too! I love that he is gaining so much more confidence.
• Both children can now say a prayer all by themselves!

All the kids also finished up a gymnastics class we had them in. I wasn't too impressed with the caliber of the program, but the kids loved it anyway!

I love this video of Maya!

Father's Day was a hectic, but good day, filled with lots of good food and special notes and cards for a very special Daddy. I don't know why we expect young kids to act super good on mother's day and father's day, but we do and we always seem surprised when they act like every other day. :)

I have to say that honestly I don't know any other man that is such a devoted, hard-working, patient, loving and selfless husband and father as my Jeffrey is. I keep telling our kids how lucky they are to have him! :) I know I am incredibly lucky too!
I also want to mention how grateful I am for my own father. I love what a resource he is to me, and how much he loves me. He knows Greek and Hebrew and used to be an instructor of religion. He can answer any gospel question I can think of. He is an awesome cook and has supplied me with a majority of my favorite recipes. He loves learning with a passion and attacks learning curves like they are molehills. He cares enough about me to call me regularly and even reads my blog! :) I love you Dad! Can't wait to see you next month!

When Isabelle was a baby I used to do a weekly playgroup with 3 other women and their kids. The other day we had a fun little mini-reunion. We had a great time and it was amazing to see how kids grow in a couple years!

Look closely and you will see a little bug crawling on Maya's arm. We have discovered that although this little sweetheart is absolutely and completely terrified of dogs, cats, birds, squirrels or any other animal, she is totally fine with picking up bugs and letting them crawl on her arm! The other kids watch on fascinated with such acts of bravery.
Some friends gave the girls these "Hannah Montana sunglasses," as Emma calls them, and they have inspired the girls to treat us to our own outdoor concerts.
The other activity that has filled our summer days is swimming at our neighborhood pool. All the kids adore the water and all four toddlers are starting to swim. It is amazing, especially to see Alex's tiny little body underwater, starting to swim to me all by himself. Emma continues to be a little dolphin, doing handstands and underwater somersaults, and retrieving diving rings from the bottom of the deep end.