Briella is 6

 Briella has been excited for first grade for weeks and even though it was early, she was happy to head off to school Tuesday morning.  She came home telling me that her teacher was a nice lady and she thinks first grade will be fun.  Oh and she only has one naughty boy in her class this year . . .

We celebrated her 6th birthday with G & G P in town :)  I think Briella enjoyed the extra attention and excitement on her birthday.  Here is her purple sprinkle cake.  (Two cakes in 8 days is a bit much, but I'm off until March!!)  She brought party popcorn (with almond bark and sprinkles on it) for a birthday treat, she said everyone said thank you and they liked it, except A(the naughty boy)...

It is hard to imagine we have a 6 year old now!!  She is so happy to be 6, to have her own Polly Pockets and a watch!!  Briella is a blessing to our family, a great big sister and helper.  She loves her family and friends and is very thoughtful at times.  She loves her dolls (and now Pollys) and enjoys pushing Asher around in a stroller outside.  We enjoy listening to her read, watching her grow in kindness and understanding of God and His creation.

Off to a slow start

After I typed the title I realize it could refer to many things . . . Asher finally walking at 17 months, me finally posting for a second time in 2013, the piles of snow finally filling up your yard.  So, here are a few things that have been happening around here in the past few weeks.

I made a cute owl taggie for my newest niece and decided her sister who loves purses should have an owl purse :) It was so fun to make these . . . love practicing on new projects!

 

Winter in Michigan has been slow to start.  We barely had a few inches even fall before Christmas and non of it stayed around  . . . and then a few weeks ago we started to have snow storms. a lot.  Last week Briella only had one day of school because Monday and Friday were snow days (she only goes Mon Wed Fri).  Gideon loves to be outside no matter the temperature and he can usually talk Briella into joining him.  Asher can't really get around much out there, so I brought some snow in for him to play with . . . he found it interested for a few minutes and then grunted towards the window wanting to be outside.  He has been out a few times since then, but he isn't always happy to be out in the snow either.

 

 I took some pictures of our backyard . . . those posts are 4x4s . . . see the snow piled up on them at least 8 inches high.  Also along the fence you can see it fell straight down and accumulated a few inches on the narrow fence rail.  The way the snow clung to the steps is odd and amazing?!?! Stephan built a fort with tunnels for the kids, it has recently doubled in size with all the snow this week.

 Occasionally we try to do some learning at home and after practicing some sight words and writing numbers Briella had to find the number of things I picked (13 blocks, 17 legos, 16 balls).

 

 Gideon had been tracing dotted lines and his name (never thought about how hard it might be to learn to write a 'G' right now we have slightly imperfect 6s).  Then he had to fill a bowl with objects of the color I told him.  They both thought this was tons of fun :)

 

A few funnies from our kiddos recently:

Back in December we took Briella and Gideon to a hockey game and while downtown looking for a parking spot Gideon calls out, "I see a lizzie-car!"  He was excited. I was confused.  Me: "Where Gideon?"  G: "On the road there"  Me: "What do you see?"  G: "a lizzie car!"  After searching I figured out what a lizzie car is . . . a limosine!

We often give the kids smarties in church and like I remember doing they arrange them on the Psalter into various shapes and patterns.  Last Sunday I made a "G" for Gideon and he ate a few and tried to shove them into some shape and then he said, "I made an underwear!"  (three across with two under them . . . I have to admit there was an undie resemblance)

Briella was watching me change my socks and shoes awhile back and asked me about my long toe.  I asked her what she was talking about and she clarified that my second toe was longer and 'different' (not the correct descending size).  I told her that I inherited a long second toe from my mother and that my father aggravated the situation by frequently pulling on it.  Briella remains confused about this situation.

Most of you already know that Briella attends Zion Christian School, and like most Christian schools they have an auction to raise money.  SO, the other day she was singing a song the Kindergarten class is learning . . . "Zion founded on the auction . . . "  I had to smile and ask her to repeat that again! (I'm sure the auction committee would be thrilled with a new ad campaign).  I am working on "mountain" with her now :) 

WOW: longest post ever?!?!  Have a great night!

Briella is 5

 Briella helped me pick out what cake she wanted and then we went shopping for jelly bellies (the most exciting part for me).  We had to do some research and ended up buying M&M's which were really fun to put on the cake, but melted into the frosting after a few hours?!?

Briella has been anticipating turning 5 for several months and keeps telling people "I'm 5 now!"  She was looking in the mirror that morning and said, "I don't look 5 Mom . . . maybe I'm still 4?!?"  She was measuring how much of her face she can see in the mirror, so I think she was planning to be a few inches taller when she woke up as a 5 year old.  Funny!

Five days later my sweet girl had her first day of school.  She was possibly more excited about this day than turning 5.  I was rushing around getting it all together and asked her to grab my shoes for me.  She brings them to me and says, "Here Mom, we are kind of late!"  It was at least 10 minutes before I had planned to leave.  She was literally bouncing around, giggling.  She jabbered all the way to school about how she loves to learn and her favorite thing about school is learning, not just playing and how God loves to see us learn about Him (all things we have been teaching her). And then we walked in the building and she froze. She clung to me and didn't want me to leave.  We walked around the classroom but I couldn't get her to walk far enough away from me to take a picture of her!  When the bell rang and the kids lined up to go to their classrooms, I gave her a hug and walked away.  When I peaked behind me she was holding her teacher's hand, no tears (big relief for me!).

 I am not sure who was more excited for 4:00, Gideon or myself.  We walked to the end of the street about 15 minutes early and here is our favorite Kindergartener getting off the bus :)

 

She looked SO tired, but was smiling and had lots of stories to tell.  Sounds like they had 2 birthday treats (including hers), she can't remember anyone's names, she got to rest on her new owl pillow (thanks Grandma B) right by the teacher's desk, she ate all of her lunch like I said, she didn't need to go to the bathroom, one boy had to sit by the teacher because he was getting a little wild even when she told him to stop (the teacher, not Briella . . . I think), she stood by the fence during recess because there were too many kids going all over, some boy brought her back to her classroom because PE was scary, and she was not naughty all day because her name stayed on green.  It was so fun to hear about her day and I am so thankful for a Christian school to send her to and I prayed for her, her teacher, her class, the school all day long as I thought about her and missed her :) 

PS: Uncle Nate, I am sure there are K's scared of you, right?!? A big guy in a big gym!  I told her she will be staying next week and it is not scary!!  Any tips??