Come One, Come All

William was in a bit of a practicing slump (and so was I!) back in May. He was trying to master his "Twinkles" before he could move on and it was BoRInG to practice the same thing every day. I asked his teacher for suggestions on making it more interesting. She suggested a recital for stuffed animals. I ran the idea passed him and he loved it. Of course, being the boy that he is, stuffed animals were not the right choice. When I joined him in the living room for our "recital" the audience was ready to go.

 What do you know, all his very best buds came to listen to him play.

I have never seen him play more willingly or more excitedly than he did that day for his Transformers. 

Love my boy and his toys. 

Transitions

Sleep is hit and miss with Samuel. Sleep for him and, consequently, sleep for me. He's better than Anne was, but not as good as Marie. He and William share the middle together.

One thing we quickly realized with him was that he is a stomach sleeper. Hands down. On his back he will sleep in only 30 minute increments and if he is laid down and not completely asleep he cries and cries and cries. So I had to rock him to sleep and that would often take as long as his nap would last. On his stomach he practically sleeps through the night and takes much longer naps. No more silly 30 minute snoozes and if he does wake up mid nap he will generally fuss and cry for a minute or two and then go back to sleep.

Until last night when his little body figured out how to roll over. Three times he woke up and cried and when I checked on him he was on his back and fit to be tied. I rolled him back over and he went to sleep.

Still only one wake up to eat. Three to be rolled over.

Transitions. Ugh.

{yawn}

Marie-esque

She bore her testimony this past Sunday and declared that she knows that those who know her love her. I giggled and didn't think much more of it.

And then ....

She often bears her testimony and I have never had more people tell me how touched they were by her testimony, that line specifically.

Achievements

The end of May brought a very busy day. Haha, that rhymes .... and I'm a nerd. 

The afternoon of the 31st, William graduated from Kindergarten and later that night Marie had her Spring dance recital. It was a wonderfully fantastic day.

 Each of the students in William's class had the opportunity to share a talent. Although William thought it a better idea to build a lego creation or ride his scooter around the room, I somehow convinced him that playing his violin would be fantastic. I don't regret that decision one bit. He has yet to perform as well as he can practice, but just getting up there and doing it is HUGE! I am so proud of my little violinist. Honestly, I can't say enough about how grateful I am to have the means to provide this experience for both him and me.

 We sure are going to miss William's teacher. I couldn't have asked for anybody better than her. She is energetic, loving, engaging, silly, and it is obvious that she loves her job. She is exactly what a kindergarten teacher should be and filled William with a love of learning.

And with that his first year in public school is complete.

After picking up Anne from Jill's house where she was napping we went home to get Marie ready, made a stop at Olive Garden for dinner, and then we were off to her recital.

 Marie lives to dance. The decision to put her in dance was not as calculated as putting William in violin.

 Mostly, we registered her because we wanted something social for her to do. I had no idea that we were opening a world of magic for our little girl. She counted down to "dance day" all week long. She would wake up in the morning and get right into her dance clothes. First, because she just loves dancing.

 Second, because she had such a kind and loving teacher. Miss Dede's goal was to teach the kids to love dance and she did just that.

Third, Marie was able to dance with her bosom friend, Ari. Many days, Marie would play at Ari's for the rest of the day after dance which was the cherry on top of an already fabulous day.

I'm proud of my two oldest and look forward to years of events like these. Go William and Marie!