First day of School!!!

September 19th - Charlie, Eleanore and Claire started school at The Oaks! 

Charlie - 2nd grade - Mrs. Woodruff and Mrs. Jones

Eleanore & Claire  - Kindergarten - Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Kind

it was quite the change having alarms going off at 6:30AM versus summer mornings of sleeping in. So our smiles were a bit crazy. Also - Bill had to leave early for a special case so wasn't around at all in the morning. 

Ellie - Charlie - Claire

probably the best we were going to get. 

E&C hanging up their backpacks!

 I just LOVE this picture! So thankful for these girls! 

Claire - Ellie - Brynn (basically triplets!) - all sitting together. So sweet to see the relationships developing between these girls. 

Charlie at his desk! 

Love this picture too. Love Charlie and it is a delight to watch him thrive at school. 

The kids had a great first day. The girls were walking zombies when I picked them up, but they all did a great job. So proud of them! 

Ellie and Claire Graduate from Preschool

Eleanore and Claire finished their last week at Ms Mary's Preschool (couple of weeks ago) - the classes (morning and afternoon) prepare a play and some songs for the parents so Ms Mary's driveway was PACKED that night. 

Charlie was happy to have Andrew there to hang out with.

People get there early to set up viewing spots. 

The line up - Claire and Ellie are on the right. Claire was wearing the buffalo print dress and Ellie was in the peach and white striped. They were instructed to wear "plain" looking outfits for their roles as Narrators in Jack and the Beanstalk. 

During  this song they had these little bird noses on and of course Claire had to be funny and she was blowing hers up during the song. 

Chicken dance!!

Claire loved the booty shaking part and continued to booty shake at any opportunity throughout the play. 

The Jack and the Beanstalk Play! 

Claire - Ellie knew most of their lines, but Ms Mary would help them out when they needed it. 

 Claire

stepping out and bowing 

 so cute!

the line up. 

the preschool graduates singing their "we're moving up to Kindergarten" song. It is so cute!

Charlie - being so used to participating in things was instantly singing along and doing the motions. 

Love this picture with their beloved Ms Mary. E&C just adore her. Ms Mary was a fabulous preschool teacher. 

 

Monday of this week - we had Ms Mary's Graduation Lunch. 

Mary does a great job letting the kids be big. They sit at the big table with big plates, etc. She had little crackers set out for them to snack on. 

Before this we had had swimming lessons so the girls were tired! Notice she has little bracelets with their names on them on their plates. 

Ms Mary and her graduates! 

top row: Luke, Maggie, Claire, Anslie, Evin, Jack-Henry, Blaze, Ellie and Claire Y. 

 not wanting to let go. 

I am beyond excited about all my kids being at the same place next year so I am not really that sad about leaving preschool. I should probably be more nostalgic about it. I am more excited about having the kids be together at recess, one drive to and from, more than 1 hour free, etc. It has been a great place for the girls to be and I am thankful for the many friends we have met through being here.  

things about Ellie & Claire at 5...

Some things we want to remember about Eleanore and Claire at age 5.

Claire:

• is incredibly funny. Being funny is in her genes. She will make a goofy remark and it is usually hilarious (where in comparison - charlie or ellie's might be borderline little kidish - claire's usually hits the mark). Just tonight we were having a random dance party on our deck and Claire was getting jiggy with it and had some amazing dance moves. It has Bill and me in stitches. I think this trait will be both fun and terrifying as she grows older. 
• changes her clothes MANY times a day! no words on how i feel about this. she does help me clean up and put her clean clothes away so for the most part it isn't horrible. I just do about 1-2 loads of laundry a day and I'm all good. 
• speaking of clothes - she mixes and matches the most random patterns. in her world - patterns match (typically 3-4 different patterns within 1 outfit). it creates some really interesting outfits. 
• she loves shoes - pretty shoes. she has no interest in wearing reasonable shoes like keens, winter boots, etc. she almost ALWAYS wears her Cinderella glass slipper high heels. so much in fact that they were almost dark (they are normally see-through). So I just purchased another pair in the next size. She grabs on to a pair of shoes and will wear them until there are holes in the front of them. then she continues to wear them. she did this with a pair of gold ballet flats last year and this year it is a black patent pair of ballet flats. 
• she still loves to draw, color, cut, tape, staple, you name it. there are so many pieces of paper throughout my house - little notes the girls leave me (and bill and any guest - so be prepared to bring home a ream full of notes if you come visit). 
• we recently watched a movie called Hatchi about a really loyal dog. While everyone else was crying and touched - Claire and Bill weren't the least bit emotionally effected. 
• Loves bugs! 

Ellie:

• during Hatchi (the movie I mentioned above) - Ellie was very sad. She loves animals and seems very sensitive towards them. She loves sitting with lily and just petting her head. 
• She still has some pretty cute word mashups/mixups. She sais I amin't instead of I am not. 
• She also continues to put her shoes on the wrong feet most of the time. and she will grab 2 different shoes just because. Not always, but she just grabs what is easiest and then puts them on. 
• Ellie is really good at putting together cute outfits. She will come down in stylish combos - doesn't mix as many patterns as Claire. 
• Recently the girls started joining us in adult church since they graduated out of the nursery program. So they join us for the majority of the worship and prayer and then leave for children's church with Charlie for the sermon and then return. We have been shocked at Ellie's dedication during the church service. She loves to be independent and follow along with her little pointer finger pointing to the songs and parts of the program (even though she is usually on the wrong line). She recently saw communion being taken and when she got home she really wanted to know how she could take the samples. ha! (we are talking with her about it, but calling communion - samples shows she is not ready).
• Also loves to color, cut, tape, etc. she will spend lots of time writing notes and delivering them to me. love it.

Claire happy with her new bike!

Charlie and Claire.

Whenever the girls and I get back from the library with a stack of books - they will read together forever. Love it! 

One morning - Claire delivered to me the drawing on the left. She specifically said "Mom, this is you as an egg!". She was thrilled. 

Same with Ellie  - she delivered me the picture on the right. I am wearing a crown in each photo and have long eyelashes. Loved them both so much I framed them! 

these two are so kind to each other (most of the time). Claire was cold waiting for preschool one morning and so Ellie was warming her up.

then I stepped in to warm them both up and a grandma snapped this photo of us. Love these girls and the extra time I get to spend with them. 

another gorgeous photo! love all the crowns. 

Overall the girls have so many similarities and interests that I won't list them all. They love their "barbies" (aka - American girl dolls) and magic clip dolls and really anything they can jump into their own world with. Their imagination is incredible. They love to play "talking chess" where they set the chess game up and then start "talking" with the chess pieces as if they were people. It is amazing and hilarious. They will craft and color and play games for hours together without any intervention from me. When they are fighting, I just often tell them they can sort it out or I can have them play independently and after a bit more discussion they work it out. So thankful for these 2 girls! 

They love clothes and pretty things. Shopping is fun for them (not for me!) so I usually just order things or pick them up when they are not with me. 

The other night they decided to wrap up their bedtime routine with a little american girl doll chair reading time. of course they stacked their chairs on top of stools, but seeing them so snug together made me smile. 

Ellie is in the pink. Claire is the sock/eskimo slipper combo. 

What a miracle these two are and we are so thankful to watch them grow up! I have to say it makes me jealous for a twin! Love you Ellie and Love you Claire! 

March 23, 2016 - 5 year olds!

March 23, 2016 we celebrated Eleanore and Claire! 

I quickly abandoned the task of making each of them a cake when I realized for $8.99 and NO time from me I could pick them up from the grocery store. I would have prefered them to be different (as I had instructed), but the girls loved them and didn't even notice because I added different dolls on it. 

this writing from Claire made me smile. Love the t's all over the place. 

the new bikes that we had ordered didn't arrive in time for their birthdays (which they said they would!), but honestly E&C are so easy going and happy. They were delighted with the package Bubba & Pappy sent with some clothes and Nana & G pops sent with singing birthday cards and a real check. 

The singing birthday cards were SUCH a hit and made me want to make sure I get every 5 year old girl a card like that. I also wanted to send them immediately back to my mom and dad because we heard the song on repeat throughout dinner!

Claire opening - with Charlie's help

she was in love!

Ellie's turn. she is so kind and lets claire go first a lot. 

happy hers sings as well. 

we also gave the girls water colors and paint brushes and more markers. they play with things like this constantly!

bill singing along with the song. send help quickly. 

I made my homemade mac n cheese for their dinner and they gobbled it up! 

our awesome clan. Love these people 

more card songs

singing to claire.

singing to ellie

love her excitement!

We love these two and can't imagine life without them. I am looking forward to their bikes arriving - they are all pink so they are probably going to go crazy!

This is my real gift - allowing paper and water colors to be EVERYWHERE! It causes my blood pressure to rise, but they love creating so I allow it and also allow my floor to be full of dirt, markers, paper scraps, you name it.