8!

I guess I'm just doing two posts a year at the moment, but they are for very important dates.  I've barely gotten used to Vivian being seven, and now she's turning eight!

She's definitely turned into a mega-bookworm; but has also enjoyed soccer this year and is currently playing basketball.  But I am most impressed with her flute-skills; both her ability to learn new stuff (probably because I know exactly how much more complex the pieces we are learning are) and her ability (and even desire) to go up on stage and play flute, preferably by herself.  She also got up in church the other day with a group of other girl scouts and answered some questions in front of the congregation about what they've been doing.  This from the girl that previously always turned to me and whispered "Mommy, you talk to them".

I have a feeling eight will be a lot of fun!

Previous years:  2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008

December 2014

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015

April 2015

May 2015

June 2015

July 2015

August 2015

September 2015

October 2015

November 2015

F I V E !!!

We interrupt our very irregularly scheduled posts with an important annual tradition.  Annelee is five today!  For the longest time, she has been telling people she is 4 1/2.  Then, last month, Will told her she was 4 11/12th.  So she started telling people that.  So cute.  The last couple of days, she's been telling us that she JUST. CAN. NOT. WAIT. until her birthday and was not happy that I told her she had to.

Yet another year of developmental leaps is behind our little girl.  Her language has exploded further, and she has started reciting "sight words" and loves to sit on the couch and "read".  Annelee is most definitely ready for kindergarten to start in the fall.  This time next year, I expect our entire family to be sitting around, each reading a book.  Annelee will remain at Creative Minds for the mornings (as will a bunch of her friends), and then go to KG in the afternoon.  I think this will be a wonderful arrangement for her.

Annelee has also joined the rest of the girls on Gypsy Lane in roaming from house to house to find someone to play with.  She loves riding her bike on the street, chasing the chickens around and dictating exactly who says and does what when playing with us.

Happy birthday, my sweet girl!

Here are the previous years:  Four, Three, Two, One

August 2014

September 2014

October 2014

November 2014

December 2014

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015

April 2015

May 2015

June 2015

July 2015

Murrells Inlet 2015

This year, Cousin Bill had invited us down to Murrells Inlet, just south of Myrtle Beach, to stay at his "Flip Flop Inn".  Of course, we said yes.

So, we set out for the airport one Friday morning, to catch the short flight down there.  4 hours of delay and next to no updates, the airline canceled the flight due to technical issues with the plane and told us to come back for an 8am flight the next morning.  How frustrating!!!!

Luckily, they did fix the plane, and shortly before lunch the next day, we were settled into the Flip Flop Inn.  Bill and Whitney had converted a two-car garage into the perfect little apartment.  We loved it.

We spent an absolutely lovely week.  We enjoyed the beach at Huntington Beach State Park (even in the pouring rain one time), visited Brookgreen Gardens, and spent some time on the Boardwalk in Myrtle Beach.

One of the highlights was Cousin Bill taking us out on his boat on a ride through the Saltmarsh and some time on a deserted beach.

We also met Will's half-brother Rick, had delicious food at various restaurants and spent many a lovely evening with Bill and Whitney, sitting outside chatting and having a drink.

We most definitely plan on taking Bill and Whitney up on their kind invitation to go back.

I did bring my camera, but didn't use it once.  Instead, I took a bunch of pictures with my phone.  So, if the quality of pictures isn't the best, that would be the reason why.

I'll try and get more photos up in the next couple of days.  In the meantime, here are some from the Marshwalk in Murrells Inlet one evening.

Breezy family photo

Big Fish

Impromptu Photo Shoot

The other day we finally had one of those rare sunny nice spring days and I decided to take the camera in the backyard and make the girls pose for me before "releasing" them to play.  They like the "make a silly face" shots too much at this point, sometimes, that's all I get; but this time, I got some nice ones thrown in, too.

All smiles.  Ironically, this is one of the first pictures I took, I could've quit right then and would've been happy with the results.

You can almost hear their giggles

And then I got them to pose again

It's hard to get Annelee to not have her head all the way to the side in a silly pose at the moment.  I'm pretty sure Vivian went through that phase as well.  This one's pretty good though.

I like that you can still see those gaps where she lost the baby teeth

Girl Scout & UU

Vivian and a few of her friends at church earned their "My promise, my faith" pin today which links the UU principles with the the girl scout promise.  They met three times to work through different tasks, cumulating in the artwork they are holding up here, and a presentation of the new pins during the service.  The background of the art is made up from quotes from famous Unitarian women.  Vivian had a lot of fun and learned quite a few things in the process, too.

Proudly posing with their artwork!

Preschool Holiday Party

We attended our last preschool holiday party this month.  As in previous years (Here is 2012, I don't think we were able to make it last year), Santa brought Mrs Claus with him to talk to the children and then the kids sang some songs.  It was the usual fun chaos!  Annelee was super excited about the singing, practicing incessantly at home beforehand.  The girl on her left in the video is her best friend Kelcie, by the way.

Merry Christmas & a wonderful 2015!

With Santa and Mrs Claus

Waiting to go up and sing

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer. Click here if you can't see the video below.

Gingerbread Houses 2014

Every year, there is an activity to build gingerbread houses in the advent calendar.  This year was no exception.  Just like all the other years, Rowan came over to build one, too.  This year, Annelee was my helper when I pre-assembled and "glued" the houses while Rowan and Vivian were at school.  She also opened up all the candy packages and put them on plates, ready to go.  The houses were decorated pretty much without my help (I did help Annelee with the icing a bit, but that was minimal).  What a change from previous years (here's the first time in 2010).  Apparently, I have been taking pictures, but not posting them in previous years (shocking, I know), so I'm adding the other ones to this post as well.

2014

2013

2012 - color-coordinated in purple

2011 - click for full post