April was a busy month!
Lily asked me to take these pictures of her making a funny face:
This isn't too far off from the face she makes when she's truly upset. If she's getting in trouble, she scrunches up her little nose and frowns while trying to fight back tears. It's so cute, it's hard to stay mad.
Jude and Cole started soccer last month and every Tuesday I take all the kids (and Bender) with me to soccer practice so they can play for an hour while Jude works with his team. Cole has finally perfected his swing! He was so, so proud the day he figured it out!
These girls love each other, but spent most of their time bickering. It's rare moments like this that let me catch a glimpse into the relationship I pray they have as they get older. I loved having sisters and as an adult value our relationship even more. I know that even with the inevitable fighting, these girls will have each others' backs, no matter what life throws at them.
Our sweet friends the Sawyers down the street remembered that Lily loves Peeps and left this in our mailbox for her one day. She was so excited!
Speaking of Lily, she is really blossoming into quite the young lady. She is articulate and sharp as a tack. Actually, George and I talk regularly about how smart she is and how she has the world figured out. She's taking an interest in art and loves to color and "write" words, although she still hasn't mastered the alphabet. She will be starting a preschool in the fall and I know she's going to LOVE it!
She is also our only child that LOVES vegetables. She will eat peppers like apples and cucumbers like it's a banana. She didn't even wait for me to peel this one before diving right in:
She is a stinker--feisty and full of it--and we love it. (When it's not driving us crazy.)
The girls and I did Ben and Jerry's free cone day while the boys were at school. It was a fun little outing with just Lily and Lexi.
Lance! This kid has been stressed with school and friends. Who knew 6th grade would be so emotionally challenging? He's had trouble with kids on the bus and I know he worries about his grades, although struggles to make the time necessary to do his work appropriately. I'm hopeful this will be a good learning experience for him and 7th grade will go more smoothly.
He spends most weekends with his Dad (3 out of 4) this year since he can't miss every other Friday of school like he used to in elementary school. We miss him and it's been rough being the "unfun" parent that makes him do his homework and drives him to scouts and makes sure he gets up in the morning and gets ready for school. He's also going to be gone to California for most of the summer--we really need some down-time with him. His current obsessions are Fortnight (a computer game that's extremely popular with the tween and teen crowd these days), and scrolling constantly through memes. I'm a little worried about how this is affecting his schooling and social life and we've had several long conversations about it. Parenting is hard--you never know if you're making the right decisions or how it will impact your kids' lives. It makes me appreciate my parents all the more!
