I guess I'll just title this one "Sophie"

Our little Sophie Rae is growing and communicating so well. She doesn't have many words, but she lets us know what she's thinking. Every night we read scriptures with the kids, sing a song and say a prayer. Sophie has the routine down. The kids have a couple of favorite songs, including "I Love to See the Temple," "Follow the Prophet," and "I Am a Child of God." When we sing "Follow the Prophet" everyone marches around to the beat and then at the end after singing "Follow the Prophet, He knows the way!" everyone shouts out "Yes he does!" It's very fun to watch Sophie jump down and march, then reach both of her hands in the air and shout "aah aah aah" in the same rhythm as the kids do their shout. When we sing "I love to see the temple" her eyes always brighten, she starts singing and leading the music, then she takes one of us by the hand and leads us to the picture of the temple where we can finish singing the song while she looks at the temple and smiles. When we sing "I am a child of God" she takes us by the hand and leads us to a picture of Jesus, where she will say "Jesus" and then blow him kisses. What a sweetheart. She has always been a singer, and can usually hit the notes pretty well. Now if we could just get her to use the words.

Sophie also loves school. She sits on my lap while we all do our French lesson and copies the words we say. Many of her French words are clearer than her English words. She's got the routine to preschool down, also. She chants in her language as the children do their counting. She stands with her hand on her heart as we do the pledge. I usually write the letter of the day on the kids hands to help them remember. Sophie loves to have her letters, too. One day, the letter was I. I wrote a big I and a little i on their hands. Several hours later, I was spelling a word for Anna that contained the letter I. Sophie heard us and ran over, pointing to her hand. I said, "Good job, Sophie. That's an I." Then she pointed to her other hand, and I had to acknowledge her success with that one as well. Then she pointed to her own eye, knowing that it also fit in with the subject. Once I had praised her for that, she was on her way again. I was very impressed that she would remember what letter was on her hand so many hours after preschool.

Sophie is also getting kind of fiesty. Ryan likes to tease girls. The girls in preschool egg him on by crying and running away from him. (We're working on getting along.) The other day I noticed that as Ryan was teasing, the preschool kids were hiding, Sophie came over and punched him. I guess she's not about to put up with any of that from him. We love our little Sophie.

That's my girl!

This morning was Anna's dance class. I usually stay to watch because it is far enough away to not be worth coming home. She has been doing better and better as she gets older. This morning, though, was a different story. Her teacher told all the students to find their spot for their dance. All the girls rushed to their spots. Anna rushed, weaving in and out of all the other students from one end of the room to the other until she got to her spot. And then she started again. Then she stayed on her spot, but was on the floor doing tricks instead of her dance. Her teacher if extremely patient and understanding. (She has a daughter with a very similar personality.) I usually sit back and let the teacher do her thing. But today I had to interfere (just a little) to correct Anna. Then, on the way home, I was talking to her about how she should behave in dance. She interrupted me and said, "When we get home can I go play with Jared?" Jared is her 2-year-old cousin. It might be an unusual pair to most, but to me-- I just say, "That's my girl!"

Planetarium

Well, I'm doing well so far to update more often. Here is post #2 since I made the goal.

We just got back from the Planetarium. We went for co-op with Lisa and Megan. It is a fascinating place, even if you don't see the movies. I was most impressed with Tyler. He and Sarah found a computerized test to take about the planets. I have to say, he knew most of the answers without any prompting. Like, "Which planet is tipped on its side?" Do you know the answer? I had learned it (even within the last couple of months) and forgotten. But he and Sarah knew that it is Uranus. We have been studying the Solar System as part of co-op this year. It always makes me feel good when I have evidence that they are actually learning something.

I guess one thing I'll have to get used to if I post more often, is that the posts will be shorter. It almost seems like a waste to just post this. But, here it goes. . .

It is time!

That is, I have some time. So I might as well get around to that update I promised you all. I think I'll skip over Christmas, since it was over a month ago. (Although I do have some cards to mail, still. Maybe I'll get that done today, too.) Suffice it to say that we had a good time, ate some good food, and spent time in good company. Now, on to January. The new year started off great! Josh and I went to Disneyland for our 10 year anniversary. We had so much fun! When our sister-in-law, Tarra, dropped us off at the park, she said we looked like two happy newlyweds, holding hands as we walked into the happiest place on earth. I used to get annoyed with that stereotype. I've never liked stereotypes, really, and this was no exception. But when she told us that, I couldn't help but be happy that I'm still as in love with Josh today as I was 10 years ago. Actually, even more so. Happy anniversary to us!

The rest of January was kind-of blah after that. The kids are up to their normal shenanigans. Sophie is walking everywhere and actually starting to get a little stubborn. She doesn't have very many words, but that doesn't stop her from communicating. She was even scolding me the other day for suggesting something she didn't want to do. She got her little finger in my face and told me how it was going to be. What a stinker! She's a cute little stinker, though.

Ryan is finally having some success with the potty. He also likes to argue with us. The other day, Josh told Emma that she had "made a good point." Ryan looked at Josh and said, "Actually, Dad, it's not a good point," and then went about his business. He sings (mostly songs about dinosaurs) and chases the preschool girls into corners, making them scream. He insists it's a game. They have told me they don't like the game. No more free time during preschool, I guess.

Anna is funny as ever. We told her many months ago that if she stopped sucking her thumb we would buy her a doll. With other things going on, that challenge was put on the back burner. She recently reminded us of this, however. We keep reminding her that she has to actually quit sucking her thumb, which she doesn't want to do. She told me, "Just buy me a doll anyway." Now, she's decided to use her own money to buy a doll. That's fine. But her idea is that she will get paid for not sucking her thumb, and every time she realized she's not sucking her thumb, she wants payment. Every 5 minutes or so she is back asking for more money.

Tyler loves to imagine things. He has whole movies he's planned. Or sometimes it's just scenarios involving himself or his friends. He has to imagine with something in his hands, and it has to wiggle (like a string, or a jump rope). In fact we bought him a slinky for Christmas so he could have something new to help him imagine. He's also really into Harry Potter and the Narnia series. We just finished The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and he loved it. Now he and Anna have a new game to play; what secret world they can find in their closets and what adventures await them.

Emma is clever and witty. Her latest love is to bake. She loves to try cookie and brownie recipes the most. She does an excellent job. After Josh cut his finger trying to get one of her brownies out of the pan, she said she doesn't dare to make brownies anymore. Hopefully she'll get over that if I promise her I will do all the cutting from now on. She's also an excellent reader. She's almost done with the final Harry Potter. She's read the entire series in 8 or 9 months. That's a lot of reading to do. (Of course I finished the whole series in less than 3 weeks. But that's all I did for those weeks. And I'm not really trying to compete with my 8-year-old. I'm just funny.)

Now, my goal is to update more often. My kids are really quite funny, but if I don't immediately write it down, I forget what they have said or done. We'll see if I can stick to it. But, that's all for now.