No more training wheels

My little girls decided they wanted to be big girls! A couple of Sundays ago, the girls and I were outside while they were riding the gator. A group of older girls stopped and were riding scooters. They hung out with us for a while and after they left, Carly looked at me and said, "Mom, I'm ready to ride my bike without training wheels!" I told her ok and we went to the garage and removed them. I took her out to the side yard and she jumped on and took off. She was so proud of herself!! I knew it was time to take them off, I just wanted to do it on flat ground. But when I realized the ditch was pretty flat for riding, it worked out great! So it took her all of a few minutes to figure it out. Then Matt came home from Harper's soccer game and she got to show off her skills. I then had Matt take them to the nearby elementary school to let Chloe try it out. She was just as fast learning as Carly. Once I rounded up all the napping babies, I headed to the school and watched them do some laps in the parking lot. Now they love their bikes and that they are big girls! I love how they get their mind fixed on something and they will do it no matter what. It is just a matter of getting them convinced that they can do it!! Great job girls!

Zoo Trip

We took our zoo to the zoo a couple of weeks ago. It was Channing's first trip to the zoo and the first trip that Finley could enjoy. I was really excited to take Fifi because she loves animals. She absolutely loved the penguins. That is, after she figured out she wasn't going to go through the glass. I had to sit far away from the wall with her in my lap and inch close to the glass. Then I had to force her little hand onto the glass so she would realize that the penguins weren't coming out and she wasn't going in. Then she LOVED it!! She ran back and forth and banged on the glass yelling at the penguins. She talked about them the whole time!

The kangaroos were new and they just hopped around while you were in there. Tiredness was starting to set in along with hunger, so next time I will feed them prior to going in (my kids that is) and maybe there will be a little more excitement :) You can see Chloe with her clip board. This trip was a field trip for the girls. They were graphing and sorting the animals that we saw. It was a fun little activity for them!

And feeding the giraffes were a big highlight. Chloe was brave (Chloe is by far the most skiddish child we have) and she was having fun feeding the baby ones until a big giraffe stuck its head over the top of the rail and his snout was right in her face. It was absolutely hilarious to see the look on the girl's face as she dropped her lettuce. She tried to play it off, but she quickly came over to us and teared up a bit. She is so sensitive :)

And Finley took on the job as the gopher. She feed the giraffe a couple of times, but she wasn't liking it too much. So she decided to make friends with the man handing out the lettuce and she would just ever so cutely waltz over to him and get herself a big handful of lettuce. She was proud of her part in the fun!

I don't know why this picture is sideways, but I don't feel like dealing with it right now. I just had to post my favorite shot after any trip. The heads tilted and zonked out. They had so much fun and we had so much fun having some much needed family time.

I finally did it!

One thing that has been on my "bucket list" for a long time was to read the Bible from front to back. Well, it took me 3 years, but I finally did it! It took me way longer than I thought it would, but there are some books that were really hard to read, so I would get side tracked with a book and then get back to it. I really thought this would make me feel great to have read the entire Bible, but it actually made me feel even more inadequate (I guess that would be the word). That is the great thing about the Bible, you can read it over and over again and always learn something new. I don't think I will read it again from front to back, but I am excited to just dive into different books of the Bible and study them more. This is one amazing book!!

6 Months

Really?! 6 Months?! Do we really have to keep growing? Why do all my babies have to keep getting bigger? I want them to be little forever! I am hating seeing Channing grow because that means my baby isn't quite a baby anymore. 6 months is quite a big stepping stone in this house. She can do all sorts of things now. Above she is in her saucer. She really likes her jumper though, but I don't have a picture of her in it so this one will have to do.

She tried her first food - butternut squash. She really didn't care for it at all, but after a couple days, she figured out what the gooey mess was and likes it now.

She got to take a big girl bath. She really liked being able to sit up. I had to do this while Finley was busy or else Channing would have had a visitor!

This was Channing's last day in her brace! These obnoxious pinochio straps are finally gone! They really weren't that bad. She had one bad night the first night, but then she didn't care at all. She now has to wear one at night. It on the other had isn't too cute either, but just at night time isn't that bad.

She can also sit up! Ok - I need to go to bed and get out a box of Kleenex......this is getting too much for me!

3rd Floor

Here are the before shots of our 3rd floor - AKA the kid zone! It was quite a mess when we moved in back in May, but on the next post you will get to see what we have been doing the past 4 months!

This is the playroom - nice huh?!

The kids did manage to unpack some boxes so they could play!

The school room! Look at how well Harper unpacks boxes! A little too well!

Amazing Grace Academy

Amazing Grace Academy had its grand opening on September 7th! (Yes, you have to name your homeschool for the state). The girls were so ready to start 1st grade, and I was so ready to have some more structure to our days!

And we started off the year with our schultutes again. I think this is such a fun German tradition and I love seeing how excited the girls get when they get them! Now I do think that mine are larger than the ones in Germany usually get, but I just think they need big ones!!

And they decided a dunce hat would be another fun way to utilize them!

So happy to start!

Ok - I must say, I have the absolutely cutest class EVER!! Yes, Harper and Finley come to school too. I have projects for them to work on while I am busy with the girls. They do their work and then I send them to the playroom after awhile.

Where we do calendar time and group lessons.

This one got out of order, but there is also a full bathroom between the school room and the playroom. This is SOOO handy for when we do projects and paint things. This 3rd floor is fully equipped for our school days. The playroom is right there next to me, so I can keep an eye on the little ones and there is a door to the school room so we can close it when they get too loud!

Matt put up some shelves in the closet for me so all my school supplies are nice and organized! Me and my P-touch (label maker) had a lot of fun time in here together!

And this is the playroom that is right down the little hall from the school room. This is NOT what this room usually looks like!! Imagine lots of toys on the floor and that is a better depiction of what it looks like normally.

Play kitchen area. They love to play babies over here!

And what does a house with 4 girls need?! A STAGE!!! Oh yes, we have a stage! Carly and Chloe live on this thing. They love singing and dancing. We love watching all their shows. Live entertainment always in this house!

And here is the cast!

Happy Birthday Fifi!!!

August 29, 2011

Wow....... 2 years!!! What would my life be like the past 2 years without this hot little mess?!! Quiet probably! This child is amazing to say the least! She maybe 2 (but for a month before her birthday, if you asked her, she said she was 5), but she sure does have a strong personality! She is opinionated and very vocal about those opinions! She loves being a big girl like everyone else and pretty much won't let anyone slow her down. In the above picture, she is in curlers. Carly and Chloe wanted their hair curled. So did Finley. I told her she had to sleep with them in, and she didn't care. So I left one little piece out for hair twirling with her thumb, and yes, she slept in them all night! Just one example of her determination in life! I absolutely love this child. Her smile and her sweet voice is enough to just make you smile (and her famous scream can do just the opposite :) She is a fabulous child to say the least!

These are her favorite pair of dancing shoes. Courtesy of Build-A-Bear. She can run, climb, dance, you name it, in these shoes! She reminds me of Miss Piggy. If you have ever read the story Olivia - it was written about Finley! I think she wears herself out!

Finley had 2 birthday parties. 1 at our house with Kris, Gina, Connor, and Kaitlyn, since they were in town. She was happy with her cookie cake!

On the morning of her birthday, she picked out her breakfast.......grits! She even sang "Happy Birthday" to herself.

Thank night we had grandparents over and Aunt NiNi and she got another cake. She was really into blowing out the candles this year. Super cute with those fat cheeks!

She loved opening her presents. She made sure she thanked everyone and she even remembered who gave her each gift! It was a little party, but we were celebrating one wonderful birth! Finley Claire Riffle......we love you more than words can express. You add so much to our family! Happy Birthday Fifi!