Anna is now an official full day kindergartner! Can't believe it really happened. She is such a sweet little girl and it's very hard right now not to have her home with me! She's been my constant companion for 5.5 years. I sure hope she enjoys being at school all day. The past month she's actually been slightly cranky with waking so early and frankly, we don't get to bed early enough for a five year old. She leads the life of more a 10 year old with late soccer practice and mutual and cub scouts and so on. But despite her crankiness, she is still a ray of sunshine and such a funny little person. She loves music and loves to play outside. She is a fabulous swimmer and will jump in no matter what the weather or pool temp. I have a love-hate relationship with all of Anna's little toys scattered throughout the house. In some ways, it's adorable to see what she's conjured up! In other ways, it's a mess I need to hound her to clean up or clean up myself. But the girl can PLAY. She loves being in her room quietly playing with her toys and it is just so much fun to listen to her imaginative play. Anna continues to be the biggest supporter ever of her siblings. She doesn't much care what's on the agenda-- as long as she can be with the family, she's good to go. She'll accompany Ev to theatre rehearsal, Dane and Grant to soccer games and Mom on errands and all in very good spirits. She is most excited when Nora and Millie come over to play and luckily, that happens quite a bit! We had a blast this month walking across the street to the Poway Performing Center of Arts to attend Seussical the Musical! Poway District was putting it on and Anna felt like a big kid walking over and watching the show. Such a fun night. She's growing so much!
Grant is having THE BEST YEAR ever. He is on to two new habits that make him quite happy. 1. he has a little shuffle that plays his favorite playlist at night and helps him fall asleep. He is religious about his music at this point and loves his nightly ritual. 2. He has an alarm that wakes him up every morning and he insists on getting up earlier than the rest of us and makes the lunches, gets ready and has cereal before I wake up. I mean..... so cute. He leaves me little notes constantly telling me he loves me. He never complains about soccer practice or homework or chores, he is helpful and happy and kind. He is truly blowing it out of the water this year! And he really is such a joy always. Cute at night that he'll share his listening device with Anna sometimes if she begs. They lay in bed together listening to their music. Grant has many friends on his soccer team and loves to spend time with them kicking the ball around, or searching for wildlife. His favorite little buddy's name is Grahm. They are quite the duo. Grant won the award for trustworthiness- bestowed by his teacher- for being a trustworthy kid. He was thrilled. But we had to keep it under wraps a little because just the day before, Dane had also won the award for his class- voted by the students- and he was so excited and proud, we didn't want to steal the thunder too much. But Grant was so mature about the whole scenario and that's why I adore this kid. He is something else and I can't wait to see what his life has in store for him!
Dane is loving school. He is such a good student, like I said, was voted most trustworthy by the entire class. He has made two fun friends at school who have invited him on playdates and many others from cubs and church who also enjoy getting together with him. He is confident and happy- although still very frightened at night. I'm sure the scream zone didn't help- ha! But he is doing very well in soccer and scored two hat tricks the past two games. Still adores spending time with his best buddy Braxton. If he has free-time, he'll be asking to play with Brax. It's just his all time favorite thing to do. Dane always helps me so much with Millie and Nora in the afternoons. He is such a great babysitter and friend to these girls and they adore him. He is often asking, "Mom, do you need help?" he loves to serve and make others happy. Worst day of the week is the end of Sunday when he knows school is approaching. I gave him this meme and he didn't laugh though I thought it hysterically funny. Dane is playing the violin in the orchestra and enjoying that very much. He is loving his new cub scout troop and primary class. I'm so proud of Dane for being such a great kid and working so hard in all that he does.
Speaking of working hard, Evelyn is working her buns off at musical theatre and at home with hours of homework. This year is NOT easy and we are exhausted with all the school work. I say "we" because I am helping her quite a bit, although truth be told, it is getting less and less as she becomes more and more responsible and conscientious of her school work. She is enjoying school-- she always gets up early and looks amazingly cute. Especially for picture day and head shot day! Ev is spending more time with friends. This month she went to LA for the Rosebowl with her friend Emma and then the Poway Farmer's Market with Reha. She is constantly being invited to all sorts of things but she is a little introverted and hanging out with buddies is not her favorite pastime. But I am happy to see her accept a few invitations here and there and put aside her school work and musical practices for time with friends. Proud of all that she accomplishes every week. And love our mornings in the car ride up to Escondido where we can chat and be together without the other kids.
