2014 Recap: 3/3

Since I am a gluten for punishment, I didn't allow for a year off from dance recitals. We had our tenth year of spring recital; however, Naomi only performed one of the two days. I am an advocate for dance and gymnastics for young kids because of the confidence I have witnessed my girls gaining from the experience. There is a culture among the fine arts community that could be counterproductive to our firm foundation of modesty and humility; however, the developmental opportunities outweigh those concerns. Dance and gymnastics continues to help Naomi with her large motor skills, ability to follow directions and repeat movements, increased coordination, and rhythm which I believe of arithmetic nature and beneficial! This year now Lillie has joined a combination class as well.

This is not the best picture, but Libby and Reany with their small group friends put on an awesome dance for the school talent show. Click this for the song they did. Matthew West "Hello My Name Is." As a pulbic school mom, any chance we can shed light to the depressing social media and rave of degrading pop culture, the better!

Lillie has a beautiful sweetness to her, here with daddy guinea pig, Beaver.

These little guinea pig babies were pretty darn sweet. While we underestimated the level of independence Noah could assume for these caged rodents, they served as a great lesson. #1 Animals are work. #2 Kids typically do not like work. #3 Guinea pigs are fragile, friendly, and really cute. #4 Never again.

Whoop Whoop! Shout out to our favorite camp! We did our annual family camp weekend and it continues to be etched in stone that we will do that every year. The vacation of no meal prep never ceases to amaze me! Now I think there was another picture too, this whole recap a year at a time is not that great, reader beware these pics seem out of order and I am working on not being frustrated with it. It is the correct year, and for that I am happy about:)

Noah lost his first tooth, the first day of first grade! It was so exciting for him and he spent the last couple years waiting for this day to come! He has grown two new bottom teeth and while a baby tooth is still upfront he currently has the most adorable space waiting for his other front tooth. Lots of teething going on here with so many mouths!

We started going to some plays and have enjoyed that, this was one for the littles that we got to sport some fancy stockings. Lots of fun for everyone! Shrek was probably our favorite so far.

Noah made it to the state wrestling finals in Rochester, so we had a great time there last year.

Any chance we get to visit a fun playground we do, this was a fun piece they all could be on.

Thanks to my friend Angel had this great setup for her kiddos. I gladly steal good ideas! It seems to be the visual we were looking for! I am paying out not for the chores to be done, as a family is a team and my kids each have responsibilities that benefit our household. I pay out for their record keeping and for them to learn money management. If they do their lists completely they get $.75, partial .25, false recording nothing. The choice is theirs, but it does hold them more accountable to what their expectations are. We have included housekeeping, personal hygiene, academics and music. It is likely the craftiest thing I have done, so I am glad it seems to be holding out. As any behavior and or task list, the greatest responsibility is managing it, but it is there and we owe out a ton of money now too.

Libby and Reany joined volleyball this fall and were pretty good players too! They look forward to track and field this spring. I guess there will be another post yet to come. This last part has taken more time. As the baby got older it seems evident that I was more able to take pictures of our lives. There will be a 4/3- oops! Thank you for attending this regularly scheduled recap, to be continued.....