Well it has been quite some time since my last post. The holidays were lovely...full of family and friends. We were blessed to get to have both of the girls for Thanksgiving and Christmas! For Thanksgiving we went downstate to spend the holiday with Grandma Shirley and Papa. It was a short trip but I am so grateful that we went...just a few weeks later Grandma Shirley had a massive stroke. She survived with surgery and is making lots of progress in therapy. Slow, but progress none the less. We are grateful to God that she is alive and doing as well as she is! Jacob flew in from Korea to spend some time with her. I didn't get to see him but my Dad did and he seemed to be doing well. We don't get to hear from him much.
December passed and January came, a month of many birthdays in our families...including Maddy's! She turned four! For her birthday we went over to Dave's Grandparents house and had a very small get together with his parents. For her present from us she got a Leappad that teaches how to write letters and she got to have her ears pierced! She had been asking to have them done for several months...was very excited by the prospect...not so happy about the process...but was pleased with the end results! She looks super cute and maybe a little too grown up. She certainly isn't a little baby anymore.
Both Hannah and Madalynn have been doing excellent in school! It is incredible to watch Maddy's developement both socially and cognitively. She is very bright and a quick learner. Hannah is VERY SMART! She tends to get distracted easily but we have been told by her teacher that she is without a doubt the smartest kid in the class. In first grade she is already reading at least at a fourth grade reading level...she comprehends the material too. She is just like a sponge when it comes to learning new things. She loves to be challenged! She will ask us to give her random words so she can try to spell them. When she comes home with math homework we sometimes challenge her with problems that are just past what she is learning, and once she catches on, which usually doesn't take long, she can't get enough! We are very proud of her! Dave and I have been busy working. For the most part our schedules are pretty compatible. I am still working midnights which allows me to be with Maddy during the day and to get her on and off the bus on school days. Besides working Dave has also continued to be involved with Ford River Fire Department as a volunteer. He was able to participate in a training where they did a controlled burn on a house that had been donated to the department. The girls and I were among the onlookers and while it was very cool to watch it was very sobering as well. A profound reminder of the dangers of fire.
Spring crept in at the end of February, but has been playing peek-a-boo since then. Now that it is the middle of May there has been a bit more consistency, but we did get snow last week. Crazy. One huge benefit to the snow melting so early is that the bikes were able to come out! Maddy had an old one that she had outgrown and Hannah didn't have one at our house...so guess what they got for Easter...yep, new bikes! Hannah was just a little too tall for the largest one they had with training wheels, so we decided, along with Hannah, that it was time for her to learn how to ride a two wheeler. The first lesson was just me and the girls. I felt very ill-equipped to teach her and at one point it was very frustrating for both of us, but wouldn't you know, in less than 45 minutes that very determined girl learned how to ride all by herself! Dave was present for the next lesson, in which she mastered starting and stopping on her own. Now, after only two hours worth of lessons she is riding like a pro!
I will have to go through quite a few photos to pick some to post, so they will be my next post. Also coming up (hopefully) will be posts of our new garden (still in the works) and sunny day activities!
