The Next Kiddodiddo

I'm happy to announce that kiddo number 5 is on the way! The due date is in May. We do plan to find out "what it is" (gender) in a couple of months. We're pretty excited!

No Particular Theme

Amelia loves doing preschool for Jonny and Simon. She subjects them to it as often as she can. Sometimes it's a cute coloring page, sometimes it intense grilling on which day of the week it is. The best part (for me) is when she sends home a note: Please talk to Simon about his behavior at school.

James has "football class" for his siblings in the afternoon. He teaches them plays and they kick the ball and pass it and run around some. The best part (for me) is watching them huddle to get directions from the coach. I'll have to take a picture of that sometime.

Amelia has several hard of hearing students in her class at school and there is an ASL interpreter who attends each day to translate. Some of the kids have sign names and I think Amelia's is really funny: it's a sign language "A" rapidly tapping on the side of the throat, to indicate the amount of noise she makes with her voice. The name was given to her by the deaf kids and I think it's quite descriptive.

Some of you have asked how the move went- so far so good! We really like the new house and the space. It seems that everyone is more relaxed, with room to do their own things. The after dinner wrestling matches/crazy time has all but disappeared. (no I did not organize or sponsor that special time of day- it just happened night after night after night.) The kiddodiddos love playing in the backyard and being able to go outside when they choose. The jacuzzi is a huge hit, especially for FHE. The new school is excellent and James and Amelia are making friends. (We all miss our old friends though- if only we could kick the colds so we could visit!) Now if only we could schedule a closing on the house...

We're Even!

Jonny's long anticapted birthday has finally come and gone. He has been looking forward to his birthday since March. Over the weekend, we celebrated the "big 4" with our special guy. I realized that I did not blog about one birthday this year, so I thought I try to find pictures and catch up.

Here is James turning 8! This is not the cake that SOMEONE licked the frosting off of... this is the replacement.

Here is Amelia so excited to blow out the candles. Isn't she cute? (age 6)
Here's Simon, with his fancy cake plate. I chose this picture because he was extremely worried about the candles on his cake and didn't look happy in the rest of the photos. (age 2)

And finally, here's Jonathan, wearing a Ninja Turtle mask, blowing out the candle on his cake. (age 4)

(and while I'm digging through old photos, this is the first day of school, from LAST YEAR! Notice the extremely short bangs- I forget which of my little hair dressers did that. We have a lot of happy memories of that school year. Hopefully this year will be just as good. Sorry no pictures. I forgot to take them.)