No competition

There's a boy down the road who plays with Janna sometimes. He's a year older and one grade ahead of her. While he's a nice boy; everything is a competition with him.

For example, 3rd 9 weeks report cards came home today. He says, "I made the A honor roll." I smiled at him and Janna said, "good for you." He then asked, "so what did Janna get?" I said she made the A honor roll also. He asked, "how about the other times?" I said, "she's been on the A honor roll all year." He exclaims, "Ha, I've been on the A and B honor roll." Janna just kept walking during all this oblivious to the competition.

I don't think Janna is even aware that he does it to her, she's not the type of person to care if you are trying to get one over on her.

Last year when she started Taekwondo he kept telling her that he did it too - in fact he attended our same school. He was proud that he had gotten to a yellow belt. He only did it for a few months though. As Janna progressed through the Tiger Cub program he'd remind her that he was never in the "baby" class, just the junior class. She never let it bother her though. When she advanced to that same Junior program he attended he began to talk about how far he had gone in the program.

Today he was over before it was time to go to class. Janna comes out in her uniform and he is visibly impressed. He did compliment her on her new patches and belt. But he can't let it go without some kind of comment on how good he is. So again he reminds her that he was great at Taekwondo and even though she is a higher rank than he ever achieved he says "I bet I'm better than you are." Janna just smiled at him and said, "okay, why don't we spar then?" He stopped, thought about it and said, "no, it's okay, I'm sure you're good by now too."

So I say, good for you my sweet girl.

Happy 7th birthday my dearest Janna

This year seemed to fly by. Didn't I just write a blog about your 6th birthday? UGH, I'd tell you to stop growing up on me but that doesn't seem to work. I supposed instead I'll reminisce on your past year.

You completed Kindergarten and headed into First grade. You were so confident walking into school this new school year. You have a great new teacher who pushes you to do your best. We discovered you read on a much higher reading level so the librarian allows you to check out books way above your grade. In fact we read Jack London's "White Fang" together. I'm still amazed you wanted to read that.

You completed the Tiger Cub training in Taekwondo and joined the junior program. You are currently a level one green belt, complete with sparring gear! You weren't sure if you wanted to spar at first, but once you started you found that you were good at it and you loved it.

Since you received a guitar for Christmas you began guitar lessons about two months ago. It took a little while to find a teacher but so far it's worked out well. Mrs. Day says you have a natural talent and an ear for music. We thank Pappa for this gift as it comes so natural to him as well. He in return is pleased to finally have someone to play guitar with and is looking forward to many jam sessions.

You are still extremely loving and kind to your sisters. They absolutely adore you and follow you every chance they get. You remain patient and kind with them. It always warms my heart to see you three together.

You enjoy singing too. In fact, when we play "Rock Band" you are always our singer. Your stage name is Clara (you were watching The Nutcracker obsessively around the time we got the game).

You are funny, smart, talented, kind, and amazing. My dearest, sweet girl, I love you more than I can ever adequately express. You bring a joy to my life that lifts my heart. I am honored to be your mother.

My binky girl

Courtney has always hoarded her binkies (pacifiers). Whether she was walking around with several in her hand and one in her mouth, or she had hidden then in her mattress, it's been ongoing since she was tiny. A few months ago I decided that binkies were only for bed time. If you want a binky you have to be in bed. There is a binky bowl in their room now. When I get them out of bed they have to put the binky in the bowl. There has been mornings or times when Courtney has asked to get back in bed so she can have her binky for a while. She'll sit in there happily sucking on it for five minutes or so, then call out, "all done mommy."

For some reason this past week both girls have been whining for their binkies all day. I've ignored the requests and dealt with the whining. The funny part though: Courtney will crawl under both cribs searching for lost binkies. It's the funnies thing to walk in and find her under the crib saying, "binky, where are you?"

Bear Branch park play date

We had a wonderful day at the Bear Branch park - if you are in the Woodlands area and have time, you need to check it out.

Kennedy enjoyed the swing.

Courtney was in the chair swing and loving it. They both enjoyed the seesaw.

Hollywood style

The Elementary school is doing a Hollywood festival so Janna got to glam out this morning for school. If you can't tell, one pony tail is pink, one purple, the rest is orange. Her fingers and toes are all paitned wild colors too. She topped off the outfit with cool shades and a sparkly scarf.

Sarah's visit

My sister Sarah came to town to visit us for a week. We enjoyed meeting her boyfriend Dwayne and loved spending time with everyone. The girls were so happy to have Jaiden here. We spent time playing, going to the park, the zoo and the Aquarium. Here are some photos of our adventures. Before you ask, no Janna isn't in a lot of them because she was in school.

We had a wonderful time and miss them more than I thought possible.

The Stingrays loved Kennedy, they kept swimming up and touching her. It made her squeal with laughter.

Jaiden is exactly in between the girls in height so it looked like we had triplets.

The girls tried the Carousel - after a few ups and downs they said "DONE!" Instead they let me hold them and ride.

Kids say the cutest stuff

I received my instructor stripe several months ago. Since then I've been helping once a week in one of Janna's class. I also helped with testing the juniors and our Tiger Cub program. In the process I've gotten to know a lot of the children and their parents better.

Thursday I took Janna to class while I took the twins into the play room. A girl from the school was in playing and she kept staring at me. Finally she asked me, "aren't you supposed to be in there?" I've taught her class before and she recognized me out of uniform. I explained that I wasn't teaching today, I was waiting for my daughter to do her class while I played with her sisters. Her eye's got huge and she said, "you're a mom?!?!?!" I laughed and said yes. Bear in mind this happens a lot. For some of the younger children it blows their mind to see me out of uniform or with my children. Anyway, Kennedy walked up to her and babbled at her in her baby voice saying, "what's your name?" The girl looked at her and said, "huh?" I told her, "she's asking you what is your name." She looked at me with these huge eyes and said, "wow, you speak baby!"

So there you have it friends, I am officially multi talented.