Gina and Amanda Skiing with Daddy

NOVEMBER 29, 2009

Gina practicing her latest piece.

Amanda Practicing her latest pieces.

Wow, has it really been this long??????

So much has happened this year! The school year is almost at it's close, the kids are growing out of this year's clothes and I just can not seem to find enough time to write a little blog post.  

Starting with Gina - She has been working hard for her 4.0 this year - almost there - 2 more weeks to find out whether or not she gets a cell phone - YIKES! (Good thing there are unlimited text packages available or I might have to take out a second on the house.)  She continues to love science and hate math, hmm, sounds familiar.  I will post pictures of the upcoming guitar recital dance recital next week.  

Amanda is growing like a weed, too!  where has my little baby girl gone? She continues to knock her teacher's sock off at school.  I am always pleased to get the comments from her teacher.  She has worked very hard on her recreational gymnastic team this year, too! Their year end sleepover is coming up this weekend.  20 girls, all night in a gym with a trampoline, foam pit and bounce house.  My back hurts just thinking about it.  Piano recital and mini olympics coming soon, too!  Pictures to follow.  

Sam just turned 4.  Amazing! He is talking up a storm and finally walking more than crawling.  My back really appreciates this.  This was the year he understood that his birthday is a special day.  In fact he thinks EVERY day is his birthday, now.  After dinner he sings "Happy Birthday..." and sits back waiting for the cake to appear.  It was cute for a few days.  Now, since he gets a little upset when thing do not go exactly s planned.... you get the picture.  He has done very well in school this year, he has made some good friends but will be saying good bye to them as they move on to kindergarten.  Sam will start preschool in a local school in the fall and continue on with an early language class.   

Mark is working hard at Nihon Kohden, as always.  He continues to travel a lot, but he enjoys his time at home with the kids.  The summer will bring several camping trips and one family trip back to Chicago.  The kids will get to see their cousins, and grandparents and Mark and I will get a little break, too!  Sounds good to me.  

Me, I am enjoying working a couple days a week and looking forward to the summer break. Maybe the vegetable garden will come in well this year.  More to come soon.

The Girls

It has been a while since I posted any new video of the girls. They must have been in a good mood one day last week, they allowed me to record them. Here is Gina working on Brahams Lullaby and Amanda working on a Prelude in A minor. Their progress is terrific! Practice, practice, practice.

New Video of Sam

Since Sam was little he has been interested in words and letters. He knows his sign alphabet and even how to recognize some finger spelled words. We started using large flash card words when he was about a year old. Now he recognizes about 20 sight words and if we would regularly show him more I am sure he will learn more. I find him to be very impressive! It was a rare moment that he decided to show off for the camera.

Sam Walking

Sam has always been drawn to the camera, here is a short video of Sam walking across the floor to get it! This has been a LONG time coming! Way to Go Sam!

Jumping beans

In the never ending effort to entertain our kids OUTSIDE of our house we put in a rather large trampoline. The girls have a great time jumping and playing around and Sam loves to bounce. He has on occasion jumped, too! HE was in jumping mood before I brought the camera out but you can see what happens once he sees that he is being recorded.

Amanda does some great tricks and has lots of fun here, also. She also tries to caox a jump out of Sam. The video is about 7 minutes long, so if you watch long enough you just see one!