Being 5!

Princess TD loves being 5, just ask her, she'll tell you! It has only been about a month, but it seems like a world of difference between 4 and 5. Mr. TD has been saying for a long time that she needed to learn to ride her bike without the training wheels. Well, she finally tried it! She tried it last weekend and did pretty well, but hasn't wanted to try again. This weekend, she did! Here some video of her giving it a try.

A couple of times she got ahead of Mr. TD. With practice she'll be riding on her own in no time!

We are watching the Olympics and having a blast. We are doing a unit study on the Olympics. We are making it pretty simple this time around, but she's loving watching the sports! So far she wants to do it all, but the one she was the most interested in trying is diving! Hmm...it was hard enough watching my little sister almost crack her head on the board...I am not so sure I can watch my child! But, it is in the genes...my sister was 3rd in the state on her first trip to the state competition!

For now, we will just continue to let her explore her interests on her own before we "dive" head first into a lifetime of lessons!

First Day of School

Today was "officially" the first day of Kindergarten for Princess TD. We began in the afternoon because we had her 5 year old well child check-up this morning. For those keeping track, she is 47 3/8" tall and weighs 58 lbs 6 oz. She is 6" taller than the average 5 year old girl, which is completely obvious if you see her with her friends! Dr. F was completely amazed at both kiddos. He went on and on about how well behaved they were and how intellegent they were (at least we have someone fooled :) ). He spent a good 20 minutes talking with both kids - very amazed that we are a "well" family (i.e. we don't go in often for sick visits). He was even very supportive of our decision to homeschool. He asked Princess TD if she was nervous about starting school, she very confidently said no and then stated that her Mommy was going to teach her at home. All in all, it was a great visit. She is perfectly healthy and growing as she should.

Ok, back from my "rabbit trail" to the first day of school. I started thinking this week about the pictures my Mom took of me on my first days of school, so I decided to take some of Princess TD so that she would have a remembrance of this special day. (Ok, it's really not much different from any other day since she was 2, other than the new curriculum, but it's Kindergarten!) So here's my princess on her first day of official school:

Overall the first day's lesson went well. It took about 2 hours with several interruptions from Little TD. I discovered that I need to spread out the read aloud parts, both for her listening and my voice. The math was the fastest subject, and she's just like me...if she doesn't do it right the first time, she doesn't want to try again. I will need to work on finding a way to encourage her to try again.

Little TD played with his trains and cars while we did school. For the most part, he did great. He needed a little attention for his needs and sat in on a couple of our read-alouds. Later in the evening, he brought me a coloring sheet from church with Princess TD's Memory Verse on it, and said, "Help Mommy. I can't read the words." He then pulled about a dozen books off the shelf and we had our own little "preschool" there. We'll see how the rest of the week goes, but I may need to work on his preschool curriculum. Oh, and I couldn't do a picture of Sissy without one of him, so here's Little TD on Princess TD's first day of school:

What a ham he is! You gotta love that grin!

We're Staying Put

For all of you not on the Texas coast, you may not be aware that there is a tropical storm headed for our area. We have decided that we will stay put this time. We have plenty of food, bottled water, batteries. It isn't expected to be a very big storm, although that could change at a moments notice, but we'll keep everyone updated!

Busy, Busy Bees

I have been absent from the blog scene for the last couple of weeks. We have been very busy with our life! It all started with a prayer dinner for our friends, the DeCarlos, for their youngest son, Justin. He was supposed to have had open heart surgery yesterday, but it has been postponed until August 21. Please keep them in your prayers over the next few weeks. I can't imagine being ready to go, and then having it postponed. They need to stay well, both the parents and the kids.

The next day began our VBS! It was so much fun for the adults and kids alike. I was in charge of running registration. The first night was absolutely crazy. Everyone showed up about the same time as my helpers, and I didn't get a chance to explain the system of getting the kids signed in, so the parents had to wait a little longer than I really wanted them to wait. All those kinks were worked out by the next night and all went well! Our VBS theme was God's Big Backyard. It was all about serving others. It has made a big impact on Princess TD, she is always talking about serving family, friends, neighbors and Jesus! This year, we took pictures of each of the kids on the stage, mounted them on a keepsake, and handed them out on the last night. Here are the kids pictures:

They love singing the songs and doing the hand motions. I really had a great time and the registration process is right up my organizing alley!

The day after VBS, we were supposed to go to an outdoor theater to see Peter Rabbit, but we decided not to make the trip since the rains from Hurricane Dolly were coming down strong! That turned out to be quite a blessing, because it allowed me to get everything packed for our trip to Abilene for one of Mr. TD's cousins wedding.

We left Friday morning to make the trek to Abilene. Remembering the trip to St. Louis, Princess TD kept asking what state we were in. We kept answering Texas, but it was so confusing for her. We were in the car the same amount of time it took us to get to our stopping point in Oklahoma on our Missouri trip, but on this trip we only stayed in Texas! We kept reminding her that Texas is BIG!!!

The wedding was very nice. The bride was beautiful and the groom was handsome. It was an evening wedding, so we didn't get to visit too long at the reception. The little ones were getting cranky, and after 2 weeks of staying up late, the sleep deprivation was adding up! We had a special birthday party for Mr. TD's uncle the next day. We were able to visit with family that we haven't seen in a very long time! There were a lot of pictures taken, but almost all of them were not by the TD family! I guess we were too busy chasing around Princess TD and Little TD. Princess TD has come home talking about how much she misses her cousin Hannah. It's really pretty sweet, since they have only met a few times and Hannah is starting college at ACU this fall! There is quite an age gap there, but that didn't seem to bother either one of them!

This week has been filled with catching up at home and getting ready for next week. We are officially beginning Kindergarten on Monday! I have my lesson plans ready, my books together and will be preparing the remaining items this weekend. One of the remaining items is something to entertain Little TD while Princess TD is in school. Since he keeps talking about "kool" I think I will start a 3 year old program with him. I'll keep you posted on how that goes! I may need to ask for ideas to keep busy little boys busy!