Personality

Eden has a lot of personality packed into her tiny 19 lb frame. I think sometimes her spirit is too big for her body. She makes us laugh. She likes to stand on the table while we eat dinner and sit in the middle of us while we pray and poke our eyes and noses. And of course, she laughs. And then we laugh. I'm pretty sure she could get away with murder.

Dolls

The girls spend hours playing with their American Girl dolls. And I mean hours. They wake up thinking about how much time they will get to play. They had 3 minutes this morning before school, and they used it. On Sunday they played from 1 until 6. They don't want to go anywhere because they want to play with each other. Awesome. We are excited because an American Girl Doll store is opening in Denver. We are hoping they can fix Elizabeth's hair.

Guitar

Jeff and Andrew are taking a guitar class together. Andrew is still in shock that he has to practice something else. Poor kid gets less time on the Wii. Andrew is Jeff's tuner and can tell when each string sounds as it should. Amazing. Extra points to you if you know the chord Andrew is playing.

Cold

I am not sure if Eden is cold or if she just likes her coat but she won't take it off. She naps in it regularly. I even upped the temperature in my house just for her and her blue hands.

Anna

I'm not sure if it is because Anna is my third child or because she is only 4, but we have yet to find her niche. For now she keeps busy with her friends, preschool, and a gymnastics class. She wants to take violin or piano or voice lessons but I need to secure the funding first. She spends a lot of time singing. But mostly playing with her friends. She has learned to read and likes to read signs when we are running errands. I love spending time with her but she is oh so ready to turn 5 in April and go to Kindergarten in August.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth and her friend Ashley being silly with oranges. Ashley now lives far away. Sigh. Elizabeth has lots of friends from church, school, and gymnastics, but doesn't get to have friends over to play very often. She is too busy and her friends live all over the place. Her favorite friend from school lives 30 minutes away. And by the time school gets out, there is no time to play. She got advanced to Level 3 gymnastics at Aerials, so she spends 3 nights a week at the gym. We don't get to see her much. On Friday we got to see her for 30 minutes while she got ready for school, and for 3 minutes after school before her ride came. She got home after 8. Crazy. She says she loves it but it is very grueling and will only get worse. Her ankles bother her a little and her hands are very calloused from bars. She fell down the rope last week and got a rope burn on her cheek. She has completed a lot of skills and should be competing for Aerials team next year. She can do her kip, squat on, front and back hip circles, 4 press handstands in a row, cartwheels, handstands and dismounts on the beam, round off backhandsprings on the floor, back flips on the trampoline, front limbers and front walkovers on the floor, split jumps on the beam, front handsprings, back walkovers on the low beam, and more.
Elizabeth is also learning to play the piano and is doing great. A busy gal!

Eden

Eden likes to eat chocolate and green smoothies. She is by far our best eater, though everything she eats gives her the runs. We have met with a Gastroenterologist and get to meet with an Allergist to see what the problem is. We are thinking perhaps Celiac. We also found out she has Reynaud's Disease, which is why her hands and feet are always purple. The only complication is gangrene. She has kept me busy washing her crib set multiple times a day for the last couple of months. Good thing for her she is ridiculously cute. We are still all completely in love with her. She is turning into such a funny little person. She loves to wear her winter coat everywhere and would not let us take it off during church. She has lots of words...thank you, ball, daddy, mommy, no (said with a scowl), doggy, Charlie, hi, bye-bye, night-night, weeeee, bite, clean up, stinky, all clean, binky, more, here you go, there it is, eyes, nose, ears, and uh-oh. Her favorite toys are cars and balls. When I took her to the doctor on Thursday she was a whopping 19 lbs, which is under the 5th percentile, and 75th percentile for height. She still has flaming red hair and looks like her daddy. We love her lots.

Pikes Peak Regional Competetive Historical Festival

Andrew played in his first piano competition on February 6th. He played Kabalevsky's Sonatina and Scherzo in B flat by Schubert. He received a trophy for Honorable Mention. He is going to play in another competition in Denver in June.

Andrew got to accompany the Primary today in church and is working on learning all the Primary songs so he can play for the program. He is very excited. He prefers playing the piano to singing, though we are considering signing him up for voice lessons due to his perfect pitch.

Andrew and Jeff are taking a guitar class together and Andrew has mastered quite a few chords. Not sure why I got such a musical child but I am hoping to keep him challenged.