Miss Lily in a nutshell

Andrew's Aunt Sue sent this card to us a while ago and Lily found it a week or so ago and has been playing with it ever since.

The Lily Report

I'm not sure where to start with Miss Lily. She will be 4 1/2 years old on Sunday this week. I really cannot believe she's going to be five years old in September. She's my little Lily. Even though we have Kellan now, Lily will always be my baby girl. She is sooo sweet to me. She is always telling me, "I love you Mama" and giving me hugs. She says things to me like, "You are so lovely Mama." and "You are the best mom in the whole world." Okay, how could I not love all that! :-)

As far as school, she's in the Koalas preschool class at Partners Preschool (the school district preschool) this year in the mornings on Tues, Wed and Thurs. She has three little best friends in the class: Ivy, Mary Rose, and Elizabeth. Their teacher calls them the "flower girls", even though Elizabeth isn't a flower name. And the coolest thing about all these girls is that Mary Rose is blind and the three other girls play with her as if she's just like them. They include her in their games. They've learned to talk to her in a way where they describe things more. Lily even walks around sometimes with her eyes closed feeling the wall to move so she can see a little of what Mary Rose's world is like. I think their compassion and patience is amazing for four year olds! And all of these girls as well as a few other kids from her class will all move together to the Zebras class in the fall (M-Th in the afternoons) with the same teacher.

Lily has really blossomed (no pun intended) this year in school. Last year she was tentative and shy. She only spoke when she was directly asked a question and she really only played with two other kids in her class. This year she is outspoken and a leader! Her teacher says she's always surprised that Lily never gets to the bossy stage with the other kids because she is always telling people "we should do [this]" or "How about [that]". But she is always nice about it and lets other people decide things too, so she never gets to the point of being bossy. Which I think is great to hear. I'd hate for her to be bossy to the other kids.

As far as all the academic stuff, she's right where she should be at with colors, numbers, letters, writing her name, etc. I'm not so concerned about that stuff. She has a whole nother year before kindergarten which is plenty of time for her to learn that stuff. I'm just so pleased with her social progress this year. And she's not even really that shy anymore. Just a bit. But now, even when we're out shopping or running errands, if a lady stranger asks her a question, she'll answer instead of shrinking behind me. She's still scared of strange male figures. But you know what, I'm totally okay with that. She even has a male teacher at swim lessons and she will NOT let him touch her or go near her. She HAS to have the "girl teacher". Andrew and I are totally fine with her being scared of boys. She can be scared of boys for as long as she wants. ;-)

Other than swim lessons, Lily's only other activity is Mrs. M's weekly class on Friday mornings at the Staring Lake Outdoor Center. Each week they focus on a different letter of the alphabet and learn about animals that go with that letter. I LOVE Mrs. M's. It's educational and fun for Lily and each class is ONLY $6!! You can't beat that!

And just to be fair, here's some of Lily's artwork. Though, I'll be honest and say I don't think she shows the same aptitude for art as Ella, but it's fun to see her progress.

She has since started writing the letters of her name in the correct order. ;-)Abstract with watercolors.That's a space ship in the middle there and she "did a pattern" around the outside.This is Rin-too from the animated show Kai-lan. I couldn't believe she drew this herself. I had to ask her if Ella helped her and she told me very proudly, "No! I did it all by myself!"Just coloring in Handy Manny....one of her favorite characters. :-)

Well, I think that's it for the update on Lily. :-) Oh! Two more things! She's very proud that she can buckle her own seat belt in the car now (and so am I! Makes life so much easier that I don't have to climb in to buckle her into the "way back" of the car) and she is finally night-trained. That's right, no more diapers for Lily! Whoo hoo! Now, we just have Kellan in diapers.

Masterpiece Monday

Here are Ella's latest two art pieces from her after-school KidzArt class:

Do you see she named her tugboat "Bella"? Isn't that cute! The art teacher had drawn this image in black and white (so just the black outlines) on a whiteboard and the kids had to copy it and color it in. Ella LOVES using permanent marker to do her drawing, since she doesn't really get the chance to use those much at home. I also think its fun to see that she's drawn this without erasing anything.
Ella's parrots. They had a picture on the board of two full-color parrots. Again, Ella does all of this, including the outlining, on her own--no help from the teacher!

I can't wait to see what she brings home this Thursday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I still have to get that Lily update posted that I promised several weeks ago now. I'm hoping to do that later today. And Ella has a new artwork to feature as well. But for now I'll leave you with this adorable photo of the three kiddos dressed in their St. Paddy's green. :-)

Family Movie Night 2010

Now that our basement is finished and we have a 55-inch flat screen hanging on the wall. We can have Family Movie Night in true MOVIE fashion! We even have lights that dim down there, surround sound, and a Blu-ray player. What fun!

Here's the list for 2010:
Toy Story 3 (in theater)
Toy Story
Tooth Fairy
Mr. Troop Mom
Hotel for Dogs
Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey
High School Musical 3
Spongebob: Viking-Sized Adventure
The Princess and the Frog (DVD)
Garfield: Pet Force
Planet 51
The Hannah Montana Movie
High School Musical 2
Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian
Garfield: The Tale of Two Kitties
High School Musical
Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs (Blu-ray disc)
Monsters Inc. (Blu-ray disc)
Dennis the Menace
Eloise at the Plaza