6!!!!!

Dear Maggie,
Six???? Six???? How in the world did we get here? It seems like we were just waiting for you to arrive, but it's also hard to believe all you've accomplished in your short life. This year has been a big one. You started Kindergarten, you made new friends, you learned a ton and you grew up so much.

You love school. Mrs. Marsden was such a great teacher for you. You worry way too much about how good your doing, whether your as smart (or really smarter) then all the other kids. You've always been at the top of your class, I wish I could come up with a way to convince you that that's not really what's most important. You're working on reading Chapter books and most of the books you read at school are 2nd grade books. You learned to add, subtract and even do a little multiplication (which you call groups) and division. With all you've learned in Kindergarten, I can't imagine what next year will bring.

Your favorite place to be is still on the back of a horse or even just in the barn. You'd never leave, if we let you. You were really hoping you'd lope by yourself before you turned 6, you are so close! You may even get to try it today. I love watching your confidence and control when you ride. You don't worry about anything and you seem to have no fear. I know you were hoping for a horse for your 6th Birthday, I hope you aren't disappointed when you don't get one. You and Chevy are a good pair, I'm pretty sure there is a horse in your future, but it'll have to wait until your at least 7 :)

You are very creative. You love to work on projects with me in the sewing room and especially love to be in the wood shop with Grandpa. Your constantly coloring, gluing, stamping, glittering....creating in the playroom.

This year you tried soccer and seemed to enjoy it. Daddy and I joke that we don't want to let you try new things, because you love them all and you never want to quit anything. That determination and attitude will serve you very well one day....but for now it keeps us all hopping. You also still play softball, have lots of activities at church, dabble in gymnastics and have started girl scouts.

You and Gracie drive each other crazy sometimes, but you are such a great big sister. Last night Gracie said she was afraid of the dark and wandered across the hall to your room, you scooted over and let her snuggle in. She was up to her usual shenanigans, trying to get you in trouble, but I watched you kiss her goodnight and rub her back. You watch out for her all the time and while sometimes her crazy free spirit makes you nuts, you do your best to manage the situation.

Daddy and I are so proud of you. We're proud of how smart and determined you are but more importantly we are proud of the kind of person you are. Last week one of your classmates mom told us that she didn't care which teacher her daughter ended up with next year, but they requested their daughter be with you, because you've been such a good friend to her in Kindergarten. That's pretty awesome. You love your family, your friends and your God with everything you have.

We couldn't ask for a more amazing little lady. I wish time could stand still for a bit, I feel your "little" years slipping away from us. I can't wait to see what's to come but I wish we had just a little more time to enjoy what is.

You blow me away every day and I love you more then you will ever understand,
Happy 6th Birthday Cowgirl!
Love, Mommy

Frozen!

Gracie LOVES the movie Frozen. She has most of the movie memorized.... (click the link below for a song.)
http://youtu.be/OhvP3-Ink5A

She and Maggie play Frozen a lot. They fight over who gets to be Elsa and who has to be Anna. Sometimes they even let Daddy be Olaf (the snowman).  A couple of weeks ago they tried to convinced Uncle Deem to play, they told him he could be the Dad. He said he didn't know how. Maggie told him, "you just have to get on the boat and die." Why are Disney movies so morbid!

Kindergarten

Kindergarten has been such a great experience for Maggie. She has really matured and has done so well in her class. One day last week her teacher was gone, so I went in to help the kids write Thank You letters to give her the last day of school. While we were there we took a class picture.....

....there are 21 of them right now, but 2 of the boys are moving over the summer. Next year there will be 13 girls and 6 boys!

When I got there Friday for my last day in their class they had written me thank you notes too. They were really sweet. Maggie wanted to be sure I knew that Mrs. Marsden said it was ok that she wrote "Dear Mom", instead of "Dear Miss Julie" like everyone else :)

 

10 years ago I would have thought you were crazy if you told me I'd be a stay at home Mom, but I am SO grateful for the time it allows me with my girls and their friends. I have really gotten to know Maggie's classmates and teacher this year and I am so glad. I know someday she won't want me at school, but for now I'm going to take advantage of the fact that she likes having me there. They're a great bunch of kids. One of the awesome things about Maggie's school is there is only one class of each grade, so for at leas the next 4 years, we will get to continue to enjoy this bunch!

Challenge!

A couple of weeks ago, Maggie was invited to take 3 tests to determine if she was eligible for the Challenge program at school next year. She was very nervous about the tests and we had no idea when we would get the results (which was driving her crazy!) This week, this letter came home.....

....not only did she do well on the test, she did awesome! She was so excited and REALLY proud of herself. She made lots of phone calls to tell everyone how great she did and grinned from ear to ear the whole time. We've always known how smart she was, I'm glad she can see it in her test scores.

Catching up.....again....

I hate when I let myself get so behind it's hard to remember what all I have to catch up on! It's been a busy couple of weeks, but we're in the home stretch of the craziness. This weekend Arnie and I both have to oversee graduations, his at the high school and mine at the Community College, then we have Maggie's Birthday, the last day of school, the closing on our building in Omaha (YIPPPY!!!) and camping for Memorial day....then it will be summer and we get to relax, right???

I'm hoping the pictures will trigger my memory....

Last Wednesday was the Bike-A-Thon at Gracie's school. She's really gotten good
at riding her bike, she had no problem keeping up with the big kids.

For Mother's day both of the girls brought me flowers from school and they got me a jig! Now I have to clean out a corner of the shed and set up a saw, so I can use it! Friday night I went to see Wicked in Omaha with some girl friends, then Saturday I met everyone at camp for our first camping weekend of the year!

The girls were really excited to get to start gymnastics again this week :)

 

Tuesday Maggie was 10 minutes late for school because she wanted to go vote with her dad. When they got to school, she said to Arnie, "this is going to be on my report card, because I'm late. But it's okay because I was being a good American." She took her sample ballot for show-n-tell. She's voted more in the last 6 years then most Americans.

 

Nothing like playing tug-of-war with a fat horse!

Oh Chevy!

Reagan HATES when the kids play catch or basketball. She barks and barks.

Every night this week we had to run around and tuck in all the plants and cover the garden. Hopefully last
night was FINALLY our last frost.

This week we hatched our second set of butterflies. I don't think it's very appetizing, but the girls really enjoy watching them while they eat breakfast. Now we need it to warm up so we can let them go.

Maggie helping Brandon do laundry. They sure do love when he's around.

Stubborn....

Gracie: "Mom, this baby doll won't hold my hand, she's being very stubborn."
Me: "what does stubborn mean?"
Gracie: "that I'm being very good."

I think there might be a communication breakdown in my discipline plan :)

Tough cookie!

Gracie and I were scheduled to report to Children's Hospital at 7:40 this morning.....pretty much immediately after we got there they told us they were running behind....it just kept getting farther behind. About 10:45, after we watched Frozen one and a half times, played in the playroom for awhile, took baby for her 10th walk around the halls and tried to explain to Gracie for the 100th time why she couldn't have anything to eat.....it was FINALLY her turn.

I asked them not to give her the sedative they usually use before anesthesia, because when she had her original tubes put in they gave it to her and it made her crazy and very hard to calm down. They agreed and she handled it like a champ. She gave me a hug and then laid down on her bed and let the nurse roll her away (while she watched Frozen (AGAIN) on her ipad). I think it was harder on me then her.

The surgery only took about 30 minutes. They have changed things since the last time we were there (Maggie's tonsils), now they take the parents back to recovery so you are there when they wake the kids up. So they let me pick her up and rock her while the anesthesia wore off. She was pretty groggy at first, but I think it would have been worse if she had strangers all around. The doctor came in to tell me she did great and that he was confident we had made the right decision. She bled pretty bad during her surgery. They ended up cauterizing 4 spots in her nose and since she was under, he checked her ears and decided to replace her tubes. Once she was awake I asked her if she hurt anyplace and she quickly pointed to the blood pressure cuff and said that's what hurt.

Once she had a drink and a couple of crackers she very loudly and sternly asked the nurse if she could put her panties back on (don't ask why she had to take them off in the first place????). They said she could, so they unhooked all her machines, let her get dressed and pretty quickly sent us on our way. By the time we got to my dad, she was acting pretty much like her old self, a little tired, but not at all bothered by what she'd just been through.

Is it our turn yet???? please!

All done!

Poor baby had a rough day :(

Gracie slept all the way home and was ready to play when we got here. She got to spend a few minutes with Grandma before she headed back to Omaha.  Then she begged to go ride her bike, so after a few minutes of watching her play like normal I asked if she wanted to go to her last soccer game. I had no intention of her going, but the weather was beautiful and she seemed to be feeling great.

Tonight was the last game, in ALL of the previous games there has never been any contact. Nobody has gotten hurt, they can't kick the ball hard enough for it to come off the ground and hit anyone in the face (or more specifically the nose)....mostly it's just six little girls running back and forth bunched around a ball giggling. Of course tonight would be the night one little girl had to be taken out for punching an opposing player and Gracie got hit in the face by another little girls head. Thankfully her nose didn't start to bleed (in my defense I specifically asked if we needed to protect her nose and the doctor said "no, we should just try to keep her finger out of it".) She cried for a little while, but then decided to go back in and play, I felt pretty bad.

Their favorite part of soccer is putting their hands in and yelling "PANDAS" and snacks, I'm not sure they actually know there is a game.

Surgery, what surgery?

Gracie and her friend Hannah played a decent percentage of the season holding hands :)

Too bad coach Arnie had to miss the last game!