Lyla Turns Five

Lyla is truly one of a kind. I always like to tell people she marches to her own drumbeat, and she truly does. She is a challenging personality for me at times because she feels her feelings so fiercely, but I love learning her and finding ways to lean in and love her. She has learned to play so well with Violet as Brielle has joined us in school, and she and Violet have a really sweet friendship now. Her feelings get hurt easily when others disregard her, but she's fiercely loyal herself. She plays well on her own but enjoys playing with others as well- as long as she doesn't get bossed around too much. ;) She loves to sing and be silly.

For her birthday this year, it was again during VBS week. I had to fly out to Virginia Beach the morning of her birthday to meet up with my boss and co-workers for Wild + Free. I was bummed to miss a lot of her birthday, but we celebrated during the week by going to the zoo and having a tea party at Grandma's. Then on the morning of her birthday, before she left for VBS, we did a donut cake and birthday gifts. She's so sweet and laid back.

Loves: baby dolls, Calico Critters, painting, drawing, singing

Lyla's Interview

What's your favorite food? Ice cream
What's your favorite thing to play with? Brain blocks and that ball and the dollhouse people and Calico Critters
What's your favorite movie or show? Peppa Pig and Frozen
What's your favorite song? All Around the World
What's your favorite book? Dinosaur books and elephant books and bird books
What's your favorite color? Purple, orange, red, and pink
What's your favorite Bible story? My favorite Bible story is Daniel and the lion's den
What do you like to do with Sophie? Play stuffed animals
What do you like to do with Brielle? Play house
What do you like to do with Violet? Play house and then sometimes Violet quits. I like playing dollhouse people and stuffed animals with Violet too.
What do you want to do when you get older? Be a firetruck person and a vet person and a carwasher person.
What's your favorite animal? Unicorns and alicorns and pegasus
Who are your best friends? Layla and Lexi and Sadie and Braxton
What makes you happy? What makes me happy is when I play outside in the snow and sled outside in the snow.
What makes you sad? What makes me sad is when Violet quit playing house.
What are you really good at? I'm really good at not falling off the sled when I'm sledding.

Sophie turns Eight

Sophie turned 8 back in March, and I never got a blog post up! Better late than never, eh'?

Sophie continues to be a great student! She loves being read to and she will literally sit and listen to any book. She is able to read herself as well but is still not a fast reader, and often the books and ideas she is really interested in are beyond her reading level. So we read together often. She has a huge imagination. Her personality is interested because on one end, she is very practical, has high expectations, and she loves to be studious and learn. On the other end of her personality, she is creative and imaginative and loves make believing. I love that she can embody both. She also continues to love animals and spends a lot of time outside with our animals.

This year for her birthday, she had her first sleepover. She is my social bug, and she loves being with friends her age. She planned most of her birthday party on her own, and it was so sweet to have her little girlfriends here.

Activities: Sophie joined dance this year and really loved it. She took piano lessons for half a year. She did AWANA at church, and she participated in Mini 4H again. We also did Natural History Club with our local Charlotte Mason homeschool group.

Likes: animals, dance, books, stuffed animals, unicorns, movies and shows, sewing and other handcrafts, being with friends her age

Sophie Sayings:
- Sophie got really into making jokes this year: "Brielle, where did the pencil go on vacation? Pennsylvania!" "Where did the apple go to eat dinner? Applebees!" "How did the dog hear the bus? Because it was busted"
Other things she said this year...
- "Mom, how come all the chickens try to put their sperm in the white hen?" 
- "I can't wait until fall. It's like a medium between summer and winter!"
- (While reading Swiss Family Robinson to  Sophie, the word "booty" was used as in "the booty arrived home safely") Sophie: There are a lot of different things booty can mean. It can mean like the little baby shoes, it can mean treasure, or I can mean this (points to bottom). Me: Yup, you're right. Sophie: I know in this case it can't be talking about this one (points to bottom) because that would be silly for the booty to arrive home without the rest of the body.
- "If you read about it, then you'll be interested in it, and if you're interested, then you'll want to go there, and if you want to go there, you'll have to find a way to go someday!"
- "Sometimes if I close my eyes, I can imagine being there like I'm really there! If you have a big imagination, you can do that."
- "One of my favorite things about having a birthday party inviting all my friends and then they get to know each other and play with one another!" 

Sophie's Interview:
What's your favorite food? Bananas
What's your favorite thing to play with? Animal Surprises
What's your favorite movie and show? The real Dumbo and My Little Pony
What's your favorite song? The Other Side (from The Greatest Showman)
What's your favorite book? All the books you've read to me... especially Swift Family Robinson
What's your favorite color? All light colors, especially light pink and blue
What's your favorite Bible story? Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego
What do you like to do with Brielle? Play with dollhouse people and stuffed animals
What do you like to do with Lyla? Play Slap Jack
What do you like to do with Violet? Tell her the Boogeyman's going to get her and chase her
What do you want to do when you get older? Be a vet... that's the same thing I'm going to say every year
What's your favorite animal? All animals, especially ponies
Who are your best friends? Calvin, Daisy, Khloe, Wes, Addison, Addie
What makes you happy? When Brielle plays with me
What makes you sad? When Brielle says she'll play with me and then doesn't 
What are you really good at? Climbing up things