Funny faces

Last year at the end of Kindergarten, the students had a talent show in Miss Judy's class. When we asked Sam what he wanted to do, he chose to share his funny faces. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed his repertoire. 

Our little cowboy

For typically being scared of animals, we were very proud of Jonah for consenting to a ride around the court (although he did seem to prefer the little horse and cart.) He didn't fall of once. 

Little bully

This particular goat was a bit of a bully; he was caught butting the other animals every once in a while. Luckily for him, he was gentle to the big and little kids. 

He touched it!

A little boy in our court had a petting zoo come visit for his birthday party. It took a while, but Jonah finally touched the animals. This baby alpaca was my favorite (along with the pig rooting around in the background). 

I'm four!

Jonah was very excited to open his presents. We think his exuberant attitude was intensified by watching his older siblings open presents all these years. 

Jonah's birthday

Awww...the good old days when you didn't have to worry about whether or not you had something stuck in your teeth, hanging from your nose, or smudged on your cheek. 

Cheese!

One would think that having his hair done by an older sister then having his picture taken as proof would prevent Jonah from ventruing into his sisters' bedroom. That, however, is not the case since we are constantly reminding him to "Get out of there!" He may regret this when he's older. 

Rock on

Hannah was very excited to get a new battery for her tamogachi (is that how it's spelled?) for her birthday. She is a very dutiful mother to her virtual pet, and we look at it as good training for the time she becomes a vet (or marine biologist, or zoologist, or...). If only all pets were so easy. 

Covert pig

Hannah and Abby spent some time with Grandma Linda painting rocks over the break, and then Hannah spent some time taking pictures of those painted rocks. 

Winter fun

Hannah got a camera for Christmas and was very eager to use it. This artistic picture of Jessie was taken while ice skating.

Big Hair

With all the modern technology available today, we still like the old fashioned sponge rollers the best for optimal bigness. 

Funny Face

We're not too worried whether or not Jonah's face will stay permanently distorted from his seemingly constant face-making because we think he's pretty cute whatever he does.

Christmas 2005

One of the best parts of Christmas is seeing Uncle Pat and Aunt Sal; our kids talk about them all year long and savor every moment while they're here. However, it seems there was some strange transfer of energy from Jonah to Pat.

Let me explain

 

Here is one more example of how animated three-year-olds can be. Notice the tilted head and the outstretched hands. He's quite the little communicator. 

I'm glad it's over

Hannah was finally able to relax a bit after her first orchestra concert was over even though they had to move to the hard gym floor. The students have only been playing for 3 months or so, but they did great, and we're sure none of the squeaks were from Hannah.
 
 

I'm dancin', I'm dancin'

One of the things we love about the kids' school is their affiliation with the U's dance department. This time it was Sam's turn to show his stuff; he did awesome! Notice how the girls all tower over the boys.

Sleeping buddies

 

The boys sure look sweet, quiet, angelic when they're sleeping. 

sisters, sisters, there were never such.....

The kids had a slumber party over at Grandma's house and Dad caught them being nice to each other. Those moments are one of the nicest joys of parenthood, I tell ya.  
 

pox, pox, and more pox

We were prepared for the other kids to get the chicken pox a couple of weeks after Sam came home with them since that is what all the literature said would happen. Unfortunately, the other three got worse cases than Sam--especially Hannah as shown here. This was day two. It got worse before it finally started getting better (today was the first day she wasn't clamoring to take her medicine before the allotted time had gone by). Now if we can just get Abby and Jonah to that point, we'll be doing great. Oh, the joys of childhood. 

Hang in there!

Don’t worry. Abby did not sustain any permanent damage while attempting this maneuver; and regardless of the look on her face, she LOVES gymnastics. She and Hannah are both doing marvelously well. They both enjoy the vault the best (Hannah also likes the floor) and are learning lots, having fun, and making friends.