updates

It has been an exciting week at our house.  It started with my birthday on Monday, which was slightly overshadowed (no pun intended) by everything Sara learned at school about the groundhog.  She surveyed the friends in her class, and made a graph of their predictions regarding whether the groundhog would see his shadow.  She informed us that he did see his shadow, which means we'll have six more weeks of winter.  Last year we had very wintery weather well into March, so we'll see if it repeats.  We had a low-key birthday celebration: Skyped with my parents, Steve made a delicious dinner, and we had some lemon cake. It felt good to just have a relaxing evening with my family. 

It's Book Fair week at Sara's school.  Today she brought her own money, then picked out and paid for three books.  She chose a Barbie book and two chapter books, and was thrilled to receive some change at the end of her transaction.  These are the kinds of things that make me envious of moms who stay home or have flexible schedules that allow them to go to the school to take part in an event with their children, but then I'm also so proud of Sara's independence and confidence - perhaps my being available all the time would hinder the development of these characteristics.  Or maybe that's just my excuse.

In other exciting news, today was also the 100th Day of School.  Sara chose to bring 100 crayons to show her class, and she did all sorts of other 100s activities.  As of the 100th Day of School, Sara has shown so much growth.  She's good at math, and likes to add and subtract.  Her reading and spelling are steadily progressing (speech is helping with both), and she can list vocabulary words alphabetically.  She'd still probably choose to do art all day if it were allowed, but she enjoys many parts of her day, and she loves to learn.  Sara is a hard worker, and it's so fun to watch her soak it all in.  Very proud of her!

Emma's potty training is coming along.  It's going better at school than at home, but I think it's because she has friends at school who are also potty training.  She hates having a wet diaper, and her accidents at school are becoming less frequent.  She'll be 2 1/2 next month, and I'd be thrilled if we're only needing nighttime pull-ups by then.  But then all of a sudden I really don't want her to stop being a baby. (Too late.)  In the last week or so, she has started wanting me to pack her a lunch when I pack Sara's.  Emma doesn't take a lunch to school, but we put some things in a lunchbox, put it in the fridge, and she pulls it out once in a while and has a few bites.  She likes to have a salami sandwich, chips, grapes, and a napkin.  I think she'd give anything to be her big sister!

And finally ... my Sister Weekend in MN is almost here!  I fly out Friday evening for almost 48-hours of quality time with my sister!  We're going to relax, sleep in, shop, and catch up.  I can't wait!  I don't spend a lot of time away from my family and I know I'll miss them, but I so need this weekend right now; it will refresh me.  The girls will have fun with Steve and probably forget that I'm even gone.   

I think that sums up our updates for now. Happy Hump Day, everyone!