Silly Monkey

Yesterday it took me almost 10 minutes to get a picture of Emmy up on her hands and knees.  Today she is a pro.  All day long she has been getting into a crawling position and holding it for upwards of a minute.  She even rocks a bit and can sometimes move one knee just a smidgen.

5 months

Emmy's latest trick is pulling her knees up into a crawling position.  It only lasts for about a second and then she falls onto her face, but it is amazing to see.  She is now 14 pounds exactly.  She loves to grab anything that she can reach, especially hair and faces.  She's happy to try any food that you will give her.  She gummed half a strawberry a few nights ago.

Super Readers!

I am so proud of my girls!  Yesterday was the end of the year awards ceremony for their school.  Each class gave out a handful of excellence awards: reading, writing, math, Spanish, social skills, and commitment.  BOTH Adeline and Charlotte earned the reading award for their class!  

Addie and her teacher, Mrs. Thomas.

Charlotte with her reading award and completion certificate.

I am amazed at how much they have grown this year.  Here is a picture from their first day of school.  ::sniff::

DNA

Adeline has been asking a lot of questions about DNA recently.  She is fascinated that some of her traits come from Mom and some come from Dad.  She got her eye color from Dad's DNA.  She got the freckles on her nose from Mom's DNA.

Today she was hanging up some of her clothes and, as she was tying a bow on one of her dresses, she said, "Mom, I can tie this dress when it is on the hanger, but I can't tie it when I'm wearing it because the bow is behind my back.  I think I got that DNA from you, that I can't tie things behind my back."

Cutest.Picture.Ever.

Adeline reading to her dad and sisters.  Yesterday she started end of the year testing.  At the beginning of the quarter she made a goal to be at reading level 10 by the end of the year.  Yesterday she passed the level 10 reading test, so she met her goal!!  We're not sure yet if she has surpassed it or not.  Tomorrow she will test at a level 12.  

I'm the biggest thing in the ocean

Charlotte recently performed in her preschool end of the year play.  She was an octopus.  And a very cute octopus if I do say so myself.

Charlotte and her friend, Anabelle.  Anabelle calls Charlotte her sister.  The teachers try to correct her and say that Charlotte is her friend, but Anabelle is convinced that Charlotte is her sibling.

Flower Girls

My brother, Michael, got married this weekend.  Adeline and Charlotte have been so excited for MONTHS that they got to be flower girls.   Unfortunately, our camera ran out of batteries, so we don't have any pictures of them walking down the aisle.  But don't they look precious?

Some recent pictures

Addie recently learned how to shimmy up door frames and it is now one of her favorite things to do.

Last weekend, Sean found two turtles in our yard.  Charlotte thought they were great and loved touching their shells.

It is amazing what a couple days will do.  In this post I wrote about how Emmy is getting better at rolling onto her tummy, but that it still requires a lot of effort.  One week later, she can now roll with ease.  

Emmy Eats!

She's been eyeballing our plates for a few weeks now.  Last night I finally gave in to Addie and Charlotte's requests to feed her.  She had applesauce.  

Hangman

Aside from riding her bike, this is Addie's favorite thing to do right now. The words have turned into phrases and are getting longer and longer. We don't get hung too often because 99% of her phrases involve family members.

"Adeline Conaway loves mom."

"Adeline Conaway plays with Charlotte."

"Adeline Conaway sees the tigre." (The last word is "tiger" but this is how she always spells it)

Tonight her phrase was "Adeline Conaway and Charlotte and mom and dad and Eminem." Just to clarify, Slim Shady does not live in our house. Shortly after Emerson was born, Grandpa gave her the nickname M&M and it has stuck... this was Addie's attempt at sounding it out...

Hot Mess

If I had grabbed my camera 10 seconds earlier this would have been a cute picture. Addie and Charlotte were pushing Emmy around in the Bumbo and they were all having a wonderful time. Emmy was giggling and the two older girls thought it was the greatest thing ever that they could show her all of their toys. The SECOND that I touched the camera, Emmy was done with the tour and started crying. I'm not sure what Addie was doing. Charlotte still seems to be having a good time, though!

Emerson at almost 4 months:

• Prefers to be on her tummy so that she can watch the action.
• Is pretty good at rolling from her back to her tummy. But it still requires a lot of effort and she gets mad when she accidentally rolls onto her back after working so hard.
• Is starting to giggle.
• Tries to grab your food if she's sitting on your lap at dinner.
• Loves to nap in her swing. She especially likes the blanket that our friend Arwen made for her. When you put it on her in the swing, she snuggles into it and falls promptly to sleep.
• Loves her sisters! She would much rather be entertained by her sisters than held by mom or dad.

Adeline:

• Is reading like a champ! At school they have a coconut tree and each student has a coconut with their name on it. As you increase your reading level, your coconut moves higher up the tree. There is one student who is at level 10. Addie and one other girl are one level 6. Everyone else in the class is on 4 or lower.
• Can now ride a two-wheeled bike without training wheels! This is all she wants to do when she gets home from school.
• Is such a great big sister and example - both to Emerson and Charlotte. She is always willing to help out when we ask.

Charlotte:

• Is also doing amazingly well at school. Her teacher wants to test her reading at the end of the school year (they usually don't test them in pre-K3) and thinks that she will be reading at a level 3 or 4.
• We're not sure where this came from, but she is the popular kid in class. She certainly didn't get this from mom or dad. And it is even more surprising because she used to be so shy. Everybody in her class will look at her and wait for her opinion on something before voicing their own.

Emerson - 3 months old

Emmy is such a fun addition to our family! She is such a sweet and easy going baby. Addie and Charlotte love her to bits and are constantly asking to hold her or help change her diaper (although these "helpful" diaper changes take about 5 times as long as if I do it). Emerson loves her sisters as well. There is nothing that she likes better than to lay and watch her sisters play.

She recently learned how to roll over. It is funny because I don't remember the other two actually trying to roll over. I remember that they did it on accident many times before they actually figured out how to do it themselves. Emmy is a bit different. She has been accidentally rolling over from her tummy to her back for a little over a month now, but she prefers to be on her tummy (so she can better see what is going on). About a week ago she started doing a mini sit-up and would roll to her side. You could tell that she was trying so hard to roll. Then Sunday night she managed to roll most of the way but just couldn't get her arm out of the way. Monday morning (April 2nd), as I was changing her diaper, she rolled completely over and she's been doing it every day since!