Reading

So, the kids have been interested in reading and writing lately. So, I bought some of the Bob books. They are simple books with easy word families and easy sight words like "and, the, on, has, had.." etc. The kids LOVE reading these books and have done it a lot since I got them. Xander hasn't had as much interest as the other two, but is starting to come around. Grace is definitely doing the best and has the most desire to do it. However, if she can't figure out a word right away, we have some crying. They really are little sponges at this age. I wish we had more time with each of them to give them as much learning time as they need. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day once we factor in preschool, naps, and all the evening things we do!!

Another exciting development in our house is that we (Brian and I) have finally agreed and the kids are going to start piano lessons in the next week or so with my mom. We have been disagreeing on whether they should all do the same thing (like piano) or all play something different (like violin, cello and piano.) I think they should do something different, since they are are always doing the same things. Brian wants them all to study piano and add other things on as they get older. I don't necessarily disagree with that, I just think they might benefit more from being different right now. Well, we've been disagreeing for a while now (about a year!!) and I finally relented. The official deal is that they will all take piano (from my mom) for this year and probably next year, too. Then, in 1st grade, we will re-evaluate and let them decide what to play. If they want to add an instrument that's fine, or they can stick with only piano. I think at that point we will find an outside teacher for all instruments they are playing. It's not that we couldn't find an outside teacher now, but we just don't want to pay for it, yet!!!

We have a busy weekend planned, but the most exciting thing is the kids and Sebastian are having their pictures taken professional on Saturday. Hopefully, I can post some of them or post a link for you to see them when they're done. We have very cute outfits for them!! We can't wait. That's all for now!! Thanks for checking up on us.