Happy Birthdays to Grace and Archie (early)

Grace turned six and celebrated (on her actual birthday) with a jewelry-making, flower-pot-planting-and-painting, and pinata party. She designed a My Favorite Things cake. There were several downpours, but we got our outdoor activities in (even though we had to hit the pinata from the porch).

Archie wanted to celebrate his birthday early so we could have a half-pool, half-home party. We swam for nearly two hours then came back for cake, pinata, and presents.

Piano Recital 2015

Grace played in her very first piano recital last Saturday. She played the "Doxology" and it sounded great! She wasn't a bit scared either.

Archie played in his second recital. He played his first duet with his friend, Lucy. They did a great job on "Holy, Holy, Holy," too.

Happy Resurrection Day: From Our Family to Yours!

Crazy, Crazy Hair Night!

It only comes once a year, but Archie likes to celebrate in style! What? You may ask.

Crazy Hair Night at AWANA Club. I think this was his craziest style yet.

The Art Champions!

And the first-place winner is...ARCHIE!
We are so proud of Archie for winning first place in the primary division of the Johns Hopkins APL Young Artists show for his painting entitled "Normal World." The announcer told him that if this picture shows his normal world, he must be a very happy little boy. Archie worked hard on his picture for several weeks, and we are so happy his efforts paid off. A special thanks to Memaw for teaching him to draw such wonderful people.

We are also proud of Grace for claiming an honorable mention in the K-1 division with her noodle art titled "Some Wheel Over the Rainbow." She also worked hard dipping each individual pasta piece into paint and gluing it. They said they had seen many rainbows, but this is the first noodle rainbow they had ever seen!

Lancaster Fun

 From horse drawn buggy rides through Amish country to hanging out at the hotel's indoor pool, our short trip to Lancaster a few weeks ago was a lot of fun! I'll have to take more pictures next time!

Happy Seventh Birthday, Archie!!!

How did my baby turn into a seven-year-old second-grader? We love you and are so proud of you, Archie!

Archie's First Piano Recital

Archie and I have been working on piano since the beginning of the school year. He had a chance to show off his efforts by playing the Doxology at our homeschool Share Fair. He was motivated to work harder by hearing some of the older, better kids play.

Archie and Grace Pre-Baby Fun!

I'm feeling the need to catch up on posting tonight. Perhaps that's because I'm pretty sure this will be the last post I do as a mother of two before the baby comes. 

In March, both kids participated in the annual children's art show held by Hunter's work. They worked really hard on their art. I was really disappointed Grace didn't get at least an honorable mention for her "An Apple Tree for Mommy and Me." She was happy enough with the participation award. Archie's Captain America really popped out of the canvas thanks to some cardboard and glue. I thought it was a creative idea. 

Grace had fun at one of her little friend's ballet birthday parties. She is not at all interested in taking an actual ballet class, though. She wants to go back to playing soccer.

Grace is obsessed with this new nightgown from Grandma DeJ. She loves matching her doll (who she also named Grace). Doll Grace has a twin doll brother named Archie (but he doesn't have any special PJs).

We hosted an Easter egg hunt today. It was lots of fun. We read the story Benjamin's Box and used the Resurrection Eggs to share the story of Easter with our guests beforehand. Here are Archie and Grace with two of their best friends.

Grace's school recently went on a field trip to the nature center. They were so excited to ride on a real school bus. Archie was a little jealous. She is walking beside another of her best friends, and her teacher, Mrs. Lewin, is leading the way.

Archie's Hip

Archie is a trooper. Over the last three months, we have been pursuing a correct diagnosis of a large mass (approx. 7 cm) in his right hip muscle. Finally, after a biopsy last week, we got the answer we had been praying for. It is not a tumor or cancer! We are so relieved. The doctors think it is a condition called calcinosis or tumoral calcinosis. This does not pose any immediate danger so we are quite happy. It will require continued follow-up as we try to determine the pathological cause of calcium deposits building in his muscle. It will possibly require surgery as well to excise the mass. We are taking things one step at a time and trying to relax a little bit until our new baby arrives!

Archie on biopsy/CT scan day

A Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Archie's first lost tooth netted him six shiny quarters from the Tooth Fairy. He was so excited he carried them around all morning (and didn't lose any)!

What can you do in 1 min. 9 sec.?

Enough time to throw a load of laundry in the wash? Run upstairs to grab something and be so distracted by a screaming kid you forget what you were going to grab and head back down? For Archie, it is now enough time to swim a length (25 meters) of the pool. This is his first year on swim team, and he is loving it. We worked hard in the indoor pool for about two weeks to get him ready for the K.C. Waves time trials.

Archie is getting quite brave in the water. This is the first day he jumped off the diving board.

The Big Race

Archie did it, and I am SO SO proud of him! He completed his FIRST kids' marathon last week in Virginia Beach. In the three months leading up to race day, we ran 25 miles in one-mile increments. Some of those miles were run in uncomfortably cold weather, too. He ran the final mile with 4,500 other kids on race day. His time was 10:24 - not bad for a first timed race. Mom was pretty nervous turning him loose in a crowd that big. After the race, he went straight to our appointed meeting spot and Hunt found him with no problems. My little boy is growing up. This feels like a major milestone.

Grace is never one to be left out of the fun. She ran the Leprechaun Dash - all 26.2 yards of it. Yes, that's right, like the distance across your living room. It was totally a vanity race, but Grace would have been devastated not to get her goody bag and tee shirt. As you can see from the pictures, she was pretty happy afterward. Her sprint was untimed, but we are pretty sure she was second across the finish line. Of course, the first out of the corral tends to have the advantage in such a short race. But the key is Grace made sure she was first in the corral.

I think more races are in our future. Who knows? Mom might even start running again.

Frogs Are Green

Archie has been working hard for several weeks to prepare this little guy for the Frogs Are Green kids' art contest. Isn't he a cutie? I never really realized just how tricky a frog is to draw.

Jesus Is the Reason for the Season and Archie Knows It :)

So proud of Archie for the drawing that he's submitting to the Virginia-Pilot art contest. I really hope he gets published. He made two drafts of this picture and spent nearly an hour drawing it. I am so happy that picked Jesus' birthday as the topic of his drawing.

Archie loves art of all kinds and is obsessed with entering contests. If you know of any, let me know and we'll probably submit an entry. Lots of local papers have them this time of year.

Archie's 20-inch bike!

We've been pretty busy since arriving in Maryland but not too busy to squeeze in buying Archie's birthday bike. We were planning on getting a 16 inch, but the guy at the store thought a 20 inch would give us a lot better bang for our buck. Think he was right, but Archie's had to get used to it! Go, Archie, go!