Catching up on the girls

It's been a while since I blogged about the girls and I want to remember this time in their sweet lives. 

Kendall:

My first born graduated from preschool a few weeks ago and is kindergarten bound in a few more weeks.  She will go to Easley Elementary School, which is our neighborhood's year round option.  She actually got into both of the lottery options that we applied to (Sandy Ridge magnet being the other), but we made the decision to go with the year round schedule and the 30 year's of history that Easley has going for them.

Kendall is very artistic - she loves to draw, paint, do art projects of any sort.  She is fashionable in her clothes style (very opinionated about what we buy for her and what she wears together).  She loves to accessorize and she loves shoes just as much as her mama.  We've started having her long, beautiful hair braided and we all love the look and the ease of dealing with it...one style lasts from 2-4 weeks!  Kendall's sense of humor rivals most adults...she makes me laugh so often.  She doesn't like taking naps, but on the rare occasions I have her take one, she sleeps for 2 hours at least.  She likes Disney shows Good Luck Charlie, Austin & Allie, and A.N.T. Farm.  She likes singing super loud in the car to Taylor Swift and Christmas music (even in June).  She tells us she wants to be a dentist when she grows up.

All of those things are important, but the most important thing to note about Kendall is that she is now a Christ Follower.  Kendall made the decision to ask Jesus into her heart back in January.  She brought it up in the car on the way home when Daddy was at work.  Honestly, I tried to talk her out of it, which I know sounds strange, but I wanted to make sure she wasn't just saying these words, but really meant what she was saying.  She let things go for a couple of hours and then came back to me after James came home.  The three of us sat down and made certain that she had the understanding of what sin is and what Jesus did for her, etc.  She prayed the sweetest prayer with tears running down her precious cheeks, ending in "Jesus I want to love you forever".  Kendall spent time with our church's children's director the next week and I felt great knowing that Kendall was comfortable sharing her decision with several people that week.  In the weeks that followed, she was super sensitive to sin in her life - even refusing to watch certain shows on television when she saw something inappropriate.  We are doing a devotional about what it means to be a Christian (although I must admit that my discipline with this needs to be more consistent).  I'm very happy to know that my first born has made this decision...overjoyed really. 

Kendall is still taking tap, ballet and jazz at Nina's School of Dance (just 5 minutes from our house!!) and she loves it.  I think she is talented (yes, I know most moms think that, but I really do) and she just did an awesome job in her 4 dances in recital.  She was even running fever on the last day and still went out there with a smile on her face and danced.  Tap was "Buttercup", Ballet was "Every Girl Can Be A Princess", Jazz was "Hot Potato" and Hip Hop was "Hip Hop Pop Princess".  I was super proud.

Raegan:  Wow - what a joy this 23 month old has brought to our family!  She is very independent right now, but still loves to curl up in my lap with her "ganget" (blanket) and "piepie" (pacifier).  She carries around a multicolored blanket that my mama made for her.  One corner has a tiny piece of yarn hanging out and she loves that corner specifically.  She rubs it on her nose and if you ask nicely, she'll rub it on your nose, too.  She is still taking a good afternoon nap from around 2-4pm.  When she is unhappy about something, she shrieks at an octave that not many people can reach.  It will send a chill straight up your spine and you will quickly resolve whatever is making such a noise come from her cute mouth.

Speaking of mouth, Raegan had an attached upper lip frenulum that she fell and broke (bled like crazy, just like the dentist said it would).  After breaking that, she began talking all the time.  I was a little worried about her lack of talking up until that point, but after doing some research, it makes sense because she really couldn't move her upper lip until after that fall.  No she says lots of things, including: Mama, Daddy, Nana, Papa, issie (sissy), ESa (SaSa), ish (fish), cracker, thank you, love you, NO! (which she drags out like nooooo), pie pie, ganget, etc.  I love her little voice - it is very sweet.  She likes to eat grits more than anything else (true southern bell that she is).  She likes to be doing whatever her big sister is, which leads to little spats between them already.  Raegan is definitely the more aggressive of the two girls - she will try her best to knock Kendall into next week if I'm not right there to stop her.  She likes watching Mickey Mouse Playhouse on television and playing her ABC Game and Mr Potato Head on the iPad.  She loves her Minnie Mouse kitchen set and her mini ball pit at home.  She loves being outside...taking walks, pool, playground, beach - wherever.  She likes feeding our family fish Aubrey.

Raegan will go to Aldersgate Preschool beginning in September on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9-12.  This will give me a little break and allow her time to get to understand sharing and all that good stuff.  I've heard awesome things about Aldersgate and it's right by the house, so I'm excited to finally not have to drive 25 miles a day to the Bethesda side of town at least once a day.

I think that pretty much brings us up to speed on the lights of my life.  Being a mama is what I was meant to do and I'm so grateful I get to stay home and do it fulltime now.