Name Change

from Chickadee:

Next time I get adopted, I'm changing my name to ELSA!

Farm Art

Just a little artwork hanging in Chickadee's hall at school. This was created after her trip to the farm in November.

Not on My Watch

Thank the Lord.

Nine years of parenting and we have our first broken bone in the house. (well, the very first blond brother came with one, but....)

Junebug is in a bright orange cast from shoulder to fingers because she fell off of a Little Tykes slide that is literally two feet off the ground at daycare.

She's a trooper...the biggest inconvenience is not being able to bounce around the house like Tigger on a regular basis. She should have her arm back to normal in 2-3 more weeks. The other three kids are FASCINATED by this adventure and will be thrilled to know that they do not have school on the day Junebug will go to get her cast removed so they can watch every bit of the action.

Sunshine is SIX!

I'm a little late on the birthday blog, but "a little late" describes us in a lot of things these days, so....

We celebrated Sunshine last weekend, and then again on her "real" birthday last Tuesday. On Saturday, she wanted a party. A party that only had to include....Cheetos. The cat cake was really optional. Cheetos though? Mandatory.

There were also some kitty cats to go along with the Stubby cake.

The "Barbie Dreamhouse", as Junebug calls it, was moved downstairs for the day and kids came to play, smack a pinata and eat Cheetos and cake.

For the "real" birthday, Sunshine took homemade chocolate chip cookies to school. I got to help her pass them out at lunch (a perk of working at her school). She was so careful about handing each kid a napkin and letting them choose their own cookie. She asked for pizza for dinner and we ate the leftover cake. Good stuff.

There's so much to love about Sunshine...as a 5-year-old, yes, but as a person in general because the things she does and the way she is isn't as age-specific as some of the other kids. She's always been a bit of an old soul and I'm not sure that has changed in the past four years. Sunshine is kind and compassionate. Her thoughtfulness pops out of her when it doesn't out of any of the rest of us. One day, I was on a quest to find our favorite cereal that our local grocery no longer carries. I told the kids I would stop at Target and "If they have some, I'll just get it all so we can have it for a while." Her response was "Well, that wouldn't be very kind to the next person who can't find it at HEB." And she's right (so I left one (of four) on the shelf).

Sunshine is a science geek. She has STEM future written all over her. Not long ago, she asked if she could play out back while I cooked dinner. Sure. By the time dinner was ready, she had made her own rock collection, complete with different rocks taped onto a piece of school paper, and labeled each rock with an attribute like "smooth" or "hard". Sunshine wants to know all there is to know about animals, geography, history.

Sunshine loves gymnastics. She occasionally surprises herself with some successful hand-walking. She CONSTANTLY hears me say: Feet on the floor! or Gymnastics only happen on carpet! She cartwheels from point A to point B regularly.

Sunshine loves school. I eat lunch with her teacher almost every day. Teacher calls Sunshine her "touchstone". "You know, the kid you KNOW is always gonna be there when you call on her, and always does the right thing."

That's sort of our girl in a nutshell. A touchstone. I call her my litmus test. If things are going bad with Sunshine, I know it's me being tired. If Sunshine is off her rocker crazy with energy, I know we are way too amped. And on the off chance that Sunshine is stomping or pouting her way through her day, I know we need to slow down and get some sleep. The girl keeps us grounded. We are beyond lucky to have this girl around.

Happiest of Happy Birthdays, Sunshine. I love you from locs to toes.