Phoebe decided she wants to learn to ride a bike when she's four. I started teaching her today and we worked for an hour then the rest of the day she begged me to teach her more.

Whenever anyone says "dance" or "ballet" both Esther and Phoebe will begin to pirouette, jump, lift one leg gracefully into the air, and twirl like the beautiful angels they are. It is my favorite!

We are getting a puppy. He is going to be called Wally and he is adorable. Max and Sammy and I are all reading books about puppy training and generally getting very very excited! The last time we went to visit him, Sammy got down into puppy stance and played with Wally, and snuggled him close as much as Wally would let him. It warmed my mommy heart to see him having so much fun.

Max has become absolutely obsessed with swimming. He loves it! He did swim team this summer and was just adorable. His first day of practice he could only swim about 5 feet before having to stop and rest on the the lane dividers. He came home crying and so tired. He hated swim team. By the third day everything had changed. He talked about swim team all day and in his prayers he thanked the Lord for giving him the chance to do it. He couldn't wait for practice each day. In the beginning he took about twice as long to finish each race as the others but he never got discouraged or wanted to give up. He liked it that when he was coming in last the whole crowd would cheer for him. Then he got so excited to see how much his time improved each race. He went from swimming the 50 meter front crawl in 2 minutes to swimming it in 1 minute. It was absolutely thrilling to watch! He won the most improved award from his team. Since then, We have been going to the Y before school and he will swim laps with Javier and I. He went from being able to swim about 5 feet at the beginning of the summer to swimming laps for an hour for pure enjoyment in one summer. I am so proud!

In this same summer Sammy has gone from swimming back and forth between parents to being able to swim the whole length of the pool confidently. He is so determined! As soon as he saw Max doing it he knew he had to learn too :)

Phoebe has made huge progress this summer too. She has learned to swim the width of the pool and has decided she is the best swimmer ever. She hates to be helped or worse yet to be made to wear a floatie.

Esther has a ballerina Penguin which has been her security object for a while. She calls it "Baby" and loves it very much. The other day at the grocery store we found a little 2 inch stuffed penguin and she loved it so much I bought it. She has been carrying it around and delightedly squealing, "Penguin!" whenever I look at her. She is so adorable I just have to pick her up and smother her with kisses. She is talking so much! She loves to pray and can say a good prayer without any help. It is short, but complete. I think she must be as brilliant as all the other kids and I just feel so blessed that we have four such brilliant children.

 Phoebe put on  plastic tiara just before we left for the store and said "mom, do you think everyone at Walmart will bow down at my feet?"

Phoebe: my toe is 13 years long!"

Phoebe: ( jumping up and down) I love decorating cookies with grandma!

Esther: ( also jumping up and down) I love  decorating grandma!

Phoebe: there's my buddy the fly!

The kids were telling scary stories about ghosts and Esther said :gasp! A goat!

 

Phoebe: "I have a goal that whoever is a bad guy I will kick and punch!"

Sammy: Pickle pants! I jinxed you Max

Max: no you didn't! I said Ma-chicken and you  said Ma-jinx

Esther sucking her meatball like a popsicle. Charity: Can you eat it? 

Esther: No I not eat It I just look at it

Javier: sammy did you cover your eyes during the scary parts?

Sammy: only when they were kissing

Mommy: when I was growing up most of my siblings had their birthdays in the same month

Phoebe! Hey!!! In our family all of our birthdays are in the same year!!

Air museummcminville Oregon

Sammys( pointing at Javier and himself):just so you know...sonomos hombros 

Max and Sammy tied a jump rope to both of their legs and then started running around so they would both fall every couple seconds. After about 20 minutes of this and constant cries of pain, Max: should we take it off now?” Sammy: “No! We have to stand it...like Men!”

Esther: Max for your birthday I will give you a metal sword if you promise now to wack anybody with it

Phoebe: one time David told me I could brag about something but I didn’t do it because I didn’t know what brag means

 Olivia: Phoebe I bet all the boys at preschool like you.

Phoebe: when I smile, my eyes sparkle and my hair shines but nobody notices

Phoebe: mom the pixie dust just did nothing :( David put it on and he didn't even fly!

Esther, whenever she asks to do something and I say no, instead of crying and throwing a tantrum she will get a big dimply smile on her face and say excitedly ," Maybe tomorrow I can!"

Esther" Who gave me my arm? Who gave me my nose? Who gave me my eyes?"

Charity: look Esther, it's a bear!

Esther, looking at a bear at the zoo,"um it must be a doggy"

Max and Sammy made special cards for all their cousins on National Rubber Ducky day.

Esther Bit one of two water balls that Sammy had and he still gave her the second one saying, "I'll give you another chance Essy, but don't bite it this time"

Sammy made Phoebe a stress ball for her birthday out of a balloon filled with flour.

Phoebe: Mommy, when you die, Daddy will be my wife.
We spent a week explaining why she couldn't marry Daddy and finally she agreed.
Phoebe: Okay I'll marry Rocco when he grows up to be a man

The other day in church Phoebe was asking all of her cousins what their favorite animal was and drawing them for each of them.

Max has been researching the empire state building for challenge. He is supposed to make a travel brochure. Today he came up to Natalie and said, "I heard you are going to New York City. When you go I am going to make you a travel brochure and you can take it with you." Isn't that so thoughtful?

Also Max and I filled out a personality test for him. He is an ITP right now. I thought it was so much fun to see how self aware he is.

Sammy loves dancing. The other night we did salsa dancing for family home evening and he loved being my partner! He learned the steps and had so much fun twirling me. He was so proud of himself and so was I!