I know I always say this, but time flies.  I hate how fast it goes and how little I take the time to document it.  I hate how this is such a fun time in my life - my kids crack me up constantly, I love watching them figure life out, but I'm still so physically exhausted to always appreciate it and relish it as much as I want to.

Anyway, here is my attempt at capturing my kids right now.

Dallin

• Gives me thumbs up when ever he approves of what I'm doing. 
• Uses the word awesome often. 
• When I ask him a question he doesn't know, he responds with, "I do not know!" In this lilting voice. 
• Loves Aaron to fly the helicopter, but runs away from it as fast as he can with a little shriek.  
• Has a grin I can't get enough of. 
• Has this cry that sounds like you have turned his world upside down. Sadly, it works wonders for him. What can I say, he is the youngest. 
• Is a great cuddler. Sadly this puts him in my bed most nights, which ends up with me getting little sleep. You would think I would make more of an attempt to stop this, but for some reason I'm sad that I won't hear little feet coming down the hall into my room. 
• Can hold his own. It is not uncommon to see him chasing Wyatt, heck, even tackling him. Wyatt hasn't figured out yet that he is twice his size. I guess that is a good thing. 

Wyatt

• Absolutely loves life. 
• Wants to earn money, so he will get in and get his jobs done faster and much more independently than his sisters. It's fun to watch him in his frantic clean mode. 
• Loves friends and wants to be with them all the time. One morning he came to me and wanted a friend to come over. I told him only if his room was clean. He went into his frantic clean mode - his room has never been cleaner, he was picking up tiny pieces of garbage on the edges of his floor.
• Loves kindergarten. He has a fabulous teacher (well, two now for six weeks).   He's learning so much. Right now he loves the whole math thing.  "Mom, I know what 99 + 1 is...100!"  This goes on constantly with different numbers. Tonight he had four pairs of socks to put away, "mom, if I have 3 socks and add one more I have 4 socks!"  He came home from school awhile back with construction paper to make flash cards for adding doubles.  He had those made immediately, and wanted to work on them all the time. He doesn't like to read so much. If he has to take the time to sound out words he just gets annoyed, so that could be interesting. 
• Has lost four teeth. I wonder if it will be easier for him to talk once he gets back all his front teeth. 

Kailyn

• Is quite the tumbler. It's fun to see her flip across the lawn. 
• Helps out so much!  When I know I need to get the house ready for something, I pay her to help me go like crazy and she does!  I love it. 
• Sleeps on the floor in the corner of her room between the edge of her bed and the wall.  She has done this for about a year now, she puts pillows down, and then a big down comforter. I think she feels cozy and safe there. 
• Working hard at the violin. In order to pass a song off, she needs to have it memorized. She works hard at this!
• Is an early riser.  She sets her alarm for 6 and is up with lunch packed and breakfast eaten before I make it out to the kitchen.
• Is making it through 3rd grade.  She is in an extremely tough class right now.  The first month was pretty much horrid.  She had to adjust to a new environment, with kids who had tough lives.  At a field trip to the courthouse/jail, I couldn't believe how many kids had parents or siblings in jail or in court at one time or another.  She has one boy in her class who is an extreme behavior problem.  Her teacher has recruited her to help because she is so patient.  While I am grateful she can help her teacher, it completely wipes her out by the end of the day.  One time when I asked her to be more patient with Wyatt she cried and said, "Mom, I spend all day with this boy laughing at me and being crazy/noisy and then I come home and hear the same from my brother, It just makes me tired!"  Poor girl.

Ashley

•  Is doing so well at the violin.  She has just started vebrato. . .It is so fun to hear her practice.  She doesn't love it right now, but I'm not worried about it - I just care that she practices and I hope she thanks me later.
• Dances beautifully!  Its fun to see her progress as a ballerina.  She has such grace as she dances around the house.
• Loves to cook.  This is such a blessing for me.  She is always ready to help in the kitchen.  Not so much the clean-up, but we are working on that.
• Is always reading.  In the past six weeks she has read at least 8 good sized books.  The first 3 books of Fablehaven, 3 or 4 of Roald Dahl books, 2 Harry Potter and The Princess Academy.  I love it!
• Still plays well with the other kids.  I know she probably gets bored with some of the pretend play, but I love that she is a good sport about it.  Tonight the kids were all trains.  They made their own sheds around the house and crawled around doing different things trains do.
• Loves having her hair done.  I wish I had more time or energy for this one because it is so fun when it is done!