Milestone

Well now that Piper has turned 5 we have been busy getting her registered for Kindergarten, screened for school and her 5 year well check with the Doctor. She is very excited for school and is happy that there is a chance that her friend Ashley from church may be in her class. She's also done great with her screenings and falls in the middle-high end of the spectrum so there is nothing to worry about there. She's also still not 40lbs, she's 39.2 as of this morning, in the 46 percentile and about 76 percentile for height. We did have a little scare this morning however, the nurse who took her initial blood pressure registered it at 114 or something like that, if kids are over 111 then they are worried about high blood pressure. After the appointment the Doctor took it again and she was down to 104 which is I guess in normal range. Seems still high to me since it was only 10 beats different but the Doctor was not concerned and she's pretty cautious about things.

Now we just have to wait until August to hear back from her school to see if she ends up in the morning or afternoon class and what her bussing schedule will look like. I still haven't decided if I'm going to coordinate the girls' school schedules or keep one home while the other is in school. On one hand I would get one on one time with each of them, while they would get some space from eachother. On the other hand I will have quite a daily schedule of getting one here and the other there. Reagan is currently enrolled for 2 days per week in the morning but if I feel she's ready I may change that to 3 days per week in the afternoon. It's a wait and see game on how much she progresses through the summer and if I feel she can handle being in class with 3, 4, and 5 year olds. As of right now I would say no way is she ready but who knows months from now what she'll be up to.

Brecken's Baptism

What a wonderful day, we got to watch Brecken being baptised and I got to become a Godmother! She was all smiles and giggles in the beginning.

Hey, what are you doing? You aren't dunking me in there are you? She actually didn't even flinch during the water, it was after the last scoop that she wanted to be upright again and started getting upset.

I went a little overboard on the cake, only a quarter of the bottom tier was eaten. Well it was fun to make.

After the water he carried her around the church in the cradle position, she would have been fine if he just sat her upright, poor girl, she never cries!

Ice Skating and Birthday fun

We decided to take the girls ice skating last Saturday for their first time. Piper started getting the hang of it and enjoyed falling, she just thought that was hilarious. The rental skates were not the best, they were pretty uncomfortable for Jason and I, I can only imagine how the kids' feet felt in them.
See, falling with all that padding isn't so hard. Piper's biggest challenge was accidentally turning herself around in a circle and loosing balance. If Reagan would have gotten up on her feet we may have tried skating longer. It was a short trip, I think 45 minutes tops.

Holly came over to visit last Saturday and ended up entertaining the kids and reading Reagan her bedtime story. Thanks Holly!

Reagan enjoyed skating as much as hanging from our arms until she reached the snowbank. She just happily sat still in the snowbank until we moved her under the bridge where she spent the second half of her time hanging out. Now if we were being clever we would have wrapped a bottle in a brown bag and posed her for some good photos.

We had Piper's Birthday party on Sunday (after the Vikings big win) so everyone was in a good mood and I kept shoveling food at everyone. Piper ended up hiding under the bed for the first 20 minutes until we persuaded her to come down to open her presents. She was so excited and then when everyone actually arrived she was too shy to come out.

Reagan was all about socializing!

Not a great photo but I was trying to get pictures of everyone who was here.

Here's her CandyLand inspired cake. I should have started it a day earlier as I just ran out of time to really execute the details the way I wanted to. It was a big hit with the kids though.

Yes, I know these are out of order.

Reagan and her Papa's had matching hairdo's.

You can't really tell but Dad does have a pony tail back there.

Sweet Baby B. She is so funny, she poses for the camera, as soon as she knows it's there she makes a funny face, she just gets cuter everyday!

We topped off the Birthday celebrations with a surprise trip to Chuck E Cheese on Piper's Birthday.

Layla even got a present, apparently Skye was afraid of her new toy so Layla took hold. It was a great toy for 5 days, it went into the trash today after she removed all the stuffing and squeeky toy.

We all cringed as the kids spit on, err blew out the candles. As soon as they were out the hands started grabbing the suckers.

brrr - Florida

It's cold down here so we've been exploring places other than the beach or pool. Here we went to Shell World where they have a petting zoo and other animals to look at. Piper and I decided to ride a dino.
Donkey for Niki - we were told to keep our distance as they put her on a diet and she would try to eat our hands, purses, anything she could get her mouth near.

Pretty peacocks

Parrots, we see these all over by the marina

Piper, Clay and Kathleen were swarmed by some hungry ducks/geese/sea gulls etc.

Swinging at the park

Look at that cute alligator (above)

big guy!

New hatchling

New Year's Eve, it was gorgeous that night, warmer than most of the days we've been here

I have not ventured into the pool, somehow even when it's 80 it feels frigid, not so much for the girls, they enjoyed a quick swim earlier in the trip

this picture explains it all - brrr!

We are having a great time here in Florida but it is cold. Yes, I know it's been below zero at home and we are very thankful to be here and enjoy being able to go outside even if it entails many layers of clothing. I think on Wednesday it should be about 58 and Thursday looks like the nicest day at 63. Hopefully we will get to the beach that day.