Anton

Anton got to play with his percussion group at school at the Wortham center lobby Friday night before a SPA (Society for Performing Arts) show.  For my non-Houston readers, the Wortham is the big theater downtown where the ballet and opera perform, along with various SPA shows.  It was a real treat for all of us.  It was a late show, so the girls were at home with their favorite babysitter :)

The show was called Scrap Arts Music.  Here's a YouTube link to give you a taste http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2WcdRBKDo8&feature=related.  It was a really fun show, and the K Park percussion kids got to sit in the front row.  Anton was inspired and built a non-traditional marimba type instrument out of scrap wood we had laying around on Saturday.

 

So more about Anton...

- He LOVES percussion and music in general.  He's really good at it.  I love to watch him play and I am amazed at his talent.  It makes me praise God for the gift of music that He gives us.

- He is getting ready to apply to colleges this summer - I think the first admissions open up at the end of August (for starting in Fall 2012).  He's taking an SAT class right now.  His grades are really really good, but he's never had a knack for standardized tests, so he's working hard to get a good score later this spring.  He wants to study engineering - specifically something like biomechanical engineering related to robotics (think I- Robot prosthetic arm that Will Smith had).  Interestingly enough, he may end up majoring in electrical engineering because that's the aspect of robotics he's most excited about.  He's been wanting to go to UT, but their engineering school is VERY hard to get into.  He'll probably apply there, but it's a longshot.  They take kids in the top 8% of their high school class.  Anton is in the top 12%.  We're very proud of him!  We're also thinking about A&M and Baylor, but there's a few others too. 

- I think he's 6'2" now.  He can wear his dad's dress pants, which is handy, except their sizes are hard to buy in stores.  I guess most American men aren't so tall & thin.  We might do some shopping when we go to Holland for spring break.  There's lots of tall & thin guys there.  He can't wear his dad's shoes because his feet are too big for them.  He is not as big across the shoulders as Tony.

- He has a girlfriend named Allison.  She's really really nice.  We like her.  She's a senior, so he gets to go to prom this year.  When I was in high school in Georgia Juniors went too anyway, but here only the Seniors go.  We don't know yet where she's going to school next year, so that will be interesting. 

- He didn't play soccer this year because we thought there would be too many conflicts between band and varsity soccer (he played JV before) and keeping up with homework.  He's missing it and plans to play next year.  By then he'll be accepted to college and won't be so hard pressed with grades and studying for the SAT. 

- He is adored by his little sisters and his little brother too.  We think he'll be a really fun dad someday.  A long time from now.  Like at least 10 years. 

- He is the messiest member of our household full of somewhat messy people.  I try to work on that with him some.  I tell him it will help him avoid marital conflict someday.  I don't think he's convinced. 

- He is a social butterfly (is there a different phrase for this for men?)  He gets this talent from his mother.  It really is a gift.  He can talk to anybody and makes other people laugh a lot and feel comfortable. 

 - He is talking to his dad right now about figuring out how to generate electricity with magnets.  This is what he thinks about in his spare time.  I think electrical engineering will be a good fit for him!  His dad is falling asleep because he has jetlag, but Anton keeps trying to keep him awake.  "Dad wake up!  This is important.  I'm about to make a breakthrough!!"  They are making me laugh.  They both do that a lot and I love that about them!

Parties, Bubbles, and Pappa's home!

We've got to go to a couple of fun birthday parties last weekend. First was Thomas's 3rd birthday at the playground.

Cupcakes are always so exciting and yummy!! There's Thomas and his little sister "KK".

Then Emma got to go to a classmates party - Ella - at a gymnastics place. Emma loved the jumping A LOT!!!!

Here's video's of Emma jumping on the long running trampoline and one with the birthday girl Ella (in the green leotard). Anna got to spend the afternoon at Joanna's house so everyone was happy!
Here's a couple of cute videos from last week - blowing bubbles and marching around to Barney music. :)

Tony went to see his mom again last weekend and then spent the week at his company's London office. He got back yesterday afternoon. We were all very excited to see him! Anna made him do races with her while Emma was trying to take a nap.






Then Emma woke up and they wanted to swing for a while. Here's a fun video of Anna showing Pappa how independent she is on the swing.

Some silly cuddling with Pappa this morning. We're all so happy to have him home!!!!!

Emma

- will be 3 in about 6 weeks!!! :O
- still likes for me to hold her and lays her head down on my shoulder.
- LOVES puzzles! She can do a few 24 piece puzzles all by herself. She also loves to color and blow bubbles. She has figured out how to do it well without my help. It is so nice to see/hear her and Anna blowing bubbles in the backyard sweetly together while I fold laundry or clean the kitchen. Until she starts popping Anna's bubbles. Anna fusses at her, and I think she thinks that is fun to get her sister upset.
- has been a little more fiesty as a 2 1/2 year old than when she was younger. She likes to yell no at me and bug her sister (the bugging part goes both ways). She occassionally hits/pushes Anna and then hollars at me when I put her in time out, then cries "I wan my bunneee".
- still has the cutest voice I've ever heard. My stepmother once called it "ear candy". I think she has a little bit of a lisp, but I usually understand everything she says, unless she has a mouthful of food.
- still sucks her right index finger about 1/2 of her waking hours. (maybe why she has a lisp?) She's got an appointment to get her teeth cleaned for the 1st time in a few weeks, so I am bracing myself for a lecture from the dentist about that. I guess I'll have to figure out how to break her of this habit eventually... so not looking forward to that.
- still holds onto her bunny about 1/2 of her waking hours, usually while she's sucking her finger. She likes to smell it. (yes it does get washed 2-3 times a week!) She wraps it around her index finger and holds onto it with her thumb while pressing it against her nose with her 2nd finger. We go on bunny hunts at least once a week, but she is getting better at keeping track of it herself.
- loves to run and walk and JUMP! and swing. She will walk about a mile with me on our walks with Junior. She usually picks up a stick or 2 along the way, just like big sister. We usually walk along a ditch near our house, and they like to pull up these grassy clovery weed things and put it in the middle of the path and say they're leaving grass for the horses to eat. :) I always liked taking Junior for walks with them, but it is more fun now without a stroller.
- screams like I'm leaving her if I get more than a few feet ahead of her on walks or in the store or at the library or leaving school, etc. This happens quite often because she's always getting distracted so I continue on knowing that she will follow me - always turning back watch her of course and make sure I don't get too far ahead. She acts like it's very traumatic. At first it stressed me out, but I'm getting used to it I think.
- LOVES to ride her bike. When she first learned how, she would fuss and say she wanted to go faster. Now she can go as fast as she wants, and is really good at stopping. She seems to be relatively fearless, and has just fussed a little and gotten right back on the few times she has fallen. I imagine Tony will teach her to do it without training wheels once the time changes and he can do it after work.
- is very tall and skinny. I think she's taller than Anna was at this age. She can wear the same size short sleeve shirt as Anna. Her torso is about the same size as Anna's but arms and legs are shorter. She can wear some shorts (that started out as capri's) that I bought her at the end of summer 2009.
- is NOT potty trained. I put her in underwear at Thanksgiving because she was going potty several times a day. It started out great but after a month of not progressing beyond having to convince her to go potty all day and cleaning up a couple of accidents daily, I put her back in diapers. She was totally fine with that, and so am I. Diapering an almost 3 year old is way easier than running after a not wanting to stay dry almost 3 year old. She has shown no interest in going potty since then but will do it before getting in the tub. I guess at some point after her birthday I'll initiate the whole thing again if she's not doing it herself.
- is a very good eater, but is not a big fruit lover. I don't understand not loving fruit, but I get some in her every day. She LOVES oatmeal with honey and sweet potatoes. She also loves sweets of course, but is satisfied with the limited amount I let her have.
- loves Buzz Lightyear. She has been telling me she wants a Buzz Lightyear party. She still loves Thomas the train too, but not quite as much as last year. She has also fallen in love with the Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious books. She learned "delectable" from Fancy Nancy and uses it to tell me something is yummy.
- likes to play along with the pretend things Anna makes up. She probably does more pretend play than Anna did at this age because she has a big sister to follow along with this. It is very cute to hear them talking about taking their babies on a trip or being a frog family or whatever.
- also loves to color. I love coloring. It keeps them busy for relatively long periods of time and they love it and it's creative and not messy.
- is not picky about what clothes she wears. I just pick something out and put it on her. I can probably count on one hand the number of times she has ever told me she didn't want to wear something. I like this about her. Anna, by the way, picks out her own clothes every day and has since she was about 18 months old. I do make her more or less match, and she thankfully submits to that.
- seems to like "Anna's" friends more than any of the kids her age that I've tried to encourage friendship with, probably because she sees them more often and she's used to hanging out with a 4 year old all the time. This morning on the way to school, Emma, out of the blue, says: Mama I'm thinking about Aiden.
ME: Which Aiden honey, Logan's big brother Aidan or Seth's big brother Aiden? (there are 2 of them in our life).
Emma: Aiden's big brother. (hmmmm... not quite getting it...)
ME: the one with blue eyes or brown eyes?
Emma: the one with white eyes.
Hahahaha!!!

A dirty kitchen is beckoning me....

Anna

- seems like such a big kid in so many ways!
- loves LOVES loves school! The teachers love her too. They say she is always very good and polite and thoughtful of others.
- I wouldn't say "always" at home, but she is a pretty good kid. She listens and obeys pretty well for an almost 4 1/2 year old.
- Has really started using her imagination alot. I always hear her making things up to play with Emma. She likes to pretend that she is Emma's mother a lot lately. When they do this, she calls Emma "kid". As in "hey kid, do you want something to eat?"
- is nicer to her sister with each passing day it seems. She had a long way to go, but these days the conflicts usually come from the 2 year old in the relationship.
- seems to really pay attention to the things I try to teach her. It really helps for things to be reinforced at school and even on TV shows. The idea of eating healthy was on one of her favorite shows recently, so she's always telling me that we have to eat healthy food before we eat sugar. She REALLY loves sweets, but is very good about eating healthy and not asking for more sweets than the limited amount I allow. I am VERY thankful for this!
- can write her name pretty perfectly. She's not super interested in writing many other letters, but she does really like E's and m's (so she can write Emma's name).
- doesn't nap more often than she does nap. When Emma is asleep, I spend a little time with her doing something educational. I got a wonderful toy/game from my dad to practice sounding out words, and she loves it. I have to do a lot of coaching still, but I'm just thrilled that she enjoys things like that.
- loves to run. Sometimes she will go back and forth between the fence in the backyard "practicing her running".
- loves to swing. She's been swinging by herself for about a year I think. She can even get going when she can touch the ground. She also likes to swing a lot when we go to playgrounds. I don't really get that since we have a swing in the backyard, but it's fun to see her happy.
- is kind of like her mom with the bike. That means that she gets nervous on it. I know this probably comes as a shock, but I didn't ride my bike without training wheels until I was 8. Tony had her riding without training wheels a while back, but I think she must have wrecked and gotten scared so she back with the training wheels. She's very good at it, but doesn't love it like say, Emma or Anton as a child. Of course we'll all hoping this will change with gentle encouragement!
- likes to talk about God. The other day I read a Bible verse (Isaiah 41:10) and paraphrased it to say "and I will hold you in my strong right hand". She said "so God has one strong hand and one not strong hand?" HAHA!! I told her both of his hands are strong. I think she must have been pondering that because about an hour later she asked me - "Mama, is God stronger than Gaston?" (the big buff handsome but not so nice guy from "Beauty and the Beast"). I told her yes, he is. He is stronger than everyone". So God being strong has been on her mind a lot lately and it comes up in conversation often.
- likes to say she is strong, curl her arms up in a flex, and tell me to feel her muscles. She's always cracking me up!
- is still tall and skinny! I think she's still wearing pants that used to be capris and are now long shorts from 2 summers ago. I have passed some capris/shorts down to Emma, mainly because Emma needs them, but Anna could still wear. Anna is bearly wearing a 4 in several things, but things like short sleeve shirts and dresses are a 5. It doesn't help that different brands fit so differently! Even at the Children's Place, where I buy about 1/2 of all their clothes, the style of something makes a big difference in what size will fit them best.
- has been asking me a lot lately to take her to gymnastics. I've looked around and luckily the best schedule/most flexible is right around the corner. I'll be able to put Emma in the same class. We'll start soon I think!
- says she wants to be a mama like me when she grows up. I've explained that she needs to have a job first before having kids, so she wants to build airplanes. Tony takes her to a little place near the airport that is close to the end of a runway. She likes to watch the big planes fly close over her head. I'm thinking that's where the idea came from. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we end up with 3 engineers.
- loves to color. She has gotten pretty good at coloring in the lines. I think crayons and coloring books are a fabulous invention!

Happy Birthday Joanna and Natalie and Happy Valentines!

Last Friday we went to Natalie's and Joanna's birthday party. It was great fun!! Natalie's 2nd birthday was a few weeks ago, and Joanna's birthday is next week. I wish I could pull off a joint birthday party! Anyway, here's Anna and Natalie looking at "Gran's" computer thing. Joanna and Natalie have a wonderful Gran and don't mind sharing her a little with my girls. We decorated cookies and Joanna and Natalie got candles for theirs.

Anna liked it alot!!

Natalie likes Thomas a lot, just like Emma.

We got Joanna a bike and helmut. I had a different present for her already, but when I was working Baby Daze a few weeks ago, I noticed this bike for $5. I was thinking WOW I sure wish this had been around when we were buying a bike!!! Then I wondered if Jessica would want if for Joanna, so I called her, and after a few conversations about it, we decided it should be her present from us. It also included a helmet of course, because I love Joanna's brain! It was in good shape, but Tony took great joy in cleaning it up and adjusting the chain. She liked it, and you can check out pictures of her riding it on the Pence blog. Last week I bribed Anna to let me fix her hair a few times - the bangs in the face were driving me nuts. Well Saturday, she brought me this doll and said she wanted me to fix her hair like the doll. HA! After explaining that her hair won't do that, I came up with this...And Emma wanted pigtails.She's saying "cheese" here.As you can see, I didn't quite braid all the pigtails. Anna only lasted through braiding half of them, but it was good enough for hanging around the house. Tony took her on a walk to the playground while Emma took a nap (I LOVE Saturdays!!).Saturday night Tony and I went to the special Valentine's dinner at the church. They had free childcare!!!! And Solo Gratia sang - it's our women's ensemble. Three of my good friends are in it. Here they are singing "Diamond Are a Girls Best Friend". Aren't they cute? When Anna saw this picture, she told me that when she grows up, she wants to sing on stage at the church like Mrs. Jessica. :) Oh how I wish I could teach her to sing!!! Don't worry, we do plenty of singing around my house, but my joyful noises are usually off-key!!Sunday afternoon - It was a BEAUTIFUL day so we ate lunch outside. Anna is smelling the rose I got at the Valentine dinner...

And Emma's turn. And I am caught up with blogging! There aren't even any pictures on any cameras to download!! It's probably about time to do some pictureless posts with random facts about all the kids.

Winter fun!

Tony got some snuggles on the hammock on a nice day before all the cold fronts.Anna had Princess and Pirates day at school a while back. This is the outfit and book she picked to bring.

Sharing a drink outside under the fort.

We went to a 40th birthday party for our friend Will a few weeks ago at Tin Roof - a fun BBQ place with a playground. I realized when we got there that I forgot Emma's shoes. It's not uncommon for her to protest getting her shoes on so I just bring them in the car. I set them out but left them at home!! Luckily it's not a fancy place, and I just let her ruin her socks on the playground! The best girlfriends!

There's the birthday boy on the right.

Anna and Emma are pretending to go to sleep in the living room. I'm sure it was a funny story about where and why they were going to sleep, but I don't remember what it was.

Emma recently found an old monogrammed bib and likes to include it with dress up fun! She's getting mareweed.

Anton and Tony were supposed to visit Baylor for 2 days a couple of weekends ago. There was snow predicted everywhere but they said it probably wouldn't get cancelled, so off they went. Our school district cancelled school the afternoon before, and this is all we got...

I guess maybe there might have been a little ice on some bridges, but I thought it was pretty silly to cancel school before they even knew for sure what would happen. It worked out great for us though. Waco actually got a decent amount of snow and cancelled the campus visits. Of course Tony and Anton were already there, so they got to play in the snow and headed back. Tony took some pictures on his phone that I'll have to post later. At least Anton didn't have to use a college visit day from school since ours was cancelled too. Anton got to do a little race at the YMCA with his girlfriend since he came back early.

More daddy-daughter cuddles...Playing doctor...This is a funny video of the girls. I took it on my new camera. I love being able to take little videos with sound now!! They put all this stuff on the coffee table and sat up there and said they were on a plane. Listen to the story. :)

This video is of Anna checking out the ice sheet on the fort.

More January Pictures

More pictures from my Dad's visit. Surprise!

Papi was helping Emma learn how to throw a frisbee.

Mamie coloring with Anna...Anna gave up her room for our guests and had a slumber party in Emma's room. She thought it was way fun! If Emma ever gives up her crib, I'll try to get them in the same room all the time. She LOVES her crib!Anton's eyes are closed.Now Elaine's...That's better!Playing with Mamie and Papi's Christmas present!Goodnight hugs...

And back downstairs after bathtime for more snuggles.

At the region orchestra concert later in the month... Anton's girlfriend Allison made it into the region orchestra too. She plays clarinet. They actually met at the region orchestra concert last year. She goes to the other high school in Kingwood!I wonder how well he's learning his Physics this way... Sweet dreams!