Sister Update

It’s been awhile since I did a sister update post, so here is a little about what Nina and Lyla are up to these days.  Nina is doing well with the transition to first grade.  She doesn’t like getting up early (6:45 is when her alarm goes off), and she’d rather be at home playing all day, but other than that, she seems to enjoy it pretty well.  She’s getting more used to being at school all day, but still loves to be home.  Lyla and I visit her for lunch every Wednesday, and we all look forward to that.  She still loves dancing, playing with friends, and imagine playing.  She’s a good little reader, she likes to play outside, and she is having fun on her soccer team.  She’s a good little girl, and we’ve been very proud of how she’s developing.

Lyla is spending this year doing preschool at home with me.  Originally, we had her enrolled in the same preschool that Nina went to, but at the last minute we decided to do preschool for her at home.  The plan was to get a few other kids to join us for a small group class, but that didn’t come about, so it’s just she and I.  Although she misses Nina during the day, she enjoys the one-on-one time she gets, and she’s my little companion for errands, grocery shopping, and just doing our thing during the day.  As I mentioned in my last post, she also really enjoys her soccer team.  Mini soccer doesn’t practice during the week, so she is very excited when Saturday comes around and she gets to play with her little team.  She plays hard and has a great time (pictures below are from her game this weekend).

One thing that we love about both girls is that just when they seem like they’re growing up too fast, something comes up that reminds us that they’re still young.  This past week was a little example of that.  Nina has had Froggy since she was born.  He was a gift given to us at her baby shower, and we put him in her crib when she was a baby, and he’s slept in her bed ever since.  He goes with us whenever we travel away for the night, and together with her blankie, they’re her most special “friends.”  On Thursday before school, she was very serious about it being Froggy’s birthday that day.  Froggy generally has several birthdays a year, but for some reason, this time she seemed a lot more serious when she was talking about it. 

So, while she was at school, Lyla and I decided that we would have a birthday party for Froggy.  When we decided that, Lyla also decided that it was the birthday of her horse, Fruit Snacks.  There is no other explanation needed for his name other than the fact that Lyla is completely obsessed with fruit snacks (the food), so why not name a horse Fruit Snacks?  We made cupcakes and made some birthday signs, and when Nina got home we surprised her with a party for Froggy and Fruit Snacks.  It was one of those things that was way low on the priority list that day, but deciding to do it really made them happy, and it was a good reminder for me to sometimes just forget the more important things on the “to do” list and opt for something that will mean something special to my family.

We know we are very blessed to have our two girls, and we’re genuinely enjoying this phase of life that our family is in.

  

  

 

 

(While Lyla plays, Nina enjoys watching her.  Today she brought along her little notebook to read in during the down time, but she likes to cheer Lyla on from the sidelines or help the coaches catch wayward balls.)