First up, the first born! Miss Katherine!
Well let's see...where to start. We have been homeschooling now for 1 1/2 years! Hard to believe! She is in first grade and doing very well. We have had quite a few challenges with reading, but after MANY different curriculums and ideas I think we have finally settled into a nice rhythm with the curriculum we are currently using. She CAN read, very well actually, but she gets easily frustrated when she doesn't get the word "perfect" the first time and then she just shuts down and quits. We're working on that. :) She is a whiz kid in math and easily breezes through her lessons like they are more fun and games than school work. She also has a very easy time with memory work and LOVES her CC class and classmates. She tried out gymnastics this past summer and fall and did really well with it, but has decided that she would rather try something new for this winter season. This is a big decision for her and she goes back and forth from archery (WHAT?!), tennis, swimming, karate and fencing. I have no idea where she gets these ideas from, but she is definitely a VERY creative little girl! I'm thinking we will look into tennis or karate since it is a bit chilly for swimming right now. :) I don't even want to think about the by-products of fencing and archery...I can only imagine what mischief she would get into with those particular skills! ;) Some of her favorite things include the following:
Favorite Color: Blue (although she still occasionally admit to liking pink and purple)
Favorite Food: Spaghetti
Favorite Movie: Princess Diaries (although I think she said that only because she JUST watched it. ;))
Favorite Character: She-Ra
Favorite Toy: Nintendo DS
Favorite Past time: Scootering, Swimming, Biking, Playing her DS, Watching movies
Favorite Person: Gray Gray (I think it's probably Andrew, but that's what she said...)
Favorite Subject: Math...still
Favorite Breakfast Food: Cocoa Puffs (she's never actually had these, but that was her answer)
Favorite Snack: Cheetos
As you can see she comes up with some very amusing answers. She definitely keeps us on our toes around here. Things we are working on include listening the FIRST time (she tends to talk her way out of things or just get distracted and never actually DOING what we've asked her to do.), getting rid of her lisp (she's in speech once a week), and cleaning up her room (it is typically a disaster zone in there!).
She is growing up so fast! It's hard to believe she was our first baby all those years ago! Where did the time go? She is such a sweet big sister and has a HUGE imagination and big heart. She is so caring and loves animals and nature. :)
Now for our second baby girl...Miss Caroline!!
Oh sweet Caroline. She has such a sweet spirit and she is very tender-hearted. She is now in Pre-Kindergarten at home and she so enjoys her CC class on Mondays! She is one of the tallest kids in her class, but is also one of the youngest! She's still skinny as a rail and is the only person on planet earth that actually looks cute in skinny jeans! ;) She is quite the picky eater and we have quite a time getting anything healthy into her tummy...but we are working on it! ;) She loves her math school work and she especially loves her time with Ziggy the Zebra. Ziggy is apart of our pre-reading curriculum and he works on letters, letter sounds and sight words with Miss C! She LOVES him and regularly asks "When is it time for Ziggy?!" She is full of life and has SO many facial expressions it's hard to keep up with them all! She definitely brings constant energy and enthusiasm to everything in the Hughes household!! She also tried out gymnastics this year and was really good for her age. She too decided she would try something different for the Winter, but we have yet to figure out what she really wants to do...not unusual for Miss C since her likes and dislikes vary from day to day. She is a definitely a girl that likes to change her mind whenever she pleases. ;) Some of her favorites are as follows:
Favorite Color: Pink
Favorite Food: Pizza Hut Pizza (with pepperoni) or Popcorn Chicken (it's a toss up)
Favorite Movie: Frozen
Favorite Character: Doc McStuffins
Favorite Toy: iPad
Favorite Past time: Scootering, Swimming, Biking, Watching movies, playing anything by herself and putting on make up, wearing jewelry and RUNNING!
Favorite Person: Andrew (she cannot keep her hands off of him...which is especially trying when she is sick!)
Favorite Subject: Language Arts (with Ziggy of course!)
Favorite Breakfast Food: Chocolate Chip Pancakes (made by Daddy of course!)
Favorite Snack: Cheetos
Caroline is our sweet, LOUD, full of energy, sensitive, constant motion, content to be by herself little girl. She L-O-V-E-S all accessories and doesn't generally leave her room without some sort of jewelry on. She used to be quite a neat freak, but that has waned a bit and her room is normally quite messy...although never to the level of Katherine's. ;) Things she is working on right now include lowering her voice inside the house, keeping her hands to herself (i.e. not ALWAYS all over Mr. Andrew), cleaning her room and following instructions. We never know quite what Miss Caroline will do or say, so she keeps things interesting around our house. She is so expressive and dramatic, but at the same time is perfectly content to go off and be in a corner by herself! She also loves flowers and is constantly picking them and bringing them inside...it's a wonder we have any left on the bushes outside! :)
And now for the lil guy that keeps us all running...Mr. Andrew!!
Mr. Andrew had his 15 month well visit this morning with the wonderful Dr. W. He is healthy as a horse and was quite a good patient. He just looked at Dr. W the entire exam and intently studied what he was doing. You could tell his little brain was quite interested in exactly what Dr. W was doing and trying to figure it all out. He definitely has quite a brain on him. He's always studying things intently and trying to figure out how things work. Definitely not like the girls at this point. Caroline studied things intently, but different from Mr. Andrew. He is a little "behind" in the speech at this point since he doesn't have more words that are understandable, but I am not the least bit worried about this since Miss Katherine didn't TALK until she was 2...and then it was in full sentences. Been there, done that...not worried. Mr. Andrew will talk when he's ready and not a minute sooner! :) He babbles constantly and does have some words like Mama, Dada, Bye Bye, Hi. He loves to wave bye bye to people and if you say "yay!" he will immediately start clapping. So cute. He also LOVES to make people laugh. He will scrunch up his nose and start breathing heavily and as soon as someone laughs he will just start belly laughing. So funny. He eats pretty well, but does have his moments where he refuses anything and everything. He's 1...he's allowed to be picky...for a bit. ;) He's walking all over the place and is never still for very long. His FAVORITE thing is climbing the stairs, which means I spend a lot of time during the day chasing him to keep him off of the stairs! He loves it when his sisters "chase" after him and he just cracks up laughing at pretty much anything they do. He loves them so much. It is so sweet to see such adoration on his face...and it is returned by the looks on their faces. It makes my heart so happy to see siblings love each other so much...let's just hope it stays that way! ;) Andrew also LOVES to play the drums! He will go into my dad's office, pull out the drumsticks, put one in each hand and then hit individual drums and then the cymbal. Pretty darn good for a 1 year old! He is also the BEST sleeper! At naptime and bedtime I give him some milk, kiss him goodnight, lay him down and he just happily looks up at me, waves "bye bye" and rolls over and goes to sleep! He sleeps most nights from 7:30pm until about 8am! He also generally takes a 3-4 hour nap in the afternoon! He is such a sweet boy and I call him my "saving grace." He is so sweet, calm and happy that it makes life so much easier since the girls are fairly demanding! :)
Here are Mr. A's stats at 15 months:
Height: 31.5"
Weight: 22 lbs
Head Circumference: 18.7"
Interestingly enough, he's pretty close to wear Caroline was at this point! Here are Katherine and Caroline's stats at the same age:
Katherine's stats at 15 months:
Height: 30"
Weight: 20 lbs.
Head: 18.5"
Height: 30"
Weight: 20 lbs.
Head: 18.5"
Caroline's stats at 15 months:
Height: 32"
Weight: 22 lbs.
Head: 18.5"
Weight: 22 lbs.
Head: 18.5"
Well I think that about sums up the Hughes crew! Hopefully I will be better about blogging for the rest of this year. ;) We shall see! We have lots coming up in the next few months! Chris and I have a trip planned to Colorado for a "Mommy and Daddy week" with NO kiddos!! Yippee!! Then we have Katherine's 7th birthday and Mommy's 33rd birthday! Fun stuff on the horizon! Until next time!
