Making Strides

It's hard to believe that Georgia Claire has been in therapy now for over two years! We are seeing HUGE strides in her development, especially her fine motor skills. Her little hands have had little to no muscle tone & now she's able to open bottles, pull stickers off a page with ease, use tweezers, and hold her crayon or marker or pencil the correct way! YIPPEE! 

I've made some simple activities that she enjoys doing at home. Here she is using large tweezers to pick up cotton balls & put into/take out of a divided container. She's even sitting like a big girl now! No more "W" position where she is putting stress on her hips & knees. Kids with low muscle tone find the "W" sitting position comfortable because they do not have to engage their core but it is SO VERY BAD for them! It has been an ongoing struggle for us but she's now correcting herself! 

 I love how she concentrates so...

Another thing we've been working on is the "O"position with her thumb, pointer & middle fingers when holding her crayon or pencil instead of putting all of her fingers around it. She is now doing it without even thinking about it! Such a big girl!

Another activity I made was painting with q-tips where she has to trace the letters holding the q-tip the right way. Such concentration...

 And OH SO PROUD OF HERSELF!

 One more activity that's simple but has been very hard for her in the past is pulling stickers off the page. One day she asked me if she could "decorate" her tray with stickers & of course I said yes! It was after lunch & she sat on the floor working so hard. I let her be & went about my usual picking up, etc. after lunch time. About 30 minutes after she began, I looked over & found her like this...ASLEEP! Look at alllllll of those stickers! She worked SO hard she completely wore herself out!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this big girl?!?!

Random November

The month of November--heck, who am I kidding?!--the past 4 months have been so busy that I haven't had time to blog. SO, I'm playing catch up tonight & it's probably not making much sense. You see, I'm not the mom who writes down every cute thing my girls do or say or make a scrapbook page for every event. I'm lucky if I even REMEMBER the events or get to them on time! I love being a mom  & I wish I was more organized with scrapbooking & keeping records of memories. One of the main reasons I have this blog is so that I have SOME kind of record of when things happened...not the best, but it'll have to do right now. Maybe one of these days I'll actually have baby books filled up & scrapbooks completed...

These are random pictures from the month of November that I had on my phone that I loved for one reason or another. 

I love Georgia Claire's blue eyes & yellow finger nail in this pic...

 Every time I ask the girls to stand somewhere so that I can take their picture, this is where they stand...

Out of the blue the other day Ivy Jane said, "Georgia? I love you. You're my sister." So precious & so simply stated but OH SO TRUE! These girls, even though they have no blood relation, are sisters. They are best friends. They are playmates. They are roommates. They are sisters! Makes my heart swell & brings tears to my eyes...

 We had a fun day at the Ft Worth Stockyards with Mimi & Granby & I didn't get many pics on my phone. They LOVED watching the longhorns & even had their first pony ride!

 The weather was great during our visit to Keller. We even got to play at the playground awhile!

Getting the farm ready to sell Christmas trees is always a fun family tradition.

 Posing with Mrs. Emily, after great hair cuts!

 Thanksgiving Feast Day...Ivy Jane was Laughing Butterfly (she came up with her own name!)

 And Georgia Claire was Brown Bear...and a proud one at that!

 I love this picture that I took one random Saturday morning...GC's face is PRICELESS! SHE LOVES HER DADDY!

We had Thanksgiving lunch at Aunt Heather & Uncle Julian's new home...a wonderful meal & time of thankfulness together. (And of course, I didn't get any good pics of that either--what's WRONG with me?!) Heather is always so good to have activities for the girls to play!

 Puppy Emmi loves Heather. She sits in her lap like a little girl...so precious!

 Opening weekend of the farm...PawPaw with all of his grandkids & a couple of extras!

 Cousin Will starting trouble on the hayride...

 Hopefully I can continue posting in the next day or two with some more insightful, thoughtful posts...it's late & I'm going to bed!

Pumpkin Patch & Fall Festival

October was also filled with visits to the pumpkin patch & a fall festival with the cousins. Great memories with our big girls!

Georgia Claire ready to go!

 ...with some of her buddies...

 And her class...

Mrs. Smith has been such a blessing! GC is making HUGE strides in her development! I think she will be READY when kindergarten arrives!

Ivy Jane's class went the following day & also had a blast. It was a little more difficult to get pictures of the 3 year olds! I didn't get a picture of her teacher Mrs. Turner?!

 This was her favorite pumpkin...

 For Halloween we had a couple of insects...a precious little ladybug & an adorable bumblebee!

The first people we saw at the fall festival were Cinderella & Snow White (cousins Mary Katherine & Caroline)...

SO EXCITED!

 And one of the perks of your PawPaw driving his vintage John Deere tractor pulling the hayride? You get to help him drive!!!!! (Georgia was too busy playing games & getting candy!)

Little Rock

Back in October we took a quick trip to Little Rock, AR. What a great little trip it was! We had a great time getting out of town & seeing some new scenery. The girls LOVE staying in a hotel, ESPECIALLY when we can get a suite & they have their own little room. The couch folded out into a bed & they were able to watch a movie on my laptop & play...they had a BLAST! It's the little things...

Blurry but OH SO SWEET!

The highlight of the trip was a trolley ride through town...it was such a pretty day & we enjoyed seeing the sights of the city while riding. Georgia wanted a lesson on how to take a "selfie"!

She did pretty well! 

Shelby was good at pointing out the sights...

Ivy Jane was so excited she didn't know where to look!

What a faithful God we have...just FIVE years after all of the heartache & sadness of failed fertility treatments here I am walking down the street hold hands with my 3 year old & 4 year old...

All in all, a great trip with my terrific husband & beautiful girls...TRULY BOUNTIFUL BLESSINGS!

TRUST

What's the greatest gift ever to this momma?! TIME ALONE! Shelby gave me the very best gift this past weekend when he took Georgia & Ivy Jane to see his parents. I love my girls, but after a long summer of mommy duties, it was so nice to get a weekend off! In the 2+ years that we've lived here in Louisiana, I've never spent the night at our home alone. My mom came over for awhile & we shopped & shopped & shopped...'til we dropped! After she left I ate out by myself & just enjoyed being BY MYSELF...such a great break! I have to admit though, when they got home on Sunday I was missing them like crazy but felt rested & ready to play! 

After a fashion show of the new clothes I'd bought them, Georgia Claire wanted to work some puzzles...a great activity to strengthen those hand muscles!

 And working on her memory cards...she lined them allllll up!

 After making homemade pizza for my sweet family we headed to the backyard for some playtime!

This morning I was woken up at 5AM by Miss Ivy Jane. Of course, she went right back to sleep but I was wide awake! So I took the time, while the house was quiet, to pray & have my quiet time with the Lord. I have to admit, it's not every day that I do this, especially early in the morning. I'm SO not a morning person but with them starting preschool this past week it has given me the kick in the booty that I need to get our day going earlier & it feels SO GOOD! Looking at Facebook this morning my news feed was filled with first day of school pictures & it put a HUGE lump in my throat. I thought about our sweet Georgia Claire starting Kindergarten next year & ALMOST had a panic attack! And then, I read "Jesus Calling" & today's title was "TRUST ME". One line read, "Instead of desperately striving to maintain order and control in your little world, relax and remember that circumstances cannot touch MY PEACE." Ok Lord...got it! You got this. And I have another year to prepare my heart & enjoy our big girl. So I WILL trust you...and spend a little more time...sliding!

BIG Girls & Big Girl School

This has been a HUGE week in our household. Not only are the girls growing right before my very eyes, but they started BIG GIRL school this Monday. Georgia & Ivy Jane now attend a preschool Monday-Friday 8:30-11:30. It has already proven to be such a GREAT thing! Each class has less than 10 kiddos & their teachers are certified...WOOHOO! Not only does it give me time each morning to run errands or clean or paint furniture or whatever it is that I need to do, it gives them time to play & have fun with other children & to learn from someone besides Momma. WE ARE BLESSED! It's no secret that education in the state of Louisiana is not exactly top-notch, so we feel very thankful to have found a private school with a director who has her PhD in education, 30+ years experience, & all certified teachers with an incredible curriculum! Thank you, Lord! 

Trying out their new "kicks" for school...

And on their first day of school!

Each day as I pick them up they get in the car & before they get get buckled in they are telling me what they learned, what they sung, what they played, who they played with, & what they had for snack! On Friday, Georgia's teacher told me that she is "blossoming & becoming so social!" She said, "it's been so much fun to watch!" WOW! In a week?! The main reason we started preschool is because Georgia's OT thought she needed the consistency in a smaller environment in order to be successful & gain confidence before Kindergarten.  I can not wait to watch them BOTH grow & learn this school year!