Update

David turned 4 on January 15th. We celebrated his big day with balloons and streamers, our b-day banner, McD's happy meals for lunch and a present at every meal and bedtime:-). He loves all his gifts, and (one week later) still plays with them daily...the fact that he hasn't lost any of the pieces is amazing to me! I can still remember the crazy trip to the hospital to deliver him like it happened yesterday, and yet here we are with a boy out of toddler-dom, decidedly organized and ready for pre-school!

Thank you to everyone who helped the girls MEET (and exceed by 11 boxes!) their Girl Scout cookie selling goals! I honestly didn't think it could be done, at least not in the 'old fashioned' way, and I am SO GLAD that the girls were able to prove me wrong :-). It seems that most moms in our troop buy x number of boxes (basically however many to get the prize their girl wants) and then will try to sell them at booths set up in approved locations after the initial order time. Personally, I wanted my kiddos to learn how to earn the prizes they wanted, and I know that this is one of those 'life skills' that will ultimately help them in the long run. They had to work super hard to get to the prize levels above pencils, and I KNOW they will take super-great care of their rewards once they arrive! The best reward for me was seeing how proud they were of what they accomplished. No one else in the troop even came close to their numbers!

We enjoyed a day out at the Boerne Nature Center this past weekend, and gave Ella's new fishing pole a try. No luck with the fish, but we did catch a LOT of algae, and 1 daddy long-legs we later released. Surprisingly, it was David who was the most terrified of both algae and spider, but the boy has no reservations about public nudity...we are going to have to work on that!

Claire is making the transition into her own big girl bed, and is thus far enjoying it. She is fiercely independent, and makes everyone smile with her happy, happy self. Our favorites with Claire are 1) she sings ALL the time, 2) she dances as much as she sings and 3) she is so shy & loving at the same time!

Natalie is working on her final song in her Suzuki book - this is considered the 'transition' piece, and she is coming along beautifully. Both Natalie & Ella are cruisin' on their piano instruction, and Grace is already on her 3rd song (and is rightfully very proud of herself:-) Ella is playing pieces on cello that I recognize, including hymns, and is just about ready for a full size instrument. I contribute a large part of their success to the absence of television in our home. It is just SO NICE! For our family movie nights, we have subscribed to Netflix, and we watch on the computer. We are SO enjoying the monthly savings, and the beautiful sounds of music and imaginative play!

Well, that is all I can think of to catch everyone up-to-date. Have a great week!

Love Much,

The Meissler 7