Fish Stories and Standing Stories

We have had a lot going on in the P household as of late. We’ve been busy, busy, busy! B is now officially in the busy season at the store so we’re all adjusting to the changes that brings.

Iris is busy planning her birthday party for her upcoming 7th birthday. What a big girl! This year she wants to have a kids sleepover party. Iris received the prize for the most pull-ups out of all first graders at her school. She did 29 pull ups. Wow. Not only is she smart and beautiful, she is athletic, too. She also did great during the running test. Go Iris.

Our goal with Iris right now is to get her to pick up after herself more. She really needs a lot of pushing to be organized and neat. It is tricky finding a balance between having realistic expectations for an almost 7 year old and pushing her to be more responsible. Her teacher told me that some kids are naturally neat and organized and others, like Iris, have big challenges in this area. It seems like a constant battle these days. During her Montessori preschool days Iris was much better about taking out one activity at a time and cleaning up before she got out another. We really need to instill that in her again somehow.

And Tavie is busy standing on her own without support. She stands right up without holding on to anything. Just a step away from being a big walker! She is thrilled with herself for such a big girl feat. Sometimes she giggles so hard while standing she makes herself fall down. Very cute. Kira isn’t quite there yet, but she wants to practice walking between me and B more than Tavie does. Any day now. Both the girls are cutting molars so they’ve been a bit more clingy and grumpy. Nap time has been hit and miss, but they are still sleeping great at night.

Saturday we headed out the door early for a big adventure at Underwater World. I used to take Iris there when she was Tavie and Kira’s age but we have not been for a long time. She used to absolutely love it so I knew T & K would. And they did. They were mesmerized by all the sharks and fish and turtles and stingrays. If you have never been, you go through a long series of tunnels which run under gigantic aquariums filled with different types of marine life. It is enormous and the fish, etc. are all around and above. It was so fun to see the twins’ reaction. They were so engaged their mouths were open and their eyes were wide. Very fun.

Here are some more pictures of our trip: