Milestones Cont'd

Speaking of birthdays, this special little girl turned 4 at the end of September.

I am constantly amazed at who she is and what incredible talents God has given her. Our Melody is one smart, caring, funny, sweet, responsible, helpful, loving girl. There is no holding her back. We do preschool together at home, but she also participates in all of the 1st grade goings-on too. And I don't mean that she observes. No, she listens to the stories and answers questions, she makes up math scenarios and does her best to write down the addition/subtraction statements that go with them, she points out all kinds of patterns all throughout our day, and more. I have come to believe that she and I are a lot alike in the way our brains work. We are both mathematical, detailed types. Also, I seriously have never met a young child who is so responsible. We have been told by more than one person that she is "3 going on 30," or I guess now "4 going on 40?!" Melody is also an extremely loving child who still wants to rub her brother's soft hair every morning, even though he protests. She is just an amazing person and I cannot imagine life without her. She is a shining star that lights up our family in such a beautiful way. Happy 4th birthday, sweet girl!

To complete the birthdays, we celebrated one more today:


Happy 44th, Larry! Melody, of course, loves the fact that she is 4 and Daddy is 44. As for where we went out to eat...it was the kids' choice...any guesses? We try to encourage the kids to think of other people on their birthdays and give something special, so they decided that Daddy needed to go to McD's for a kids' meal, the epitome of special things! The girls were thrilled to discover that they were the ones who ended up with the kids' meals. Joseph was happy just to eat several little paper tubs of ketchup, as usual, which accounts for most of the mess on his face. Tomorrow we will eat at home and sing Happy Birthday to Daddy over some freshly baked brownies. Here's to a great year ahead!

Milestones

There have been numerous milestones around here lately. Let me share a few...

My grandmother turned 100 in July! We all enjoyed a special birthday celebration for her at a great little restaurant near her home. Happy Birthday, Oma!

My Aunt, My Grandmother, My Mother:

Oma with her only Grandchild (Me) and Great-grandchildren:

Joseph is 1 and she is 100. Wow. Can you imagine the changes she has seen in her lifetime? Add to that the fact that she came to this country from Europe by herself when she was only 16, not speaking a word of English, and you get one pretty amazing story. I am sad to think that we probably don't have many more birthdays together, but I am so glad we could be there for this one.

Okay, I know I said I'd share a few milestones, but I am realizing that I need to get pictures off of the camera first. I will aim to finish this up tomorrow night!