Kids update, just for fun

Camille bumped her foot this evening before bed and was crying and telling me about how much it hurt. She showed me the very specific little red mark on the side of her foot, where she had bumped it against the bedrail or something. I studied it, kissed it better, and then, as I held that little four-year-old foot in my hand, I realized once again, it's not a tiny little baby foot anymore. It kind of stinks, even. Shock! It's still cute and small, but not so very small as it seems like it was just last week... or month? or year, I guess?

They are growing up fast, all of them. Samantha is into Young Women's now, and is loving volleyball and personal progress goals. She always has a book in her hand and a plan in her mind for what she wants to be doing next. She is lovely. Truly.

Spencer is growing right through size 12 clothes right now, and is putting stains and holes in all of them. He plays hard and intense! We bought him three new pairs of jeans for Christmas, and already two of them have holes in the knees! He's picked up his interest in basketball again, and also likes wall ball and biking and just being outside. Homework with that boy is such. a. drag... for him AND me! We're still looking for that magic bullet to motivate him longer than ten minutes. sigh. He loves audio books right now and is finishing up the Fablehaven series. He gets a little obsessive about it, and a new series doesn't seem to last long enough. But we do occasionally use listening time as effective bribery for homework.

Natalie needs more cuddles and squeezes and talks on the couch with Mom, I can just feel it. Her enthusiasm, and her bright, smiling personality don't really allow her to be buried in the middle. But at the same time, I feel like I don't ever get a lot of one-on-one time with her. And I think she feels it, too. She is so impressionable, so curious about the world around her, about what other people do and think and feel. I have so much I want to teach her and tell her, if she will listen. She's doing really well in school and is excited to collect her Krispy Kreme donuts for her report card grades! yay!!

All three of the older kids were in a Missoula Children's Theater play this past week, "Beauty Lou and the Country Beast. If I can figure out how, I'll add some adorable pictures of them. Samantha was one of Beauty's older sisters, and had to pretend to be very snooty and fight with one of the other sisters constantly. She loved it. She got to sing and dance a lot and had several great lines. Spencer was one of the country folk, and helped with props, too. He sang several group songs and did a few group dances and had a couple of lines. He was really enthusiastic about being part of it, which was so fun to see! And Natalie was a "barnyard critter" and wore a little pig costume. She got to sing a little solo part at the end of her group's turn and did a great job. As she exited the stage, the main character called after her, "Get out of here, ya little Bacon Bit!" So now, she has kind of earned the nickname BaconBit, but she gets pretty indignant if we actually use it too much. So funny. ;)

I really like Missoula Children's Theater -- they have auditions on a Monday, the kids rehearse hard all week, for 2-4 hours after school. Then they perform twice on Friday, once on Saturday, and have a little cast party afterward with cookies and punch. The kids love it, and feel like they've been a part of something special and exciting. The plays are light and silly and sometimes don't make a whole lot of sense. But they're cute and musical and fun. It's a pretty intense week, but it goes by fast and then it's over... until next year.

And finally, little miss Camille is our big FOUR-year-old girl now! She had a birthday last Tuesday and was thrilled to celebrate with a fun party for all her preschool friends and cousin Elisabeth as well. She's so much fun around her and says the cutest things to me and Brian all day long. My favorite Camille-ism is the word "Amn't" -- as in, "am not." If you ask her if she's tired, she'll say, "no, I amn't!" It makes perfect sense, huh? We like to find ways of making her say it regularly. Today, she threw a little tantrum because I didn't show her one more princess YouTube video. It started with tears about wanting to watch TV, and then she ended by telling me, "the ONLY thing that could really ever cheer me up again is if you take me to JumpTime, RIGHT NOW!!!" ?!!? Like that was ever even an option?! Brian and I were both laughing, and then I cuddled her back to her happy self. Four is going to be fun, I'm sure!

That's all for tonight. In other less exciting news, I've folded lots of laundry today. And every day. of. my. mothering. life. (I'm sure you wanted to know, right?) That's the true story, though. Good night!