Lydia Turns Five, End of School Year Fun

On Lydia's birthday, Tanja excitedly sent me these pictures while I was at work. We had a snapping turtle wandering through our yard that morning. Guess he was coming to wish Lydia a Happy Birthday.

Lydia built this structure out of Jenga blocks and was very proud of it. I like the design too.

The kids enjoyed finally packing Lydia's birthday piñata full of candy. It had been sitting in our family room or on the kitchen table for 3 months, and the anticipation had likely been building for a while.

The kids all got multiple sets of swings at the piñata once we hung it up.

Karina has a good swing and good follow-through.

Derek's technique could use some work.

Derek was ecstatic when he hit it and managed to get some candy to fall out.

We tried to teach Lydia to swing with two hands on the bat, but she seemed to like the one-handed approach.

Here's our excited five-year-old and her sister being silly playing with her new butterfly nets.

Lydia got a pretty dress with a matching doll dress that quickly went on her stuffed dog, Emma (replacing Emma's nightgown that Lydia also has a match for). When they are wearing these dresses, it is hard to tell where Lydia ends and Emma begins because the dresses work like camouflage.

Snoopy is getting old, but is still a very attractive beagle.  He is about 13 now by our count. We have had two dentists tell us that Snoopy has the teeth of a much younger dog - good for him!

Karina had an end-of-year picnic party at school and Tanja brought Derek and Lydia along to it. Derek was the life of the party with all of Karina's friends as they all mothered him and were thrilled to have a living doll they could play with.  They played patty cake, chicken dances, and tag with him and Derek loved the attention.  This was quite a contrast from Derek going to Lydia's classroom later that day for Lydia's class party where he was more of an annoying little brother that wanted to play with the same toys as the pre-k kids and was in the way.  Several pre-k kids complained to Tanja that Derek wasn't sharing, whereas the 1st grade girls just adored entertaining a 2-year-old.

Karina and her first grade teacher, Mrs. Hardy. Karina has loved being in her class and based on the comments from Mrs. Hardy when we have gone to the school, the feeling is mutual.

Karina had an end-of-year "bridging" ceremony for her girl scout troop as she moved from being a Daisy to a Brownie. The ceremony involved the girls crossing over the bridge and shaking their leaders' hands. Derek stole the show when Karina crossed as he ran over to her and gave her a big hug. Lydia decided that was worth doing too. Thankfully, none of the other siblings did anything like that since it would have made the ceremony last much longer, but I was touched at how supportive Lydia and Derek were.

We took a short drive to North Point State Park to play at the small beach area they have along the Chesapeake Bay this last weekend. The kids liked being there to play in the sand and warm water. I love this picture, I swear it's not Photoshopped, and we will probably print it out for our house.

The girls spent a lot of time sitting in the sand and letting the tide wash over them.

Lydia and Karina found a few small shells along the beach.

Derek mostly wanted to pick up handfuls of sand and throw them into the water (and in his hair).

We've started an annual measurement of heights every June, and here are their stats.  The measurements are from first thing in the morning, when all people are tallest.  Tanja also measured the night before and they were all about half an inch shorter than what is listed below.

Karina: 

50.0 inches (78th%)

50.2 pounds (45th%)

Lydia:

46.25 inches (97th%)

45 pounds (77th%)

Derek:

39.0 inches (99.5%)

35 pounds (95th%)