9

I can't believe our sweet girl was born 9 years ago today. Nine year old Eliza:

• is a total math geek. She plays Think Through Math and a game called Set for fun.
• is the teacher's pet again this year. When her teacher gets overwhelmed by students asking questions and needing individual instruction she sends some of them to Eliza so Eliza can explain it to them. 
• is kind. One of her classmates is from Russia. I met her mother at a birthday party recently and the mother said, "Eliza is so kind and smart. When Alisa doesn't know a word Eliza always explains it to her."
• is very into girl power. She was crushed by Hillary's loss but immediately went into her room to change her shirt for school and wore her hero shirt "for Hillary."
• is a great big sister. One of my favorite things in the world is to watch Eliza read to Ezra. 

She's all I could have asked for and more and we love her so much. 

Spring Break 2016

We had such a good spring break, the kind of spring break that makes settling back into our regular routine hard. We went to 5 or 6 playgrounds. Ez started off the weekend by asking for me to take him to the playground where we had his dinosaur party. He climbed all over the playscape like a monkey. Other parents routinely comment on his climbing prowess, sometimes they're impressed and sometimes they're horrified because they think (incorrectly) he'll need my help. He discovered a great swing under a huge old tree and had a blast.

We also went to San Antonio for a couple of days with my BFF and her kids. The kids loved staying in a hotel room together, swimming, going to the zoo, the Doseum and on a train ride.

Scott took the kids for donuts, then they spent the day at Mt. Bonnell.

I also took them to Mayfield Park and Ezra fed a peacock. We went on a big hike and the kids slid all the way down a big hill on their bottoms, which they thought was hilarious.

We also went to Lady Bird Lake with Marshall and Janet and their kids and ended up randomly eating at Joe's Crab Shack when it became clear that the kids couldn't soldier on without French friends and the adults were in need of a cocktail.

We ended the week by celebrating Eli and Ryan's birthdays (more playground) time and meeting up with Emily and Duval and family (even more playgrounds).

Beautiful weather, the kids are at super fun and easy ages and we got to see so many friends! We are so lucky.

No more training wheels

So, it's been forever since I've blogged (mostly because I use Facebook instead) but Eliza is doing an assignment this week that required me to look back at this old blog. She needed the dates for her first word, first step, etc. and I had to look back on the blog to remember! Which made me think that poor Ezra has had some milestones lately that might get lost if I don't update the blog. Over the weekend he learned to ride his bike without training wheels! Last weekend S removed them on a whim when he looked really tall on his bike (he's grown an inch in the past two weeks!). He had a couple of short successful runs but then crashed and said he wanted his training wheels back on. We tabled the bike riding for the day. Then on Sunday S took him to the parking lot nearby to try again. Five minutes later he called me to come over right away. Sure enough, something clicked and off he went! He was SO proud of himself. He now weighs 41 pounds and he's learning to read short Bob books. My baby isn't such a baby anymore. :(