Updates

I thought I'd give an update on our kids, long overdue, with an eye to personal growth and accomplishments. Starting with my young padawan, Spencer. Spence has had a banner three months. He has gone from being barely able to scratch out a letter or two to counting, writing, and sounding out four letter words! Almost all owed to Starfall.com and the Leap Frog videos. Okay, I've helped a little, but it's mostly him. His favorite thing as we walk to and from the grocery store together is for me to give him words to sound out and spell, or basic math problems to unravel. When he accomplishes each task successfully, his joy is unalloyed and delightful! We are loving being together during the day, and he keeps us all in hysterics with his funny faces, voices, and physical comedy. He also loves playing with his BF Liesl Botts, a little American girl just his age who lives two houses away. They play so well, making forts or running around looking for "ghostes" and fighting imaginary monsters with Spencer's collection of swords. We will miss her when we go back to the States!
I was a little worried about Sophie going into first class here in Ireland; most of the kids in her class have had two years of almost full-time instruction, whereas she had only had one year of half-day kindergarten to prepare her for this fall. However, she has flourished in Mr. Kinnerk's First Class, jumping right in and doing very well! She is the first one to get her homework out every afternoon after their post-school snack, methodically laying out each subject then ticking it off in her homework journal when completed. She is organized and disciplined and a very hard worker. She wakes up happy, makes friends wherever she goes, keeps her room and drawers neat and tidy, sings in her sleep (sometimes in Gaelic!) and while she does dishes, and is by far my best eater, trying everything I make and liking most of it. Her kind ways and loving heart bring us joy every day, and we are so proud of how lovely, intelligently, and sweetly she is growing up!
Maggie is our family drama queen. Gifted with beauty, brains and charm, she always excels at school, made friends fairly easily, and has enjoyed our sightseeing around Europe, discovering new passions for history and art. She has had a self-defining fall, comparing the Catholic faith she learns about at school to our LDS beliefs and learning what makes us different in faith and lifestyle. Her brain is amazing, very absorbent and analytical - after watching The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe one night she pointed out that Christ left the church to Peter, just as Aslan left the throne to Peter, and how Lucy and Susan were like Mary and Martha, respectively. What do you expect though from a girl who had memorized all the state capitals and the 13 articles of faith, and read all the Harry Potter books, by the end of second grade! So stinkin' smart. She's had some challenges here though; starting a new school in a new country is never exactly a cake walk, and there's nobody her age in her class at church. Eating healthily has also always been her Waterloo, and we decided to hit the bad habit hard this year. Maybe not the best timing as she had so many other new things to get used to, but, there comes a time. So she's struggled through mealtime after mealtime of crying, grumbling, and whining. Still not making much progress, but here she is (almost) willingly eating a fish stick for dinner one night. Baby steps.