Letters to Josie and Piper (from Ms. Jamie)

The girls absolutely love their preschool teacher this year.  Ms. Jamie can truly do no wrong.  They love their other teachers, but Ms. Jamie takes the cake.  Today she sent home a nice letter about each one of them.  When I read Josie's letter to her, she said "I want you to keep that and not sell it!".  Okay, noted!

Here is what she said.

Josie's letter from Ms. Jamie
Josie is such a sweetie.  Having her in preschool is always a joy.  I look forward to her bright smile in the morning.  Josie is a little team leader.  She is always reminding friends of the rules, and reminds the teachers not to forget things.  Josie has a great memory.

Josie has made great progress so far this year.  She knows all her basic colors and shapes.  Her counting skills are doing great and are improving each week.  Josie is great with puzzles.  I have been challenging her with more complex puzzles and she is doing well.  Some things we are working on with Josie are cutting skills, tracing and opposites.

Josie really enjoys being in class.  She loves being with her friends.  She is getting really good at taking turns and sharing.  Josie loves music time; she sings her little heart out every time.  She also enjoys instruments and experimenting with them.

Thank you for having Josie in preschool this year.  She is so much fun to have.  I look forward to a great rest of the year with her.

Sincerely
Jamie Shaw

Piper's letter from Ms. Jamie
Piper is so adorable.  I am so happy to have her in my preschool class this year.  I love to hear what she has to say to me in the morning about her baby.  Piper is the little mommy in our class; if there is another child crying she is the first to make sure they are okay and gives a hug if needed.

Piper has done a great job so far this year.  She knows all her basic colors and most of her basic shapes.  Her counting skills are doing great, she loves to find random objects and count them.  She has fun sorting and can sort by color and shape.  Some things we are working on with Piper are cutting and tracing skills, along with opposites.

Piper loves all her friends but always has to make sure Josie is in her sight.  Piper still has a hard time taking turns but is improving every day.  She loves to participate in group discussions, always eager to tell us what is on her mind.

Thank you for having Piper in preschool with us.  She is so much fun to have around.  I look forward to a great rest of the year with her.

Sincerely
Jamie Shaw

The Winter Doldrums

Winter has been rough for us around here.  Our first winter back has really slapped us in the face.  January saw mostly single digit temps, weird fog and smog, a lovely ice storm and the ever-present inversion.  February has been a bit better and every time the temps climb into the 30s we leave the house without jackets.  Woo hoo!  I have looked at the temperature in New Bern, much to my dismay, several times.  I have to remind myself that summer here is much more pleasant and it is just a trade-off we have to accept.

The best thing about winter, of course, is skiing!  The girls have been up 3-4 times.  We still have to ski behind them and hold them under their armpits, but they're getting more and more comfortable on their skis.  Last time we went up, we even ventured up the "big lift" because the kiddie hill was ridiculously crowded.  It was a loooong trip down with our backs hunched over holding under the girls' armpits and quads engaged.  Ouch.  Trust me, it was harder than it sounds.  Josie had a bit of a meltdown halfway down and I had to have a bit of a pep talk to convince her to get down the rest of the mountain.  I'm sure this will all pay off in a few years when we can all ski together.

Josh and I have also had some fun skiing together, just the two of us.  So fun to go up, up, up out of the inversion and see some sunny skies.  Definitely one of the best things about being back here.

The girls also started a little tumbling class at the Rec Center, which is a great way to keep them active and get some exercise in the winter.  I don't know how much they are learning, but they are having fun.

We are also starting swim lessons on Saturday, which will hopefully get them all ready to go before summertime. :)

Family Pictures

We finally got around to getting some new family girls and new pictures of the girls.  I love them!  Especially the ones of the girls.  Here are some of my favorites.