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.

Temple Square and Winner School Christmas

I am still trying to get caught up on this blog.  I have no idea why its so hard for me to stay on top of it, but I really want to do better this year!

There are a few more things we did over the holidays that I haven't had a chance to write about.  And now its almost too late.

Before Christmas, we took the obligatory trip down to Temple Square to see the lights.  We lucked out and it was a warm night.  But that meant it was crazy crowded.  I admit, it wasn't like I remembered as a kid.  And I thought the girls would be more into the lights.  They were a lot more into walking along the walls around the lights. :)

The girls also had their Winner School Christmas program.  Both of them sung their little hearts out.  I was surprised.  I thought they would sit there and do nothing, but they liked the songs and it was super cute.  

Egan Family Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve this year, our Egan family party included "The Amazing Race".  While we initially groaned a little bit about the game, it ended up being a lot of fun.  We were divided into groups (no siblings or spouses together) and had to run all over Farmington taking pictures with different things.  My mom, aunt Debbie and aunt Kris were back at the house watching the little kids and collecting all the pictures as we texted them in.

There was a rather heated debate about who actually won and several teams disputed the judges' ruling. :)  Especially Josh who said he pulled into the driveway first.  But we had a good time.  Here are some of the pics we took (my sweet grandma was on my team and had no problem hopping in and out of the car and sliding all over ice to get our pictures).

Some more pics of the party.  Little EJ was a little overwhelmed with all the people.

Santa Claus and the Marines

I am VERY behind on this blog and playing catch-up now.  I'm just now writing about some of the fun stuff we did at Christmas time.  A couple of weeks before Christmas, we went to the RS SLC Christmas party (Josh's work deal).  Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus showed up.  Not surprisingly, the girls were terrified even though they brought presents.  Santa Claus made me sit on his lap.  To be honest, he was a little creepy.  Maybe the girls were reluctant to sit on his lap for a reason. :)  

A Very Merry Christmas

 Just a few pics from our Christmas day . We had a wonderful Christmas, but were terrible about taking good pictures.  Our day included a relaxing morning at home opening presents and eating cinnamon pull aparts, then a fun afternoon at my parents having lunch, then finished with an evening at Jim and Rebecca's house with the Jones family.  The girls were loved and spoiled.

Three!! (Part 2)

Josie and Piper's actual birthday started with a little mini-celebration at their school.  Their preschool teacher invited Josh and me to come in and read their favorite books to the class, and bring some treats.  I read "Has
Anyone Seen My Emily Green" and Josh read "How Does a Dinosaur Say Goodnight".  And we brought cupcakes.

They also had their checkup with the pediatrician.  They're both healthy and growing nicely, despite the fact that they eat like birds.  I had to go back and look at their two year stats to believe that they've actually grown.

Josie: Weighs 30 lbs, Height 36.7 inches
When she turned 2, she was 33 3/4 inches tall and weighed 25 pounds

Piper: Weighs 28.6 lbs, Height 36.2 inches
When she turned 2, she was 33 1/2 inches tall and weighed 24.4 pounds

After school, we had a little family dinner.  Bubba came over after work and we ate more cake and ice cream and they opened their presents from us.

 The girls got a new easel from us

And this Dora guitar that we are going to regret getting for them!  And of course a Dora microphone so they can have a mini-band.

 Happy birthday girlies!  We love you piles and piles.

Three!! (part 1)

Josie and Piper turned 3!  Finally!  After months and months of anticipating when they were going to be "this many", the big day finally came.  We celebrated at Momentum Climbing with a party for all their cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and a few friends as well.

We had cake and pizza.  The cake was a definite highlight for the girls (Dora and Boots were on the cake!).

And we climbed.  Most of the kids climbed right up like monkeys.  The girls were a little more interested in the cake.

Olivia Larsen (only 4!) climbed up to the very top.

 Anna and Allison on the free climbing wall.

 Austin

 Jer, Jim and Riley.  Riley also climbed up a bunch of times.

 Josie taking pictures with her own "camera"

 I had to take a shot at going up once

 Lauren at the very top

 Then we opened presents

 I was so grateful we could be here in Utah and celebrate with family.  The girls loved having their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins here.

More soon on their actual birthday and their stats from their three-year check-up.