Mama has started some tennis lessons with the girls. So far our lesson are short, but generally loved. We are happy with just connecting with the ball. Julia will hit the ball then run to fetch it. From where she stops she will just hit it again into whatever direction she is facing. So cute! Emily is very intentional about facing the net. She celebrates each successful ball over the net. Here’s hoping for years more of playing together!

Meet Flusha Applebee. This is Julia’s doll and for a long time had an ordinary name of “dolly”. Julia has settled on the self-created name of Flusha Applebee for the doll. She enjoys making up words at times and this one seems to have stuck.

We are enjoying visiting Dollywood this year. Julia is taller this year and we have found that she is tall enough to ride all the rides she has an interest in riding. No big roller coasters yet. While Emily is tall enough to ride some of the bigger coasters, she is NOT interested in riding them. Both girls have been brave and tried new rides. They really enjoyed the bumper cars, but it is only fun when both parents are there. The days at Dollywood have been great ones, even the one that rained us out!

The girls decided that they wanted to swap beds in their bunk beds. The only parent rules were that they had to agree to make it happen and the switch was to be long term. They agreed and swapped. This created a problem because Emily now needed a new mattress for the bottom bunk because she was too long for Julia’s. The solution required a road trip to the nearest IKEA store.

What is better than a road trip than a road trip with friends. We talked our friends in to taking a day trip with us. There were some happy back seats for sure. The kids enjoyed some play time in the kids area and pretend play in the kids room models.

Emily is happy with her new mattress. The day was a long, but fun one. Thanks friends for joining us.

Our yard is in bloom now with lots of spring flowers. It seems appropriate to appreciate them with our own flowers that are blooming!

Julia with Ms. Trish at her last speech therapy session. This was not her last therapy session because she is changing therapists, but because she has achieved all her speech goals. She is speaking like a normal little four-year-old should be speaking. This includes both pronunciation, but also vocabulary and appropriate language processing. We are so pleased and so is her therapist. Apparently this is unusual for a child to reach this goal and graduate out. This is Julia’s success and to get there we have Ms. Patty and Ms. Trish to thank. As we thanked them personally, we are grateful for this gift that they have given Julia that she can now share with everyone!