peeks at us----

Kate-

Four is interesting. It seems to be a mix of equal parts excited independence and fierce, frustrated dependence. One day she can want to put on her clothes and shoes for the day completely on her own. The next day when I ask her to do the same thing, though, she can burst into tears of frustration and wails of "I CAAAAANN'TTT DOOOOO ITTTTT!"

She has begun to "read" me stories and it makes me melt.

She loves art projects more than any other activity we do. The child could paint for an hour straight and still want to paint "just one more picture please." She loves to draw pictures and they are so sweet I can't bear to throw even one of them away.

Sadly, this picture was taken because it was a rare moment of these two actually getting along this week. 

Drew-

Drew just began piano lessons and is really excited about it.

He is eating through library books at an amusing rate. He got five chapter books at the library one day and was out of reading material 48 hours later. No joke. This is funny because for the past couple of years, it has been a source of complete frustration for Drew that "all Luke wants to do is READ, READ, READ!" All of the sudden, he gets it.

Drew is so very happy to have so much playtime these summer days with Luke. I don't think the two of them stopped talking once from about 9:00 this morning until we left the house at noon. They even chose to wear matching outfits today. We took Bear for a walk today and they walked about ten feet in front of me the entire time, just completely absorbed in their conversation about some game they made up. I still smile now thinking about how cute they looked walking together in their matching blue Nike shirts and black athletic shorts.

Drew loves to add notes to the family calendar in the kitchen where I usually list priority "to do" list items.
This day he added "cookies for after school snack."

These two pooled some allowance for ANOTHER Imaginext toy and then disappeared for hours to play with it.

Luke--

Luke is such a sweetheart these days. He's always easy-going, but he seems to be setting more laid back with age. He is so quick to jump in and help with Katie.

He is very excited to be writing a story with two good friends. They all began the story a month ago and now that it is summer, they have joined up to form a summer writing group. They will meet together once a week to work on their story.

Luke is participating in a fourth grade scavenger hunt tomorrow afternoon after his morning baseball game. I think this combination makes for a day that would be hard to top in a ten year old's mind. Add to that the Bubble Bus coming to church on Sunday and a new bow tie for his piano recital on Sunday afternoon........

Life is good for Luke Benjamin Hedenberg.


Gracie---

Gracie is fully embracing her new summer schedule. After an uneventful night last night, this morning I woke her up at 9:45. This is unheard of around these parts.

She and three friends are forming a summer book club and she is all smiles talking about it. They will be reading a new book every two weeks. They will meet for cocoa at Bread Company to discuss the book in week one and then meet at one of their homes to watch the movie made from the book on week two. It sounds like the perfect way to get together with her friends!

She is already counting down days towards the three BIG events of her summer- two different sleep away camps and one big birthday party.

She and Luke have been all about an app teaching foreign language. Gracie wants to learn some basic French to help prepare her for seventh grade French next year. Luke is learning German. They grab a phone, put in earphones, and work away for long chunks of time.

always listening to music....

me---

My shop has been really fun lately. More orders than ever before have been coming in and it is pretty exciting. The White Rabbit (a favorite local store of mine for years and years) contacted me last week to place a second order with me- this time for 32 signs!  She asked for them as soon as I could make them, so I have been doing lots of painting this week whenever I have a free moment.

In other big news for me.... my bosses at the preschool called me in during the last week of school to ask me if I would like a teaching position next year in the 2's and 3's room. One of our teachers abruptly took a different job for next year and they hoped I would be happy to step in to the Star Room for the year. They were right. :) I will be teaching four mornings a week and will get to work with many of the cute little guys I bonded with this year in the Mom's Morning Out room.

I am in summer mode. How quickly I've gotten used to this more laid-back schedule. :) This week has been not without challenges as everyone adjusts to spending all day, every day together, but it's been good. We've been lounging around each morning until ten or so, everyone kind of doing their own thing. Each day at ten, though, we've gotten productive for about five hours. Chores, summer learning projects, outings, and big art projects have filled our days. By late afternoon, we once again separate and relax a bit before dinner. Dinner has started creeping a bit later, bedtime has been creeping a bit later, there are no lunches to pack or homework to double check before bed. Life in the summer is good.

Ben---

I always hesitate to write for Ben. He is fully capable of sharing whatever it is he feels like sharing. :)

I will say that he has been enjoying co-coaching Drew's baseball team, and will add that he is pretty good with those little boys.

He hurt his back last weekend while working out and spent the majority of the week resting on the couch and hobbling around. A trip to the doctor after a couple of days of severe pain led to a prescription for muscle relaxers, which led to less pain each day.

He is itching to travel again this summer. He says, quite often, "let's just hop in the car and drive to _______." He would take a family trip to Colorado in a heartbeat if I would agree. (Not that I don't love to travel too, but another looooonnngg car trip with four kids so soon after our massive Spring Break road trip sounds a little overwhelming.)