Making connections!

There are many things about being the mother of a preschooler (I guess at 3 they have graduated from toddler to preschooler) that I love, and some things are more difficult to love than others! ha One thing I love though, is to watch Ceilidh make connections about the world around her. It really is such a privilege to watch her grasping concepts about life, faith, and relationships; as well as the concrete things such as words, numbers, and shapes,etc.

Driving down the road tonight, she says to me out of the blue, "Cars have lights because we can't see at night and we might bump into another car." I know that sounds so duh to us, but I was proud of her for making that connection. She also blew me away today at lunch, when she started counting by 10s to 100! She has been able to count to twenty for a while, and we have talked about how to count from there by just adding the 10's place number to the one's place number. These were only a few conversations without much emphasis. Today at lunch, I told her after 49 comes fifty. I asked her what she thought came after fifty (expecting 51), and she says, "sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety!" Ok, so how do you know that!? I think she finally caught on that she just changed the ten's place number and added a "ty" to the end! ha I was very proud of her. I now know for a fact that her math skills will exceed mine by the time she is 5! ha

I have a TON of pictures from the Fourth of July weekend so I will post as many as I can handle uploading tonight! ha We had a wonderful visit with Nana and Granddaddy on Thursday and Friday morning; and then went to see my family for the rest of the weekend. This was the first time all of the "Smoak" grandchildren had been together since Graeme and Liliana's births last year. It was great to actually spend time with my brother, sister, and spouses as grown adults while the kiddos were in bed. We obviously love our own children and all of our nieces and nephews; but it is nice to just be "the kids" again sometimes. I'm still pretty upset I didn't win a Skipbo hand, but there is always next time! wink


























Couldn't resist! This man was hilarious. He just might have been tipsy... I'm not sure. ha He was definitely keeping candy tucked in his shirt!














So sweet! Lauralei held Graeme's hand walking to the golf cart parade.


Andrew captured her inner and outer beauty perfectly!






















I am obsessed with this picture. Its beautiful. A cool mountain morning, a swing, and a great-grandmother's lap... what else do you need?






Learning the tricks of the trade. Ceilidh ate at least 10 biscuits in a little over 24 hours! ha Nana biscuits are the best!