The kiddos have started school.  It makes me both sad and happy.  I can tell that the highlight of my days will be watching the sweet way Jonathan and James drop Gracie off at the kindergarten gate or pick her up on early-out Wednesdays.  She says she's lucky to have two big brothers "to make sure no one beats me up".

Ryan told me this morning that I’m his best friend.  I was quite flattered.  He is a good little helper and takes pride in it.  A little girl at preschool told him he isn’t a big helper anymore and he was devastated for a few days about it.  Luckily, he is once again a good helper and recognizes that even though he can’t always be the line leader, he’ll be the line leader soon.

A new family moved into the cul-de-sac with a 9 year-old boy.  Jonathan was getting sad that James had his nice friend, Kyler, next door, so hopefully this will mean Jonathan has his own friend to play with. 

Now that Gracie is 5, she has informed us that she no longer carries her blanket around with her and never sucks her thumb.  We are grateful she's so grown up now.