Meanwhile, back at the Farm . . .

We're having some exciting happenings around the Booker Farm so I thought I'd write a little bit about what's going on with the kiddos.

Callie

Callie is so excited that we now have two dogs and three cats. Their names are (dogs) Belle and Ariel, (cats) Duchess, Dixie, and Thomas O'Malley -- Tom for short. She is very excited to be wrapping up another school year and looking forward to our travels this summer.

She is taking on more responsibility around the house (which I love) and doing an excellent job for the most part in taking care of all the animals. I'm certainly enjoying watching her grow and blossom in so many ways, but this is especially significant to me. Philip and I are really striving to raise our children to be responsible, caring, and kind adults! I'm now teaching her on Wednesday Night Bible Class and I love observing her for the first time in a classroom setting as her teacher as well. She is a delight to have in class, if I may say so myself! -- I do realize I'm biased ;-) She has lost 4 teeth in a little less than a week and a half, so the tooth fairy has been working overtime at our house. She only has three teeth in front right now. We try to just make her laugh about it because she is very self conscience about it. I told her the other day that there's such a small period of time in your life when you can look like a jack-o'lantern and it's considered cute, so she should live it up now! 

Gabriel

Gabriel is almost 5! He's so excited for his birthday so he can go to school. He asks about it every day. I'm pretty sure he thinks he's going to school the day he turns 5 despite our telling him the contrary. We're working a lot on his fine motor skills. He's just recently become interested in writing and coloring and I honestly didn't push it, so he's very new to it. He's really grown in leaps and bounds in just a very short couple of weeks. I enjoy working with him. He and I are getting along 'better' than Callie and I when we were trying to do preschool together. :-) Those were some trying lessons!! 

We went on a Date Knight last week at Chick-fil-a. It was a lot fun to spend time with him and his brother in a smaller group setting than normal. He was the perfect gentleman! 

Gabriel impresses me every day with his memory. He has memorized entire scenes from movies and shows and pages of books and recites them. Sometimes even in the character voices. It's really sweet to listen to him, especially after you figure out which book or movie he's doing. 

Nolan

Nolan is quite the child, let me tell you! He is a schemer. He wants to have his hand in everything your doing and ends up being underfoot a lot. He likes to "work" in the kitchen with me, but he's been a pickier eater than my first two. And not even picky in the traditional sense. No, he's more complicated than that! One day, he'll eat something really well and the next time I serve it to him, he won't even touch it. It's been a source of frustration. However, I continued to serve him and not make him anything special and I'm hoping that I'm beginning to see it paying off. The past week or so, he's been doing a great job eating veggies which he has previously been the worst about eating. I'm very excited about it! 

Nolan has a unique way of doing things too. If he wants it, he wants it 150%. If he doesn't, there's not a bribe in the world that can make him do whatever it is. He also likes things the way they've always been done. He lives and breathes routine! I have a feeling I have a long way to go in understanding him completely. It feels as if every time I get something figured out, another thing pops up! 

Skylar

Skylar has had a big couple of weeks! She got her first tooth Saturday and another is close behind! In the past week, she has become very mobile. She is traditionally crawling to get everywhere she wants to go and consistently pulling up. She cruises a little bit but not consistently. Most of the time, she's not too sure how to get down once she gets up! I've found her "stuck" several places, including in a plank position over the rail on our table. 

She is the worst about putting things in her mouth. Everything from fuzz from the carpet to the shoe she's managed to grab off the mat. It is not easy to keep up with her on that! Not that she's too quick, but that I have a lot of distractions as this point!! 

She's quick to smile, but also quick to get upset -- but easy to calm down again for the most part. She's definitely growing into her own personality. I can't believe she's going to be 9 months old next month! It just doesn't seem possible that time has moved this quickly. 

Well, it's getting late and I have a make-up netflix date with the hubby so I will leave the update at that for now! Thanks for reading.

God bless you and yours this week!