On April 30, we rejoiced as we witnessed k’s baptism at our church.  The pastor who baptized her also married us thirteen years ago!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BThXJZKFGeU/?taken-by=derek.cal

PC: Glen Tagami

k made the decision to be baptized along with four other girls in her Sunday School class (one of them could not make it that day).  We are so blessed to have the support of our Wintersburg family and pray that she will continue to walk with the Lord all the days of her life!

k was chosen to have a small speaking part for the performance her grade put on for friends and relatives.  I know it is not easy speaking in front of a large group with a mic—we are proud of her!

Yesterday was k’s first day of school.  There is a lot for her to adjust to: new (earlier) start time, new teacher, new classroom, new classmates, etc.  The school day is also a lot longer.  She seems to be handling it well, though. 

Her teacher (the one in the plaid shirt) is new to the school, so we don’t have any info about him.  k seems to like him so far, though.

Meanwhile, THIS has been giving me a headache.  I’ve given up hope, and our beloved Series 2 Tivo will need to be replaced.  It did last a good 8 years, though.  I’ve been teaching the kids that “people are more important than things” and I need to take that lesson to heart myself.

One thing that has changed since I was in school is that there are two school picture days, one in the fall and one in the spring.  In the fall, you pick your package, pay, and hope that the one picture that they take comes out well.  In the spring, you don’t pay, and they send you 5 sheets of pictures.  You pay for the ones you want, and return the rest to the school.  I wasn’t planning on buying a second set of pictures, so I guess their tactics worked on us.  However, we only paid for one sheet of small pictures that we can distribute to grandparents, etc.  The backgrounds are a real crack-up.  To wit:

That doesn’t look unnatural at all, right?    There was also a waterfall background and some sort of European castle background. 

I first heard about the concept of a balance bike at my moms’ group. The basic idea is that kids need to learn how to balance before they try to put together balancing and pedaling at the same time. My parents bought k a balance bike (no pedals) for Christmas from Costco. It took a while in the beginning, but gradually k got it. Our neighbors gave us a hand-me-down girl’s bike a few months ago. k tried it, but she thought it was too heavy and didn’t like it. We had k try it again on Sunday, and within 1/2 hour, she was riding by herself! (I still have to give her a push to start her out, though. And, understandably, she only likes to ride where there is plenty of room). This process was so much less painful than what I remember from my own childhood. So, I heartily recommend skipping the training wheels and going for a balance bike! The proof:

Now, if there was only a “trick” to learning how to swim!

Last year, k refused to even go up on stage for our church Christmas program. For Easter, she went up on stage, but didn’t do any of the hand motions or sing. This year, at pre-school and church, she did the hand motions. Maybe next year she’ll sing too! 🙂 This is one of the songs from her pre-school program.