I am having trouble uploading photos today, so this may be a photo free entry. How boring
Just a simple update today:
 Violet is fierce, and can throw a tantrum unlike any of my other children. She is strong willed and stubborn like Lilli, but loves to cuddle. Lately she is really into babies, and carries dolls around, feeding them bottles, rocking them and kissing them. It is very sweet. I think she might also be the best dancer of any of my children at this age. She loves her blankies more than her parents. She is starting to say more words but mostly still speaks in her own language. For the most part she has a very happy disposition.
 Leif used to be a really sweet little boy. Up until the age of 3 I thought he was a perfect child. He rarely cried, he loved to take naps and went to bed easily. He always said please and thank you, and he adored his sisters and parents. he played quietly by himself and rarely got into mischief,  and he loved to cuddle. Well, although he still loves to cuddle, most of those other things no longer pertain to him. He whines and cries constantly, he demands everything and rarely uses manners. He tries to come into my bed on most nights, fights taking naps, although he really still needs them. He also seems to think that he can do whatever Violet does and get away with it. He throws everything, hits Violet a lot, although she probably hit him first and whines, whines, whines. When he's really having a fit he actually makes a "waaa" cry. Of coarse we tell him that is unacceptable. I guess children can't be sweet forever. At least
I have the memories.
 Lilli is having a tough time lately. She really hates school. She struggles with the work and it really effects her self esteem. When I go to pick her up after school she always looks so sad and dejected.  She frequently asks me how many days are left in the week, and is it a half day soon. For some reason beyond my knowledge she doesn't often have kids to play with. She tells me that she asks the other girls to play with her at lunch, but they are all playing with someone else, and she can't play with them. She's even tried to bribe them to play with her by giving away parts of her lunch. She's also taken to spending a fair amount of time in the school sick room. Sometimes at recess or during class she says she has a stomach ache so she can go lay down in the sick room. It's kind of odd to me, but she is very comfortable there. It's like her own personal bed at school. She is begging me to let her come back to home school, and I am considering it. I miss my Lilli being happy.
 Miete enjoys homeschool for the most part. she has normal complaints about doing the work, but does it anyways. She has such great opportunities to show her creative side working at home, and I really enjoy working with her and seeing her imagination in action. She continues to have anxiety issues at church and achievement day activities, or any really social situation. I think she really just wants a good, close friend but doesn't have anyone she really clicks with yet. She is young for her age, and that makes it hard for her to relate to the other girls, so she often plays by herself or around the other girls. It makes me sad, but I'm glad I am there to be her friend so she isn't completely alone. I hope that she soon meets another girl in her homeschool group that she clicks with. girls really do need that social interaction. I'm so glad her and Lilli have each other.
 I don't want to talk about myself and Christopher. We are stressed, exhausted, busy parents, but we love each other and we get along fantastically so that makes even hard situations easier to bear. And we share the responsibilities of raising our children equally. I am a lucky woman.
Pictures to come in next entry.