Swimming and Tennis and Football, Oh My

We kind of went a little crazy this fall in terms of extracurricular activities for Madi (at least in my opinion). They've all finished now and I have to say it's a nice break to not be shuffling to her activities regularly (and I can't imagine the craziness that will happen when all three are involved in extracurriculars!)

Masi had swimming on Mondays, tennis on Thursdays, and football (soccer) on Saturdays. She enjoyed all of them and had good/bad days of course, but we are trying to narrow down where she should focus in the spring because I don't think we want to have her doing all three activities again unless she chooses that.

Swimming

This was definitely our most challenging extracurricular activity, most likely because I think I encouraged her to do it. She went from barely wanting to be in the water over the summer to spending hours there so I wanted her to get some basic lessons so she'd be more comfortable and it would be easier to take all the girls to the pool. She's improved dramatically in terms of her stamina in the water, holding her breath, kicking her legs and moving her arms, and jumping in the water. I'm hoping that she chooses to continue with lessons, but I've decided not to push if she says she doesn't want to continue them. 

Tennis

I have to admit we were both a bit skeptical when we thought about a 3 year old playing tennis. However, she went from missing the ball entirely to actually being able to hit it sometimes off of a bounce! Her teacher was incredibly patient and good with the students and the sessions were small (only three kids) so more manageable and one-on-one. 

Football (Soccer)

We were disappointed to find out there were no English-speaking football teams for Madi's age and so we decided to start one ourselves! We called the team Baku Blasters and held practice every Saturday for kids ages 3-6 years at the football pitch in our compound. We had anywhere from just a couple up to 8 kids every Saturday and Jason worked really hard to prepare fun drills and games for the kids to play each weeks. The twins tagged along as well, but towards the end of the season it was next to impossible to keep them off the field since they wanted to participate as well! We are hoping to organize the Baku Blasters again in the spring. 

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Evelyn and Olivia: 17 Months

You girls are just so much fun and your personalities are coming out in so many fun (and sometimes challenging) ways. It was a tough month with you both contracting a pretty brutal case of hand, foot, and mouth either in Baku before our trip to Thailand or soon after we arrived in Thailand (there's a 3-6 day period before symptoms show so we aren't sure where you got it). You had a fun time in Thailand though and have been enjoying having Grandma here since the beginning of December!

- Both of you love spinning in circles. Evy also loves dancing, but appears to have inherited our lack of rythm as she just kind of waddles side to side and flaps her arms. It's still pretty adorable.
- We sing a few praise and worship and nursery rhyme songs every night before bedtime and Evy has started bobbing her head and mouthing sounds that I swear almost sound like the words while we are singing.
- Evy has started saying "Peas" for "Please" and Liv has a few times, but prefers to just softly grunt and make a give-me motion with her hands.
- Both girls are starting to say "bye bye" and Liv has even started to say "Hi Daddy", "Bye Daddy", and "Hi Momma"
- We've gotten a couple more teeth this month. Just a couple left and you'll be finished! I need to count, but I'm afraid of getting bit - ha!
- Both of you are mastering the stairs and don't like to crawl up them anymore and prefer to just hold our hands or go solo and use the handrail. This has greatly increased trying to get from the third floor (bedrooms) down to the first floor (kitchen and living) and vice versa. Thankfully your dad has the patience to walk with you. ;-)
- You both love to give kisses and hugs to Daddy, Mommy, and especially big sister. You also have loved giving them to Grandma since she's been here.

Dear Evy,
You are so friendly and don't typically mind when strangers pick you up. You also will walk up to people and raise your arms to be picked up. You are still showing your kindness by helping bring toys to your sisters and seem to be the mediator. Except for when you grab a toy and run off. ;-) You love stuffed animals so much and snatched a Mickey Mouse one that Grandma brought and haven't let him go since. You also really love doing the hot dog dance at the end of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. You are quick to give kisses and hugs and have shown us you have a bit of a sweet tooth. When you don't get your way you are very vocal about it and we are starting to see sassy toddler behavior in both you and Liv. You and Madi love to laugh together and you love to be chased. We typically run circles around the living room every evening chasing you. You are such a blessing and wonderful part of our family!
Love,
Mommy

Dear Liv,
You are still our snuggle bug, but you've started showing your sassy side as well. You know what you want and like to say "no" but shaking your head and making an "unh" sound indicating you don't want it (whether it's food, toy, drink, etc.) You also love to be chased, but instead of running away you start to run and then turn and run towards us and sit down to be tickled and laugh. You still have eyes only for your panda bear and have all three sleeping with you nightly. You still call both cats "ZoZa" or "ZoZo" and love to say "meow" whenever you see a cat in books, movies, etc. You are a bit more calm than your sisters usually and will play peacefully solo for a decent bit of time. You don't like it when I leave the house and you've started calling me Daddy, but then quickly switch to Mommy after I tickle you and say "I am your Mommy!". We love having you in our family and you make us laugh with your sass.
Love,
Mommy

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Family Photos in Phuket 2016

The second full day of our trip to Phuket we scheduled a family photo session for the morning at our hotel. It was still a bit hot for my taste, but convenient to have them taken without having to travel somewhere and fortunately it was before the twins started to show symptoms of hand, foot, and mouth disease. Our photographer, Poom, had been recommended by a friend here in Baku. He was incredibly patient and great with the girls.

Here are just a few of my favorites, but you can see all of them on my Facebook album here.

Poom's assistant Surajee also put together a sweet video from our photo shoot. Honestly, I'm surprised we got any photos at all because these girls do not stay still for long - ha!

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