How is it that preschool has made our lives twenty times busier? It’s only two and a half hours a day, so you would think that it doesn’t make much difference at all. Maybe I feel busier now because someone (ahem, see above photo) gets in twenty times more mischief (ahem, see above photo) with her sister at school. (After taking this photo I told Charlie to just bite her already so that she’ll finally learn not to tease him like this. He wouldn’t do it, though, and continued to let her wave the cookie in front of his face. Sigh.)

Ana continues to enjoy school and comes home every day with several important things to tell us. I’m amazed by how much she learns in such a short amount of time! When I went to pick her up today, the teacher’s assistant told me that Ana is “so precious” and that she would take ten of her any day. I’m kind of relieved to hear this instead of, “Your child completely melted down over the fact that her chocolate milk had bubbles in it,” or something equally illogical. We haven’t heard much of anything until now, so I was very thankful for a good report. What a big girl!

We took the girls to the doctor for their annual checkup. Ana and Emma were both very excited that there were NO SHOTS this visit, and I was very excited that Ana has actually gained some weight in the past year! Both girls have grown and are now only separated by one and a half pounds (Emma came in at 32 1/2 pounds, Ana at 31 pounds) and three-quarters of an inch (Ana came in at 37 3/4, Emma at 37). All that to say, they’re still so close to the same size that I can’t tell a difference. Neither could the nurse, who assumed they were the same age and couldn’t figure out how they have birthdays two days apart. Then when she figured out those birthdays were in different years, she couldn’t figure out how they had birthdays in the same week. (And if we were being all technical about it, Ana’s birth was late enough in the US to be the 25th day in Japan, and Emma’s birth was early enough in Japan to be the 25th day in America. Meaning that if the American-born sister had been delivered in Japan and the Japanese-born sister had been delivered in America, they would have the same birthday, only a year apart. I refrained from mentioning this to the nurse, as I didn’t want to see her head explode.)

Anyway, we were told while we were there that we need to get the girls to the dentist for their first check-ups. I had known this and called the dentist on our insurance coverage (the one Wes and I go to), only to be told that the dentist doesn’t see patients below the age of five because, and I quote, “there isn’t much he could do except count their teeth.” I told this to the pediatrician, and she told me to get a new dentist. Wonderful. So now, we have the fun task of possibly re-working our dental plan (ahhh!!!) or paying out-of-pocket for a dentist out of network to count our children’s teeth. Great. Not that we were thrilled with the coverage that only allows you to see their choice of dentist, but it was a great price for two adults who have no dental problems. (And for kids over the age of five!) Oh, well.

My mother celebrated her sixtieth birthday last week, and at her request, we made our way down to Texas on Saturday to take a family picture in celebration of that event. Our last family picture was when Ana was brand new, so it’s been a while. All four of the kids did great for their pictures and then went totally bananas at the restaurant afterwards, where my sister, my brother-in-law, Wes, and I all planned our Disney vacation. (Lest you think we all just let our kids run wild, let me assure you that we were firm-fisted disciplinarians who let Gram and Gramps do all the work of corralling them. Ha!) I’ve been having some misgivings about this trip ever since my sister suggested it last month, not because I didn’t think we wouldn’t have a good time but because I couldn’t fathom how three separate families were going to plan an extensive trip like this together. I shouldn’t have even worried because we had it all taken care of in about thirty minutes. (I think everyone did their homework before getting together!) Once we got back home to Oklahoma, Wes called the Disney people and booked it. We’re super excited but know that this will likely be the last trip for a good, long while because of the expense. 2011 marks Walt Disney’s World fortieth anniversary, and I’ve already promised Wes that I wouldn’t start planning to go back until 2021 for the fiftieth anniversary. (Need to start collecting my pennies now!)

I’m reading a book called The Shepherd of the Hills right now. Have you ever heard of it? A couple in our church brought the book back from Branson (where the story takes place) and gifted it to us a while back. I haven’t been able to put it down, even though I have absolutely no idea where the story is headed! Wes and I have been reading and watching such heavy stuff lately (previewing some of the discipleship material for the church) that I’ve appreciated reading something that’s just for entertainment. Think I’m going to get back to it right now, as a matter of fact…