The First Quarter

So it looks like my blog has gone from a place to write weekly updates on our family, to a place where I update much less often. Soon I'll be able to title it "the Christmas letter blog" where I post one annual update on the Steckly crew.

2016 has been eventful so far. If you follow me on Facebook, you probably have a pretty good idea of the goings-on around here :)
January stayed busy with things like school events, Little Lily sewing, and continuing our home improvements. Thanks to a super mild winter, we have been able to do building projects that we had assumed would have to wait until spring!
On the last day of January we decided to take a family day and go to the Jump Yard in Grande Prairie. It was super fun for everyone....except Sadie. The poor girl spent February in a cast and takes the title of "first broken bone" in the family. It was definitely an adjustment, but she adapted really well. In her lifetime she has now had to learn how to walk three different times...and she rocked them all. Now you can barely tell she ever had a broken leg!
Right before she broke her leg I was at one of my best friend's houses for coffee. She casually mentioned that they were thinking of selling their house, and if it sold, were moving to the island. Well, things happened at whirlwind speed unexpectedly, and by the last week of February, we were loading up their trailer and saying goodbye. We have grown so close in the four years we've known each other, it was really hard to see them go. I still have a hard time believing that she's not just on a holiday!
Addison and Tegan have had a busy couple of months. They both joined basketball this season. Tegan was unable to play in the games because she is still in grade 4, but she still went to all the games and the practices...and she gave it her all in practice. I was so proud to see how much they both improved over the season. One really cool thing is that they were the only team in the league to go undefeated all season! The only game they lost was the championship game of the tournament. I remember Addison coming up to me after one of the practices and saying, "mom. I think I've found my game". She has also been enjoying judo, which the entire school has been doing for gym class since January. She comes home and practices almost every day.
Tegan and myka have been doing judo too. It's really neat to see them come home from school and work hard at perfecting the moves they learned :)
Addison and Tegan both submitted projects for the science fair this year. Addison was part of a three girl team, and Tegan did hers on her own. Out of all the groups in the school, their two projects were chosen to go to Regionals, so they will be participating in that at the beginning of April. They are both so excited for that!

Danica has become very inquisitive over the last few months. She turned 5 in January, and is
always asking questions and trying to figure out how to do things. She loves coloring. And spends a good chunk of the time the girls are at school doing just that. A few weeks ago she asked me to draw her a seahorse outline so she could decorate it. That one seahorse led to another, and another and another...then it was regular horses, then dolphins and whales, then owls. I have now started printing coloring pages off for her to save a bit of drawing time...although I must say, I was pretty much reaching realistic wildlife drawing status with my art :p

Myka has been really enjoying coloring lately too. So much so, that she asks to stay home from school so she can color with Danica all day. She says, "mom, two things make me happy: coloring and singing. Sometimes I like to sing when I color and it helps me feel better". :)
She has really taken off with her reading too. It seems to have clicked for her lately and she is reading everything she sees. One day she was watching Tegan read and said. " Tegan. You're not even sounding the words out, you're just looking at them and you know what they say!  I wish I could do that." I had to remind her that she's getting closer to that every day :) her teacher recently started sending home reading with her every day, and she takes it very seriously.

Sadie has been a sponge lately. She always watches her sisters with a hawk eye and copies everything she can. The judo that i was mentioning before? She gets right in there with the girls and does whatever she can!
Just tonight, while i was making dinner, Danica brought her hands to her face and said, "that looks delicious!" Immediately, Sadie did the same and said, "lishee!"
She is getting better at talking every day. Like everything else in her life, She pretty much repeats everything she can. And it's either getting easier to understand her, or I'm getting better at interpreting her toddler talk. Either way it's adorable...especially when she tries to say an entire sentence :)

I did a lot of bragging about my girls in this post...and I should, because they are aweosme and they deserve it! The thing about the internet though, is that everyone sees the side we want them to see. The busy-ness and craziness of our life is a balance of moments like the pictures I've attached go the post; happy, proud, silly moments...and the other side of it. Having five completely different personalities in five girls can get a bit tension filled. We live in a one floor home where no one has much personal space, and tempers can run pretty hot around here. Addison and Tegan are getting older and would rather be hanging out with friends than playing with their sisters much of the time. Myka thrives on having quiet alone time, and when she hasn't had that time to decompress, she falls apart easily (much like me!). And then Sadie...she just runs around like a tornado and keeps everything and everyone moving aaaallll the time. With all the chatter, emotions, and general noise, I feel helpless sometimes in keeping it all together.

I want a home where everyone treats each other with love. I tell the girls that their sisters are the best people to practice things like empathy and patience with. Unfortunately, a suggestion from mom does not simply make it so.
I've been struggling with feelings of disappointment lately, where I feel like I'm letting my family down...not in a way that THEY feel I'm letting them down, but where I feel like I'm missing the mark with teaching them those things....does that make sense?
That being said, I know those feelings aren't truth, and I do my best not to accept them. I've been playing worship music in the house again lately. I hadn't for a long time because I neglected to put music on my new phone. I didn't realize how much it helped bring a peace to the home. And a peace to me, until I hadn't played it in awhile. It is a small thing that really does help though :) Daniel and I are so blessed to be able to watch our girls grow. I've been blown away at the things they have learned and accomplished lately. In encompassing everything I've written here, the bottom line is that we have so much fun with them!
Wow, that really rabbit trailed off the "family update", lol.
Night, everyone!