The past week has been a good one.  We have been enjoying the nice weather and greenery all around.  Over the weekend we went on a walk at Violettes Locks.  It is a section of the C&O canal along the potomac.  We applied our bug spray to ward off the pesky gnats and walked along the trail between the mighty potomac and the canal.  We also enjoyed trying to identify all the new flowers we aren't use to seeing.  Becca spent most of the time picking up rocks to throw into the canal.  Emma spent most of the time trying to convince Grant she was too tired to walk and Leah and I hopped and skipped ahead of Becca to keep her moving.  It was pretty and nice to get out of the house for awhile. 
Emma is doing really well in school and has not only passed the kindergarten word list that was the goal for the year but know all the words in the A and B lists ( which are for first grade) She can read almost anything and last night during family home evening read 3Ne 18:21 all by herself outloud during the Lesson.  She continues to enjoy her box of 96 crayons and likes to read the name of each color before she uses it.  She and Leah giggle everytime she announces she will be drawing the the macaroni and cheese crayon.  She has also set out to make her own barbie house out of cardboard boxes and paint. 
Leah is currently doing dance and soccer.  She was super excited she got to kick the ball 3 times during the scrimmage game on Saturday.  She has started using very precocious phrases.  Last night when the toilet overflowed she quickly told grant "I'm outta here" and left.  If you ask her how she is at soccer she will reply "I am pretty awesome!" She loves playing with her friend Lizzy and is always trying to get me to leave playgroup early so that lizzy's mom can bring her to their house because she makes the best mac and cheese ever. 
Becca continues to try and say new words.  She has renewed her interest in hats and frequently refuses to leave the house unless she has her hat on.  Her favorite foods this week are peanut butter only on a spoon, pickles and marshmallows.  She continues to be very polite and will scream and scream for something and then when you finally figure out what it is she will promptly stop and say "thank you, welcome"
Grant has been busy helping and taking care  of his invalid wife who has had the stomach flu and then a week later sprained her ankle in a very graceful slide/tumble down the hill right in front of Emma's school.  As Emma put it "It was kinda funny until I realized you were hurt."  My advice: watch out for wet grass on hills! 
Here are a few pictures of the school sidewalk chalk self portraits and walking along the canal.