I thought it would be fun to give you an update on what our children are up to these days.
Samantha
Sami is nine and a half and is in third grade. So far she is definitely our most social child. I am pretty sure she knows more people than I do. She is full of energy and always willing to try new things. This past month she participated in a musical at school and had a small speaking part. She enjoys being on stage. During the week she is very involved in the Nica Nadadores swim club and practices two to three times a week in the pool at the sports center. Just this week she participated in a swim meet with her team. Her favorite activities are being with her friends, swimming, gymnastics, reading, listening to music, practicing for the next talent show, and coming up with fun games to play with her brother and sisters.
Anthony just recently turned seven and is in first grade. Ask anyone who
knows him what he loves to do, and I bet you will hear the same answer multiple times – play soccer! Anthony gets it honestly though, because his dad loves soccer and together they keep up on how their favorite team, Real Madrid, is doing. He loves watching games with his dad on the weekends. During the week when he is not doing his homework, he is most likely kicking a ball around the house or outside in the front yard. For the past year or so we had been looking for a soccer league for him to participate in and just recently we found one. He has started practicing three times a week at a school in Managua. Thankfully, some of his buddies from his school joined at the same time. His favorite activities are playing soccer, practicing new kicking techniques, watching Real Madrid and other professional soccer games, playing any kind of strategy game, math, reading, building Legos, and playing games with his sisters, usually :).
Nicole is three and a half and is in her first year of preschool. She has loved
going to school this year. It has been fun to watch her grow and see her excitement each day as she comes home from class with something new to share with me. Lately, they are going through the alphabet letter by letter, so when she arrives home from school, she will often announce, “We are on letter T now!” She is our free-spirited one with a love for nature. She can play for hours on end with imaginary friends. Often she comes home with seeds or flowers she has found at school or in walking across the sports center after the bus has dropped her off. She is also a great little helper. Many an afternoon she wants to help me in the kitchen or help do something for Sofi. She enjoys accompanying me to the sports center to do whatever I am doing. Her favorite activities are playing dress-up, having books read to her, playing in the yard, doing puzzles, and playing whatever Sami and Anthony are playing. 
Sofi is almost eleven months old and is on the move crawling around the
house and pulling up on things. Just recently all four of her first year molars have been coming in so that has made life tough for her. For the most part, though, she is very happy and loves being around people. She has some of the funniest expressions and often makes us all laugh at the dinner table. She is “talking” quite a bit so we have enjoyed some good laughs as we translate what we think she is trying to say.
