Matt and Amanda's Kids

Ella is 7. We call her Barbie, because she is blonde, tall and beautiful. She has her Dad's golden skin and my brown eyes. She loves to dance and do art. She is very smart, but she has absolutely no ambition. We are just now fighting with her to read more and harder books. Just like all of my children she loves music and loves to sing. She got the Lauritzen talent of picking up words to songs really quickly. She and the rest of the kids love HSM, HSM2, Camp Rock, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Hairspray. She is incredibly social. It is ridiculous. She brought home a test that she got a not perfect score on and we asked her why she didn't finish the last page. She told us she got distracted by the other kids in class. Her teacher was always telling us how she is a social butterfly. I tease that she is 7 going on 17. She loves to talk on the phone and her artistic side makes her very into fashion. She is growing up in personality and working harder to be helpful and kind. She has some very good friends that she is always doing stuff with. Her favorite part of her phone is the camera. As with all of my children she loves the beach. I think they would all be happy if we set up a shack on the beach and lived their. She does miss the mountains though. Which brings me to the fact that she is a huge daddy's girl. And I do mean huge.

Lydia will be 6 on September 8th. She is the smallest of the girls, but the oldest of the twins. She has this tight little body that I thought would make her a great little gymnast or cheerleader, but she is terrified of heights. She hates roller coasters and rock walls. She is not my risk taker. We haven't discovered her passion yet. She likes music like all of the others, but she isn't quite the performer as all of the others. She does like to play pretend. She and Miles are becoming more of a terrible twosome. They are both a little hyper and always busy getting into trouble. Neither one can sit still for 10 seconds. Lydia always has this look of mischief in her beautiful eyes. She reminds me of a little pixie or imp. She got her Dad's golden skin, my brown eyes and brown hair. She got someones curly hair. She has this incredible temper. Sometimes I don't know how to pull her back in and sometimes I don't even try. She is my most motherly one. She loves babies and she will always love on them. She takes care of everyone. She is a very good worker and she is my most helpful and in some ways my most independent. She is the one that struggles a little more in school, but I think she is getting it. She doesn't really love the learning part like Katrina does. Oh and Lydia is 100% girl. She is the girliest of all of my girls. I thought she would be my daredevil tomboy, but she is exactly the opposite. All girl with a mean streak. She is easy to sway as long as you give a little time and attention. She responds really well to attention and affection.

Katrina will be 6 on September 8th as well. She is about an inch taller than Lydia and she is built like a Lauritzen. She has thick Lauritzen hair, but it is brown like mine. She has bluish eyes, but they are shaped like your Grandma Lauritzen's. She has my fair skin, but she has a long loose body like her dad's. She definitely looks like a Lauritzen. She is my most interesting child in some respects. She loves acting, music and learning. She is a little performer. She really tried me when she was little because she has a hard time making good choices sometimes. She is easily heartbroken and she is very dramatic. She does very well in school, but I won't lie she is my beat of a different drummer child. She never hurries. She drives us nuts when it comes time to get ready for something or to try and head out the door. Just walking in the park takes twice as long with her because she is in her own world. It frustrates me, but I can't say that is bad. She is very smart and she likes to read. She does push herself. She is easy to love on. She is the one that will actually try harder in the sports she plays. She doesn't work in the boundaries of others, which is hard when she disappears from a place she is supposed to be in. She could watch movies and TV all day and I don't think she likes to be outside as much as the others. This will be interesting when the reading really kicks in. She likes praise a lot. She plays by herself a lot and she is content in this, but she does get along well with others. She is the one you really have to meet to understand.

Miles is 3 1/2. He is really tall for his age and their is no doubt he is Matt's child. His blonde hair and blue eyes are nothing in comparison to the face that looks just like his father's. He did get my fair skin though. He loves music just like all of the others. He dances and sings as much as the rest of them and he learns words really really well. Last year he learned and sang regularly The Star Spangled Banner. He really likes Hannah Montana and all of the usual suspects. He is a little flirt and and prefers blonde's, this is no joke. His first word was ball and he used to sleep with a basketball like most children sleep with a stuffed animal. He loves balls and cars. He is all boy except for his musical streak and fear of bugs. Like I said before he and Lydia are trying Matt and I both because they are always moving. We joke that they are ADHD. Lately he is literally bouncing off the walls. My mom's couch is constantly his mat for flips. He is incredibly observant and smart. He won't get to start school for two more years, but I think he will be reading by the end of this next year. He gets to go to preschool this fall and his social behavior can use this. He is my only one at home anymore. The others are at school and activities. He does get to start soccer this fall and I'm sure this will just be the beginning. He loves all sports, especially things with balls. It will be soccer, then basketball, then t-ball and when he gets old enough football and lacrosse will be in there. We have to work on his attitude though because he knows he is cute.