What's Black and White and CUTE all over?

My little Penguin Lindsay! It seems like only yesterday she was 3 months old and dressed as a penguin for her first Halloween! Oh, how she has grown up! Friday, the last day of school before spring break, was "First Grade Penguin Day!" Today they got to deviate from their standard Red/White/Blue/Khaki dress code and wear black and white and she loved choosing her outfit, bring penguin themed books (Thanks Nana Bean for one of our FAVORITE books The Little Penguin), and bring black and white treats. Lindsay chose to bring Thin Mints - thank goodness we had them due to our Girl Scout cookies being recently delivered...It seems like FOREVER that Lindsay has been learning all about Penguins. I guess a first grade science unit can seem to go on and on if they only do it once or twice a week. She shared with me some of what she has learned:

1. Penguins live in the Antarctic, South America and South Africa
2. Penguins eat krill
3. They are fast swimmers
4. Some are big, some are little
5. Most penguins are black and white
6. But sometimes have yellow or orange feathers on their neck or head
7. An Emperor Penguin can be 40" tall
8. Penguins waddle and slide on their tummies down hills
9. Fathers carry eggs...on their feet while the mommy goes out to sea to get food
10. The "Little Blue" penguin is the smallest penguin and it is blue!
11. Kind of penguins Lindsay knows... Emperor, King, Macaroni, Little Blue, Chin Strap, and more but she forgot.
12. Baby Penguins eat seafood too...which is "barf" from the Mommy (Thanks for the description...makes breast feeding seem so civilized!)

Here are a couple more pictures and stuff about my big girl as of late. It seems as I have had several posts about the other critter Caroline lately, time for some Lindsay bloggin'!!! Lindsay is our mature, responsible, yet very emotionally tender and sometimes timid little girl. We love how she is a fantastic sister to Caroline - they are the best of friends but she is also a great helper to mommy. Sometimes I feel so bad when I need to correct her behavior (I mean - get mad and have to yell about something...) She is usually so good but sometimes pushes and pushes me, especially with my pregnancy hormones all wacky. Most of the time, she is a delightful little girl who is really growing up too soon...right before our eyes. Still a tiny one, she has a smile that makes her stand head and shoulders above the rest!

Our little monkey in the climbing tree

Lindsay gets to "walk home" with several friends and they all meet at this tree in the neighborhood where several mommies and daddies are waiting to take them the rest of the way home. Each week she gets a little higher in the tree, rivaling the boys. Those monkey bar muscles she developed in Kindergarten are paying off! She used to be so excited to round the corner and see me but now she is more excited to drop her bag and run to the tree! It is a great little group of kids and my parent friends and I have a deal: if any of us are running late for some reason, we never leave the kiddos - someone always stays to make sure the last of our little crew goes home safely. Maybe some day I will let her walk all the way home - there are 4 other kids she could walk all the way home with that are within a few houses of us...but we are not all ready for that yet! We are lucky that we are a half mile from her school where most have to drive so walking is not even an option for most - we do not have any busing at our school as it is an alternative "choice" school.

Lindsay's first grade class - she is 2nd from left in the front row

We have enjoyed Lindsay blossom this year in school. She is consistently achieving 95-100% on everything she does and on which she is evaluated. She is above grade level in reading and math . Funny thing as of late - instead of reading or coloring during Sacrament Meeting at church, she would rather we make "math worksheets" for her to do! Reading is OK to her, she is doing fine, at a 2.5 grade level or so but I think math is her love right now. And science. The other day, she was making science experiments after school. First, Caroline decided she needed a collection of ice so all our little cups disappeared into the freezer to make ice. OK, but then Lindsay decided to make a science experiment out of it. She wrote up a sheet and drew illustrations. She wanted to see what happened to various dry cereals that were put into the water and frozen into the ice. FYI, Fruit Loops fair much better than Frosted Mini-Wheats!

Our budding gymnast!

We thought we were going to be all dance, all the time with Lindsay. Not so. We took the fall off from most activities, except soccer, and she really wanted to do more gymnastics after a summer session that she loved. So, we started both girls in gymnastics before Christmas and this little girl is so happy - bridges, cart wheels, intro vault, balance beam, bar work - she loves it all and practices at home. Lindsay is still dancing, we started one combo class after the holidays, but we need to keep up with the gymnastics I think - she is really in her element and her coaches both complimented how well she has picked up on skills that they had been working on for a few months before she joined the class.

Our little girl is growing up...it is so fun getting to know the girl she is becoming before our eyes!