Jennifer --

The kids basically play whatever sport is in season -- soccer in the fall,
baseball in the spring, and they're both doing tennis, golf, and swimming
this summer. They also take gymnastics one day a week during the fall and
spring, but I'm not sure how long they'll continue with that. They both
really like it, but as they get older, the other sports take more time. I
already feel like they're overscheduled certain times of the year, but there
is nothing that they *don't* want to do. Baseball was 3 times a week during
some of the spring weeks, which I found surprising for a 6-7 year old team.
They are both on the same team by choice and also by logistics. Soccer
doesn't have teams yet -- they just get together and do drills and
scrimmages. I'm not sure if that will change in second grade. This is a
very rural area, so it's not like there are huge leagues with lots of teams
[case in point: the next town over from us has a "regional" elementary
school that three towns -- but not ours -- send their kids to. There were
only eight in kindergarten this year, and will be only six next year! From
three towns! Our own town is somewhat bigger, but still only 25-30 kids per
grade].

We also ski quite a bit in the winter, and they are both terrific skiers.

AND, I just bought a piano today (only have to figure out how to move
it!!!), so I am quite excited to start teaching them to read music and play
a bit, if they're interested.

Thus far (knock, knock, knock), we've been really lucky on the competition
front. They both have strengths and weaknesses, but they seem to be happy
for each other rather than begrudging the other. They both get identical
grades in school, which helps (well, except for handwriting, but he's coming
along and I've never put any weight on handwriting grades, anyway: I'd
rather a kid write a lot sloppily than decide that writing neatly is such a
hassle that they'll just write short sentences). The only thing that I do
notice is that Erica doesn't like to try things that Chris is clearly better
at (e.g. she rarely rides her bike without a lot of encouragement from us).
Hopefully that's a short phase we can steer her out of. Chris is not
similarly inclined. He'll try anything.

Do B & E go to the same school? Are they in the same class? Are they
competitive?

Oh -- and the x-posted irrelevant thread is an anomaly. We haven't had one
of those for a while. Things do seem to have more slow lulls nowadays;
occasionally we'll go 48 hours without a new post (or maybe it's just my ISP
burping...), but then the activity resumes.

Julie
Mom to Erica & Chris, 07/97


"Jennifer" wrote in message
...
Hey Julie! :-D Yeah, I'm still on the floor. Tonight at dinner I was
telling the kids that I honestly don't remember how we got Janna to
college
age. Surely the next 8 years for the twins wouldn't go as quickly, right?
At that moment, Emily was making fish faces and fishy noises, and the
thought of her being ready for college made us all crack up. ROFL! :-D
We
finally decided she might be accepted at Fish U, and that's about it.

Wow, your kids are growing up, too! g I guess that happens, lol.
Bryan
likes being a twin, but Emi doesn't so much. However, I think she just
wants to be an only child, and I can sympathize (she's not the oldest, or
the youngest, or the only boy, and she's even the younger of the
twins)...but we've tried to talk to her about being nice when asked, "Do
you
like being a twin?" so as to avoid hurting her twin brother's feelings!

DH turns 41 next month and he's been "snipped," so we're definitely
done...besides, in the fall we'll have 3 kids in private school and 1 kid
in
private college *GULP*. We are saving up for retirement and paying off
the
mortgage, lol!

What kind of sports do your kids like? Are they on the same team? Are
they
competitive?

I'll work on my filters. :-)

Jennifer