Meet and Greet

Yesterday we went to Meet and Greet to meet Emily's new kindergarten teacher.  Her name is Mrs. Reynolds.  She has been teaching for 18 years and has two children.  Both pluses for me . . . not too young and not too old and a mom!  We are praying for a great first year of school:

Joe helped keep Abigail from leaving the room and taking off on her own.  I'm so glad her was there because I had paperwork to fill out and Abigail was ALL OVER THE PLACE:

Here is a picture of her classroom.  There are 24 students in Emily's class:

 Today we took Abigail to summer camp and then Emily and I had a "Mommy and me" day together before she starts school tomorrow.  We went to a pottery place and Emily made a plate.  We painted it together:

 The paint was shaped like a flower so she wanted different colors for every petal:

 Then she painted a rainbow and put dots around her rainbow.  She also spotted a little princess dress that she wanted to paint that they will make into a magnet:

When we get it back they have a black pen we can use to write her name and date on it.  She can use it as her dinner plate!

We then met Joe for lunch at Emily's restaurant of choice: Wendy's.  Then we picked Abigail up from camp and enjoyed some yogurt together:

I can't believe my baby girl is starting kindergarten!  Here we go . . . .

In random news, I have been searching for Emily's size 3 night gowns and had just decided that I must have given them away . . . and then found them on Saturday.  So Abigail has been so excited to wear nightgowns to bed:

Swimming

On Saturday afternoon we went swimming at our pool.  Emily climbed on top of Joe's shoulders . . .

  . . . and jumped into the water:

She also continued to practice swimming in the deep end and keeping her head above water.  She goes further and further each time!

More swimming fun

Today was Emily's last day of summer camp.  She had to get a cavity filled this morning so since Joe took the day off today he took her to the dentist and then off to the last couple of hours of camp.  Then we all met several PreK friends from Mt View for ice cream and then swimming for our last big fun day before school starts for several of us.  The kids had a blast:

 

It was especially fun to watch Joe interact with all these rugrats : )  Joe also helped the girls make a tent the other day and they have had fun every afternoon and morning hanging out:

 This is such a fun age with these two.  I think that's part of the reason why I've had anxiety about Emily starting kindergarten.  I feel like she's going to grow up way too fast too soon and I want to hit the pause button and enjoy this time in our lives a little longer . . .

Swimming with Friends

Yesterday we went to Julia's pool and went swimming with Julia, Liliana, and Ashlyn.  The girls had fun jumping off the side of the pool and jumping off the diving board:

Emily did a really good job of swimming with her head above water.  We practiced a lot in the deep end together.  She swam the length of the pool with a few breaks in between.  She also wanted to jump off the deep end with no floaties so she would go under and I would help her back up.  She also started pulling herself out of the pool without any help for the first time yesterday.  I've been amazed at her progress this year.

I also had the biggest scare of my life yesterday.  Abigail got out to play in an enclosed area of the pool that had play toys.  So because she was in an area that she couldn't get out of, I took her life jacket off.  While I was talking to another mom I lifted her out of the play area and then before I realized I didn't have her jacket on her, I noticed Emily getting too close to the deep end without her floaties on.  So I walked over to the side of the pool to talk to her about it.  When I turned back to Abigail, she was under water in the pool.  I will never get that image out of my head of her scared face under water trying desperately to get her head above water.  I of course screamed and jumped in the pool to get her out.  Thanks to the good Lord she was ok and immediately started crying and coughing when I got her out.  It was a big wake up call for me to stay focused when my kids are in the water.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Lord that Abigail is ok.

Catching Up

Last weekend we went to my friend, Bonnie's lake house.  Our friend Rita joined us.  The girls had fun swimming in the lake and playing with Bonnie's 2 dogs.

 

  

 

Friday night, Bonnie, Rita, and I sat out on the deck and talked.  At one point during the night I told them I thought I saw a roach crawling on the table where my drink was.  It freaked me out so I got up and moved and left my glass there.  The next morning this is what I found:

 

 On Saturday morning, Paul took us on a boat ride:

 

We had a great time!  On Saturday afternoon we drove to my parents house to spend the week.  Mom's friend had a pool so the girls got to go swimming one afternoon.  Emily even jumped off the diving board:

 

We got home on Thursday afternoon.  On Saturday night we took the plunge and put Abigail in her big girl bed.  She was super excited:

So excited in fact that she would not stay in her bed.  After an hour and a half of her continuing to get up and play, I put her back in her baby bed.  She was not happy.  I told her we would try again the next night.  On Sunday night she did a better job of staying in her bed and actually slept thru the night!

 We also started a chore chart for Emily.   I bought this before we left town and the minute we walked in the door on Thursday afternoon, Emily wanted to set it up.  I held her off until Friday morning and we sat down together to write down things she needs to do each week.  She has been excited about updating it each time.  She will earn $1.25 a week with $1 for her to keep and 25 cents to church.  She has done a great job so far!  We'll see how she does.

 Her chores are to make her bed, clear her dishes after each meal, pick up her toys, unload silverware from dishwasher, put away her laundry, sweep kitchen floor (with my help), and dust.  I also put "Mom's choice" on there is there is something I need her to do for me.  She earned 50 cents for her work on Friday and Saturday this week and DeeDee added $1 for the help she gave her on Thursday cleaning up, so Emily is earning her keep!

I also bet her about 3 weeks ago that I would pay her $5 if she would stay in her seat at the start of a meal and not get up once thru the entire meal.  I told her I was willing to pay her the $5 because I didn't think she could do it : )  Well on Saturday night she finally did it!  So we paid her $5.  Her piggy bank is getting full!

One week from today we go to her Meet and Greet to meet her teacher and next Wed my baby starts kindergarten.  I can't believe it.  I'm not ready for this . . .

Aquarium

Yesterday we went to the TN Aquarium and met my sister and her family there.  We had not seen them in several months so it was good to get together:

 After the aquarium and playing in the water outside the aquarium, the kids wanted to swim at hotel where my sister was staying:

 After swimming, we all cleaned up and then headed to dinner.  Then we got back on the road.  It was a great day to spend with family!