Two Weeks In

We just finished up the second week of school.  Everyone is tired, exhausted and flat worn out. :-)

Heidi continues to enjoy Kindergarten. She seems to really enjoy the Specials - that's often the first thing she tells me when she gets off the bus - what Special they went to that day. She is slowly making some new friends - including one on the bus who is also in her class. She is also enjoying occasionally seeing a couple of her preschool friends that are in different classes.

Heidi has continued to mention how tired she is each day.  In fact, the morning of the 2nd day of school, she told me maybe she should go to bed at 7PM instead of 8PM 'cause she was still tired.  There have been other conversations since where she has suggested 6PM! :-) We are aiming for between 7 and 7:30.  She has also said that she wished Kindergarten wasn't so long because she's not getting to play with Rachel very much. ;-)

Emma seems to be doing well with her class. Every day when she gets off the bus she asks me how my day was with Rachel. I don't get too much feedback from her, but I do know she has a handful of friends in her class from last year, so that's always nice.

I think Rachel thinks she has arrived. She absolutely loves going to school. "I'm big now so I can go to my big school," is what she says. It didn't take her long to start calling it "my school" rather than "Heidi's school." She has fun with the craft projects, music, creative movement, playground, circle, and everything else. I'm so glad she likes it.

A couple Rachel updates... We started really working on potty training in July. I think it is fair to say that she is pretty much potty trained. She still has an accident about every other day, but we're getting there. She is excited to pick out her underwear every day and I'm excited to FINALLY be done with diapers (not including Pull-Ups)!

Additionally, she has started sleeping in the top bunk. She seems to like it and has adjusted easily to it. I'm still a little worried about her falling out, but so far so good.

School 2012-13

School started two days ago on August 13. First day of school pictures.

Heidi has started Kindergarten and is absolutely loving it!

After the first day, Heidi said her favorite thing was art. She couldn't remember any friends' names, but she did know her teacher's names, so I guess that's good.
Emma is starting 3rd grade.

Her first words to me after she got off the bus the first day were, "Mommy, did you enjoy your stay at home day with Rachel today?" :-)
They are riding the big bus together (up to now, Emma has always taken a special ed bus).

And they are enjoying friends at the bus stop. Here's Heidi with our neighbor Natalie.

While Emma and Heidi were gone for the first day of school, Rachel and I stayed busy.  We played at least 8 games of "Don't Break the Ice," played store, and she did all of her button art images - I think all before 9AM. :-)

 

She REALLY wanted to go to her school Monday too, but she had to wait 'til Tuesday. But she was so excited!  Can't you just see the excitement in that face?

She had a really great day too. She can't wait to go back tomorrow.  She'll be going on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I think she would love to go everyday if she could (I wouldn't mind it either, but I think we both have to wait a couple years).
Now that school is in session all the fall activities will start to get going too.  All three girls are taking gymnastics classes, Emma continues to take her horseback riding lessons, and Heidi will start soccer in the next several weeks.  Here we go.....

Wrapping up Summer

Well, school started three days ago, so I guess it's time to sum up our Summer.  It was good, fun and busy. Going in to Summer, I didn't feel like we had a lot going on - but boy it didn't feel that way.  We stayed really busy and it went by really fast!

After our camping week, Emma started her summer of ESY (Extended School Year). Her program was 4 days a week from 9-12, so that still left time to have fun together.

Heidi and Rachel were able to attend VBS at our church.  The theme was a '70's theme - "We Are Family" and they had so much fun.

One of the activities was a box maze. Here they are exploring it.

 

Heidi also attended VBS at her preschool church. She had a great time with that too! We are all still enjoying the music CD from the week.

Emma and Heidi were both able to attend Grammy Camp this Summer. My mom takes each of the grandkids individually for a few days and plans activities and field trips and general fun. This was Heidi's first time and she had a wonderful time! Part of both of their Grammy Camp experiences was gem mining.  At the end of Emma's camp time, we all went up and did it together.

That led us straight in to Independence Day. After the gem mining, the girls stayed with Grammy & Papa for the night so Jason and I could get up and run the Peachtree Roadrace on the 4th. It was particularly warm and we knew it would be, so we took it slowly. I think we both enjoyed it despite the fact we weren't as trained for it as we would have liked.
After the race, yummy brunch with a friend, and a shower, we drove back up to Dahlonega for their Independence Day parade.  Grammy was in the parade! We were trying to teach Rachel to keep the flags off the ground.

Heidi was enjoying taking pictures of everything - even the cars driving by before the parade started.

Enjoying the parade.

Flag waving.

Family Pic.

After the parade we packed up a picnic dinner to eat while we waited for the fireworks to begin. Waiting for the fireworks.

Almost fireworks time!

It was a really fun and tiring day!  We spent the night with Grammy & Papa and then got up early to drive home so Jason could get in to work.
Then we left the next morning to drive to Nashville for the US Boomerang Nationals. I didn't get many pictures, but it was INCREDIBLY hot while we were there.  The kids had fun trying to stay cool and making new friends.

In addition to the chairs and umbrellas, there was a baby pool that was a huge hit too! It was a great tournament and a fun time with all our boomerang friends.
The girls are interacting with our cats more and more. The cats are still rather timid around Rachel & Heidi (they move too fast and are too loud), but they do occasionally oblige the girls' desires to "catch" them and pet them.

The Olympic Games have wrapped up the Summer. I always enjoy watching the Olympics and I think I turned Heidi and Rachel in to Olympics junkies too.  Every day Heidi asked me to turn the TV on so she could watch whatever sport they were showing. Heidi's favorite was gymnastics and Rachel's favorites were beach volleyball and gymnastics.
Watching the Olympics.

Well, that's kind of our Summer in a nutshell. I'm not sure what all else we did - a few play dates with friends, swimming at the Y a little, visits to Champion Kids and Catch Air, and just general fun I guess.
School has now started (next post) and Fall activities are getting in to full swing!  Never a dull moment. But what fun would that be.