Just a Quick Post

I have about a million stories and a million photos to share but with only 15 minutes until the bedtime of two certain babies, I will have to resort to a short but sweet post.

Conference - Emma is doing so well in school. The teacher said she is an above average student and a "love". He gave us a list of 2nd grade spelling words for Emma to start studying since she consistently gets 10/10 on her spelling tests. Again, I have to say that I adore Emma's teacher and I am so glad that she got placed in his class this year!

Halloween - After 3 years Emma finally retired the old skeleton costume... by passing it on to Oliver! He was a very scary "skeleton bones" and I made Emma a mummy costume with a pair of white sweats and strips of torn bedsheet stained with tea. Pictures will come soon! The weather was wonderful for the first time in years and the kids got some serious trick-or-treating time in this year. They both have big bags of candy to show for it!

I took Oliver to Emma's classroom Halloween party and the teacher had all the students (and little brothers and sisters) quietly sitting on the floor in their costumes and he said that everyone would come up to the front one at a time and tell the class who they were. Oliver immediately shot his hand up in the air and yelled, "I'm Oliver!" at the top of his lungs. Needless to say, he and Emma got to come to the front of the classroom and talk about their costumes first!

Doctor Visit - Today I took both kids to the doctor. Both of them are healthy and growing right on schedule! Emma is 44 inches tall and 40 pounds and Oliver is 40 inches tall and also weighs 40 pounds! Emma is in the 25th percentile for height and weight and Oliver is in the 90th.

Time to get these babies in bed. I will try to post photos tomorrow!

So Much For Keeping This Updated

I was doing so good for awhile there. Forgive me. I've been busy! The Boy is in the midst of Potty Training and let's just say I wish it were going better. *sigh* He also is talking up a storm now and says the funniest things. I can't tell you how many times in a day Tree and I will just bust up laughing at him. And he loves it. He is the ham in the family. He is obsessed with singing and dancing and a new kids' show called "Yo Gabba Gabba". He has written his own song that he sings all the time. Here are the lyrics:

Sing a song!
R-E-D!
Sing a song!
R-E-D!

Emma Rose is into poetry now. She writes poems every night. I am not sure why she calls them "poems" as they are more like short stories. She is working very, very hard on using proper capitalization in her writing. She learned to write using all capitals and it is proving a hard habit to break. Her teacher calls her "The Capital Queen". We have her first Parent Teacher Conference of the year tomorrow and I can't wait to see what her teacher has to say. I believe I will get a copy of her report card then, as well.

Puppies

Yesterday we went to Elijah's football game and there was a little girl there with two teeny-tiny chihuahua puppies. Emma and Oliver of course were completely mesmerized. Lucky for them the owner of puppies was very generous and let both Emma and Oliver have plenty of snuggle time with the puppies. Oliver was so gentle that the puppy he was holding fell asleep in his arms making for a pretty darn cute picture.

(I don't know if you know this already but I just found out recently that you can click on any of the photos in this blog to see them at full-size. I highly recommend checking out Oliver and the puppy at full-size!)

Fun on the Farm

On Saturday, Emma and Oliver were invited to a birthday party held at a farm. There was horseback riding and a hay ride and tons of fun things. Oliver had no problem getting on the pony but Emma didn't want to. She was worried about getting hurt and I told her that it was perfectly safe and that these ponies were very calm and gentle and there was nothing to worry about. She looked at me and said, "Oh yeah? Then why do you have to wear a helmet, Mom?" You got me there, kid. She is just too dang smart!

First Day of First Grade

Here she is in her new birthday dress from Papa Mike. She wasn't the slightest bit nervous this year and is SO excited about her new teacher. Frankly, I too am so excited about her new teacher! He seems like he is going to be wonderful. He was very welcoming and encouraged me to visit at any time and to bring Oliver. That's a big thumbs-up in my book!

We will be going back to Emma's classroom this afternoon to bring ice cream cups as a birthday treat. Since the school year started the day after Emma's birthday, her teacher didn't want her to have to wait until the end of the school year to celebrate her birthday with the other summer birthdays so he asked if I wanted to bring treats on the first day. Emma is very, very excited. She also gets a birthday crown and gets to sit in the Birthday Chair while all the other kiddos have to sit on the floor. What a cool way to start the school year!

Six

Emma says she had the best birthday ever this year. On Sunday we had a little family party where she received Polly Pockets aplenty, some really cute school clothes and a new two-wheeler bike! She also got cards in the mail from her Nana with an Old Navy gift card and one from her G.G. with a 20 dollar bill which she plans to use to buy more Polly Pockets.

On her actual birthday, the 14th, she took Oliver and two friends Nolan and Parker to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and picked hot dogs for her birthday dinner.

National Night Out

Every year on August 7th neighborhoods around the US host block parties. We were finally able to attend ours. The visit from the firefighters was by far the highlight of the evening!

He's 3

We finally had the great bed unveiling on Saturday. Oliver went to Grandma's house while Tree put the bed together. Oliver came back home a couple of hours later and we sent him up to his room where the assembled bed was waiting. He saw it was pretty shocked, "Lightning McQueen? Lightning McQueen! Lightning McQueen!" and then there was a pause and a cry of, "Where's my bed?" once he realized that his crib was gone. We explained that this was his new bed and then he was okay. He crawled and bounced all over it like a little bug and he and Emma both played in the bed all weekend. Big, big thank-yous to everyone who made this possible. This truly was Oliver's dream present!

Guess what is in our garage right now?

I will give you a hint: it is BIG. Very, very big. Yup. Yesterday we went and picked up the Lightning McQueen bed and it is now hiding under a blanket and a shower curtain in the garage. The box is almost 7 feet long and hung out the back of our van. We had to drive home very slowly with the hatch open in the rain but we got it home safely.

The plan for Saturday is to get Oliver out of the house while Tree and I go buy a mattress and box spring and assemble the bed. I can't wait to see the look on his face. As of right now the only part of his birthday that he has shown interest in is the cake. "Where's my birthday cake?" I think he has forgotten that on birthdays you get not only cake, but presents, too!

Short O

On the walk home from school yesterday Emma told me that during class the teacher had asked the students to think of words with the "short O" sound in them. Emma's contribution to the group? "Rock On". Two short o's in one and plenty of laughs from the teacher.