Ballet and Tap

This week the girls started ballet and tap classes at a local dance studio.  Bailey has been talking about ballet for a year and she was so excited to start.  She started screaming and jumping up and down when I woke her up from her nap and told her it was time to go.  They were both so cute in their classes.  Emma Catherine was excited about getting to take tap because in Chattanooga she just took ballet. 

Our next door neighbor, Lilly, is in Bailey's class.

Camping

This past weekend we went on our first family camp-out.  Before you think how brave we are, you should know that the camp out was in our neighborhood on a driving range for only 1 night.  Just think of it as Intro to Camping 101.  We got to the driving range just before dinner time and set up the tent.

Then the girls threw off their shoes and ran up and down the driving range with all the other kids.  They also collected many, many handfuls of golf balls.  (As a side note, Bailey kept calling them basketballs, even though we corrected her every time.)

Then there was a cookout, popcorn, and a movie. 

After the movie was over, they started another movie and they finally turned it off at 11:00 p.m.  So it was a late night for the girls, but they did sleep all night in the tent.  The bad part came in the morning when the people who do the maintenance on the golf course started mowing, blowing, and edging at 6:00 a.m.  Boy, that was an early morning, so all the tents around the range came down very quickly.  We were back home before 7:00 and had plenty of time to get ready for church.  After church brought VERY good naps for all of us.

Overall, it was a fun family night, but I can see how difficult it would be to really camp.  We have a tent now, though, so I think we will definitely try again, and next time, maybe we'll try air mattresses. 

Kindergarten

Emma Catherine had her first day of kindergarten today.  I'm not going to lie, it was tough for me, but she was thrilled and excited and giddy to be starting school.  The morning started with Emma Catherine's alarm clock going off at 6:30.  She came in my room half asleep and laid on the floor for a few minutes.  Then she quickly perked up and made her bed and got dressed.  She ate breakfast and then we went to the bus stop to meet the bus driver.  Emma Catherine is going to be riding the bus home from school and Ryan is going to take her to school in the mornings.  This morning we all took her to school.  We were able to walk her to the front door of the school and then the 5th grade ambassadors took her to her room.  As we walked up to the front door, I started crying.  She gave all of us hugs and I tried to hug her tight and she was ready to walk inside, and that was it.  She is now a kindergartener. 

I cried all the way back home and then Bailey and I kept busy.  We went to the park with friends, ran to a quick appointment, and went home for lunch and her nap.  At 3:00 I waited for Emma Catherine at her bus stop and she bounced off the bus.  For some reason I got teary again but I held it together. She told us her day was awesome and that she loved her school and teacher.  They did lots of fun activities, painting, a scavenger hunt, read books, sang, colored, and she got to eat school lunch. 

I actually know Emma Catherine's teacher from college and it is so funny how it worked out.  One of my prayers for Emma Catherine this year is for her to gain confidence in herself.  I also wrote that on her paperwork that asked for my goals for her this year.  At the parent meeting her teacher, Averee, told us that her job this year was to build confidence in her students, and if they leave her class without confidence then she has failed at her job.  I once again got teary (can you see the theme) when I realized that this was confirmation that this was exactly who was supposed to be Emma Catherine's teacher this year.  I am looking forward to the adventure of kindergarten, and an exciting year. 

Back to School Pedicures

On Friday I took the girls to get back to school pedicures.  I thought they would think it was a fun girls' activity.  Bailey actually got really nervous at first and didn't want to put her feet in the water but the lady doing her nails was great and she convinced her that it would be okay.  The place we went has a kids' area, which made it more fun for the girls.

Our Summer

Well, out summer is just about over, and surprisingly, I am sad.  I thought I might be ready for the girls to go back to school because we have been together 24/7, but I am not.  I thoroughly enjoyed this summer with the girls.  We had no schedule and just enjoyed each day as it came.  We were able to go to VBS, play dates at church, visit my family in Florida, and have my parents here for 3 weeks or so.  We also spent a LOT of time at the pool and the library.

We went to the library at least once a week the whole summer.  We checked out books, movies, CD's, played on the computer sand collected prizes for the reading club.  This summer the theme at the library was One World, Many Stories so on the bulletin boards in the children's area they had large pictures of countries that were actually collages of copies of book covers.  Each week they placed a snapshot of 2 librarians in each country and the kids get to go to each country and try to find the hidden picture.  Once you found the picture in each country, you got a prize.  I'm not sure if that even makes sense, but the girls loved doing this and now our library bag is full of little trinkets from each week.

At the beginning of the summer, we joined the neighborhood pool and we loved it.  Generally, the girls enjoyed going back and forth from the baby pool to the big pool.  Emma Catherine loved the diving board and became very brave.

Good bye summer, we'll miss you!

Swim Lessons

At the end of the summer we took swim lessons with some friends at the swim teacher's house.  For Emma Catherine we just wanted her to work on her strokes and we were hoping Bailey would get more confident in the water.  I think it was beneficial for both of them.  Bailey actually went underwater a few times and she would put her face in the water to pick up a toy.  She still doesn't like to jump in the pool for fear that she will go underwater, but she did jump a few times.  As the end of the swimming season is ending, I am hoping that we have built a foundation to build on next summer. 

At the end of swim lessons, they were able to go down the slide.  Emma Catherine loved it and Bailey wasn't too sure but she did go down after much persuasion. 

My Parents' Visit

One good thing about my parents both being teachers is that they get the summers off.  This summer they came up and spent most of July with us.  It was generally a low key visit, which I liked.  They did some of the normal activities that the girls and I do each week like the library and swimming, and we did take a mini trip to visit my sister in Nashville, and a day trip to visit some friends in Huntsville.  Unfortunately, as I looked back over my pictures from the time they were here, I realized I didn't take nearly enough of them. 

Most of the pictures are from our visit with my sister in Nashville.

3rd of July

Well, better late than never.  July has come and gone and I still haven't posted our pictures from the 3rd of July.  Yep, it's not a misprint, we watched fireworks on the beach on the 3rd and then we traveled back to Birmingham on the 4th. 

We had a great idea to take a picnic to the beach and watch the fireworks.  Over the water it was beautiful,

and the plan went off well until these clouds started rolling in.

A big storm rolled in with lots of loud thunder and people were running to their cars.  We decided to try to wait it out in the car and luckily the storm didn't last long, and they went ahead with the fireworks.

We also got a few cute pictures before the rain came.