Back to School

Yes, I am still trying to catch up with all the recent happenings.

School started for the girls on August 30th. Abby started Kindergarten and Emma is in 1st grade. Abby had a gradual entrance week and didn't have a full day until Friday. Emma had a great first week. I can't get over how serious 1st grade is and how much she will learn. There are several kids in her class that she knows from Kindergarten and her teacher seems really nice. Hoping she has a great year.

Abby got to ride the bus for the first time on Friday (her 1st full day). She was so excited. I did better this year then a last...if you are a regular reader you will remember that I followed the school bus last year on Emma's 1st day and watched for her to get off (click here to read that blog post). This year I DID NOT follow the school bus. I felt more comfortable about her riding the bus: her big sister was there with her, she knew several other kids, we know the bus driver and I know the routine when she gets off the bus. What I did do was drive to the school and park out front. I waited for the bus to arrive and wanted to make sure she made it to the correct line. Shortly after I pulled up Sean pulled up behind me....BUSTED. Then as the bus pulled into the driveway Emma and Abby both spotted us and started waving...BUSTED AGAIN!!!! I am happy to report Abby made it safely into school.

The hardest part was the realization that my "baby" is growing up. What I also realized is that having two children so close in age, they will be doing everything back to back and time is going to fly by. I held myself together as Abby got on the bus but as soon as I got in the car I cried. Where has the time gone, she looked so big getting on that bus, I can't see the baby in her anymore...all of these thoughts were going through my head and as the tears ran down my face.

I am very proud of how well she has done so far. I know it will be a busy year and hope I can keep up with them.

Summer To-Do List

So at the beginning of summer we made of list of activities we wanted to do over the summer. When I first proposed this to the girls I was afraid their wishes would be outrageous (ex. Disney). But I was shocked....most of what they wanted to do was FREE. Some of their ideas were going to the playground, playing in the back yard and playing with friends. I was glad they were happy with the cheap and day-to-day activities.

So as a family we came up with our Summer To-Do-List. I put it in a picture frame to display and so we could use a dry-erase marker to check off the activities as we did them. Here are some of the activities we came up with and actually did this summer:

* have a picnic

* see Toy Story 3

* go to a street concert

* go to a beach

* family movie night

* join the library summer reading program

* visit a new playground

* visit the zoo

* visit Aunt Gail

* watch fireworks

* go to the 4th of July Parade

* complete the summer challenge from school

...and a few others. If you notice most are free or very cheap.

As you can see we had a busy summer including a 2 day trip to Hershey Park (that's why I didn't blog much over the summer). We completed everything on the to-do list except for ice skating...hoping to do that soon.

Now that summer vacation is officially over and we are back in school we are planning our fall activities.