Sunday, July 17, 2011
Summer is flying by
Summer has been flying by. We have had a BBQ complete with friends and family to celebrate the fact that the girls have a swing set in the backyard now. :) (Hooray for living in a place with a backyard!) We owe a huge thanks to my aunt and uncle, they are the ones that hooked us up. We took a trip up north, went to a fabulously fun wedding. The girls were flower girls, and damn adorable ones at that. We came home, unpacked and I repacked the girls to spend the week with my parents camping. Rob and I decided to take a mini couple vacation while the kids were away. While they were camping and playing on the beach, we were hitting up breweries and exploring towns in Michigan that we have never been to. Everyone is home now, and it feels great to have us all home and under the same roof.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
apologies and brags
I apologize about the severe lack of posts. I looked at the blog the other day and was kind of embarrassed that it had been so many months. Since it has been so long I have lots of fun updates and brags.
First about Emma. She has recently requested that she be called Emmy spelled E-M-M-Y because she likes having 4 letters. I am happy to oblige at least it was a decent nick name rather than something completely unrelated to her actual name. :) Emmy is officially a first grader!! She left kindergarten with a bang! I just opened her last report card to learn that the books she was reading at the end of the year are 2nd grade reading level. She met or exceeded all expectations and we couldn't be prouder of her fantastic work ethic and hard work this year. I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer in her classroom at least once a week, volunteer for school events, go on field trips & generally be there as a helping hand. We were very blessed with an amazing teacher, Mrs. Brace. I only hope that they are able to maintain a fantastic relationship as she grows older.
Emmy also lost her first tooth! The tooth fairy even let her keep her tooth & gave her $5! I hear that the tooth fairy gives more money for the first tooth these days. I remember getting $0.50!
Arabel is stubborn and hilarious. She is as smart as a whip. I think having an older sister has helped! She knows most of her letters and some of their sounds. She can definitely identify numbers up to ten. (Thanks Nick Jr. & Disney Jr.) Arabel has quite the artistic streak in her as well. She makes the greatest pictures. :) Now, if we could just master potty training I would be ecstatic! She has started speaking as if she were a ring master of a circus. Arabel starts sentences with a rousing "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN..." proceeds with whatever she is doing and then ends with a gigantic bow.
Never a dull moment.
First about Emma. She has recently requested that she be called Emmy spelled E-M-M-Y because she likes having 4 letters. I am happy to oblige at least it was a decent nick name rather than something completely unrelated to her actual name. :) Emmy is officially a first grader!! She left kindergarten with a bang! I just opened her last report card to learn that the books she was reading at the end of the year are 2nd grade reading level. She met or exceeded all expectations and we couldn't be prouder of her fantastic work ethic and hard work this year. I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer in her classroom at least once a week, volunteer for school events, go on field trips & generally be there as a helping hand. We were very blessed with an amazing teacher, Mrs. Brace. I only hope that they are able to maintain a fantastic relationship as she grows older.
Emmy also lost her first tooth! The tooth fairy even let her keep her tooth & gave her $5! I hear that the tooth fairy gives more money for the first tooth these days. I remember getting $0.50!
Arabel is stubborn and hilarious. She is as smart as a whip. I think having an older sister has helped! She knows most of her letters and some of their sounds. She can definitely identify numbers up to ten. (Thanks Nick Jr. & Disney Jr.) Arabel has quite the artistic streak in her as well. She makes the greatest pictures. :) Now, if we could just master potty training I would be ecstatic! She has started speaking as if she were a ring master of a circus. Arabel starts sentences with a rousing "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN..." proceeds with whatever she is doing and then ends with a gigantic bow.
Never a dull moment.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Happy Birthday to Arabel!
Arabel is 3!
4/17/2008
11:42 am
8 pounds 8 ounces
21 1/4 inches
From this:
to this!
1!
I couldn't be happier to have this wonderful little girl in my life. :)
4/17/2008
11:42 am
8 pounds 8 ounces
21 1/4 inches
From this:
2!
3!!
Monday, April 4, 2011
spring break is here!
Emma is officially on spring break. :) We don't have plans to go anywhere, but we will be enjoying her time off. Unfortunately, on Thursday night she was messing around at bedtime and managed to bust her lip open. She got to start her spring break with a fat lip. Guess she will take me serious when she is told to not jump on the bed.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I know, I know... I am a day late. As an apology here are some pictures of my little gals wearing their green.
This was an impromptu game on soccer on the deck.
Arabel being cheesy.
Daddy with his girls
my gals
me and the little ladies
This was an impromptu game on soccer on the deck.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Dentist appointments
The girls had their first dentist appointment this afternoon. Emma is a nervous kid when it comes to things like that, so I was a little nervous for her. Arabel on the other hand is a fearless child, so something told me she would have zero problem. I have been talking to Emma about what was going to happen for a couple days, she was originally going to go first to show Arabel how easy it was. Getting there was a different story. Emma started getting really nervous, Arabel was showing no signs of being nervous so she went first instead. Arabel did wonderful. They said her teeth look great! She ended up getting an exam, cleaning and a fluoride treatment. The hygientist was awesome with both girls. She saw that Emma was really nervous and talked her through everything. Emma was brave enough to get an exam, cleaning, fluoride treatment AND x-rays! Her permanent teeth are just waiting for her baby teeth to fall out, the dentist guessed that it would be anytime now that she starts to get wiggles. Both girls ended up in the no cavities club!
All smiles in their new shades, courtesy of the Valley Dental Spa!
All smiles in their new shades, courtesy of the Valley Dental Spa!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Conferences and other news
I had Emma's conference today. We have about a bajillion reasons to be proud of her.
Her report card is "graded" by developmental level: 1- area of concern, 2- needs more time & experience, 3- making progress & 4- meeting outcomes
We were told at conference #1 that 3's are what they are hoping for, most kids won't have 4's across the board. She had some 4's in her work/study skills and her personal/social skills area for the first marking period. (December)
Today, she had almost all 4's and a couple 3+, which is pretty darn good. She has jumped to the top of the class in most of the areas of math and language arts. The teachers (her teacher and her student teacher) couldn't say enough about what a great kid she is. She is kind to everyone she interacts with, she is compassionate with other kids, she loves to help others, and her listening skills are wonderful. She is never in trouble, and seems to be really loving school. All wonderful compliments to hear when you are parent. At one point they told me to keep doing whatever it is that I am doing, it is working wonders. If that isn't a parental ego boost I don't know what is.
I was beaming, I couldn't have been prouder. Well, I was wrong.
The teachers then told me that Emma has jumped 4 (!!!!!!!!!) reading levels in the past 2 months. They are beyond impressed with her. In fact she has already met or exceeded all the expectations they have for kindergarteners before they go to first grade. (She still has 3 months of school left!)
She has graduated from an emergent reader to a beginning reader. She also went from being an experimenting writer to an emerging writer. The reading and writing stages are for kindergarteners - 2nd grade. She is on step 2 of each, which is really good considering she couldn't read AT ALL and couldn't write anything but her name in September.
Her writing vocabulary is around 30 words (up from 6 in December). In fact I saw some of the testing they did with her. The teacher says the sentence, "I see a big cat playing in the sun with a red ball." The kids then write that down. Emma's first testing looked like this : I C A B C P I F S F R B - basically using the first letters. This time... she wrote every word like they sounded, she almost spelled playing right (she missed the L). It was mind blowing to see all that she has learned in the past few months.
Basically, I left the room beaming. The teachers are so happy with her amazing progress and attentiveness to lessons.
Arabel is still conquering potty training. :) She even went to take her nap today with underwear on rather than a diaper. (More thanks to daddy forgetting to put her in a diaper.) She woke up dry! One more step is down!!
The girls have their first dentist appointments on Thursday. Fingers are crossed that everything goes well. I am kind of nervous. Emma is normally a kind of nervous kid when it comes to new things. She assures me that she is going to go in and NOT be scared. We chose a dental practice that is called a dental spa, they use aromatherapy (no yucky dentist office smell), music or dvd's to watch/listen to during your exam and cleaning, paraffin wax dips for your hands, a massage therapist to massage your neck/shoulders is you get tense, and a massage chair in the waiting room. One of the dentists even worked in a pediatric practice for over a year. After we get the girls through their appointments, we will be getting ourselves appointments. Here's to hoping for no cavities.
Her report card is "graded" by developmental level: 1- area of concern, 2- needs more time & experience, 3- making progress & 4- meeting outcomes
We were told at conference #1 that 3's are what they are hoping for, most kids won't have 4's across the board. She had some 4's in her work/study skills and her personal/social skills area for the first marking period. (December)
Today, she had almost all 4's and a couple 3+, which is pretty darn good. She has jumped to the top of the class in most of the areas of math and language arts. The teachers (her teacher and her student teacher) couldn't say enough about what a great kid she is. She is kind to everyone she interacts with, she is compassionate with other kids, she loves to help others, and her listening skills are wonderful. She is never in trouble, and seems to be really loving school. All wonderful compliments to hear when you are parent. At one point they told me to keep doing whatever it is that I am doing, it is working wonders. If that isn't a parental ego boost I don't know what is.
I was beaming, I couldn't have been prouder. Well, I was wrong.
The teachers then told me that Emma has jumped 4 (!!!!!!!!!) reading levels in the past 2 months. They are beyond impressed with her. In fact she has already met or exceeded all the expectations they have for kindergarteners before they go to first grade. (She still has 3 months of school left!)
She has graduated from an emergent reader to a beginning reader. She also went from being an experimenting writer to an emerging writer. The reading and writing stages are for kindergarteners - 2nd grade. She is on step 2 of each, which is really good considering she couldn't read AT ALL and couldn't write anything but her name in September.
Her writing vocabulary is around 30 words (up from 6 in December). In fact I saw some of the testing they did with her. The teacher says the sentence, "I see a big cat playing in the sun with a red ball." The kids then write that down. Emma's first testing looked like this : I C A B C P I F S F R B - basically using the first letters. This time... she wrote every word like they sounded, she almost spelled playing right (she missed the L). It was mind blowing to see all that she has learned in the past few months.
Basically, I left the room beaming. The teachers are so happy with her amazing progress and attentiveness to lessons.
Arabel is still conquering potty training. :) She even went to take her nap today with underwear on rather than a diaper. (More thanks to daddy forgetting to put her in a diaper.) She woke up dry! One more step is down!!
The girls have their first dentist appointments on Thursday. Fingers are crossed that everything goes well. I am kind of nervous. Emma is normally a kind of nervous kid when it comes to new things. She assures me that she is going to go in and NOT be scared. We chose a dental practice that is called a dental spa, they use aromatherapy (no yucky dentist office smell), music or dvd's to watch/listen to during your exam and cleaning, paraffin wax dips for your hands, a massage therapist to massage your neck/shoulders is you get tense, and a massage chair in the waiting room. One of the dentists even worked in a pediatric practice for over a year. After we get the girls through their appointments, we will be getting ourselves appointments. Here's to hoping for no cavities.
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