Saturday, August 15, 2009

I feel better after I imitate....

That's what Emma said to me today when I caught her in "tree pose" in front of my mirror. She's learned a few yoga poses from doing Wii Fit. She said she was doing some imitating while she was sitting down...and then she decided to imitate while standing, too. She explained that when her sisters get on her nerves, sometimes she just imitates for a little while and feels much better.

I promise I will tell her soon that the word is "meditate"...but for now...I like to hear her talk about imitating.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Back to School....

As I sit here typing this update, my house is quiet with the exception of Good Morning America on in the background. There are no giggles from little girls, no fighting amongst sisters, no messes being made....just quiet. The girls started back to school this past Friday. I do miss my girls during the day...sometimes it's too quiet. So far though, I have really enjoyed the quiet time for myself and my house staying clean for longer than 3.2 minutes. :)

We went on Thursday last week to meet the girls' teachers. Emma is in Mrs. Freeland's 4th grade class and will be switching classes with 2 other teachers for some of her subjects. Emma was disappointed that the teacher she was hoping to get had moved to teach 2nd grade. However, she soon forgot all about that when she discovered that her BFF Brianna was in her class! Emma and Brianna have been in the same class since the 1st grade. I'm so thankful Emma has such a sweet friend. Here they are modeling the "Best Friends" shirts I bought for them this summer.

Audrey is in Ms. Hutchings 1st grade class...I was really hoping Audrey would be in her class this year. The teacher Emma had for 1st grade is now the permanent substitute at the school. Ms. Hutchings was teacher of the year just a couple of years ago, and she is one of the sweetest teachers I've ever met. My little Audrey is a sweetheart and I really wanted her to have a gentle teacher. I think they will be a great student/teacher match. Here is a picture of the two of them from the first day of school.



I was disappointed when we found out that Amy would not be in Mrs. Deemer's kindergarten class. Both Emma and Audrey had Mrs. Deemer for kindergarten. This year, however, all class placement was done by computer. Teachers had no input on which child would be placed in any class. Amy is in Mrs. Underwood's class. Mrs. Underwood is a great teacher...and has been teaching in the same county for her entire career. We are looking forward to being part of a different kindergarten environment. Mrs. Underwood is already working with us to see about Amy getting speech therapy at school to reinforce the therapy she is already getting on a weekly basis. We are thankful to have such a willing teacher! Amy is excited about kindergarten and loves her classroom. I can't believe how quickly my baby has grown! Here is Amy with her teacher....



Our other new change this year is riding the bus. The girls really wanted to ride the school bus to and from school. David and I talked about it and decided if that's what they wanted to do, there was no reason for us not to let them. It would save him from having to drop them off in the mornings and me from picking them up in the afternoons. I did drive them on the first day of school....I didn't want to miss out on those sweet pictures...but I let them ride the bus home that afternoon. They started riding to school on the bus on Monday. The bus picks up right about 7:05 in the morning and so far has dropped the girls off right about 2:50-3:00 in the afternoons. The girls are enjoying the bus rides...as they each have friends on the same bus route.



I'm so thankful for a wonderful start to what will hopefully be a fantastic school year. We are slowly but surely adjusting to our earlier bedtime and have developed a good afternoon homework routine as well. Here's to hoping the school year continues as well as it started!