First Day of Kindergarten

Although none of her friends from preschool are in her class, Jillian and Noah were there on the staggered entry day we had. We got to take a few good pictures before school.

 

 

Such poise, such grace

We had an open house at Emmy’s school last night. These little red school houses with each kid’s picture were on the wall. Of course, I had to take a picture of Emmy’s little schoolhouse.  What is with that face???

 

Penguins 4 Life

Emmy’s last year of preschool was in the Penguins class. One of the other moms said that we were so lucky that we had such a tight group of friends and family. She was so right—I just assumed everyone did. Even though we are in different schools, we managed to get one more pool party in this summer. We parents have bonded during a lot of birthday parties these past few years.

 

It's all about the knee socks

This morning, we both were crying on the way to school. I had bought her all these absolutely adorable knee socks before school started and of course she won’t wear them. When she does try them on, she pulls them so tightly that the heel section is on the back of her calf.  She says that the socks have ‘humps’ in them.  Thanks to the sockless attire, she has quite possibly the worst foot odor ever. Sunday on the way home, she put her feet on the back of John’s seat in the car and he threatened to make her ride home with her feet out of the window the rest of the way.

 

Yesterday, she had a blister so I told her she had to wear socks today with her red Mary Janes. We got dressed and she promptly threw a fit about wearing the socks.  On one hand, it’s socks, for goodness sakes, just take them off. But on the other hand, she needs to use her words to express herself instead of throwing a fit. In the end, she missed breakfast, so she ate a pop tart on the way to school, I told her she is wearing the socks tomorrow and she wore her slip on fake Toms.

 

In the car, I asked her why things went out of control this morning and what could we do to make things better tomorrow morning. She said, “I really liked it when it was peaceful” and I asked when that was and she replied, “before you started talking”.

 

Adorable.

 

 

 

Rose Ryan is Three!

I can't believe our precious girl is three! I was so excited to celebrate her third birthday--Barbie pool party style!!! I am so lucky to have not only Emmy Ruth but to have a niece and nephew (and one on the way!) that I absolutley adore. They are both so precious and I can't help but continually laugh at them and their funny ways.  Rose is all girl--she is princess and nail polish and dance party all in one little tiny package.

It was about here when I started crying. I do this a lot. In fact, I keep a hanky in my purse just in case, but I didn't have it handy when I needed it. Just looking at Rose's precious little face and her precious little smile just about does me in. I can't help but think of how lucky we are to have such beautiful, smart children and how much Momma would have loved them. Rose looks so much like her sometimes, it almost takes my breath away. Especially when she is pouting, she has Momma's lips.

Emmy and I made cupcakes and pinata for Rose for her birthday; this was all Emmy kept saying before hand.

Emmy is showing Rose all the deocrations on the pinata.

Grandma Ruth used to give me or Neall a gift on the others birthday; it drove my parents mad. I, of course, do the same. Solomon played with one of Emmy's Ken dolls all night the last time he stayed with us, so I had to get him his own Ken doll for the party. He loved it and played with it the entire party. I can't believe how grown up he is lately. Such a big boy. I can't stand it. 

Daddy gave Rose a Barbie Dream House for her birthday; she loved it! I was so excited for her to open it and he and LynnLynn worked so hard to get it ready for her. She was a little princess when she saw it.

The final stretch of Preschool

I wrote my last check for Preschool for Emmy Ruth today—we are in the final stretch before kindergarten starts. I can’t believe it! We were eating lunch the other day and Emmy said “I am not ready for kindergarten! I can’t read, spell or whistle yet!” John and I assured her that she was would learn all of these things and more when she started. I have been working on my long, long, long list of school supplies she needs and she and John have been working each night in her Kindergarten workbook that I got her. They are quite adorable.

 

Another clear sign that she is growing up as well is the change in what she watches on TV. She has wanted to watch SpongeBob for a while and I just detest that show so I have told her she was too young. However, for her preschool graduation, that was her gift: getting to watch SpongeBob. You would have thought it was the most expensive gift in the world. No longer is she entertained with Mickey Mouse or the other cartoons, she likes Hey Jesse and Austin & Ally and Good Luck, Charlie, the more sitcom type kids shows. She can be slightly entertained by My Little Pony, but she is certainly not in love with it like she used to be. This has been one of the hardest changes for me. We have watched Mickey Mouse clubhouse in the mornings since she was a year old and I know she is too old, but I thought she still enjoyed it. This morning, she had me change the channel. I can’t stand it!

 

Such a Generous Heart

"Mama, do you have any Barbie dolls?"

"No, I gave them all to you."

"I'll give you one of mine." My heart gets all tender and mushy. Then she follows up with "but it has to be one of the naked ugly ones".

Vacation part 2: Newport, AR

These are so out of order, but, I finally went through my pictures from the rest of our vacation. We were so glad we got to go to Newport and spend the night with the Salinases. We miss them so terribly. My dear friend told me that it really was better in a lot of ways when your friends aren’t right here because when you are together, your focus is on time together and not the day to day stuff. While that is true, and our time together is so much more meaningful now, I do miss having them right here.  Another perk of them being in Newport is that every time we visit, we get to visit with Daddy too since he lives pretty close to them. It’s a two for one deal!

 

We got to see one of Lucas’s games and what a game to see—he hit a home run! Of course nothing is better than snow cones with your best friend afterwards.  

Sleepover with cousins

We love it when the Jackson kiddos spend the night. I am going to have to get a bigger piano bench and bed when Jackson Baby #3 gets here!

 

The Paparazzi

We were enjoying a lovely lunch at one our neighborhood restaurants last week. Emmy wanted to wear the dress from her Rapunzel party; normally, I don’t let her wear dress up clothes out of the house but after one to many “boy” comments over her hair, I thought it would be fine. Not that anyone cares, but I wore a cute blue tunic with a floral scarf. Emmy fell in love with the hibachi grill and now usually insists on steak for dinner. I am glad that we can get by with a good beef and broccoli meal from the Chinese place without having to actually have a steak for each meal.

 

On the way home, Emmy borrowed my scarf. I love this picture, it looks like John is her own bodyguard. On the way home, she would run and then hide behind the bushes and cars and say “do you hear that? That clicking?” She was obviously a movie star and people were following her to get a good picture.

 

Super Proud Aunt

When Neall was a little boy, he climbed every door frame he could find. He WAS Spiderman. It is probably one of my most vivid childhood memories of him. So, when Solomon kept telling me he was Spiderman the other day, I told him about his daddy could climb door frames and the he should have him show him how. Being the brilliant boy he is, nothing escapes his memory, so Solomon did just that. Becca sent me this picture of him and I couldn't be more proud. And it doesn't hurt that he is wearing Incredible Hulk pajama bottoms. I love, love, love that sweet smile.

Preschool graduation

Emmy Ruth's school didn't have the traditional cap and gown graduation ceremony, and I am so thankful! We did, however, go to the park and have a fun picnic and everybody got their diplomas. I talked a big talk, but when it was time, I was the one crying more than others. I don't know what happened to me! We are so thankful for the wonderful friends she has made at Idlewild and look forward to going to school with many of them next year for kindergarten. We were so lucky to have such awesome teachers each year!

 

 

 

The Beach!

We decided to take a quick beach trip this summer. I didn't want to drive too much so we headed to Ocean Springs, MS. We couldn't have been more thrilled with our cabana. It was adorable and nestled just between the beach and the quaint downtown district. We loved it.

The water where we were wasn't the most enticing, but we heard about an excursion that we had to try. We got to ride a boat out eleven miles to Ship Island, a national park with nothing but a snack bar on it. It was awesome.

Some of Emmy's best quotes of the trip:
As we talked about fishing, I asked what we would do with the fish we caught and John suggested just tickling them and throwing them back. ER said, "or we could just kill 'em and eat 'em. Or send them back to our friends."

I told her I needed to write down all the funny things she was saying and she told me I was gonna need a lot of paper.

"Beaches are cool except for the goblins, monsters and vampires. Yep! None here!"

Every so often, she would kick back and exclaim, "this is the life!"

We had to make a trip to Walmart one night and she was not amused, "What are we doing here? We are here to relax and we are at Walmart??"

On the island, I headed to get food for us at the snack bar while she and John were making sandcastles. I asked if she needed anything and she replied that she needed a flag, with a crown, for her sandcastle. Sadly, they didn't have one.

At the cabana, she exclaimed, "I'm bored. I guess I'll read a book".

M4 marching band

We went to see an awesome band at the Levitt Shell tonight. They were so much fun and we got to meet this stilt walker. Emmy was nervous to meet her because she is "scared of tall people". Good thing we are so short!!!

She also calls the Shell "the clam". As they were playing she told John that it was another jam at the clam!!!