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Emily attends Sydney's birthday party at Observatory Park. A magician performs for the kids and Emily gets to be an assistant while the magician makes a real bird appear out of a sack! Wow! 8/1
We have lunch at Wash Park with the Waggeners, then walk through the flower gardens and put our feet in the pond! They will be moving at the end of the month so it is good to be with them now. 8/3
We go to the dentist and discover that Em has a cavity! Oh no! We will come later in the month to fill it up and put sealant on her permanent molars. The good thing is that the cavity is on a baby tooth that will eventually fall out. Em is disappointed and a little apprehensive about getting the filling. 8/3
Em has been tagging along with me to the Fisher library while I do volunteer work this summer. She doesn't mind because she gets to go to Playhouse Disney on the other computer while I work on the library database computer! 8/3
Todd and Michelle invite us over for dinner with a group of friends. Emily and Sarah are the only children! 8/6
Em was doing errands with me and we fell into a rhyming game, where I would come up with two word pairs and she would have to fill in the missing word. An example is easier than describing it! I would say, "Leaf, tree, you, _____" and she would have to guess "Me" since it was a word that went with "You" and rhymed with "Tree." I was having a HARD time stumping her! She even got: "A sock, a shoe, a cow, a _____" (Moo) even though "moo" wasn't an actual object, and "A school, a teacher, a fan, a _______" (bleacher), which I was so surprised because I didn't think she really knew that meaning of the word "fan." When we told Bill about the game she said, "You have to come up with some hard ones for me since Mommy's are too easy--I need some first grade ones." And Bill said, "Em, those ARE first grade ones!" 8/9
We hit the pool one last time before school starts, and Em practices her floating and swimming! Then we attend the back-to-school ice cream social at UPark this afternoon & Em met her teacher, Mrs. Clark, played parachute games, tug-of-war, and three-legged races with the other 1st graders. 8/12
We have dinner with our friends Amanda, Erin, Stacie, and Tim the day before 1st grade starts! We had dinner in their backyard. What a great treat! 8/15
First day of 1st grade! Emily lines up with her class in a new spot & Mrs. Clark leads them in. The parents got to walk in with them & help with the bags of school supplies, but as soon as all the kids found a seat, it was time to line up for their first gym class and say goodbye to the parents already!! A little different from the first day of kindergarten! 8/16
The first grade kids are given a paper bag and told to fill it with three things that help show who they are or what they like. Em chose: Her Rock Star soccer Tshirt from last spring, one of her reading books from the summer, and a drawing of blueberry pancakes! 8/19
Em had a wonderful first week of 1st grade. On the way home the first day she said she couldn't wait to go back tomorrow. She is also impressed that she gets a math book! She gets to go to art, music, computer lab, gym, and library "take-out" classes this year! 8/20
We have our House Re-Warming party! Emily has a great time playing with Emily Slotta's dad John, and Nathan, a family friend from church. They tossed a frisbee for a LONG time together! 8/21
Emily and I head back to the dentist for Em's filling & to seal her permanent molars to help us keep from getting more cavities! Em was a trooper and though she wanted to hold my hand during the filling, she held still and was a great cooperator. The cavity was right on the surface of the tooth and the dentist was able to take care of it without anasthesia, so Em didn't have to have a shot. Yay! We went to get a big slurpee as a reward, then she was ready to go to school by mid-morning. 8/24
When we got to school after the dentist, the 1st grade was out on the playground, so we went out to find them. I looked around & said, "Oh, I see Mrs. Clark." Emily saw her too and said, "It's always easy to find Mrs. Clark on the playground." Since Mrs. Clark is one of the only African-American teachers at the school, I had to ask Emily, "Why is that?" She said matter-of-factly, "Because she always wears lots of braids in a ponytail." That's my Em! 8/24
After school we drive to the Waggeners' house to have one last playdate before they move to North Carolina. :( We have a hard time leaving before dinner so Jen makes all the kids mac and cheese and gets the wine out for us! 8/25
Emily's homework comes home on Thursday and is due the following Thursday. This week it was five sheets of paper with a different letter at the top. Em's job was to find something that started with each letter in the house and draw a picture of it. Piece of cake! 8/26
First soccer practice of the fall! We have 6 returning girls from last spring and a few new friends. Bill will be coaching with Nick and Em is SO happy to be doing this again! 8/26
Sarah and Em come with me to my library's staff Chili Cook off Party! They are thrilled to be helpers with decorating the tables before the party starts. They were also the ones who got to hand out the prizes at the end! I am one of the few staffers at Koelbel with very young children, and lots of my coworkers told me later how much fun it was to watch Em and Sarah have a good time. 8/27
"I dreamed the earth was on this tall grass, and it was RIGHT NEXT to Venus! And then we were at a pool, and I swam by myself, and you said, 'Wow!'" 8/29
Em and Sarah join Bill and me for our anniversary dinner (#12!) at Fresh Fish! Em chooses popcorn shrimp from the children's menu and gets ice cream for dessert. We have such a great family! 8/29
Sarah and Em sneak out with Daddy while I'm at work to "help" him choose me a new printer for my birthday! 8/31
Sarah has her teeth cleaned again! She sits very still for the hygenist and the dentist says "No cavities!" 8/3
We have lunch at Wash Park with the Waggeners, then walk through the flower gardens and put our feet in the pond! They will be moving at the end of the month so it is good to be with them now. 8/3
Bill reports that Sarah played Mille Bourne with him and Em, with an
"open" hand (cards showing on the table), but only needed a
few hints from Em and Bill on how to play...and she beat both of them!!!
8/04
Todd and Michelle invite us over for dinner with a group of friends. Emily
and Sarah are the only children! 8/6
Sarah's "first day of school." Fisher starts their "fall" after a week vacation. The Purple Coyotes will be doing a little more classtime and a little less playground and water play during their days now that summer is over! 8/9
It seemed to me there was a lot more distance lately between the hem of Sarah's shorts and the top of her socks, so we measured her and found out she's grown two inches since her birthday! Wow! No wonder she seems so grown up. 8/04
We go to the indoor water park at Apex with the Duffs, and Sarah goes down the water slide all by herself! She manages the big splash at the end just fine. 8/10
Sarah comes with Em and me to the pool one last time before Em's school starts. She likes to move herself along the edge (hanging on the side of the pool in the water--she doesn't mind that her feet don't touch the bottom!) and then climb up the ladder. Over and over and over... 8/12
After school we drive to the Waggeners' house to have one last playdate before they move to North Carolina. :( We have a hard time leaving before dinner so Jen makes all the kids mac and cheese and gets the wine out for us! 8/25
Sarah's class is reading "Where the Wild Things Are" and they host a "Wild Rumpus" party for the parents! I go and have lots of yummy snacks with Sarah and then we watch the "Wild Thiings" video together. 8/26
Sarah is adding lots of detail to her drawings and projects. This week the Purple Coyotes traced their whole bodies on big paper then drew themselves in the outline as "wild things." Sarah had long lines sticking out of her hands and feet for "terrible claws" but then had a green circle in her hair for her ponytail holder! Today the monster cookie she decorated had lots of raisins on it, two of which were "the hearing aids." 8/04
First soccer practice of the fall! Sarah spends a LONG time hanging out with a very patient Miss Stephanie and her family's new dacshund puppy. 8/26
Sarah and Em come with me to my library's staff Chili Cook off Party! They are thrilled to be helpers with decorating the tables before the party starts. They were also the ones who got to hand out the prizes at the end! I am one of the few staffers at Koelbel with very young children, and lots of my coworkers told me later how much fun it was to watch Em and Sarah have a good time. 8/27
Sarah is as thrilled as Em is that Em is in first grade, and is so proud of her, that every time I pick her up from PC she tells her teachers, "We're going to go get Emily. She's in FIRST GRADE!" And bless their hearts, every day her teachers say, "Wow, Sarah, that's so cool!" 8/27
Sarah talks ALL THE TIME and really needs help focusing on the job at hand. Her favorite words are, "But First!" As in, "Sarah, time to take off your clothes for bedtime." "But first I need to tuck my doll in her bed!" 8/04
Sarah looks out the car window and says, "What does O-F-F-I-C-E-M-A-X spell?" She said the letters one right after another, quickly--that's how well she knows her letters now! 8/29
Em and Sarah join Bill and me for our anniversary dinner (#12!) at Fresh Fish! Sarah celebrates by choosing fish sticks from the children's menu OVER mac and cheese! She also gets ice cream for dessert. We have such a great family! 8/29
Sarah and Em sneak out with Daddy while I'm at work to "help" him choose me a new printer for my birthday! 8/31
Sarah overhears me tell Daddy that Sarah's favorite words are "But First!" She complains! "My favorite words aren't 'but first!' My favorite words are... 'hugs' and 'kisses.'" 8/04