Pre School Bound

Emma was So very excited to start school. She couldn't wait. Matthew is the extreme opposite. He does not want to start school at all. All he wants to do is spend all day with Emma. He has loved having her home for the summer. Matthew is so attached to his sister that sometimes I worry it is not normal. When they go to the playground, Emma is busy making new friends and Matthew is busy trying to find where Emma has run off to. He rarely likes making new friends and definitely doesn't like Emma playing with others.

He can't sit still too long to watch a fun movie and hates taking turns with most games. He prefers playing with his blocks or train tracks on his own but his favorite thing to do is to pretend to be a chef. He "cooks" for us all day long. His favorite recipe is Chocolate Blueberry Soup. He does not like to color, cut or paste. He just prefers to Doodle in his notepad. He doesn't draw much just make circles and lines.

With all that said, I've been nervous about him starting school in August. I can't see him doing crafts at school or trying to make friends. I can't see him trying new things (he isn't big on change) or taking turns with his classmates. But as the summer has gone by he has surprised me. I took them to a craft class at a local toy store and he did a fantastic job listening to the teacher and following directions. He even made a friend in the class. Also, in his Sunday school class he has been cutting and pasting more regularly with his fantastic teacher. The most recent sign that he is growing up is when I took him to a birthday party for Emma's friend. They said I could bring him along but I was nervous of how he would behave. It was a gymnastics party and he would have to share his Emma with the birthday girl. But once again he did a fantastic job playing with everyone and even tried the Zip Line they had set up.

I have to not worry so much about my little boy but it's so hard for me to do. Emma has been Miss Independant since birth, but Matthew with his early struggles is more clingy and needs some toughening up. Ben has been doing a great job of this at home. Now I need to learn to worry less about the little things. I am trying to be more confident about him going to school especially since it is only a couple weeks away!

Big Summer for Little Emma

It has been a big summer of accomplishments for Emma. It started the last few weeks of school when we went to her last skate night for the year. As I've written in past posts, she loves going to Skate Night at Hot Wheels and received her own personal pink skates for Christmas. She would get better everytime she went. She started only on the carpet and slowly went to the slippery rink where she would hold my hand. Well this last time she decided to let go and she did pretty well going all around all by herself! But even more to my surprise she decided to do the Kindergarten race that they do at the end of the night. We had talked about her maybe doing that next year but she said she was ready. She started off slow but was doing great when around the second turn she fell. She got embarrased and skated off to the side but I was so VERY proud of her for her brave attempt!


The other BIG thing for the summer is that she can now swim without her floaties!! She has been working hard with her Daddy and had great success this year. This is huge considering not long ago she would not even get her face wet in the water. She can also jump off the diving board (with her floaties) and jump in the shallow end without anyone catching her (no floaties). She is quite the little water bug.

Another thing that happened this summer was that we took Emma fishing for the first time. She begged for a fishing pole for her birthday and bought one with her birthday money. We went to our friends lake house and she was so excited to try her fishing pole. Not long after she began she caught a pretty decent sized Brim. Some friends went fishing later on and said they could not catch a thing! She also has been working hard in her Summer Bridge Book and has improved in her reading and math and even in her ability to work with money.

So proud of my girl and can't wait to see what else she will learn this year!

The Big 10

1997

Ben and I dated for 6 years before we got married. We spent most of my highschool and all of my college years together. Then we were married in June 2001. I have been married to my best friend for 10 wonderful years. I am the luckiest woman I know! He is handsome, kind, patient and so very loving. What more could I ask for?

We aren't the type to celebrate big dates in a big way. His birthdays, Valentines Days and Anniversaries usually consist of flowers and cards and maybe a favorite meal cooked at home. But this year I thought we MUST do something special!!

The evening could not have been better! I wanted to go to Atlantic Station since I've only been there a couple times during the day to run my Susan G Komen 5Ks. Ben had never been there. We started the night off watching Transformers-3(Darkside of the Moon) in IMAX 3D then had a nice dinner at Fishook Grille. We like to eat seafood when the kids aren't around since Emma is not a big fan. We walked around for a little bit. I really enjoyed the atmosphere at Atlantic Station. There seems like so much to do and see there - pretty cool! We then went down to midtown to Loca Luna. I had wanted to go see the Latin Band they had playing there but there were gone by the time we got there. There was a great DJ there that played current music and popular Latin music so we still had fun dancing!! We then met up with my brother and sister-in-law downtown to meet some other friends. It was an all round perfect night, with perfect weather and perfect company.

Atlantic Station

Happy Anniversary to me and my love!!!

Matthew-isms

Emma and Matthew say a bunch of things that make me smile. Emma has always impressed me with strong questions and keen observations. But Matthew has his little sayings that he says that I will carry in my heart forever.

First of all he calls his sister "MY Emma". "Where is MY Emma" , "Have you seen MY Emma", Even when they are fighting it is "MY EMMA pushed me"

He also notices when we chuckle at him (or even at other things) and with his somewhat comical angry face states "It's not fun-ny". Which makes everyone laugh more of course.

One of my favorites sayings came when the entire family was debating how much we love eachother. I love you inifinity stated Emma. Well I love you infinity squared I battled back. Then Matthew thinking hard concluded with, "I love you inifinity CIRCLE".

This past weekend Matthew drank his drink super fast and was proud of himself. He looked up at me and said. "Mommy, did I drink that pretty good.......or handsome good?"

I wish I could remember some of Emma's sayings right now but there are probably too many to recall. With Emma it is not always what she says, but HOW she says it. She talks with her hands and makes the most animated facial expressions!! I don't think she can tell a story without moving her body/face.

Love these kids to pieces!

Birthday Pics 2011

I usually get the kid's pictures done around their birthdays. This year right before Matthew's birthday he busted his chin open at Home Depot after falling over a pallatte that was left in the ailse. So I had to wait a little longer for that to heal up before taking their pictures. They came out pretty good as usual but what do you expect when you have gorgeous kids like mine!!

SUMMER is here!

Summer has officially begun and that means POOL time. We think Emma might learn to swim this summer without her floaties and at the rate Matthew is going, he might learn too. They love Mami Yoli's pool and swimming with their cousins!

End of Kindergarten

Hard to believe how fast the year went. Emma finished up Kindergarten and had a great year at Bascomb Elementary. She had a fabulous teacher and made some good friends. And most importantly she learned a lot! They had a Completion Ceremony the last week of school where they sung several songs and received recognition for making it thru the year. Below are some videos. Excuse the shaky picture. I had to tape it on my phone and am not the best at recording!





After the ceremony we had a small party in Emma's classroom. Matthew was excited to be there with his big sister but wasn't thrilled to have to share her with her classmates. Hard to believe he will be in Pre-school next year and she will be in first grade!!

Ms Waldrop

Mrs. Scherholz

For the summer we are working in Emma's Bridge Book and helping her to improve her reading. For Matthew, we are working on getting him to write his name. This is of course in-between play dates and pool time!