First Day of School

I am always excited when school starts. I love the structure and the extra time to get things done. I am back in school too, so I really need the study time. I will admit that I am a little sad to see them growing up so fast and it does scare me a little to hand them over to the school. I'm not sure what was with the lighting in some of these pictures. Justin looks like a vampire from Twilight.

Justin came home from school and basically told me a mini biography of his teacher. He seems to

like her. I don't know his new teacher so I asked what she looked like to see if I would recognize her. He said she has brown hair and "the only thing I can remember is that she is skinnier than you." Charlie stifled a laugh and told Justin that Mom is not an enemy you want to make.

Emma said that she doesn't like first grade. Her teacher doesn't look like the other teachers. I said it was cool because her teacher looks like a grandma. Emma didn't have a comment on that. She said that a boy in her class came up to her and told her he was in love with her. I asked why and she said she thinks he likes her clothes. Then she says that she thought that maybe she loved him back. I asked why and she said that it is because she is not very smart. I laughed and told her she is smart. I asked what his name is and she didn't know. I asked if they played together and she said no. I asked if he tried to kiss her and she wasn't sure. I stopped and asked if she kissed the boy and she said "no. I don't do kissing."

Mia is really excited to start preschool again in a couple weeks... and so am I.

End of Summer '09

I have tried really hard this year to make summer special for my kids. This meant lots of time with cousins, lots of trips to the movie theatre, beach days, library, pottery, ballet lessons, guitar lessons, scout day-camp, swimming and camping. The kids said it was the best summer ever! It was pretty good.



These three are trouble.

Justin and Malachi

We finished off the summer camping in Pismo Beach with Charlie's mom, sister and her family. The kids love camping in the trailer and LOVE to spend time with their cousins and Nana. Here are some highlights.

Tio and DJ up a tree.

Mia and Daddy up a tree.

This little guy has me wrapped around his pudgy little finger.

We found this wild savage beast in the bushes. She cleans up pretty nice.

I love this one of Mia and DJ. DJ put on Mia's headband. This is the pose they did, complete with Mia showing a peanut between her teeth. Too cute!

Sophia and Sarah. Power to the people. I kept trying to get a smiling picture of Sophia, but this is the face I got every time.

Something looks wrong here...

Oh, it is just Mia with her clothes on backwards.

Charlie and his little sister.

Oh Ken...

...What have my girls reduced you to?

Memories

I finally found where Charlie stored the old photos, but when Emma was born all the pictures are in a different format and won't load on here.

Justin and Kitty. She still thinks he is hers. She would attack us and cry really loud if we ever let him cry.

Justin decided he was ready for school. This is his pig that made unpleasant noises. He pulled the whoopi thing out of his mouth and they would both suck on his fingers.

Christmas 2004 Justin and Emma. How does a 1 1/2 year old have so much hair?!

Emma at 2 or 3.My little Mia.

Twinkle Toes

Emma decided that she was a ballerina and wanted lessons last year. I only found ballet/tap lessons which she declined because it wasn't exactly what she wanted. Now I found the class and she has been taking lessons this summer. She picked out her own outfit and has me do her hair a special way each week. Some of the pictures are just a ponytail because last week her enormous flower fell out. She is already improving and does pretty well. She concentrates really hard while watching the instructor then smiles really big while doing the steps. I think we are having some commitment issues though. She just told me that now she wants to do karate because she is sooo good at it. She has never done karate.

I realized that I have forgotten to post some Emma stories this summer. We were watching the old Transformers t.v. show and Optimus Prime says he never stops worrying about the decepticons. Emma gasped and said "He is just like me. He never stops worrying about the decepticons and I never stop worrying about germs!" Yep, you're practically twins.

We have an above ground pool and we were getting ready to set it up. I had Charlie roto-til the ground and then I used a leveling rake to remove big rocks and smooth it out. I had the kids helping pick up rocks that I missed. Justin was doing a good job helping and Emma helped for a few seconds before stating that she needed to stop because her hands were getting dirty. She went in the house and got a piece of paper. She made two columns and wrote Mom on one and Justin on the other. She came back outside with her paper and pencil and told us she would watch us and every time we did something good she would give us a check mark. This really ticked off Justin who told her to do some work. She reiterated that she couldn't get her hands dirty so she would watch us and then when we were done with all the dirty work she would set the pool up. This didn't go over well with Justin either. She needs to work on her management skills.