Extra! Extra! Read all about it....

After many, MANY years of trying to convince this girl that she CAN ride her bike without training wheels, she finally convinced HERSELF that she could do it.  How did that happen, you ask???  She was trying to teach our neighbor how to ride his bike without training wheels and in showing him what to do, actually rode his bike on her own!  So after that, Ryan aired up the tires in her old bike (it's smaller than her newer one) and she has been riding it ever since.  Yesterday, the four of us did two laps around our neighborhood.  Alexis on her bike without training wheels;  Kaylee following close behind on her tiny bike with training wheels; Ryan and I strolling merrily along on our feet lagging far behind.  We did more than just the two laps.  We ventured to parts of our neighborhood to which we rarely go.  We were out so long, that Kaylee's skin around her nose and mouth turned bright white...I gave her a piggy back ride home and Ryan carried her bike home for her.  It was a very fun Sunday afternoon.  The girls are making lots of friends in the neighborhood and Alexis actually ate dinner at a friends house instead of eating with the rest of us. 

We're finally going to take the girls to Disney World!  We were going to try to go during fall break, but the airfare was twice as expensive.  So we're going to take Alexis out of school for a couple of days instead.  We're going to be staying in Coronado Springs and doing Magic Kingdom for one day.  We'll only be there for three nights but I think that's plenty for the first time out.  The girls are really excited about both Disney and flying.  We also hope to be able to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Chambers while we are down there.  They live really close to Orlando....and we miss them!!

Kaylee starts school next WEEK!!!  It's her final year of Nursery School.  Ryan and I were talking this weekend about re-evaluating our decision to keep her out of Kindergarten this year.  She is such a smart cookie...she's gotten through all of those BOB books and is reading them with no assistance now.  So, we're going to see how things go this school year and if we think we need to, we're going to set up a meeting with Mr. Springer...Sycamore's principal, just to discuss Kaylee and get his advice.  That being said, I really think we will continue as planned and put her in Kindergarten next year with all her friends.  I just may have to do a little extra with her in Kindergarten and first grade to keep pushing her little brain to its potential.  I think once she's in the higher abilities program, she'll be good to go on her own.  But I want to keep looking ahead so she can be the best she can be:o)

I'm not ready for our nice hot weather to be over.  And I'm definitely not ready for the pool to be closed after next weekend!  Boooo!  Ryan's only going to be home one week in September.  The girls and I will have a house full of girls all month!  Hopefully we can adjust back to having a boy around in October, hee hee!  Well, I better go do something productive....

Can you see...the most beautiful girl in the world?

Alexis just looked beautiful before she left for school this morning and I just had to share the photos I took!

She's just getting so grown up!  Better shine your shot gun Daddy!

Finally...first day of school!!!

So it's no secret that Alexis's first day of school wasn't a good one to take a picture on.  Maybe I should have so I could show it to her when she's older and say, "See, you used to HATE leaving me!!!"  Ha ha!

But anyway, today is school picture day, so I figured this would be a great day to take 3rd grade pictures!  So, enjoy this beautiful young lady (and her little sister who is soooo lonely without her!):

Of Apples and Trees

So I guess the old saying is true, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."  Kaylee has definitely got the "loves to build things" gene.  The back story...The girls have reached an age that we decided it was ok to move a TV into their playroom.  Honestly, the TV in the playroom is for Ryan and me.  Now we will be able to watch Colts' games in peace!  So this morning, Kaylee and I went to pick up a new TV stand from Meijer.  Then as soon as we got home, we built the stand together.  Here are some pictures from our fun project together:

Look at that skill!!

She's even good at taking pictures:

Here's our supervisor:

Sleeping on the job as usual!

So it was fun building that together.  I think she had a lot of fun!  And she's good enough at it to make her Gramma and Great Grandpa proud!!

Adjusting

So Alexis is doing much better on school mornings. I was worried (and expected) that she would have a set back on Monday morning, but she was no worse off than she was last Friday morning...phew!!! This morning she was fine...a little grumpy because she stayed awake a little too late reading last night...but not nervous at all! Hallelujah! Thanks for all the prayers and support in the beginning week...I know it did the job. This week they are having a 'normal' week at school. They are doing all the things they will normally do throughout the year. If I hadn't mentioned it, she is in the MAP (multi-age placement) class this year. There are two of these classes at Sycamore and they contain both 3rd and 4th graders. Alexis happens to be one of three kids from our neighborhood in her class. But the two teachers split science, math, writing, and social science. Last night was her first night with math homework. The kids do some subjects with just 3rd graders and some they join the 4th graders. I wonder if it will get more 'specialized' once they are into the year some and know the separate abilities of each student. I guess we'll see. I have no idea what we are going to do about conferences this year...they are either in the afternoon from 1pm to 4pm or in the morning from 8 am to noon, I believe. Of course Ryan would prefer one of the early morning time slots, but what in the world will we do with the girls on that morning??? Something to ponder...conferences are not until the week after fall break, so I have some time to figure it out.

Kaylee is adjusting to being the only kid in the house. She was really wild in the evenings last week...not wild as in rotten or misbehaving...just loud and FULL of energy! So, I'm trying to do a better job of playing with her this week. I think once her school starts up after Labor day, that we won't have a problem any more (not that I see this as a problem though). Yesterday we went shopping. I bought her some beginning reading books called BOB books. By the end of the day, she read (all by herself mind you) 5 1/2 of the 12 books!!!! So, we'll probably work on those some more today. She also had been earning some money recently and I told her she could spend some of it. She got so excited when she went to put her money from her bank into her wallet because she found $6 in her wallet that she had forgotten about. It was really funny to hear her giggle and squeal about having $11 to spend. Of course she spent it on a couple of Bakugan. She loves those things! She and I are having fun together!

The girls were both very well behaved this weekend at Cousin Sean's wedding. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family! It was a beautiful wedding and a really good time. We can't wait to see the whole family again for the upcoming holidays.

No more of that stuff on here!

So, I was thinking when people come to this blog to read about the girls and our family, they may not necessarily be interested in hearing about my diet/exercise stuff. So, I stole an idea to put it on a separate blog. If you do happen to be interested you can follow my progress and set backs here.

Rough Morning

It's no secret I was not ready for school to start back up this morning. But I was not prepared for the drama of the morning. When school ended last spring, Alexis was to the point of tears. She was going to miss her friends and her teachers and being at school everyday learning and playing. Well, we had an especially fun summer filled with playing with neighborhood friends and visiting with family.

Last night was an open house at Sycamore where Alexis got to see her classroom, meet her new teacher and find out which friends were going to be in her class. Luckily her best friend Nic is in her class again this year along with her best friend from first grade. Her teacher was VERY nice and very welcoming. One question she asked each of the kids as she met them was, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you about coming back to school?" Alexis's answer was 20!!

Well, this morning finally came and Alexis was in tears most of the morning. It was so bad that her eyes were all red an puffy by the time we had to go to the bus stop. After saying that she was so excited to start school again, I was surprised by her mood this morning. It definitely did not make things easier for a mommy who was not ready to send her girl back to school. But I held it together...got her on the bus (she was still pretty teary)...and made it home before I actually cried.

I know that she probably was better once she started talking to friends on the bus...and she was probably fully recovered as soon as she got to talk to Nic. As for me....I'll probably be better once fall break rolls around...or maybe not until winter break....or spring break. But truthfully, probably not until summer break.

Winding down and gearing up

School for Alexis begins on Wednesday. A full day right off the bat, thanks to the "no half days" rule. One soap box rant-I hope these people in charge (all the way up to the president) realize the importance of allowing kids to be kids. That giving them a break from working hard at school is VERY important. Especially because they learn so much through play (better in some instances). Ok, I'm done ranting. But, if the public schools ever decide to do away with summer vacation, we'll be a private school family!!

So finally last week, we went shopping for school supplies. Over $100 later, we are finally done. I'm hoping that since she is in the same class for two years, we will get to recycle a lot of these supplies again next year. We're having to spend a lot on clothes anyway because she has grown so much in the last several months. Alexis is excited for the beginning of school. Not excited enough to get out of bed when I wake her up in the morning (I've been up there 4 times already this morning and she's still not up!). We've been having such a good time together I just don't want it to end!
But anyway, she really needs to be up by now, so I guess I have to go up there and drag her out....

So, how was your weekend?

It was SUPER with a pinch of AWESOME and a dash of FANTASTIC!
Thanks for asking:)