First Day of School

Both the girls had a great 1st day of school. I am very sad to see them go, but they had a lot of fun.


Emma was very excited this morning to start school, and her teacher loved her shirt, which says Kindergarten Rocks! She showed no signs of being scared or any worries about us leaving her there. When she came home, she said her first day was GREAT and actually had a number of stories to tell us about the day (it was always hard to get much out of her about her day in pre-K).


Abigail, being the big 3rd Grader, didn't want us walking her to her room at all (since that wasn't a cool thing to do) but she allowed us to walk up to the door, just not in. Brian was able to get a quick picture of her already hard at work doing some classwork that was waiting for her at her desk. She came home talking about how funny her teacher was and how she liked her. That was great to hear from her given her initial concerns before school started.

They both came home tired from the day and were quick to bed this evening. One story I like to read to the girls before school starts is the story of the Kissing Hand and this year we made hand cookies with a 'Kiss' in the middle to remind them of the story. They each got some in their lunch today.


Then, Emma came home today with a craft talking about the kissing hand. She said the story that her teacher read was the exact one that I was reading at home. I guess great minds think alike?

Here is one more picture of the girls that I just love...

Meet the Teacher

Luckily, Emma is very excited about Kindergarten (mommy is not though)! We have really been talking it up and trying to start the year off on a fun note. Emma got to meet her new teacher on Friday. She seems to be a perfect fit for Emma's personality. I couldn't be happier!


Abby was convinced she wanted a certain teacher, and convinced there was one teacher that she did not want because of stories she had heard from other kids. She had a 1 in 7 chance and well, she of course got that one teacher she did not want. Her teacher also happens to be 8 months pregnant which means there will be a long term sub coming very soon. She also learned they decided that her grade level would have the last lunch time of the year this year; yes, 1:00-1:30 lunch time. Luckily, they do get a snack, but it still seems very late.

Abby does seem to have adjusted her attitude a bit after meeting her teacher and seeing her class, but I still couldn't get her picture with her teacher. Apparently, that's just not cool in 3rd grade.

Another Rangers Game

My Dad joined Abigail, Emma and Myself at the Rangers game. I had gotten free tickets via the Texas Rangers promotion for voting the maximum number of times for the all-star game (a really easy process to do online btw!). So, we enjoyed a great game. Abigail has been to many Rangers games in the past, but this was the first one for Emma (I think I'm up to 5 games for the season). Of course, all she wanted to do was eat cotton candy. Lucky for us my darling wife had stopped at Kroger that afternoon and got some for us. Along with a bag of peanuts (which Abigail loves) and a number of bottles of water, we were set for the night.

Of course, the girls asked for more food and I was able to talk them into a couple of yummy hot dogs (this was after munching on Grandpa's fries earlier in the game). Otherwise, we spent the entire game only paying for parking (and the dogs).

Abigail was completely into the game, as she has been for a couple of years now. She follows the score, cheers on all the players (including that famous singer batting 9th, Elvis, and doing the Bird flap for Marlon), and really enjoys the experience. As expected with Emma, she kinda game up toward the middle of the game (unlike most Rangers games, this one turned out to be a fairly slow moving one). However, between all the food and a few games of Tic-Tac-Toe and Checkers on my new Palm Pre phone, she got her second wind. She was completely into the game following the 7th inning stretch and a little spin dancing with daddy.

We made it to the end of the game hoping for a Rangers home run (so we could see some fireworks and then leave a little early) but it didn't happen. All in all, a wonderful Grandpa, Daddy, Daughter night at the ballpark!

NRH2O

Well, in trying to squeeze everything into the last little bit of summer, we managed to make it to the waterpark. Luckily, we are early risers, so we were able to make it inside as the gates opened. We headed straight to several of the waterslides because we knew the lines would increase as the day wore on. We were able to ride several slides multiple times before we decided to move on to another attraction. The kids favorite slide was a racing one where up to 4 people race against each other (and the clock). We did it nearly 1/2 a dozen times.

The girls had a great time. There were several things the girls couldn't do though; Emma was 1/4 of an inch too short for a couple of the slides (she had already ridden them when a different lifeguard was there, but this particular one wouldn't let her). So, she was bummed about that. Abby was too tall to go on the climbing ropes. They did not have near enough tubes for the slides, so you had to wait your turn for a tube and then go wait in line for the slides. And, last, they made our kids destroy their sandcastles they were building in the sand (along with all the other kids doing it). Not sure the reasoning behind this one, but what can you do? The girls had a great time, but they felt there were too many rules there. We explained that rules are meant for safety, but they did seem a little over the top.

We were excited about the fact that we could bring a cooler in, so we did manage to save a lot of money on food and drinks. Always a plus!

Construction

Earlier this year we decided we wanted to expand our back porch and settled on adding an additional section of patio slab with an arbor covering it. While our existing patio is a decent size, the afternoon sun would always hit it and make it somewhat un-functional during the summer.

Above you see the final results. The only work left to be done is to restain the existing patio posts to match the newly stained arbor posts. Also, I added a 'Sun Screen' mesh cover on top of the arbor that is supposed to cut out 75% of the sun's rays... it does a pretty good job. Not bad for $40 at Lowes. I've included a before shot to show what the porch used to look like


The new patio chairs were found a little while back on sale at Target and have already gotten some use. The girls are impatiently waiting to try out the new fire-pit in the fall so we can make some smores and roast hot dogs (just a little too hot right now). Also, we have already caught Bailey making full use of the new couch (including knocking pillows off to find her perfect spot) for her afternoon naps. All in all, the new porch is a success...