I Wish I Could Dance!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!I could not pass up the oportunity to see what I would look like if I really could dance. Enjoy!

Emma's In Kindergarten!!!

My Emma is officially a school girl. She has been waiting for what feels like an eternity. It is amazing to believe how grown up she is. I don't think that she was nervous or scared at all. She practically ran out of the car when we got to the school. When the time came for her to go into school with her class she waved good bye to Abby and I and walked straight in without looking back. I think that it would have been harder on me if Emma was scared, but she really is so ready and I am just excited for her. During the day I missed her, but I think that Abby missed her the most. I thought of her often and wondered what she was doing. I think that as a parent it is normal to wonder if you taught your child everything that they need to know to prepare her for school. I had so many different thought today from whether or not she would be able to open her own string cheese because I always do it for her and whether she would make good friends and have a good time. Well she came home with an empty lunch box and asked me if she got to go back tomorrow so I think that most of my worries and questions where really just part of being a parent and Emma is going to do great. On the way home she asked me if she could go to school on Saturdays. I asked her if she wanted to have a day with me and she looked at me totally serious and said "That is what Sunday is for!" I told you she was ready.
Here is Emma in her school uniform on the way to school. She was a little sad that she could not wear her jumper because today was gym day and she needed to wear her tennis shoes. After finding out how much fun gym time was she told me she was fine not wearing her dresses on Wednesday. This is Emma's friend Sasha. She lives right behind us and they are in the same class. I was sure that Emma would be the tallest girl in her class but Sasha has her beat by a couple of inches.
The lady with the brown hair is Emma's teacher Ms. McGlynn. She seems great and Emma really likes her so far.

A Day at the Zoo

Yesterday the girls and I spent the morning at the zoo. It had been a while since we had gone with just the three of us and we had a great day. Emma has been a little bit of a challenge for me lately and it was so nice to just spend the morning with her having fun. Of course when we got home she was instantly bored and looking for something to do. Only five more days until kindergarten!!! The zoo has a bunch of cool rides. Our favorite is the hot air balloon. We don't get to go on it very often because the weather has to be just right for it to be open. Yesterday was perfect.
Here we are on the swan boats. This was a real treat for the girls since we usually don't go on them unless Trevor is with us because of my extreme water paranoia with my kids. I decided to conquer my fears and we had a lot of fun. It is amazing what joy once around a little lake can produce in my kids.
Here we are feeding the lorakeets(I have no idea how to spell that) As you go in you get a little cup of nectar to hold in your hand. When you hold it out the birds come and land on your arm and drink from the cup. At one point I had five birds on my arm! The girls were amazing. I thought that they might be afraid of the birds flying around but they were fine with it and a little sad when the birds only landed on my arm. Emma is already talking about the next time we go and how she is going to get a one to land on her.
This is a favorite ride whenever we go to the zoo. They just get to go once around a small circle but they LOVE it.
We even went to the petting zoo (YUCK!!!) There is just something so exciting for the girls about brushing the goats. They had a great time and we all took a bath that night to wash off the animal cooties.

Thanks ACME!

Today we were out running errands. One of the local grocery stores was having customer appreciate day which if you live in Philadelphia you know how strange that is. Customer service in this city stinks!!! Well today ACME partially made up for that.
Free face painting!!! Emma has been asking me for last last several months every time we go to the zoo if she can get her face painted. I have always avoided it because of the cost. Well today when I saw it was free of course I got right in line. You can imagine my surprise when Emma told me she did not want it done. She was a little nervous that the paint might get in her eyes. After watching a couple of other little girls get their faces painted she decided she would give it a try. She turned into the prettiest butterfly I have ever seen.
Abby was excited from the start. She insisted that she was going to be a princess. I was a little nervous that she would be disappointed if the lady could not make her into a princess but luckily enough the face painting clown gave her a crown on her forehead and lipstick. What else could a little princess ask for.
The girls ate free hot dogs on the way home which made their lipstick come off. They were a little disappointed but still looked so cute for this picture.

Soccer Practice

Today we started soccer practice. We do it with a group of kids in a our ward. Emma was totally excited to go and she had a great leg! She can kick the ball really hard and really far. The only problem is that anytime that I or anyone else offers any advice or asks her to try something different she pouts! I am about at my wits end. I am really hoping that starting school in a couple of weeks will cure her but I am also afraid that it will make it worse. If anyone has any advice for me I am more than willing to hear it. How do you play/communicate with a five year old??? HELP! Here is Emma actually having a good time!
Here is Abby having a good time, but notice Emma in the corner, that is how she spent most of the morning. At least in this picture she is not sitting off in the corner by herself pouting which is how she spent the other the rest of the morning
Food cures everything!

Date NIght

On Friday we officailly re-started date night. We are in a group with 3 other couples. Every fourth week you babysit and the other three weeks you get to go out. We went first in the rotation so now we are free for the next three weeks. YEAH!!! The kids were actually great. They played really well together and they look forward to date night just as much if not more than the adults. Popcorn has become a tradition during date night, it makes for a huge mess but it is totally worth it to have happy kids.

Sophomore Dinner

This past week we got together with some of our friends to celebrate! Our husbands are no longer freshman! Even though the second year of dental school is suppose to be the hardest we are so excited to get it going. There were 11 couples and all of our kids running around. We had great Italian food and lots of fun.