Kindergarten

Emma started school this year! And I mean real school. She did preschool last year and loved it, but this is different. I can't believe she's old enough to go to elementary school!! She has had so much fun so far this year. She has had a great teacher, and has made some fun new friends. I was able to go into her class a couple times each week to volunteer. I went every Tuesday and helped with their normal activities, but I also went every Friday and did music with the combined Kindergarten classes. I also helped with the Halloween and Thanksgiving parties. I loved getting the know the kids and loved hearing them call me by name. We will miss this school, her teacher, and her class when we move. Since this is just a catch up post, here are just a few pictures from the school year so far.

First day of school

Each child gets to celebrate their birthday at school, as close to their birthday as possible. For Emma that meant right away. We made this poster to hang in the classroom that week.

For Halloween she wanted to be Superman. I guess technically she was Supergirl, but to her there was no difference. I forgot her gold belt the day of her Halloween party at school!

Her teacher was a great Mary Poppins.

This picture is actually from the another night in October, but this way you can see what her costume was supposed to look like with the belt.

Crazy hair day at school.

Thanksgiving Feast. They all made such cute pilgrims!

The last day of school before Christmas break. She had to say goodbye to her wonderful teacher.

Emma's Birthday Party

This year for Emma's birthday we celebrated at a park near our home. We decorated it really cute and had lots of fun activities for the kids planned. Since her birthday is after the start of the school year we celebrated a week early. It ended up being a little different than planned, however. After putting up all the decorations the wind picked up and blew so hard most of the decorations were useless. Then the rain started. It rained and rained and rained. The kids came and we did our activities under the pavilion. They seemed to have fun despite the rain. Towards the end of the party when the rain finally started to let up they even went and played on the playground.

We later found out that we broke several records for rainfall that day: the most rain in a minute, the most rain in 5 minutes, most rain in an hour, and most rain in a day. All this rain came during the 4 hours we set up and held her party. At the end of the party it was quite sunny and nice outside. The record for most rain in a day hadn't been broken since the late 1950s. Are we great at picking party dates or what?

Lined up for some of our activites

Can you see the power?

How about the determination on her face?

Finally able to play on the playground!

Emma loved her party and had lots of fun. No matter how I had planned for the day to go compared with how things turned out, all that mattered was her. And this smile told me that she enjoyed her adventure of a birthday!

Summer Trip to Phoenix

In July Emma and I drove to Phoenix to visit family. We went last year too, but in May. I liked May better. July in Phoenix is insane - and I knew it would be before I went. I was insane for going when I did, but it was the only time that worked out for both my SIL and me. We had a blast though, despite the intense heat.

We left early in the morning, and only a couple hours into our drive, just before the sun came up, this pink cloud appeared. It was SO pink! My picture doesn't do it justice and kind of sucks, but I was driving while I took it.

The scenery was so pretty on our way down. This is close to the Grand Canyon, and taken from the car again.

The was not long after the turn off for the Grand Canyon. We were getting closer to Lee's Ferry at Lake Powell. This too was taken from the car.

Emma finally fell asleep about an hour before we arrived. Looks comfy, right?

While in Phoenix Emma also took swim lessons.

She and Ethan had fun most of the time together. He's actually playing his DS while she watches in this picture. Doesn't really sound fun to me, but who cares what I think?

Emma tried on one of Ethan's costumes. She loves Darth Vader. He's her favorite Star Wars character.

She also discovered that she likes rats. Here she's playing with Ethan's rat Alex. He was surprisingly cute.

Okay, and now for the rest of the story. I don't have a picture of it, but I almost died while there. Yup. I was sitting on the couch with Emma on my lap when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. There was a scorpion coming to KILL me!! It was only about a foot and a half away! I seriously could not get Emma off my lap fast enough. I practically threw her off me so I could get up and move away from certain death. Okay, maybe I wouldn't have died. I say this because my BIL was stung about a week before I arrived, and other than tremendous pain, he was fine. AND my attacker was only a baby. It was pretty small, but babies have all the same potency as adults, just in a smaller package. So it would have hurt just as bad. You know that creeped out feeling when you kind of shake and squirm around and you feel kind of yucky? The feeling you get when you kill an especially nasty bug or something? Multiply that by 10 and maybe that's how I felt. Ulch!! My SIL (who was sitting next to me on the couch, only about a foot further from the scorpion) and I couldn't sit on the couch anywhere for a couple days. They had the house sprayed the next day, but the sandals were worn every second from then on out!!

Then on the way home we almost had an accident. Not car - Emma and the horrific lack of a restroom type accident. Although, given all the pictures I took while driving I don't blame you for jumping to the auto accident conclusion. She needed to go, of course at the worst possible time, and we couldn't find a restroom forEVER. I was about to pull over and introduce her to the wonderful world of squatting when we finally saw one. Our fellow drivers were denied a show that day.

Even with these few mishaps it was a really fun trip. I can't wait to visit again (if they'll have me)!

Princess Activities

In June we participated in 3 different princess activities. They were all related and run by the same people, but they were on 3 different dates and in 2 different locations. One activity was before the wedding trip, the other 2 happened when we got home.

The first was a Princess Tea Party. Unfortunately it was raining that day, but Emma still had fun inside. And doesn't she make the prettiest princess ever? The King and Queen were also at the tea party.

The Princess Festival was located on a huge property. It was built by a man who has tons of granddaughters and wanted a fun place for the family to get together. Seriously, this place is AMAZING!! I would have LOVED hanging out on these grounds. There was a sand volleyball court, basketball courts, a really nice covered playground, a picnic area, a gazebo, a big ballroom type building with an amazing collection of artifacts in the basement, lots of animal statues everywhere, a teepee, bridges, the 7 dwarves house with a slide off the back, tunnels connecting different places, a carriage with "horses", a castle with a mote and a dragon, lots of flowers, a big trampoline, lots of open space, and a fountain. So amazing. My pictures do it absolutely NO justice!

For the festival different groups of princesses were taken around on an adventure trying to solve some problem or help Cinderella or something. I don't remember exactly what the premise was, but the kids loved it. Before and after the adventure you could just wander around the property and enjoy everything. There was a scavenger hunt you could do too. And all the different princes and princesses were there for the girls to meet and have pictures with. There was Ariel and Eric, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Charming, Rose and Philippe, Snow White, Jack (you know, bean stalk jack), Red Riding Hood, Tiana and Prince Naveen, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and Wendy, Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts, and Pocahontas. I don't think I'm forgetting anyone, but you get the idea.

The final activity was a Daddy-Daughter Princess Grand Ball. This was also located on the big grounds, and mainly took place inside the castle. The princesses along with their dad's were led across the bridge to the castle, announced at the door, and then led across the courtyard and presented to the King and Queen. Then everyone was seated around the perimeter of the courtyard. The Kind made a short speech, and then the entertainment began. There was a jester who came and juggled among other things, and even juggled fire sticks while on a tall unicycle. Emma seemed to love him! Then everyone was brought out onto the floor and taught an official dance. They were taught the dance in segments. In between each segment there were other people who came in to dance for our entertainment. Cinderella also came to dance and then told the girls a story. Then everyone danced the entire official dance they had learned. Then finally they could eat. The official part was over, but you could stay and dance longer or go back outside and enjoy more of the grounds.

Emma with the sentries who would announce her and Eric as they entered the castle.

Being led to the King and Queen

Being presented to the King and Queen

The first bit of entertainment by the jester. He was quite good too. I was entertained watching him!

Learning the official dance. Emma and Eric are just to the left of the red shirt guy in the middle.

Some of the other entertainment that performed in between everyone learning the official dance.

Even Cinderella and Prince Charming danced.

Cinderella then told the girls a story. I love this picture too, because you can see just about everyone looking right at Cinderella, but in the left half, you an see Emma looking off to the right.

This is what she was looking at! Sorry Cinderella! You don't hold a candle compared with these sweets and goodies!

Performing the dance in its entirety. I didn't have the best view to take pictures, but I love how you can still tell how much Emma is loving this!

The purple triangle flag in the top of the picture perfectly points to Eric and Emma, mid-lift.

She finally got her goodies! You can tell she didn't really want to stop eating for a picture. Hence the courtesy smile!

It was so much fun seeing all the dads there with their daughters and being such good sports. I know Emma had so much fun with Eric!

If anyone wants to know more specifics about the where and the when of this activity, just leave me your email address in a comment and I'll email you the link.