Emmy's first day of Kindergarten!

Emmy started Kindergarten this year.  I can't believe how fast she's growing up!  Kate will be right behind her.  I need to remind them to stay little for just a little longer ... I will be a little (or a lot) sad next year when Emmy is in school all day and I hardly see her.

Confession time:  I actually thought that Emmy started school the same day that Kate did.  We made this big deal about how the girls were starting school that day and they were both so excited.  I guess I just assumed Emmy would be starting on a Monday (Kindergartners started school a week or two after the other Elementary students).  Well, I finally realized she didn't start school until the next day after talking to a couple of moms and students.  Oops!  So I had to break the news to Emmy (I didn't find out until an hour before I thought school started - good thing she has afternoon Kindergarten, or she would have been heartbroken going to school, just to find out she had to leave) and she didn't take it very well.  She started crying and I told her I was so sorry.  We made it up by going to McDonalds for lunch, and that somehow made it a little better :)

 Here is Emmy with her "First Day of School" sign:

And she had to strike a pose ... or two:

Walking up to her classroom:

Hanging up her backpack:

Listening to the teacher!

Emmy has Mrs. Wood this year and we absolutely love her.  Emmy is such a good girl and loves Kindergarten.  She's getting so excited to start reading - she's learned a lot of sight words and every time she sees them in a book we're reading, she makes sure to point them out.  I can't wait until she can read all by herself.  She loves sounding words out while reading and writing (and I love it when I see words she has written by sounding them out). 

I've been volunteering in Emmy's class once a week for Centers.  Emmy loves it when I come!  When it's time for me to leave, she never wants me to go.  She is my little mommy's girl and I love it.

Kate's first day of Preschool!

Kate was so excited to go to school this year, just like Emmy. And I was really excited that she got to go to the same preschool as Emmy. There's usually a year or two waiting list that we never got Kate on (Emmy qualified to go to the school because of ADD, which she has since outgrown) because the school is so great. But we got her in!  She has one of the same teachers that Emmy had, Miss Charlene.  We love Miss Charlene and Kate absolutely loves going to school and learning!  And she is so smart, she picks up on everything so fast.  I don't know how moms that homeschool do it - I think my kids and I would drive each other crazy!

 I had to get a pic of the girls in their backpacks together, even though Emmy didn't start until the next day:

I decided to fancify the girls' chalkboard for their "First Day of School" signs to hold:

I love when these girls love each other!

Walking towards the school - Emmy was so excited for Kate to be going to her preschool:

So excited they had to run to the door:

Miss Charlene, showing Kate where to find her name and hang her backpack:

Kate was so happy to be starting school.  Emmy and I said good-bye and Kate was happy to stay at school!

She started out going two days a week and then the school called to let us know an opening for four days a week had opened up.  We talked about it and decided it would be good for Kate to do the four days a week, especially with the baby coming.  It gives her her own thing to be doing and focusing on while mommy is focusing on the baby.  So she goes four days a week now and loves it!

It's a BOY!!!

In August, we found out we are pregnant with a boy!!!

We had talked ourselves into the fact that this would probably be another girl, and we were both okay with that.  We know girls, we have all girl stuff.  So when we found out it was a boy, we were so surprised and excited!  I got tears in my eyes - that's when I realized how excited I was to be having a boy.  I don't think I let myself really think about it before that.

Here's the proof!

And here's baby boy's profile, with his hand by his face:

We can't wait to meet this little guy and welcome him into our family!  He is going to be one spoiled boy, especially from his sisters.  Emmy loves to come talk to my belly and give it hugs and kisses.  She's already talking about how much she wants to help me and the baby when he comes.  I'll take it!

The 4th of July

Cedar City is famous for it's parades. At least WE think it's famous for it's parades! There are several of them during the summer/fall and we always sit in our usual spot, on the corner just up from where we live.

Here are some pics from the 4th of July Parade this year.

Emmy, getting patriotic:

Kate, ready with bag in hand for all the candy she's about to receive:

The girls, enjoying all of the fire trucks driving by:

For the rest of our 4th, we lunch with my parents and then had a BBQ with our friends, the Coons.  We couldn't light fireworks this year - the fire hazard was too great because it was a really dry season.  And we heard that the city wasn't doing their fireworks so we went to bed early.  Then we found out the city ended up doing their fireworks so we totally missed out!  Next year we will not make the same mistake!

Emmy's Dance Recital

In May, Emmy had a dance recital.  She really enjoyed dance this year and we loved going to her performances.  There were just two, the Christmas recital (which I blogged about last December) and the Spring recital.

Here are some pics from her Spring recital!

We were so proud of her!  She's such a cute little dancer.

 

This year, she decided she wanted to try gymnastics and she's loving it.  Maybe next year she'll go back to dance, we'll see ...

Easter 2012

This year, we were invited over to our friend's, the Ellsworths, house for an Easter Egg Hunt. They've got a great back yard that is big and they hid lots of eggs for the kids.  Jake couldn't make it to the Easter Egg Hunt because he's the Precinct Chair for our voting district and had a county convention to go to that day.  He'd love to do something in politics someday.  But for now, he's focused on getting through school.

The kids had a blast searching for eggs!

Kate had to open each egg as she found it:

Emmy and Megan searching for eggs:

Kate, eating the candy inside one of her eggs:

Good thing Emmy had these binoculars to help her find all the hidden eggs :)  :

Then, on Easter, the Easter Bunny found us!  The girls got baskets full of candy and a few other things.

Emmy got a pretty new scripture bag:

Kate was happy with her giant tub of cotton candy:

And the Easter Bunny hid some eggs around the house for the girls to find.  I think next year he'll have to start hiding them a little better:

Potty Training ... Check!

I have at least 6 months of catch-up for the blog.

Let's start with potty-training for Kate!  I had tried a couple of times to get her potty-trained, but I've learned you have to wait until they are ready.  And when she was ready, she was ready!  So in April, we were in full potty-training mode.

This will be a good black-mail photo when she's older ;)

She only had a few accidents and she was potty-trained!  We've been diaper-free for 8 or 9 months now.  We will have to get used to buying and changing diapers again when this baby comes in a few weeks!

And, because I love this pic and this post is about Kate, here's one of my favorites of this little firecracker: