Cubbies

I just dropped Lila off at her first meeting of AWANA Cubbies. She was bit hesitant, but Emma was with us (her school is closed today) and that helped. Emma got her started on some puzzles while I turned in my paperwork. She earns patches for her Cubbies vest for memorizing scripture. We went over her verses and she knew them pretty well. The Cubbies motto could be a problem. Instead of "Jesus loves me." Lila finds it much more entertaining to say things like, "Jesus loves rats." or "Jesus loves candy." Here's hoping she doesn't upset the Baptist church too much. :)

Soccer Star

Emma played the best game of her life today! Ryan's really been working with her lately, and today she finally got enough play time to show everyone what she's got!
Our team lost 5-1 (we usually win), but Emma scored the only goal! I, of course, missed the goal because I was the delinquent snack mom who had to run to the store for the forgotten snack. As I was pulling back up to the field, Ryan called me and said, "You're not going to believe what you just missed!" It wasn't just the goal, she played super for the whole game. She even played defense for the first time and did great. We were so proud of her because she did everything we've been telling her do, and everyone noticed how great she played!
No camera at the game, but here she is after the game:

Lila's First Ballet Class

Can you even read the title without laughing?!

Today was Lila's first ballet class. We signed her up through a township rec program and the class happens to meet at our church - perfect. I wasn't looking to invest a small fortune in my 3 year old's dancing career at this point, so the eight week class was just what we needed to see if she likes it.
I got her dressed in her pink tights and black leotard. She posed around the house all morning - so graceful. :) Today, I had a meeting at church at 9:30 and her class was at 9:50, so it was going to work out perfectly. About halfway to church, she said, "Mom... I got a BIG hole here." It turned around to find that she had basically removed one of the legs from her tights. It was held on by about an inch or two in the front, but the entire back of her dainty little thigh was hanging out down to the knee. "How did that happen, Lila?!" "Um, I was pulling a little string-y thing...."

I called my friend, told her I'd be late the meeting, then stopped at three stores until I finally found new pink tights. Blame it on my pride, but I just couldn't take her to ballet with only one leg in her tights! We got to ballet about 3 minutes late - then I had to change her.
I left for my meeting, but did go back to watch the end of class. I was a little nervous to see how she behaved. She was hanging on the teacher's every word and mimicking her movements - adorable!
Next week I'll bring my camera and an extra pair of tights!

The Last Hoorah

We took advantage of the beautiful weather and some leftover amusement tickets and went to the boardwalk last Saturday night. My parents and sister and brother-in-law came with us, and we all had a great time!

Aunt Becca was a trouper with all of the spinning rides!

Lila thought this was a wonderful concept!

Uncle Chris is always up for some fun.

Yeah baby - the big slide!

Ryan took Emma on the Go-carts under the boardwalk.

Cotton candy is always Lila's favorite part of the boardwalk!

The beach was chilly.

Ryan carrying his big baby to the car.

Back To School Night

Ryan and I went to Emma's Back to School Night tonight.
I love Back to School Night! Having been a child that liked school so much that I became a teacher, it's just so neat to hear about a whole new school year. I love to see the classrooms, look for Emma's work, read the note that she's left for me, hear what she'll be learning this year, explore the stations and resources in the room, watch her teachers talk and see how they interact. I love the piles of books and fresh school supplies in their desks, the fall chill in the air - I could go on and on.
It's also a sort of reunion for us. Ryan and I both grew up right in this immediate area (Ryan even went to Emma's same elementary school), so it's always fun to see familiar faces from the neighborhood, soccer field, church, even our own high school days. We're blessed that Emma is an excellent student and a sweet and kind girl, so we don't need to worry about hearing a negative report (at least not at this point!)

Here's her classroom. Her teacher is in the black shirt.

I also always feel uneasy when I leave Back to School Night. I was explaining to Ryan that it's not enough. I love introducing myself to all of Emma's teachers, but that's all there's time for. The rest will have to wait until conferences in November. "Hello, we're Emma King's parents." "Oh hi, Emma's so sweet." That's it?! That's all there's time for?! This is my BABY we're talking about! Are you taking care of her? Is she happy? Does she stick up for herself and others? Does she ever get in trouble? Does she pay attention? Is she picking the right friends? Is she struggling with anything? How does she compare with the rest of the class? Is she quiet? Well-adjusted? Silly? Are you glad that she's in your room? And who are you, anyway? You have a ton of influence on my little girl. What are your values?
I understand that personal conversations are not possible on this night, but I'm just left feeling like I didn't say enough, explain enough, give a good enough first impression as Emma's Mommy.

My Embarrassing Life

So, I was in Shoprite today, with Jessica and Lila, and Lila had a box of tic tacs in her hand. She decided it would great fun to try to "sell" the mints to innocent shoppers.

"I have some mints here!!!
Anyone want a minty?!?!
Get your mints here!!!
Mints for sale - two for a nickel!!!"

She shouted this at the top of her lungs, repeatedly, while I was quietly waiting for the nice deli man to finish slicing my turkey and pretending to look around to see who this loud child's mother was....

Jessica found it quite entertaining. So did some of the shoppers - but not necessarily all of them.

Play Date

Lila and I had a fun play date today with our good friends Jenn and Zach. All of the older siblings are in school so we decided to take the little ones to the park for lunch and playtime. I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember too many other times when I've arranged a play date for just Lila. She's always playing with Emma's friends, with the younger siblings at soccer games, with family friends when we all get together, but this one was for her and her buddy, Zach (well, Jenn and I were a little selfish about getting together too). It was a gorgeous day! They had fun both playing at the park even if it wasn't "together" most of the time.

Aren't they cute?!

She must have had fun, because she was sound asleep 5 minutes after we left the parking lot - and we haven't napped since Emma stared school!

Our Adventure

Lila and I decided to go on a little "adventure" today. We had about an hour and a half before Emma got home and I needed a few things at the local grocery store, so we rode our bike (that is, I rode my bike with a 45 lb. child in the seat on the back of it. It was nice. Lila remembered to wear her sunglasses under her helmet (very cute!) so she wouldn't complain about the sun and dust, and we looked for squirrels along the way. She thought it was very cool to park our bike on the sidewalk. We bought our hot dogs, buns and lettuce, and headed home.

Let me just add here for all of my "green" friends, that not only did I not use gas to get the store, but I even remembered to bring one of my reusable bags with me. I'm so earth-friendly!

It's a couple mile ride home from the store. Lila seemed quiet, but I was enjoying the peaceful ride and didn't really notice something touching my back. When I got into our garage, this is what I found:


Notice that she had removed her shoes and, thankfully, was holding them, and she still had the lollipop from the checker in her mouth. She was snoring very loudly.

A Rare Treat

The girls were thrilled that Aunt Becca actually put on her swimsuit and swam with them yesterday.

Hannah Banana

The girls were thrilled to play in the rain today! Tropical Storm Hannah is giving us a steady rainfall now, the winds and torrential rains are yet to come. So we celebrated a canceled soccer game with a trip to the video store and some puddle jumping.

3rd Grade?!?!

How did that happen?! I blinked my eyes, and my baby is going to 3rd grade?! Maybe it's harder because she was my only baby- the center of our lives - for over 5 years. She sure is ready! we went to meet her teacher and see her classroom yesterday, so this morning, she wasn't even nervous. We were asked to fill out a paper describing Emma for her teacher. How do I do that in a few lines?! She's helpful, sensitive, compassionate, loving, smart, friendly, hard-working, joyful, and gorgeous - just to name a few. We're so proud to be her parents. I know she'll have a great 3rd grade year, I just can't believe how quickly time goes by.


Here are some pictures of breakfast on the special plate, the backpack shot, and the onlookers.

NYC - Adults Only

We went to NYC last weekend ..... with our good friends ...... overnight ...... without kids! That's a pretty exciting weekend for us! Lisa and I loved shopping 5th Ave. from inside the stores - not just the sidewalk (not that we actually bought anything, of course!) Ryan and Bryan didn't even mind following us after the awesome pizza we had for lunch. Check out the inside of this pizza place:

We had a wonderful dinner at Morimoto (yes, the Iron Chef!). It was way too cool of a restaurant for this country bumpkin to be in. Here's a poor attempt at capturing the coolness of the inside:

We spent the night at he Hilton Times Square - amazing! Here's a picture of our room and a view from it:


The next day we waited in the half price ticket line and saw Young Frankenstein on Broadway. It was great - very Mel Brooks-y. Lisa laughed so hard, I thought we were going to have to carry her out.

The highlight of Ryan's weekend, was when he spotted this man on the street:
That's Glenn Beck (of radio and TV talk show fame) and Ryan. He was very pleasant and personable. Ryan couldn't have been more thrilled if he saw J.Lo on the streets of Manhattan!

Thanks Bryan and Lisa for such a great weekend!

Last Minute Summer Fun

Emma went to Hershey Park last Thursday with Uncle Rob and Aunt Meg. They had such a great time! Emma was big enough to go on everything and had no fear, I'm told. I'm glad she had the chance to do something special - just her.

Lila was a bit bummed to be excluded, so I took her and Jessica (our Thursday "Mother's Helper") to Paws Farm. They have animals, playgrounds, and pretend play areas - quite fun. The two of them had a blast!

Their favorites were the bunnies:

the vet center:

the grocery store:

Jessica enjoyed showing Lila around, since she's been there before. Lila loved having someone to play with. When we saw the tarantula in a cage, Lila said, "Good thing Emma's not here. She would really scream and freak out!" How true.

Playing With Friends

My friend Jul's kids came over to play a week or so ago, and I just came across this picture. They played house very nicely all together. The plot in their pretend play was that they were all getting ready for a family portrait. When it came time to go the the "studio", you better believe I jumped in to be the "real" photographer.

What a charming family!
(Poor Andrew - they told him it was a Superman costume.)