The END of summer!

I just got Emily off to school :( She was SO excited! We had back to school night on Tuesday and met her teacher. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Fox - perfect for 1st grade, I think! She was teacher of the year, got a radio station's teacher feature award, etc. My friend, Chery, told me to request her and so far I'm impressed. She taught 1st grade for 4 years, stayed home 19 years to raise her family and is back again. Apparently she did preschool in her home as well and had a 5 year waiting list! So she's definitely one to watch and glean lots of ideas from! She sent Emily a postcard and Emily mailed her a letter back. At back to school night she thanked Emily and told her what good handwriting she has and that she likes Tinkerbelle too! That made Emily happy! There's a parent meeting tonight with her so we can "all work together to help the kids soar" this year. I'll go to pick up her good ideas! (Unfortunately that means Steve gets to take the girls to their soccer games - all three activities start at 7:00!)

Here's Emily at back to school night!
Here's my sophisticated little girl on her first day!

Eden's taking a nap and Ella's at a friends house. It sure is quiet!! I thought I'd take a moment to post our end of summer pictures. Swimming at Lynn's in-laws!
Milking the fake cow at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country.
We went with Lynn and her kids.
Here we are on the tractor ride.
Darling Eden. I felt bad - we were going to go to the dinosaur museum, but the line snaked outside and around the building. So we went to farm country instead. I didn't bring a blanket, or sunshade or anything for Eden. Luckily Lynn had some sunscreen. (I know, who'd of thought!)
The loved the little indoor "From seed to store" activities.
Eden cries just to get attention from these cute girls!
Our dentist has a playroom with a candyland theme. Ironic isn't it!
Not really enjoying the outdoors.
Ella on the waterslide! Lynn's family came over again and we enjoyed the cooler weather.
Eden takes the wheel as we wait for Ella's soccer practice to end.
Yesterday we had a last day of summer Hurrah! I took them to Steve's work with packed lunches so Emily could practice opening everything by herself. (We've really had to work on that!) I even taught E&E how to make their own lunches. First I put everything in single serve bags and made spots for them in the fridge and pantry.
Then I made Emily a chart telling her how to pack her lunch everyday. She did a great job yesterday and today. I'm hoping we can both keep it up. I figure it's one less thing for me to do in the morning and hopefully Emily is more likely to eat a lunch she packed herself!
Then I surprised them by taking them to Liberty Land. Emily's been dying to go there all summer. They have a bunch of carnival rides and some inflatables. We had fun!
They also have mini-golfing. I think we did 18 holes in 15 minutes!! (Which was good because there was NO shade!) They are so funny to watch.
Celebrating her success!
So here's the final result of our summer activities. On the 1st day of summer, I let the girls dictate this list to me (Emily finished it off later). I wrote down everything they said. Lo and behold we did ALMOST EVERYTHING on the list! I guess the motto - if you write something down, it's more likely to happen - is true. The only things we missed were a tea party (which, darn it, we were going to do at grandma's!) and sleep over at Lynns (thanks a lot Lynn:)! We had a busy summer and I think I made up for being a boring (and sick) mom last year!
Eden's still asleep! Time to get cleaned up! I've been busy using my new carpet steam cleaner. I spent an ENTIRE day this week doing two couch cushions. And another ENTIRE day doing the basement carpet. I still would like to do the carpet another couple of times, but it's still wet from TWO days ago! (I tried suction it all out, but I cleaned it like 5 times!! - I always go overboard - more and faster is better right? But so far I've learned more IS NOT better when painting, when carrying in groceries, and when loading the dishwasher and washing machine.) Time to take a nap...I mean, CLEAN!! (There, I wrote it, now it will get done!)