Dad is on duty

Stefanie was in Richmond Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning so I decided I needed to post a guest blog.

On Saturday Avery, Emerson and I learned all about Money. We colored pictures of coins as we learned about the presidents on the front and the objects on the back. We then played a game where we priced a few objects in the house, set them on the table and then I gave each girl $18 (play dollars) to spend at the store. One very fun item (a bead set) was priced at $20 so only if they went in together would they be able to buy the set. Each girl took a turn trying to make choices to pick which items they wanted with the money they had . . . Emerson had a really hard time and got very upset that she should not afford the bead set. Avery was having fun with the whole experience. After we played ‘store’ and Emerson stopped crying on the floor we talked about the experience and how it felt when we did not have the money to buy what we wanted, we talked about making difficult choices and that money is important to learn about it. Then we went upstairs to count the money in their piggy banks. Next weekend we are going to deposit their money in a bank account (one that has great APRs for kids savings!!!).

Sunday morning came and it was time to make breakfast . . . what else but the chicken fingers that Avery did not eat from OTB yesterday. We had chicken fingers and grapes for breakfast while we talked about the nature hike we were about to undertake. We had certain objects we needed to find (we found all but one). It was awesome!!img_5582  img_5585img_5588img_5593

***Update 10/8/16 – Justin took Avery and Emerson to the bank to open their accounts and deposit their piggy bank money.img_5611

Sandbridge Saturday

We went to Sandbridge Saturday for the night to visit with Stacey and Cooper, their two little girls and some of their other friends. The drive was LONG and our time actually hanging out was short.  But it was good to see Stacy and Coop and the girls had a great time playing with one another.  Avery and Harper took to the other kids right away and had a great time playing with one another in the house. Emerson was content to hang out with the adults for much of the evening until some of the kids went for a night time walk on the beach with glow sticks and looked for crabs.

In the morning, the girls awoke early and quickly put on their bathing suits. Emerson had a great time building a kiddie pool. And Avery who was reluctant to go to the beach due to her fear of the ocean and the smell of the dead fish, ended up playing on the shoreline in the water and loved it!  I was originally going to only post the one picture of all three girls, but Justin got some really great shots of the girls in the five minutes he had the camera out._mg_4273_mg_4269_mg_4270_mg_4257

Harper’s First Day of Pre-school

Harpee on her first day of pre-school at VPC!

_mg_4226 _mg_4219 _mg_4223_mg_4238_mg_4232_mg_4242

She did great! Justin and I both took her and we were scared she would have a meltdown due to her resistance to doing new things on her own especially with kids her own age. But she did great. I kissed her and she went to hang up her Dragonfly bag.  Justin didn’t even get a chance to hug or kiss her goodbye.  But since she went in, I knew we had to make a run for it before she knew what was about to happen.  I picked her up at noon and she was actively participating in circle time and was all smiles when she saw  me!

Kindergarten and Ballet – Here We Come

The long awaited first day of kindergarten finally arrived this morning! We have been talking about the big day off and on since the beginning of the year.  Both Avery and Emerson have been pretty excited to start kindergarten and have only been a little nervous. The girls have been prepping for some time…getting their back packs, meeting their teachers, thinking about what they would bring to lunch, and even starting homework this summer!

The first day started with pictures in the backyard!IMG_4076_MG_4092_MG_4100 _MG_4098_MG_4094 _MG_4101IMG_4081 IMG_4083 IMG_4087img_4075IMG_4070IMG_4115 IMG_4113_MG_4123 _MG_4110

Followed by a walk to the bus stop for a bust stop breakfast._MG_4132_MG_4163

I had actually wanted the girls to eat at home so their bellies were well fed with nutritious food but I did allow them to have something else if they wanted.  Avery had a donut and a strawberry.  I don’t think Emerson had anything…I think she was a little nervous and didn’t want to eat._MG_4141

This was all the kids at the bus stop! _MG_4154_MG_4157

Harper looked on!_MG_4142 _MG_4151

And then before we knew it they were off._MG_4168 _MG_4169_MG_4171 _MG_4173_MG_4179

I thought I would tear up but when that bus took off, I started to tear up more than I thought I would and when Fang rubbed my back, I started to actually cry which was only intensified when another neighbor commented on how sweet it was that I was so emotional.

I really didn’t worry about Avery and Emerson during the day and for good reason. They both came home saying they had a great day, although not sharing too many specifics._MG_4192 _MG_4202

Meanwhile, today was also Ms. Harper’s first day of ballet. She has been looking forward to this day for close to two years! Even this morning she was dancing around the house…doing plies and tapping her feet.  She was READY…._MG_4180_MG_4188_MG_4191

…that is until she got to the dance class and she froze. She didn’t want to go in and while she did for a few minutes with Mila, it didn’t last long.  And she spent the majority of the class watching from the outside.IMG_4015

On the way home, she was embarrassed and didn’t want to talk about it.IMG_4018

Poor thing….she finally talked about it that evening.  I think she wasn’t expecting their too be too many kids and she froze.  After a long discussion, she said she would be ready to dance next week.  We shall see!  We believe in you Harpee!