A letter to Elly...

Today on the way home the girls got into a little tiff. When we got home, I took Elly inside and Maddy spent some time drawing with chalk in our driveway. Soon, Elly and I heard a knock at our door and it was Maddy. :) "There is a letter for Elly," she announced.

It says, "I hope you love me, Elly." Ahh...it just broke my heart. Then, I saw this...

And this... Maddy explained how she felt (to me), I explained to Elly how Maddy was feeling sad and didn't think she loved her. And then, we had this...

They made up! :)

Art

I set up an art shelf in our dining room. The girls really enjoyed it.

Here is a picture that Maddy made for Uncle Randy...

Potlucks

We have been so busy with school starting up. The girls have been so wonderful in the early morning and Maddy has not been late to school once! :) They are learning so much and having so much fun! They have been exhausted from all of the learning and from spending so much time outside. I love our montessori school! They spend hours of their day outside and are so happy. The weather has been simply lovely and we are all thankful for that. The girls have also been enjoying their lessons and we are so proud of them for working so hard! This past Thursday was Elly's potluck and Friday was Maddy's. Thursday and Friday were LONG days for us as I dropped them off at 8:30am and we did not leave school until 8pm. Kevin was not able to come because of football but the girls were very well behaved. The potlucks are a time for the families from the individual classrooms to come and eat and play on the playground. Here are some photos...

Isn't Maddy a wonderful big sister?

Elly and her friend, Harleigh, did this so quickly that it startled me! I had no idea she could do this trick! Wow!

They were spinning so fast on the tire swings...I was getting dizzy! I think I was the only one, though! :)

They went looking for bugs in the back 40. While they were there, they climbed to the top of Mount R. Their good friend Sydney joined them... Pretty fun, huh?

Randy

My Uncle Randy has been very ill this summer. He spent much of the summer in the hospital and when he was finally able to come home, Kevin and I took the girls to see him. Randy was very weak but I think he enjoyed the girls' visit. We were happy to see him at home! While we were there, Kevin took the girls for a ride on the ATV. They loved it!

Sadly, Uncle Randy is back in the hospital in Omaha. We covet your prayers for him, his team of doctors, and for Aunt Cindy. We are praying for the doctors to find the right course of treatment and for him to fully recover from this illness. Here is a picture from healthier times... (and quite awhile ago.) We love you, Uncle Randy. Please know that we are praying for you and we think of you everyday.

"You can say that again."

This afternoon the girls were grumbling about football and the game being on the TV that their movies are recorded on. Elly commented on the fact that football is "stupid." Maddy replied, "You can say that again!"

gorilla

This morning Elly crawled into our bed at 6:33am and announced that there was a gorilla in our backyard and that he was happy. Good to know... :)

"Candy."

I asked Elly what fruit she wanted with dinner tonight...apple slices, a banana, or grapes. She replied, "Candy."

Jammin'

Today a car pulled up next to us at a stoplight with some seriously loud rap music. I asked Kevin to roll up his window (so the girls could not hear the lyrics) and he leaned over and said, "Should I blast the Strawberry Shortcake music?"

Lessons

Maddy has been in school for 4 days. I peeked at her work folder Friday to see what she has been up to..

*She made a chart of the life cycle of the cicada. (She & Elly found 3 discarded cicada skins and took them to school to show their classes)

*She has been working on her cursive handwriting...writing the alphabet, her name and writing "I went to China." PS~She has NOT been to China! :) PPS~Her handwriting looked really good! :)

*She spent some time doing the clock work and learning how to tell time and writing it down.

*She wrote in her journal (in cursive!)

*She has been learning the U. S. states and coloring them in on her map. (Very careful coloring!)

*She also worked on her "pin maps." She matched the flags of North America & Aisa with their countries.

*She "cross-weaved" a cool decoration to hang in her room!

*She wrote a list of words that end in -ch. (bunch, lunch, hunch, etc...)

*Her favorite lesson of the week...learning how to use the microwave in the classroom kitchen. Here is a picture of their classroom kitchen...

Yes, every elementary classroom has a full-size kitchen! Lucky girl! They cook every day! *****I do hope Maddy is not telling people she has been to China. Did I ever tell you that she told one of her summer camp counselors that there were 7 children in her family and I was pregnant with #8? That was a fun conversation let me tell you...

First Grade!!

Maddy had a wonderful day in first grade! We were up and around with no trouble at all. I was so proud of the girls! Here are some photos from the day...

Maddy with her teacher, Mr. Joe...

Maddy checking out her favorite area in the classroom, the geography section.

Looking around for a friend...

Maddy found a friend from summer camp...a second grader!

When I left her, she was giving her friend her address for a birthday party. What fun! This is what is in store for her tomorrow...

Individual lessons will start soon. A lot of the activities this week are geared around getting the first years acclimated to the classroom.

Bye-bye summer hours...

Tomorrow we have to leave our house at 7:45am because school starts at 8:30am. No more summer hours! (Sigh) Wish us luck! :)

School Supplies

Maddy starts first grade tomorrow and these are the school supplies we bought for her...

Isn't her lunch box cool? It has her name on it although it is hard to see in the photo. :) I am all about personalization. And don't worry about all of her "traditional" school supplies, her school provides them. Kevin likes to remind me that our $300 yearly equipment fee pays for those supplies but I am just glad that we didn't have to hunt down supplies at Target this year! :)

Apple Tree

We have a lovely apple tree on our toddler playground. Maddy came to visit her classroom today and meet Mr. Joe and when she was done, she played on our playground. She climbed the apple tree after she ate an apple, of course!

Look carefully and you will see my little monkey sitting in a tree...

"Mississippi Queen"

**Read the previous post "Burning Up" before you read this...

So we heard Maddy singing "Mississippi queen/you taught me everything/" this afternoon. Kevin pulled it up on http://www.youtube.com/. As soon as Maddy heard the beginning guitar chords, she started headbanging and dropped to the ground playing air guitar! I have never seen anything so funny in my whole life... Honestly, I almost peed my pants. I cannot even begin to describe it so here are a few photos for you to enjoy!

As you can see, Elly enjoyed it, too!

I will be praying for this child all night long... :)

"Burning Up"

One night at dinner last week, Maddy started singing a song. And not just any song. The words were... Cuz I'm burning up/ Burning up/ For you baby/ Walk in the room/ All I can see is you/ She was sitting next to me & I almost choked! This from my sweet little girl who likes to sing songs like this... Get up, Get up! / Get up and tell the world! / Get up, Get up! / Some people haven't heard! / That Jesus paid the price! / So we could have eternal life!/ I asked her to repeat the song she was singing for daddy. We talked about where she had heard that song. (At summer camp, the older girls were practicing for a "show" to put on the last day. She was chosen to be a background dancer. Heaven help us!) We talked about how we are not going to sing those types of songs in our home because they are inappropriate. Later on, I googled "Burning Up." Turns out it is a Jonas Brothers song (oh, great!) and thank goodness, all she remembered was that little bit. Google it for yourself and see the rest of the lyrics. We are really in trouble... ***Update~It turns out that Maddy also likes Gwen Stefani's "Sweet Escape" and she also picked up "Mississippi Queen" from the Rock Band video game during Techno at summer camp. Google "Mississippi Queen"...W.A.S.P. (?) sings it. Oh my!