Second grader

Here is a picture of Ellie before heading off to school one morning this week.  She is quite the fashion diva lately.

Sunflower

Austin helped me plant some sunflower seeds early this summer.  We FINALLY are enjoying the blooms!

Vacation 2011

Ahhh the beach.  Our family is beginning to really love the beach.  We are big fans of Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.  This year I found a small (VERY VERY SMALL) studio condo for us to rent that was 1/4 block from the beach.  This condo had a small sitting room with two futons (that turned into our beds for the night), a small kitchenette and a bathroom.  I would say that the condo was the size of a small hotel room or even smaller.  Check out the pictures below:

The very best part of this condo was the location.  It was directly behind a Smoothie shop, next to a breakfast/ice cream parlor, SO close to the beach, and within a short walking distance to everything else.  We parked our car on Monday when we got there and didn't move it until we left on Friday.

The weather started out a bit rainy that week but we ended with two full days of sun and sand.  The kids had lots of fun in the water and digging in the sand.  We spent time at FunLand riding the rides, playing putt putt, eating lots of pizza/fries/ice cream, riding a bicycle that fit the whole family, and lots of other fun.  We had a great time and hope you enjoy the pictures.

First Day of Kindergarten

Austin was nervous about his first day of Kindergarten.  Everything was going well this morning, though, until I tried to get them on the front porch for a picture.  Ellie was excited about school and wanted to get the picture done so she could get to the bus stop with everyone else.  Austin, however, determined that he did not want to go to school right at that moment.  As you can see from the picture he was NOT going to smile.  You may also notice the wet spot on his shirt where I had to clean the toothpaste off of him.

After the picture, Ellie took off for the bus stop and Austin was walking but almost refusing to go.  He told me he was NOT going to get on the bus.  Luckily, around that time a school bus stopped near our house to pick up a little boy that lives down the street for his first day of Kindergarten.  This little boy has a syndrome that effects his muscular system and he is in a wheelchair.  Austin was interested in seeing how the bus would pick up the wheelchair and get them on the bus.  It was great to see the little boy going to his first day of Kindergarten and it was great timing because that distracted Austin from where he was going.  

We got to the bus stop and Austin got in line behind Ellie.  There were lots of kids and parents so Austin kept quiet and stayed behind Ellie.  I didn't want to do much to bother him, for fear that he would decide he wasn't getting on the bus, so I just gave him a kiss and stepped back.  When the bus came he got on with no difficulties.  There was a bit of a smile on his face as the bus pulled away with Austin sitting next to his sister.

Because Austin had to take two buses to get to his school, we were a bit worried about how the bus transfer would go at the first stop.  Thanks goodness John went to the first stop to watch from afar and see how the process would work.  It didn't work as smoothly as it was supposed to and I'm very glad John was there to step in and help figure it all out.  I am also proud of Ellie because before John stepped in, she stayed with her little brother and didn't leave him to go in to her own class.

Austin found out that he gets to stay on his own bus to go to his school.  That relieves me a bit that he doesn't have to switch buses each morning.  I called his school around 10:30 and got a report from his teacher that he was doing "wonderfully".

John picked him up, which again did not go very smoothly.  John was in the car pick up line behind the school and Austin was out front of the school with the kids waiting to be picked up by parents that would walk to the front doors.  Eventually his teacher brought him around the building and they headed home.  Here is John's account of what Austin said about his first day.

"I liked it!"

then he told John:

"I loved all of it! "

We are thrilled.  He is excited to go back tomorrow.  Yea!  He said his favorite part of school was gym class (no surprise there).  He said the only part he didn't like was sitting down so much.  We are so happy that he had a great first day.

Ellie had a great day, too.  She really liked her teacher and will be making some new friends this year since her "best" friends from last year are not in her class.