Catching up from the end of summer

Hello all! It has been a busy summer as evidenced by my lack of posts. So I will catch up on recent events and try to do better going forward! :)

Abby is now officially a first grader. The first day of school went well. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Brophy and she seems to be pretty good so far. There are only 3-4 kids from her kindergarten class in her first grade class so she will get the chance to meet lots of new friends. So far, she has become friends with Ivanna, a little girl who just moved here from Puerto Rico. It's kind of neat that she knows Spanish and that Abby will be exposed to that culture. First grade brings with it some new things for Abby - it's full day (kindergarten was half day), she has recess now, and she's eating her lunch at school. She buys her lunch one or two days and then brings it the other days. She also signed up for cheerleading club at school, which starts this coming Tuesday. Instead of going to her day care on Tuesday mornings, we will drop her off at school at 8:15 (school starts at 9:15) and she will do cheerleading. Ivanna and at least two girls from her Girl Scouts troop (Genevieve and Sarah) are doing it, too, so that will be fun for her. That way, we also don't have to spend a night during the week going to the cheerleading classes that she did last spring.

Adam is doing great, too. No extracurricular activities for him yet (although we plan to do swimming lessons after he turns three). He's about 90 percent potty trained and really hasn't been too difficult with that, so we've been lucky about that. He's so used to tagging along with Abby and all of her girlfriends in the neighborhood (Hannah, Madison, Ashlyn and Kennedy). He needs some boys to hang out with. I'm sure we'll find some soon.

Here is Abby posing on the first day of school.

Abby on the first day.

Adam wanted in on the picture action and was posing like Abby.

Abby and Adam.

Abby sitting at her desk in her class.

That's Abby's teacher next to her with the white pants and blonde hair. Ivanna is sitting next to Abby.

Abby does have homework every night, although it's simple things that take five minutes. I imagine it's to get her in the habit of doing homework regularly. The first six weeks of first grade are considered review and then after that it should get more challenging. She also has weekly spelling tests. The pre-tests are on Mondays and if you ace the pre-test, you don't have to take the real test on Thursday. So far, Abby has gotten 100% on the pre-tests she has taken. She's a smart cookie!

A couple weeks ago my mom and I took Abby to see Mary Poppins at the Fox. We met Mary Poppins at Disney and Abby really liked her. Then we rented the movie and Abby really liked that. We LOVED the musical production. It was SO incredibly good - easily one of the best shows I've ever seen. In the middle of the second act, Abby hugged me and said, "Thank you, mommy, for bringing me here." That made it worthwhile for sure!

Abby and my mom outside the Fox.

Me and Abby outside the Fox.

Me, my mom and Abby outside of the Fox.

A couple weeks ago I went to Memphis for Jenny's bachelorette party. Jenny's wedding in October is the one Seth and Adam are in.

Abby, Jenny and me.

We thought this guy looked like Ben Stiller. He really did but I think he was annoyed by us because people must say that to him all the time.

Jenny and "Ben Stiller."

Char and Tiffany in Memphis.

Abby and Kathy in Memphis.

Me and Christina in Memphis.

Yesterday, Abby had her first dance class of the school year. For the last two years, Abby has taken dance through her day care. A dance teacher would come to the school and it was a pretty basic class where they did very low-key recitals at the end of the year. Now that she's in first grade she can't do that anymore so I had to shop around for a dance studio for her to go to. I found a place called Steppin' Up that has a really good reputation and I think we're going to like it. It's every Saturday from 10:30 to noon and she will have 30 minutes each of ballet, jazz and tap. She's never done tap before and that was her favorite. It's so funny to see that Abby completely belongs in a dance class like this. She pays such close attention to the teachers and really works it when the teachers demonstrate what to do. She was shaking her hips and doing exactly what they wanted her to do. There will be a huge dance recital in June that is supposed to be a pretty big deal. It's four hours long and she'll do three dances and two costume changes. She's going to love it. I'll keep you posted.

Last night, we had Kristian and Jenny's couples shower at Lake St. Louis.

Christina, Kathy, Abby, Nicole and Shawna on the boat.

Me, Char and Jenny on the boat.

Hope everyone has a great week. Abby has PSR (parish school religion) on Wednesday nights through the school year so we'll have that on Wednesday. This will take the place of the religion class she would have taken if she went to a Catholic school. She really likes learning about God and we'd like to at least stick with it for a couple years so she can get her First Communion in second grade. It's at 5:15, though, so it's a bit of a challenge to get her there on time. We'll do what we can.

Besides that, Dawn and I have dinner plans on Thursday. This weekend, Seth and I are celebrating our 8th anniversary, which was Sept. 8. Hard to believe it's been that long. We're going to the Cards-Cubs game in the afternoon and then plan to stay downtown, go to dinner and then go out. Should be fun. Talk to you all soon!