Our Little Candy Cane

Emily was in the Nutcracker ballet this year as part of her dance class. She was a candy cane. She did SO great!! She knew her part so well and looked so cute!!

I took my class to see the ballet in the morning and all my students agreed that the candy canes were the best part of the show! :-) They have all adopted Emily as one of their own. It's really cute.

Then the family went that night: Grandpa and Grandma Day and us (Kenny, Ashley, and me). Once again she did so great!! Way to go Emily!

My cute little candy cane

Thanksgiving Feasts

Both Emily and Ashley had Thanksgiving Feasts at their school. They were very excited! They each had to bring something to share. Emily was assigned apple pie and Ashley brought apples and gogurt. They made Indian headbands and collar. Ashley also made a drum and a papoose. They both thought it was absolutley wonderful! Happy Thanksgiving Em and Ash!

Emily in her cute outfit (she wore brown on purpose that day) waiting to get her food

Emily eating her feast with her table mates

Ashley just loved her drum. This is her dressed up playing it.

One Lucky Girl

In September a flier was sent home with the students, from UDOT, encouraging them to walk or ride to school to promote exercise. The students were to mark each day that they rode/walked to school during the month and then send it in for a chance to win a prize. Emily can't walk to school so the flier said that if she rode her scooter/bike each day that would count too. So she did. At the end of the month we sent in the flier and didn't think anymore about it.

Well, on Em's birthday, my principal came in and told me that Emily had won and that a person from UDOT would be coming to our school on that next Monday to deliver Emily with a brand new Razor scooter and helmet!!! Is she a lucky girl or what?!? They got over 1,000 entries back and she was one of 50 names drawn!!

She was so excited!!! It was also perfect, because it was just like another birthday present. Emily is having one great Kindergarten year!

Emily with her new scooter and helmet. She loves it sooo much, because it's pink with streamers. How cool is that!!!

Trick-or-Treating

After Em's party, we cleaned up, went to see Grandpa and Grandma, got their traditional Halloween chili and breadsticks YUM!, then got ready for trick-or-treating. Emily was Ariel and Ashley was Barbie Mariposa. It had started to rain like crazy, but they were brave and went out anyway. Luckily it stopped raining soon after they left and they had an enjoyable time until they got cold and came home. Overall it was a great night and they're still eating their candy to this day.

I had to post both of these pictures because when we were ready to go out trick-or-treating, Ashley was upset about something. We told her to smile and she said, "No, I want to cry for the picture!" So I took one with her crying.

Then I asked if she could smile in a picture and she said, "Okay" and promptly stopped crying to smile. Then when I was done, she would start crying again. She can turn the waterworks off and on just like that. This is totally my little Ashley!! :-)

Their loot--if you look close you'll see that Emily came right home and sorted all her candy and put them all in rows. This is totally Em! :)

Super Star

Emily was chosen to be Student of the Week and the Super Star of the Week during the week of her birthday. She got to choose pictures and make a poster (with some help from mom and dad of course!) She loved it and was very proud of her poster. Her favorite part was the picture she drew and put on it. Way to be a super star, Em!!

I just love her pose so much!

Emily's Birthday Party

This was the first year that we let Emily have a friend party, so it was very exciting. She invited friends from the neighborhood, her cousins, and even two friends from school. We, of course, had a Princess party. We encouraged the girls to dress up like a princess--which they did and all looked beautiful!

When the girls arrived we had them make crowns with their names and decorations on it. Then we played pass the "glass" slipper (like hot potato). When the music ended, if the girl was holding the slipper they got a prize. Then we did the opposite and played pass the "poison" apple. This time if the girl was holding the apple when the music stopped, they were out. The girls LOVED this game and requested to keep playing it. Some girls stayed after the party was over and wanted to play this game again and again.

After that we played a similar version to princess musical chairs, where they would walk on a princess and when the music stopped whatever princess was drawn the girl on that princess would get a prize. That game was fun too, but they totally demolished the princess pictures by walking on them. Next time, I'll just have them walk around the pictures.

After all the games, we had cake and ice cream and opened up presents. I think it was a big hit! The girls seemed to really enjoy themselves and Emily just loved having a party with friends. It was a fun morning and we still had time to recuperate before we went out trick-or-treating that night. Happy 6th Birthday, Emily!

All our princesses in their crowns

Blowing out those candles

Opening up one of her many "favorite" presents

Playing Pass the Poison apple

Playing Princess Musical Papers

Ashley

So, as I was sitting down to write yet another blog post about Emily, I realized that Ashley has been being neglected in my latest posts. So, I thought I would do a quick thankful post about my little Ashley girl!

I cannot tell you how much I love this child. Even though she is a lot harder than Emily was, I love her fiery personality (well, most of the time anyway). I love her ability to tease and be teased without crying. I love her naturally curly hair and her cute high voice. I love (also most of the time) how attached she is to me. She never wants to be very far from me and in the morning (if I'm not already up), she'll come in and lay right next to me in bed and just smile so wide at me and say, "I love you!" over and over and give me hugs too. Just being so happy that she's next to me.

I love that she's so independent, even though this can also be a pain sometimes too. I love her so much and I love how she is blossoming in her own way to be such a beautiful, smart little girl. I am very blessed!!!! Love you so much, sweet Ashley!!

How could you not love this smile!!!

Oh, I love this girl so much!!! :-)

Ashley singing one of her favorite songs from Preschool. She loves it so much cuz she gets to scare you at the end!

Emily's Birthday/Halloween at School

Emily's Birthday is October 29th. This date fell on the Friday that they celebrate Halloween at school this year. Emily didn't care though. She got to dress up, bring treats, parade through the school, and have a party--and that was all before lunch. Then that night was our Classic Skate Night so she also got to go there and scooter to her heart's content. They also wished her a happy birthday over the intercom too! She had a great birthday and was super excited for her first friend birthday party the next day (that'll be my next post.)

Emily in her beautiful Ariel costume

Sorry the video's a little fuzzy; this is Em in her parade

Carving Pumpkins

For Family Home Evening before Halloween we carved pumpkins. Ashley wasn't interested in doing; she just watched. I helped clean out all the "guts" and then Kenny and Emily carved them. They turned out cute! Too bad with the nice weather that they rotted so quickly, but at least they were cute for a few days!

Money Machine

So, I've been busy the last couple of weeks and haven't updated and now I'm REALLY behind. I've got birthdays, birthday parties, Halloween, and contests to write about but I'm kind of anal about posting things in order so those will have to wait...for now.

Our school held a fundraiser this year selling Happenings books. As an incentive for the students, if you sold 6 books you got to go into the money machine for 10 seconds. Well thanks to my wonderful friends, neighbors, and family Emily sold 16 books!! She was excited to go into the machine and luckily didn't have any expectations of riches!

As she was waiting, she kept giving me the thumbs up and then pantomiming how she would grab the money and put it in her shirt. It was super cute! Finally it was her turn and she did great. She got $5, which is what most of the little kids got and not bad for only 10 seconds. She was so excited and can't wait to go to the dollar store and spend it. Way to go, Emily!

Getting in the machine and getting ready

Grabbin' her money

My students started chanting, "Emily, Emily" and it caught on. It was really cool!

BYU games

Kenny took Em to a BYU game last year and she really liked it, so we thought that would make a fun tradition to do each year. So Kenny took Emily to the Nevada game a few weeks ago. Emily had a blast!! She could care less about the actual game (and who won or lost), she just loves yelling Go Cougars, getting Snowies as big as she is, waving her BYU claw around, and being with her dad. Plus the weather was very nice too. What a fun time for her!

Emily's Massive Snowie--When her dad asked if he could have some, she looked at him and said, seriously, "You should have gotten your own!" :-)

Posing with the claw at the Cougar

Liking the Marching Band and their music

Emily dancing to the Marching Band music

Soccer

Emily did soccer this fall. It was her first time ever really playing. She was pretty timid playing, but so was her whole team. They were called "The Elephants" and they lived up to their name and were very gentle and calm. We didn't score many goals as a team, but we tried hard and overall Emily had a good time--although I still think she enjoyed the treats during half and at the end of the game more than actually playing. :-) Good job, Em!

Smilin' at mom during the game

She had just kicked the ball; she was always so proud of herself!

Kicking the ball after a goal

Taking her turn as goalie--she didn't last very long. She had more fun playing in the net than actually watching for the ball coming. :-) Oh well, she had fun!

Do You Think She Got Enough Bubbles?

Emily was taking a bath the other night and asked for bubbles, which was fine. Then she turned on the jets in the tub. It had an exponential effect and this was the result. It was too cute not to take a picture--or 5 :-)

She was so pleased with herself

I did make sure she was covered in all the right places before this shot!

Starting Pre-School

Ashley started pre-school this year and LOVES it. She wasn't very happy that Emily got to go to school and she didn't so she was very excited to learn that she would also be going to school. She is having so much fun and learning how to be nice to others. Love you, Ash!!

First day of school with her bag

Her bag she got at pre-school--she loves it!!

Ashley describing her day at pre-school

Last Day of Summer!

Labor Day is always like the last day of summer. After that day there are no days off of school until October. This year we decided to go to Seven Peaks. I still had teacher passes to use, from our school's Peak Reader incentive we do. It was a little chilly at times (like right after we got out of the pools), but standing in the sun or after toweling off it was great. Overall it was a very fun day. The girls' cousins came too, which made it even better. Goodbye summer, officially!!

Emily freezing right after getting out of the pool

Ashley feeling warm in her towel

Kenny with nephew, Trevor, after riding the Vortex

Don't I have a cute family? :) I am very blessed!!

First Day of Kindergarten!!

Wednesday, September 1st was Emily's first day of school! She was so excited! She woke up great, got ready and then Kenny gave her a father's blessing before we left. It was neat. We then went to school and had fun taking pictures there. When school was over she was so happy! She said that Mrs. Herman is the greatest teacher in the whole world! I asked her what her favorite part of the day was and she said, "When Mrs. Herman says, 1,2,3 eyes on me and we say 1,2 eyes on you." I thought that was pretty cute that the teacher's management technique was Em's favorite part. (Could she possibly be a teacher's daughter? :-) What a great beginning to hopefully an amazing first year of school!

The traditional first day of school pose

Leaving for school

With Daddy after her father's blessing

Excited for school to start!

Meeting the Teacher

Emily starts Kindergarten this year and yesterday was her pre-assessment day. That's where she goes and meets her teacher and the teacher asks her all kinds of questions to see where she is academically. Emily was so excited to meet her teacher, Mrs. Herman. When the testing started, it was really hard for me to sit there and hear her say she didn't know some words that she really does know, but knowing how much it bugs Kindergarten teachers when parents interrupt, I was good and didn't say anything. After she was all done, her teacher said she did wonderfully so I guess I might just worry too much. It's going to be a great school year!

Emily with Mrs. Herman; she was so excited to meet her--she even chose her first day of school outfit for it. Now what to wear on the first day? :-)

Summer

I realized this morning that this is my last Sunday without having school the next day. Summer is officially over! This summer was very low key, but still wonderful! It was full of trips to--

Discovery Gateway

Lagoon

Trafalga

A visit from my dad

T-Ball

Soccer

Lost teeth

An unfortunate trip to the hospital

a family reunion, time spent together as a family, and, of course, the girls playing with friends,

and many, MANY water parties.

What a fun summer it's been. We look forward to meeting you again in just 9 short months! :)