Spelling words!

My Lydia is a natural worry-er! She is always wondering how things are going to go or what to expect.

So the first week of school, we were talking about homework. I said that the homework calendar said that spelling words would start next week.

She asked me, "What kind of words?"

I said "Words like 'cat,' 'dog', easy ones, ya know,"

She replied "I hope it's words like 'cat', because I can spell that, but not words like 'international.'"

I assured her that I didn't think the word "international" was going to be a spelling word for next week!:)

Lost another tooth!

Lydia's second loose tooth was hanging on by a thread! I knew on Monday morning that it was just going to fall out any second!

When I went to pick her up on Monday afternoon (August 22), she says, "MOM, I lost my tooth, but I can't find it!" She had tripped on the playground in the mulch & it fell out & she didn't even know it!:)

She had to draw the Tooth Fairy a map for the Chisholm playground so she could find it!

First Day of School 2011-2012 year

This year, the girls are at the same school, Chisholm Elementary. Lydia is in first grade in Mrs. Crutchfield's class. Caraline is in Pre-K & in Mrs. Scott's PM class. They both had a very good day!

Knee-slapping funny kids!

My girls are pretty funny!!!

Today we had a "teach-able moment" with Lydia. We have been reading a first grade basal reader this summer for reading practice. We were on the 4th basal, which would have been a book a first grade class would read in December or January sometime. She was doing really well.

She has some maps in the play room & she was asking questions about the maps. I remember that in that 4th basal, I had seen a story called "Me on the Map" (which I remember from teaching at Bryant). I said, "I have the perfect story we can read!" She was excited, but really didn't want to read it herself, but she did read most of it. She did a pretty good job!

After she read it, I told her "That was a first grade story that they don't read until after Christmas time & you are reading it now!" She laughed & hugged me & I told her she should be proud of herself.

I started reading the comprehension questions at the end of the story. The first questions was "What have you learned by reading this story?" Lydia answered, " I learned I can read better than I thought I could!" I laughed so hard!! That is SO true!!!

Ava Jayne

My youngest cousin, Lindsay, had her third daughter, Ava Jayne, on July 27th, 2011. We went to meet Ava in Pawnee at Grandma & Grandpa's house.

Red River, New Mexico 2011

We went to our favorite vacation spot this year: Red River, New Mexico. It was everything that we remembered it was from 2009! We stayed in a motel that was across the street from the Community House. It was perfect, we could just walk over to the events. We learned to play drums, built boats & raced them in the river, played games on the lawn, listened to some Music in the Mountains, took a nature hike, hung out with family & fished.

Caraline caught her first fish & ate it too! She thought it was yummy!

We really enjoyed the cooler temps!! We always have a wonderful time!

More funny things that my girls say....

Caraline was biting into an apple & she said, "Look, mom! I can see the nuts!" Me: "Caraline, those aren't nuts, those are the seeds." We had a good laugh over that one!

Caraline has worn dresses for at least 2 years now. On our vacation in Red River this year, I told her she needed to wear capris or pants because it was chilly. We made a big deal about how grown up she looked so she would wear the capris. When we got ho,e, she said, "Mom, I want to wear jeans with pockets,"....She doesn't own a pair of jeans, but we found some denim capris & she was excited! She has a closet FULL & I mean F-U-L-L for dresses & NOW she wants to wear capris?!?!?! I guess I better go school clothes shopping!