Girls

Perry's mom, sister Faith, sister Holly, and niece Emma Faith are here for the weekend - Perry and Bailey are feeling very outnumbered! We are having a wonderful time hanging out and getting to know Emma Faith. I wish I could post a hundred pictures - she's so beautiful and happy. Sarah, especially, is in love with her. (I think Abby would be more enchanted with her if she felt better, but she has lost her voice and feels a bit puny). Sarah is attached to Emma and holds her, shakes her rattle, helps get her dressed, feeds her a bottle, and wants to know if she can get a baby sister for Christmas! (uh...that would be a no). Even Bailey loves this baby, and he doesn't jump on her or try to get in her face.




We went to Build-a-Bear today because Auntie Holly had given the girls gift certificates for their birthdays and we'd been waiting to use them. Sarah built a High School Musical bear and named her "Musically," while Abby built a sparkly purple bear and named her "Princess." After the bears were built and dressed, Perry posed with his favorite girls (minus me, of course, because I was holding the camera!) I thought this was such a cute pic - too bad you can't see Emma Faith!

The Bus

Everyone acts surprised that I let my girls ride the bus. I guess that's because I'm a bit of a control freak (especially about my girls), and that darn bus is just outside my comfort zone. But I've let them ride it home every day, even the very first day. We have about 15 kids who get off at our stop, and they all look out for S&A, so that gives me some comfort. Until today. At 3:00 my phone rang, and it was their school. Sarah had missed the bus. But don't worry, they said, she's fine, she's not upset, and there's another bus that goes right by our stop so they just put her on that bus instead. They told me to just wait a minute after Abby got off, and Sarah's bus should be right behind her. Well, I knew that wasn't exactly right. Obsessive mom that I am, I've looked at the bus routes. There is another neighborhood bus, but it doesn't turn off the main road and pass our street. So I needed to walk up a block to catch it. In the meantime, Abby's teacher called to let me know that she had taken Sarah to the second bus and even offered to ride with her, but Sarah was fine. It all worked out, despite the confusion. Sarah was a little upset once she saw me, but I was so proud of her for the way she handled it and held herself together. It turns out that Sarah had a substitute today, and she didn't let them go early enough. Sarah went to get Abby (like she does everyday, sweet girl), but Abby was already gone (and I doubt that it even occurred to Abby that she should look for Sarah). So by the time Sarah finally decided to go to the bus without Abby, it was too late.
I'll try to let them ride on Monday, ... but no promises.

Fun with Costumes!

On Sunday I went to the costume sale at Children's Dance Foundation in Homewood. The girls LOVE to dress up, and I wanted some new fun clothes for them. I found some great things, and the girls have been having so much fun trying out the new costumes and playing with the awesome scarves.

Chick update: One of the eggs cracked today. Sarah said they were scientists and they looked inside to see if they could figure out what happened to it. No conclusions were reached.

It's All Coming Together

Just an update on the writing and reading. First the writing: they are both doing great with their "kidspell" and usually don't ask for help when they're trying to write things. They sound it out, and I can usually read what they write. Yesterday Abby came home with "book report"about a book called Apple Picking Day, and her favorite part of the book was "Goweg tow the frm" (going to the farm). Sarah did sticker spelling yesterday and spelled "pig", "cat", "lam", and "cow". I think they get it.
On the reading front, I've been hesitant to say that they're reading, because they aren't very confident yet, and sometimes they don't even want to try. But tonight, they both sounded out books that they didn't know (early readers), and they both recognize some sight words, can sound out the easy words, and are very good at using the pictures to get context and help them guess at the words they don't know. So I think I can safely say that they're reading. How exciting!
At school today, they put eggs in the incubator. In 21 days, they'll have baby chicks! I forgot my camera today, but I used Mrs. K's camera, and I'll try to get a pic to post here.

The Lies We Tell Our Kids

Wow - I've been a blogging fool this weekend! I just keep thinking of things I want to remember! Tonight, Sarah had a mosquito bite. The bugs love her, unfortunately. She put two different kinds of itch medicine on it, but nothing was helping, and she was driving us crazy with her complaints. So then Perry told her that a pink permanent marker would make it stop itching. He said he learned that when he was a nurse, and he read it in a book. She bought it, hook, line, and sinker. He said that only pink works, and it has to be a permanent marker. Later she found another bite to put it on, and asked me to do it, but I said that only licensed professionals can use a permanent marker for medicinal purposes; only a doctor or a nurse. Aren't we terrible?

Definitely NOT the Alabama State Fair

A couple of weeks ago, our neighbor mentioned that the Alabama State Fair was coming to Pelham this year. Pelham is about 10 minutes from our house, so we were pretty excited. I googled it to get more information, and found out that it's actually a controversial topic. Evidently the state fairgrounds are in Birmingham, in an area that many (most?) people consider fairly dangerous, and the fair hasn't happened in a few years. Now this new company is coming to town with a fair, and calling it the State Fair, but our Mayor is adamant that it is NOT the State Fair. Those of you who don't live here probably don't know that our mayor is crazy. Nuts. He recently formed a committee to try to get the Summer Olympics here in 2020 - he's definitely off his rocker. But I digress - I just wanted you to understand why I wasn't concerned by his opposition, and why I was still very excited about the (Not) Alabama State Fair.
Today, we stopped for cash at the ATM (because fairs are ridiculously expensive these days) and headed to Pelham. We knew we'd made a mistake the second we pulled in. This was not a fair. At best, it was a carnival. It was about 1/10 the size of the Greater Gulf State Fair in Mobile. Perry and I were disappointed, but the girls saw the ferris wheel and started squealing, so we decided to make the best of it. While it was a small venue, and the only livestock was in the petting zoos, we still had a great time. S&A ate their first corn dogs (how is that even possible? 5 years old and never had a corn dog?), rode their first ferris wheel, rode every kiddie ride available, walked through their first fun house maze (while P & I were laughing hysterically watching them bump into walls), and generally had a fantastic morning. We finished with some cotton candy and a few minutes of a High School Musical performance. $95 and 3 hours later, we were home and ready for a nap.

Environmental Print

Galleria Field Trip - From A to Z

Field Trip

Another milestone: the girls are going on their first field trip today. Both of their classes, plus one more, are going to the Galleria for an environmental print scavenger hunt. I'm going to chaperone, but I'm meeting them at the mall instead of riding the bus.

Abby was NOT happy about wearing her ugly gray school t-shirt today. While they don't have to wear them, it is encouraged because it makes it so much easier to keep up with everyone. And I knew that if I didn't make her wear it today, she would never wear it in the future. So, Sarah and I worked hard to convince her that it looks really really cute with a skirt. I'm not sure she totally bought it, but she did finally give in.

How Quickly They Learn

It's been less than two weeks since I posted about how differently the girls were learning to read. I'm blown away by how much they've learned in such a short time. Today Abby came home with some sticker spelling. Up until now, this has consisted of a column of stickers, and a letter by each sticker for the beginning sound of that sticker. So, for example, she would put a heart sticker on the page, and then write an "h" by it. Like I said earlier, she hasn't brought home any work showing "kid spell". Today, though, her list had 7 items. If I get ambitious, I'll scan it and post it here. But for now, here's her list:
sofac (snowflake)
grl (girl)
bala sipz (ballet slippers)
pegwn (penguin)
fawr (flower)
hrt (heart)
balay (ballet)
Her teacher wrote "WOW," and I agree! Then, after dinner, I was downstairs playing Starfall with Sarah, and Abby was upstairs in the playroom. She came down and handed me a note, then went back up. This is what her note said:
"Mom Pez play in plarm wt me" (Mom please play in the playroom with me.)
I'm seriously blown away.

The Separation is Official

After a week, it's apparent that the new sleeping arrangements are definitely working. Everyone is sleeping later, even Abby. And Abby is loving the "pink" room, because a) it's pink, b) it has a big bed, and c) mostly because there's a bright street light that shines in and allows her to see her books after we say goodnight. I told the girls that we would find time (when????) to decorate Abby's new room and redo Sarah's room and get it all "just right". Abby understands that she'll need to move out of her room when we have company, and she's fine with that. I think she's just so proud and excited to have her very own room. I'm really proud of Sarah - I thought this would be very hard for her, and I expected to hear her calling me for the first few nights until she got used to being alone, but she's been very happy about the change and hasn't been a bit anxious or concerned.