Summer has finally arrived!

My classroom is packed up, my grades are posted, and, summer has arrived. Although I am sad to see my kids go (I'm happier about some than others), I'm so happy to have some down time. I have two graduate classes this summer but other than that, I plan on spending as much time as possible with the girls.

Annie running around at the tv station.

Emma posing at the zoo.

Emma will be four in August. She's registered for pre-K in the fall and is SO excited about it. We looked at a number of schools and finally decided on St. Jude. I really love everything about St. Jude; the campus, the teachers, the program. From the moment I stepped on campus I felt like I was home. She'll go half days, three days a week. She has the option to go to St. Jude for kindergarten as well but we have not made any final decisions yet. Our district is appearently prickly about testing children for kindergarten before they are five. Emma will miss the cut-off date by two days.

Emma is really doing so well. She is a typical three year-old but she constantly makes us beam with pride. Kurt and I constantly tell each other how lucky we are, what an awesome kid she is, and, comment on how she constantly amazes us. She so bright and misses nothing.

Emma has her first dance concert on the "big stage" this weekend. She is a butterfly and is very excited.

Emma playing drums at the zoo.

The girls, swimming on Tuesday. Annie wasn't too sure about it. Emma would stay in the pool until she was water-logged.

This is how Annie eats: bare right foot on table. Even if she has to take off her sock and shoe, the bare foot, and always the right foot, goes on the table. Annie is doing very well. She is still in speech therapy but is no longer working on eating and drinking. You could say, she no longer has a drinking problem. She eats anything and everything and in enormous quantities. Annie is doing well with speech and language development although she is experiencing some difficulty forming sounds. She knows what she wants to say but it's like watching Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker say "wah-wah". Annie has difficulty making her mouth do what she wants it to. It's so sweet to watch her study our faces when we say words to her. She tries and tries and tires. What she cannot say, she has learned signs for.

Annie's finally off her bottle and is doing very well. She doesn't seem to miss it at all. Annie has had an ear infection for quite some time and we are currently on our fifth antibiotic. We see her ENT next Thursday but Annie's SLP said we should push for tubes.

Physically, Annie is ahead of where she should be and has been since she was dismissed from OT. She's been walking since 10 months and enjoys running and climbing . . . everywhere . . . ALL THE TIME. We literally cannot leave her alone for 2 seconds. In the time it takes us to look in the kitchen and back in the living room, Annie can have destroyed the room, emptied out the entertainments center, or climbed anything standing still. Grams and Grandpa got her a ride-on train for her birthday. She refueses to ride it. She stands on it until we tell her "bottoms down" and then she either squats or sits on the steering wheel. We also had to take away her rocking chair because I would frequently find her standing backwards, rocking as hard as she could. Please don't think we leave this child alone. We can't. She is like Speedy Gonzales in finding trouble. And she's so cute when she knows she's doing something she's not supposed to. Annie is incredibly curious and precocious.

Emma sunbathing. I thought Kurt was going to have a stroke.

Annie opening her train from Gram and Grandpa

Take a good look. This is the LAST time she ever sat on it. Since then, she's been standing backwards on it.

Emma was my prom date this year. She was so excited and had SOOO much fun.

Please do not contact Indiana Dept. of Child Labor. She insists on helping us out. I keep reminding myself that it won't always be this way.

We decided that Annie should pay our bills from now on.

When left alone for less than a minute, Annie found Emma's water colors, licked them, and painted herself purple.

Emma and Annie having a snack. They are so cute.

Emma received her first official packet from school. The bill was addressed to us but her information, to Emma. Sr. Kathleen (who was at St. John's for quite some time) will be her principal. We have two days of orientation in August and she starts on Sept. 8. I'm going to request a personal day now. I might need to order a straight jacket for Kurt.