Aubrey At Dance Class

Today was parent observation day at dance. This was the first time we have seen Aubrey on the ballet bar. She did not want to wear a skirt today...some battles are not worth fighting and this was one of them.

Doing her tumbling.

Aubrey's version of a head stand.

This was my favorite shot- she really looks like a dancer in this one.

Pumpkin Cake

We started a small group with church that meets at our house. Since this was our first time meeting, I made this pumpkin cake. Derek found the recipe on the Kraft website and it was really yummy. He really likes the pumpkin roll with the cream cheese in the middle. Sadly, I have not had success making these, but this cake is very similar and cakes I can do! It will be a keeper at our house. It was really easy too since the sides and top do not need to be frosted.

DC Trip

Derek and I took a few extra days before his conference at Liberty and went to DC for a little trip. We took the Reader's Digest tour of most of the museums. We took this picture to show Ethan how small parts of the space shuttle can be.

The classic White House picture. Can you go to DC without taking one?

Derek really wanted to take these pictures. He had to give me a little lesson on how to make it work, as I was not doing it correctly.

We toured the Treasury Dept and I took this picture for Ethan.

We were lucky enough to see my good friend Campbell from high school. She lives in Georgetown and came to meet us for lunch one day. I was able to meet her little girl Ella. Sadly, Harry (her son) was in school. It was so good to catch up with her.

Derek took this of the Capital Building and I thought it was a really good one.

What are the odds that my sister Laura was in DC for work. We were able to meet up with her for dinner. Not the greatest picture of us at the Metro, but it is a picture documenting out time none the less.

Our hotel in Lynchburg had a bottle opener in the bathroom, so of course I had to buy a bottle so that I could use it. While Derek was in class one day, I went to visit my college roommate April and her two girls who live close by. Sadly, I did not take any pictures, but had a great time with them. We enjoyed our time away and can't wait for Aubrey to get a little older so we can take them back to DC.

Aubrey has this silly fascination with Elvis, so we found this ABC book about Elvis for her on our trip.

Ethan got a million dollars - he thought it was the best thing ever. Of course he asked if it was real. Uh, no!

Craft Time with Grandma

Grandma brought along a little craft that the kids did with tissue paper. It is funny because Aubrey does not really get the concept of trees changing colors since we live in Fl.

Aubrey had a project for school as well. We were given a felt square and some items to decorate it. The instructions were to put her last name on it somewhere. We bought some little jewels and the border. I put the jewels on because they were a little to hard for her, but she did the rest. I think it turned out pretty well....we will see what the other kids look like.

Friday around 4pm I was getting ready to mow the grass and a police officer pulled up and stopped in front of our house. He then starts to walk up the driveway. Here is my thought process.

1- I am pretty sure I have not done anything illegal.

2- Derek is at Target, so he must be here to tell me he has been in an accident (There is a family at our church where the husband was involved in a motorcycle accident so I think that is why that popped into my head so quickly)

3- I will need to change because I can't go to the hospital in my lawn mowing clothes. I mow in old jeans with paint stains on them and a ratty tank top.

Luckily, Derek was fine and there was no need for changing. Funny, how that so quickly came to mind. The police officer was there because our neighbor called and gave the wrong address. There is only one house near us that is a rental and the daughter who lives there broke into his porch to steal his wife's cigarettes. My neighbor is a former NY police officer, so he installed surveillance cameras and caught her on tape.

Grandpa's Birthday

Grandma and Grandpa are in town, so we celebrated his birthday a little early.

Homework

Aubrey had her first homework sent home and she did it with Daddy as soon as they got home yesterday she was so excited.

We try to get Ethan's homework done over the weekend so that he only has to work on reading and spelling during the week.

He thinks this pencil is really cool. It is what he always wants to use. It is some sort of strange thing at school with his friends to see how small their pencil can be - strange I know.

While Ethan and I were working on his math worksheets, Aubrey drew a picture. It is a mermaid with a happy jellyfish. I love that she felt the need to share that the jellyfish was happy. This picture made me smile in so many ways that I wanted to share it. It was sweet that she wanted to be by us while we were working. I love the big eyes and the sort of crooked smile (this is because she is chewing). I also really love the little tail on her mermaid. It was a great way to start out our Saturday!

Making Lunches

The kids wanted to make their lunches for tomorrow, so I let them.

I love their same expressions as they are concentrating so hard on making them. Making peanut butter sandwiches is serious business. Ethan bailed on us and went to the store with Daddy.

Aubrey continued on....making little squares to get rid of the crust.

Looking forever in the fridge to see what else she wanted.

Applesauce was the winning item. Love how she leaves the door wide open.

Finally all done and zipping up the lunch box ready for tomorrow.

Aubrey's Achievement

Yesterday when I pulled up in car rider line to get Ethan from school, the principal had these beautiful flowers for me. Attached was a very sweet note of thanks for starting out the school year for the third grade class. I was very surprised as this was not needed, but deeply appreciated.
We have been working on and off all summer with Aubrey on writing her name. Today, she finally was able to do it all on her own. We still need to work some on her technique of her letters, but I am very proud of her. I love the "b" because I think it looks like a cherry. She is also very dramatic with the "y."
A long time ago we found some Webkinz on a really good sale, so we picked some up for the kids to keep as rewards. Aubrey has known all summer that she would get her last Webkinz when she could write her name. Her is our proud girl with her reward!