Ava's 1st Day of Kindergarten...

Orientation Day

 

It's finally the big day!  Ava was so excited to go to school.  She was quite disappointed that we wanted to take her to school instead of riding the bus.  She didn't seem nervous at all and couldn't wait to get going for the day.  She woke me up shortly after 6!

 

 

 

We told them to look sad & this is what we got!

 

 

Ava & Miss Rust

Day 2 of School:  Waiting for the bus (she was out on the driveway a full 15 min before we were expecting the bus.  She didn't want to miss it!)

 

 

She is swaying with anticipation here...

 

And she's off!

Overall, Ava did fantastic for starting Kindergarten.  She really didn't even turn back when we dropped her off at school that first day.  She saw her class, and had no problems telling us goodbye.  I'm glad it was that way for her, however,  I did sort of want her to miss us somewhat!  The 2nd day of school when she got to ride the bus was almost harder for us to watch.  She just hopped right up on the bus like she'd done it a million times and was off.  (sniff, sniff)

After over a week of school under her belt, Ava is doing very well.  We typically try to get her in bed by 7:30 pm and she has to be up by 6:50 am to be ready for the bus at 7:25 am.  She woke up on her own for the whole first week, usually by 6:30.  This week, I have had to wake her, but she's so cheerful it really isn't bad.  She pops out of bed and starts her morning routine without a problem.  She can be a slow breakfast eater, so I made and froze a whole bunch of bran muffins.  She eats that with honey in the morning and it seems to go fairly quickly along with her banana.  The coolest thing she talked about from her first week was music and PE.  She also really liked that you could pick chocolate milk at lunch.  She doesn't love the school lunches, but is adjusting.  We have let her bring her lunch once, and that was a highlight.  I'm not sure if it was the lunch or her new lunchbox.  She comes home singing a new song every day and can't wait to show me the papers she has in her bag. She talks about many new friends she's made on the bus and the playground.  Hopefully, she continues to be social and get along well with the other kids.  Although we really miss her, she seems to love school! 

On a side note, Owen is missing his sister dearly.  He asks to "go get Ava" several times a day.  He watches her get on the bus and he immediately starts asking when she's coming back.  No matter what sort of frump he may be in, when Ava walks through the door he is all smiles and asks if she wants to play with him.  I think she misses him too and is very happy to meet his request.

Random Phone Pics from this Summer....

In Garrettson - enjoying a family fun day!

Owen was so excited for his turn of starting the mixer- but instead of choosing speed 1, he chose 5!  He was so hurt ;(  Our banana bread still turned out great! 

 

First rainfall (and it was sprinkles at best) in forever!

Catfish Bay Waterski Show

 

 

 

the first of the pyramids

 

 

the show was impressive

Park Day!

Drive-In Movie "Planes"- Owen's first movie experience and he did pretty well

Ava & I riding the swings together at the Sioux Falls Fair

Owen's Big Boy Room is Finally Done!

 

 

Owen's new furniture came in July, so he has officially been in his bed for about 6-7 weeks.  While I'd like to say it's gone great, it hasn't been terrible.  He started coming out of his room after going to bed as soon as we took the siderail off the crib in April.  He realized the freedom and was going to take advantage.  He has been doing better, but it seems he needs an adjustment period with every change in his life.  He doesn't get up in the middle of the night anymore (there was about 3 weeks in August when this was the case every night- and he didn't go back to bed easily), so we are relieved about that.  It has taken a while for the decorations to come that I ordered, but we finally have everything on the walls.  He does love his dump trucks, cranes, bulldozers, and other vehicles in his room and named them all as soon as they were on the wall.  While we didn't think he showed a ton of excitement, he tells everyone that comes over, "come see my room, look at all my trucks".    He must think they are neat even though there is nothing for him to play with in his room.  It has been 6 years of having a crib up in our house in some form, so bittersweet to have it in storage.

Childrens Museum Part 2 (After my camera battery died).....

Back in the grocery store

 

the car was a big hit

 

the water table was a hit (Owen was soaked)

 

 

sand sculpting together

playing percussion

magnetic gears

outdoor dinosaur display

 

 

 

 

 

Well, needless to say, my battery on my camera died so I had to switch to my phone.  We ended up spending about 5 hours at the museum and could have stayed much longer.  The outdoor dinosaur part was very cool.  The dinosaurs move and growl which naturally terrified Owen who is scared of a tiny dog!  After a while, he finally let me put him down but only after lots of talking about how they weren't real and they couldn't come out of the fence.  He is something else!  It was a great day and Ava asked me about 20 times on the way home if we could come back the next weekend.  Next time we'll have to bring Daddy!