Our week...

It's been a pretty ordinary week at our house. I really wish it would cool off so Grace and I could spend more time outside. It's been so HOT!

On Tuesday it was about 100 degrees. LeAnn called and suggested we cancel Maggie's lesson. Maggie wasn't having any of that, so she went. I was really proud of her, there wasn't even a second of whining. LeAnn kept stopping her and asking of she wanted to quit and she just kept going. She's really getting pretty good. And she is definitely one tough kid!


Tuesday night we went to the inaugural volleyball game at Northeast Community College. I was recently appointed to the board of Governors at the college, and having a volleyball team on campus is a big deal, so we thought we'd lend our support. It was really fun, we will definitely go back.





Week 2 of preschool went great....Gracie's lunches are still strange...2 beef sticks, a cheese stick and dried apricots....but she's happy.


Last night we started gymnastics again. Maggie was excited to go back but Gracie was ecstatic to get to go to "Nymnastics!!!"





Gracie ended up being the only kid in her class, I really hope someone joins, she needs some company. She's not very good at listening but she was surprisingly good at the balance beam.





Today after schools we picked our first watermelon. We've been watching it grow for a long time! Maggie was pretty excited to bring it in.


We're off to Omaha for the weekend. Go big red!!

Memories are made....

...when you make pipe bombs with your Grandpa.

They aren't actually making pipe bombs, but it sure looks iffy, doesn't it? If you wrap a piece of copper pipe in an old garden hose and throw it in a camp fire, it turns the fire different colors. The girls think it's great....and Grandpa is always up for a project :)

The girls camped with mom and dad Friday night. They always think everything is better when we're not along. It was really hot, but they had a great time. Maggie got a little poison ivy on her face, it looked like it really hurt, but she didn't seem too upset by it. Thankfully Grandma and Aunt Laura came her rescue with some cream pretty quickly. By this morning you could hardly see it.

On Sunday afternoon Maggie spent some time with Grandma and Pops. She has a reputation for being a mean teacher when she plays school at their house.....apparently, she didn't disappoint...

she was taking "Herbert" to the principals office!

Sunday night was our church picnic. We had a great time. Their were horse rides, a hayrack and lots of food. The girls came home really dirty and tired....so you know it was great!



This is Gracie's first official horse ride. She's spent a lot of time in a barn, but never in a saddle.

I wouldn't think Maggie would want to ride a horse being walked around by someone anymore, but any
chance she has to ride, she'll take it.

A few other pictures....

Aunt Diane sent Gracie a backpack to match her lunch box. Gracie thinks she's pretty
big stuff!

Gracie and I worked on corn all day today.

We may have to eat it every day all winter to use it up!!

Coincidence??

I've been wearing a pedometer this week to track my # of steps. Do you think it's just a coincidence that on Tuesday and Thursday when Grace was at school I walked 4500 less steps then the days when she was with me??? When she starts school full time I'm going to need a serious workout plan! I wish I could track how many steps she takes a day....it has to be 20,000.





Day 2 of preschool went great. She was ready for me when I picked her up, but she hasn't fussed at all. Yah!!!

After a whole week of school, Maggie is still smiling and loving it! I'm not sure when they actually do "school"...yesterday she told me they had Gym class twice, recess twice and Music & Art each once during the day....add in lunch and 30 min of quiet time (her least favorite part of the day) and there isn't much time left.

Farmer girls.

We have picked enough cucumbers to feed the whole town and we have lots of green tomatoes on our vines. Our corn is getting tall, the squash was a bust (Maggie is thrilled), and we only had one soy bean plant sprout....3 pods won't get us very far.

 But the girls are really excited about these....

We have about a dozen tiny watermelons....

.....and 1 big one!

I'm not much of a green thumb, but our little garden was a fun summer project.

Preschool!

Gracie did AWESOME! She had a brief moment of apprehension when we first got to school, but quickly ran off with the other kids.

She wasn't sure how she felt about getting up and going this morning :)

 ...but she recovered quickly.

There was a little mishap with Maggie's backpack this morning (she forgot it). It was pretty traumatic. So Gracie and I headed out right away to deliver it, then we stopped for a doughnut on our way to school.

 

She was annoyed that I made her stop for a picture outside the building, the kids were all

on the playground and she wanted to get going!

She's very proud of her Hello Kitty lunch box! It would hold more food then
Gracie eats in a month, but she picked it out :)

 Here is what she had to say when I picked her up......looks like an A+ to me!!

She told me it was great. Her teacher told me that "she sure does have a mind of her own." I could have told them that....in fact, I think I did. The structure of school will be really good for her. In the 3 years that Maggie was there, she NEVER took a nap...today when I went to pick Gracie up, she was out cold on a mat, in the nap room. Such different girls!

What a great adventure they will both have this year!!!

Gracie!

Maggie has been getting lots of attention lately. Now it's Gracie's turn. Tomorrow Gracie is going to start PRESCHOOL! I can't believe it. This might be harder for me then Maggie going to Kindergarten, because it seems like just yesterday Maggie was headed for her first day at Montessori, and look how fast it went!

For the last couple of weeks we've been working really hard on things Gracie will need to be able to do at school. Go potty all by herself, wash her hands without help and get her shoes on and buckled. She's done awesome. I can't believe how grown up she seems.

I'm nervous about her eating lunch at school and taking a nap...but I know that she will be in great hands.

Gracie was really missing Maggie all day today, so having her own "school" to go to 2 days a week will help. By 10am this morning I think she'd asked a dozen times "where Maggie? we go get her?"...apparently I wasn't being a very good playmate.

 Wish us luck. Tomorrow I'm going to be the one asking, "Is it time to pick them up yet?"

Sasquatch???

Arnie convinced Maggie that this was a Sasquatch print. She came back from their walk and told us all about the "squatch" that lived in the woods. Then this morning she told us she didn't sleep well because she was having bad dreams...coincidence???

We spent this weekend camping at church camp. The weather was PERFECT and we had a great time.

Maybe someday Uncle Deem can be there Girl Scout leader.....

 

 

 

 Paula and Kim were nice enough to saddle up all the horse and take everyone for a ride...

Gracie didn't get to ride, but she thought petting the horses was pretty cool.

Maggie would have stayed with the horses all day....she made several visits. She couldn't
believe I didn't pack carrots :)

 

 The camper is cleaned out and put away...until next time!