Homework

The first week or so of school is always full of rules, and expectations; lots of drills and practices. For most kids, that’s exciting because it boils down to NO homework. ;) But not Madelyn. She has been so excited for two things: Social Studies and homework. For the last few days, she’s been coming home telling us about how soon they’ll be learning social studies, and that spelling was coming, too! I kid you not, these comments were accompanied by serious jumping up and down with hands waving in the air!

So, you can imagine the excitement when Madelyn came home on Monday with spelling words! As a matter of fact, she couldn’t even wait to get home to tell me. She had to call me from Chris’s cell to tell me the good news! I smiled so big. I love her zest for learning, and hope that it will stay for a while.

We were proud when we saw her first practice with the words, and I thought I’d share it since it’s her first "official" spelling list. She aced them all in practice, and then again when she wrote them with us that night. She said they were “kindergarten” words. I think there was a part of her that wanted a little bit of a challenge. I told her they will get harder as the year goes on and that she should be happy she knew all of them. J

 

Off to First Grade We Go

Today marked the first day of Madelyn's first grade career. Where did summer go? And how did my little girl get to be so grown-up?

Madelyn has been counting down sleeps for the past two weeks anticipating her first day of first grade. She has been telling us how excited-but-mostly-nervous she is. We've had some great conversations about how she's feeling, and it has been so sweet to hear her talk about wanting to be a good student, and wanting to make new friends, and wanting to like her teacher. All things I remember being worried about when I was young, too.

Last night the electricity went out around 9 pm, and Madelyn woke up about 9:30 pm, and wandered into our room wondering why her bathroom light wouldn't come on. We let her snuggle with us in our bed (a HUGE treat for her) until the electricity came back on, which wasn't until about 11 pm.

Needless to say, none of us really got a great night's sleep, but that didn't discourage Madelyn from hopping out of bed this morning, raring to go! We did have to coordinate a wardrobe change at the last minute (although that was no big surprise to me), but other than that, things got rolling quite smoothly.

Dear Madelyn,

Today you started first grade. I'm not sure why, but I was feeling especially sad about it (although Daddy's the one who got teary-eyed this time). I think I was mostly feeling down because I feel like it's such a big step. Bigger than kindergarten. First grade seems so official. It's the silly things that remind me that you're growing up way too fast. You had your own desk, and your own books. Oh my, did you have lots of books! I didn't want to burst your happy bubble because you were so excited about how many books were in your desk (which in my mind only equates to homework)! We pulled each of them out. Science. Social Studies. Language Arts. And a dictionary! We had to talk about what exactly a dictionary was and how you might be using it, but your eyes were beaming with excitement about all those words on each page. I loved watching you put your things away in a very neat and tidy order, all on the top shelf of your desk. 

You quickly found the place where all your things belonged. Everything has a place in your new room. Lunch boxes. Backpacks. Pencils. You take after me when it comes to orderly things, and I do love that. I wonder if that will last. You are such a good student. Such a great kid. God has blessed us more than we could ever have imagined, but we are so grateful that you are ours. You love to learn. You love to interact with your friends and your teachers. You love life!

You were so very excited to start your day with Mrs. Yates! Your cousins told you amazing things about her, and you are ready to begin this journey! "Let's do this!" was your proclamation this morning. :)

Madelyn and Mrs. Yates 

Oh, how I wish I could savor these moments forever. I know you're in great hands this year, and I know you will grow exponentially in all sorts of ways... physically, mentally, socially, spiritually. You are a little being that I cherish more than anything, and I love seeing the world through your eyes. You teach me every day that life is short, and it's all the small moments that make life great! I love you, Bug. I hope you continue to smile through all your school days and that you are enveloped in the excitement of learning with each new lesson! You are my rock star, kid!

Love,
Mom

Madelyn INSISTED on having her picture taken with Luke!

Chillaxin'

You can never have enough pool time in the summer! Madelyn has made great use of the pool at the new house, and we couldn't be happier!

It's been a few weeks since we've seen Isabelle, so it was time for another sleepover!

This time we decided to head out and go see Mr. Peabody and the dollar theater (only now it's the three-dollar theater). It was a cute movie that was a little over their heads at times, but I think they enjoyed it!

This theater reminded us of Space Mountain!

They especially enjoyed being "twinsies" for the day!

Happy Independence Day!

We spent a quiet evening at home with Donna and David for the 4th of July. We enjoyed a delicious BBQ and even lit a few ginormous sparklers! (They were almost as tall as Madelyn!)

At the end of the night we walked to the end of the street, along the greenbelt, and watched the fireworks around the valley. It was no comparison to the Del Mar Fair fireworks, but it was fun to be able to see so many different shows going on at once. Too bad it was 103 outside!

Staycation 2014

This year, since we bought our new house, we decided to save a little money and do a "staycation."

I won't lie. This was the first year in ten that we didn't go to southern California. And although I was heartbroken not to get to hear the sound of the waves crashing at my feet, I do have to say that our staycation ended up being magnificent!

Before we even got to the hotel I made a simple request: Can we please eat at Eeegees?

For sure! Eegee's one of my very favorites, and now is one of Madelyn's favorites, too! We all enjoyed a quick lunch with a cold Eegee beverage. Yum!

Since the weather is so incredibly hot during the summer in Arizona, all the hotels have really great rates to encourage people to visit. We decided to mosey on down to Tucson to the Westin la Paloma Resort & Spa. I have stayed at this resort every summer for the last several year when I present at a state conference so I was well aware of how wonderful it was. If you ask the girls what their favorite thing was during our first afternoon, they would both surely tell you it was riding the golf cart to our rooms!

We spent the first afternoon checking in, and getting settled in our rooms. Then we wasted no time and hit the pools! This resort has four pools and a water slide! We especially liked the main pool that had a swim up bar. Although I'm not sure Madelyn's "What did you do this summer" story will come across right when she describes sitting at the pool bar during her first day of school. Hmm... To be fair, they made a mean strawberry smoothie, and the girls thought it was pretty cool to be sitting on a stool in the water!

When we woke up on Saturday, we headed down to Benson to explore Kartchner Caverns. This was so wonderful! We couldn't believe that we had never gone before now! Truly amazing!

On the second morning, we told Madelyn she could order room service for breakfast. WOW! She loved this! She thought it was super cool to have her breakfast delivered to our room and eat it in bed! She especially loved the mini maple syrup bottles for her pancakes. :)

After breakfast we decided to spend the rest of the day at the pool. The girls must have gone down the water slide about 50 times! They loved it! Although it did take some persuading on Madelyn's part to get her to go once, but we knew once she went down she'd want to keep going! The dads even joined in on the fun!

Watch the fun below:

Here comes Dad!

We can't wait to come back next summer! :)