Kennedy’s first day at Montessori School went well despite a few tears. On Monday, August 2, Trey, August, and I dropped her off at school. The day was short, just 9-11or new students only. She cried and did not want us to leave, but Mrs. Zea called me a few minutes later telling me she stopped crying and went to a station to play with another child right after we walked out the door. When I picked her up Mrs. Zea walked her out to the truck and she had a smirk on her face. I asked if she had a good day and she said “yes, I liked it”. Later that evening, we picked out her clothes for the next day and she told me she wasn’t going to cry on Tuesday when I took her. Sure enough, I got her dressed, ate a small breakfast, and off we went. I asked her for her pacifier before we got to school and she handed it right over. No tears dropping her off! I hope this is the trend to follow. I’m so proud of her! When Trey took her the following day, she told him she could walk herself to the door. Ugh....do they have to grow up so quickly? 
We took the girls swimming after Kennedy's first day. Here they are playing at the pool.
August had her 6 month appointment on the 3rd and she is developing on schedule. She is currently weighing 16 lbs 14 oz -68 percentile, height 26 ½ - 77 percentile, and head 17 1/4 – 87%. She started to sit up by herself a week before her 6 month birthday. I let her practice using a cup and she is doing a pretty good job.
Monday, August 9: Mimi took Kennedy to school today. Kennedy had her first day of swim with her new instructors Ashley and Beau. When I got home, Kennedy ran up to my car, gave me a big hug, and preceded to tell me she went underwater. She was so excited and she loves Ms. Ashley. Her story got a little like a fishing story after awhile. I asked her what she saw underwater and she said lots of whales. Hum??? I hope the next day goes as well.
I have been trying to make sure each night we say prayers together. At first she was very squirmy and not much was said, but times are changing. We start our prayers off with saying one thing we would would like to thank God for. Tonight, instead of saying "Mom, I want to thank God for the Chucky Cheese Rat, she said she wanted to thank God for her instructors Ashley and Beau." She wanted to make sure I include them in our prayer too. So, I did.Kennedy will finally put her head underwater. We still have a ways to go, but she improved dramatically. I can't wait till May when she starts lessons up again with Ms. Ashley.
The girls love laying under the sheets and us throwing the sheets up in the air....they can't stop giggling.
Kylie had her 2nd birthday at Chucky Cheese in San Antonio. We had a great time, although when we got home we realized that Kennedy felt so hot because she was running a 104 temp. We gave her medicine and that helped, but it explained why she was a little sluggish.
John....
Who doesn't love Barney? August loves to watch Barney.
Emma....
It was raining outside, so I had Kennedy play with shaving cream and finger paint some thank you cards.....
Mom and August on the front porch.
Trey saw this photo and asked "What dress is she wearing?" I explained, "this is a dress I made back in high school for home economics class. Mom, said this is what she picked out to wear." I don't think I'll have any designors calling.
Kennedy loves for me to take her to the Dollar Store and get balloons. All she wants to do is to release them up into the air, so that is what we do.
These are just some fun pictures of the girls posing with a little hat:
The Wiggles were in town, so we had to go see them at the Austin Paramont Theater. Trey and I enjoyed the show just as much as the girls. Before we left for the show we picked some pears for the upcoming evening pear making events.
After The Wiggles, we headed back to the house. The Knussmann family was headed over so the girls could play while the adults made pear wine and pear butter. Below are the photos of us making the wine and the butter. I don't know what the wine taste like, but the pear butter is pretty good. We still have plenty of pears on the tree if anyone would like some!! Side note: The neighbor made a pear cake that was so delicious.Apparently, Frances(the previous owner), would make the neighbors pear cobbler and this pear cake. No wonder everyone loved the woman!
August 18: I dropped Kennedy off and she insisted I take her into the bathroom at school(actually she wanted me to return home so she could use our bathroom, but I told her I’d take her at her school). We went to wash our hands and Kennedy told me I had the water loud. Mrs. Zea came over and said “they try to conserve water so the children tell one another the water is “loud” if the stream is coming out to much”. Ugh….so I turned it softly.Other things that Kennedy is learning at school right now is how to push in her chair after eating a meal, set the table, wait for everyone to sit down before eating, how to clean up her place around her, and about the importance of the sun. She sings a song about what we get from the sun – energy (indirectly) heat and light (directly). The tune is to The Farmer Wants a Wife. They incorporate gross motor movement with this song and on Friday they did it with the parachute.
She has also started working on phonetic sounds. At our parents meeting about phonetic sounds, I was baffled. I never realized how much thought goes into the different theories of learning. I did not learn how to read this way so I’m learning with Kennedy. Who knows, maybe it will make me a better reader too!
August 19: Today, I asked Kennedy if she was going to walk to the door all by herself when we got to school. She said “ yes, mom”. So, I unbuckled her like I usually do. I handed her backpack and lunch bag and asked “Can you make it on your own?” She started walking towards the door and looked back, gave me a big smirk, and said “ I’m going to do it by myself mom, I love you!” I told her I would watch till she got in the door. Starring at me while she tried turning the door and holding on to all of her possessions, she finally got the door open and I heard Mrs. Zea say “ Great, Kennedy, you did it all by yourself”. I blew a kiss and told her I was proud of her as she worked her way into the class.
August started really trying to pull up this week (6 ½ months). She’ll get up on her knees and want to crawl so badly, and then she tries pulling up on things. I started putting the crib door up so she won’t tumble out. She also loves dogs. She tries pulling on their hair and when she gets excited she just starts moving her little legs like she is riding a horse. August 24: August said Dada today! Mom showed me how she tries to get her to say "nana" and instead "dada" comes out.We went over to Mel and Kirk's to meet Neal and Lindsey's son, Luke, who is now 1 year old. He has the most beautiful blue eyes. It was good catching up with them. Below is a picture of Chris Semek telling the girls a story about how he chased a lion through the forest and survived. The girls that is what wonderful to get to twist Chris's mustache hair. Chris and his wife Denise are expecting a little boy in September....they are going to be great parents.
Sweet Baby August......
At the end of August, Trey and I took the girls to Concan to enjoy a little bit of the cold Frio River. We went last year and stayed at Neal’s lodge, so to keep with the tradition we stayed there again. This year Rhonda and her little girl Carley came too. We had a nice time despite a few disagreements with the girls. At one point, there was a tiff over a flashlight (you’ll see a picture of Kennedy in the corner holding it). Rhonda made the comment that she felt like we were breaking up a cat fight at Dallas Nightclub. One of the evenings Clayton Watts and his girlfriend came out and roasted marshmallows with us. Rhonda brought strawberry flavored marshmallows which added a delicious chocolate covered strawberry taste to the smores. Yummy!! I’m so ready for some cooler weather so we can have some fires and eat smores. Sunday morning before we left, Trey and Rhonda took the girls down to the river for one last swim. I got a couple of shots of Kennedy swinging off the rope swing and Rhonda and Carly enjoying floating on the tube. Until next summer….
