I think busy is an understatement when describing life these days. Every day we have a new obligation or another thing to fill our time. No complaints though- my dream has always been to have a happy, active family which is exactly what I have. As most already know, I run a children's clothing an accessory store. Between August and December I am crazy busy and stacked with order just about 100% of the time. On average, I have about 30 open orders per day whether it be designer clothes (Which thank goodness I do not have to make- that retail license was worth every penny), bows, or high end photography props for photographers across the globe. It's pure madness and I am amazed that I am squeezing in 30 minutes to jot this down right now. Because of how much I have been working balancing my house, my husband, and my beautiful daughter has been difficult to say the least. As of about a month ago I have been making it a point to set one day aside each week where I do not work and instead take Emma out on a special and always different Mommy and Me Day. Our activities vary from week to week and sometimes involve a few special activities each day but they are always so much fun and such a nice break from the normal hustle and bustle of life.
Last week we asked Talon and Emily to join us for our weekly outing and began the day with a tour of our local firehouse. The kids were a little intimidated by the truck (Mainly Emma) but still seemed to have a pretty good time. The night before our tour Emma and I baked cookies together which she was very excited to give to the fireman. The tour only took about 30 minutes and truthfully I think Emily and I learned more from it than our children who were running around like little banshees did. Still, it was a lot of fun!
After our firehouse tour we headed to one of our local pumpkin patches and allowed the kids to pick out two pumpkins. One large pumpkin for carving and one small pumpkin for painting. It was an absolutely beautiful day and perfect for outdoor activities!
That evening we set up tables and chairs in our driveway, I brought out a bunch of craft supplies, and we let the kids (And Dads who did most of the carving) go to town. They had a blast and it was a wonderful three hours spent with our neighbors.
Emma has also been making some major strides in gymnastics and is really starting to get good! I do realize I am her parent and have a completely biased opinion but she does seem to have some real natural talent for it. Recently she was awarded her first gymnastics ribbon (which she is so proud of) and right now she is working towards her first showcase coming up this December.She does front rolls, back rolls, handstands, wall climbs, back walkovers with the help of a block, can do tuck jumps, straddle jumps, is working on her pike jumps, can walk sideways, backwards, and do bunny hops on the beam, does cartwheels, and with help can do some simple pull ups and flips on the uneven bars. Her strength, balance, and coordination seem to be improving every week.
Another hobby she has taken up is roller skating. One the very few days a week that we do not have either gymnastics or soccer she has to go outside and roller skate or it is as if her world has ended. For such a prissy little girl you would be amazed at how tough she is. She has face planted on her skates at least 30 times at this point and has yet to shed a single tear- instead we usually get laughter from her. It's pretty amazing. Currently on her Christmas list is a Razor Jr. so that should get interesting here in a few months.
Soccer is going so well. We are more than half way through the season and Emma is having an absolute ball. We practice once a week and have games usually on Saturday. There have been a few weeks where we have had two games but that is not typical. It has also been very exciting as a parent to watch our child participate in her first team sport not to mention it has been a great way to make new friends in a new city. One of the things I really love about the Wichita Falls Youth Soccer is that they allow the children to stay with their team which means that come Spring soccer will resume and she will be able to play on the Ponytails again with the same coaches and children and will be able to do this until she gets older and moves up to U5 soccer.
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Despite Emma getting hurt on three separate occasions, our game this week was a lot of fun. Emma started off the game by running head first into a teammate which somehow caused her to lose a cleat in the process. No tears though, she was tough and got right back up and went on like nothing had happened. About 20 minutes into the game the girls decided that a great tactic would be to grab hands and literally trap the other team in a circle so that they could not get the ball. It was hilarious and threw the other girls off because lets face it, no one expects to be trapped in a circle by the opposing team. Somehow amid the trapping tactics everyone ended up tangled up and on the ground. Emma got back up right away and in the process managed to fall and take a cleat to the mouth which must have really hurt because she started crying right away- something she never does when she gets hurt. The inside of her mouth was swollen for a few days and she did end up with a bruise on her cheek but aside from that she was fine.
As usual our daughter's social life is booming. She loves spending time with our neighbors and is always wanting to do something outside whether it be roller skating, ridding scooters, driving cars up and down the street (with a parent following directly behind of course) with our neighbors, playing with chalk, or having driveway tea parties with Austyn. The girl loves the outdoors!
As far as academics are concerned we are continuing our pre-school at home curriculum that we have been doing since Emma was about 18 months old and Emma is progressing wonderfully with it. We have so few years where our children are small enough to even able to be home with us all day every day so for me personally, I refuse to give that precious gift up a moment sooner than I have to because this is time both Emma and myself will never, ever have again for as long as we live. These days are so precious, more precious than I am sure I even realize and they are fleeting quickly so I want to cherish every single second that I have before they are gone forever. Our pre-school at home program takes about 1-2 hours per day depending on what we are doing. It is amazing to see how much and how quickly she is able to learn at such a young age. Right now we are really working hard on writing, learning how to sound out small words, understanding the value of money (mostly coins), doing very simple addition and subtraction, and learning basic US geography. Right now she knows the name and location of almost all states on the map and can tell you one fact about each state. Being able to teach Emma from home has been so much fun and it is something that I truly look forward to each and every day. She is however getting very close to turning four which means pre-school is right around the corner for us. We have her registered at Wichita Christian which is where she will attend pre-k all the way through 12th grade. Despite really not wanting to give my baby up, I am excited for her because she cannot wait to start school and is really looking forward to learning, playing, and growing with other children. Wichita Christian has several options available for pre-school. Children can attend 2,3, or 5 days a week depending on which program you choose. For Emma we chose the 2 day a week program because we felt it would be the best way to transition her from being home with me all day (she has never been away from me for more than six hours in her entire life) to eventually being in Kindergarten 5 days a week. She is so excited about going to school and talks to me about it every single day so hopefully that excitement will continue when she actually starts school.
Emma is a wonderful blessing all around and these are truly the best days of our lives!
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