Phone Number

One of Rachel's friends from our neighborhood is in her kindergarten class at school.  Her name is Kendall.  Today, when Rachel got home from school, she pulls a yellow sticky note out of her bookbag.  On it is a long handwritten number.  Michael asked Rachel what it was.  Here's what she said:

R:  Kendall went home early today b/c she was sick.  But before she left, she wrote down her phone number for me so she can call me and we can set up a playdate.  She wants to come over. 

M:  If she's going to call you, shouldn't you have given her your phone number? 

R:  We're working on that...

So, then Rachel gets busy at the table with her piece of paper and pencil.  She had it written on one side and thought she messed up (she didn't) and started again on the other side.  Then she showed it to Michael.  This was what she had written:

M:  That's good honey, our number...but what does that say after the 5590?

R:  Phone Number.  (Fo Nubr)  *smile*

We thought it was really cute - she's learning to write and spell words by sounding them out - and she did it on her own. 

Updates

I haven't posted in a few weeks - just been busy with everything and getting back in the swing of things... Rachel starting kindergarten and having homework each week, Jackson being back in school, Michael started his new job at the beginning of the month - just a lot has been going on. 

 

I'll start with Rachel.  She is loving kindergarten so far.  She likes her teacher, is making new friends, likes riding the bus, loves the days that she gets to buy her lunch in the cafeteria, etc... But she deals with seperation anxiety - always has.  So, she's had a hard time leaving in the mornings when the bus comes.  It's not that she doesn't like riding the bus, she just doesn't like leaving us.  Once she calms down, she's fine for the day.   Just last week, we started doing a reward chart with her - she gets a sticker for each morning she doesn't cry...the stickers lead to coupons and the coupons lead to other rewards.  We'll see if it continues to work.  Here is a picture of Rachel with her first coupon. 

 

 

One of her first homework assignments was to do an All About Me paper doll... Looks pretty good, don't you think???  Michael and I may have helped her a little bit on that...

 

Remember when Rachel lost her first tooth a few weeks ago and I said the one beside it was loose too?  Well, it came out last week.  She was eating dinner at home with Michael Thursday night and it just came out on its own.  Lucky girl! 

 

She has also started taking gymnastics.  It's once a week for 45 minutes and it's literally two minutes from our house - very convenient!  She's in the 4-5 year old class and she's the tallest girl in there.  She's loving it so far and even learned how to do a proper somersault on the first night. 

Mama's little girl!

The kids were able to get out and play for a little while last weekend...it wasn't too hot out and Michael was cutting the grass.  It's just been so hot this summer that it's hard to spend a lot of time outside...

 

Rachel loves to be silly and make faces...

Here's our little man!

Jackson turned two last month and we had his 2 year checkup on August 1st.  He is 29 pounds and 34" long.  He's in the 50th percentile for both height and weight!  He's really getting taller and not bigger - only gaining one pound since last time.  So he has thinned out a lot.  He still loves to climb on any and everything.  He's not scared of anything.  And he's go, go, go ALL the time... He is continuing to learn new things and tries to repeat basically everything he hears.  He's in a new class at school now and that will only help to increase his vocabulary and skills. They don't use sippy cups there anymore so he can drink out of a regular cup...which we need to be doing more at home. 

We had a little accident this past Friday night at home.  Michael was at a meeting and I was home with the kids.  Jackson was playing in the living room and tripped and fell and hit his face on the corner of a plastic bin.  I knew he was hurt and grabbed him up immediately and already saw blood on his face.  I thought he had a nose bleed but soon discovered that he sliced the edge of his nostril and it was pouring blood.  The bleeding eventually stopped and it stayed together so we didn't have to go get stitches or anything like that - thank goodness.  These pictures were taken that night before bed and you can see that he scraped the bridge of his nose between his eyes as well... It's looking a lot better today but still not great.  I'm very thankful that it wasn't any worse and for everyone that helped in the situation! 

Also this weekend we had Michael's side of the family over for both Barbara & Dawson's birthdays this week.  This was Chloe's first visit to our house.  Jackson was much more interested in her this time than he was the last time - maybe because there wasn't a puppy dog around!  I thought this picture was sweet...I'm holding Chloe and both kids are each holding one of her feet...

Hopefully that should catch us up on everything...If not, I'll be back!

Kindergarten, Here We Come!

Today was Rachel's first day of school!  She is now in Kindergarten.  She has been so excited all along - for the past several months.  We went Monday morning for the Meet-n-Greet and found out she has Mrs. Reynolds and saw her classroom and everything.  The teacher seemed very nice. 

I took a few vacation days this week so I could spend the last few days before school with her and be here on her first day.  She is riding the bus to school and she was very excited about that as well.  There wasn't any sense in taking her on her first day and then having to do it all for the first time tomorrow when we all go back to work...

We were pretty worried about her getting nervous this morning or having her seperation anxiety kick in when she was supposed to get on the bus.  Last night before bed, she told me that she was worried about the long day.  That was the only glimpse of nervousness I saw in her.  But this morning when she woke up (bright and early!) she was fine and ready to go! 

Outside waiting on the bus to come.

Here it comes!  (This is the moment that I started tearing up...)

All smiles climbing up.  Her assigned seat was in the front row, behind the driver, Mr. Rick.  No tears for her!  Yay!!

I can't wait to hear how it went!

Here are a few pictures from Monday morning at the Meet-n-Greet.  

Rachel in her class sitting at her desk.

Working on her first little assignment.

Sharpening her pencil...

Rachel and her teacher.  

Tomorrow Michael starts his new job (finally!), Jackson goes back to baby school and I go back to work.  So our new normal will begin.  Lots of changes around here right now...

Playtime!

Here are a few random pictures we've taken lately of the kids playing.

Outside in the water sprinkler...

And back on the trampoline...

Our New Cousin/Niece!

We have a new addition to the Nixon Family.  Chloe Anne was born to Jeffrey & Constance just over a week ago.  Michael and I visited separately in the hospital and then we finally got to all go over today and visit for a little bit.  Rachel was so excited to meet her and actually got to hold her for a few minutes. 

Here are a few pictures from the hospital.

And here are a few from today's visit.  She slept most of the time but we were able to see a little bit of her awake at the end.  She's so precious! 

Rachel was so excited to meet her and get to hold her.  She didn't want to leave - she kept telling us that she wanted to spend the whole day with her.  I think she's very happy to have a new little cousin!