Abbie's First Day on the School Bus

Aww...my sweet girls!

 

Abbie boarding the bus.

From the time both of my girls were little, they have both been fascinated by school buses.  They couldn't wait until they had a chance to ride one.  Well, Abbie officially got her chance today.  I'm glad that she was excited about it but it's still hard for a mama to see her kids grow up.  It happens too fast!  Sophie sat up in the front with Abbie on the first day.  I didn't think they would keep sitting together after that but it looks my girls are going to keep sitting together!  After they left for school that day, I went back into the house and it just felt so weird to enter a quiet house.  Always before, Abbie would still be in the house watching T.V. or come in from the bus stop with me and we'd get ready to go to her school later or go somewhere.  It's a new phase of life for all of us.  I just have to try to adjust and make the best of it!

Abbie's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Mama and her school girls!

Abbie and I outside her classroom. 

Abbie and her friend, Lila

Abbie on our porch 

 

These pictures are a little bit out of order.  Abbie's 1st half day was on Wednesday, August 14.  We found out who her teacher was that Monday before.  Her teacher seems really sweet (we met her at the parent meeting).  The only downside is that her teacher is expecting a baby in January.  Abbie was really excited about going to school with Sophie!  On the first two half days of school, Matt and I took Abbie.  On the second of those two days, they had a very nice Boo hoo breakfast for the parents.  After the two half days, Abbie really wanted to start riding the bus and so I let her.  It's nice having an older child who attends the same school.  I asked Sophie to sit with her on the bus and make sure that she got to class on the first day riding the bus.  Abbie really likes to be pretty independent though.  She also has a pretty good sense of direction in the school.

We are now into her 2nd full week of school and Abbie seems to really like it.  It wears her out though.  She seems to be making some friends.  Today she came home and said something like, "I didn't know kindergarten was going to be hard mom but it's kind of hard."

Fun at the Fair

Abbie and her friend Jax on a ride.

Our girls outside the Little One's farming area. 

Abbie's fishing.

There's nothing like an ice cream sandwich!

Sophie, Jax and Abbie

Abbie's petting a miniature horse (I think).

Jax and Abbie were so brave and rode the ferris wheel with Mr. John.

We went to the Williamson County Fair on Friday night right after school started.  We always enjoy going but it kept raining that week.  It was such a nice night for the fair, though it was busy!  As soon as we got there, we ran into our friends, the Dooner's.  Abbie and Jax are friends from church so they enjoyed riding rides together.  Then, we went to the Little One's farming area where kids can try out different farming related tasks.  We also saw some animals.  Then, we met up with our friends, the Gray's who also go to our church but have a daughter Sophie's age, Carley, and Jessie who is between our two girls.  All of the kids had fun riding a few rides together.  We saw part of a couple of shows too.  Then, we headed home after a long day.   

Sophie's 1st day of school

Sophie's ready for 3rd grade!

 

Daddy and the girls 

 

 

Sophie with her homeroom teacher, Mrs. McKeown

Sophie had her first day of 3rd grade on Friday, August 9.  She was ready to go back to school but disappointed that her best friend from the last 2 years, Allie, is not in her class.  Mama and Abbie walked Sophie to class on the first day and then Abbie had kindergarten testing. 

There are three other girls in Sophie's class who are in her Girl Scout troop.  It should be fun for them to be together.  I can't believe that she's already in 3rd grade!  She will have two different teachers this year and we've heard wonderful things about both of them.   Her homeroom teacher will teach math, science and social studies.  Ms. McAlister will teach reading, spelling and language arts.  We're praying for a great year!

1st Summer Trip to Virginia (June)

 

Abbie loved building this marble tower and playing with it!

 

Our family with the phone booth in the England section of Busch Gardens.

Abbie and I riding the train (I think).

Oh, no!  A bear!!

Sophie and I riding in a bumper car.

Abbie and Sophie didn't mind getting wet on some rides.

 

 

Leia and Abbie riding in the teacups.

Our family outside the Forest of fun area.

Our family spent a fun week in Virginia with Matt's parents and sister, Leia.  The girls were pretty good travellers overall.  They liked riding in our new (to us) minivan.  We spent one day at Busch Gardens.  We saw some shows and rode a lot of rides.  I thought Sophie might have outgrown the Sesame Street area with a lot of little rides but she still wanted to ride them.  The girls enjoyed riding the wet rides and didn't complain one bit about getting soaking wet.  They loved the swings and the bumper cars among other things.  If Abbie were tall enough to ride all of the roller coasters, she would.  =) 

Independence Day Fun with Friends

Carley, Sophie and Jessie (back), Katy Beth, Katelyn, and Maggie (front)

 

 

silly girls-My girls with Abbie Collins.

We've really had a fun summer overall.  We've stayed busy though and I don't feel like I've taken a lot of pictures.  The 4th of July weekend was very rainy and cool this year compared to normal.  Our friends, the Gray's, had a few of us over to celebrate the 4th with them.  We had a lot of fun despite having to move our cookout indoors!  We were glad that we decided to attend the annual Summer Celebration at Lipscomb and see fireworks a couple of nights early because most of the firework shows had to be rescheduled after the 4th of July.  It was just too rainy. 

There was some excitement in Paula's family on the night of July 3.  The ceiling in Nana and Paw-paw's bedroom fell in while Nana was in bed.  She had not gone to sleep yet and she started hearing noises.  She thought it was raining or hailing for a minute.  Then, it got louder and she thought maybe my dad was coming upstairs.  Right after that, the ceiling fell in.  She could barely get out of the room.  It was quite scary and left a big mess.  My brother-in-law, Matt Riley, was able to fix their ceiling after a couple of weeks.  The ceiling in the living room had fallen in one afternoon when Paula was a teenager.

On another day, we were able to get together with a couple of Paula's good friends from Lipscomb, Jamie Collins (and her daughter, Abbie) and Andrea Hardison.  First, our girls bowled together.  Then, they played at our house and we had lunch.  Even though my Abbie is 5 years old now, Abbie Collins still likes to pretend like she's her baby.  =)  We had a delicious lunch and a great visit with each other.

Outdoor Fun in July

The girls with the gazebo and gardens at Ellington.

Sophie with her "fish biter" snack that we made.

  

Abbie with her snack.

 

Our girls with Smokey the bear at one of Ellington's family days. 

The girls at Primm Park-an old schoolhouse in Brentwood.

These pictures are kind out of order but that's OK.  During July, they have family days on Saturday at Ellington Agricultural Center.  The girls got to make some crafts, see Smokey the bear, taste some new things, go on a little nature hike while completing a little scavenger hunt, and check out the museum.  It's nice when they are free things that you can do as a family.  The last picture shows the girls with an schoolhouse in our area.  You can go and take tours of it occasionally.  Matt took them one Sunday when I already had a prior commitment.  They loved seeing what a school used to look like.

Our recent adventure

Here's our famiy at the beginning of the bike ride.

Miss Abbie on her bike.

 

a cool bridge that we rode over on our ride.

This past weekend, we met Matt's parents in Abingdon, VA which is about halfway between where we live.  There is a bike trail (the Creeper trail) that's about 30 miles long.  Matt and his mom, Teresa, both wanted to try riding bikes on this trail.  Train tracks used to come through there many years ago and then they changed it into a biking/walking/running trail.  You can ride a shuttle up to the top of where the trail starts and then ride down to the end. Actually, you ride about half of the trail when you take the shuttle up and then ride down. There are some little places you can stop along the way to eat or use the restroom, etc.  Anyway, I guess we were not thinking too clearly that day (and I was being a submissive wife I guess) because we should have rented a bike for Abbie where she could have ridden behind Matt.  None of us knew exactly what we were in for but we knew it was supposed to take a couple of hours and that the trail was on a downward slope so people had said you could coast for a lot of the trail.  With that being said, the girls did not really grasp the meaning of coasting for a long way down a trail.  Abbie pedaled and pedaled and gave out before she got to the halfway point.  Sophie did really well but she was tired for the last few miles.  We stopped in the middle of the trail and had lunch.  The problem was Abbie had gotten so tired that she got off her bike and started walking.  Teresa, Matt's mom, was trying to keep Abbie moving and transport the bikes.
It really was a beautiful trail and a lovely day but it was a crazy day for our group.  Let me back up for just a second.  When we were on mile 2 or 3 of the trail, Tom, Matt's dad, and I had ridden ahead a little bit.  Then, we stopped and waited for a while for the others to catch up.  Eventually, they caught up.  Well, come to find out, Matt had fallen off his bike.  Since Matt's not really a chatty sort of person I didn't hear the details until later.    Apparently, Matt was riding behind Abbie and she was swerving back and forth some and then she just stopped.  Well, remember, we were on a gradual incline downhill for most of the trail.  Matt quickly braked and when he did, he flew over the handlebars and tried to catch himself with his hands.  He was really scratched up and bruised on his arms and legs.  Later, he said that he couldn't lift his arm up and as the day wore on, it hurt more and more.  It took our group several hours to complete this trail.  We all had a lunch break but it took Teresa and Abbie probably an hour longer than the rest of us to get there.  The rest of us finished the trail and Matt and his dad drove back to get his mom and Abbie while Sophie and I waited at the bike rental place.   What a crazy day!  I definitely would have done things differently if I could have.  Matt and I should have gone on the bike trail sometime just by ourselves first or something.

The original reason we were meeting in Abingdon, VA was so that Matt's parents could take the girls back home with them to Virginia to spend the week.  We split up after the bike ride.  I drove Matt and I home because his arm was really hurting and Matt's parents drove toward Richmond, VA with the girls.  The next morning I drove Matt to a clinic and we found out that he had broken his radius (one of your arm bones) near his elbow.  The doctor put him in a sling and said the arm (his right arm I might add) would heal on it's own.  He said that Matt would be able to use it more and more but that it would take 6-8 weeks to fully heal.  It's only been a few days but Matt is already seeing some progress.  The doctor told him that he could drive too with one arm.  Matt had been to the doctor only a few days before because of back pain so the doctor told him that he didn't want to see him for at least a month.

Sorry for the long post!  I'll try to post again soon after other summer adventures because this blog has been neglected!