Happy Birthday, Erin!

Our big girl is 7!  I think she had a wonderful week of celebrating her big day coming on the heels of her big week as Star of the Week at school.  The birthday fun started on the weekend of the 17th-18th when we went to Concord to celebrate with Mommy's side of the family.  She got to go to gymnastics on Saturday morning, then we headed to Concord for visiting, cake prep, and girl cousin sleepover that night!  Those who know Erin will know how excited she was to be invited to Ansley's Sunday School class on Sunday morning, then we had a fun and yummy spaghetti birthday lunch with cake and presents.  She had so much fun being the big cheese and loves all of her presents!  The kids all had fun doing a Halloween dry-run at Grandma and Grandpa Ambrosini's house too.



We got little coloring books and stickers for her to pass out at school on Thursday, and then on Friday after her special birthday donut breakfast,



her class had a mega field trip/tour of Apex...in honor of her birthday, of course!  They visited the police station, fire station, food bank, art center, pizza restaurant, ice cream place, and a pumpkin patch!  AND, they got to ride on a chartered bus!  I think the bus was the biggest hit for some of the kids.  After school, she opened presents that came in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Flanagan (she was so excited to get a box in the mail!), and then Cole, Cooper, Rio, and their parents got here in time for her second spaghetti dinner that week (her request).  We had a fun dinner and cousin sleepover in Anna's room that night - everybody slept...until 5:30am, that is!

Saturday was her big gymnastics party with neighbor and school friends.  Of course, Erin did not want to skip her regular gymnastics class that morning, so she got a double dose (even though her sister opted to stay home with Cole and Cooper instead of going to class that morning).  She had a great time and loved all of the special party activities that they had there!

She gets a break from her 7-year checkup until December, so we won't have stats or a report on that for awhile.  What I can say for now is how proud we are of our Erin.  She continues to amaze us and exceed our expectations every day.  We were worried about her being in a regular kindergarten class last year, and she did so well.  We were worried about moving her to a private school without many special education resources this year, and she has done great.  She is still our little teacher and loves to come home from school and reenact her day with her stuffed animals.  She now wants to be a first grade teacher when she grows up (she was saying that she wanted to be a kindergarten teacher last year), and she would be a great - strict - one!  She has become much more concerned about others in recent months and wants to help other kids feel better when they are sad.  She is very observant and it's hard to get much past her anymore.  Erin is a wonderful, special, funny, smart big girl and we could not be more proud of her. We love her so much!

September

Whew, that went fast, and the first week of October is already behind us too!  We had a fun month of September, all getting used to the new routine of school.  Daddy went to Boston the first week of the month, and we ladies held down the fort.  I helped in the school cafeteria, our little buddy Sawyer came over for 3 days, and we had back-to-school night for Erin's class.  Let me just say that first grade is no joke!  They work those kids hard!

Labor Day weekend was lots of fun with Uncle Camping Time at Morrow Mountain State Park.  The report was that it was a little warm and humid, but otherwise fun and everybody had a great time (minus some whining from Erin).  I picked the girls up there on Sunday morning and brought them home while Daddy got to go to a NASCAR race in Darlington, SC, with Uncles Chris and Dale.  They had fun!  We had a laid-back Labor Day, enjoying a nice day at home, and I believe we went to the pool (it's been a long time since then!).  Tuesday was back to school and cafeteria and art class helping for me, then 3 days watching Sawyer.  We also got my car fixed that week after an unfortunate run-in (get it?) in Asheboro in August.  The girl who rear-ended us covered it with her insurance, and it's now as good as new...or as good as 7 years old.  Friday the 11th, Anna had former classmate Weston over to play, then we girls went to neighbor friend Ella's birthday party at the pool while Bob set up for the ministry fair at church.  That was the last day that we went to the pool this season.  Saturday the 12th, we had gymnastics and then Maggie came to babysit while Mommy and Daddy went to Beericana in Holly Springs with neighbor friends Tracey and John.  It was the second year for this festival and our first time going.  It was great weather and lots of fun!

Sunday, we had our first meeting for our new venture, Little Flowers.  It's a girls' club kind of like Girl Scouts, only it's Catholic and is a little less "active" than Girl Scouts.  We just meet once a month, there is no fundraising or camping/trips, and both kids can be in the same group.  We figured we'd try that this year and see what we think.  There are 6 girls in addition to ours, all in kindergarten or first grade, and I think they liked it!  We had a lesson, craft, and snack.  There is a curriculum for it, so we don't have to come up with much other than the craft.  Our next meeting is October 11th, and Erin is especially excited about it!



The girls went to the dentist on the 15th...well, technically only Erin had an exam.  Anna got very upset and had to come back on Friday morning.  The weekend of the 19th and 20th was nice and quiet, with just gymnastics and church.  The girls were off on the 21st for a teacher workday, and we enjoyed some time together and ran a few errands.  The rest of that week was more of the same - school and Sawyer time!  I got to see old friends Vanessa, Tricia, and Jenny on the evening of the 24th which was lots of fun.  I felt like big-time going to Raleigh for dinner

Saturday the 26th, we went to a princess breakfast at the dance school in Holly Springs, which was a huge hit.  Then it was bowling for neighbor friend Alexia's birthday, THEN Anna had a birthday party at a classmate's house later that afternoon which was super fun with lots of cooking-related projects and crafts.  These kids have quite the social calendar!  After that, Anna and I met Erin and Bob at Bob's co-worker's house for dinner for a little party for a guy visiting from Spain who they are hiring and moving over here.  Thankfully, Sunday the 27th was much more quiet!  The last 3 days of the month were back to school.  Sawyer's last day with me was October 1st until the 21st, so I've got some time "off"without any kids, with big plans to work on landscaping/fall flowers and paint our bathroom.  We did get the bathroom painted this past weekend, but between the two weeks of rain that we had, and Erin has been sick for 2 days this week, my landscaping hasn't made much progress.  Hopefully next week will be more productive, as we have a jam-packed weekend with 3 more birthday parties (!!!), gymnastics, family pictures, and Little Flowers!  Bring on fall!