A Whole Summer in One Week???

Yep, we managed to do it!
This summer Emer had a lot going on and, even though her summer was 3 weeks longer than the previous 2 summers, we still found ourselves out of time way too soon.
And even though school has been back in session for a month already, I am going to revisit summer with a Week Long Summer blog! So here we go:

** Emer spent the first week of summer at Percussion Camp. She loved it and still talks about her week! Thanks to this, she also wants to learn drums along with piano...we've decided to wait a year before we consider adding that to her plate!

** All summer we traveled a LOT. This doesn't really fit into our week, but it does help explain why we crammed a whole summer into one week. We were all out west for a week on a HUGE family holiday visiting Sedona, Grand Canyon, Page, AZ, Zion National Park in Utah, and Vegas. Sooooo much fun! Then Emer headed to the beach with Gigee and Poppy. I was there for a few days and we all had lots of fun! We of course spent time at the lake this summer as well.

**And then came the Week Long Summer!
SATURDAY: Emer spent the day with Poppy b/c I had to work. He took her to the Children's Museum where they had a lot of fun riding the carousal and exploring the usual spots of the museum :)
SUNDAY: This was a normal day with Dharma for Kids and hanging out as a family.
MONDAY: To be honest none of us could remember what we did on this Monday but I'm sure it was awesome! (I think we did some shopping, cleaning, and playing.)
TUESDAY: Emer wanted to see the play "The Emperor's New Clothes" at the museum so we went back to the Children's Museum, got our tix, and saw the play. We also explored some of the exhibits she had missed with Poppy like the dinos, China, and the trains. We ended up coming home and playing in the yard with the hose until dinner. Definitely summer fun!
WEDNESDAY: This summer I have been giving my friend Betty's son swim lessons. I wanted him to have the opportunity to swim with Emer to give him some confidence and show him how much fun actual swimming could be. So we met up with them at the Monon Community Center after work. Dylan and Emer had a great lesson swimming laps, jumping in, and practicing their strokes. After the lesson we spent the ENTIRE rest of the day there! Yes, I worked from 10-11 then didn't leave the park until 4:45 that evening. Oh but what a fun day it was!!!
(Side note, Emer asked to do swim club after realizing how much better her swimming has gotten...we'll see...!)
THURSDAY: Let the fun continue! Emer and I met Gigee and Hayden at Connor Prairie today! We had a great time exploring the towns, learning new history about families who settled there long ago, and petting the animals. The kids were sad, though, b/c we didn't have time to see everything and Hayden really wanted to see the boats.However, they did have a blast learning to walk on stilts and Poppy has promised to make them each a set!
FRIDAY: Today was Family Day; We all three went to the zoo! We spent the bulk of the day there seeing as many animals as we could. The highlights of the day included feeding the birds (they are so beautiful!); watching the orangutans (some are really personable!); and of course seeing the giraffes :)
SATURDAY: This must have been rest day b/c it doesn't seem to have been a super special day, haha!
SUNDAY: Emer and I went with Poppy to the first Colts Practice of the season!!! This is a tradition now - the three of us drive or fly up to Anderson. If we drive we make sure and have lunch at the drive-in root beer place, which we did this year. Then we spend the afternoon watching our favs like Pat, Andrew, and TY. I splurged and bought Emer and I new visors this year. And we got lucky - it was Kids Club Day! So Emer got to play around on the obstacle course and slide. As usual, it was so awesome to see the Colts back in action!

**The very next day Emer started school at Fishback Creek Public Academy. What a Week!! Crazy, Fun, and Adventurous!

Teachers

Preschool Through High School - What we love about Emer's teachers...

PRESCHOOL - Mrs. Sorrells

Emer attended preschool at Boone Meadow Preschool in Zionsville. She went to school 2 half days a week for the first semester then we bumped it up to 3 full days for the second semester. We felt it would be a good transition to Kindergarten to ease her into school. Her class was mostly boys. Her teacher was Mrs. Sorrells. Mrs. Sorrells was Emer's soul mate, I think! Emer had a very hard time beginning preschool. She cried nearly every day at drop off and it was terrible to be on the drop off side of it all. She was all smiles and filled with stories about what happened that day at pick up (mostly stories about who was there and what they played with) which definitely helped. But those tears were hard. Mrs. Sorrells had a way of welcoming Emer and stopping the tears quickly. She shared with us that she, herself, cried nearly every day until about 2nd grade and she could empathize with Emer. This made me feel so much better about the whole situation. And I believe it's also why Emer loved Mrs. Sorrells so much :)

Thank you, Mrs. Sorrells, for being such a kind and caring first teacher for Emerson!

KINDERGARTEN - Mrs. Rogers

In February 2013 we applied for the year round school in our district. New Augusta South is right across the street from our neighborhood and we really wanted Emer to go there! We got in! And Emer got Mrs. Rogers for her teacher. Her class was mostly girls; an interesting twist from preschool. Drop off was no better than preschool. Having been a counselor at a K-2 school I knew Emer just needed a consistent person to meet her at the door and walk her to class for a while. But her school didn't have a counselor so we worked with what we had. I wasn't allowed to walk her to class so we spent the first 2 trimesters in tears. The music teacher was almost always at the front door, but not always. It was so hard to see Emer crying and walking away from me! Mrs. Rogers gave her a job in class so as soon as she hit the classroom she would stop crying. Mrs. Rogers was as kind as could be and really showed us a different side to Emer. Things she fought me over at home were easily done at school (reading, math practice, etc.) 

And, thanks to her, Emer learned a ton in Kindergarten, made lots of new friends, and qualified for the High Ability Program. :)

Unfortunately, the High Ability program meant Emer would have to change schools. We spent 2 of 3 trimesters in tears and she was finally not crying at drop off and excited for her friends to come to her birthday party. We talked at length with Mrs. Rogers; I met with assistant principals and principals at both schools. In the end, we decided to keep her in the Cluster Classroom at NAPAS (along with ALL of her friends who also qualified!)

Thank you, Mrs. Rogers, for being the supportive and caring person Emer needed throughout her first year at NAPAS!

1st GRADE - Mrs. Brimmer

Ah another year has come and gone...the years are flying by! First grade was spent at New Augusta South and was filled with lots of new loves. I am so thankful to Mrs. Brimmer for sharing her love of reading with Emer. We went into this year knowing what a struggle it was to get her interested in reading. She loves to draw and look at pictures, but the reading part was not fun.

Flash forward to mid-1st trimester, Emer was reading a book a night, sometimes starting 2 books! By the end of the year she was reading chapter books and loving them! So, thank you, Mrs. Brimmer, for showing Emer what a beautiful adventure lies in a book :)

Unfortunately Mrs. Brimmer was unable to finish the year with us. However, she did introduce Emer to multiplication and division and kept her working ahead of grade level. Towards the end of the year we were once again invited to the High Ability program. We declined...only to find out later everyone else was leaving for it! So, after much MORE research and debate, we finally decided this was the year we should move Emer. She will be attending Fishback Creek in the fall...I do believe Mrs. Brimmer did a fantastic job working with all ability levels in her classroom, therefore - 

Thank you, Mrs. Brimmer, for continuing to push Emer in both math and reading, and especially for her newfound LOVE of reading!

2nd GRADE - Mrs. Shade

This was Emer's first year at Fishback Creek Public Academy and I think it was a success! Moving her to a new school, after the tears we had each previous school year, was a bit nerve-racking for me and Emer. However, not ONE tear was shed! I hold Mrs. Shade responsible for a lot of this! She was a kind, soft-spoken, but firm teacher with years of experience teaching high ability. In fact, we were so lucky to have her in her last year of teaching!
Throughout the year, Emer was challenged in both reading and math. She really began to excel in reading and it's a beautiful thing to see your daughter sit and enjoy books you enjoyed as a kid (think Ramona Quimby, ha!) Emer will tell you her favorite thing about Mrs. Shade was that she helped her "love to read".  :)
I was thrilled with how easily Emer made new friends (including her first boyfriend!). It was as if she had been a part of this class all along. Everything about this year supported the fact that we made the right decision to move Emer into the high ability class at FCPA.
Before I conclude this blog entry I must share the funny story between Emer and Mrs. Shade. I got a call from Mrs. Shade that Emer was in tears over...her shoes! She had worn her indoor moccasins and Mrs. Shade had complimented how cute her little moccasins were. This brought Emer to tears b/c they weren't school uniform shoes and she thought she was going to be in trouble, plus she had gym that day! Mrs. Shade told her a story about a day she wore one black shoe and one brown shoe to work to help cheer her up. She was a very kind and caring teacher and for that we say,

Thank you, Mrs. Shade, for encouraging a love of reading, creating an environment of caring and kindness, and sharing your last year of teaching with our daughter!

3rd GRADE - Ms. Chambers

Sometimes it takes a little longer to get around to updating a blog. This, apparently, is one of those blogs. We really appreciate all of Emer's teachers and the years are going to quickly that I tend to forget to update the important events in her life. This does not mean we don';t reflect or think about everything that has happened with our Tiny.
So, that being said, this portion of the Teachers blog is dedicated to Ms. Chambers. She was new to our school but not new to teaching. She had come from the middle school and knew there would be challenges ahead as she transitioned to an elementary curriculum and the kids transitioned to a new grade. Emer was more excited than worried b/c the previous year had been so fantastic and she couldn't wait to see her friends again.
Ms. Chambers took this year to introduce the kids to some new things. She challenged Emer to read interesting books; she continued teaching multiplication and division and introduced algebra (in 3rd grade!) In particular, she invited the mom of one of Emer's friends to teach Swedish to the class. This was so wonderful! All of the kids seemed to pick up the language quickly and absorb the words and culture from Sweden. It was a great experience for the kids to learn about a new culture and begin to realize their language potential. If only they could have continued a bit longer than one year... 

Thank you, Ms. Chambers, for continuing to expose Emer to more challenges, good books, and fun in education!

4th GRADE - Mrs. Brokaw

Fishback continues to be the right place for Emer and her teachers continue to inspire and challenge her. This year Mrs. Brokaw not only taught the 4th grade standards and encouraged her students to do more, but she shared a very special personal matter with the kids as well - she adopted 2 children! The kids are close in age to Emer and of course attend Fishback so it's been really exciting to hear about the process and see how loving Mrs. Brokaw is and how it's all coming together for her new larger family.
Outside of the adoption, Mrs. Brokaw connected w/ Emer right away over sharing a birth month. From there she was declared "my favorite teacher!" by Emer. Emer was challenged to be more independent in her learning, including the Science Fair project where she got to finally see "Which Mint Explodes the Highest When Dropped in a Coke". I was quite proud of her work, including her explanation of why the mints explode.
My favorite thing about Mrs. Brokaw was when she told us parents that she had informed our students we had already taken math class and if we were helping them w/ their homework but teaching it differently, that was OK! She encouraged the kids to ask us for help and trust our methods b/c she understood that everyone learns differently and sometimes the students need something explained in a different manner. Yes! Thank you for allowing us to  use "regular, old" math or "new" math, whichever is easiest to help our kids! 
Fourth grade was another fantastic year for Emer!  :)

Thank you, Ms. Brokaw, for sharing your knowledge, allowing the students to be independent and creative, and best of luck with your new family!

5th GRADE - Mr. Cooper

Emer could not have had a better final year at Fishback and this is in large part due to Mr. Cooper. She was excited to have him as a teacher before 5th grade even started. I knew it was going to be a good year at Meet the Teacher Night when he explained how the kids would be playing Dungeons and Dragons, creating their own board games, and would be participating in a classroom economy.
Mr. Cooper had this amazing way of tying in fun games and interesting activities to the standard curriculum. As a weekly volunteer (which I was so happy to be able to do all year!!!) my main job was to help with badge testing and Cooper bucks banking. So I got a first hand look at the 5th grade economy. The kids would earn Cooper bucks by studying an enrichment of their choice then taking a badge quiz on it. They also earned money by doing a classroom job. Later in the year they could start businesses to earn money. BUT, they had to apply for the business in order to get a permit to run the business. There were classroom items they could buy or they could buy goods or services from their friends' businesses. See - classroom economy! It was so cool!
My second favorite part of Mr. Cooper's class was the end of year project the students got to do. Each student had to come up w/ something they were interested in learning about then draw up a proposal for a project related to that. Emer chose puppets. She had been into puppets for several years and had gotten a ventriloquist puppet for Christmas. So her project was on ventriloquism. Formerly shy, afraid-of-being-in-front-of-people Emer, researched the history of ventriloquism, learned how to be a ventriloquist, and did an act for her presentation. She got an A...and also a few more puppets! Mr. Cooper had 3 puppets in his classroom that he said no one used and he just loved her passion for this so much that he felt she would like them.
Emer has had a lot of great teachers but I'm not sure she's had one that made her feel so supported in her interests before. To be able to be 100% yourself is not easy as a 5th grader but Mr. Cooper ensured that everyone in his classroom had just that opportunity. 
You wwre the best final elementary teacher Emer ever could have had!  :)

Thank you, Mr. Cooper, for creative learning, supporting Emer's love of puppets, and continuing to build her confidence!

Illness and Health

Once again I'll start this blog post with an apology. But, an apology well-backed up by illness and health! I won't bore you with the details but let's just say between Emer and myself one of us has been sick since the end of Jan. :( There just hasn't been time to write a blog. We're almost out of the woods, I think!
During one of my wonderful illnesses we went to NYC. I am here to tell you that my city is every bit as fantastic when I'm sick as when I'm healthy. Although I can enjoy a lot more when I feel better, haha. A few really cool things happened in NYC. Take a look:
Gigee insisted we go to the American Girl Store. So we did. And we scheduled a hair appointment for Rachel. Didn't it turn out awesome?!

 Emer saw her 2nd Broadway show - Matilda. Here's me and Poppy enjoying the show!

 Gigee and Poppy suggested going to Herrod's Toy Store but Emer remembered how much more awesome Toy R Us is so we went there! And took a ride on the ferris wheel:

As usual we found a great park to play in! Swinging in a park I've forgotten the name of up on the far north side of Manhattan:

But the COOLEST thing that happened was at Rockefeller Plaza. My Tiny pulled her tooth - BY HERSELF! She was so excited she told everyone we saw!

So with Spring Break over and the illnesses hopefully ending, we are so excited for summer. Emer and I are going to my cousin Bret's wedding in South Carolina in May. We'll all be traveling out west somewhere in June. Emer will get to go to the beach with Gigee & Poppy and see the rest of the extended family in July. It should be a good summer! Assuming we can stay healthy :)

Lack of Posts Doesn't Mean Lack of Growth

I've reached that point in Emer's life where there just aren't as many growth/developmental stages happening as there were before. She's in school, has friends, homework, tennis, and is just living life as a regular kid. It's a joy! It's a lot of fun! It's crazy sometimes! It's nearly impossible sometimes! But it makes for very little blog inspiration.
I take a ton of pix sometimes and none other times. It should be easy to share these photos in a blog b/c I have an awesome Android phone that backs up my pix to my google account (which is connected to this blog). But I just don't think about it b/c I'm busy helping Emer with her homework, listening to her read, picking out her clothes while she gets ready for bed, making her lunch for school, driving her to tennis, and taking her on weekend adventures. Life is just moving on so fast!

So tonight I'll post a few pix. And after this I'll try to schedule one day a month to share something exciting we have done throughout the month. I can't promise I'll do it, but I can promise to try!

For my birthday we stayed downtown on the circle and watched the lighting of the Tree. It was so much fun again! The next day we went to the Historical Society to explore Indiana history. Emer got her picture taken, from back in the early 1900's:

Christmas was a lot of fun and very successful for Emer! We saw Santa at Lake Rudolph so she decided it would be easiest to write him a letter this year. She ended up getting almost all of her requests: Snackee & Puppet Theatre from Santa, American Girl doll from Gigee, & a Pat McAfee jersey from Mom :)

 Here she is playing a new game of Headbandz with Dad and showing off her sweet jersey!

In between Christmas and New Year's we had time for some adventures! Here she is exploring under the sea at the Children's Museum:

And finally, Happy New Year!!