Major Updates!

Apparently this blog will be updated every 6 or so months now...so here's a quick recap of Emer's life since beginning 3rd grade...
She did join the swim club! She's been in swimming since October and is loving it. And so am I! She's pretty good - especially at breast stroke. She's gotten 2nd place in every meet for breast stroke. She's done very well with backstroke and freestyle as well. Butterfly is a work in progress. She does a pretty good job but hasn't gotten fast enough yet to be competitive. She'll get there though, I'm sure. I'm really proud of her! She works hard, is good, and enjoys herself. It's the perfect combination!

This wouldn't be an update blog without a picture of Halloween! So...

Emer was a pirate this year! Somehow we went from multiple costumes last year to just one this year. Whew, so much easier for me, haha! This picture was taken at the Colts Kids Club Halloween party. She was also a pirate at Lake Rudolph where we made our golf cart into a pirate ship! Halloween continues to be so much fun!!!!

At Christmas we didn't get to NYC this year. As I write this I'm still missing my city! Emer and I had a conversation recently about NYC. She's very insightful at times. We were talking about where we might move to in the future. I said I really wanted to live in NYC. She did not. (Of course she doesn't want to leave IN...) When I asked her why not she said that if we lived there then we wouldn't have our annual tradition of visiting. Huh...that makes sense...I still want to live there!

Let's jump forward to spring break. Emer and I set off for her first international flight! We spent 10 days in Portugal!!! It was so much fun! The country is wonderful - filled w/ nice and helpful people, castles, delicious food, and new adventures. While we were there we met up with Stephen Miller from Ireland and his daughter. That was possibly the highlight of our trip. Emer and his daughter Lily became instant friends, almost like sisters. There's nothing like traveling to one country to make friends with someone from yet another country! It's so international of Emer  :)
Here are a few highlights from our trip:

BOS airport!

 The famous Arch in Lisbon!

 Belem (the castle and Monument to the Discoverers!

 Outside the Monastery.

 National Tile Museum!

 Oceanaria! (the greatest aquarium ever!)

 The obligatory McDonald's from Lisbon!! (Hey, it's a long-standing tradition!)

 Boca de Inferno (Mouth of Hell)

 Coffees and hot chocolates to warm up from the beach!

 Cascais: where else would you eat but an Irish pub?!

 Traditional Portuguese meal in Sintra.

 First of two castles in Sintra!

 Chickens! (A national Portuguese symbol, all over the park in Cascais!)

 Cascais beach!

 The university near our last location, back in Lisbon!

 Mmmm, what a fabulous lunch!

 Castle Jorge!

Last day's hot chocolate and adventuring!

And this brings us to now...spring break is over, school is back in session, swimming has started up again, and life is nearly back to normal.
The next blog will feature things like Emer's quest for braces, her continued effort to lose a tooth in a new location, and updates on swimming or any other adventures she gets into. I continue to love being her mom and think she's just about the greatest living being in the world. She will always amaze me, I think. I <3 3="" br="" emerson="">

Summer Nutshell

I don't know how the time goes so quickly that I don't have a moment to keep up this blog on my growing-like-a-weed child, but sometimes it just does! Since I last blogged we've gone to NYC as a family, Emer has turned 8, I got a new Jeep (Beast Boy!), Steve got a new Mustang, and we have a garden full of tomatoes carrots, and one pumpkin! Emer and I are planning a Spring Break trip to Portugal (although the prices keep going up and I'm getting a bit worried we should have booked this trip 3 weeks ago...) which will be her first overseas trip. I'm super excited b/c it looks fantastic and beautiful over there. I will, of course, keep you all posted on how things turn out and you know there will be pix galore!

In the meantime, she has begun 3rd grade w/ a new teacher who she says, "Is the best teacher ever!". I love that she thinks this of every teacher she has. Her best friend from New Augusta South has moved over to Fishback. This is great news since her friend, Kirsten, and her boyfriend, Malcolm, both moved away this summer. It's helped to have new excitement to start the school year. So far she's managed well to introduce and enjoy her old best friend, her new best friend, and many other friends!

Garden Club recently started up again. And she's deciding if she's going to try Swim Club or stick w/ tennis. Emer played tennis all summer - playing in her first matches! She enjoyed it but didn't seem to learn much. She definitely does better when she's playing with kids who are better than her and this summer she was the best. (I should have prefaced this by saying she was one of the few who had ever played tennis before this summer!)

And well there you have it! That's basically our summer in a nut shell. In a couple of weeks we're going to an event to benefit Pike Township Schools - Jazz on the Green. Emer still loves jazz music and you know what? So do I! It should be a fun evening w/ family, great music, and delicious Cajun food! Until then...enjoy this movie starring Emer as "student w/ one line in the back row":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFtUiQbbkWs

Four Day Weekend!!

Well I haven't written here in too long and now I'm have finishing a blog I started a month and a half ago and writing a new one! I just couldn't resist writing a blog about today. So here goes:

The day began as we both woke up at 7:54ish. I was stirring and the next thing I know Emer is staring at me in bed. She had just woken up and figured it was close enough to 8:00 that I might be up. Neither of us were fully awake so it was kind of funny. I told her our agenda (I had to work for one hour then we could hang out downtown doing whatever we decided to do) and she headed downstairs. I got up a few minutes later and found her on the coach playing with some stuffed animals. Such a creative spirit when electronics aren't numbing her brain!

After breakfast and getting dressed we left the house at 10:00 for work. Emer continues to be fantastic for me at work! I didn't have any packets or anything for her to work on so she brought a book (which she never cracked open!) and a barn of My Little Ponies. She spent an hour playing My Little Ponies while I made calls to coach people. Again, creativity was in full force for her!

Just before noon we finally headed out for our adventure! We literally walked 6.59 miles today! We started at IUPUI, headed to Georgia St. by way of CVS (sun lotion was a necessity!), back up to the circle, all the way up 330 steps to the top of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, over to the canal, and back to IUPUI!

In between this walking we had lunch on Georgia St. from Food Truck Friday. Note the pulled pork in her box and the vegetarian delight in mine, haha!

Remember that creativity I've talked about already? Well this Chickpea decided to make up games along Georgia St. after lunch. It turns out the huge vents on the side walk blow air which smells like a pool and feels like a giant cool breath from the earth. Lots of fun to a happy-go-lucky 7 year old!

Of course we couldn't just go back to the car. The circle was calling out to us. More games, along with songs were flowing from Emer's mind out into the world! It was beautiful to see the fountains running, the sun shining, and smiles on kids and adults alike. Just as I was getting super thirsty and on a hunt for a water fountain, Emer had the notion to go up the monument again. 330 steps up. 330 steps down. From the top we had fun trying to find IUPUI and locate swimming pools and gardens that looked like perfection. Back at the bottom we were told there was a water fountain in the museum. Well all good adventure-seeking girls know you can't just go in a museum for water. You have to spend time walking through the museum and learning!

As we headed back towards the canal I was waiting for some kind of sign that I'd worn out Emer. It never came. In fact, I had said I wanted to check out the peddle boat prices and maybe we could do that some day this summer. That day was today! We didn't make it through the Historical Society b/c we were too busy peddling up and down the canal in the heart of the city. Despite the driver's (Ok, that was me!) inability to keep us in a straight line, we had a beautiful trip through artwork covered bridges, duck and geese picnics, and avoiding sculptures and fountains.

Back on IUPUI's campus we walked a section of the Cultural Trail, stopping for pictures and to play at a sculpture along the way. This was the most adventure in one day that we'd ever had in downtown Indy! We both agreed that it felt like a day in NYC and it was fabulous!

*** City Girls Adventures ***

Spring Break!

It's Spring Break! Emer has two and a half weeks off this year. She's spending the first week bouncing between going to work w/ me and hanging out w/ Gigee and Poppy. She went to work on Saturday w/ me and was fantastic. She entertained herself by making up stories, reading, and drawing pictures. Then she helped me put together packets for an event we have coming up next week. She is the best helper ever! We finished our Saturday w/ a walk to the Lincoln Square Pancake House just off campus. (FYI, I'm working as a health coach at the National Center of Excellence in Women's Health which is a part of the OBGYN Dept. of the IU School of Medicine.) When we finally got home she practiced piano, including roping me into playing a duet w/ her, haha! And finally getting her first win ever against me in foosball! It couldn't have anything to do w/ the fact that she played several rounds w/out me even at the table...
The second week of her Spring Break we went to Orlando!

 While there we took Gigee to Gatorland for her birthday. Emer loved teasing me about the terrifying alligators (these are freaking HUGE and so scary!!!!). We also got to zip line OVER the gators! This was awesome! Neither Emer nor I have ever been zip lining and I'm pretty sure we're hooked now.

 Of course we had to go to Disney World for a day! Our day started out fresh and excited:

 And ended a little wet (from Animal Kingdom raft ride!), late and still happy:

--> Emer continues to grow and change in the most positive ways. She's doing really well in school. She has a couple of best friends that we both love - Greta is her best girlfriend and Malcolm is her boyfriend. (heehee, they are too cute!). Tonight she was just invited to her first sleepover w/ another friend. She says she wants to go so we'll see how it all turns out. I really hope she is able to make it through the night!
Sleepover Update: she was not able to stay but it's OK. She had a great time and didn't miss us at all until the girls went to bed at 10:30. She was trying so hard to be brave! We all agreed we'd try again sometime :

Busy, busy, busy...too busy to remember?

"They grow up so fast."

"Don't blink or she'll be in college!"

"She's growing like a weed!"

"Time flies when you're having fun!"

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!