One Last Ride and Mo-Mo Sleeps Over

YesterdayAnnie had her last riding lesson with Julie--at least for a while. Julie leaves for Centre next week. She has been so nice to Annie for two years now. Riding has been such a good experience for Annie. She has really enjoyed riding Miss Millie and Lady. We are so glad that Julie started teaching two years ago. We will miss going to her house and swinging on those great swings under the HUGE oak tree.

Today we have had a very special guest. His name is Mo-Mo, and he is a monkey who lives in Emma's classroom except for the nights that he goes home with one of the children. Today it was Emma's turn to bring Mo-Mo home. As soon as Emma hopped off of the bus, I knew we were going to have a busy afternoon. Her normally flat backpack was bulging. Mo-Mo was inside! We went home quickly so that Annie could change into her dance clothes (it was the first day!), and Emma welcomed Mo-Mo to her home. Then she took him on a quick tour of the house. She was so proud to show him her new room.

Mo-Mo went with us to take Annie to dance and then Mo-Mo, Emma and I went to the grocery. This was too cute! Emma and Mo-Mo rode in the big part of the cart and talked to each other. Emma asked Mo-Mo what he wanted for supper, and he told her that he wanted her to cook for him in her pretend kitchen in her room. I loved watching her whisper in his ear, and then listening as he whispered back to her. While we were there we even saw Mrs. Mann, Emma's teacher, which really embarassed Emma!

When we got home, Emma and Mo-Mo took a nap. In fact, it was a very deep nap, and I was worried that Emma would sleep right through Mo-Mo's visit.

I finally woke Emma up when I picked her up and carried her into the kitchen and began making chocolate chip cookies with her on my hip. That finally got her going. She decided that Mo-Mo would like that, and it was worth waking up for. Emma cracked the egg because as she says, "I'm really good at that!"

After making cookies, Annie, Emma and Mo-Mo had macaroni and cheese. He decided just to eat downstairs since it was getting close to bedtime.

When Mo-Mo travels, he brings his little suitcase with him. In his suitcase, he has a comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, and dental floss. Emma worked very hard to make sure that Mo-Mo was well-groomed before going to bed.

Finally Emma wrote all about the things she and Mo-Mo did this afternoon in Mo-Mo's journal and then it was time for Emma and Mo-Mo to go to bed. She read a book called "The Night Before Kindergarten" to Mo-Mo before they went to sleep.

Getting Mo-Mo ready for bed.

Together in their p.j.s.

Getting ready to read.

We had a really fun afternoon and can't wait until Mo-Mo comes to visit again!