HSM2!!! AHHHHH!!!

These were the sounds at our house around 6:45 as the clock neared the 7:00 mark tonight. My two girlies couldn't wait to see the sequel to the popular High School Musical. We had a little HSM2 party with just the three of us. We ate pizza and popped popcorn. Annie asked me at the end what I thought the message was. I thought that was pretty cute for her to ask that question. It is nice to have something fun to watch with the girls that has a fairly decent message.




Tomorrow we are heading to three birthday parties. So it is off to bed for us. We have a busy day off!

Welcome Baby Alex!!

Welcome home to Jon, Angela and Alex! We are so excited that they have returned safe and sound with our new cousin and nephew. What a blessing to us all! We can't wait to meet Alex!

We got this "All-American" football shirt for Alex.

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!

School Has Begun!!

Annie and Emma are still awaiting the premiere of High School Musical Two, which appears to be all about summer vacation, but we have begun a new school year here already. Every July, I start to look at my calendar and convince myself that three weeks is really a long time, then it is two and one. Ultimately, I know that it is up to me to simply enjoy each and everyday that I am blessed with--summer vacation or not. That is what I reconcile myself with.

This summer seemed paricularly difficult. When Annie began kindergarten, I knew she was ready. I don't recall being particularly teary-eyed at dropping her off the first day. She was five-almost-six after all. Emma has been a bit different story. She has done so well, and I am so proud of her, but she just seems so little. Actually on the first day, I was fine. I think I was so worried about her doing okay that I didn't really stop to think about myself--plus it was my first day as well. The second day though. . . we pulled up outside Franklin Elementary and she hopped out of the car with her backpack on and her high-heeled flip flops compliments of Nana and Papa. She walked up the sidewalk to the school where Mr. Swack was waiting for her. The ladies who helped her out of the car asked if it made me sad and of course that was all it took. The sunglasses went on, and I just thanked God for blessing me with a healthy, growing girl--even if it is going a little faster than I would like. By the time I got to school, I was just so full of feeling blessed that I was fine.

Thursday when I dropped her off, I was full of a different prayer. The "I-hope-we-are-right-to-send-her-on-to-school-type." She didn't want to get out of the car that morning. Two days of sitting in the cold cafeteria before school was enough for Miss Emma. The night before she prayed that she wouldn't have to go to school anymore because the cafeteria is cold and stinky. I told her maybe she should pray that it would warm up and not smell so badly. Anyway, I walked her into her room Thursday and left her with a heavy heart. But now I'm dropping her off at 7:50 when she can go straight to her room. Problem solved. She is as happy as can be again.

Annie has had a great start to third grade. She was asked to show first graders to their rooms at Simpson Elementary the first day. She has many more things to keep up with this year--7 folders and 5 notebooks. They are all so cute too. We found them at Target, and it was so much fun picking them out!

I am so proud of them both and happy to see what this new school year brings!

Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now

This song has echoed through our house the last several weeks. Both girls love the Broadway Cast Hairspray soundtrack, and "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now" is one of their favorites. Emma has seemed to take it to heart lately. And it is true, they are both on their way to becoming big girls. They have taken major steps in that direction by moving upstairs to their own rooms.

Annie's Room

Emma's Room

While we have some work to do in order to give them that finshed, polished look, we are really pleased at this point. Annie's will transition well as she gets older, and Emma has a room that any little girl would love thanks to Aunt DeeDee. Here are some close-ups of her work.

Of course, I am a little biased, but I think that her work is great! Emma can lie in bed and look at her fairies. Actually, so can Annie since they are both sleeping in there right now! While the transition to sleeping upstairs only took a few nights to adjust, sleeping in separate rooms is an entirely different thing. They enjoy being together, and I am so glad for this!

We also have a guest room and a little reading area. The guest room color is geranium leaf, which I love. The room was actually inspired by DeeDee's prom dress, which was green and black. This room also needs a few things on the wall, but the general idea is there. The reading area is now probably my favorite place in the whole house. It is so peaceful. There's little or no distractions. We can go up there together and have nice, quiet time. I love it!

Welcome to the Schlosser Family Blog

I have decided to try to start my own blog as I begin what will probably be one of my busiest semesters ever. I think that it is that this will be such a busy time that makes me want to capture what is going on in our day to day life in a more concrete way. I enjoy scrapbooking, but it is time consuming, and time is not a luxury that I can afford right now.

Perhaps it is because Emma started school this year, but I feel that the little moments of my children's childhoods are slipping by unrecorded. So in an effort to capture, share and remember those little moments, I am going to blog.

School just began, and the memories of summer are slipping away--at least the nice, lazy, sleeping-in days are. The heat is more intense than ever. It makes me yearn for the wonderful breeze that we were blessed with while sitting at Gramma Dot's on Sanibel Island at the end of June when the picture above was taken. We had such a great time shelling on Sanibel and visiting with David and Bonita at their beautiful home.

I hope to make several posts over the next few days, catching up on some of the funny things that Annie and Emma have said and done lately. I'm looking forward to my blog as it helps me to capture those precious childhood moments and move forward with my girls as they grow up.