Sewer Problems

In August we experienced our first HUGE problem as homeowners. Granted, we've had plumbing problems a few other times this year, but none of the other problems have cost this much. Our plumbing pipes were completely filled by roots. We're not sure if it was from our neighbor's tree or the one from our property that was removed a few years ago, but the roots wiggled their way in and started taking control and destroying our old cast iron pipes. We had to have about 40 feet of pipe replaced - from our house to under the street where it connects to the city. It took the plumbing company 14 hours to dig up the yard and replace the pipes. But it is now done and we don't have to worry about the sewer backing up into our bathtub any more.

More Pool Fun

We kept the pool slide a couple extra days after Emily's party before we could return it. And what better to do while it was at our house than to invite Mandy, Jake & Zach back over for some more fun that the grown-ups could enjoy!

Emily enjoyed bouncing down the slide.

Check out David's launch!

Megan even had a blast inside the baby pool with Grandma V and Cassie.

Emily's 5th Birthday

Emily chose to have a pool party this year. Since we don't have much of a pool ourselves (just the small one shown in the picture), we were able to borrow the large pool slide from Emily's friend from Preschool. It was a huge success!

The backyard was full of screaming and laughing children for over 2 hours. I had originally planned games in addition to the pool fun, but there was no time for it. The kids just kept jumping in and out of the pools and sliding down while throwing water balloons at each other.

We were able to invite a few of Emily's favorite friends from Preschool and their families.

(Kendel, Heidi, Jaime, Bailey, Lori, Evan, Gabby, Emily, Maia, Addison)

Emily's favorite gift was her bicycle. David timed presenting it perfectly. All the presents were opened, including a bike bell and a helmet, and Emily was just starting to run away with her friends when David opened the garage and there it was. Emily screamed and ran to it. The only thing that got her off was the cake a minute later. (pics of the amazing cake coming soon)

Megan's Pig Tails

Megan got kidnapped by Mandy during Emily's birthday party. When she came back she looked like this:

Isn't she ADORABLE!

Ugh

I swear I'm going to post more soon. Our computer has been in the shop for over 2 weeks now and it was broken for a couple weeks before that. It is really annoying me to only have David's laptop (thank goodness for at least that) and I miss my computer. Once they ship it back to me from Utah I promise to post more photos of my cute girls. They are piling up on my camera and I need to clear them out!

Kindergarten

Emily had her first day of Kindergarten on Monday. She starts school before 8am so it was a challenge getting everything ready that early, but we all got to walk together to her brand new school. Emily was so excited about school starting. She has been talking about it for weeks and just about bounced the entire walk to school. She was given a brand new backpack from her Grandma Wessel and got to go with Daddy to buy a new lunchpail. She wants to use these for everything.....carrying toys, wearing as a hat, swinging in circles. She loves her school supplies!

Emily has 2 teachers for Kindergarten - they trade off days of the week to teach. It is both of their first years at teaching Kindergarten, but they seem very excited at the task ahead of them. Emily says that she loves them both and that she likes how they say "Good Morning Smarties" each day. She feels special to be called smart!

When she came home that first day we discovered that she made a new friend.....a boy named Daniel who she was hugging and KISSING! Yes, our little Emily proves once again that she is older than her years. David thought we could wait until the teen years to have talks about boys and kissing, but she jumped the gun on that one! But Emily is enjoying making new friends. She gets to see a couple kids from church out on the playground who are in different classes than her, but she enjoys that friendly connection.

Week one is almost done now for Kindergarten and Emily is loving every minute of it. Just seeing all the leopards painted around school is enough to keep her wanting to go back every day, since she loves tigers and leopards and cheetahs -- any of the big cats!

David and I have held up pretty well. We are so proud of Emily and excited (although somewhat nervous) for this new step in her life. The only one having problems with Emily in school seems to be little Megan. She doesn't have as much excitement in her days without her big sister. Luckily they get to spend the afternoon laughing and playing away!

First Foods

Megan had her first taste of food (other than rice cereal). She got to eat Sweet Potatoes and she absolutely loved them. At least she did on the first night. The second night eating sweet potatoes didn't go as smoothly....she made faces and spit it all out. What a funny fickle girl! She has been so desperate to get her hands on all of our food for the past few weeks and now she gets her own dinner. Hopefully she'll enjoy her meals more as time goes on.

Megan got to wash the meal down with a little water aided by Emily.