What Happened in September!

September 1, 2001

The last few weeks I keep finding Carmen sleeping on TOP of her covers! Actually this has probably been going on for a month now. The first time I went in to check on her and here her bed was all made and she was laying on top!! She has continued to sleep this way! I guess it is an easy way to have her bed made all the time!

Carmen basically had her last storytime this week. When the next one starts up, she'll be in School! She will still get to go to them when she doesn't have school but it won't be that often!

Wednesday night she had a friend go with her to our church while DH did some work. They played on the playground the entire time. Then they were scheming on getting Carmen to spend the night! She ended up spending the night and I had to pick her up the next afternoon to get ready for Kindergarten Orintation!

Thursday - Kindergarten Orientation! We got to school the same time our old neighbor did. Found out that her little boy, Shane, and Carmen were in the same class! When we walked into the class room, the kids had to find their name tags. The teacher looked at Carmen and said "Are you Carmen?" Carmen just shook her head yes (little shy here!). Mrs. Maurice said, "I saw you model at the fair!" (I about died! Here she said this in front of the other parents and kids!)

Once all the kids were there, they had to go sit in front of Mrs. Maurice and talk about the calendar and the weather. She also called on them by name and asked them a question. The questions she asked were like: "Do you have any brothers or sisters?", "Do you live on a farm?" (We are farm country here.) "Are you five years old?" BUT when she called on Carmen, she asked this, "Carmen, do you sew as good as your mom?" (Where is that hole in the floor when you need it??) Carmen of course answered no! But Mrs. Maurice said, "But you will right?" (no the embrassing of Mom doesn't end here!)

She also had a bucket that she calls her "Surprise" Bucket. Inside was an item that they had to guess by the clues she gave. The hardest part for the kids was learning to raise their hand and not shout out the answer! Carmen didn't have a problem there. She did guess but wasn't right. In the end a little boy guessed right and was awarded the bucket to take home and put in an item for the kids to guess on Tuesday (Carmen was a little upset later that she hadn't gotten the right guess. But after I explained to her that she'd get the bucket one day, she was okay.)

Then Mrs. Maurice asked for all the boys to go line up by the door! Carmen's class is more then half BOYS!!! (UGH! COOTIES!! lol) There are only 8 girls (including Carmen) in her class! They got to go outside and play on the playground while the principal came in and talked to us and then the teacher talked some more to us. Carmen is having the SAME principal as I had! (He made a point of standing beside me and asking what grade I was in when he started working! Still no hole under my chair!!) We picked up the kids in the cafeteria where they got a cookie and drink! That night we forgot to tell daddy all the details!

But Carmen had something else to tell Daddy. A friend of ours had just died (an elderly man). So at dinner Carmen said "Daddy, I have some sad news. Rememeber that guy that use to sit in the fellowship hall (at church)? He died today." That was all she said except for wanting to know why he had died. The funeral is on Wednesday next week and we are planning on taking Carmen.

Friday - Grocery shopping again! Carmen picked out "school" chips that are ONLY hers and no one else can eat them unless they ask! She also had to get a towel for nap time. She picked out Scooby-Doo! That evening when we had the tags off the towel, she folded it and put it right into her bookbag!

She also got to spend that night at Ouma's only cause she had fallen asleep in the chair during a movie we were watching!

Is this mom ready for her "baby" to start school? Find out next week when Carmen has school for 2 days! (Sure hope you don't hear me crying on Tuesday where ever you live! LOL)

Amber & Carmen :)<


September 2, 2001

What a fun-filled packed week! Mon. was our Labor day picnic at our church. BUT Carmen didn't want to go! She wanted to go with her Ouma to walk the Llamas in Cedarville's Labor Day parade. (did you know that the man that initiated *Labor Day* was from Cedarville,OH?!) Well I couldn't talk her out of it so that is where she went Mon. morning. She wore her "Los Llameros de St Paris 4H Club" t-shirt that Ouma had made for her kids in the club. (and had gotten 3 extras for the grandkids) She walked a llama and had a ball! She finally got back to the church just before they started playing games. Carmen got to particapate in a Sack race (boy can she jump!), egg race, three legged race (her partner fell down!), water balloon toss (actually didn't get too wet!), bobbing for marshmallows (whatever! lol) and trying to break a homemade pinata. She had a ball the entire day. Wasn't too happy to call it quites and go home for a bath and bed as she started school the next day!

Tues. morning Carmen had to be up early! First day of School! We got all ready in time. Went outside and saw NO kids at the bus stop (yep got good ole bus stop! yuck!). Took a few pics of Carmen on the sidewalk while we waited for some kids to show down at the bus stop. Carmen started getting worried that she had missed the bus. I finally called Ouma to check if Carmen's uncle was still there (they ride the same bus). Ouma didn't think there was a delay as the fog was gone. So I turned on the TV and what did i see? A 2HR DELAY for Carmen's school! Poor thing! She had to sit around for 2 hrs watching cartoons and asking every five minutes "is it time for the bus yet? when is the bus coming?" FINALLY the two hours were up and we walked to the bus stop. She did really good for her first bus stop, just sat there while the other kids ran around. She even told me not to get a picture of her in front of the bus, just while she was getting on! My baby is growing up! She didn't even hugs us good bye! Just got in line and walked on to the bus as if she had been doing it every day! (nope i didn't cry!)

That afternoon, Allie and I walked down to pick her up. And here the bus driver had dropped her off at the WRONG bus stop on a different street!! Luckly she was dropped off with another little boy and they both came running in the right direction! She wasn't crying or anything! Of course she had forgotten everything she had done in school! lol

I had made her favorite dinner that night and then we went to a corn maze that evening to kinda celebrate her first day.

Wen. was the funeral, but we decided not to take the girls. Instead I took them with me to our church's fellowship hall were the family was going to come back to eat, talk and just remember. The girls did find with that, just played outside the entire time. Carmen was a little upset that she couldn't go to the funeral but she got over it.

That morning she made brownies to take to the eats and also to enter in a contest.

Thur. was Carmen's second day at school. Still no problems. Takes to school like a duck out of water!

And also the start of our Pony Wagon Days Festival here in our little town. (Lonnnnnggggg time ago they use to make Pony Wagons here!) Carmen had fun getting the candy that was thrown to the kids. After the parade was over, we went and listened to the high school band play (maybe you've heard of them? The Graham Dancing Band from Falconland?). After the band played we went to our homeshow to see how Carmen and I had done in the items we had entered! Carmen won first place on her brownies!! (I won 2nd on her first day of school dress and Best of Show on her Easter smocked dress!)

Sat. the girls were in the children's parade for the festival. (something I use to do too when I was little!) Carmen was a cowgirl with a stick horse! We didn't win any place :( but she did get a t-shirt just for being in the parade! They have to walk a good bit for little kids. This year the girls didn't get to ride any rides at the festival as it rained an awful lot during that time!

Next week Carmen will have school for 3 days!! whew!

Till then.......SMILE

Amber & Carmen


October 7, 2001

Please forgive me if I sound gibberish here and there..... it is 12:50 am my time! This entry is going to be covering 3 weeks I think! The short version of course! The events are in order of how they happened! Hope it all makes sense!

First off let me say my heart goes out to those affected by Sept. 11th. Carmen happened to be home that day and when I heard what was happening, I turned on the TV and we watched the coverage. Of course she had the usual questions, like what is a terrorist and will we be ok. Once she was reassured, she was fine. She also spent most of the day at a friend's house so she wasn't in front of the TV all day watching the events unfold.

That Saturday we were in a parade in Jamestown. Carmen got throw-out candy. Both her and Allie had flags that they held too.

One day when she got off the bus, she informed me that she chases the boys at recess! And one boy in particular! "I like Ryan!" When asked why she responded with this: "He is soooo cute!" She informed her "fiance" that night that she liked another boy. He of course was crushed! (Didn't last too long as I did notice them trying to hold hands today and she still writes him notes!)

We went to a Woolgathering at Young's Dairy. I was babysitting a friend of Carmen's too that day. The girls got to drop spin, weave and felt! They also fed the goats and played on statues of cows. I took their pictures in the pumpkins that were for sale. We also ate at the restaurant there too. It made for a long day!

Carmen had her turn for snacks. She took in homemade granola bars. (yummmmmyyy, If you want the recipe, let me know) She thought she was big stuff taking in the snack!

She went to her first school football game! It was our homecoming and her uncle was on the homecoming court. We got to see him be honored as King and our team even won! She enjoyed the game even though she drove me nuts asking why they were doing everything! She is determined that she is gonna be a cheerleader! I tried to talk her out of it and told her she could be a Stat but she just said "nope!" She saw one of her classmates at the game too! Yes, a boy! His mom informed me that he gets all shy when he talks about Carmen! lol Oh boy is she gonna be a handful when she is a teenager!

For the past few weeks, I have been letting Carmen come home from the bus stop by herself. Well, I finally let her go down by herself last week in the mornings. (You think I'm gonna walk her down there in the snow??? When I can sit on my porch and see her??!!) She really thinks she is big stuff now! Too big in fact! Daddy was home early one day and I thought it might be a nice surprise for her to see Daddy at the bus stop when she got off. Well I was wrong! She got off the bus and didn't even talk to him! Then when she was allowed to leave, she ran all the way home crying! "Why did he come down to get me?" she wanted to know! lol Of course I was allowed to come down and get her the following day she had school as it was raining and I was bringing her umbrella to her! lol KIDS!!

It seems if she isn't in school then she wants to be at a friend's house! Last week she got to go raspberry picking with her friend. Not sure how many raspberries made it into the bucket as she loves them!

This past Saturday we went to an annual Farmer's Market. The girls got to pick out their pumpkins! Not sure when we'll carve them! Carmen wants hers to have a clown face! hmmmmmm

Well tis late (1:33 am) and I can't think anymore! Now that I'm back in the action I'll be seeing you more often!!

Take care,
Amber & Carmen :)