Lost tooth, part 2

Anna had a second tooth become loose lately...in fact, very loose this week. Tonight after dinner at El Porton she announced that her tooth was not loose anymore. I looked in her mouth to find that it was gone!! She must have lost it in her sleep last night and swallowed it or it came out and she did not notice it.....In order to collect from the tooth fairy, she drafted a note explaining the circumstances and requested payment. Hopefully the tooth fairy will come through on this one!!

dear tooth fairy,

i lost another tooth. maybe

i swallowed it.

will you still give me a dollar?

thank you.

love, anna

smiling to show her second lost tooth.

Welcome my new nephew!!

My younger brother Blair and his wife Kim welcomed Benjamin Harris Perry on Thursday, August 20th at 7:10 p.m. Benjamin weighed in a 7 lbs. 15 oz and was 20 inches long. He has a head full of dark black hair that the nurses styled in a mohawk for laughs. Kim has been a trooper. She was pretty tired after a long day in labor ending with a c-section and Blair was a champ to be beside her all day and night! The girls were excited to meet their newest cousin and even get to hold him. Caroline asked lots of questions, primarily, "where are his hands?" and "why is he sleeping?". We are excited to have a new addition to the family!!

blair with his new son benjamin
only 3 hours old here....our first glimpse

his oldest cousin anna happy to meet him

caroline was curious about little benjamin and got to hold him too!

Caroline's new room

Caroline started her new early childhood classroom today at Harding. She has moved to an older 2's class due to the cutoff of August 1st....she's too young to move up to the 3 year old class. Anna said Caroline "failed" and has to repeat. Glad Caroline has no idea what this means!! She had her phase in day today and all the kids will be back tomorrow. She went right to the toys and found her friend Mya as well. We hope she has a great year in the Train Room with Miss Kim!!

how big has caroline gotten??
caroline found mya!
caroline with the welcome sign.
caroline with miss kim
saying our goodbyes

the close of camp

the girls have very much enjoyed summer camp at harding. the crafts, water slides, movies and other fun theme weeks all were great!! the last day of camp marked the last day that either of my girls would be in miss carol's class. miss carol has been so special to both anna and caroline. she was the first teacher anna had at harding and we have thoroughly enjoyed being in her room and having her watch over our girls. as caroline moves to the "older 2's" class (anna says that caroline failed the 2's and has to repeat!!!) this school year marks a transition to a new adventure. we look forward to what the new year will bring but also never want to forget miss carol!!

anna with miss carol....anna first met her in june 2005!

caroline will always be a "rainbow" to miss carol after a summer and school year of having her in the rainbow room at harding!

First Grade!!!

Anna started first grade today!!! She was anxious and excited all wrapped up into one today. She met her teacher, Mrs. Brown, on Friday night at Meet the Teacher. She has some old friends and many new friends in her class. We got her back pack and an extra bag packed with all of her many school supplies, packed all her favorite things in her lunchbox and wore her favorite uniform outfit to set out for the first day "up the hill". At Anna and Caroline's school, the campus has two buildings. The first building houses the early childhood program (2's and 3's) as well as the junior and senior kindergarten children. This is the only building we have known since Anna started the 2's at Harding in 2005. The second building houses first through sixth grades and is "up the hill" from the other building. With this building brings a new gym, cafeteria, playground and many hopefully fun memories. Anna was nervous as Gary and I accompanied her inside the building. She quickly became at ease as other friends arrived and they greeted each other from the long summer break. Mrs. Brown has 31 years of teaching and primarily this experience has been in first grade. All the parents watched as their kids took their setas and there were some tears, mostly from the parents including Gary and me and not the kids!!! The bell rang and all the parents exited. The kids were all anticipating the fun of first grade. Anna had a great day. She said her favorite part was science. Maybe my dad rubbed off on her this summer with the science experiments and the astronomy lesson with the telescope!! Here's to a great year in first grade!!

anna is welcomed to her new building
anna with mrs. brown, her first grade teacher

the proud parents with their new first grader!

The Beach!!

Caroline has been asking just about every day this summer "are we going to the beach today?" Finally after summer camp was over we were able to answer YES!!! We were all excited to be headed to the beaches of Alabama. We stay at a resort called the Beach Club in FOrt Morgan, AL that is at the end of the peninsula near Dauphin Island. It is very secluded and a lot of fun. We stayed on the way down to the beach with Gary's uncle Bobby. Bobby is Gary's late father's favorite brother. It was nice to catch up on the Zyriek family happenings through Bobby and his sweet wife Karen. Then, it was off to the beach. We had a great time and the girls enjoyed all the beach and pool time they could take in each day. After 5 days we headed home knowing that the start of school was fast approaching. Great times were had by everyone!!!

gary doing tricks at the pool
me with the girls

gary enjoying anna's boogie board

the largest jellyfish i have ever seen!! sunday was bad for that but otherwise, clear.

anna's favorite thing to do

the girls loved the pool in the afternoons

anna learned how to drive a go-kart!!