11 months and counting

Can't believe Lydia will be turning one next month! Crazy how time flies.

Untitled from Angie Powell on Vimeo.

just keep swimming

We really enjoyed our neighborhood pool this summer. Emilia figured out it was fun to go under water, jump off the side, and swim without a floatie. Avery was content hanging out in the shallow end in her floatie, but occasionally kicked in it to the deep end with daddy. Lydia loved the water. She would kick and splash in her floatie. She got to the point where she realized it was more fun to be out of it rather than in it, which made the pool trips a little more work for Roger and I.

kindergarten...here i come

the last page of our kindergarten countdown



Emilia started afternoon Kindergarten last week. She loved it. She especially enjoyed p.e. and art.
My mom stayed home and watched Lydia while Avery and I took Emilia to school her first day. Avery was convinced that she was going to school, too. She had to wear her backpack and even tried to sit down and play with play dough at a table in Emilia's classroom. Neither Emilia or I cried when it was time for me to leave. We were both ready for this new adventure.
The first week of school I took her and picked her up. Starting today I will still take her to school, but she will get to ride the bus home. She is really excited to ride it. Another little girl in her class will be riding the same bus. Saturday, Emilia asked if it was the day she was going to get to ride the bus home. I told her that it was Saturday and she wouldn't be going to school. She said, "But mommy, you said that I would be going to school every day." So we had to have the lesson of weekdays and weekends again. It will be fun to meet her at the bus stop and see my little kindergartener get off of that big yellow bus!
We are really excited about her teacher, school and the upcoming school year. Watch out kindergarten...here she comes.

little big girl

We moved Avery to a big girl bed over the summer. She loves her "owl bed". Eventhough it is a twin mattress, she still looks so small in it. It has worked out really well having her and Emilia share a room. Avery has finally, after about 7 months, started calling it "our room" instead of just Emilia's room.





I was going to wait until school started to start potty training Avery, but she was showing interest in it. Thanks to the motivation, encouragement, and enthusiasm of her older sister (well, her little sister too as you can see in the picture), it took less than two weeks!

my happy heart

I LOVE this picture! Bed heads and all!

a homecoming

We ended up making a trip to South Dakota towards the end of summer break. Roger's grandma passed away. It was a wonderful time of reflecting on and celebrating her life. We enjoyed visiting with many family members that we don't get to see very often. The girls loved being in the black hills of South Dakota. They missed it for several days once we were back home. In fact, I sometimes hear them say that they are "going to South Dakota" when they are pretending.
What a true blessing the Williamson family is!

ms. wheelchair kansas

I was both privileged and honored to attend an ADA 20th Anniversary celebration with my good friend, Tiffany. She was recently crowned Ms. Wheelchair Kansas and with that title came responsibilities. She traveled around most of the summer fulfilling her MWK duties. Just this past month she participated in the Ms. Wheelchair America pageant. Congrats to Tiffany for getting 2nd runner up!

amarillo

We were able to spend a few days with my brother, Monty, and his family over the 4th of July. We had incredible food and wonderful company. Thanks for a great visit, Monty and Jessica!

emilia's 5th birthday

Well...I am over a month late getting Emilia's birthday posted. We ended up having a crazy summer after we celebrated her 5th birthday on July 8!
She was excited to have a beach themed party. She was even more excited to have her party at her cousins' house. Actually, I'm not sure who was more excited, Emilia or Caitlin and Claire! It was fun having most of our family together for the party. Thanks, Uncle Chris and Aunt Teresa for letting us use your "beach house" to celebrate Emilia's 5th birthday!













We were also able to celebrate Emilia's birthday with just Roger's family. We had ice cream sundaes and bottled soda...yum, yum!