100%

We are so proud of CC. She had her first phonics test on Monday, and she did amazing! She got 100% The first test was for vowels. She is now able to recognize on paper, make the sounds, and give an example of all the vowels. Ex. "A says ahhh as in applesauce or apple." CC has started to explore blends, putting together two letters a constant and a vowel. And it is surprising how fast she is picking them us. She already has B and T mastered. She has also started sounding out letters to make words.

Other exciting accomplishments at school:
Can count from 1 to 100
Can write her full name CAMDEN
has recited all three of her bible verses
AND has only had one yellow the entire month of September

We are so proud of you CC!

Sea World San Antonio

Our Sea World passes finally came in the mail, and we had to go this weekend. Sunday was pretty busy, but good thing Sea World is only a few miles away. We had heard there was a water park inside Sea World, but we were expecting something similar to Elmo's Land like in San Diego. Not only is there a splash park, there is also a huge water park. We got there to late to go to the water park, but are planning on going next week. We can't wait to float in the lazy river on inter tubes!!

One highlight of the trip was CC riding her first roller coaster, the Shamu Express. She is constantly surprising us with how daring she has become. She was so excited to get on and then Shamu breaks down two rides before us. They told the kids Shamu was tired and needed to rest. I thought for sure she was going to back out. But they finally got it up and running and it was our turn. CC got on with me, and I could feel her little heart beating so fast. For a split second she said, "it goes to fast, I want to get off." But, it was too late we were off. She was super nervous until the ride started and it was all smiles. We got done and she wanted to ride with Daddy. I still can't believe she did it! Bellow are some pictures I took of her and Mark on her second ride. They are a little blurry but you can see how big her smile is!!
waiting in line for the Shamu Express They had to be in the front, right next to Shamu!

Look how happy she is!!Here is some pictures of the Splash Park we went to before the roller coaster. CC didn't want to get her band aid wet... so she pouted most the time. DRAMA!!

Texas Ants

We always put shoes on when we play out back, but of course the one time we don't... Poor Carter got attacked by what my best guess is Texas Red Harvester Ants (often mistaken for Fire Ants.) Thank goodness Mark was watering at that same time, and could wash off the ants. If not it would have been much worse.

Flashback Friday

Melissa (Morrow) Stone and me at Brea Christan Friends Preschool.
1986 same age as CC right now

CC's glasses

I finally got CC to sit for a few pictures of her glasses. So far so good! She enjoys wearing them, and they seem to be helping. Let's hope it stays that way!

Ophthalmologist Update.

CC indeed needed glasses, so much so that the lady making Camden’s glasses thought I had given her my prescription. CC is near-sided and has an astigmatism in both eyes. Her right eye is significantly worse (-2.5) than her left (-1.5). She was prescribed glasses and hopefully that will help her see. She was also diagnoses with Strabismus (misaligned eyes.) Her right eye is slightly straying toward her ear. The doctor is hoping that this is caused by the imbalance of the eyes. The right eye is so much weaker than the left, that the brain is recognizing images with the stronger eye, causing the right eye to stray. The strabismus is so slight that the doctor almost missed it when he tested her farsighted vision, but saw it more with her near-sighted vision. He is hoping that the glasses help correct the problem. Evening out both of the eye’s prescription will cause the eyes to see equally and hopefully, correct the problem. The strabismus that she has (Intermittent Exotropia) is different than the commonly known “lazy eye.” The fact that her eye is straying to the outside toward her ear, is the difference from the common “lazy eye,” which causes one eye to almost look crossed. And Intermittent Exotropia means that its not constant, that it can come and go. For now we are hoping the glasses help correct her misaligned eyes, but are told to come back in one month for another evaluation. Please pray that it is indeed the problem with her astigmatism and uneven vision, because if the straying doesn’t get better or gets worse, then we are left with two options therapy or surgery. We were not surprised that she would need glasses, Mark and I both have awful vision (actually almost everyone in both sides of our families), but we were hoping it wouldn’t be so soon. She does look mighty cute in her glasses!

SA Botanical Gardens

We wanted to do something really fun before Mark started his first day of work on Monday. So we took the kids to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. They were having a special bug exhibit for the holiday and we thought it would be fun. Funny that CC is terrified of bugs, hm mm wonder where she gets that from? But, she still really wanted to go. It was a little hot, but the kids still had fun.

Carter's favorite
the stairs the ducks C's favorite

the secret path
the really high stairs (um yes she is doing dance moves!)
the little cottages
releasing real ladybugs
making a kite Mommy's favorite
the dragonflies seeing my little bug next to a BIG BUGDaddy's favorite
the misters in the tropical rain forest

It was so much fun. We can't wait to see our next SA attraction!

Our house so far

OK so we have really lost steam on getting the house ready. So there is no way I'm posting pictures anytime soon.... But, here's a picture of the outside!

Crissy's Dance Studio

We finally found a dance studio that we like! CC started dance last Tuesday and is in a 4/5 combo class. It has already been two months since her last dance class, and she was thrilled when she got her dance shoes back out. Here's a few pictures, they are through the window so they aren't that great.

Our first family friends

The last two night we have hung out with our first family friends from San Antonio. We met the Johnson's at the YMCA and they have to boys Brady(3) and Connor (1). Funny thing is they are also from Kansas. Their family is from the same small party of KC we were. It is so nice to have a family with kids the same age as ours. We spent Saturday night at Fatso's (also a chain in Lawrence) watching the KU football game, and grilled out at their house last night. The kids had a great time!