Middle School Back to School Night...

It was back to school night at Sierra Middle School! Chris and I went and met all of Emma's 8th grade teachers. I think all in all, she did pretty well this year!! She has the same Spanish teacher as last year. I am thrilled about that. Emma can understand a lot of spanish and can speak pretty well. They gave some sort of assessment and Emma scored an 83%. I am happy with that. She loves the Spanish language and still wants to go to Costa Rica and study this summer...

Next was Electronic Publishing. Wow, that teacher LOVES the kids and LOVES what he does. No wonder Emma LOVES his class. She is applying to be editor of the paper. Keep your fingers crossed as this would look excellent on the high school application we are working on.

Next was PE. That teacher was out, however, I know him, great teacher and last year he told everyone of in the office that Emma was going to be one of the top 2 achievers from all of his classes. Great judge of character. I played with my phone and Chris looked up baseball scores during this period. We joked with the principals that we were "skipping gym".

Next, American History. That looks like a fun class. The announcement was made that the Owl team was going on a field trip next Friday. All four core classroom teachers will take part in this. We discussed what the class consists of and I really liked this teacher. Hope she is willing to give Emma some of the harder work she offers. We will see.

From there we headed to English. I liked this teacher. She was the one that noticed that Emma was reading ahead and sent her to the library for the unabridged version of the book to read. She stated that Emma is a fabulous reader but needs to slow down with her writing and be sure what was being asked of her. I love her for not squelching Emma's reading like most do, now if she can make the writing assignments interesting...

Science. I think this is Emma's favorite subject. I loved it when he said that asking kids to memorize what order the planets are in is stupid. They can google that. But let's talk about why they are lined up the way they are, their shape and size and placement in the solar system and how that will affect future space travel... He talked about teaching kids to think like scientist. Teaching kids how to think...

Math was next. He had a cool board! He was younger than I pictured. Emma was most worried about having this teacher, but in fact, is really enjoying him. We talked about math placement for High School, and college math requirements. (yep, 3rd week 8th grade)

What we heard from everyone is that they like our Emma and that she is doing really well this year. No late assignments, doing good work. We are proud...

S'mores... again...

Ok, Abby looks a little bit like the joker in this photo. Maybe she will quite making this goofy face!

WE did manage to get one fun thing in this weekend before Abby really started feeling yuck. We had another backyard "bonfire" minus the fire department. Why you ask? We now have a season long burning permit! Call away, neighbor! We had fun making s'mores, our neighbors came over with their puppy and a good time was had by all!

Abby on her firs day of 6th grade at Lone Tree Elementary!
Emma on her first day of 8th grade Sierra Middle School

I planned to have wonderful new photos of us from the mountains, going down the alpine slides, but instead, we had more of a subdued weekend here at the Bridgewater house. Poor Abby has some sort of 'virus' or flu. Her nose is running, her throat hurts and she has had a headache on and off. Poor girl. I hate that for her! We took her into the doctor to make sure she does have strep, and that was negative.

Chris and I have been riding our bikes a lot here lately. We are trying to get into shape. We would like to do some of the longer mountain rides come next spring... I don't know... We are looking for a new bike for me, more of a road bike.

The girls are LOVING school! Abby loves her new school and is making lots of friends. She is actually learning something, too, from the sound of things. Emma is loving her last year of middle school. She is on the news magazine and is looking forward to a trip to Washington DC in November. Lucky girl! She loves being part of the "harder" team this year and Chris and I are already looking ahead to high school and which direction we should go with Emma!

S'mores and Guiness

Abby enjoys her s'more

Cooking dinner over the open flame
This is how Frannie was most of the weekend, trying to get away from Guiness.
Isn't this just the cutest photo of Guiness. He looks like this naturally! No grooming!

We have been watching our friends puppy this weekend... Wow! You forget how much work a puppy really is! I think that is why God made them so cute and cuddly, otherwise, NO ONE would own a dog willingly. I have spent a lot of time with Guiness under my feet this weekend, saying "NO Guiness", saying "Stupid Dog", which really isn't very nice, because he is not dumb, he is a puppy! He is a lot of work, and I seem to be the chosen person of the weekend that he loves. (hope that doesn't mean I have to pick up the poop) Great thing about Guiness, he doesn't shed, he is full of energy, doesn't bark, and and is sweet as pie!

Our other fun weekend activity so far has been to have a cook out in the backyard over the fire pit. Poor Emma was babysitting. so she missed all of the fun, excitement and good food.! Nothing like a good hotdog over an open fire that you cook yourself. We also made yummy s'mores! The excitement was when the mean neighbor behind us called the fire department. Seriously... The truck came, parked in front of our house, and gave us a burn permit. Nice Parker Firemen. Mean Neighbor... We invited the firemen to stay for s'mores, but they declined. Darn.

Stuff

Sigh... It was a really good day... Busy, but good. Why then do I feel so exhausted and overwhelmed. I think it is because school is going to start. That means crazy schedules, more money going out and lots of people going lots of different ways. It is just kind of nuts.

Abby went to the Oncologist today and got the clean bill of health! Yipee! I feel less and less nervous with every visit, and it is nice to see how Abby is one of the Success stories. It is hard to see the kids there who are so SICK. I want to hug their moms and say "I remember... I never thought we would be here... She would be here!" It is hard.

School starts FRIDAY for Abby... Stay tuned for updates on Thursday from meet the teacher.

Emma starts school on Monday! She CAN'T wait! She is ready to jump right back into school! Good for her!

That is a lot of fish, and we have a lot of it in our freezer! Want to come for dinner?
A real man can catch a salmon on the boobie prize barbie fishing pole. Ha ha!
Ok, that fish is just WRONG! GROSS! But supposedly good eating. Have that in the freezer too.

It has been a busy week for the Bridgewater's. It is always that way when you are getting back to the real world after vacation... I always feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. Is there anyone else out there who feels the same way?

I am posting a few pictures from the FABULOUS fishing trip to Alaska Chris went on! He had a great time and filled our freezer with yummy fish. I am looking for Halibut recipes, so if you have any, please send them my way!

We are enjoying the last week of summer. The girls are back to school this week. Abby actually will start this Friday, and Emma next Monday! It is early, but they are READY! I don't know if I am. I like sleeping in a little longer in the morning! Abby is VERY excited about her new school, I we go to meet her new teacher on Monday. Emma found out she is on the OWL team, and has the most wonderful science teacher! The girls backpacks are all filled with their fresh new notebooks, markers and pens. They are prepared!

Hope you are having a GREAT week!