Pineapple Pumpkin Bread

Today marks 3 years since Maw Maw died. Of course, I had to hear "I Can Only Imagine" on the radio this afternoon. I do imagine her up in Heaven and wish she could send me a letter letting me know how wonderful it is. I seem to think of her pretty much everyday and lately have been even more so. I have a watch of hers that she gave me before she died. I don't wear it that often but I did today just to remember her more throughout the day. I also have a necklace that I wore that has on it a small diamond set in some gold. The diamond was from her engagement ring. At some point she had it taken it out of her ring and set for a necklace and I was able to have this after she died. I wear it often along with a heart that has a small diamond in it that was a gift from Chris when we got married.

I think of her house and can so vividly picture things like her carpet and furniture and dishes, etc. Funny how I don't really think of the apartment she lived in from 1995-2003. She had a stroke in '94 and was truly never the same to me. I guess I remember the "pre stroke" Maw Maw the most since she is the one in the happiest memories. We still had happy times after '94 but I think I missed the house so much and associate that with the stroke since she never went back to live in it after the stroke.

I miss her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a happier note: the girls "helped" Chris carve a pumpkin this week. Gracie wasn't too sure about sticking her hand in to get out the gunk but Katie didn't have too much of an issue with it. The girls had a good time decorating it with their "artwork." Gracie was disappointed because she apparently thought Chris was going to carve out everything they drew. Unfortunately for her, he stuck with the traditional jack-o-lantern face.

We took the girls trick-or-treating to a few houses down the street and then they sat on the porch handing out candy to other kids. They both took their job quite seriously. It was funny. Once dinner was ready we retired from the Halloween experience and turned out the porchlight. We had a couple of doorbell rings after that time but not too many.

I felt kind of bad because we met some of our neighbors last night for the first time and we've lived in this house for 4 1/2 years! I felt kind of ashamed. Of course, it's not like they'd come to introduce themselves to us either but we should have been more proactive in meeting them. One of them had just moved in about a month ago because the older man living in the house had passed away. I didn't even know that! I have a new resolve to be better about knowing who they are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I made some 'Pineapple Pumpkin Bread' yesterday from 'Cooking with Paula Deen.' It was really good! Here is the recipe if you'd like to try it:

Pineapple Pumpkin Bread
Makes 2 loaves

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 16 oz. can pumpkin
1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 (9x5 inch) loaf pans.
In a large bowl, combine flour and next 7 ingredients. Add eggs and oil; beat well. Stir in pumpkin, pineapple and pecans,
Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean.

I kept some for us and sent some to Mrs. Stauffer. I like to send a little goodie to her from time to time. I try to show appreciation since I know how hard she works! I will be making this again; I really liked it!

Trick or Treat...smell my feet.......

We had our 1st annual Fall Festival and Trunk or Treat at church tonight. The girls who put it together did a really great job! It was well planned and organized and I think all the kids had a really good time. Katie kept saying afterwards, "I had fun. Daddy have fun?"

Before we left, we took the obligatory Halloween pictures in the front yard. Gracie was Miss Patty Cake this year and Katie was Madeline (that Gracie was last year!) She was going to be a princess/ballerina but I decided to have her be Madeline instead.

We started out at the festival taking some pictures and singing some songs. Then the little kids ate while the bigger kids played games & did a craft, then they switched. After that, we all went for a hayride then ended the night doing the "trunk or treating." Earlier in the day I'd had to explain to Gracie that it wasn't "truck" or treat but "trunk" or treat! She kept saying things about trucks and I finally realized that she was thinking we were saying, "truck" or treat.

I'm not much for dressing up, but Chris wanted to decorate our trunk in a Cowboy theme so I dressed up a little bit. I added a bandana and one of Chris' hats to what I was wearing and that was about the extent of my costume! Chris put out some of his cowboy stuff to make kind of a "cowboy" trunk although there were others much more put together than ours! If you look closely at Katie Boo's forehead in this picture, (click on it to make it bigger) you can see the bruise leftover from this week's accident. It is looking better in some ways because it's not as big but the coloring isn't so pretty! Thursday & Friday were probably the worst days because the grayish/greenish color had spread down into the bridge of her nose and she just had a sickly coloring. It is getting better though!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris & I went to our Parent/Teacher Conference yesterday with Mrs. Stauffer and received her report card for the 1st 9 weeks of school. This was her first "official" report card since in Kindergarten it was more of a 'checklist' type report. She did very well~all A's & S's~and we are very proud of her. Even more so than because of the A's is because Mrs. Stauffer said complimentary things about her behavior and said that she was a good role model. That made us very happy and we told Gracie about it. Of course, she didn't know what role model meant but I was happy to explain it. We're blessed with both our girls!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the blessing of Katie & Gracie. Help us to parent them in the ways you want us to. Help us to be a blessing to them as well. Thank you for the fellowship we had tonight at church with friends.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

What is with this kid?

Dear Mr. Target man,

Please relax. My mommy won't sue you. I promise. It was sweet of you to be so concerned when I fell out of the cart headfirst, but it wasn't Target's fault. It was mine. Well, I am only 2 so maybe it's partly Mommy's fault, too. To give her credit, she did tell me & my friend to sit down multiple times. We didn't listen very well. When she stopped the cart and that wonderful toy that we could play with was almost within my reach, well, I just couldn't resist reaching out to touch it. Only I couldn't quite reach it so I stretched just a little further. Unfortunately, gravity came into play and down I went onto the hard floor.

I was just really upset about not being able to play with the toy; Mommy was the one who was so upset about the HUGE knot on my forehead. She couldn't hardly look at it without being sick. Of course, I couldn't see it but Mommy and her friend said it was REALLY big! You kept asking Mommy if I was okay so I guess you must have thought it was big, too!

Mommy asked you to get me some ice but I don't know why because I didn't want her putting that cold stuff on me. What was she thinking?!? Mommy's friend was a little freaked out by the whole experience too so she called my doctor for me and even dropped her kids off with another friend so she could meet us at the doctor. That was sweet of her!

By the time she got there, he was already done telling Mommy that I was okay. He didn't want to do a dog scan~or was it a cat scan???~on me unless I threw up, passed out, or had neurological problems....whatever that is! He gave me some Motrin and sent us on our way. Of course, not before he laughed at my shoplifting story.

Yeah, Mr. Target man, amidst all the confusion I accidentally left the store without paying for a toy. Mommy's friend had given me & her little boy a toy to hold while they shopped. Only I forgot to let go of it when we left and Mommy didn't notice it until I was sitting in my car seat. She was kinda goofy with worry by that point so she looked around to see if anyone was going into the store who could take it back in. She didn't see anyone so she just tossed it into one of the shopping baskets that was in the parking lot. I hope it got back to where it belonged. Mommy knows it's wrong to steal and she didn't mean to let me do it.

So, Mr. Target man, thank you for being concerned. Mommy really thinks it was mostly out of concern for being sued but we take responsibility. Mommy should have watched me better and I should have listened better. The doctor said usually you make people fill out accident reports but I guess you knew Mommy was too upset to do that coherently. Don't worry, we'll be back sometime soon! Here are some pictures of what I look like a few hours later. Mommy said it's already gone down but spread out quite a bit. I may be a bruised ballerina for Halloween! Hey, did I tell you Mommy bought me a Happy Meal to make me feel better?!?! That's why you see ketchup on my mouth in the picture. Oh, and don't worry. The doctor scoffed at the idea of reporting Mommy to those people who investigate parents whose kids have a lot of accidents. After all, the first one is recorded on videotape! He knows I'm just a 2 year old who messes up!Really, I'm still more concerned about being able to go back and play with the toy I was reaching for......

Love,
Katie Brooklyn

Mommy, you really were a teacher!

I think Gracie may finally believe that I used to be a teacher! Oftentimes I'll say something about when I used to teach and I can tell that her little brain just can't really comprehend that. After all, since she's been born~and a month or so before~I've been "just" a Stay-At-Home Mom. (I put 'just' in parentheses for sarcastic emphasis. I know some people do actually look at it in that way but some of us do realize that it is a full time job.....not that working outside the home moms don't work hard as well.......)

I have done a little tutoring for money since she's been born but honestly I guess I was done with that before she even turned 2 so she doesn't remember it and it wasn't very often or for very long.

I've found it funny this year that I can tell her something regarding something she's working on at school and she can listen and vaguely acknowledge. However, days or weeks later, she may say excitedly, "Mrs. Stauffer said..........." and repeat almost verbatim what I had previously told her. Only this time she gives much more credibility to the lesson being taught. I'll usually remind her that I had already tried to teach her that and tell her that I do know what I'm talking about. LOL

Yesterday I got out some folder games and other learning games that I'd made while teaching. I had found them in the shed when we cleaned it out a few weeks back. There were some that specifically focused on addition & subtraction so I thought I'd see how Gracie liked working on them since that's kind of where she needs to practice the most right now. She loved them! I think it really hit home that Mommy really does know what she's talking about since I had these cool learning games that I used to actually use in my classroom with my students.

I'm all for written assessment and pencil & paper practice, but I think there's a time & a place for it. I don't think it's the only thing that should be used to teach a child something or to give them practice. I love providing hands-on activities for children to use and these games were a hit with Gracie. She is doing fine in math; it's not that she's behind. (I'm pretty sure she'll have an "A" on her report card next week.) Coming from my "teacher perspective," I just see that she needs a little "fine tuning." I am intent on getting her to know her addition & subtraction facts at an early age (without her having to count on her fingers, etc.) so that she won't struggle as much later when the math gets harder. She got frustrated a few times but with some prompting and encouragement, I think she was a lot more successful than she thought she would be. It was great to see!

The Language Arts subjects (reading, spelling, writing, phonics etc.) all come easily to her for which I'm very thankful. Math is just something that doesn't interest her as much and takes more concentration on her part so she gets frustrated easily. I think making it fun for her will really help! I'm so glad I kept these games because they're now coming in handy for my own daughter. I think I have some cool writing journal workbooks of some type up in a cabinet somewhere too that are "leftovers" that I may add to her "van activities" for our trip in December.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gracie had fun at the twin birthday party yesterday. I enjoy sitting back and watching her interact with her peers. If I was a psychologist I'm sure I could come up with some deep conclusions. I'm just a mom right now so I'm not sure I have anything too deep to say but I did draw some conclusions. I don't think she'll ever be a "loud leader." By that I mean she's not the one who will gather the troops and lay out the plan for what they should play or do. I do think she may be a "quiet leader" at times though and maybe lead by example. I'm not sure yet. I'm protective so I was watching pretty closely,while trying to do it from afar so as not to be overbearing, and it seemed like she is well liked but not one to just do what everyone is doing just because everyone is doing it. She has grown up with so many "boy" friends (not 'boyfriends;' just friends that are boys) that it really was fun to watch her interact with the giggly girls and see how she is in that type of situation. I was proud of the way she acted and glad she had fun.

It's going to be fun watching her grow up! One of my new favorite songs is "Find Your Wings" by Mark Harris. It may not be a new song but recently started paying attention to it. It says so many things that I feel about my girls. I almost started crying as I listened to the words the other day in the car. I think my parents must have felt some of these things for me as they sent me off to ACU. I'm so grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to go and make my own decisions. I wasn't completely cut off from their apron strings, but to some extent I was. I think of Betty as she watches her children take off for faraway parts on mission trips: "I'll have tears as you take off, but I'll cheer as you fly."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While Katie napped and Chris watched football, Gracie & I went to the library yesterday afternoon to watch a free showing of "Over the Hedge." It was a funny movie. Yes, it had some parts that I wish were left out (doesn't every movie?!?) but it was very funny and we enjoyed it.

She has decided that she wants to learn about horses so we checked out a bunch of horse books. We got some "real" books and some "pretend" ones. I was able to explain a little to her about the call numbers for the nonfiction books and how the fiction ones are organized by the author's last name. I think she was actually interested and paid attention. It is so much fun to have these "big girl" times together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We went back to the park last night for some more exercise. Chris is good at encouraging me. Gracie rode her bike 1 1/2 miles this time. I said that she'll have to start eating more. I know the exercise is good for her but she doesn't need to lose weight so she'll need to bulk up on how much she eats. She ate quite a bit at dinner tonight so that's good. She's good about eating "good stuff" too. Sure, she likes her cookies and ice cream but she'll eat her protein, fruits & veggies well too. Katie sure does love her "foot" (fruit) too! (BTW: I walked another 2 miles while we were there and was able to "jog" a little of it...really more like shuffling but I like to call it a jog!~That made it 6 miles this week. This week, I'm going for 10.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think we may have gotten a waitress in trouble today at lunch. We went to this local pizza place where you can get fantastic pizza at a very reasonable price. Since it's close to the end of the month, we needed to eat somewhere "cheap" but of course also wanted to enjoy what we were eating. Chris & I can get 2 huge slices of pizza (sausage & feta~yum!) and a drink for $5.50 each. Throw in a huge slice of cheese pizza for the girls @ $1.75 and we've got a great meal.

Well, the waitress charged us $3.25 for the girls' slice. I know, I know it's only $1.50 difference but if it's wrong, it's wrong. I nicely questioned her on it and she looked and acknowledged that she'd charged us for the special which came with a drink. The girls both had water so she should have just charged us for the slice. She kind of hesitated like she expected us to say, "Oh, it's no big deal." We didn't. I mean, we didn't order it so why should we have to pay for it? She said, "Well, I can give you some cash back; that's all I can do." (We'd used our debit card.) We nicely said that was okay. She left and I saw her talking to the manager and it looked like they were heatedly arguing. I really couldn't tell if they were kidding around or what but I felt bad. I did want it to be corrected but I didn't want her to get yelled at! She finally got around to coming back, took out her money and said, "Okay, so I owe you $1.25?" Chris said, "Um, $1.50." She walked away frustrated, obviously she only had 1 quarter not 2. She talked to the manager again as he hurriedly passed her and finally told us that he would have to give us the money. She called out to him which table we were at and he came over and basically threw the money at us with a quick thank you.

I know we're cheap (all of our friends~and family~know this~what can I say....I grew up with thrifty parents) but I didn't want to be charged for something we didn't order. She did apologize and we were very nice about it. I just hope she didn't get into too much trouble.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today in my 1st & 2nd grade class we had the story of the 'Tower of Babel.' We talked about how we should use God's help and shouldn't try to be greater than God. It was so sweet to hear one of the little girls say the prayer as she read the praises & requests out of our prayer journal. I so love teaching that class! One of the little girls (2nd grade) that's in the class is legally blind. She wears glasses and can see; just not very well. I had her & Gracie help me read the story out of the "real" Bible and I was so impressed with her. The print was so small and I know it was extremely hard for her to see but she read and did a great job! I told her how proud I was of her and she made the comment something like this: "I thought I couldn't do it but my heart just said I could." She is such a sweetie and an example to me in determination!

Of course, at one time she also said something like, "Man, this feels just like school." HA! With this age, I like to still do some fun, hands-on craft type things & games with them because they are still children, but I also like to have them read & write & brainstorm etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A church in a nearby town is having a Ladies Day in a couple of weeks and I've decided to go. I've been wanting to go to something like this and they had invited the ladies of our congregation so I'm going. I'm the only one on the sign up sheet but I feel like I need this. I may recruit some friends to go with me. I emailed some girls from church about it so we'll see if anyone responds.

Here's a couple reasons I'm looking forward to going: today Chris led singing so I had Katie during all that time. During the sermon, she was sitting with him and Gracie was sitting quietly so I opened up my Bible to read along. It's like she heard the crack of the spine or something because Katie immediately reached for me. *sigh* I closed the Bible. Tonight we were going to have low numbers for Life Group so we met at the building with a family from another Life Group and 1 other family from our Life Group. For the kids, it was just our 2 girls and 2 little boys. We thought surely we could put them in the classroom next to ours with a video and the toys and they'd be fine. *sigh* Within 10 minutes, Gracie came bursting into the room saying that "they" had unplugged the television! I raced in there, along with another mom, to find 1 little boy pushing on the cart the t.v. was sitting on and Katie holding the cord! I'm not too sure she wasn't about to plug it back in! UGH I disciplined her (use your imagination!) and set her in time out. At that point I decided to sit in there with them. I turned the video back on for the last 2 minutes then attempted to read a Bible story to them. Oh, did I mention that I'd had my Bible open for about 4 minutes before I had to run into the other room to watch the kids? So, even if I go by myself~which might be nice~I'm going to this Ladies Day and I will enjoy sitting and listening and hopefully learning something new. I LOVE being a Stay-at-Home mom. There is no job I'd rather do at this point in my life, but I so look forward to going to the Ladies Day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next weekend is our Fall Fest and Trunk or Treat at church. I am so looking forward to this. I think Katie will probably be a ballerina and Gracie will probably be Miss Patty Cake. They said to plan to bring candy for about 45 children. There will be about 60 adults. This is great for a church our size! I think today was the cut off for sign ups and I think the response has been wonderful!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I talked to my sister-in-law Erin last week and I'm so excited to see her for Christmas!

I love potty training~this time anyway!

How is potty training going for Katie? AWESOME! No lie, this girl has basically potty trained herself. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't put her to bed at night without a Pull Up on and I don't go too far without having an extra change of clothes, but she is seriously doing GREAT! We are soooo proud of her. I kind of had a feeling that she would just decide one day that she was ready and that is pretty much what she has done.

She is not quite to the point of telling me when she needs to go; we still most of the time have to decide for her that it's time to go try but she's not having accidents. Since Monday, she has basically had only 2 accidents! (This doesn't count that she has gone in her Pull Up during a nap or at night, but not even every time.) In the mornings, I have probably taken off her Pull Up within at least an hour and a half of her getting up if not even earlier. She is wearing p-a-n-t-i-e-s all during the day and evening. We have gone to the doctor's office with them on, playgroup, the library, Kroger, the park...all without accidents. I am just truly amazed and grateful! Poor Gracie wasn't nearly as proficient at this as Katie is. I know you're not supposed to compare your children but seriously, the difference is vast! To be fair, there are plenty of things Gracie did at Katie's age and younger that Katie doesn't do yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking of the doctor's office.....Katie has had double ear infections this week. She'd been a little under the weather with some fever and runny nose, etc. I really figured it was just a cold and wasn't thinking of taking her in. Tuesday she started really fussing and I said, "Katie, what hurts?!?!" She said, "My ear." Poor thing! This was quite unusual for her to specifically complain about her ear so I almost immediately called to make an appointment. When I got her in, she had 101 and an ear infection in each ear! I was so glad she was able to tell me what hurt! The doctor said it might have just run its course on its own, but since we knew about it he gave her an antibiotic. It has helped tremendously! This is probably only the 3rd & 4th ear infection she's ever had, so I really wasn't even thinking of that as a possibility.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gracie had her "end of the season soccer party" Tuesday night~in the rain. She was supposed to have a make-up game too but it got rained out so they just had the party and gave out trophies, medals & their pictures. I thought it was sweet that the coach talked about how Gracie had gotten slaughtered in one game and then the very next game wanted to play goalie again! She had such a good time playing but I'll admit that I'm ready for a little break from having games 2 nights a week. We thought about doing basketball but have decided to hold out for now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gracie didn't have school today due to a teacher workday. It was sweet to listen to the girls playing together this morning~while I dozed a little. Nice! We ran errands then relaxed around the house. Chris grilled out hamburgers tonight and we had a picnic in the backyard. Nice weather for it. After that we went up to the park and went a lap around the track. Gracie rode her bike for the whole lap which is a mile! I was most impressed with her! Then we stopped at a couple places then came home and watched "Lady & the Tramp II" that we'd checked out from the library. The girls went to bed then Chris & I watched a movie and now here I am blogging. It was nice to be "just" the 4 of us. It seems like we go, go, go so much and it's wonderful to have friends to do things with and church things to go to but it's also sometimes nice to just be with my family. I think there needs to be a balance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am continuing to try exercising. Last week I did a total of 7 miles and this week it's been 4. I'd like to go again tomorrow. I feel better when I do it if nothing else.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomorrow Gracie has a birthday party to go to for someone from school. It's for twins so we had to buy 2 gifts but I think we found something great~and inexpensive. Gracie has something very similar to it that she got for her birthday and she loves it so I'm hoping it will be a hit. (a bracelet making kit with beads & pearls & charms, etc.) For kids that I know the moms really well, I usually give the gift that the mom is glad to have (like books or educational games) but the actual kid may not be that excited about opening. Since I don't know this mom well or the girls all that well either, I tried to get something that I really thought 7 year old girls would be happy opening.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't have anything too deep to say. This is our life, simple but good!

I wanna wear..........

I just finished this book yesterday. It's cute, fun Christian "chic-lit." I like this kind of easy read. I know some people like the deeper, theological type books~and sometimes I enjoy those as well~but mainly I like a lighter read. I enjoyed this one!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today Katie said, "I wanna wear p-a-n-t-i-e-s today." (I spelled it 'cause I don't want some weirdo coming across my blog if I type out the word!) Just like that! I said, "okay." She pee peed successfully at least once, (maybe twice) in the potty. (I say maybe because the 'evidence' wasn't as great that time but I think she did it.) She kept her p-a-n-t-i-e-s dry all morning! She even started the day with a pull up and it was kept dry. I did put her in a pull up for her nap~and she's still sleeping~but we'll go back to the other once she gets up. I soooo hope she has decided it's time to be potty trained. I'll admit: I have not pushed her very much with this. I pushed Gracie and we were both miserable! Of course, as with all children, Gracie was eventually potty trained and she wasn't terribly old when it happened. I know the same will be true with Katie. We've been much more laid back with her and we've been happier because of it! I'll be thrilled if today is the day she decides she's ready! (I don't mean to imply that we haven't tried or encouraged her at all; it's just that we haven't pushed her alot on the issue.)

During her nap I made a chart similar to what I made for Gracie when we were working with her. She will get a sticker for each time she potties. She also gets M&M's when she potties. When she fills up a row on her chart, she gets to pick a Dollar Tree prize. This worked WONDERS with Gracie. She is very motivated by things like this. I'm hoping it'll work with Katie as well. (I can't get my picture of the chart to load~I'll try later.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have decided to go to New Mexico for Christmas to see Chris' family. We will be driving because it's ridiculous how much it will cost to fly + all the hassle of flying right now. Really, anytime is kind of a hassle for me and I'm nervous about flying anyway. I checked today and it would cost us over $1600 for all of us to fly PLUS we would most likely drive 3 hours to get to airport in Atlanta (my parents can take us and keep our car so that saves on parking) then once we get to NM, we would have to drive about 3 hours to get to my in-law's house because they live in an itty bitty town. Then when we came back, we'd drive 3 hours back to the airport then 3 hours back to our house. So that's 12 hours of driving right there!

So, we'll be driving about 24 hours total to get there~through a total of 7 states. South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas & New Mexico. I'm really kind of excited about it; it'll be an adventure! We'll have the DVD player all ready to go; snacks for the car; books; toys, etc. Gracie has always been a rather good traveler; Katie not so much but I guess she'll either learn to be one or we'll learn to ignore her!

Gracie is the type of child who will sit and do workbooks for long periods of time. She is also very interested in geography and where places are. I want to make up some kind of a states workbook for her to work on while we're in each state. I have started looking around online but I would appreciate it if any of you could send me links to sites that have printable activities I could use to make her workbook. In order to make this something that lasts throughout the trip and not just 2 hours down the road (she's a quick worker!) I'm only going to allow her to work on the activities for 1 state when we're actually in that state. (Unless it looks like we'll only be driving through it at night or something.)

A friend of mine also had a good idea to have her make a scrapbook of the trip as well that she could share at school. So if you Georgians, Alabamians, Mississippians, Louisianians, Texans or New Mexicans have any ideas, send them my way! (I think I may have just made up some words!)

priceless moment

There's nothing quite like a Friday night "sleepover" with your sister. (Based on the sounds coming from the bedroom, I'm not sure how much longer this sleepover will last!)

pant, pant, gasp, gasp...

Thanks to 2 friends who care about me enough to encourage me, I started exercising this week. *ugh* Monday morning I walked 2 miles and yesterday morning I walked 2 more. Last night I even met them back at the park and attempted to run with them. OH MY! I didn't make it too far before I had to bow out of that and settle for walking. I did complete the mile walking though, so that made 5 miles I'd gone in 2 days.

I don't think they're meeting tomorrow morning but Chris is taking the morning off so he can go to Gracie's school to eat lunch with her for "National School Cafeteria Week" (can you believe that's a real thing!?!) so I think he & I will go with Katie and walk. I really need to exercise~for multiple reasons~and I'm grateful for their encouragement. One of them said, "Atta girl!" as I left last night and kept telling me I'd done a good job even though I felt the running part was largely unsuccessful and the other one (who had completed running her mile & a half about the time I finished walking my 1 mile) called last night to say she was glad I'd come and encouraged me to beat what I'd done last time the next time I go. I think they may be running again tomorrow night so perhaps I'll join them for at least the first few feet before they take off & leave me in the dust! LOL I just hope I keep it up. It's not very enjoyable but something I know I need to do and I do feel good about myself when I've completed the exercise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just finished reading The Pact by Jodi Picoult. Kinda weird. Still not sure what I think about it. Anyone else read it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I emailed Meredith Efken yesterday. Awhile back she told me she'd send me a copy of her new book, @ Home for the Holidays when it came out after I raved about how much I liked SAHM I Am. She said she had just gotten some copies of the new book and asked for my address. I can't wait to get it and read it! The first one was a cute, fun read and I really enjoyed it!

We got lost in the maze!

Last night was a fun time for us. Just the 4 of us went to "Maize Quest at Clinton Sease Farm" and got lost! Of course, getting lost is the whole point of going to a corn maze and we did just that! It was fun and something we'd like to do again. I do think we'd like to go back without the girls next time though. They did really well but it was just real overwhelming after a little bit~for them and for us! We would like to go back with some couples friends and challenge the other couples. The loser could buy the winner dinner! (Alissa~I think you would really like doing this!) Chris teaches the teenagers on Wednesday nights and we also think it would be fun to take a group of them there and have 2 teams challenge each other.

We ended up cheating and asking one of the workers to lead us out. Even after we took off following him, we probably walked for 10-15 more minutes. We thought we were close to the end; guess we were wrong! I asked someone how long it typically takes someone to make their way out on their own and he said they tell people 1 1/2 hours. If someone wants to do all of the stations along the way, it could take 3 hours. I think 1 1/2 hours is pretty optimistic since I think we were in there at least an hour and were nowhere near finding our way out! Of course, the girls slowed us down some but they really were good little troopers throughout most of it.

Gracie enjoyed the "Marshmallow Maze" after we got out of the corn maze. It was hay bales wrapped in white plastic to look like marshmallows. They advertised a hayride but it didn't looke like they were running it last night while we were there. Since we started right about dark, lots of people were using flashlights. The girls enjoyed getting to play with ours. The moon was bright a lot of the time too which helped.

Before we started we were able to get some cute pictures of the girls on the hay bales. I just love Fall! I really wish we could find some sort of farm to pick pumpkins & apples and drink cider and do all those kinds of "fallish" things. I was thinking this place last night might be like that. It wasn't but it was still fun!

(I have more pictures to post but my Kodak program won't open right now. Maybe later.)

first real sports injury

Gracie got hurt in her soccer game tonight. She was playing goalie and had just made a really good save. She has been playing so well and we've been so proud of the way she has gone out there and given it her all. She plays hard and runs and gets in there to try kicking the ball and is aggressive and we love it! We're not usually ones to push for her to show aggression, but in the game of soccer it's okay to be a little aggressive. She's done great and it's been such fun to watch her and see this side of her. This has truly been a great experience for her.

She was going for another save but missed it. Apparently one of the players from the other team fell on top of her. I remember seeing her miss the save and then noticed that she was on the field crying with one of the coaches next to her. I said, "Should I go out there?" I didn't want to be the mommy who runs out there any time she merely falls down! My friend Melissa said, "yes." As I went out there, the coach (whom I "affectionately" refer to as the "mean" coach~he's actually just a parent and he's not really mean; he's just "tough" with them to try to teach them something) picked her up and was carrying her off the field. I should have known she was really hurt because I think if it had been no big deal that he would have encouraged her to keep going.

She was crying and when I took her, I saw that her mouth was full of blood! Chris started to take her from me and I told him we had to get her to the bathroom which was not very close to where we were. Her mouth was really full of blood so I stopped and told her to spit. Of course, being Gracie, she wouldn't do that. She started gagging on the blood at which point I handed her off to Chris and said I couldn't do it because I was afraid I was going to do worse than gagging if she kept that up! Melissa said she would watch Katie so we could both take her to the bathroom. I had blood all over my arm and Chris soon did too. A man (and I don't know who he was or even think that he was a parent from our team) asked if we needed water and handed us a water bottle. That helped alot because Gracie was able to take some water and then she would spit it out.

A parent from our team went to her car to see if she had something we could use and another mom brought us some ice in a bag. I was worried she had knocked out teeth but we finally determined that it was just her upper lip. We were still making our trek to the restroom and finally got there and were able to get cleaned up a little and get paper towels.

We got back to the game which was now over and Melissa had handed out the snacks I had bought for the night. I was grateful she did that. It just happened to be my night for snacks of course!

Gracie now has quite the busted, swollen upper lip! Chris & I both told her over & over how proud we were of her though! She was playing so hard and really giving it her all. I think I've said this before, but you really have to know her to know how significant this is! She has never been a real athletic, high energy girl so to see her out there running back & forth facing off against multiple players coming at her with a rapid moving soccer ball and watching her run up & down the field for quite a few minutes at a time, winded but not stopping, and to see the earnestness with which she concentrates while playing defense and when she gets a chance to kick the ball...well, it makes us proud! I'm sure every parent feels this same way about their own child, but I believe she is destined for greatness! Maybe not in the Olympics for playing soccer but that's not really the point. It's not so much about soccer itself but about her attitude & her determination. It's about the fact that after trying so hard she can say, "I'm proud of myself" and not mean it in a "braggy" way but just a matter of fact way.

These pictures don't really show what her lip looks like (and please ignore the fact that she needs to brush her teeth in one of those pictures!) I'm anxious to see what it looks like in the morning!

Dear Lord,
Thank you for the positive side of Gracie that playing soccer has brought out. Thank you for letting her injury be minor and thank you for all the people who rushed to help. Thank you for the man with the water bottle, the woman who went to her car, the woman who brought the ice, Melissa who watched Katie and handed out my snacks and the people who asked how she was doing when we got back to the field.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

Happy Birthday, twin cousin!

Happy Birthday to my "twin cousin," Andrea! (I'm one day late but considering that she never calls me back, I'd say it's okay!)

If anyone understands how much I love my Maw Maw, it's Andrea. I think she & I rival each other in being sentimental! Even though Maw Maw has been "gone" for almost 3 years now, I don't think Andrea & I could have a conversation without mentioning her.

Andrea rarely comments, but she tells me that she reads my blog, so just for her here are my Top 10 things I think of when I think of Andrea:

1. "battling" to see who would get Maw Maw's lap for hair playing time! She almost always made room for both of us!

2. going to Noble Park

3. packing my paper grocery bag with stuff to spend the night with her while I was visiting Maw Maw

4. playing with all the Barbies

5. playing computer games~especially Wheel of Fortune

6. playing pool

7. sighing when yet one more person would call me Andrea or her Jacinda

8. sighing when yet one more person would say, "Now, is this Sandy's or Randy's girl?" (My dad & her mom are twins.) She & I are about 4 1/2 years apart.

9. her dog Barkley attacking me!

10. I think of her often and can't wait for the day when Katie gets to meet her and Gracie gets to know her better. (This picture is from her wedding in October 2003.) I also can't wait for when we finally collaborate on our children's book!

I love you, Andrea! Happy Anniversary to you & your sweet husband Steve in 2 days also! You & Steve are just perfect for each other. I'm so glad God blessed you with him and him with you! May we both aspire to have loving marriages like Maw Maw & Granddad had!

ladylike tea party

Friday night Gracie's friend Hunter came over for awhile. His parents needed someone to watch him while they went somewhere and Gracie was oh so happy to help out! They had a good time playing. In this picture, they have completely emptied the toy box looking for a princess crown that I wanted them to find. Of course, no child can resist getting inside an empty toy box! (They didn't find the crown, though.)

Saturday morning we spent cleaning, straightening, organizing and throwing things out. I think we made some progress but there still seems to be way too much stuff in this house!

Saturday afternoon the girls had been invited to a tea party! It was so fun and so sweet for these people to host it. It was hosted by a couple at church who don't even have children and it was so kind of them to include Gracie & Katie. The table was set so pretty and the children had a great time swinging (which was oh so ladylike! LOL) and eating & drinking. Neither of my girls cared for the actual tea but the food they enjoyed! They had pb&J sandwiches, just pb sandwiches, cookies, mini cupcakes, tarts. They feasted well! They also did a craft where they used little foam stickers to decorate a frame. They printed out a picture for the girls to put in their frame.

The girls both left with a carnation and a goodie bag filled with treats. This was really a special time. I love it when people who have children love my girls but for someone who doesn't have children to love them and show it really warms my heart.

As you can see in the picture where Katie is doing her craft, she is about to fall out! She said, "I take a nap?" After we left, that's exactly what they both did! They both fell asleep for awhile. That evening, some friends came over for dinner. Dinner which Chris cooked! My friend & I took dinner to a lady while Chris watched all the kids, cooked dinner & listened to his cherished Red Raiders on the radio. Talk about multi-tasking! We had a good time letting the kids play and eating our chicken fried steak & fried potatoes. Yum!

Today was church, nap & Life Group. I don't mean to make church sound so routine. Sometimes I feel that it's routine and I'd like to change that. We talked this morning in my 1st/2nd grade class about "walking with God." The story was about Enoch, the man who walked with God. We brainstormed different ways we can walk with God each day and the kids had some really great ideas. I touched on baptism briefly. In talking about the different ways we can walk with God, and I think it was maybe when we mentioned obeying the Bible, I led them to answer baptism in reference to one way we obey the Bible. One of the girls has an older sister who is a Christian and I mentioned something about how as they study and get older & learn more, hopefully they will make that decision to commit to Christ (like the older sister had, along with many others) and will do what....Gracie & 1 other little girl immediately answered 'baptism.' It makes me happy to see our young ones learning and thinking about such things. I pray that we as parents will teach them according to God's Word so as to be pleasing to Him!

SYATP 2006

"See You at the Pole" was this morning at Gracie's school and there was a nice turnout. I was so impressed with the students who led. There was just something about seeing a big 5th grade boy in a football jersey raising his hands as he sang to God that got to me! Even though he wasn't my child, I felt pride for him. Silly maybe, but I felt it. When I saw another lady wiping her eyes, it got to me. When I saw the mom of the football boy with her eyes shining and saw the way his dad looked at him, it got to me. I believe it was "Here I Am to Worship" where some of the kids had movements that involved raising their hands during part of the song. Truly sweet to see.

I was just so impressed that he, and other boys & girls, were taking such leadership roles. There was just something about the football jersey that stood out to me. So many kids at that age try to "be cool" and act like they're too good for something like this and I thought it was great that he was so vocal about being a leader. SYATP is supposed to be "student-led" and the lady who organized it this year tried to really take that into account and the "service" was truly led by the students. I told Gracie and her friend Hunter that they would be the ones up there one year leading when the big kids leave to go across the street to the middle school. Of course, they said no and acted embarrassed but I have a feeling a time will come when both of them will be ready for leadership roles in something like SYATP. I hope so. I still consider myself quite conservative so I'm not sure what role I will pray for Gracie, as a girl, to have in a setting such as this, but there is some role she can have I'm quite sure. Of course, Chris told Hunter's dad that he'd have to be the one who played the guitar. I said, "Yeah, we don't have a guitar at our church, we don't know about those!" LOL

I'm thankful for the mother who coordinated this event and for the people who passed the word around. I have a friend who tells me that noone is perfect...no school, no family, no friendship and anyone who pretends that something is perfect is lying. I think she has a good point, so I won't tell you that the SYATP experience was perfect. There are some people who don't support it like I think they should; there are some people who don't encourage others to attend; there are some people who discourage some people to attend. My mind screams, "It's not fair!" "It's their right to be there." "Freedom of Speech; freedom of religion."

However, the mother who coordinated it had a good point. SYATP is not about making a stand. It's about being in prayer. So I'm thankful that we, as parents & students, were able to take this opportunity to be in prayer this morning. Gracie or I either one will try to say a prayer each morning on the way to school or before we leave the house, but this morning was a "special" time for this large gathering. I'm thankful that the names of all the classroom teachers, along with the principal & assistant principal, were read right before a prayer was said for the them.

I'm thankful for the discussions I had with 2 of my PTA friends later in the morning as we sat working on the Student Directories. We talked about where we go to church (1 Church of Christ, 1 Baptist, 1 Presbyterian). We talked about how we try to instill values in our children. We talked about some of the things we struggle with at our school and some of the good things about our school. We talked about fears we have for our children and times they've made us proud. The point is that we all 3 (I talked with them at separate times) have a faith in the same God & Christ. I'm thankful for that. We all believe a little differently and in my "strict Church of Christ background" I'm still not sure what to think about those differences and how to respond to them, but we all believe in the same God. We all struggle with similar things regarding our children and we all seek God to help us. I know that God is putting me in situations these days where I'm being made to think, really think. I'm still not sure exactly what I'm thinking, but I'm thinking. I'm thankful that so many good people who love God and are teaching their children to love God have been brought into my life through our experience with Gracie's school. I don't know if I'll become "good friends" with them or just "school friends" or even just "school acquaintances" but I'm thankful nonetheless. I love feeling like I walk away sometimes with something new to think about.

I'm thankful for the teachers who came to SYATP even though they weren't encouraged, and some may even say discouraged, to attend. (see above reference to the fact that it wasn't perfect). They impressed me so much and I want to somehow let them know that.

I'm thankful that the Student Directories were put in the teacher's boxes this afternoon! Yippee! I had lots of help today and we knocked them out. I'm so glad!!!!!!!!! Granted, I was at the school from 9:15-1:15 Monday; 12:15-2:15 yesterday; and 7:00-2:15 today (with a few breaks to take & pick up Katie from MDO), but they're done! *whew* I'm thankful that the assistant principal was nice enough to allow me to take Katie to the school with me since the room I was using was kind of isolated so Katie wouldn't be a distraction to the students. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have been able to work on it so much. I try to be very considerate about Katie when I'm at the school and don't take her to volunteer in the classroom because I know it's not the "time nor place." The room I was using for this project though was perfect for her to run around in and not be a distraction to anyone but the people in there and there weren't ever many of us in there. Those who were seemed to be fine with her being there. I was really proud of her because she behaved really well! Of course, when we went into the office to deliver the books she got a little rowdier but not too bad and we were probably only in there 20 minutes or so.

My life right now is "PTA mom" and I'm loving it! True, I get tired sometimes but I don't think I would have it any other way. Our President was helping me this morning and cut her finger and got blood on one of the books. She was laughing about putting her blood into the project. I referred to putting "blood, sweat & tears" into it and told her that I did shed some tears Sunday when we were trying to get it all into the computer the right way! I'm thankful that I'm able to be a stay-at-home mom who can volunteer at Gracie's school. I enjoy being there. There and at home with my girls & Chris is exactly where I want to be right now! I was thinking about that when I was colating over & over and getting a little overwhelmed with it all. I thought, "You know, this is just where I want to be right now. I wouldn't change a thing." Katie behind me playing happily and eating snacks at "Sissy's school" while I worked. True, she is having a different toddlerhood than Gracie whose life consisted pretty much of church, home and playgroup! Katie lives in the van alot more but that's okay! Different doesn't have to mean bad!

I'm just trying to be thankful for things in my life. I don't always do a good job of that, but I'm trying. (I'm thankful that Chris gets to go to a "real" football game tomorrow night because I know he's excited about it!)

Thank you God for all of my blessings. Help me to be a positive example to those I come into contact with. Thank you for the precious children who lead prayers & sang songs this morning. Thank you for their faith & their boldness in sharing it with all who were at the school. I pray that my own children will be so bold as they grow. I pray that I will be, too.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

See You at the Pole

See You at the Pole is tomorrow morning at 7:05 at Gracie's school, and many others around the country. Please pray that many will be in attendance and that God will be glorified and lives will be touched positively. Pray that hearts will be softened if they need to be. God is everywhere; may all Christians share their faith boldly and encourage each other to do so! (Thanks to JettyBetty for posting about this on her blog which prompted me to mention it on my own as well.)

Jack Sprat.......

Friday: Parent's Night Out! One of the Life Groups from church hosted this event and it was great! Chris & I went out to a "fancy" restaurant that we wouldn't typically take our kids to. There were kids there so it's not like it was extremely fancy but it wouldn't be our first choice to take our kids to. We then wondered what to do with the rest of our evening! We got some Starbucks (Pumpkin Spice Latte~yum!) but our only Starbucks is in our Kroger so that's not real "date-like." Then we drove around and ended up going to Goody's where we ran into some friends then also saw Adam & Alissa driving through the parking lot! We just hung out for the rest of the evening. Even though it wasn't very eventful, we enjoyed it...just being together without the kids around. We love our girls but it's nice to take a break every now & then. I've included a picture Gracie drew of us on our date. No comments please that I'm drawn like a large triangle while Chris is drawn as a skinny person....like he is! She was quite intrigued by this whole "Parent's Night Out" thing. You can tell we don't go out much! Of course, the girls had a blast playing at the church building and eating pizza and watching a movie with their friends!

Saturday: I went to a Ladies' Brunch that morning. That was really nice and yummy! Waaay too many choices. It was fun to have this time with different ladies from church and my friend Mary Beth came also. That afternoon I worked on my Sunday School lesson and then took Gracie & a friend to a birthday party at Build-A-Bear. That was fun! The party concluded at the little girl's house where the kids had alot of fun running around playing and eating cupcakes.

Sunday: We had church that morning where I am continuing to really enjoy teaching the 1st & 2nd graders. It's a small group...usually 3, but only 2 this Sunday. I am having alot of fun and I love getting to see firsthand what Gracie is learning. I'm so proud of how well she does with learning!

That afternoon, Chris & I worked on the Student Directory I'm putting together for Gracie's school. OH MY GOODNESS! I never in my life imagined how much work this would be. The way we were putting it together involved having to combine different classes on different sheets and then we'd (I'd) forget a class and we'd have to move classes to other sheets then I'd print them off then I'd have to move things over and print again then he'd have to make the font a different color then I'd have to proofread to catch any mistakes. This was all after I'd typed in the about 663 names then proofread and found way too many mistakes then made sure everyone was in the right class then made any corrections the teachers found on their rough drafts. Do those last couple of sentences sound like run-ons? Well, that's how my last 24 hours or so have felt!

I really was stressed yesterday about 5:00. I actually sent Chris & the girls to Life Group without me. I felt really guilty but I just felt like I had to get that part done before I went crazy.

Monday: This morning Mary Beth & I met at the school office around 9:00 to make the copies. 4 1/2 hours later we were done. We made roughly 750 copies of 9 different pages, front & back. 13,500 copies. Thank goodness for Rizographs that go fast! Still, it took forever! Not to mention a couple of glitches with the machine resetting when we didn't know it had and then it saying we had "gone over our limit" as far as the number of copies we were allowed to make.

We left the school around 1:15 to pick up Katie. Another lady was in the lounge beginning the task of colating 750 sets of directories. I may go in tomorrow to work on it then also on Wednesday I think some of us may work on whatever needs to be finished. They will also need to be stapled down the middle. I am grateful for MB helping me make copies (I literally would have gone crazy if I'd been doing it by myself.) I'm also grateful for the lady who began colating today! This is not a job to do by yourself! Both of these ladies had offered to type as well.

Right now I'm waiting on a friend to come over with her children. Her son & Gracie have a soccer game tonight. Chris has a test he needs to study for, so he's going to watch her girls & Katie while she & I take the big kids to the game. That way, she gets a little bit of a break and he can study for a test. He has this ability to tune out the kids playing so he will actually be able to study with 3 children 3 & under in the house! LOL My friend & I plan to stop at Starbucks on the way to the game too!

Tonight I plan on veggin' out!

first field trip

Gracie had her first "real" field trip today! I say "real" because she went on one in preschool but I went with her and drove her in our own car. Today, she went without me and rode on the school bus and everything! I was nervous I will readily admit, but she did great! They went to a Science Center and saw a planeterium show and also learned about rocks. I wanted to be a chaperone but Mrs. Stauffer said she had so many parents volunteer for field trips that she just had to draw names out of a hat. Yesterday after school she emailed me and said there was a possibility that they were going to be short 1 chaperone because one of the teacher aides was sick. If she'd been sick again today I would have been able to go. Alas, she was well today. Good for her but bad for me!

While Mary Beth and I were waiting to pick up our kids today, one of the other moms from class came over to talk to us. She had been on the field trip with them. She is a very nice lady who is outgoing and always real sweet to Gracie. She went on & on & on about how well the kids behaved. She had so many complimentary things to say about Gracie! She said something about her being just like a little grown-up which is funny because it's true. My mom was the same way as a child and I can be that way too. Apparently, Gracie and her little girl hung out the whole time. She said Gracie & Lakenya held hands almost the whole time and Lakenya kept saying she had to take care of Gracie and she wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her. Her mom made mention of how wonderful it was that Gracie & Lakenya don't "see" the obvious difference between themselves. Gracie is white & Lakenya is black. It is so true and something that I am so grateful for! I even wrote about this "color blindness" once before. She said she wanted to talk about them to the whole school and say "this is the way it should be!"

Lakenya's mom said "Some of these adults can be such fools!" referring to the way adults can be so prejudiced and I think she's 100% right. I don't understand how some people can forget that God made every single one of us and He decided on our skin color! He loves us all just the same! I have sat & listened to people~even friends & people in my extended family~who will say such racist things and it just kills me. It's like they say everything but the exact words..."I think I'm better than that person because I'm white and they're __________" Even though they don't say those words, the meaning behind what they are saying is crystal clear.

I'm so proud of Lakenya & Gracie for being friends despite their difference and I hope I will always be a good example to my girls of how everyone is loved by God....not just white people!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I volunteered to do the Student Directory for Gracie's school. Why??!?! Because it was mentioned in one of our board meetings that it needed to be done, noone volunteered, so I said, "I''ll do it!" Yeah, good move on my part, huh?!?" We have a little over 650 students so this week I typed in their names & the phone numbers of those who consented. I checked my list against the class rosters and the teachers were given a rough draft to check for any corrections that needed to be made. I should be getting those back by tomorrow. I was supposed to get some today but for some reason the teacher representative didn't send them home to me. *argh* If I don't get them all back by tomorrow, I think I'm going to have to go around to the classes and ask the teacher for their list. I have to have them back to make my corrections this weekend because I'm meeting others in the office Monday morning to start running copies and getting it put together. No small task. I'm having to arrange childcare for Katie so it's not like I can just hop into the school to work on it at any time. I'm so hoping it works out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tonight I'm going to a "Grey's Anatomy" premiere party at a friend's house. Tomorrow night one of our Life Groups is sponsoring a "Parent's Night Out" from 6:30-10:30. Whoo hoo! Free babysitting!!!!!! Saturday morning there is a Ladies' Brunch at church. Saturday afternoon I'm taking Gracie and a friend to a Build-A-Bear birthday party. It'll be a busy but fun weekend!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Lord,
Thank you for letting Gracie have a fun & safe time on her field trip! I was a little worried and you took care of her just like I asked. Thank you! Thank you that children are so much more loving at times than we as adults are. I pray that you will help my children to love & accept everyone regardless of their color, race, background or socio-economic status. Help them to love You enough that they want to share You with everyone they meet. Jesus is what matters, as one of my friends likes to say! Help my children to know that! Help them to know what is important and what is not. I don't want them to accept things as being okay if they're not but there are so many things that just don't matter and I believe skin color is one of those things when it comes to who they can or cannot be friends with! Help Chris & I to be good examples to them! Help us to model for them the way they should act.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

The Amazing Race

Well, you know what they say about South Carolina's education, right? It doesn't rank up there with the best. Tonight's premiere of "The Amazing Race" didn't help that thought I don't think!

Chris & I both love this show, and I was excited about the premiere. Little did I know until earlier in the day that the Dallas Cowboys were playing at the exact same time. It didn't take me more than a second to realize who was going to win this one. My husband loves the Cowboys so much that if Katie had been a boy, her middle name was going to be 'Dallas.' We actually know a precious little girl at church named Dallas~for the same reason...her daddy is a huge Cowboys fan!

Anyway, Chris taped my show for me and after balancing the checkbook (why is there never enough?!?!) I watched it on the computer while he finished up his football game. One of the teams I was interested in watching was a team of 2 cheerleaders from the University of South Carolina which is located in a town not far from here.

Of course, the cheerleaders are being portrayed as you would expect, as are the beauty queens, the Kentucky coal miners and the "alternate lifestyle" couple. All 12 teams pretty well fit into a stereotype. At one point, the cheerleaders walked up to the team that was comprised of 2 Muslim men. One of the cheerleaders reached out her hand to shake the hand of one of the men. He politely declined saying something about not shaking hands because of his religion. I don't know what that was all about because they didn't show his whole reply.

The part they showed later was the part that makes South Carolina look really bad! One of the cheerleaders looks at the other one and asks under her breath, "Do Muslims believe in Buddha?" The other one replies, "I don't know."

I don't claim to know much about either Muslims or Buddhists, but I think I could have at least answered that question for the poor girl.

I can't find anything!!!

I've heard of Spring cleaning. I guess this is what you call Fall cleaning! Chris decided today was the day to clean out & organize the shed. As much as I'm not enjoying it, it did need to be done. I needed to find Gracie's old clothes to see what Katie already has to wear this Fall. I also lend out some of Gracie's other clothes to a friend's daughter and I needed to get to those. Finding those was going to be hard since I'd have to step over a lawnmower, a tricycle, a bicycle, a weed blower, a chain saw, etc. to get to the tubs of clothes. I think you get the picture!

So far, I have a clothes pile to go through, a book pile (some to sell on Ebay, some to add to Gracie's bookcase and some to donate to Gracie's classroom if Mrs. Stauffer wants them) and a garage sale pile. There are alot of other piles out there too...I'm just not sure what they stand for!

Please tell me that someone else out there is as disorganized as we are!

life is better

Today is better...thank goodness! I guess maybe now I feel like writing it all out. I don't write this to embarrass Gracie but since this blog is a journal of our lives, I guess this needs to be in it!

A brief synopsis: Gracie has a bad habit of waiting until the last minute to go to the bathroom. We get onto her alot for this. When I say "alot," I don't mean daily, weekly or even monthly but it still seems like alot for a child her age.

In Kindergarten she had at least 2 "accidents" at school It seems like maybe there was a 3rd but I can't think of it. They were both during the 1st semester and were handled appropriately with care & gentleness by her teachers & aides.

Well, this week she had an accident at school. *sigh* No one wants to be the parent of the child who wets their pants at school. We all know how kids can be and I had these visions of children taunting her mercilessly. It was Tuesday afternoon right before school got out. Apparently it was literally like 10-15 minutes before school got out. I was standing on the sidewalk next to my friend Mary Beth waiting for our kids. We saw Mrs. Stauffer walking down the sidewalk towards us. We both kind of thought it was strange because she doesn't usually bring the kids out; a different teacher does.

I couldn't fully see her so I asked MB, "She doesn't have one of our children by the hand does she?" She said no. Well, she was walking straight towards me and pointed at me and said, "I need to talk to you." You've got to understand. Gracie is not a perfect child, but she is certainly not one who causes the kind of trouble that makes the teacher come out for an "on the spot" conference. I said, "Am I in trouble?!?" She said no but asked for me to step over away from the group of parents.

She explained that apparently Gracie had needed to go to the bathroom during math time but knew that they weren't supposed to ask to go during "direct teaching" time. (As a former teacher, I understand the rule because the students could miss alot & potentially be disturbing if they're getting up during this time.) I guess she raised her hand with the little "signal" they have after the direct teaching was over. However, Mrs. Stauffer didn't see her because she was busy getting the take-home folders ready. Now, most other kids probably would have said the teacher's name to get her attention but not Gracie. By the time Mrs. Stauffer noticed she had her hand up, Gracie stood up to go and it was too late.

I really feel like Gracie didn't necessarily wait until the last minute this time but just had bad timing with when she needed to go. However, she probably could have gone at any number of times during the day and just didn't do it. I also feel like she probably could have been a bit more "aggressive" with letting the teacher know that she had her hand up. However, what's done is done. Mrs. Stauffer told them that if it's a real emergency, they can just go.

Mrs. Stauffer had given Gracie a pair of gym shorts to wear (size medium ADULT!) Gracie had rolled them over at the waist like we do with her soccer practice shorts so that they weren't quite so big. I asked Mrs. Stauffer if everyone laughed at her. She said no and she would have really "chewed them up" (I believe was the phrase) if they had. She said they talked about how no one is perfect, etc. Mrs. Stauffer was very kind about it all and I was very happy that she'd come out to tell me about it in person. If Gracie had walked out in those shorts and I didn't know what had happened, I would have been mad!

So, that was part 1 of the bad thing. I'm embarrassed. Gracie was embarrassed. We talked to her alot about how she shouldn't wait 'til the last minute. She should have made sure Mrs. Stauffer knew it was an emergency. She needs to go during the day so that she doesn't get to that emergency point, etc.

Here's part 2 of the bad thing. Well, that night we were continuing our discussion. I decided to try some "scare tactics" with her. I said, "Gracie, some kids will be mean and they will laugh." She said, "Mrs. Stauffer said X laughed." (X is not the kid's real name...it's being used to protect his privacy!) Well, I was shocked b/c X is her friend and that just didn't seem logical that he would be the one to laugh. I questioned her about it and she kind of laughed and said, "Mrs. Stauffer said X laughed and she had to get him." She wasn't particularly upset about it but it bothered me.

X's mom has always told me to let her know if he ever does anything to Gracie b/c she would want to know so she could correct the situation. I've told her the same about Gracie. So, I emailed her and told her what Gracie said. She emailed back shortly and said, "X said he did not laugh. L did. I'm going to call her (the teacher.)" So she & I talked back & forth about it and how this story just didn't make much sense. She called Mrs. Stauffer but had to leave a message.

All during the evening, I wondered if Mrs. Stauffer would call her back and what she would say. Finally, X's mom called me back and said that Mrs. Stauffer had said X did not laugh. Another child had laughed and maybe he had smiled at that but he did not laugh at Gracie. Well, that was good. However, in the back of my mind I couldn't figure out why Gracie had said that Mrs. Stauffer had said that X had laughed. It just didn't make sense to me.

Chris was so nonchalant about it. He just figured there was an explanation. He felt no need to find out what the explanation was. I on the other hand was going crazy. I believed X. I believed Mrs. Stauffer. So it appeared that Gracie was lying. That didn't make sense either though. X is her friend so why would she try to get him in trouble? It's not like her to blatantly lie like that. It's not that she's never been dishonest, but this would have been a pretty outright lie and it just didn't line up with Gracie's character. She had said it so matter of factly that it just seemed like fact, but X & Mrs. Stauffer's stories weren't coinciding with Gracie's.

I went to bed but woke up with that icky feeling in my stomach of something not being quite right. I had a tummy ache too! I knew Chris wanted me to drop it, but I just couldn't. After he left for work, I started questioning Gracie about it. We went 'round & round with her saying she "thought" she'd heard Mrs. Stauffer say X's name, etc. I got onto her & told her that saying something as fact when she just "thought" it, was like telling a lie and she knows better, blah blah blah. I said something about how she had told us that as if Mrs. Stauffer had looked her in the face and said it. She said, "She did." I repeated it and asked had she looked her in the face and said, "X laughed and I had to get him." She said, "yes." I know everyone wants to think the best of their child but I truly felt like she was telling the truth. As much as she was gonna get it if she was lying, I was also going to stick up for her 'til the bitter end if she was telling the truth!

I was completely unprepared to go inside the school that morning but I did anyway. I threw some make up on and grabbed Katie, barefeet & all (Katie was barefoot~not me!) and we took off for school. I had planned to just go through carline, but I knew I had to find out the real story. We went into her classroom and I said, "I have a question." Mrs. Stauffer said, "okay." Then, I immediately burst into tears! I was so embarrassed! I was so not planning for that to happen! (I guess we know where Gracie gets her dramatic nature from, huh?!?!)

I said, "I just have to know what happened." Mrs. Stauffer was very motherly and hugged us both and listened intently. I said, "Okay. I know X's mom called you. We're friends. I know you said X didn't laugh and that's fine. Whether he did or not is not really the point right now." I took a deep breath and looked over at the bathroom (and her teenage son who is sitting in the rocking chair watching me make a fool of myself!!!) and said, "But she said that you came into the bathroom and said, 'X laughed and I had to get him.' I don't understand!"

She said that yes, she had said that to Gracie. Apparently, L had laughed (who happened to walk into the classroom at that moment! Mrs. Stauffer asked her to step out. She really is a sweet girl!) X sits near L and he had laughed at HER! Mrs. Stauffer had gotten on to X for laughing at L because she said no one needed to laugh at anyone for any reason. Then apparently she told Gracie that X had laughed and she'd gotten onto him but Gracie didn't realize that he hadn't laughed at her. She had gotten the statement out of context.

I sighed with relief and said, "So, you did say that to Gracie, but X hadn't laughed at HER, he had laughed at L!" She said, "yes." *sigh* I explained that I'd worried about this all night and I'd gotten onto Gracie for being dishonest but she was adamant about Mrs. Stauffer having said it and it all just didn't add up. Mrs. Stauffer apologized for not being clear and to please never worry about something all night but just to call her. She handed me a tissue, told Gracie she could get unpacked for the day and I had a little hug & kiss time with her before I left. I apologized for thinking that she was lying and said I really didn't think she would lie about it but it just hadn't made sense, etc. Then I left. My mouth was very dry from being nervous, I was still embarrassed at having cried but relieved that my baby hadn't been dishonest about the whole situation.

Seriously, I was so drained from this whole thing. I had just known in my heart that something wasn't right about the whole situation. I couldn't rest easy until I knew what had happened. I am so thankful that no one had been dishonest! As for L laughing at Gracie....well, kids will be kids. She really is a sweet girl. I'm sure it would be hard for any 6 year old not to laugh in a situation like this. I have not heard of one other child who laughed about it. Gracie has not complained about anyone teasing her. I went in to work with her class later that morning (which added to my embarrassment because I had to face Mrs. Stauffer a mere hour and a half later!) and not one child mentioned the incident to me.

Chris & I were very surprised that Gracie didn't seem to be more embarrassed about it. Chris said, "I don't know why she's not saying she wants to stay home from school tomorrow?!?!?" I guess she's still innocent enough about life not to worry about it. Thankfully, like I said, she hasn't complained about anyone teasing her at all! She really is just a good kid with a great attitude (most of the time) who can go with the flow and is just happy. (Don't get me wrong; she has her moments!)

Today I sent a note to Mrs. Stauffer apologizing for being so emotional and thanking her for helping us sort it all out. I stressed to her how much Chris & I want to support her throughout this school year; how we're Gracie's advocates and we'll make sure she gets what she needs, but we appreciate all she does as Gracie's teacher. Chris had been concerned that I'd been too defensive and made it seem like I was upset with her and I wanted to clear up that I wasn't upset with her at all. Here is how she replied:

Jacinda,
There is absolutely no reason for you to feel that you need to
apologize for anything. You are Gracie's advocate and as such you need
to do what you feel is in her best interest. I did not feel like you
were questioning how I handled the situation. I appreciate that you
came to me and gave me the opportunity to clear any misunderstandings up
between Gracie and myself. I again want to thank you for coming in
yesterday and working with the children.
Have a great day.
*** Stauffer

I am so thankful that Mrs. Stauffer is the kind of teacher who is open to having parents come to her with concerns. I am so thankful that this incident was resolved in a good way. I am so thankful that my baby wasn't dishonest about the situation. I know she's going to have moments of dishonesty in her life and she will hopefully learn from those moments, but this wasn't one of those moments. I am hopeful that Gracie won't have anymore accidents. She just needs to be more mindful of going to the bathroom more often so she doesn't get to the emergency point.

So, I guess that synopsis wasn't so brief, huh?

Dear Lord,

Thank you for letting this situation be resolved. Thank you for letting Mrs. Stauffer be sensitive to how I was feeling. Please help Gracie to do better with not waiting too late to go to the bathroom. Thank you for not letting her be made fun of~at least not too much. Thank you for the good attitude that Gracie has about school and friends. Thank you that she enjoys school so much and is learning so much! Thank you for all of the blessings we have from all the different areas of our lives. Please help us to recognize & appreciate them. Please help us to look for opportunities to share You with others.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen

doozy of a day

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life....Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6:25a; 27

Today was a doozy! Well, last night was too to be honest.

I really don't feel like writing it all out, but suffice it to say that I didn't sleep well last night and woke up with a tummy ache. Everything seems to be fine now; the girls are good; Chris is wonderful; I'm just a worrier who can't let things go easily. I tend to keep harping on it until I feel it's resolved. Chris on the other hand was fine with the whole situation well before he went to sleep last night. How can men do that?!?! (It didn't have anything to do with him by the way.) So....a couple of conversations and a few tears later, everything was better. Still, with the rain and all that happened this morning, it seems like a good day to curl up with a good book and read.

God is a hero!

I just experienced a wonderful moment with my sweet 6 year old little girl.

In her folder today, a note came home titled "Heroes." The note went on to explain that Monday would be the 5th anniversary of 9/11 and that they would be talking about heroes. It asked us to talk with our child about what a hero is and that we could start with Super Heroes and then just talk about everyday heroes. They said they would be watching a video and doing a few activities including a writing activity about who our child's favorite hero is.

I talked to Gracie about this note. She wasn't sure what a hero was so I explained it to her by saying it was someone who would help when someone was sick or hurt or someone who would protect someone from being hurt. I kind of felt like I was floundering for a really great definition. We talked about Super Heroes and pulled on her experiences watching her little friends Avery & Aidan pretend to be Super Heroes. From that experience we came up with Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Mr. & Mrs. Incredible and Dash.

We then started to talk about everyday heroes and I mentioned firemen. I told her that Mrs. Stauffer was going to want her to write about her favorite hero. Her response made me give her a huge hug and be so proud of her!

She said, "God is a hero because He died on the cross to save us from our sins!"

I told her yes and that she can write about Him next week if she wants to. I so hope she does! (I did elaborate a little on the fact that it was Jesus who actually died and that He is God's son, but after all, they are 3-in-1 right? Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit!)

I am just so happy that God is who she thought of as a hero. Isn't He the best hero of all?!?!!

too wholesome?

We went to Atlanta over the weekend and had lots of fun! We got home Monday afternoon and the girls & I crashed. It was fun but tiring!

Tuesday was Wal Mart shopping day! I bought so many groceries, Katie had to walk next to me out of the store because she wouldn't fit into the grocery cart!

Yesterday Chris took off work to help take care of the girls & me because I've been sick. Just really feeling awful. I went to the doctor and he said it may just be viral, blah blah blah. I think it's allergies/sinuses. Whatever it is, I felt bad. He gave me a prescription for Zyrtec which seems to have helped although I still don't feel great. Chris took Katie to her first Mother's Day Out of the year yesterday and she did great! (I was supposed to go volunteer for Gracie's class~had it all planned out with her teacher~but being sick, I had to cancel. I was very sad about it!) He also took Gracie to school & picked her up. I'm so grateful that his job is such that he can take off for things like taking care of a puny wife!

Today is our playgroup day but I just didn't feel like going. I feel better but not great and with such a stopped up head I didn't feel like sitting in a room with a bunch of preschoolers running around. I needed to go to the post office to mail some things I've sold on Ebay. I'd put it off too long. I also ran to the bank then went to Blockbuster. I'd been wanting to watch "High School Musical" and "Akeelah and the Bee." I also picked up "RV." It looks funny. We'll see. While there I decided to look at the t.v. series that they rent. I chose to rent the first season of "The Waltons." I know, I know, maybe that's a little geeky but I love them!

When I checked out, the guy said, "Oh, you got the Waltons" with an amused tone. I said, "Yeah, my husband will love it. He can play on the computer while I watch it." He kind of chuckled and shook his head and said, "too wholesome." I just kind of laughed. Really though, is there such a thing as too wholesome? I wanted to go pick out some of the smut they rent and ask him which he'd rather me rent to watch while my 2 year old & 6 year old are in & out of the room! He probably doesn't care either way but honestly, I don't think it's such a bad thing to watch something wholesome. Good grief!

When I was putting Katie into the car, I did the stupidest thing! I had put her in then went to open my door all the way to get into the driver's seat. I opened the door right into my face! and hard! Katie said, "Okay Mommy?" I'm even wearing my glasses today and I just knew I had broken them and given myself a black eye. So far, I don't see a bruise on me and the glasses seemed to have escaped too much damage although they do seem to be sitting on my face a little crooked. How embarrassing! Talk about geeky!

Tonight Gracie plays soccer against one of her best friends! That is, if it doesn't rain! Tuesday they played about 10 minutes and then it started pouring! Hard, large, really wet raindrops! We didn't park anywhere near the field either. UGH I had a PTA Board meeting that night. 2 hours of fun! (HA!) Really, it wasn't bad just kind of tedious talking about all the details that we needed to discuss. I am feeling more & more like I "belong" although still a little like a "newbie." Everyone is nice and ready to offer me help when I need it.

A couple of us at school are starting to talk about "See You at the Pole"which will be held on Wednesday, September 27th. I ask for your prayers that this event will be a positive, uplifting experience for all involved and that God will be glorified!

Tomorrow is Grandparents' Day at school and I'm making some mini muffins for the breakfast. I don't think I'm helping serve simply because I'll have Katie with me and she won't be much help! I told them I could stay if they're desperate for help but I made it clear that Katie would have to be with me. (The breakfast is from7:30-8:00 and MDO doesn't open until 8:45 so that isn't an option.)

Tomorrow night Gracie has a sleepover "camp out" birthday party for a friend. I know she'll have a blast and come home exhausted! Saturday Katie has a birthday party to go to. In a few weeks Gracie has another birthday party to go to. It's a blessing to have so many friends.

Well, I guess I'll go watch a little "John Boy" and ice my black eye! HA!