I Must Give Thanks

It seems like I've done nothing but whine this week. I haven't accomplished what I wanted to do, no time, too many meetings, etc. All this whining has covered up all the things I should be grateful for this week. So to start off my weekend that will eventually lead to the first day of school, I'm going to count my blessings.

1. Grace ran into her babysitter's arms on Monday morning. (Going back to work wasn't too hard, since I knew she was happy.)
2. Grace ran into MY arms when I picked her up Monday afternoon. (I needed that.)
3. I set up my classroom the week before, so it could have been a lot worse this week.
4. Smaller class sizes this year
5. College Football starts
6. Grace slept in today.
7. I've heard nothing but wonderful things about our new principal.
8. Hurricane Earl did not bother us. (I can handle the 1/2 inch of rain he left.)
9. The new teacher I am mentoring has some great ideas and is going to have a wonderful year.
10. Grace and I have had fun painting and cooking.
11. I love sharing my dessert with her.
12. It's not 105 degrees anymore.
13. I find it hilarious that Matt is fighting from singing along to The Wiggles. I knew it would only be a matter of time. Fruit Salad anyone?
14. It's a three day weekend, and I get to spend it all with Grace.

Crankapotamus In the House

My day started out great. I took Grace to the zoo. She was fascinated with the meerkats, roared at the lions, laughed for a good five minutes at the squirrel monkeys, and booed like a cow. (Not a typo. In Grace's world, cows boo.)

We came home and had lunch. Let's rephrase that. I tried to feed Grace lunch, but my happy girl was turning into a crankapotamus. I tried for a nap.

The screams and cries were endless.

Took her back downstairs. Cranky. I needed a nap.

Matt took her. I napped. Still cranky. Daddy tried a nap. No go yet again.

No nap = crankapotamus

This Summer

This summer I made a to do list for our family. I came across the idea on an awesome blog called Whatever. From the first day of summer, we have been working on this list:

1. zoo
2. paint
3. blow bubbles
4. aquarium
5. visit Aunt Sarah in Montgomery
6. family pictures
7. Tiny Tot Time @ the library on Tuesdays
8. Outer Banks
9. Anniversary trip to Savannah
10. visit Grandma and Grandpa Shemanski, Aunt Paula and Landon, Aunt Mallory, and more relatives in Michigan
11. Pirate Program @ library
12. Meet Maisy @ library
13. Mallory's bridal shower
14. Read 2010-2011 VA Reader Choice Books for Middle School
15. run in the sprinkler at Grandpa and Grandma's house
16. play with Landon
17. go to the beach
18. sleepover @ Grandma & Grandpa Moyer's house
19. Read Sookie Stackhouse series
20. visit Blizzard, the albino deer, at City Park
21. Go flower girl dress shopping w/ Aunt Mallory
22. Walk with Grandpa Shemanski
23. Bingo w/ Mom, Aunt Kris, and Paula
24. bonfire w/ smores
25. Aunt Mallory and soon-to-be Uncle Caleb visit us
26. pool party @ Karin's house
27. play date w/ Bree
28. Toddler Time @ library on Wednesdays

We have one week left before our summer vacation ends, and we report back to school next Monday for a week of meetings and staff development. I have checked off every single thing except: Outer Banks, reading Sookie, and reading VA Reader Choice. The Outer Banks is just not going to happen. I'm tired of traveling. Even though it is a little over an hour to get there, and we only wanted to spend the day at the dunes, I just want to be home. That leaves 14 books to read before Monday. I have 9 out of the 10 Sookie books to read, and 5 of the 10 VA Reader Choice.

I better get reading.

Ramblings

I feel like rambling.

I find it scary that MY MP3 player has The Best of The Wiggles on it. Grace is taking over everything.
I have procrastinated making banana bread yet again.
I'm thankful for the cloudy day today (and having lived in Michigan where it's cloudy nine months of the year that is saying a lot).
It makes me smile when Grace makes her animal noises. She has mastered dog, cat, and lion/tiger. Cows boo instead of moo in her world, and she just says duck or fish.
I'm watching Deadliest Catch as I type.
I need a new book to read.
I need to buy new pots and pans.
I need to find 8 storage crates.
I need a baby shower gift.
I believe I will be going shopping tomorrow.

It's sad that for the past 3 days it has been 105 degrees, and I have to plan to pack flannel pajamas and sweatshirts for our trip to Michigan. Hello Frozen Tundra aka my parent's basement.

I'm tired and my arms feel like Jello from helping a co-worker move bookcases and books into her new classroom. Lots of books! Lots!
I'm glad it wasn't me that got stuck in the elevator at school today.
I wish I wasn't thinking about school already.
I can't believe my sister has already started Christmas shopping.

I think my gel pillows are calling me.
Night!

Running Through My Head

Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy
Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy
Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy
Yummy Yummy
Yummy Yummy
Fruit Salad!

Let's make some fruit salad today (Uh huh uh)
It's fun to do it the health way (Uh huh uh)
Take all the fruit that you want to eat
It's gonna be a fruit salad treat!

Peel your bananas
The second step
Toss in some grapes
The third step
Cut up some apples
Chop up some melons
And put them on your plate

Now we've made it, It's time to eat it (Uh huh uh)
It tastes so good that you just can't beat it (Uh huh uh)
Give everyone a plate and a spoon
We'll all be eating it very soon!

The first step
Eat up the banana
The second step
Eat up some grapes
The third step
Eat up some apples
Eat the melons
Now there's nothing on your plate

Now we've had our fruit salad today (Uh huh uh)
It's time to put the scraps away (Uh huh uh)
Wash the bowls and wash the spoon
Let's do it all again real soon!

Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy
Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy
Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy
Yummy yummy yummy yummy
Fruit Salad!

It's Been a Goldfish Kind of Night

My darling daughter has a habit of pulling everything out of her diaper bag. That is the pockets that are open because there aren't any zippers and the occassional time I forget to zip the thing. Sometimes she puts everything back with a few extras (like my cell phone), but most of the time you can tell where she's been by the piles and piles of stuff scattered over every surface.

Tonight was a night in which I forgot to zip. See where this is going? "Fish, fish," I heard coming from the dining room. Since she already had them in her hand, I told her she needed to sit down, which she did instantly, to eat her fish. And there she sat, quite content, eating her Goldfish. Well, that is until she started shaking the bag.

Then I saw my newly vacuumed carpet completely covered in an entire bag of rainbow Goldfish. I thought it was sweet she started picking them up again, but that didn't last long because soon I heard the shaking of the bag until every last Goldfish was back on the floor. And as soon as she saw all of the Goldfish was on the floor, she proceeded to eat them again.

Is It Really Summer?

Since the last day of school, we have been on the go.  Our first stop was Montgomery, Alabama to visit Matt’s sister Sarah and her husband Chris.  Since Grace has flown before, I thought her travels would be the same – people watch like crazy in the airport and then sleep on the plane.  Silly me.  My child decided she wanted to people watch everywhere.  I think I got a 30 minute out of her on the last flight.  She would rather play peek-a-boo with the people sitting in front of us and behind us.  She also apparently loves to read Sky Mall and where the nearest exits are on the information booklet. 

Grace loved Aunt Sarah’s dogs.  I knew she would bark because she does it at home, but her barks were nonstop.  We also went to the Montgomery Zoo twice.  Why?  It was free.  How?  We have a membership to the Virginia Zoo, and that gets us into other zoos for free or a reduced price.  I have to say the Montgomery Zoo rocks.  Everything was shaded. (I guess you have to be in the deep South.)  And you get to be really close to the animals.    We also went swimming every day.  With Grace’s nonexistent sleeping, we figured out pretty early (day one) that we needed to tucker her out to get some sleep out of her.  She loved the pools and the water park thingy (bunch of different sprinkler things shooting up and all around).  On the last day we went swimming in the morning and in the evening.

And a trip isn’t complete without a flight snafu.  Ours happened to be a canceled flight leaving us stranded in Charlotte.  They got us a new flight immediately to Norfolk, but our car was in Newport News.  Can you tell how much I love this?  Matt’s mom picked us up and brought us home, and then Grace, my sister, and I drove the next day to get the car.

Oh, yeah.  Did I mention that my sister and her fiancé arrived for their visit on the night we returned home?  That first night was rough just because of my lack of sleep, but we had a great time too.  We spent one morning at the beach, one day at the aquarium, one at the zoo, and did some shopping.  Grace is going to be the flower girl in Mallory’s wedding in November, so we went dress shopping.  We found the cutest dress at Dillard's – ivory w/ light brown hem on the bottom and waist w/ a bow.  I had to buy a 3T.  (EEK!)  My child is 14 months.  I knew we needed room to grow, so I started with a 2T, but there wasn’t much room.

We are now home for a month with no visitors until the end of July.  I’m trying to get to the story time at the library, but Grace is not cooperating. Yesterday, she fell asleep in the car and slept through the entire thing.  Today, she has been a bear, so I put her to bed at 9 for a nap, and she is still napping.  The story time is at 10, and I am NOT WAKING THE GIANT.  No Way.  But here are a few pics from my sister’s visit that show she isn’t a bear all of the time.