The girls and I were sitting in line at the drive-thru this evening picking up some dinner after a visit with Santa (1. yes, a shining mother of the year moment and 2. the girls are convinced that we saw the REAL Santa at Ella's school)when Emily started reading signs on the window. The conversation went a little something like this:
Emily: Did you see the store hours Mommy? They are not open on Thanksgiving.
Me: Thanksgiving is over Emily.
Emily: Did you see the hours for Christmas Eve? I think it said they will be open until 6pm!
Me: okay Em.
Emily: Did you see the store hours for Christmas? Will they be open? You drove away before I could read it.
Me: I didn't see it.
Emily: Mommy, I think it said the will be CLOSED on Christmas!
Me: okay.
Emily: CLOSED! Mommy, they won't be open!!!
(at this point I pulled up to the window to pay)
Emily: Mommy, ask her if I read it right, ask if they will be CLOSED! that is what the sign said, I think, CLOSED!
Me: no, I'm not going to ask her...they are busy.
Emily: Mommy, I NEED to know if they will be open!
(she was getting that OCD panic in her voice, so I asked)
Me: no Em, they won't be open ... they will be CLOSED.
Emily: I thought that places were open on Christmas.
Me: not here. most people here celebrate Christmas so most stuff shuts down. If you celebrate Christmas, it's not fun to work on it...I used to when I worked at the phone company.
Emily: but Mommy, I thought some stuff was open on Christmas.
Me: some, but not most.
Emily: I thought all important stuff would be open, like police, fire, the ambulance drivers place, Wal-Mart & McDonald's...all the emergency stuff. I wonder who else will be closed.
Apparently, Emily hasn't a clue what an emergency is :)
02 December 2009
I don't think that means what you think it means...
27 November 2009
Beanie does it too!
I forgot, yesterday Ella decided if Emily could do it so could she...just watch.
26 November 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving today...just the 4 of us. We were supposed to go to Alabama and spend it with our fabulous friends but that didn't work out so we stayed home. I popped downstairs this morning at 3:20 to start the turkey breast in the crock-pot...snicker if you must be the only difference between a roasted turkey breast & a crock-potted one is no crispy skin and since we throw that out any way, we're happy! That was the only "bad" thing... I don't like to come downstairs in the middle of the night, I am sure there will be a horde of mice in the living room... unreasonable I am sure but...otherwise, like I said, a great day! We had dinner/lunch at 1 and it cost George $3 (ha ha ha). The girls were complaining that there was too much food on the table that they didn't like (I should say I made macaroni & cheese just for Emily and had deli ham for Ella and an entire bowl of olives just for them) and George said that he had a whole cup of quarters, the girls could earn 1 for every new food they tried. We have tried this before and never get any takers, so I was a tad skeptical. The girls ate their ham & olives but that was about all. Then Emily asked for a piece of turkey. When she said it was good, Ella starting eyeballing the roasted brussels sprouts and she asked for one...it went on & on until they had both tried everything and had each made $1.50 in the process...they decided Thanksgiving wasn't so bad after all :) Tomorrow we start to decorate for Christmas... The most wonderful time of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!
In case I didn't update you on Emily's medical situation, here is the latest...
SHE IS FINE! We have no need to go to an ENT! just a very stubborn infection which probably means deep sinus pockets, just like me. Hooray!
12 November 2009
Update
So, Emily doesn't have to go to a pulmonologist, no doubt she does NOT have asthma...Good News! Emily still has the sinus infection she has had since September & also has a wicked ear infection...Bad News! As a bonus, she has HUGE tonsils!!!!
She is on antibiotics for 2 weeks & steroids for 1, after that is she is still
funk-a-licious, we get sent to a pediatric ENT...our pediatrician is thinking tonsillectomy, adenoids too. Emily's biggest fear...missing school of course!
08 November 2009
03 November 2009
Ella's Birthday
Ella is 5...I can't believe it! She had a great birthday. She went to school for a little bit, had cupcakes with her friends, went to McDonald's for lunch with Mommy & Grandpa, went to the park with Mommy & Grandpa, had Subway for dinner (her choice), got some great presents & had a yummy cake that she had helped bake! The only thing that would have made it better is if Grandma from NJ wasn't sick & could have joined in the festivities. Look at her day...
02 November 2009
Halloween
The girls had a great time trick-or-treating even though it was raining! I took them out at 6pm and we were the only ones out for almost an hour...I guess most people didn't want to be out in the cold & rain...we did, we are hardcore!
31 October 2009
October Fun!
Well, it's Halloween and everyone is sleeping but me, it's 12:54am & I figured I'd better update now to get caught up before picture-fest begins (Halloween AND Ella's birthday!)
So, Wednesday night we went to a Halloween thing at church. The girls looked super cute and had a great time! They had dinner, played games and won fabulous prizes (read: candy!)
Tonight we carved pumpkins. I should say I carved pumpkins and they played with pumpkin guts...
(I am not sure why Emily looks drugged in these pictures, she wasn't AND was very happy!)
And that's about it! Later today (like 6am I am sure!) the girls will put on their Halloween costumes and spend the rest of the day asking if it's time to go trick-or-treating yet! After we actually go trick-or-treating the girls will come home to a great surprise, Grandma & Grandpa from New Jersey will be here! Hooray!
27 October 2009
No "All Day Every Day" this month...
All Day Every Day is a silly thing that Emily's school does to promote good attendance. I do understand the need to impress upon these kids that school is important and that it is in their best interest to come everyday and stay everyday BUT they are also young kids who actually do not have much control in their attendance. Anyway, this is a coveted prize for Emily but sadly, I have thwarted her efforts once again! Yesterday I had to get Emily early from school so we could go to the doctor for what I knew was a bad sinus infection. What I was not expecting was that she also had a wheeze low in her lungs. She was given an albuterol breathing treatment at the doctors office and sent home with Mr. Neb.
Mr. Neb is the penguin shaped nebulizer that Emily gets to use 3 times a day for the next 2 weeks to help clear the wheeze. If she still has the wheezing when we go back to the doctor, we will be sent to a pulmonologist. I fear that she has inherited my sinuses...poor thing. I honestly don't think it's anything more (based on the medical degree I earned from watching TV of course!)...my poor perfect baby already has scoliosis she shouldn't have asthma too!
20 October 2009
Report card time!!!!!
We LOVE report card time around here!!!! (Hope that is always the case!) Today was our teacher conference with Emily's teacher. Not to brag but it went a little something like this:
For the first 9 weeks of school Emily scored 100% for Language Arts/Reading, Emily scored 100% for Language Arts/Writing, Emily scored 100% for Science, Emily scored 100% for Social Studies, Emily scored 99% for math (miscounted 1 thing on 1 test in 9 weeks!)!!!! Emily is doing fantastically! By the end of first grade the kids are supposed to read 60 words per minutes (when reading a story), at present time Emily reads 156 words per minute!!!!! By the end of first grade there are 220 sight words that the kids have to know, tested on these words back in the first couple weeks of school, she already knew 217! Emily is going to be given a second grade math workbook to start working in so she has something to do when she has finished her work (takes her less than 1/2 the time the other kids need).
I know it might not always be like this, but we are loving right now! What can I say, she's FANTASTIC!
12 October 2009
Pumpkin Patch
We took the girls to a pumpkin patch Saturday (met some of our friends there too!) The girls had a blast, despite the rain! Not only were there lots of pumpkins but there were also lots of other things to do. We went through a corn maze (it was very muddy & I was wearing worn out crocs...this equals a very slippery situation!), saw baby baby animals, the girls jumped off of some strange hay bales, played some duck race where you pump water through a pipe & it pushes a duck (odd I know). The best part was the little hay ride. We rode out to the pasture & then fed the cows! I am NOT a nature person at all but it was cute to see them come up to the wagon & the girls thought it was FANTASTIC to feed them! The farm is great, it used to be a commercial dairy farm but they decided that wasn't in the best interest of anyone so they down-sized to 60 head (I think)and now the cows are 100% grass fed with no antibiotics & no hormones...if we were milk drinkers I'd have to seriously consider forking over $6 a gallon for their extraordinarily fresh milk ( never pasteurized or homogenized...therefore, in Georgia, not able to be some for human consumption, but they can sell it for "pets")
Here is what it looked like...
05 October 2009
Sunday School
I think the girls forgot that we go to an EPISCOPAL church, not Pentecostal...that or they watch too much of 18 Kids & Counting!
03 October 2009
Venture!
Hooray! A packet was sent home with Emily yesterday to start the process of testing her for the gifted & talented program in her school ,it's called Venture. There are several forms to be filled out plus I have to submit samples of her work, not regular homework or drill sheets but things like artwork or short stories, things like that. I hope it's a little lenient since she's just in 1st grade but I do have 2 short stories she wrote that I can send in her artwork is, well...prolific! I have to return the packet by next Thursday... then the testing starts! I don't know what to tell her about it because if she is not accepted i don't want her to feel bad and I do not want her to be anxious when she is taking the tests. If she does get in, she'll be in until we (or she) wants out or her grades in regular classes suffer (so hopefully never!)
On a Beanie note, both of her teachers have said she has the most extensive vocabulary in the whole Pre-K!!!! Yesterday at lunch (she was eating corn) and was explaining the digestive process to everyone. It apparently went like this "after you chew up your corn & swallow it, it has to go see the big contestant & then it goes to see the small contestant"...not quite the right words but she gets the idea.
My smart little people, I just love them!
01 October 2009
Me
I officially have a large thyroid. My regular doctor doesn't know why so I am going to a metabolic endocrinologist. Sounds like fun, huh?
*****UPDATE - I have a goiter. Why we still don't know, I go to the Endocrinologist on November 13th*****
28 September 2009
Rain Rain Rain
So as you all know, we flooded last week. We had between sixteen & twenty inches of rain in 3 days, about 10 inches in 24 hours...it was a mess! The girls were out of school all week which upset Emily to no end and thrilled Ella to death (she said it was good not to have to go see the boys in her class because they can't listen!). The trouble was the way school was canceled, we would get a phone call between noon & about 1pm everyday. I do understand why they had to do it this was BUT seeing as how George was gone all week, I'd have taken the girls to NJ if we had known we'd be out all week...oh well. They did enjoy playing in the rain (when there was no thunder & lighting). Well, Emily did, Ella kept getting cold (imagine that!)...
(not all the best pics but this is what it looked like while it was raining & what the girls did all week)
In some what related weather news, we still have no idea why my thyroid is big. I went for an ultra-sound 2 weeks ago but due to the rain (and ensuing flooding & power outages), all reports have been delayed...
18 September 2009
St. Louis
It has been a busy week!!! Last Friday I was frantically cleaning the house before we started our drive to St. Louis. I finally finished around 4:30, made dinner, cleaned that up & packed everyone in the car by 5:30 and we were off...well, at least for an hour, then we heard "Mommy?...I need to go potty." I had no idea what I was in for with this trip!!! We drove 4 hours on Friday night & made 4 pit stops for Miss Em. The next morning we barely drove an hour to get to breakfast before we were hearing "I need to go to the bathroom Mommy...". A 4 hour drive took 4 hours 45 minutes, 4 pit stops...poor baby!
When we got to St. Louis (well, the area anyway) we went apple picking. The girls had a great time. They thought it was great fun to pick little teeny apples & great big ones from the same tree. They got to have frozen custard for lunch so really, how bad could it have been??? (and yes, that was their whole lunch!)
We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and then we went to meet the star of the weekend...Miss Maya! We were thrilled to be there the day that Maya had her coming out (of the NICU) party!!!! She is tiny but not weird tiny, newborn tiny (even though she is almost 3 months old)...I even got to hold her!!
Sunday morning we went to Elizabeth's baby shower. At first the girls were attached to me, even though they were so excited to be at the "Cake Lady's" house! Then they found a play kitchen and they suddenly had no more use for me (HOORAY!). When it was time for gifts they got to hand them to Elizabeth. They took this job very seriously!!! They planned which one to bring out when & took turns doing so...all with no fighting!
As soon as the shower was over, we piled into the car for our 6 hour drive back. George's mom even came with us so she could spend a few days with us! Our 6 hour drive was more like 10 hours with stops for food, gas & you guessed it, potty breaks!! 10 of them to be exact. Next time I travel by car with Miss Em, she will have a catheter!!!! Even in her sleep we heard a muffled "i need to go potty"...I thought Grandma would never make it!
All week George's mom & I have been shopping, shopping, shopping mostly for Miss Maya! I forgot how cute tiny baby clothes are...especially tutu's!!!!!
Tomorrow we will head to the aquarium & maybe the movies on Sunday. George's mom is going back to St. Louis on Monday...same day George leaves for Savannah for the week...
08 September 2009
Lober Day Weekend
Yes, that's right at my house we had "Lober" day weekend & Emily was less than thrilled! Anytime we went anywhere and there was a sign that said Happy Labor Day, she would get mad & say "I don't like Lober day, wanna know why??? Because I can't go to school!!!!!" Then I would add insult to injury & correct her pronunciation...I am just that mean!
The girls spent most of the weekend outside. Yesterday alone, they were outside from 9 in the morning until almost 6pm. The girls had a picnic, played with some of the neighborhood kids, Emily fell 100 times {landed on her face once or twice}, George hung more drywall in the garage {which involved taking the stairs from the house to the garage apart, we learned that a milk crate is hold the stairs up!} & then Ella showed us what she has learned in school. It was a great weekend!
02 September 2009
I know...I know.
It's been a while since I said anything...sorry.
The girls are LOVING school! Emily is ready to hop on the bus every morning and is not really so pleased to hop back in the car in the afternoon. As per usual, she doesn't think school is long enough! She has said that at least they do work in 1st grade, even if she isn't learning ANYTHING new at all. She loves that they have spelling tests every Friday. When I was trying to help her study for it last week I read all the words & she spelled them all out on her paper. Then she said we were going to have to ask the teacher for some harder words because she knew how to spell them all without sounding them out. I tried to explain that while that was great, they would get more difficult during the year so this just eased them into it...she said "yeah, there are some kids in my class who still don't know the rules, I guess it would be too much for their brains!". I am glad she is confident but my goodness, she's too much!!
Ella had a rough go of it last week. Well, let me say that she loved the first 3 days of school, then she wasn't so sure. Last week I was literally pushing her out of the car while her teacher was "gently" pulling her out. I hated leaving her there in hysterics. I went to visit her one day & she was just fine until she saw me...well, I should say until I told her it was time for me to leave, she had a mini-meltdown. Poor baby! I should say though that that was last Tuesday & she has made a complete turn around since that day. Emily gets on the bus at about 7:10am & Ella & I don't leave for her school until 8:15am. Practically from the time Emily gets on the bus, all I hear is "Can we leave now? Is it time for me to go to school yet??? I LOVE school!!!". I am so happy that she likes it now... it makes a world of difference! She even had homework last night, she was beyond thrilled!
I have painted most of the living room, all except the wall behind the entertainment center. George has to fix the wall back there and then I will resume painting...hopefully he'll do it this weekend.
Other than that, not much going on...I'll try to get some new pictures of the girls in a day or two to share with everyone.
22 August 2009
Saturday Update
The girls & I played outside for 5 hours today. It was so nice out we just couldn't stay inside! Before we went out, the girls spent some time with Daddy...
It was a perfect day.
18 August 2009
First Day 2009!
Both girls were off for 6.5 hours of education yesterday. They survived and couldn't wait to go back for more!
I accomplished a few things...mainly this "accent" wall in my living room got painted. It used to be dark green. I never realized how small and dark it made the room until I painted over it. {apparently I never took a before picture so please, in this one case, look past the girls (& my sister-in-law's dog) towards the dark green wall the surrounds the fireplace}
(also, look how much more light comes in the windows now that half of the forest that was in my backyard is gone!)
16 August 2009
Last day!
So today is/was the last day of summer vacation. The girls are thrilled to be going to school tomorrow. As soon as Ella got up this morning she wanted to get ready for school. When I told her she had to wait 24 hours, she was heartbroken! Not to worry, all was healed with a 3 hour trip to the pool. Tomorrow will be fun for everyone!
09 August 2009
Not much going on
We've just been hanging out lately. Playing with friends...going to the pool...going to the movies...more pool. The crazy days of pulling out all dolls (and everything else!) & saving them seem to be gone mostly due to the fact that the last great humanitarian effort on their part took more than 2 hours for the girls to clean up. I did break down & help them put the books away, mostly because they just weren't doing it right (O.C.D. sorry!) but everything else the did themselves, all the while muttering "we should never do this again!!!".
The girls are at a friends house now...the went for a sleepover last night. The last sleepover of the summer...school starts Monday August 17th!!! This week we get to "meet the teacher" at both schools! I honestly don't know who is more excited the girls or me?!?!
I hope to get some pictures of the school visits Thursday & Friday to share with you. Other than that, this week will be pool trips and playing at home getting ready to go back to school. Then the fun begins!
29 July 2009
Save the Children...
My children are experiencing a rash of humanitarianism. They had the bake sale, the book sale & the day care for charity. Today they starting running around saying "Don't worry guys, you're coming with us!" They grabbed every "child" they could get their hands on....they saved them all!
This is where is all used to be...
(look, Ella was grabbing up the last of the loot!)
And that was our day.
27 July 2009
Busy Busy Busy
That is the only way I can describe the girls today. Emily decided that she was raising money for a charity (imaginary of course) and had run out of ways to make more... she had already hosted a book sale, a bake sale & an art sale. What was left to do? Run a daycare of course! Luckily, Ella has been right along side her supporting her in all of her endeavors.
This is them taking a nap with all of the "kids" that attended their Daycare
Charity event.
22 July 2009
Quiet Week
It's been very quite in our world the past few days. We hung out with friends and went to the pool. We also hit a major milestone, well Emily did anyway. She finally agreed to get rid of the comforter that she has had since she was 2!
Now it looks like this...
Emily and her room...so many changes!
Well, Ella being Ella she "had" to have something too...bet you can't imagine what she picked! Wait, first please remember what her room looked like...002.jpg)
001.jpg)
Well now hers looks like this...
Please notice the best aspect of Ella's room...the princess stickers are gone!!! Before you all say I'm terrible (and yes, I never liked them) it was Ella's idea to take them off the wall... she said the pattern on the comforter and the stickers was just too busy. Ella had to have what Emily picked, of course, but I am glad it actually looks different in each girls room.
That's all for now... to the library (to climb on a fire truck) on Thursday and the pool Friday...we'll see what else we get up to.
12 July 2009
Prepare to be AMAZED!
At 1pm this afternoon the I headed out to drag some limbs. A few minutes later the girls were out to help followed a moment later by George. Within the hour our neighbor was over and we were all working hard to clean-up the yard. I am nothing short of amazed at what our yard looks like now. Wanna see????
On another note of good news the house next door to me has been purchased and should close at the end of the month!!! We met on of the people who is going to live there and she seemed very nice and normal, hooray! The best part (according to the girls)...
Much more quiet week planned this week, we'll see if I have anything to say :)
11 July 2009
Backyard Update
George spent most hours of the daylight hours today working hard in the backyard. Our neighbor came over as well and more than a few times we had a chorus of chainsaws happily buzzing outside making smaller piles of tree debris to be hauled away or stacked up. Inside was a different story, inside was the chorus of 2 little girls that wanted to go outside and drag the limbs to the back of the yard so Daddy could throw them over the fence. Starting at 10am and repeating every 10-15 minutes I heard a whiney little song that went something like this "When will Daddy be ready for uuuuus??? When can we drag liiiiiimbs???" I know they were excited to help but oh my goodness I wanted to give them some tylenol and send them off for a long long nap! (Mother of the Year points for that I am sure!) At 5:30pm (after their dinner) the girls came outside and started dragging limbs to Daddy. They were so happy! If I had not been dragging limbs as well you'd have a picture but I am pretty sure that after cutting trees all day George would have been less than thrilled if I stopped for a photo-op, so you'll need to use your imagination.
I will. however, show you what it looks like today. So much more has been done than I think you can see in these pictures....the creepiness quotient of our backyard has decreased greatly!
Did you see the odd white things on 2 trees that are still standing? They were index cards that I stuck to the trees I didn't want cut down...they used to be rectangles, something ate them...YUCK!
10 July 2009
Our weekly goings on
I think we had a busy week although I'm not exactly sure what we did. One day there was a massive crime scene just outside our front door...
Luckily, no one was hurt :)
We went to the movies one day...the girls each picked put the "most appropriate" movie outfit, they simply couldn't be more different...
Some evenings were just spent playing outside having fun...
We also went to "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-Fil-A, the girls dressed up like cows (sort-of)...
They looked cute even if not exactly cow-like.
Then there was today...
This morning our backyard looked something like this...
However, right now it looks a bit more like this...
Here's why...
Our neighbor graciously offered to help George cut down about a million chigger (horrible insect that burrows in to your skin!) infested trees and make our backyard a little less scary...today (while George was at work) our neighbor spent the better part of his day off cutting down the trees. Tomorrow they will cut everything up and stack up the wood for warm winter fires...I just wish we could use the wood from these trees to re build our deck but I've been told that's not possible...too bad!
So that's all, not much going on around here... I'll keep you updated on the progress of our backyard...who knows, next summer we might even have some grass!!!
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