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!)...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

(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...

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...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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.