What a busy first week of school...

Well of course, school started for Ms. Grace on Monday. She was so excited she was about to pop. We had to go shopping on Sat. to get new tennis shoes, a first day of school outfit and a few other needed items. She picked out a cute polo shirt type dress with several different colored stripes. She also picked out some silver and purple tennis shoes. She was very happy to get up, carry new her backpack, lunchbox and other school supplies. She loved all the attention of the first day of school. Pictures, hugs, long goodbyes at the bus stop and even mommy and Lily coming to school to get some classroom pictures.

She made it through the first day without a hitch. She loved her classroom, her teacher and first grade in general. She did have a little trouble making new friends. But by the end of the week she was able to tell me some of the girls in her class' names. On Tuesday she came home with Lily the Frog. This is a special honor awarded to the children who show excellent behavior in the class. They get to do special activities with Lily and write in her journal and take her back the next day. Luckily she is a stuffed frog, cause this is one momma who doesn't like slimy breathing things.

Grace and Lily the Frog reading at bedtime.

Grace also had her first official Sparks meeting on Wed. It is part of the AWANA group, think girl scouts with bible verses and learning about God and Jesus. She went a few times last spring with Joshua(our neighbor and BFF) and loved it. So this year we signed her up and she has already learned her first Bible verse and is itching to do more.

On Thursday, Grace started her new Ballet and Tap class with Ms. Alie. It is much longer this year. It went from about an hour to an hour and a half. She LOVED it. Her other longtime BFF, Jessica is in the class and they are the two youngest. They did great and worked their booties off trying to stick with the older more experienced girls. She will be one tired chica come thursday nights, but I think it will be great for her.

Lily and I hung out all week, working around the house, working some in my classroom and trying to get organized for the coming year.(not there yet) But come Friday it was little Misses turn. We put on her leotard(actually a hand-me-down from Grace) and headed to Mommy and me ballet class. Her teacher is 8 months pregnant and wasn't feeling well Friday, so this mommy had to wear two hats, teacher and mommy. Lily did great! She is the oldest in the class, but she listened fairly well. Touched her toes and tried to do a little of everything. She even learned how to jump(somewhat, it is hard for her to actually get off the ground). I hope to get some video of her dancing soon, it is a real hoot.

Lily dressed as the little mermaid for fairytale ballet.

Well that is the first week of school in a nutshell, hopefully we will find time to breathe, relax and unwind during week 2. Who knows?

Happy Birthday to Me!

What an exciting birthday week! We started it off with a celebration with friends, Sat. night at The Hughes house. We had fun separating into groups, kids in one room, ladies in the kitchen and men manning the grill and then watching baseball in the family room. We had my favorite cake - Chocolate with chocolate fudge icing and chocolate ice cream too. The kids started to deteriorate, fighting, crying and general misunderstandings breaking up all the fun. Next time the kids need to eat outside so as not to mess up the house(food spillage and abandoned plates are a big problem sometimes.)



We had a nice relaxing Sunday of cleaning the house(not fun) and some grocery shopping too.



Monday the girls and I met Daddy at the Marietta Diner for lunch which was super yummy. Then we went to Daddy's office for a quick tour of his new office and visit with his friends. Then we headed across the street to Miss Mamie's cupcake shop. We bought half a dozen and so far my favorite was the Smores cupcake. Chocolate cupcake with marshmallow in the middle, chocolate icing in a circle and a small graham cracker and hershey bar on top. Heavenly is what I would call it.



That evening Grandma and Papa stopped by on their way back home from Abingdon(my birthplace). They took us out to dinner to Steak and Shake for burgers, grilled cheese and mac and cheese and of course SHAKES! Of course it was in the middle of a horrible thunder storm and downpours. But well worth the peril to get a patty melt and chocolate shake to celebrate turning (gulp)36! We also had the added thrill of searching for the smallest screw ever to put Grandma's glasses back together. Unfortunately it went unfound. Fortunately Target's eye care center was still open after dinner and was able to fix Grandma's glasses quickly.

The rest of the week has been a blur of activity getting ready for Grace going to First Grade! But that is a story for another post.

Countdown!

We have started several countdowns around these parts.

First we counted down to the release of Ramona and Beezus! Which starts TODAY. Grace and I are going on a girls night out, just the two of us to see it.

Grace officially has a week left of summer. Next Friday she will go to meet the teacher and take the three gazillion bags of school supplies with us to help stock the classroom for the year. She has been so excited since learning her teacher is from England and actually danced for the Queen twice in her youth. She is also excited that her teacher's favorite subject is reading, I guess she feels they have a lot in common. Nevermind the fact that she is a great teacher and has lots of learning experiences planned for Grace's class.

My countdown includes, work starting at both the preschool and dance studio. The fact that Grace and Lily will both be going to school, and taking dance lessons. I will be the lead teacher this year in my classroom(I am a little nervous). But most importantly the long four year journey to correct my mouth is almost over. Yesterday I finally had the two implant crowns placed. Next week the braces come off and then, I will have a normal looking adult mouth. Eventually I hope to get the teeth cleaned, professionally whitened and smile proudly for all the photos. But for now I am just happy that this process of braces, MULTIPLE surgeries and working with three seperate dental people is coming to an end. It has been way too many appointments twenty to thirty minutes away from my house. And way more money than I ever wanted to spend. I hope if Grace and/or Lily is hereditarily missing the same two adult size teeth that we are able to find an orthodontist who is able to work with us so they do not have to go through the same stuff I have.

Lily doesn't know it but we are counting down the days til her next cardiologist appointment also. It was supposed to be August 9th, but has been rescheduled due to doctor inavailability. She will have to undergo an ultrasound to check the various surgical sites as well as the routine, EKG, and pressure tests. They schedule it as a three hour appointment. Should be a ton of fun. Luckily with the reschedule Daddy can go with us. Unfortunately the appointment is during nap time and my Best friend will have to get Gracie off the bus and to Awana class(luckily she is the teacher of the class and also a neighbor).

So for now we are counting down to multiple exciting endeavors. Have a great rest of your summer and have some cake for my birthday on Monday!

A Bunch of Firsts

We have just returned from the Jersey Shore. And 195 pictures later, here is a brief overview.

It was the girls first plane ride with their Daddy(who for a non-flyer, did extremely well even on the return flight landing through horrible storms.)

Both Girls had their first taste of Jersey Pizza, homemade pretzels , slushies on the boardwalk, funnel cakes, Italian ice and many other fine healthy delicacies.

Grace went to her first water park and rode many different slides. She started off slowly in the kiddie pool going down the baby slides and progressed from there to double tube slides and a steep slide into the pool.

Lily rode her first carousel, the howitzer, a train and her first set of baby boats all on Morey's Piers in Wildwood Crest.

Grace rode MANY different roller coasters on the piers, her favorite being the one she rode alone with her cousin(no mommy).

Grace boogy boarded in the Atlantic Ocean, Lily had her first dip in the Atlantic Ocean. They both loved sculpting the sand, and running full throttle into the ocean. It was so hot out that the 70 degree water was extremely refreshing. Lily would keep trying to get deeper and deeper until the waves would knock her over. Grace kept riding wave after wave. Those nights they ate and slept well.

Lily got to meet her Piacesi cousins for the first time. Lisa who is 13 was an excellent babysitter, and gave me many needed breaks from making sure Lily didn't go up and down the stairs, or bunk bed ladders, or even out on the deck from the littler children leaving the doors open. Joe who is 11 did great also. He would play with her and gave her lots of toys.

Both girls had a ton of fun with the Gilray cousins who are 7 and 5. Faith the eldest, was a little mother hen, trying to get Lily to do things (she learned Lily doesn't do anything she doesn't want to.) Campbell would play well with Lily and rode lots of rides with her and was very helpful. Grace stayed in the room with the Gilray's and had lots of late nights and watched movies, read books and played lots of fun things with Faith and Cam.

We were there to celebrate Pop-pop's 70th birthday. We took family pictures, had lots of good food, and a ton of fun. We were able to spend time with Pop-pop, Grandma, Aunt B, Mrs. Gallagher, Ms. Brenda and her two cute kids. Lily called Pop-pop by name, and Grandma too, this was a first since the last time we saw them these words were not in her vocabulary.

Now it is time to sit back and relax for the last three weeks of summer. The girls and I are headed to Auburn to help Aunt Anna get her classroom ready, I will get the two teeth implanted that I have been missing for 4 years, the braces will come off of my bottom teeth, we will work a couple of dance camps, birthday parties and hopefully finish cleaning out the closets to take things to goodwill. Well doesn't sound too relaxing does it....oh well that's life.

In a post note, we feel the date of July 15th approaching. It was Brendan's due date and even though it was over 3 years ago that we lost him, some wounds are never truly healed.

Swim Like a Fish

It is that time of year again.

We are spending everyday at least 45 minutes a day at the pool.

Grace is on "The Team."

She loves being on the swim team. When it comes to meet days, she gets so nervous and overly excited. She loves cheering on her team mates. She enjoys swimming across the pool and giving you a great big hug afterwards. She has even started liking the fact that I write on her body for the meet. She doesn't let me write more than her event/heat/lane chart and her name and age, but this is a big improvement over last year. She has improved her time and is swimming in 3 events per meet, freestyle, backstroke and a freestyle relay.

At meets she eats and eats and eats, hot dogs, pizza, candy and anything else that I might pack/buy for her.

This year is proving much harder for mommy with a mobile toddler instead of a lap baby. Lily is well known all around the pool. She does her laps around the pool deck. She gets her exercise getting in and out of the pools. (There is a baby pool, but she prefers to play on the stairs and jump into the big pool. She dislikes having mommy hold her in the pool and she does not want to be in the baby float. She wants FREEDOM! She loves meets, because everyone knows her name(I don't even have to write it on her back), she can eat all the junk she wants and she LOVES cheering for her sister. (It also helps that our neighbors and best friends are on the team). She also hates meets because they are LONG, HOT and she can't get into the pool at all. (wait til next year when Grace moves up to the 7-8 year old crowd and there are more events.)

So far Grace has participated in 2 meets and has 2 left(we were out of town for the first one.) The first that she participated in was away and she did pretty well with only mommy there to cheer her on. The next meet was home, delayed for about an hour due to heavy thunder and lightening, but otherwise fun. Can't wait to see what the next two hold.

Well it is time to rest from our morning at the pool and for mommy to think of new ways to put muscle as well as meat on Grace's skinny bones.

This is what you do with 4 swimmer waiting out a storm, go to the car and watch a movie!

Go Waves!

It is officially Summer!

We spent a week at the Florida coast last week, before the oil hit. Of course I took over 300 pictures with my fancy new camera. Here is just a sneak peak........

Really, really, go away Monday!

Oh so much fun.
NOT
Today started the "lazy days" of summer. Grace started off with a bang by waking us up at around 1:20 for the first time. Another time around 2:30 and then sometime around 5:45. Tom then had to get ready for work. So eventually we got to breakfast and getting ready for Swim team practice. We had a great day swimming and playing at the pool for a while after swim team. Then it was time to go home for lunch, baths and naps.
That is when it all happened.
As we were walking to the car, I stepped off the curb and my ankle twisted and I heard a LOUD pop and all my muscles went limp. Unfortunately I was carrying Lily. I fell to the ground as did Lily scraping her ear and hitting the back of her head on the asphalt. So we then spent the rest of the afternoon, riding in an ambulance to the hospital, getting an x-ray of my foot and ankle, getting the all clear on Lily's head injury and detoxing upon getting home.

At this point I want to say THANK YOU to Ms. Lara and her boys for calling 911, watching Grace and helping me wrap my head around everything. Thank you to the Firefighters and EMTs for your kind words and especially Firefighter Jeff who was a very nice YOUNG guy who put Ms. Lily at ease and held her while she slept(he got a lot of teasing even from his captain and nurses in the hospital). Thank you to my wonderful loving husband who dropped everything and met us at the ER, drove us home, bought us dinner and an ice pack. Thank you to my parents and who came to the ER and were the liaison between me in fast track 3 and Lily in pediatric ER and sat with me in my wet bathing suit awaiting to see what the x-rays said. Also I should say thank you to the nurses, doctors and technicians who attended to us at the hospital.

So it is just a sprain and Lily may have a headache, but it is over, it is almost Tuesday.

Goodnight.