Doc's Birthday

Today is Doc's 55th Birthday! We celebrated with dinner with Doc and VJ at The Waterstone Grill in Acworth, where Doc plays the saxophone two nights a week. He had to play a gig on his birthday! Doc loves playing the saxophone, so I don't think he minded too much. He got 30 minutes "off" to come and sit with us while we ate dinner. Katie Anne ate TONS of calamari! She loved it! Saunders and I both had the ribs... they were so spicy, my mouth is still hurting. Saunders couldn't eat his... he chickened out and ate the macaroni and cheese and yummy Gouda risotto instead. We had a fun time!

Dryer Sheets!

True todderhood has begun... Katie Anne got dryer sheets out of the laundry room and spread them all around the kitchen/laundry room. I had the box of dryer sheets sitting on top of the dryer, and I think the dryer shook the box off into the floor. Saunders and I were loading the dishwasher when Katie Anne walked into the living room for just a moment or two. When she came back, she brought what I thought was a baby wipe into the kitchen and started wiping down the cabinets. (She's an obsessive cleaner.) She has a package of baby wipes in a little basket in the living room because she uses them to "change" her babies' diapers. Then, I realized the "baby wipe" was extremely stiff-looking... when we went to investigate, this is what we found.



Hey, at least the mess smelled good!

Back to Work in the New Classroom

I headed back to work on Monday, and my new classroom needed a lot of work. It was full of stuff! I'm taking the place of a teacher who retired, and she was very sweet to leave a lot of materials for me to use. There was a lot of useful stuff... I have enough math manipulatives for about 100 first graders! Anybody want teddy bear counters? :)

There were also a lot of things that needed to be reorganized, recycled, or just plain tossed. The ceiling in the school was replaced this summer, so everything was covered in dust or black chunks of old ceiling tiles. We've cleaned, cleaned, cleaned!

After Monday and Tuesday's workdays, I was starting to get nervous... Daddy and I put in two big days of working, and it seemed like little had changed. In fact, after we brought all the boxes of my stuff from our garage to school yesterday, it seemed like it got worse!

Today, one of my former students - Adam - came and helped out, and we got a TON done. Between Daddy working a 1/2 day and Adam and I putting in a full 8 hours, it looks much better. Almost all the boxes are unpacked, all the furniture is arranged, bulletin board fabric is up, desks are in pods. Tomorrow, I'll just unpack the rest of the boxes (my desk stuff and my children's books) and haul off all the broken-down boxes.

These are some pictures I made today... room in progress. Hopefully, finished pictures are soon to come!

Jillian's Bridal Shower!

**Okay, so I'm a wee bit behind this week in blogging land... blogging while working is tougher than I thought!

On Saturday, Jillian had her first bridal shower- a family & friends kitchen-themed shower at Angela's house. She got a mountain of presents! We all had a great time, even though all three young ladies in attendance- Katie Anne, Lily, and Karis- thought Angela's stairwell was a dance club and went a little nutty. Jillian and Greg got lots of great things for their house, including glasses, bakeware, cutlery, serving pieces, and the much-appreciated new vacuum cleaner! No more blowing dirt behind them as they clean! Here are some pictures of us at the shower.

What Did Momma DO!?!

Daddy's going to be mad...Baby's got painted toenails!

Update at 6:00 pm... Toenail polish is already off. Daddy DID hate it. He freaked out when he got home and saw KA had painted toenails. All through dinner, he kept griping about it, so we took it off afterwards. To be fair, I knew he wouldn't be a fan when I did it. He hates it when even my nails are painted. He says KA can paint her toenails when she can say she wants to... so, Christmas, I guess? ;)

Playing at the Park on Monday

These pictures are from our trip to the park on Monday. Our week has been so packed that I hadn't had time to blog about that outing yet.
















Katie Anne hasn't been to the park since we went on vacation, so it has been about 1 month. Before our trip, she could not climb up the jungle gym by herself, and she was too afraid to go down the slide. On Monday, she rushed right over to the play area and climbed right up! No Momma help needed! She played around on the play area, and she gave the slide quite a "serious look" several times...

But, she must've thought better of it, because she never attempted to go down. I asked her if she wanted me to help her, but she said, "Nah." After a few minutes of climbing around, Katie Anne went back to her first love... the swings.


However, she soon wanted down, and she went back to the play area again. She climbed straight up all three tiers to the slide, scooted up to the edge (that's one of her new words... scoot), and pushed off down the slide! I didn't even have a hand on her! So, I was able to get a little progressive series of photos of the first slide attempt...

Getting Ready!

Here she goes!

Uh-oh... busted.

After that, it was slide, baby, slide! She loved sliding, and she realized that - if she let her arm drag behind her - she could avoid falling at the bottom. Here's a video of her sliding.

Making the Most of It!

Well, this week officially brings it to the end... the summer is over. On Monday, I've got to go back to work, and KA has to go back to daycare full time. I don't technically have to report for pre-planning until Friday, August 1, but I've got so much to do and so much to move into my new classroom that I'm taking the first part of the week to get set up. With making the change from fourth grade to first, I've got to completely reorganize and get it all ready.

Don't get me wrong... I am really excited about my job this year. New school, new grade level, new students, new bosses, new standards and curriculum... I am ready to see what first grade is all about. I've tutored a first grade student two days a week this summer, and I LOVE that age group. I got a call from one of my new teammates this week, and they were thoughtful enough to include me in on an order of back-to-school goodies for my kids. They all seem really nice, and it will be fun to meet new people. I hope my old fourth grade groupies will still invite me to their monthly dinners out so I can keep up with the goings-on at CES, too! All in all, I am pumped about what the new school year holds. But...

I have REALLY enjoyed this summer off. REALLY. If I could, I would love to stay home with Katie Anne and play all day. We've gone lots of places, done lots of things... I've loved having my little sidekick this summer. She's done so much this summer... walking, talking, tons of milestones. I will really miss Katie Anne when I'm at work this year. I know that I've got the optimal job for being a working mom. You really can't beat the schedule, and my hours are great. Plus, I know that the interaction with other kids is good for her at daycare... keeps me from spoiling her all the time! Sometimes I think I'm nuts- of course we'll have plenty of time in the evenings and weekends to hang out together, and we'll have Daddy off at those times to boot. But, I still dread Monday morning when I have to drop her off and know that I'm leaving her there for the next 190 weekdays.

We've made the most of it during our last week off. We've gone shopping, swam at Doc and VJ's pool, and played at the park. I got a massage and bought some back-to-school clothes. Tomorrow, we're hitting the library for our last Rockin' Baby Time, meeting Gigi for lunch, and then we're going to the doctor on Friday for a post-op checkup on KA's eye. We've packed the week full of fun, but I did make sure to be completely lazy on Tuesday- Katie Anne and I didn't even get dressed until 2:00, and we never left the house... we just played all day.

We've had an amazing summer together!

Adept with Cutlery!

Katie Anne is growing up so much this summer that I just can't believe it. During the beginning of the summer, she really started using her fork well. Her first true fork success day was June 11. Now, she eats with a fork at almost every meal. She loves to stab things with her little fork... including Abby and Ginger if we're not careful! This is a picture from earlier in the summer when she'd just started using her fork.

I've started letting her try a spoon a little bit, but she hasn't been doing much with it other than holding it for a few weeks. A few days ago, she started putting things (like peas) on the spoon with her fingers, then putting the spoon in her mouth. Sometimes the pea made it into her mouth, sometimes not. Well, yesterday I tried letting her feed herself applesauce, and she did an okay job. She got about 50% of the applesauce down the gullet... the rest was either on her tray, on her bib, or on the floor. One glop even busted Ginger on top of the head! This shot is KA eating her applesauce yesterday. This is from the beginning of our applesauce adventure, so there's little mess in the photo.

Normally, I feed her yogurt at breakfast while she eats her waffles or cereal or banana by herself. This morning, she wouldn't take more than a bite or two from me... she insisted on doing it all. She held the yogurt container in one hand and the spoon in the other, and she actually did a very nice job of feeding herself. She ate the entire container of yogurt! Other than one big spill down the front of her bib, she got almost all of it in her mouth. She was so proud of herself! I am amazed at how quickly she's doing all these "big girl" things. In just 6 weeks, she's gone from eating only with her fingers to feeding herself with a fork and spoon.

Here are some more pictures of our yogurt extravaganza this morning. Notice the bedhead... it was early!

The last one... "All Done!"

Breakfast with Granddad

This summer, Katie Anne and Granddad started a new tradition- Friday morning breakfasts. From 8:00 - 9:00, they head out to some local breakfast joint and get some "hot" - as Katie Anne calls it. It is nice for everybody... Katie Anne and Granddad get to spend some quality time together and eat some yummy pancakes, and I get an hour to either workout, walk the dogs, or just relax! Here's some pictures of their breakfast out last Friday morning... I couldn't post them last week because of the internet being down.