Happy and Tired

We had a Block Party at church last night to kick off our week of  VBS, which our church calls Week of Wonder.  It was so hot and so crowded and we had lots of fun.  Maggie and Ellie had snow cones and dinner and bounced until they couldn't bounce anymore!  We went to my classroom to get everything set up a little early.  The girls loved playing with "baby toys" (I teach a two year old class) and cooling off a bit before the next round of fun started.  We are tired today, but excited about tonight.

We (me, Maggie & Big Daddy) are hooked on kale chips.  They are yummy, healthy, crispy, cheap and delicious!   I made two big batches of kale chips for 64 cents!

Big Daddy is in another season of heavy travel.  It's not as hard as it once was, but we all miss each other a lot.  Prayers would be appreciated.

We had special speakers at church yesterday.  This is a really amazing group of girls and they are well spoken and wise beyond their years.  They have already accomplished so much.  (And three of them are homeschooled!)  Our offerings from Week of Wonder will be donated to them.

I think the polyp in my uterus took care of itself.  Needless to say, I did not want to have to have surgery, but had decided that the pain was impacting my daily life too much and that it was going to be necessary.  Hopefully, I'l continue to be pain free.

And that concludes what is going on right now!

Challenges

I thought being a mom was hard, but being a homeschool mom is so much harder.

Going to the beach and having it rain three out of four days was not always easy.  Fortunately, I am blessed with two girls that love staying in hotels and the sun popped out long enough each day for us to enjoy the sand, water and to explore.  

Being "single" again after several weeks of not being single is tough...and lonely.

Starting a diet right after a birthday party when there's left over cupcakes in the house is hard.  Thankfully, I have lost two pounds in the past two days and feel slightly encouraged.

Seeing these two smiley faces makes everything seem better.

Right Now

It has been three years since we woke up here and not there.  Maggie has officially lived here for as long as she lived in Sanford.

I have a polyp growing my uterus.  It hurts sometimes.

We are looking forward to going to the beach soon.

Big Daddy and I are really enjoying our first year of being the proud owners of a blooming hydrangea!  (It was my Mother's Day present last year)  Hydrangeas remind me of my Grandma's house and the place where Big Daddy and I spent our honeymoon and many summer weekends in the first few years of our marriage.  I have little bouquets scattered through the house.

We are all sorts of excited about an Ice Cream Social with our homeschool group to celebrate the end of the school year.

We are still talking about the fun trip we took last week to have dinner with our friends in Sanford. Maggie and Ellie were able to love on Gammy Gladys and play with their friends, while I had some much needed time with my favorite mommies.

Ellie loves her homeschool preschool time.

Big Daddy and I are planning a little trip for our twelve year anniversary that's coming up.

First and Last

 Maggie had her first (and probably last) dance recital this past weekend.  I only took pictures during the dress rehearsal the night before, so that I could be fully present for the actual recital.  Sadly, Maggie has decided that dance isn't her thing and she'll be trying something new during the next school year.

I am so NOT a dance mom, but I really enjoyed the recital and the little bit of hype that surrounded it.  Maggie's favorite part of the recital was killing time with her friends while waiting their turn to perform!  

 Of course, a cheap plastic trophy and flowers from your dad are also nice.

Maggie received her first trophy when she won "Clubber of the Year" in her AWANA class a couple of weeks ago and she was thrilled to add another trophy to her collection.

Sort of like a dream come true

Monday mornings are usually pretty nice around here. I try not to have anywhere to go and just concentrate on doing housework and then homeschooling and then more housework. By the afternoon, we are finished with school and housework and ready for dinner and dance class. Yesterday was a different Monday. It sort of felt like my Christmas morning.

Big Daddy left to go out of town again, but he didn't leave for work until sometime after lunch. I loaded up lots of Christmas gifts and the girls and left around 10:00 to go to Sanford to visit our friends.

We started with a great lunch at Cracker Barrel with my friends A, her little girl and K. We had a nice, two hour lunch ans the kids were very well-behaved. We missed having the little boys (they are in school)there, but girls only lunches are fun too. We exchanged gifts and all walked out with big bags of fun goodies. A gave us monogrammed cups and Bath & Body Works goodies. K gave us Bath & Body Works soap and candles and my birthday gift- you guessed it, Bath & Body Works stuff. I gave scarves, candies and my new favorite lip balm.

A, me and K (photography by Maggie)

We drove across town to tell A that yes, she should get that pair of shoes that she's had her eye on and then we tried on hats and scarves. A's hair has started to shed and she is worried that she'll lose all of it when she starts the next kind of chemo.

We said our goodbyes and I took the girls back across town to visit our friends from my old office. We visited, the girls received more treats and then we drove back across town to visit Gammy Gladys. Maggie & Ellie left with a bag full of goodies and new mini Pillow Pets. Gladys gave me something really pretty that I may share a little later. Since we were just a mile or so from my old real estate partner's house, we dropped by there too. We had a nice visit with him and his wife and then hit the road for home around 5:00.

We arrived home at 6:00, the girls had mini-breakdowns and we left at 7:00 for Maggie's parent observation and Christmas party at dance. Ellie went to the potty three times in 20 minutes, but we saw most of the displays of mad dance skills.

We pulled in the driveway a little after 8:30 and were happily in bed by 9:00. I went to bed a little after 10:00 because a day full of fun, wears The Mommy out!

Last week was lots of fun too! Big Daddy arrived home on Tuesday evening just in time to get into the car with us for Maggie's sign language Christmas concert. She did a great job and we really enjoyed all of the performances.

Maggie is the fourth little person from the right.

On Friday night, I took Ellie to the Preschool Birthday Party for Jesus at a local children's museum. She had a blast and they were having a special Curious George exhibit. (Maggie has a bounce birthday party for Jesus this weekend)

Best. Day. Of. The. Week.

Another busy week is behind us and I'm finally taking the time to post about it.

Monday was dance day and they let the children wear their Halloween costumes if they wanted too. Maggie chose to be Pocahontas, but I didn't take a picture. :-( There was an excessive amount of drama over wearing full dance gear (footless tights, leotard and tutu skirt) under the Pocahontas vest and skirt and how on earth were we going to incorporate a feather into a ponytail!!?? I was nearly in tears by the time we walked into the studio and just forgot all about snapping a picture.

Tuesday was Maggie's half birthday and I bought the stuff to make Whoopie Pies. (We bought some at the Farmer's Market on Saturday and Maggie is a fan!!)Lots of people (including my mom and sister) thought that celebrating a half birthday was silly, but sometimes a girl just needs to celebrate. Big Daddy has been out of town so much lately and while the kids seem okay, it causes quite a bit of extra drama and sadness and I want my Daddy-fits at home. I thought making Whoopie Pies would be fun and a good way to use math in a practical way.

I woke up around 5am with a horrible headache. I was just going back to sleep around 7:30 when Maggie came into my room to cuddle. And then Ellie woke up and agreed to cuddle with us instead of wanting to eat as soon as her feet hit the floor. We stayed in bed for 30 minutes or so and when I stood up I became extremely nauseated. I assumed and hoped it was from the headache. I waited a little bit and then forced down some toast, coffee and headache medicine. The headache went away, but the nausea remained. I got partially ready so that we could go to sign language that afternoon and then I made Whoopie Pies with my girls while wanting to hurl. Maggie did her homeschool work in the living room while I was on the couch.

To make a too long story short, my sister came by to bring me a bubbly drink to help with the nausea and I started throwing up. She took the kids to my parents house and I was sick and completely alone for the rest of the day. I was still sick that night so Poppy came to get sleepover stuff for Maggie and Ellie. I was alone in our house for 20 hours which has never happened before. I was busy getting sick, wanting to die and trying to sleep. I was awake most of the night, but was better in the morning.

Wednesday started out rough, but I managed to eat breakfast and shower, get gas and then GET MY GIRLS. To say that I was lonely without Big Daddy and them is a huge understatement. I didn't teach my class at church on Wednesday and spent most of the day trying to recover.

Thursday is one of my favorite days. I really enjoy taking Maggie and Ellie to the library and we were also having our Halloween Party. Maggie was "Raggedy Ann" and Ellie was "Cinderella".CinderEllie and Raggedy Maggie

It was fun to see our library friends all dressed up and Ellie was excited about the costumes!

Cousin Callie had an early release day from school, so we had lunch, did our school work and went to Nana and Poppy's house to jump in leaves. It was a really nice day and I was able to sit in the sun with my mom and sister. My sister has some sort of crud and stayed out of work, but we let her sit outside with us anyway!

Fall is quickly becoming my most favorite season because of pictures like the one above! The girls played in the leaves (and dirt) for over 2 hours.

And my girls were worn out at bedtime.

And I totally love homeschooling.

And being SO nauseated for about 12 hours makes a girl never want to be pregnant again.

Finally Fall

Maggie has been patiently waiting for the first day of fall for weeks. When I reminded her that today was the big day she said, "Oh my word, I almost forgot".

We decided to put our fall wreath and scarecrows up last week. Unless something drastic happens, that is the extent of our seasonal decorations for fall. We'll buy a pumpkin in another week or so and I'll be planting pansies as soon as I can, but that's it.

This week has been a busy week! This was the first week of our fall school/activity schedule with Big Daddy home. I guess busy is our new normal.

Ellie has started putting together the most amazing sentences and she is so funny! She loves to ask," Where are we going next?" when we're running errands and getting in and out of the car. Ellie likes her new Sunday School class and going to Mission Friends on Wednesday evenings. She has discovered glue sticks and loves art at church and the library.

Maggie has been something lately! She is still enjoying school and her homeschool elective (sign language) class. She seems to be enjoying her Awana class too. She has been creating lots of fun things this week- from puppets to paper dolls. She has a great imagination and has also started writing songs,

Another Whirlwind Week!

I feel like I've made it through another whirlwind week and I'm already looking at a busy calendar for the week that's about to start!!

I have had so many things that I wanted to take the time to blog about. This blog is a scrapbook of our daily lives and lots of things happen that I don't want to forget. Unfortunately, my free time seems to get less and less and homeschooling takes up so many of my thoughts. I plan to post a few things about homeschooling later. There are things that we're doing that I'd like to document for when the girls are older.

Big Daddy will be out of town all of next week. We'll have dance class, registration for homeschool electives, a teacher's meeting for our new Awana year at church and a field trip with our homeschool group on Friday. Thursday will be our only real free day and I think we'll spend it hanging out at home. There are times where I feel busier as a stay at home homeschooling mom of two than I felt on my busiest day in real estate.

I was finally able to finalize our Disney World reservations! Maggie woke up with a fever at 1am on Friday morning, threw up in her bed as soon as she woke up at 7am and spent the rest of the day on the couch. I used naptime to finish up our travel details with the travel agent (Small World Vacations- Annette F.) I cannot recommend them enough! I had already planned out exactly what we wanted, so we were able to do everything by email until time for payment. I feel so relieved...and excited.

Sunady is a special day. We had planned to attend Maggie's Graduation Luncheon at church, but it looks like she'll be staying at home and missing it. She's already asked if we could have a special luncheon at home. She will be leaving the preschool department and going to classes in a different building with all school-aged children. We feel so blessed that we go to this church and that she's had such a positive experience with everything involved in the Preschool Ministry.

Ellie will also changing classes. She will be going to a big girl class and will have the same teachers that she had for Bible School- Mr. Danny and Ms. Virginia. I know that she'll be okay because she talks about them all the time and everyone just thrives in their class. I'll really miss her sweet teachersMs. Alice and Ms. Denise.

The Last Hurrah

Today is the last day of summer vacation for lots of kids in our area. School starts back tomorrow and the days have gotten so much shorter lately. After I became a stay at home mom I really started to enjoy the change of seasons with fall being my new favorite.

We decided to take Callie to the zoo today in celebration of school starting tomorrow. The parking lot had lots of empty spots and the animals were all out where we could see them. Since school is about to start there were also no school or daycare groups there, so even the picnic tables were empty. We had a great time and we're going to miss being able to spend mornings with Callie.

Our next "field trip" will be in a couple of weeks. We'll be going to an apple orchard with our homeschool group. We also have enrollment for elective classes where Maggie will be taking sign language. Then there's a field trip with the homeschool families from church.

We are so busy, but we are having so much fun. Living and learning together really is going great.

And then the internet died...a catch up post

So...we went out of town last weekend and came home on Sunday to find out that our internet had unexpectedly passed away. After talking to a few people over the phone throughout the day on Monday, a technician came out and reset something around 7 pm. That was the same time that Maggie had her first dance class. She loved it and Ellie cried (and I cried a little too) because she wanted to take dance lessons too. I tried to explain that money doesn't grow on trees and Ellie would have to wait another year because I am NOT paying for her to take tumbling classes. I immediately had a flash back to Maggie starting Kindermusik classes when she was 17 months old and then starting Gymnastics classes 8 months later. I reminded myself that was when we had one child, a few less monthly expenses and the economy was better. I took Maggie to buy her ballet and tap shoes and Ellie wanted tap shoes too. I told her to get a job. I took the girls shopping to buy them matching tutus (black) and all was well again.

Our new first grade homeschool supplies arrived yesterday. I'm excited about starting first grade math, geography and spelling. We have been doing a first grade writing curriculum for 7 weeks. I am still completely confident in our decision to homeschool and still overwhelmingly amazed at the stupidity, ignorance and rudeness of some people where homeschooling is concerned. We joined a Christian homeschool group and will also be participating in the homeschool group at our church. Maggie will also be taking an elective class this fall and she chose sign language.

Maggie left yesterday evening to go camping with my sister. She was all excited about spending the night with Callie and of course, Ellie said, "I come Fee's (she calls my sister Fee) house. I sleep Callie" a thousand times.

Ellie started running a fever shortly after we put her to bed last night. I'm hanging out with her (alone) today. She asked to "go to Daddy's house" so we are in the bonus room playing. She's playing a combination of dollhouse, cooking and grocery shopping.

And now I'm going to finish working on our Disney World vacation.

Intentions

I had every intention of blogging all about our little weekend family trip, but we had no internet on Sunday evening. It was finally fixed around 7:30 yesterday evening. Needless to say, since then I have had very little free time. Maggie had her first dance class last night and LOVED it!

We spent the morning shopping for tap and ballet shoes and went to one grocery store. We were home just in time for lunch and then went "shopping" for fall clothes in the attic. Ellie is about to go down for her nap and then I'll be homeschooling Maggie and folding four loads of laundry. After nap we need to go to the library and make our second grocery store run for the day. There's a large pile of clothing (hand me downs for Maggie from Callie and for Ellie from Maggie) on my desk that needs to be sorted and put away for fall. Then it will be time to cook dinner, eat, wash dishes and then go to Nana's house for outside play time. The temperatures here are cooler (especially in the evening) this week so we are trying to enjoy it.


Until next time...

Few Words Wednesday

We have painted our fingernails and toenails with markers (more than once) joined a homeschool group, played a whole bunch , signed Maggie up for ballet/tap and jazz dance classes, shopped for groceries, mowed the yard and started packing for our family weekend getaway!

I hope to have time words tomorrow, but life is so busy these days!!

This Week

This week has been amazing! We have been super busy, but in the best kind of way!

• Monday- For my birthday, Big Daddy took the girls out and they came back with breakfast. We spent a little time together as a family before Big Daddy left for his business trip. Maggie and Ellie watched a 30 minute DVD while I cleaned the hardwood floors and did lots of housework. To end my birthday-day, we went to my parents' house for play time...after a trip to the grocery store. Happy Birthday to me...not really. Both girls had rough days=Mommy had a rough day too. I shared my birthday with my grandmother who passed away in October. This was the first time I'd ever had a birthday all to myself. I only cried once.
  
• Tuesday- We met other preschoolers from our church at a local children's museum. Maggie and Ellie had the best time! I think the regular admission is ridiculous, so I'm not sure we'll be going back. We got a great deal for a group rate, so it was a fair price for 4 hours of air conditioned fun. Their favorite things were the grocery store, the hospital/baby nursery, Nonie's House, the t.v. studio and a pretend train.
• Wednesday- We met two of my best friends from high school and their two kids for lunch. She homeschools and he's a college professor. We had great conversation and even though our kids aren't the same age (their kids are 10 and 8) everybody had a great time. After lunch, they came back to our house for dessert. I LOVED spending time with them.
• Thursday- Today was like my birthday gift!!!!! We went to Sanford to visit our friends! We started out by driving across town (checked out some of the tornado damage and were able to see the new Lowes that is replacing the one that was destroyed in April) to see what had changed. We went to my old office to visit and catch up in all of the local real estate happenings. After that, we met my Mommy friends and their kids at a local church playground and then went to eat lunch. (Of course, I forgot my camera, had to use my phone and the subjects would not be still!!!)The Original Lunch Bunch!! Ellie and Baby T were hanging on the other side of the table.
  

We had to wait a loooong time for our food, but the kids behaved well. When you have a part of eight and five of those are kids you just don't want to wait 50 minutes for your food. It was one of the little boys' birthdays and we celebrated my birthday too. We had a great free dessert and I got some sweet gifts too. We ended our trip "home" by visiting "Gammy Gladys". I feel so fortunate that I met Gladys when we started selling real estate on the same day. My favorite part of selling real estate was going to look at houses with her!! I would never have guessed that she would have become the adopted grandmother to my children!Ms. A had forgotten a gift, so I stopped by her house to pick it up after we had spent two hours of pure JOY with Gammy Gladys!. She wasn't at home and had left it for me with a sweet note about driving safe and how she loved me and missed me already. I only cried once during my hour long car ride home.

• Friday- We plan to catch up on the homeschool work that we haven't finished, clean a little and rest a whole lot! Maggie is also attending Vacation Bible School at the church where my grandparents were members and where my grandmother attended before she passed away. Big Daddy will arrive home late in the evening and then we'll have a busy weekend! More on that later!!
  

Birthday Wishes

So, I thought my birthday was this coming Tuesday, but it's Monday.

Much to my surprise, Big Daddy brought home birthday gifts Thursday night and he wrapped them with the help of Maggie and Ellie. I can't wait to see what they are since Maggie had no idea what they were even after she had seen them!

After the kids were in bed Big Daddy told me that he didn't get me what I had asked for (a CD) because Maggie had just told him what I wanted. I have been telling her for at least a month so that Big Daddy would have an easy, inexpensive gift idea.

One of the sacrifices I made when I became a stay at home mom was my income which allowed me to buy what I wanted, when I wanted it. Big Daddy always tells me to buy what I want or need, but I have a hard time buying stuff unless it's needed. Everything seems so expensive these days and seeing how much money I spend on things that we need makes it hard to buy things that I want.

One thing that I didn't want for my birthday was another full week of single parenting. But that's exactly what I'm getting. We are planning to go out for breakfast to celebrate my birthday before Big Daddy leaves for his trip and then the day will proceed as normal.

The Week Ahead

This is our "Week of Wonder" at church so I'll be teaching bible school. I'll also be homeschooling Maggie, cooking dinner and feeding the kids extra early, putting the kids to bed extra late and being a single parent. And I'm not feeling well.

In other words,
I'm going to be away from the computer a whole lot this week and could use some prayers.

We had a nice Sunday evening as a family at our church Block Party. I wish I had taken more pictures, but my hands were full. There were all kinds of food, several bounce houses/slides and great music. It was a community-wide, free event, so hopefully lots of people came to church that might not normally come.


I think everyone found out why Maggie wears shorts under all of her dresses, too.

I Should Be Folding Laundry

I should be folding the three loads of laundry that are waiting for me in the laundry room, but I decided to make a list of the things that I've done today. Maggie and Ellie are "hunting for trash"with some cardboard boxes. I'm not sure what gave them the idea, but I think they are really trying to look for treasures, more than trash.

• 6:45-I woke up when Big Daddy woke up, but sort of dozed back off until Maggie came and got in bed with me at 7:00. Just as Big Daddy was coming out of the bathroom after his shower, Ellie woke up. He brought her in and we cuddled for 15 seconds before she told me to "gup", a.k.a. get up.
• 7:20- I fixed Ellie oatmeal and Maggie asked for cereal. While they were eating I put the dishes from last night away.
• Fixed the coffee pot and prayed that the coffee grinder wouldn't die because I'm pretty sure that it's on it's last leg.
• Helped the girls get a blanket, coloring books and crayons set up in the living room floor.
• "Worked" on the computer while the girls were coloring and I was waiting on the coffee.
  
• I ate breakfast in the living room so that I could watch Maggie and Ellie play.
• Brushed teeth, washed faces, dressed the girls.
  
• I made up the beds and Maggie fixed the pillows on them.
• Put in a "Signing Time" movie in per Maggie & Ellie's request.
  
• Cleaned all of the mirrors in the house, the front of the stove, front door, french doors and fireplace-basically everywhere that little hands like to leave prints.
• Cleaned the toilets.
• Started a load of laundry only to realize that there was a load still in the laundry basket and another one in the dryer. Uggh.
• Wiped off the counters in both bathrooms.
• Cleaned up Olivia's mess from last night.
• Put the movie up and told Maggie & Ellie to have a little play time.
• Wiped down (dusted) everything in the living room, dining room and all of the bedrooms with a micro fiber cloth. Declared the house as clean as it was going to get for today.
• Fixed homemade trail mix for Maggie & Ellie's snack.
  
• Sat down in the living room with Maggie and Ellie for about 15 minutes until Nana came to get Maggie for a "Nana Day" at 9:30.
• Walked outside to wave goodbye to Nana, Maggie & Callie. Told Ellie that she had free reign of the dollhouse in Maggie's room!
• Went straight to the kitchen and cleaned out the set of cabinets where Maggie puts all of her preschool, church and library art.
• Checked under Maggie's bed for more art and found a few pieces of construction paper.
• I needed to make a phone call so I let Ellie watch a Barney movie.
• Turned movie off and played with Ellie.
• Took Ellie out to the garage and we wiped down all of the surfaces in the van.
• It was SO hot outside, so we came in and played until about 11:20.
• Went to Nana's to have lunch and pick up Maggie.
• Came home around 1:20, put Ellie down for a nap, set Maggie up with a computer game.
• Mowed the little bit of the yard that needed mowing and did a little bit of weed eating.
• Came in and did a math lesson with Maggie and then set her up on another computer game.
• Did more weed eating and told the yard not to grow until after Daddy 's trip next week.
• Taught Maggie another math lesson and gave her beads and made up word problems using subtraction.
• Ellie woke up-2:30.
• Fixed snack, finished math and discussed our new curriculum that arrived today!!
• Ellie requested another "Signing Time" movie. Normally two movies per day is the max, but I let them watch it again.
• While they were occupied, I went over the curriculum and made out our revised lesson plan for the week. I also got all of my materials together so that I can prepare a few things for tomorrows lessons.
• Turned movie off.
  
• Washed collard greens and started cooking them for dinner tonight. Sniffed of cantaloupe and decided that I would cut it while preparing dinner.
• Maggie & Ellie found their cardboard boxes from the delivery and decided to get a blanket and crayons out so that they could decorate them.

And that brings us to right now!!

Today was a high tv day which is rare. We also had much less school time than usual. Since I needed to get the yard taken care of and it's so hot (like 100) today, we'll do a little more school work tonight. Maggie did double some of her work yesterday so that she could have less work and enjoy a "Nana Day". We usually read several books in the morning, but since Maggie was away I tried to let Ellie have a little time to do what she wanted to do: Barney movie and dollhouse play in Maggie's room...without a big sister to bother her.

Of course, I still have lots of stuff to do!

• Finish dinner: chicken in mushroom sauce, steamed broccoli, wild rice and collard greens. Cantaloupe for Maggie, fresh strawberries for Ellie.
• Clean up kitchen and wash dishes (I only use the dishwasher a couple of times a month-max) while girls play with Play Doh at the table.
• Clean up Play Doh, do school work, read and play.
  
• Big Daddy comes home (7-ish) and has dinner then we'll play outside and go for a walk,
• Bring kids in for bath, pajamas and brushing teeth. (7:30-8:00)
  
• Read and play until bedtime.
• 8:30-Put girls to bed, fold laundry, plan for tomorrow, check email and spend time with Big Daddy watching tv or playing on our separate laptops.
• 10-10:30- shower, watch tv with Big Daddy until 11ish and then go to bed.

Pictures From Our Week

I mentioned before that Big Daddy and I were changing cell phone providers and getting new phones. I finally have a smart phone and I'm enjoying it so far. Big Daddy has had lots of different phones through work, so it was easy for him to pick one that he thought would work well for us. We haven't had a land line phone since we moved nearly two years ago, so we use our cell phones quite a bit. Big Daddy loves for me to send him quick texts and random pictures during the day. He has been out of town all of this week, so these are a few pictures that I've sent him.

On Monday, we slept late and had an "at home" morning. After Ellie's nap we went to the library and ran in the grocery store for fresh fruit. We don't buy any canned fruit, so I find myself shopping for fresh fruit at least twice a week. Ellie wanted to wear her favorite shirt that just happens to be long sleeved. We had to run by the bank too, so they both had suckers. The race car shopping cart is my nemesis right now.
After our errands and cooking and eating dinner, we went to my mom and dad's even though my mom and Callie had visited during the day (and played with the kids on the swings and in the pool while I mowed the back yard). I don't mind being home in the evenings without Big Daddy, but Maggie was missing him lots.

I decided to have and "at home" day on Tuesday. I wanted to do the housework and just be at home. I saw an idea on a homeschool blog and decided that it would save us time and money and allow Maggie to work more at her own (very fast) pace if I implemented the idea immediately. We found ourselves at the not so supercenter to buy school supplies. The idea worked exactly like I'd hoped it would and has already made a big difference in our "schedule".

We found ourselves at my parents again that evening after dinner. My mom had something for me (more on that in a minute) and Maggie "needed" to play with Callie. Of course, Ellie really wanted to see her "Papa" too. We hadn't been at their house for long when the skies grew dark, the wind began to blow and the thunder and lightning started. Maggie didn't want to leave, so my mom asked if she'd like to spend the day with her on Wednesday. My mom made plans to pick her up at 9:00 the next morning and Maggie was happy. We came home, had baths and put our jammies on. Both girls are a little scared of thunder (thanks to Cousin Callie) so I built a little fort in the living room and they read library books for 45 minutes before bed.

Thankfully, we had an inch (to add to the half an inch from the night before) of rain in the rain gauge on Wednesday morning. Truly an answered prayer. It has been SO dry here.

My mom and Callie came to pick Maggie up and Ellie wanted her shoes because she wanted to go too. My mom told me to get the car seat and she would take Ellie too.
I found myself childless! I washed my cabinets, swept and mopped the hardwood floors and mowed the front yard. I went to my mom's, had lunch and then brought Ellie home for her nap. When she woke up, we picked Maggie up and fixed that special thing that my mom had for me for our dinner!

Ellie doesn't usually eat corn, but she really enjoyed it this time!

I've had lots of stuff on my mind this week and had planned to write several times, but it hasn't happened. Doing school work with Maggie has been wonderful (more on that later), but it takes up all of my "free" time during Ellie's nap.

Olivia

I mentioned last week that we were getting a family pet and here she is!

This is Olivia Ian Rosie McMillan, but we call her Olivia. She is a hamster (NOT a gerbil) and she is SO loved!

I casually suggested the name Olivia and Maggie loved it. of course, Olivia is after Olivia the pig after our new favorite book character. Olivia the pig has a little brother named Ian, so that's where Ian came from. Rosie is after Cousin Callie's pet fiddler crab that passed away on Father's Day.

We picked her up on Thursday and Maggie and Ellie both cried at bedtime that night because they wanted to sleep with her. We have already enjoyed her so much and she is a wonderful addition to our family.

BIG Stuff!!

We have had so much going on the past few weekends, but we decided to take a "family time out" on Saturday morning and go to the zoo...again. We visited the same section that I took Maggie, Ellie and Cousin Callie to on Wednesday. We were there early and everyone else seems to start at the other end of the zoo, so it was very nice. The pictures are somewhere on my camera, but Ellie was able to ride the gorilla on the Carousel and we witnessed the big gorilla "going pee pee". Truly one of the highlights for Ellie! Maggie's favorite part was going to eat lunch and being able to play on a new playground. The best part is that we were home in plenty of time for Ellie's nap!

On Saturday evening, we went to a 50th Wedding Anniversary dinner for some of my cousins. We had a great time and Maggie caught her first really little frog/toad. I know the difference between a frog and a toad when they're big, but this one was really small and I couldn't tell which it was. Of course, I broke her heart by not letting her bring it home. She was devastated and tired and that's just not a good combination.

So, big news: we're getting a family pet. We know what we're getting and what we'll be naming it and I'll share as soon as we are able to pick it up. I like it's name because I just told Big Daddy that I was so in love with a particular children's book series that I wanted to name something after the characters in the book. I casually mentioned a few of the names to Maggie and she thought naming our pet after this main character was a wonderful idea!

The other really big news is that I have a new phone. Big Daddy picked out my last phone when Ellie was a week or so old. I told him to get the most basic one and he did and I hated it. (Mostly because it was hard to open.) It was time for Big Daddy to upgrade and we also decided that I "needed" a smart phone. We switched carriers, have new phones and can instant message each other all day. I have the "no texting" plan because he said there was nobody for me to text or receive text from...and he's pretty much right.

Less Words Wednesday

Ellie has discovered the magic of a pretty tutu. The only one that she has (until I make her another one) is the one I made her when she was a few months old. This video was taken right after we came home from the beach (hence all of the stuff on the counters and stove) and of course, they thought I was just messing with the camera. My favorite part is when Ellie says "excuse me" at the 23 second mark.