Preschool visit

I finally broke down and did it. I took her by preschool. When we got there, I remembered that I had forgot to copy her insurance card and get the immunization records. I told Summer we'd come back another day, but she did not want to leave there without seeing the classrooms. When I started walking down the steps to the preschool, I got this feeling. You know, the my baby's growing up so fast feeling. Then, to top it all off, Summer says, "I wish I was old enough to go now." Yep, she's a goner. The halls were just like a school with classrooms filled with fun activity/learning centers. We also toured the playground where the kids play everyday. Summer enjoyed trying out some of the equipment. So, it looks like she is completely sold on preschool now. Of course, it is only two days a week so I'm not completely losing her. I know it might sound lame to some, but she is my one and only. I've already faced losing her once to cancer. Time with her is so precious. I'm not saying time without her isn't precious. But, I don't want to miss anything if I don't have to.

Last night we went to a carnival with some friends. The fear of rides is gone. She rode the Himalaya type ride twice without batting an eye. Willow was riding them all too. It was so awesome to see our girls just going from ride to ride with no fear and smiles on their faces.

I think we are skipping t-ball practice today. We may just practice some on our own. I think a day in the sun is just what the doctor ordered for us. Let's just hope the weather cooperates.

Caught up in the act....

...of living. Trying to keep up with a 3 year old and 1 year old has been keeping me rather busy. Of course the 1 year old is just part time, but free time has been hard to come by lately. Summer is all better now. She's been in shorts the past two days and loving it. I couldn't even convince her to wear a jacket on the cool mornings. T-ball has been kind of a disappointment so far. Her first two games and opening ceremonies were cancelled, along with numerous practices before those. I guess outdoor sports are just subject to the weather and it seems like we have been getting our share of rain. I can't imagine being up in Seattle and trying to play t-ball. Her first game is rescheduled for Thursday which just so happens to coincide the the Maunday service at church this week. Big bummer, but I am still excited about her first game. I'm sure she will have a few other family spectators there to cheer her on, but probably not as many as she would've had last Saturday. Darn wet fields.

Today we are going to the zoo again. We did last Wednesday too. I am going to try to make story time at the library though because we missed it last week due to Clint moving Amanda out of her apartment and into one of our houses. So, I went and got Lexie and had just enough time to get to the zoo. It was nice though because we had a picnic and the girls all played on the playground. Then we did the zoo tour and last, but definitely not least, a few carousel rides. I imagine today will be somewhat similar except I will be trying to keep Lexie still enough for story time. Speaking of her, she just got here. She was sad to see her Mommy go, but Amanda told me she just said "Lolli" when they were coming in. :D She said it for the first time last week when we were in the car. Usually, she calls me "Momma." Her name for Clint is officially "Pop Pop." She says it on cue most of the time. She can also say Summer in her own special way too.

She is getting so big. But, not nearly as big as Summer. I was looking at her yesterday and she looks like a 5 year old to me. I keep telling her to stop growing or I'm not going to be able to carry her anymore, but her body is not listening. She tells me she can't anyway so I don't know why I keep asking her to. It's not really hard to believe she is going to be 4 years old in 36 days. She looks it and acts it. Yesterday, we did some dot-to-dot worksheets. After she did five or six, we went back and put stickers on the ones that were correct. She still reads numbers from right to left, and I am having a hard time reinforcing that concept to her. But, all in due time. As long as she can write her letters before kindergarten, right? We've also been working on reading a little too, or maybe I should say letter/word recognition. Phonics too. There is still a long way to go, but it is exciting watching her learn. She truly fascinates me every day.

Yesterday, we practiced t-ball outside. First we threw a few, then did a little batting. She has definitely improved on her swing -- much harder than before. Throwing still has a ways to go, at least if she is going to catch up to Willow. My best friend's little girl is the bomb!!! I know she is proud of her. After we worked on the throwing a little more and taking a few laps around the bases (or should I say trees, a hole in the ground, and the tee), she was ready for ice cream. She wanted to go to the ice cream shop and get some, but I reminded her she has 3 left from our last three trips to various ice cream shops. Yes, I have had A LOT of will power and not eaten her leftovers. She chose the cake batter with Oreos from Stone Cold Creamery over the cake batter with chocolate swirl from Ben & Jerry's and chocolate with brownies in a waffle cone from The Ice Cream Show. We have a lot of ice cream shops in the neighborhood. She is my kind of ice cream girl for sure. She knows the best from the rest -- you gotta have something mixed in! Her r daddy doesn't care for mix-ins and prefers plain ice cream flavors. The ice cream was gone in no time after which she wanted to watch cartoons. We ate dinner while we watched a few HBO fairy tales which put interesting twists on the traditional stories. Clint and I aren't completely sold on them preferring just the normal fairy tale storylines. Summer didn't like the Snow White one so I deleted it from the DVR half way through it. We also watched The Prince and The Frog and The Three Little Pigs.

Time to catch up on some blog reading while the girls sleep.

It's only a matter of days

This week is flying by and our departure for Disney World is quickly approaching. It seems we are never lacking for activities around this place. Today we are going to head to the library to get some books for our trip. We are going to get some recommended by the new workbooks she got at her Make-A-Wish party. She really loves doing those things when she is in the mood, but we haven't gotten into any sort of regular habit doing them yet. All in due time. :) We are also going to go and get some tickets to the circus coming the following week. We have several friends going with us to she "the greatest show on earth." LOL

We got a little t-ball practice in on Monday afternoon. Summer really impressed me with her catching and throwing skills. She still has a ways to go in the catching department, but her arm is pretty good. I may be biased, but I really think she did great. She loves to bat the ball off of the bench and then run the bases. She does not stop if you get the ball and block her way with threats of tagging her out. Nope, she still thinks she has to run all the way around every time. I'm going to go with that for a while because it is good exercise for her to run. Of course, these "bases" are pretty close together since we are in front of our building playing. One of the neighbors watched for a bit while they were walking their dog, and I was so proud of Summer. :) Can't wait to see if she ends up on the same team as her friends. She will be playing in my home town which is a bit of a drive, but it will be nice to be around some people from my younger days. Plus, it will be the perfect location for family spectators that may want to watch her in action.

We are all getting more and more excited as the day we leave approaches. I've started packing, but I'm only done with Clint's so far. I need to go get some blank tapes for the video camera. I really need to borrow a slightly better camera, but I haven't made the effort yet. I hate to buy one on the spur of the moment, but it would probably be worth it to get better pics. I always fear that I won't be happy with it though and will have, yet again, bought another camera I don't really like. Smaller is better in terms of convenience, but not always quality. Any sure picks for camera happiness will be gladly taken in comments! :D

There is a cloud on the horizon. One of Summer's friends from the clinic is losing his battle. The cancer has spread to his brain and it is only a matter of time now. I hurt for the family and their impending loss. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. The little boy's name is Joshua, but they call him Joshi. I will never understand why so many must die from this awful disease. Will they ever find a cure for cancer?

I'm praising God for my blessings though. I have so much to be thankful for!

Weekend Recap

We had a nice weekend. Summer went to Memaw's house Friday night. When we met up with her on Saturday, she was curious as to why she had to go to Memaws - meaning, what did you and daddy do that I couldn't do? :) I told her we went to the movies. She dropped it at that point. She just wanted to know what she missed. After we met up, we headed to the Nature Center to go on an outdoor adventure. It was neat and I almost wish I would've gotten a membership, but I'm not sure we will go back. We have so much to do downtown. We didn't do the Reflection Riding part cause we were rushed. :( We left after a nice walk and headed to Trenton to sign her up for t-ball. I think that starts in about 3 weeks. I am excited, but nervous that she won't like it. Yesterday, Daddy took her outside and let her practice batting and running the bases. Later that day, I sat in the floor and we worked on using the glove to catch a rolling or bouncing ball. Not sure how much she picked up, but I didn't push her to do more than she wanted. She seemed to enjoy it, but didn't really want to hold the glove how I told her too.

We got Lexie on Saturday night and have been enjoying having her around. Me more than Summer because she has to share me with Lexie. This morning we all colored together, but Lexie wasn't really sure what to do at first with the marker. It was fun watching her figure out how it worked, but she mostly preferred taking the lids off the markers. I am so glad we have those Crayola mess-free markers. They rock!!! No marker on anything but the magic paper. I put her on the potty this morning. At first she was freaked out, but then when I put her diaper and pants back on she wanted to get back up there and look at the book I had for her. I cheered for her even though she didn't do anything, but she almost seemed like she wanted to try when I mentioned it to her when I saw her "grunting" as we colored. :) It's hard to know when they can't talk to you, but I know she understands pretty much all I say. Summer is definitely ready to have me all back to herself, but I'll miss Lexie for sure when we take her back home later. She's such a sweetie!

Summer got a Diego Wii game from one of the kids at church on Sunday. She played it this morning and it is definitely easier than the Enchanted Princess and Chipmunk games that we have. I guess I better get back in there. We are going to play Just Dance now. Hope she lets me pick a song or two.