Wordless Wednesday

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.

Still "Under the weather"

Summer has still been feverish off and on since Thursday. I called the clinic today, but they said not to bring her in unless her fever goes up. It was only 100.1 when I called this morning. She is coughing and has some drainage, but it is not coming out her nose. Too bad she hasn't learned how to cough it up and spit it out yet.

She got to spend a lot of time with her daddy the past few days since I had a seminar to attend. I'm so glad they are spending more time together. It seems that since his cancer has came back, he has been making more of an effort to do things with her.

Yesterday, she went home with Memaw and Nanny after Sunday dinner at my aunt's house. She came home with a new rock box - a tackle box - with lots of rocks from Alaska. She showed me each of them this morning as soon as she got home. One by one, she put them in my hand. She's so funny about rocks. To some, they are nothing, but she sees beauty in each one. She has quite a collection of them now.

Good times and a fever

On Wednesday, we went to story time at the library. It was St. Patrick's Day, so Summer was sure to wear green so nobody would pinch her. Of course, her clothes were pink, but the accessories were green - necklace, tiara, bracelet and wand. When we left the house, she still wasn't sure she had enough on, but I assured her she did. She was a little leery of story time because she thought I was going to leave her there, but once we were there, she saw it was fun and I would be right beside her. I was really impressed and will try to make it a weekly thing. They read a few books and watched a video. Then they made a book marker with stickers and markers. Summer really loved that. Before we left, I let her pick a few books and then we checked them out along with a few I had put on hold for her.
She was surprised this week with a package from Diggity Kids. She got the complete travel system as a gift from one of the owners of the company. What a nice man! The material is very soft, and she was so excited to spice up her seat in the car with it. Of course, Teddy was right there beside her as always. Thank you so much Diggity Kids for putting a smile on her face and comfort in every car ride!
Yesterday, Summer had t-ball practice again. We ran by Target and picked her up a pink bat and a new tee for batting practice at home. Unfortunately, I had to miss practice and ran off with the new bat in my car too. Clint said she was not too into the practice. He had to wake her up from her nap to run an errand and she was still sleepy when practice rolled around. Plus, I think she has allergies. Last night, she was rubbing her eyes and sniffling so I gave her some allergy medicine.

During dinner, she requested we have family coloring time after we were finished. So, after the dishes were cleared away, we headed to her room to color. After that, we played a few games of Candyland. Then she picked out a few books for me to read to her. I only got through the second one which was "The Sleep Book" by Dr. Seuss. After it, she was ready for bed. Not sure if she was already tired or if the story actually convinced her she was. LOL I am so glad that we have moments like this where we are all together doing fun and positive things. I know a lot of kids don't have these times with their parents.

Sometime during the night, she woke up to use the bathroom. I noticed she felt warm, but just thought it was from the clothes and blankets. When she got up again to tell me she was hot and to take of the warm clothes and put on a short sleeved shirt, I almost shrugged it off again. But, the mommy in me knew something was wrong. So, I took her temperature which was 102.4. Bummer! I gave her some Tylenol and put her back to bed. An hour or so later, she came and got in our bed where she still is. I hope the fever is gone when she gets up. She really didn't have any other symptoms and when I asked her if she was hurting anywhere, she said no. Let's hope it was nothing major because Daddy's going to have her today while I go to a seminar. Maybe I won't worry too much while I'm gone, but maybe I will.

Pics of the week

Waiting on more kisses from Lolli

She's ready to hit the mall!
The only bunny she wanted anything to do with

Workbook time

Her "American flag" - not sure where she came up with the idea to make it

Getting a little direction from her coach

Playgrounds are where the fun is! Exploring the caves at Ruby Falls

She did not want to get wet. LOL

Summer says

Got these questions from a fellow blogger's blog. Enjoy her responses.

1. What is something mommy always says to you? "No, always"

2. What makes mommy happy? "Not crying I know that."

3. What makes mommy sad? "Crying."

4. How does your mommy make you laugh? "By tickling."

5. What was your mommy like as a child? "I have no clue."

6. How old is your mommy? "Can't remember."

7. How tall is your mommy? "6 months tall."

8. What is her favorite thing to do? "Clean up."

9. What does your mommy do when you're not around? "Nothing. Just clean up."

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for? "Being pretty."

11. What is your mommy really good at? "Being bad."

12. What is your mommy not very good at? "Everything. You're not good at everything."

13. What does your mommy do for a job? "I don't know."

14.What is your mommy's favorite food? "Noodles."

15.What makes your mommy proud of you? "I guess being good."

16. If your mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Buddy." (on the Dinosaur Train)

17. What do you and your mommy do together? "Play and watch TV."

18. How are you and your mommy the same? "Well, we aren't the same."

19. How are you and your mommy different? "I have black hair and you have blonde hair."

20. How do you know your mommy loves you? "Cause you say that all the time."

21. What does your mommy like most about your daddy? "Being pretty."

22. Where is your mommy's favorite place to go? "I don't know."

Hopping down the bunny trail

Summer is ready for Easter. Yesterday, we went to see the Easter bunny at the mall. On the way in the mall, she asked if the Easter bunny brings you anything. I told her he will bring candy on Easter, but today he will just be there for pictures. When she saw him, she went right up and got in his lap. She really liked him unlike Lexie who just gave him a "I'm not getting anywhere near you" look. She wanted her picture taken with him, but we had to wait on Daddy to get their with money so we headed to the mall playground. The girls had fun which is no surprise. Afterwards, we headed back to the bunny for pics. Lexie was still not wanting to sit in his lap, so Summer got her picture made alone. The flash was bothering her eyes so she rubbed them after every shot, but they turned out pretty good and not too teary eyed. Before she got off his lap, she told me she needed to tell him what she wanted. LOL I guess the Easter Bunny is a little like Santa in her eyes.

Today, Summer practiced some of her letters. She is attempting to write them on her own after she traces them now so that is a step forward. She can't get enough of the workbook type stuff, but she doesn't put nearly as much effort into coloring the pictures when asked in them as she does a regular coloring book. I've been talking to her about pre-school some more, but she still says she doesn't want to go. She is ready to go back to her Kindermusik classes though. She asked about them over the weekend saying she was wondering when it was going to be time for her to start them again. The next session is in a few weeks and I am just excited about them as she is.

T-ball is going pretty good. Her daddy got her a tee over the weekend and either he or I practiced with her when we could. She is using the left handed glove he got her and is throwing the ball just as good as with the other hand. Neither is close to perfect, but that is to be expected at her age. I'm 32, and I still can't throw it perfectly every time. I do encourage her and tell her what a good job she is doing so that she will not get discouraged. So what if I blow a little smoke up her rear? Gotta build that self-esteem up, right? Tonight is her second practice, and I can't wait to see her on the field with the others. Hope I can be a chill mom who doesn't do too much coaching from the sidelines. I want it to be a fun experience for her so I'll try to maintain my cool as she finds her way out there.

Everyday I am so thankful to have her in my life. Kids are such blessings.