Something Exciting!

See this beautiful girl?  Do you see anything different about her?

In case you missed it, here's a closer look for you. :o)

Still didn't see it?  Well, how about now?

Yes, that's right!  She lost her first tooth! :o)  Miss Excited was in our room at 6:20 this morning exclaiming, "I have something really exciting to show you!  Here, you have to feel it!"  Half awake I wasn't sure what was going on  I reached in her mouth and felt the tooth wiggle more than it had and said, "If you keep working on it, it might be ready to come out sometime next week."

I guess "sometime next week" was too far away for her, for Miss Bit returned about 20 minutes later and said, "Mommy, it's really loose now, and bleeding."  I looked in her mouth and there was her tooth, almost horizontal.  :shudder:

Now, I'm not saying Lil's a wimp, but I will say she can be a bit of a drama queen when it comes to pain.  I saw that tooth and knew it had to come out for there was no way in the world she could eat with it like that.  I grabbed a tissue and began to wiggle it back and forth (all the while arguing with Brien about how he should be the one doing this--I hate causing my kids pain).  I pushed it back and then grabbed and "pop" out it came.  Wow.

It barely bled and the tooth looks so itty bitty in my hand.  I can't believe it happened so quickly.  I can't believe how much more grown-up she seems all of a sudden.  Where did my bitty Bitty go?

And the Bit?  Well, needless to say she's thrilled!
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Today's Sparklies:

1.  I got out the camera to snap some pix of the Bit and the Bean started hamming it up with "cheeeeeeeeeeeeese" over across the room.  So, I snapped one of her as well:

2.  Beanie and I made a trip to the bank to see if we could find some "golden dollars" for the tooth fairy.  She says she likes to give out one of those for each tooth.  I can get behind that.
3.  Lil's sheer and utter joy at losing that first tooth. :o)
4.  Not feeling sad because this was something Hannah wanted so desperately but never got to experience.  I have no mixed emotions here.  I'm nothing but thrilled for Lil.
5.  Nana told me Jocelyn lost her first tooth this week as well! :o)
6.  Dinner with Pop and "the girls". 
7.  Making big plans for the weekend.

Milestone:
Well, it's happened, this is the first event Lily has experienced which Hannah didn't.  I thought I would be a lot more down yo about it, but I'm not.  I think it comes in part from having so many older cousins those their teeth first.  It was much harder with Miles since he and Han were the same age.  I don't fool myself and think they'll all be this easy, for surely they won't.  But, I don't like to borrow trouble, so I won't think about that right now.  Instead, I'll bask in my Bitty's joy in having that tooth OUT. :o)

This was going to be a post about everything I managed to accomplish today, but then, I got outside to do a bit of yard work, so it's morphed a bit.  But, no worries, I will also enumerate all the lovely things I did today as well, because I like to keep records of those days I managed to kick butt and take names while doing it. ;o)

I had managed to get a crockpot of beans going, get some bread made and doing its first rise, clean and sweep the kitchen, clean the downstairs bathroom--including the cat box (a quick aside, I was almost to the point where I didn't have to clean up anyone else's poo...:sigh:)--and vacuum, all before getting Lil to the bus stop. 

I was feeling pret-ty pleased with myself and then I went one further (now y'all see where Lil gets her modesty, right?).  Ellie and I drove to NN today and visited Michael's and Costco and I stocked up on some essentials (and a number of non-essentials, but, they made me happy, and I had a number of excellent coupons, so I went for it). 

During nap I finally finally finally got the lawn mowed (and given the fact it's just begun raining AGAIN, just in the nick of time).  It took me about two hours to do it, a good hour longer than usual.  It has been so wet and I haven't had gas (long story) so I haven't done it since just before the hurricane (great googly mooglies, has it been that long?!?  Shame on me!) and it was long, dense and wet.  I still didn't weedwhack, but I'll get to it tomorrow.  Whew!

And now, well now the house smells like heaven.  There's 15 bean soup in the crock pot, and the bread...ahhhhhhh, the bread.  It's just about ready to come out and I can't wait to slather a bit of butter on the hot heel.  Mm. :o)  Homemade bread is good, but fresh, hot from the oven homemade bread is surely mana from the gods. 

But, back to the yard.  Sorry. 

Costco always has loads of things I don't know I need until I get there.  However, one thing I knew I would be purchasing today, and had even set money aside for, were these stunning 'mums.
  

 I love 'mums.  I really do.  They are the quintessential fall flower.   And these guys are MASSIVE.  HUGE.  Colossal.  Best of all, they were only $10 each.  I saw smaller ones that weren't as beautiful for $15 at Lowe's and HD yesterday.  Yup, I scored a good deal with these (and, if I didn't, please don't tell me and burst my bubble. :oP)

 And, now a quick tour around some of the green that is still to be found.  The Bitsys...good grief, the Bitsy are still blooming!!  I'm going to have to write Oakes and tell them how utterly amazing these little guys have been.

Ah, the wisteria.  This thing smells delicious.

 I've never seen a fall blooming wisteria, but I guess there's a first time for everything, right?

And, the Bloomerang lilac is blooming once more. This is another lovely fragrance.  :o)

And, moving back inside.  I had a 15% off total purchase coupon from JoAnn's yesterday, and a 40% off one item and 20% off total purchase at Michael's today.  All of their fall flowers and decor (both places) were anywhere from 40%-60% off.  That was it, I couldn't resist. 

Now then, I'm not a flower arranger by any stretch of the imagination.  That said, I'm pretty pleased with how these two milk cans came out:

They both bring such a lovely "pop" of fall color inside and it's rather appealing when it is 85 with a relative humidity of 85%.  This way I can pretend it's autumnal outside. ;o)

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Today's Sparklies:

1.  From yesterday:

Aren't they so cute when they color together?
2.  Getting SO many things done today! :o)
3.  Beans and bread for dinner.  It may not sound like much, but my goodness it smells wonderful in here.
4.  Getting the yard done--FINALLY!
5.  Hot bread with butter.  Yum!
6.  Bible study tonight.  Yay! :o)
7.  I found the Krylon Glitter Blast spray paint I was looking for at Michael's--awesome!  Lil and I can glitterific the ugly pumpkins now!
8.  Big fat savings at JoAnn, Michael's, and Costco.  Oh, and the awesome London Fog winter coat I scored for Lil for $22.  Sweet! Costco is a dangerous place, and yet, I love it. :o)

No milestones.

Bedtime Routines

I'm a FIRM believer in the importance of routine in a child's life.  I try to implement a routine from day one if possible.  Not a schedule, mind you, which is something else entirely, but routine--when one known event follows another known event.

When I was teaching, the children always did best when there was a rhythm and routine to their day.  Days when we had assemblies, dress-down, etc. always disrupted the routine and the kiddos were "off". 

When I think about it, I always do much better when I know how my day is going to flow and know what comes next.  It's one of the reasons I'm always happy school starts--it gives routine to my day. 

The same holds true for my girls--they too do better when they know what comes next.  This is why I made Lil those charts.  Yes, they do have times on them, and we try to hit those times as best we can, but, for the most part, they are a guide more than anything else. 

 The one thing we do hold firm on is bedtime.  Lil simply must be in bed by 7:00 with lights out by 7:30 or she misses her "window" and then has a far more difficult time going to sleep. 

So, the girls know after dinner comes clean up the kitchen and bath.  Ellie brushes her teeth before bath (with help) and Lil does hers after.  They know after bath is jim-jams, story time and then bed. 

There may be a few small extras in there--Lil has clothing selection and quick room clean-up--but it always flows the same way.  There is usually some sort of chaos or unhappiness on nights we deviate from the routine, whether it is difficulty falling asleep, or night awakening.  Since I'm not a fan of getting up in the middle of the night, and since I do enjoy having time to myself in the evening, we try to avoid this. 

I have a routine to my days as well and I think it's time for me to make one for night.  :oS

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Today's Sparklies:

1.  Okay, these are from last night, but she was SO cute in her little union suit I had to share:

2.  Also from last night:

The pink highlighted belly b.  Today's color is BLUE.  Thank goodness for washable markers.
3.  Ellie and I got all sorts of crafting supplies at JoAnn today.  Woo hoo!  Even better?  I had a 15% off your total purchase coupon.  :o)
4.  I've seen a number of cute yarn wreaths on Pinterest and thought that might be something I would be able to do.  We'll see. :oP
5.  Ellie was pointing out things to me as we strolled along and she said, "Dog".  At least, I thought that's what she said.  When I repeated it to her, she said, "DUCK! Quack quack!" Oooooh.  Duck...
6.  Lil's enthusiasm as she gets off the bus every day. :o)

No milestones.

Captain Random Writes Again

So, these photos are for fun.  My girlie looooooooves her some "bocks" and will bring you four or five in a row and you are expected to drop everything you are doing so you can read her "bock" to her.

 RIGHT NOW.

 And again.

Aren't they sweet together?  :o)  If you aren't available to read to her, she'll just plunk herself down and read to herself.  It's all quite wonderful, really. :o)

She also helps herself to coloring supplies, and is a HUGE fan of markers.  Even though they get all over her, I prefer them because she doesn't try to eat them.  We have crayons pitted with teeth marks, and Ellie handing me mouth fulls (what is the correct phrase here??) of crayon bits covered in spit.  Yum.

Let's see, what else is new.  Oh, yes.  Lily was up traumatized with terror from 2-4 this morning.  Brien got up to snuggle with her first and we thought all was well.  Nope.  She was back in the room at 3:15 and it was my turn to lie with her.  I asked her to tell me what had her so scared and she said she just couldn't--it was TOO scary.  I finally convinced her the only way we could make it better was for her to tell me.  It seems one of her teachers (from the preschool I didn't much care for but thought what could it hurt for her to be there for six months...silly me) told her during nap time one day that there is a monster that snatches children from their beds while they're sleeping.

Um, WHAT?!?  Who in the world tells a three/four year old such a thing?!?  And why???  My anger burns and I'm filled with impotent rage because there isn't a dratted thing I can do about it.  ARGH!!!  While in the light of day Lil can acknowledge it's silly, at night when it is pitch dark, it's terrifying and terrorizing.  I'd love to get my hands on the woman and...yeah, okay, going to have to let it go and deal with the situation at hand.  Poor Bitty.  No wonder she has a hard time sleeping.  I sure as heck would.

I'm not sure why this is only coming up now. And, I'm sure there was more to the story than what I got from Lil.  There always is.  However, to mention monsters and child snatching in the same sentence at all is not cool--especially child snatching!  Gr.

Needless to say I wrote a quick note to Mrs. W this morning to fill her in on the situation in case Lil was a bit out of it today at school.  I didn't mention the monsters thing, just that she had a difficult time getting to sleep last night (almost 9:30!) and then up in the middle of the night.  I know I'm exhausted so Bitty has to be in rough shape as well.

Speaking of Miss Bit, she wants to be a pirate kitty for Halloween.  For clarification, that would be a kitty, who is a pirate.  Any ideas, folks?  I'm serious.  I'm thinking black pants and boots, a nice ruffly white shirt, red scarf for belt, bandana and cat ears and tail.  I'm going to go to Claire's and pick up some HUGE gold hoops so we can put one in the cat's ear.  We're going to put her stuffed rat on her shoulder.  But, beyond that, I'm lost.  Where to get the boots, the eye patch, etc.  Help!

Also, Robin gave me the most outstandingly BRILLIANT idea today--use Pinterest to gather ideas for the girls' holiday/birthday gift ideas.  DUH!  What didn't I think of that?!?  I've spent the better part of the afternoon perusing my favorite kids' sites for fun ideas and pinning 'em.  This way, I can just send the link to folks and then all they have to do is click on the image and it takes them right to the item to be purchased.  Brilliance, I tell you, sheer brilliance.  :oP  Here's what I have so far.  There are a variety of price points, and no, I'm not getting them everything I've pinned.  They are just ideas. We're going with three gifts per girl plus the big gift from Santa, and stockings.  That's it.  But, as I locate cool stuff (ah, my specificity of language is amazing here), I want to be able to find it again and remember it.  :o)  I might just have to make a board for me and for Brien.  Holy cow Pinterest is awesome! :happy sigh:

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Today's Sparklies:

1.  Ellie got good sleep today.  Hooray for naps!
2.  Lil had a great day in school in spite of her nighttime woes.
3.  Playing with the puppies after school.  Nana needed a bit of help so we pitched in. :o)
4.  Getting together gift ideas for the girls.  I can't believe how behind I am on Christmas shopping!  Ack!
5.  Ellie and her pink belly button.  I'll share more tomorrow, but it involves a hot pink highlighter. ;o)
6.  A low-key kind of day.  It was much needed given the sleep situation last night.

No milestones.

Title? What Title?

 Can you tell what's going on in here? 

 Here, I brightened it up for you. :o)  I always feel sorry for Lily on Saturdays during College Football Season (yes, it is a capital letter event around this home), as we have games going from noon until bedtime.  While she doesn't mind watching the Hokies play (too much at any rate), and will ask which team we're rooting for when another game is on, I can tell life isn't that exciting. 

Since she watches no TV during the week (none before school, and we're so busy with homework, playtime, dinner, bath and bed after school) I don't mind TV time on the weekends. 

She had finished all her chores, Ellie was down for a nap, and I thought she might enjoy watching a movie.  I hooked her up with Fantasia (her choice) and Daddy's laptop in the cardboard dome of awesomeness.  As you can see, she's loaded it up with all her stuffed animals and it is quite the cozy little nook.  :o)

Ellie is now at an age to play with her Pikolino (oops I misspelled it!) P'kolino frog.  I knew when Santa brought it at Christmas it was going to be one of those gifts she had to grow into.  And, grow into she has.

 (Please ignore her somewhat nakey-ness.  She had just finished dinner, and since she doesn't wear a bib, well...you know how it is.)

She loves to play with her "laptop" too.  She'll go and crash on the frog and pull out her laptop to type. 

Speaking of laptops, have I mentioned she can open and close mine?  And, that she can mouse and click using the trackpad?  Or, that she managed to enlarge my desktop by 400% the other day?  How about she's able to unlock and click on apps on my iPhone?  I swear, kids' brains are wired VERY differently today.  The ability of kiddos to do these sorts of things at such a young (17 months!) age is astounding.  I know grown-ups who still have trouble mousing...

Miss Bean is working on a language explosion.  She and B went to visit with Nana and Pop while Lil and I stayed for Religious Ed/CCD/Child Formation (select the name of your choice ;oP).  Nana and Pop came home while Ellie was eating her lunch and Nana went into the kitchen to sit with her.  Ellie looked at Nan and said, "Nana, where's Pop?"  Yes, yes she did.  At least, that's what her Nana and Daddy say. And, she says more and more every day.  I never fail to be amazed at the swift growth and development the first couple of years of a child's life.

 I am going to go out on a limb and say a 17 month old baby is much smarter than a 5 month old kitten. ;o)  This boy has lost his mind!!

 Yes, this is George.

And, yes, this is George WALKING along the rail upstairs!!  I looked up the other night, and there was Georgio walking the railing.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  I'm not sure, but I think he was practicing.  He began very slowly and tentatively, losing his balance every once in a while (once right over Brien's head--B moved very quickly to the black chair after that).  Then, by the end, he was practically running back and forth.  Nutso, the kitty-boy is utterly insane.  :shakes head:

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Weekend Sparklies:

1.  We wound up going for a Sunday drive after RE class today.  Ellie went to sleep on the way home (we're going to have to start taking two cars to church, drat it all) so we just kept driving down Route 5 and explored.
2.  On that drive, we found this so we can knock off one of the items on the Fall Bucket List. :o) That, and I do believe we may be skipping the one at Temple Hall Farm with Jessie this year...something to do with playing "Marco Polo" with other folks in order to find the next clue and find our way out last time..;oP  But, we WILL be heading up with J and crew again this year. :o) I'm getting positively giddy for fall!
3.  Making plans with Lil to make these.  Because, after all, everything is better with sparklies. ;o)
4.  RE class is just flying by.  I can't believe how quickly our hour passes.  Man I love being with the kids!
5.  The Hokies are 4-0.  Woo hoo!  Of course, the real challenge comes next week against Clemson.  I don't mind saying I'm a bit worried.  :oS
6.  The wooly bear I saw crossing the road, and the leaves beginning to show some signs of changing.  It's coming, it's COMING!  Woo hoo!!
7.  Brien being able to help Mom and her friend navigate through NYC by phone yesterday.  Whew!
8.  Although she napped in the car, Ellie has gone down for another rest in her crib--giving me a chance to have a small break as well.

No milestones.

Things I Learned Tonight

This evening was Back to School Night.  It's always very odd for me to be in schools and school situations and NOT be a part of the faculty side of things.  I find I miss the teaching and the kids (not so much the pressure on teachers, though), and when I smell a school, my heart says, "HOME!".  On the flip side, I LOVE being at home with the girls (or, girl now) and being able to put Lil on the bus and have a snack waiting when I've picked her up from the bus.  :o)

So, here's what I learned tonight:

• We have an awesome babysitter in the form of the 16 year old girl across the street.  Sweet!  
• PTA business can be rather erm, dull.  Yes, it's an important part of school business, and I'm eternally grateful for everyone who works so hard for our school, but my goodness...
• Lily gave our phone number to her friend G.  Um, really?  Oh my.  I met G's mom tonight and she was very kind and we are going to try to get the girls together sometime next month. 
• Lil is a smarty pants.  I mentioned to Mrs. W that math and science really seem to be Lil's "thing" and she said, "Everything is Lily's thing."  :o)
• Lily also seems to be friends with pretty much everyone.  In fact, Mrs. S said there was a lonely little guy out on the playground and she took Lily aside and asked her to go talk to him.  She said not only did Lil talk to him, she also took his hand and walked around the playground with him.  
• It's VERY hard for me to sit and listen to a Back to School Night spiel as the parent and not ask ten million questions since I'm intensely curious about everything going on in the classroom.  It's not that I want to question the way Mrs. W and Mrs. S are doing things, I just want to know what they are doing and what materials they are using, and how can I help.  Argh!  I wanna be involved toooooo.  *insert sing-song tone whine here*
• We were talking with another set of parents (G's, I believe) and we said something about Lily, and another set of parents in the class said, "Oh, yeah, we hear ALL about Lily."  Please tell me that was a good thing.  PLEASE.  Ulp.
• This year is going to fly by.

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Today's Sparklies:

1.  Alex (babysitter) being able to help out in a pinch.  I really like her and she's a really sweet, honest, kind girl.  She reminds me a lot of me at that age, actually.  I had cancelled Nana for a number of reasons, thinking I didn't need her.  And then, I DID need a sitter.  I saw Alex walking down the street towards home and asked and she was available.  Excellent.
2.  Lily my sweet girl.  She was so excited we were going to school to see all her hard work.
3.  Deep talks with Robin today.  I have a blog post swirling around in my head I need to try to get down.
4.  Being in a school again.  Who knew I missed it?  Huh.

Milestone:
The last time I was in Lil's school was for Hannah--I mean outside of Open House for Lil.  Another first--First Back to School Night.  I thought I had finished with the firsts in our first year.  I didn't think about these things.  :oS 

Sparkly Hannah Day 2011

The day was lovely.  I wore sparkles and dolled up the Bean.  Lily finally got to wear some of her new school clothes. 

We put Lil on the bus (I felt a bit guilty, but knew she would be sad to be missing school) and hit the road for the VLM.  Hannah adored the VLM and visited from the time she was Beanie's size. 

The plan was to visit the VLM, take a trip across the JRB and come back across on the "pixie boat".  We distributed some RAKs along the way and overall had a beautiful day.  There's nothing like exploring a museum through the eyes of a child.  Nor taking a roadtrip with the one you love.  While Miss Bean slept, he and I explored back roads--which Han would have loved.

We now want to visit Fort Hger and Bacon's Castle after having found them along the way.  Both were closed (one from hurricane damage and the other for restoration-type purposes) and both must be explored.  Boy Virginia is loaded with sites to visit and things to do. 

There was a rainbow this evening and Mom and Dad came to dinner, bringing balloons for Hannah with them.  We had a wonderful family dinner and "dewishous dessoit" and enjoyed being together. 

I still feel bad Lily didn't get to be with us, but she couldn't miss school.  I do believe she would have been sad to miss school, actually.  Besides, we scoped out fun things to do together later.  :o)

What follows are cell phone photos of the day.  I canNOT believe I forgot my camera.  :oS

There's an alligator in that tank!

Um, what's IN there?

"You do it this way."

AH!

The child was enchanted with the fish.  Luckily there were many many tanks of them throughout the museum.

The VLM is wonderful and has two different biomes inside.  One is a cypress swamp, the other a mountain environment. 

Needless to say, I love the mountain one.  The plants in here were already showing signs of autumn. 

This is inside!

The Virginia Creeper has taken off over the years. I cannot explain why this made me happy, but it did.

Do you see the blue heron?

Ellie was enthralled with the beavers, and I think we might still be there had we not dragged her away.

Turtle on a log.

Lake Maury.  When she was little, Han would call out, "A-lake Maury, Mommy!" when we would cross it.  It was fitting to be there today.

Red wolves.

Ellie trying to climb in with the red wolves.

When we got to the bob cat, my guilt knew no bounds.  How much would Bitty have LOVED this??

These two photos just make me laugh.  She was really scrutinizing this little statue.

This little red fox was hysterical to watch.  He had some sort of furry toy he would shake and worry and play with.

Here's the gator!

He was so lazy and chill.  He's obviously very well-fed.  He's on the cypress swamp side of the museum.

Please note B is trying to keep Ellie from reaching in and playing with the turtles. 

The sundial outside.  We left at noon.

On the way home on the pixie boat.  Look at that sky and those clouds.

My sign from my girl. 

Ellie thoroughly enjoyed the dessert.  More to come tomorrow.  :oP

It was as good a day as we could have had and I'm sure Hannah was with us as we went out exploring.  Thank you all for your well-wishes, sparkly dress and RAK's today.  It was wonderful to know you were celebrating our sweet Monkey girl with us.  :o)