Unbelievable

Here's what we do on a rainy morning with no place to go. Sophie gave me this card for Mother's Day, and it's been a hit ever since. It's kind of dark, but I think you can get the general idea. And we are not complaining about the rain, even if it rains the rest of the week, and it's supposed to thanks to Fay, it still won't dent our 2 year old drought.

We had a good day too!

Yesterday was Michael and Emily's first day back to preschool. They loved it and did great, no tears or hesitation going in. Of course, I had to make them pose with the sign, gotta keep up with tradition.

Their teacher is focusing on independence this year, and that is fine by me. One of her goals is to have them learn to recognize their name, but for now, they just have to know what color their name card is, and hang their bag up on the hook beneath it. Or at least try. So we made a big deal out of letting them carry their own bag. Michael was thrilled, Emily not so much. She just wanted to get out the "bouncy ball" and play, and was annoyed with me when I told her no. Her pout rivals Sophie's, which is no small feat.

Mike was great carrying the bag, but once at school, pulled his name card right off the bulletin board when I pointed it out to him. Whoops, guess he thought it was his to take home. Emily had no problem hanging up her bag below her name. Mike just kind of held his up to the hook, like it was going to magically jump from his outstretched fingers all by itself. I know he'll get the hang of it soon enough. Here's one more picture the teacher sent.

They were wiped out when I picked them up. Lunch was refused by both, and a nap couldn't happen fast enough.

A Toss Up

Today was my Multiples Club's consignment sale, and it was a great success. I can't decide which I am more excited about: the fact that I made over $700.00 in sales, or that I got rid of my last exersaucer, and two single strollers. I also got rid of a LOT of clothes, which is so nice. My only big ticket item that didn't sell was an infant car seat. I know by the Spring/Summer sale (March) I will be able to sell my two double strollers. (what will we do with all that room??) And here's hoping we are done with the Diaper Champs by then as well!

Our two sale coordinators ran the past 3 sales and they resigned after this one. They did such a great job automating the system with consignment software that scans the bar code on each item's tag. Our club was desperate for volunteers for the Spring, if no one volunteered to run it, we wouldn't have one....so yes, I volunteered. Me and two other ladies will be working together to pull it all off. It is such a team effort, if you sell you participate in the set up, work the sale, and tear it all down. It comes together quite nicely. Still, though, I am sure "being in charge" will have it's challenges, (like finding a new suitable venue that is a good location, but also affordable) and I am looking forward to that. Taking on a challenge and seeing tangible results is something I don't get on a daily basis and I really enjoyed the sense of accomplishment I felt today.

Terry was a huge help, he was there with us all day yesterday and today. There were only 3 husbands that helped out, the rest had kid duty at home. Luckily, we have Nana who stays overnight so both of us can work. Part of my earnings will be spent on massages for both of us, I am currently typing this with an ice pack on my back, and Terry just told me he hasn't been this sore in ages. You can imagine the hubbys did the grunt work, although we women worked our tails off as well.

In equally exciting news.......ta da....Michael and Emily start back to preschool on Monday. They will be in the older 2's class, and will go MWF mornings. Their teachers are favorites of ours, Sophie had them years ago too. Miss Sharon has set up a blog for their class, you can see it here. We had meet and greet on Friday morning, don't we look all happy with our cheesy grins?

I had a good day.....

Today was Sophie's first day back to school. She has been excited about starting first grade since finding out last week that she is in Mrs. Woodhouse's class. Any time school was mentioned this summer she would go on about how she just had to get Mrs. Woodhouse. (I think the draw is that she is young, fun and cute.) I know from other parents that all the first grade teachers are very good, so it didn't matter to me. I kept reminding her that there are 5 first grades, and you get who you get....so it was pretty funny when we saw that she did indeed get her favorite.

Here she is dealing with the dreaded new sneakers. She didn't have a meltdown, just asked for my help in getting them to feel comfortable, a huge leap from last year.



Yearly pose in the dawn's early light; her bus arrives at 7:03. He was about 5 minutes early this morning, but did wait for us while we sprinted up the rest of the hill.

Later on Mike enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, undisturbed by big sister. It always amazes me how taking 1 child out of the equation makes things so much more peaceful.......

Her report this afternoon was very postive, loved pretty much everything about her day, class and teacher. We played outside after dinner, it was so nice tonight, and no meltdown at bedtime at all. It's nice that the adjustment will be easier for all of us this year.

A Post for Uncle Tom

Terry spent most of today cleaning the gutters, and the kids were only too eager to try their hand at climbing the ladder. As many of you know, most of us Maiers do not like heights, kind of strange since we are a tall bunch. My brother Tom and I really share that sentiment, as evidenced by the year we had a house at Lake Lanier and he and I were the ONLY ones who did not jump from the top of the dock into the water. That year Sophie begged me to let her jump, she was only 4 and of course I didn't let her. Well, today I thought maybe she would have if I had said yes. She happily climbed up the ladder, and was almost high enough to clean the gutter herself.



Emily enjoyed her turn as well, but Michael preferred to stay closer to the ground. (smart boy!)

Sophie then had fun taking pictures of them as they watched from the kitchen.
Oh, and she was pretty pleased with this shot, she worked hard to get this photo of her shadow.
Here's Terry doing the front of the house, just tilting my head to look at him that high made me nauseous. He did a great job, now they are done, the ladder has been returned to Dad, and we are all off to bed...as tomorrow is THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

Payback?

I'm not sure, but I don't think I was as terrible a shopper as Sophie is. To clarify, she is a great shopper if we are shopping for toys, but how often does that happen? Today I took her shopping for clothes, school begins a week from tomorrow, and she has outgrown most of her shorts from this summer. Since it will be hot as heck till probably the middle of October, no fall clothes needed till then.

First stop: Sears to check out the Land's End stuff. Adorable skorts and co-ordinating tops, capris, shoes. All greatly reduced. All in the style I deem appropriate for an almost 7 year old, which means, not hoochie mama. All uncomfortable. Every single thing she tried on...uncomfortable. I really wish I had taken a video so you could see her contortions as she tried to explain to me...I can feel the seams....ugh this has a collar, I can't stand a collar...oh no, there is elastic at the sleeve, can't stand that either.

We left there with nothing, and headed over to the Carter's store. I didn't realize their girl stuff only goes up to 6X, but in skorts, that would have been fine for her. Again, found some cute ones, again, uncomfortable. That's ok, I used my 20% off coupon for Michael and Emily. Just an aside, but the 2T pants I bought for Mike, who will be 3 this fall...they literally fell off of him. Goodness knows what size he will go down to once the diaper is gone.

So on to Target, where I guess I should have started in the first place. By this time Sophie was sitting in the cart, I was doing the choosing, and things were moving fast. As we started into the dressing room, I told her I was feeling lucky. With a little finessing on my part, we found 3 pairs of shorts and 4 tops to buy. (The finessing was all about the adjustable waist, it has to be just so, big enough to breathe, but not too big to be objectionable) The tops were all the same, just in different colors. Terry's comment to me when she showed him her new stuff, was "So basically you got all the same shirts right?" That is correct, 4 variations of the same t-shirt, with different designs on the front, no collar, no applique that you can feel through the shirt, no horrid seam.
She still needs new sneakers, but neither one of us could face that today.

Each store we were in had a uniform section, many public schools are going to that. Not ours unfortunately. How simple would that be??