Hello Mah Baby!

I have been gone for a while, it seems. Things have been really hectic with finishing our summer program and beginning the school year both at the day care and at church. Tonight, though, I couldn't resist posting for posterity's sake.
On Tuesday, one of the after school kids was singing this song on the playground. (Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal.) It was really amusing and got stuck in my head. Well now Frances is singing it, but of course in her own way. She's never seen the original, although now that I have looked it up, I will show it to her. I wish my camera was working, so I could get a recording of it, but here are her lyrics: "Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my orangutan gal." This was sung for the first time during dinner this evening. Spew lemonade out of your nose, kinda funny!!!

Rockingham County Fair

Last Thursday morning we took the day care kids to the fair and had a blast. Ken had the day off, so he came along as a chaperone. Since he had already paid admission and it was his day off, we decided to go back to the fair that evening. We met up with Stacey and her husband and kids. The kids rode a few rides together and then we parted ways. Some of the rides we purchased tickets for, and others were FREE!! I think the kids liked sitting on the tractors just as much as they did going around in circles on the other rides.

We stopped for dinner and then went back to the rides for a little while. Henry LOVED the carousel and screamed when we took him off of it. I rode the whole thing backwards while video taping! I gots mad skillz!

Henry loved looking at all the lights and action of the other rides, but of course he is too young to go on any others. Frances tried out the cars, the motorcycles (twice), the fun house, the carousel, the swings, and another fun house. She wanted to ride the "Dragon Wagon" which is a roller coaster for kids, but they were doing some work on it and we didn't feel like waiting (and truthfully, it always makes me nervous to get on a ride they just "fixed.") Once we had used all our tickets and patience, we packed it up and headed home.

These last two pictures show Frances last year on one of the cars and this year in the same car!

A Whole Week!

Well, I actually went a whole week without blogging. I didn't set out to neglect my online journal for quite so long, but it was a busy week and things just got away from me. Here's a quick update on what has been happening around here:

• Last Saturday afternoon, we packed up the car and headed to Culpeper to visit Ken's family. His sister, Christie, and her boyfriend, Brian, had flown in from Florida for a visit and we wanted to see them. Ken's brother, Dan, had also come up with his wife, Nikki, and baby daughter, Abby. It was a crowded house! We had a great time visiting with them and Frances got to hold her baby cousin and just LOVED it. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures yet because while I did remember my camera; I forgot my memory stick.


• Sunday we spent the day in Culpeper with Ken's family. We tried to go swimming, but Mother Nature had other plans for us. Ken, his dad, his sister, and Brian did get to play golf before the major downpour. We headed back that evening and stopped at Dairy Queen for some ice cream on the way back.


• Monday I was back to work. It was all set to be a crazy day because of all the summer kids being there. I was not disappointed!


• Tuesday I worked at the church. I got quite a bit done in between putting out fires at the Day Care. I managed to get 100 youth registered for religious education classes this year. The bad news, is that is only about half to a third of the ones that were registered last year, so there are a lot more coming.


• Wednesday, I had a fun day planned with Katie. She is going off to college soon *sniff* and we will miss her tremendously. We met for lunch at Burger King. Frances made her a picture frame that says "Frances" and "Henry" on it and we promised to send picture for her to put in it while she is away form home. Then we went to the pool. Frances had fun in the baby pool and Henry "borrowed" an inner tube from another child who wasn't using it and had a great time running around. He did manage to flip himself over in the inner tube, The result was that he floated upside down in the water for a second before I picked him up by the thighs and tried to turn him around. Of course I couldn't get a good grip on him because he was wet and surrounded by an inner tube, so it is quite a good thing that Katie was there to help me out. I aged about 12 years in that instant.


• Thursday I was back at the day care. We took the kids to the Rockingham County Fair. And by "kids" I mean everyone over the age of 2!! We took about 35 kids and various parents on the school bus, church van and Kristen's personal van. We got there and walked through the poultry barn. Then we went to a "Safari Comedy Show" which was rather amusing. After the safari show we ran over to the circus, but we didn't get there in time to get seats, so the kids had to stand. That coupled with the fact that they were hot, tired and hungry means that they mostly grumped during the show. After a pit stop to get some lemonade, we went through the petting zoo and then headed to the park for lunch. It rained while we were there, but no thunder, so we just let the kids play in it. After they were exhausted, we headed back to school. My memory stick wouldn't work, so I borrowed these pictures from Kristen's camera. (Thursday night we went back to the fair as a family.)


• Friday, oh Friday. In retrospect it wasn't actually that bad; but man! did we have some chaos. We had two sick teachers and another with sick kids. We sent a bunch of kids home sick-not fun. And the kids were wild that afternoon! I was ready to pull my hair out-so of course, it rained just enough so we couldn't really go outside. Another one of those days where I can say I earned my weekend!


• Saturday was supposed to be my day off where my wonderful friend Julie was going to kidnap my kids and give me a day to myself!! Apparently Henry got wind of the plan and didn't like i. He threw up three or fours times between 5 and 8 Saturday morning. Never very much, but enough so I couldn't pawn him off on Julie with a clear conscience. But Frances went, so it was just Henry and me home all day. He slept quite a but, ate very little and never threw up again. I slept off and on all day and accomplished nothing of great importance. Oh well, I guess that can be considered a good day.**One exciting thing I forgot...I went to the bathroom and left Henry in the living room with my cell phone. It made a strange beep, but when I came out he had closed it. No big deal, right? Nope, you guessed it-a few minutes later the phone rang, "This is 9-1-1 dispatch. We received a hang up from this number. Do you have an emergency?" Um...no...just a handy 14 month old. OOOPS!!**
  
• Sunday (today) we met Julie at church and retrieved Frances. After Mass I met with some more people who want to get involved with out youth program-AWESOME!! I took care of about 10 more registrations and did a LOT of laundry. Right now there are five baskets that are clean and folded and waiting to be put away. Ken made us dinner and then we went for a walk. No pictures of that because I washed my memory card along with the laundry and apparently that isn't good for them! The new memory card we have is too sophisticated for our camera, so we will have to either upgrade the camera or downgrade the memory card....I'm guessing it will be the card. :(


• Tomorrow starts the last official week of summer for us at the day care. While I will miss my summer class, they and I are all more than ready to move on and get the school year underway.

And the winner is...

Katie!! Congratulations, Katie! I will have Frances dictate and illustrate an original story just for you! If you want to pick the topic, just let me know.

My first blog contest!!!

Dear Mom,
I love the new purse you bought me, but do you remember when I told you that I don't like big purses? I said that I end up putting way too much junk in them? Well, I cleaned it out this morning and it inspired me to create a contest.

All you readers out there-clean out your purses or pockets. Leave me a message here on my blog with either the entire contents you found or just the most unusual things in there-please let me know I am not alone in my "condition". I will use random.org to pick a winner. The prize will be a Frances original story and drawing. You can even pick the theme. I will run this contest for a week to give infrequent viewers a chance to enter.

For the sake of full disclosure here is the list of what I found in my purse:

• 6 jars of baby food (I just put them in there last night to carry them out of the car because the shopping bag had a hole in it.)
• 2 lip gloss and one lip stick
• 1 pair or real earrings that belong to my friend's daughter and one pair of dress up earrings that belong to my daughter
• white out correction fluid
• an air pump that I have been trying to leave at school to pump up our playground balls
• hand sanitizer X 2
• sample shampoo and conditioner
• Tylenol
• 2 scented lotions
• sunscreen
• a pair of scissors
• a hair pick
• a Hulk ring
• baby spoon
• mini soccer ball
• a pair of socks
• Polly Pocket toy
• tampon and panty liner
• wallet
• 2 suckers and a mint
• 87 cents
• two pieces of mail from church
• my cell phone
• keys (4 sets)
• wallet
• two pens and a Sharpie marker
• two hair ties
• various coupons, receipts and other assorted trash.

Now I weigh 5 pounds less when I go out!!

Praying for MckMama

Today after our rest time, my class at the preschool took some time out to pray for MckMama. I told them a brief version of the story in words I hoped they could understand. I had them each feel their own hearts. Then I told them I had a friend whose baby had trouble with his heart. I told them that the doctors weren't sure what to do for him. I asked the kids if they knew anyone who could fix Stellan's heart. I wish you could have seen them all sitting there with their hands over their hearts as they all shouted "GOD!!" Then I gave each kid a letter of Stellan's name and had the color them. I asked them to pray for Stellan as they colored. I wish I could have written down the conversations they had while coloring!

When they finished their coloring, I had them hold their letters together to spell Stellan's name and then took their picture. Of course, I had forgotten my camera at home, so I had to use Amber's cell phone and send the pictures to my facebook account. Then I took all the kids into the office at the day care and let the kids watch me email the picture to MckMama as we said another prayer together. We made her photo gallery!! You have to scroll rather far down the page. MckMama is adding new pictures all the time and she puts them at the top, so we keep getting moved further down.

After they were all done, one of the kids asked if he could take his letter home and keep praying for Stellan. How sweet!!

How to be an idiot

Alternately titled "I fought the drink machine and the drink machine won!"
Since my bunny chasing tutorial was such a hit, I thought I would try again. This one is near and dear to my heart.

• Step 1: Don't eat breakfast. This will ensure that you are not only hungry, but thirsty as well.
• Step 2: Go out in the hot sun with your class. Notice that you are very thirsty.
• Step 3: Attempt to buy a drink from the machine. First start by rooting through your new purse that your mom bought you because she didn't like your other one. You know the one that has way too much junk in it. Discover a quarter and a Susan B. Anthony dollar.
• Step 4: Notice that there is a quarter stuck in the drink machine. Pull out the scissors in your purse (see step 3) to push the quarter in farther. Insert the rest of the money.
• Step 5: Select drink and push button. Listen to the whirring sounds inside the machine. Wait...listen...wait...listen. Notice that the display is blinking "sold out."
• Step 6: Select a different drink. Repeat Step 5.
• Step 7: Decide that you are not actually thirsty. Push coin return. BONUS! You made 25 cents through your clever scissor maneuvering.
• Step 8: Go back to park bench to watch kids play. Comment to Kristen about your money making skills. Think about drinking something. Feel yourself getting thirstier. Decide to try again.
• Step 9: Dig 5 quarters out of your purse. Leave purse at bench and walk to machine. Insert the quarters in drink machine. Notice that machine does not credit you for one of the quarters. FUME! That machine stole my quarter that I stole from it fair and square!! Go back to purse to retrieve additional quarter.
• Step 10: Try the "sold out" drinks again-JUST IN CASE! Select other random buttons. Watch machine flash "sold out." Keep pushing buttons and listening to whirring sounds. OOH OOH It says VEND!! Wait for mystery drink to come out....

It's....







WATER!!!

THAT ISN'T COLD!!!

• Step 10: Concede defeat to victorious drink machine. Turn away and notice "out of order" sign on the ground next to machine.

Swimming Pool!

Every Thursday this summer we have taken the day care kids to the pool at Gypsy Hill. They have a really large shallow end where the kids can jump around and play and still be safe. All of the kids get in the water; most of them will put their faces in the water and a few of them can even swim. Here are some pictures and video I took today. This first one is Frances going under the water effortlessly.

The next one is Hunter and some of the boys running around.

For some reason, I can't upload any still photos right now, so check back.

Thankful Thursdays

I cannot believe that it is already August!! Where did the summer go? This week I am especially thankful for:

• My class. They get annoying and they don't always listen well, but I love my class and I will miss them at the end of the summer. One of the huge benefits of the child-care world versus public (or private) schools is that I get to forge a real bond with these kids and their families. If there are siblings, I get to know them as well. And then for school holidays and snow days I usually get to see "my kids" again. I get to keep in touch and get the latest on their progress once they get to "big school." And there's always next summer!


• I am thankful for my friend Heidy. Her husband got a great job offer in North Carolina, which is where her mother and stepfather wanted to move anyway, so with about 36 hours notice, she is off to Charlotte. She came to work at the daycare almost two years ago, soon after she and her husband and son arrived from Cuba. She learned English so quickly! And for the last year, she was my teaching assistant. She and I had a rhythm. We worked really well together. Some days she would say something and sound exactly like me-sometimes that was a good thing and sometimes it wasn't. :) She had such a love for the babies at the day care (especially mine). Heidy--Henry, Frances and I will miss you!!


• Summer-It is almost over. *sniff* I love being outside in the hot sun. I love to feel my hair get hot and go barefoot in the grass. I like going to the pool (although, I don't relish getting in the water). I like an excuse to wear my bathing suit and soak up some Vitamin D. I have never been diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I feel happier in the summer and being cooped all winter makes me grumpy. Frances (and Henry, a little bit) love the water and playing outside. She learned to go under the water this summer (more later). It has been an awesome summer, and thankfully I think I have most of it recorded here on my trusty ole blog.

Wednesday's Wonderful Website

Today's website of choice is a bit different. In my "spare" time, I like to hop around to other people's blogs. I have a habit of reading a post or two and then clicking on one of that person's recommended sites. I can get quite far away from the original blog by doing this. It is very "six degrees of separation." It also satisfies my nosiness and curiousity.




I don't even remember for sure how I got to this particular website, but when I did; I clicked quite far back and read a lot more of the story. The mom here has four wonderful kids-the fourth child has yet to be born. He has a very serious heart problem that the doctors are not sure how to treat or fix him. It sounds like it would be depressing, but it is not. It is one of the most positive, uplifting, God-praising things I have ever seen. Won't you take a minute to pop over and say a prayer or two for this family?

Bunny Chasing: A Tutorial

Since many of you have asked...ok, well no one really asked, but I always get funny looks when I talk about bunny chasing. Anyway, I thought I would describe it in more detail in the hopes that this up and coming sport may some day make it all the way to the Olympics.

Step 1: Put on your bunny chasing shoes. (Pretty much anything but princess dress-up shoes.)

Step 2: Get your flashlight. What? It's not dark outside? That's okay, bring it anyway.

Step 3: Find a nice calm place to walk where there are no cars.

Step 4: Look for bunnies.

Step 5: RUN!!!!!

Step 6: Rest. Repeat.

sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Yes...I left off the "p." That's how tired I am. Henry was up in the middle of the night again and he was totally inconsolable. He wanted to sit. He wanted to lie down. He wanted to be on me. He wanted Daddy. He just couldn't make up his poor little mind. He also had a pretty snotty nose, so I am pretty sure that the ear that was a little red on Thursday last week is now infected. His teachers at school said he was flapping his ears also, so I went ahead and filled the prescription my wonderful doctor gave us last week "just in case."
I had a conference in Fincastle today. It was a really nice break and I truly enjoyed it, but I was so tired that I couldn't see straight to read the bible verses we talked about. On the way home I called as many people as I could (with my ear bud, of course) to keep me awake on the way home. Julie was one of them. She said something incredibly funny...or was it witty...or possibly profound? I honestly don't remember. She told me I should write it down. I do remember telling her that I was going to blog it. She laughed and said she would check on it. Well, Julie, when you do check, please post your funny/witty/profound statement in the comments section so everyone else can see it and remember it-because I certainly don't!!

Frances' Sleep Over

I was telling this story to my friend Stacey at work today and realized it is the kind of thing that made me start this blog in the first place and I had forgotten to write it down! As you already know, Frances had a friend from school spend the night last Thursday. She is in my class and had told her mom one afternoon that she was going to go home with me. I thought it would be fun so we invited her over a few nights later.
We had dinner together that evening and then decided to go for a walk. We typically walk around the cemetery that is near our house because it is a safe place with no traffic to worry about. One of Ken and Frances' favorite things to do at the cemetery is "bunny chasing." I don't remember exactly how it started, but when Frances was much smaller, Ken would see a bunny and ask her if she wanted to chase it. She would, of course, so then he would pick her up and sneak up on the bunny and then take off running as soon as it hopped away. Because the bunnies dart around so much when escaping, he would do the same. And Frances would squeal with delight the entire way.
Now, as she is older and faster; we look for the bunnies together and she chases them on her own. And last Thursday she took her friend from school. (Poor girl thought we would actually be catching the bunnies and was sorely disappointed to see that we would not!)
After several rounds of bunny chasing, the girls sat down for a rest and some funny faces. Ken could not resist sneaking up behind them and "boo-ing" them. They tried to return the scare, but he ran around the other way and scared them again. They LOVED it!!
We got home and got ready for bed. The girls and I put on our pajamas and then brushed our teeth together. I put toothpaste on their toothbrushes and they started brushing away. Frances' friend finished and spit into the sink. I gave her a cup of water and she rinsed and spit again. Then she took a sip of water and gargled it. I laughed-I thought it was cute. Then she leaned over and spit into the sink again. At this point Frances asks me to check her teeth. (Our dentist told me that a parent should "check/re-brush" a child's teeth until they were about 8 or so.) I did my little brushing and then gave Frances a cup of water as usual. Now I should tell you that Frances still uses fluoride-free toddler toothpaste and has never had to "rinse and spit." She has occasionally used "spitting toothpaste" but not very often or successfully. Well that night when I gave her the cup, instead of just taking a sip of water, she tried, very unsuccessfully, to spit it in the sink. She got her pajamas a little bit wet, but no big deal. BUT WAIT-THERE'S MORE! Since her friend had gargled, Frances decided she must try this new skill also. So she took another sip of water and opened her mouth and made that sound. Oh, wait! I forgot to put in the part where she tilted her head back...oh yeah-because she didn't!! She gargled water straight out of her mouth all over the floor and her nightgown. I tried to tell her to stop, but from a combination of laughing hysterically and having a mouth full of my own FOAMING toothpaste, there wasn't much I could do.
These stories are the reason I started my blog. Hopefully, one day when Frances is much older, her current boyfriend will "google" her and stumble upon this story. He will then decide that she is too kooky to date until she is 30. Then I will feel satisfied.

Ravioli!!

Well he must be feeling better...
Lunch time at home is so much fun!! Usually Henry eats the messy stuff at school or at dinner time (so he can go straight into the bath). Today I shared my ravioli with him for lunch. HE LOVES IT!! He loves the taste. He loves the texture. He loves the hair conditioning properties it apparently has (why else would he rub it vigorously onto his head?). He even loves it enough to take off his bib and rub it all over both sides of it.
I think next time I share my lunch it will be crackers and cheese!!