My meeting with Pam

On Friday at the day care, we had a large number of children out sick. We were in the process of deciding which staff would go home for the day when Pam called and asked if I could come to her to her other center for a meeting. And she told me to bring Frances. Hmmmm..... My car had broken down the night before, but that was fine because she actually needed Kristen's van to transport some kids anyway. So I packed up Frances into Kristen's van and headed to Littlest Lamb for a meeting...

Augusta County schools were out on Friday, so Pam was taking the school-agers to Eli's Fun Center. Eli's is very similar to Pump-It-Up in that they both have inflatables, but in my opinion Eli's is much better.

They have more inflatables that the kids can play on more easily. (Frances has trouble climbing up the slide at Pump-It-Up) They have a larger variety of inflatables (as opposed to just bouncing and sliding) such as a Velcro wall, a baseball station, a pop gun station, and a basketball goal.

(Frances thought I was just taking pictures-not video. I love how she keeps stopping to pose!)

They also have one corner set up with some dramatic play items like a house, car, boat, plane and dress up clothes. Of course, this is where Frances chose to spend the first thirty minutes playing!

After she warmed up to the idea of the inflatables, she had an awesome time! She went down the slides and even jumped on the Velcro wall!! The guy who was helping her had to roll up the legs on the suit almost half-way in order to get her to fit in it!

After playing for about 2 hours, the kids were served some of the best pre-fab, microwave pizza I have ever had along with Kool-Aid juice boxes. Then the owner gave each of the kids four free tokens to use in the arcade section of the fun zone. One of the girls from Littlest Lamb was "kind" enough to ask Frances if she could have one of Frances' tokens to win a game for her (there were no prizes for the games). My little girl was trusting enough to let her and still has no idea that she was duped! After most of them had spent their tokens, of of the employees turned on the music and started DJing for the kids. He played Hannah Montana and then some other dance songs. The kids had a blast!!

Oh, yeah, and while we were their Pam and I sat down and discussed the day care for a little while. :)

Saturday at the Park

We had some nice weather this weekend that was not too hot or too cold. After Henry sort of took a morning nap, he, Frances and I walked up to the playground at the church a block up the street. Frances pushed the stroller like a good big sister. She played on the big ship while Henry played in one of the tubes. He enjoyed the rocks quite a bit, and only tried to eat one of them!!
We left the playground to go home and get ready to pick up our Angel Food Order. If you have not tried this, yet-do it!! The food is great quality and very affordable. They aim to feed a family of four for one week for $30. We spread the food out and use other staples and we can make it last a whole month. We got a fresh fruit and vegetable box for $18. It included a seedless watermelon, a fresh pineapple (so juicy!), six potatoes, four oranges, two bunches of carrots, 6 ears of corn, and 4 onions. YUM!
After all the shopping and menu planning we decided to go out to eat! Pam had given me a gift certificate to Rack 'em, Smack 'em. It is a steak and rib place in Verona. The food was good and Henry enjoyed using the windowsill for his plate. We got back from dinner and decided to take a walk through the cemetery down the street. Frances got to chase a few bunnies-she is getting really good at it. After all that we put the kids to bed and went to bed ourselves. I love Saturdays when Ken gets off early!!

Thankful Thursdays

Three weeks in a row!!! Since I am only picking three things each week, sometimes it is hard to narrow it down. I am thankful for so many things, but I am trying to pick things that have had a major impact on my week. This week it happens to be three people:

• My son, Henry. He is awesome. He changes so much everyday, but he is still my sweet little baby. I am often late getting ready in the mornings and it is usually his fault. I just finished nursing him and he fell back asleep. I like to lie in bed and just watch him sleep. He finds that thumb so fast!! And I rub his little peach fuzz head. His cheeks (both sets) are ever so squeezable! He loves the water-baths and pools. He constantly crawls into the bathroom and tries to climb in the tub. He's actually done it before! Right into Frances' bath!! What a splash. And then he played for a bit and climbed back out! That was a bit of a slippery catch for me. He is also trying his hand at surfing with his sister:
• I am thankful for Julie. She is getting married in 2 days!!! We met at church and she has been my right hand ever since. She is Henry's godmother. She is the one who drove me to the hospital when I had kidney stones in January. She has watched the kids any time I have needed her. She has actually called to "borrow" them when she knew I needed a break, but refused to ask!! Now that is a friend! Frances and I have the honor of participating in her wedding this weekend. I am proud to stand at the altar and support my friend as she begins a new life as a wife. And I am especially looking forward to repaying all the babysitting (but I'll give her a chance to just be married first!)
• I am thankful for my boss, Pam. If you have met this woman, you have seen the face of God. She would do anything to help anyone. She gave me a job when she didn't really have a job to give. She has been flexible with that job to allow me the time to have my second job at my church (not because I needed more money, but because I wanted to serve the youth at my church). She has raised two AMAZING daughters- and I hope that mine turns out just as well. She is a friend, a mentor, and a second mom to me. I don't know where I would be without her hand in my life.

I thank God daily for all three of these people in my life. There are many others of course, but I have set my limit at three or else I would be really late for work!