Gracie is a total Starfall.com and Sesamestreet.com junkie! She hangs out on her grandma's bed and plays on the laptop :) It's too bad they don't have internet on airplanes...otherwise we'd be all set for our long flight to Florida.
Quote of the Day:
"Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks." ~Author Unknown
Today we were outside soaking up some sunshine and it was heavenly! Our grass hasn't been mowed yet this season and it has tall, lush, green spots where Reagan fertilizes for us. Gracie took of her shoes to feel the grass underneath her piggies and said, "It's like a jungle for feet!"
I thought it was such a great description. It painted a vivid picture for me of some huge feet walking around in a jungle all by themselves. :)
I love that my Gracie has such a wonderful imagination. She surprises me every single day with her beautiful view of this old world.
2nd Quote of the Day:
"My feet took a walk in heavenly grass.
All day while the sky shone clear as glass.
My feet took a walk in heavenly grass,
All night while the lonesome stars rolled past.
Then my feet come down to walk on earth,
And my mother cried when she give me birth.
Now my feet walk far and my feet walk fast,
But they still got an itch for heavenly grass.
But they still got an itch for heavenly grass. " ~Heavenly Grass, Tennessee Williams
So Janie's on day 4 of operation: NO MORE BINKY!!! She is such a trooper, it is amazing. I'm telling ya, she is SO MUCH EASIER than Gracie was in almost every single way. The only time she has suffered withdrawls were day 2 and day 3 at nap time. Today she went down without a whimper. Aren't you proud of her? I sure am.
This upcoming cruise is whipping our butts into shape! We're getting basically every aspect of our lives cruise-ready. It includes some (minimal) fat loss, new clothes, shoes, hats, practicing how to walk through an airport security gate, losing the binky, figuring out how to pull up underpants by ourselves (this one's Gracie's thing, not mine :), etc. I swear, we're going to have a meltdown when we get home because we'll have nothing to live for! Maybe Joe and I will just have to put a deposit down while we're onboard for our next cruise...that's just the two of us :)
Anyway, I'm bummed that I don't have any pictures to post. I need to get out that camera and start shootin'!
Quote of the Day:
"We give up leisure in order that we may have leisure, just as we go to war in order that we may have peace." ~Aristotle
There are many benefits to owning an iPod, not the least of which are: 1) storing all your music in one place, 2) the ability to take your music with you to ANYplace and 3) getting to listen to that great clicking noise that it makes as you scroll through stuff. But my favorite thing about my iPod is that it lets me rediscover music that I love, but haven't listened to in ages. Hence, the Nanci Griffith tunes on this here blog! CCR is another recent rediscovery. Love it!
Quote of the Day:
"He who sings scares away his woes." ~Cervantes
"He who whistles scares away his woes." ~Heather Alexander :)
Going back to school this semester has been so beneficial for me. I feel like an actual adult person, not just a robot used to clean up spilled cottage cheese and change smelly diapers. My classes were actually fun and really interesting. So I decided that I'll keep on keepin' on and sign up for fall semester too. The catch is that the only classes they are offering in the fall that fit with my major require a prerequisite that I haven't taken yet. Which means that I need to take this one class in the summer to make it possible for me to continue being an actual adult person :) The OTHER catch is that the summer class that I need is during the day. They're not offering any evening classes in the summer. So I had to figure out a place for my kids to chill for a couple of hours each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. (Wow, this story is kind of long and boring. Props to you for getting this far!)
Researching childcare options is not only stressful, it's rediculously frightening and panic-inducing as well! Bonus! First I checked out the University's daycare option (normally for low-income parents, but not in the summer) and freaked out because it is such a hole in the wall that there is no way that I would allow my children to be in a building that old and decrepit for ANY amount of time.
Second I looked into KinderCare which is a professional facility that Myles actually attended when he was a wee one. Well, um, I'd basically have to be a doctor or something with a similar pay scale to afford the place. The cost PER HALF-DAY, PER CHILD is $35. That is a grand total of $210 per week or $840 a month. I mean, really, what do they do with all the money? I've seen the place and it's no Disneyland, which you could justify using as your daycare instead of this place, financially speaking. I was absolutely blown away. I'll tell you what...it makes me feel a bit more valuable as a stay-at-home madre. That's for darn sure.
So my right eye has been twitching non-stop for about 4 days. I'm not even kidding - ask Joe.
But, praise be to heaven, I was talking with Gracie's preschool teacher about needing childcare to fix my eye twitch when she said, very graciously, that she would be more than happy to watch my babies for me during the summer school hours. I cannot even tell you what a relief that is. She is fantastic. Awesome. Amazing. Perfect. Wonderful!!! It is such a blessing that she is just down the street and already knows and loves my Gracie. She has two kids, the same ages as Grace and Jane, so they'll be able to play together and have a whole bunch of fun. (sighhhhhhhh...........)
My eye stopped twitching, thank heavens.
As the girls hunted for Easter eggs I was impressed by how much CUTER it all was than I expected it to be. Gracie was absolutely delighted to search around the house for eggs that the bunny had dropped. She adored it. It was magical to watch, actually. Janie was pretty much along for the ride and the fruit loops and fruit snacks that the (extremely boring and mom-ish) eggs contained. My mom and Joe convinced said bunny to give in and get the girls a chocolate bunny each, but that was about the extent of the candy. Why do Holidays have to involve so much enamel-destroying sugar?? Yikes.
Silly Daddy
These two are like peas and carrots...
These two are like chocolate chips and cookies :)
Janie's lovely early morning hair!
I think the bunny over did it on the eggs this year!
Gracie had her first dentist's appointment today! She did FANTASTIC! All the assistants were impressed with how well she did and how cooperative she was. She even got X-Rays of all her teeth and there's not a cavity to be seen! Yay! She got her teeth cleaned and brushed with flouride too. What a trooper!
She was so tiny in the huge chair. It was cute :)
Here's Gracie and the Doc! He's such an awesome dentist.
