The Man in the Shoe

I  won tickets to the Dave Ramsey show about a month ago - it is tomorrow. Of course, I left figuring out what to wear until the last minute, so Brent and I were going to head out tonight to buy me some new dress pants (doesn't this go against what Dave Ramsey teaches???). Sierra decided she wanted to go along - that girl loves to shop. So, being the great mommy that I am, I told her to get her shoes on. Chloe was sitting right there and here is the conversation that followed.

Chloe: Am I going?
Mom: Of course not.
Chloe: Well then, who will watch me?
Mom: I guess the little man who lives in my shoe.

All of this was joking, as Chloe knows we will not let her stay home alone, even though sometimes she thinks I should. The following remark was so serious, though.

Chloe: You mean Dad?

Sierra and I laughed so hard!!!

Observant

We tried out a new restaurant this past weekend - well, new to most of us, Brent had eaten there before. It was closer to downtown Atlanta, so it was a bit of a drive. Driving 30 to 45 minutes to eat makes Dakota crazy. He doesn't get the point and thinks it is a waste of time, but he played along this time and did not utter one complaint.

After eating and while we were driving back home, Brent asked everyone what they thought (a.k.a was it worth the drive for Dakota). Chloe chimes in and says how much she loved it. She loved everything about it . . . except one thing. They did not have fire sprinklers.

?????

Where on earth does she get this stuff? Must be channeling it from her retired Papa.

Learning to Ride

Chloe has been desperately wanting to ride her bike without training wheels.Sad to say, our hilly subdivision is not the place to do this, so we pack up the bike and head to our local public school parking lot. The only problem with this, is we really can only practice riding on the weekend or late evening.

She did amazingly well and learned really quick. The first time we went, I wore flip-flops. What was I thinking?!? Well, I was thinking Dakota and Brent were with me and surely I could just supervise. LOL! No such luck, so I kicked the flip-flops off and ran up and down the asphalt parking lot holding on the the seat of Chloe's bike. Thirty minutes later my feet were seriously sore, but Chloe was getting the hang of it.

Due to totally craziness, we were not able to take her back again for several weeks. Again, I gave her a running start and then jogged along side her to prevent any horrific crashes. She did super, so I headed back with her the next day by myself. She not only was able to do three laps around the big bus parking lot without stopping, but she figured out how to push off and get started on her.

Yeah Chloe!

National Dog's Day!

Spring Fever

It is becoming more and more of a challenge to get school completed with the little one. Spring is calling to us. Yesterday, rather than doing math and science, we spent the day outdoors blowing bubbles, checking our garden, enjoying the azalea bushes, and checking all of the trees for new buds.

Not to mention Chloe's inheritance of six caterpillars from the neighbor. She is loving them and treating them like her little babies. Lots of visits to them to get them out and let them 'play'. I am just not sure what kind of caterpillar they are, so we will need to do some research to be sure they are getting what they need.

Making Greetings

Iam in love with these new - well, new to me - scrapbook greeting cards kits by Basic Grey. Each kit includes everything you need to make 8 cards, plus extra pieces to use to embellish the insides or to use on any project of your choosing. All of the pieces are numbered so they are so simple to put together. Maybe a little too simple for those of us who love to get the creative juices flowing, but sometimes it is nice to not have to think and for perfectionists like my daughter, it is so beneficial in reducing the stress factor. Remember the old paint by numbers sets? Well, this is basically scrapbooking by number. There are even black-and-white detailed instructions and the packaging is a full color display of all the completed cards. So no mater what your style: like to read and follow instructions, like to follow a color sample, or like to just figure it out buy punching out all of the numbers - this card set seems to work for everyone.

I was lucky enough to be able to take a class with a close friend at a local Archivers. While putting together our cards, I thought what a fun activity it would be to do with our two teenage daughters. Well, we have not been able to work out the timing on that, but I was able to set aside a day during our break this week - a wet and blustery day - and do a kit with Sierra. I had another kit I got at the clearance scrapbook place for under $2, so I set Chloe up to work on that one. Of course, she ran with it and used all of her extra pieces to make several cards of her own - she is just bursting with creativity. We all had a lot of fun. There is nothing better than being creative and encouraging it in others. Plus, there was ice cream as a reward for all of our hard work.

The kits are $14.99 at Archivers. If you use there 30% off coupon, which why would you not, cuz they email them to ya almost every week, it runs about $1.31 per card excluding tax. I know I pay way more than that when I get cards, and let me tell ya, we have a lot of cards to get.

Halloween

 

We started off the day with some pumpkin carving and held our breathe as the rain came and went all afternoon. At 5:30 the rain had stopped. We were thrilled. We got the girls in their costumes and headed out the door just in time for some more rain. We brought along the umbrella (to keep Chloe's hair color from running into her eyes) and loaded up into the car. My husband and I drove the girls around the subdivision . . . well, we mainly just followed them, as the rain turned to a light drizzle and they decided they would rather walk. We stayed close by, though, just in case the rain came again. It was a chilly night and no one needed to have a long walk home in the rain.

Meanwhile, the boys (Dakota and my nephew Brady) hung out in the back of Dakota's truck to hand out candy, so the little ones would not have to travel all the way to the front door.
Here are pictures of my girls, Chloe and Sierra, and my niece, Megan, on Halloween.

Despite the weather, I think a good time was had by all.

Whirlwind

I can feel the rush of getting back into the full swing of things coming upon us.

Sierra started back up with her dance classes this evening. This will be her fifth year doing hip hop and she is very passionate about it. She found out at the end of last year that her instructor was moving out of state. She was devastated. What would the new instructor be like? Would it even be worth continuing to take classes? Well, my heart was so pleased to hear when she hopped in the car after class, that she loved it. The new instructor was wonderful and she thought it was going to be a great year. What a huge relief!

Dakota is playing fall baseball this year and practices will be starting up this weekend. I am so thrilled for him as baseball is his passion. He eats, sleeps and breathes baseball, but has not been able to play for several years. This may be his last opportunity as he will graduate this spring, so I could not be more pleased for him to be able to participate in something he is so passionate about in a laid back and fun way.

Chloe will be taking a year off from dance and will be participating in a coop instead. She will be taking an art class, music class and science class. Throw in a homeschool park day and our usual Friday with friends and I am thinking her very social appetite will be filled.


Now, for mom to find time for school and all the other household stuff while playing chauffeur . . . that will be my organizational challenge.

Bananagrams

On the 4th of July, while waiting for fireworks, we were fortunate enough to get to play the game Bananagrams with friends. It is a quick game that is very easier to understand and involves no scoring whatsoever. Well, after one round, I was hooked. We had so much fun playing it, that Sierra and I were wishing we owned it as well. After hearing me and Sierra talk about it and seeing how much we enjoyed playing it, Chloe surprised me with my own homemade version of the game. What a sweetheart!