My Birthday Present

Since the day we moved in to our house I have been searching for something to go in this empty spot in our kitchen. With money from my birthday I finally bought this bench and shelf set on Craigslist!! It was an awesome deal and I am so happy with it. I once again had to enlist my family to pick it up for me. For some reason everything I find on Craigslist is out near them! This piece was right down the street from Becca's school so she picked it up for me! I am so grateful! I love it and it looks perfect! Let the organizing begin...

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Daddy: Reese, how was gymnastics?

Reese: Good.

Daddy: How was McDonald's?

Reese: Great!

What to do...

Every school day this little girl...

comes home with a new pictures she has drawn.


I obviously can't keep them all. If I did we would have to buy a storage unit to keep everything in! So I think I will take a picture of the pictures/drawings. Keep them around for a week or two and then get rid of them. I may keep the first one she did and then a few through out the year but definitely not all! I don't like having clutter around. And like I said, if I keep them all from every year and from every kid we would have to buy a storage unit to house them all in.

I know Reese has been behaving SO well at school. How do I know that? Because she is cranky and disobedient when she gets home. She doesn't want to listen to what I say...she doesn't want to eat her lunch...she is just a stinker. I try to let her have her space when she gets home and get some of her crazy self out but I feel like I need to put her down for a nap as soon as we are home. Hopefully this will pass but I know a lot of kids go through this. And I would MUCH rather her be good at school than for her hour at home before her nap.

Potty training update:

Reese is doing great when we are at home or any time I am around. However, she wets her pull-up EVERY day at school. I am afraid to send her in her big girl panties for fear of her wetting those and her clothes. I don't know if she is just afraid to ask her teachers or if they are not asking the kids. I think I may send her teacher an email and ask for advise...

Updates

Today was Day 2 of preschool. Reese missed the actual day 2 because we were in Florida. She did so great today! I am so proud of her! She was telling me goodbye before we were even close to the drop-off. She was so excited about going to school and I am so glad. I really feel like we made the right decision in starting her in preschool!!

After I dropped her off at school I headed to my doctors appointment. I thought I would be there super early so I brought my Pottery Barn catalog along with me to kill some time. I left her school around 8:53 and did not get to my doctors until 10:11. I was about to go crazy sitting in traffic. There was an accident on both highways I needed to travel. I ended up bypassing one of them and going a back way. Needless to say I ran in to the doctors office just in time for my 10:15 appointment. Today was just a heartbeat check for Baby Cupcake and it sounded great. The doctor asked me how big Reese was at birth and I told him 8 lbs, 9 oz. He didn't believe me. He couldn't believe that I could carry a baby so big. I told him that just last night I read that most of the time baby number 2 is bigger and I was freaking out about that! He said that was usually true in normal circumstances but that delivery would be easier and faster the second time around. Sweet!

Baby Cupcake is almost 30 weeks and he still doesn't have a name. I think with Reese we had picked her name out by around 32 weeks but we didn't finalize it until about a week before. Hopefully we can come up with something soon for this little guy!

It is amazing the things Reese is picking up on and remembering. The other day she just started singing her ABC's and got it almost all correct. She says, "K K" instead of "J K", "L M N O P" gets combined in to fewer letters, and instead of saying "Double-U" (w) she says "Double X". I caught her on video yesterday singing. We were driving down the road so it is a little noisy but you can still hear her singing.

Prayer

I know when we were little (and still to this day) my parents prayed for us. For school, for friends, for our future spouses, etc. I have been looking for ways to pray for Reese, Baby Cupcake, and any future kids we have. Today I saw a post on a blog that led me to Beth Moore's blog where she has a prayer for our kids as they go back to school and it was perfect. Even though Reese is only in preschool two days a week, her teacher will be a huge part of her life and learning. I think it is only fair to pray for Reese as well as her teachers! Here is the prayer:

Lord, thank You for the men and women who dedicate their lives to educating children. I ask You to bless them with strength, joy, favor with students and parents, and a strong sense of purpose. Make them fruitful in every way. Give them wisdom, creativity, patience, insight, and endurance. Give them Your supernatural love for each student, so much so that those kids go home each day with a keen sense of being loved by You. Use these teachers to make an eternal difference in the lives of their students. I pray that their families will have an easy and peaceful transition into the school year.

I also pray for all of our students, particularly those who are entering new schools this year. Father, please give them courage, peace, and joy. Let them make friends easily and connect well with their teachers. Let them find their security in You, Lord. Please sharpen their minds and help them learn. Build godly character in them. Use our Christ-following sons and daughters to draw others to You. Help them let go of what others think and to love the unlovely. Help them obey You even when it's really hard. Father, for our sons and daughters who have not yet made decisions to follow You, let this be the year. Let them see their need of You and surrender their precious lives to You.

Thank You in advance for the work You're going to do in our teachers and students' lives this year, Lord. I pray all of these things in the strong and mighty name of Jesus. Amen!

Four Words...

...that make me run...drop what ever I am doing...

"I need to potty!"

And I think she knows this because sometimes she will just say this for attention. I will get her undressed, she will sit on the potty and then say, "No potty." She is sneaky!

No accidents today! We have been in big girl panties all day and run two errands!! Woohoo!!

HOME!

We are home. After four long days in Jacksonville we made it home in six hours...even with a potty training two year old! Lance's grandmother passed away this week so we headed down to Jacksonville Wednesday for the funeral. It really seemed like the longest days ever. At one point Friday night I looked at the clock and it was only 4 pm and it felt like 10 pm. It was crazy! Thursday Reese and I spent the morning with Claire getting things ready for Friday while Lance spent the morning cleaning up around his grandma's house. Then that evening was the viewing and a service at the funeral home. Reese was very good but we had to leave during the service because she kept wanting to talk. Friday morning was the funeral and burial. Reese and I also had to leave during the funeral due to talking but made it a little longer this time! Luckily we were able to hear everything out in the lobby. It was a very nice service. After the funeral friends and family went back to the house for lunch and visiting. That evening Lance, his uncle, and Claire's husband enjoyed some guy banter while Claire, Reese, and I enjoyed some down time. Saturday we had some cleaning out to do and went back to his Grandma's house and looked through some old pictures. I could have looked through old pictures all day! It is so neat to go back and look at the way people dressed, looked, and enjoyed life. We found a bunch of pictures of Lance's dad when he was little and Lance is the spitting image of him. I didn't see any pictures of Lance's grandmother as a little girl but could see that Lance's dad has a lot of her looks! Since Reese is ALWAYS told that she looks exactly like her dad, it was neat to see where those looks came from!! Side note: Reese's middle name is Elizabeth...Lance's grandmothers middle name is Elizabeth. When we chose this name we did not know that was her middle name but it seems after all this time it was a fitting name. From what I knew of his grandmother, she was spunky and always laughing! Reese definitely seems to have gotten that spunkiness! We are glad to be back home now...to sleep in our own beds and eat our own food (even though we had some fabulous food while we were there).

Wordless Wednesday

Preschool Update

She made it! And was still smiling when I picked her up! She seemed to have a lot of fun. When her teacher put her in the car she said she did a great job today. She said she didn't even think about crying! Awesome! I asked Reese what she did today and she said she played on the playground, ate cupcakes and colored with markers. I think it was one of the kids birthdays because she also said they sang "Happy Birthday to Caleb". Hopefully the next drop off will go just as smoothly now that she knows what is coming!

First Day of Preschool

Today is the first day of preschool for our lil bit! She was very excited about it when we talked about going. She remembered her teachers names and we talked about what she needed to tell them if she needs to go potty. I think she thought I was going in with her.

We left for preschool and were third in line to get out of the car. I think we will leave a little later from now on. She is ready to get out!

But then when the assistant came to get her out of the car she wasn't so sure. They did it so quick I don't think she had time to figure out what was happening. Her hand immediately went to her mouth as she was walking in...that is her nervous habit. No tears from her that I saw...only my own tears as I drove away leaving her with strangers! I can't wait to see her this afternoon and hear all about her day. I know she is having a blast!

I guess I should get to my "housewife" duties now that I have three hours to myself!

"But Why?"

Reese's new favorite thing to say: "Why?" or "But Why?" or "Why Mommy?". Sometimes I run out of reasons for why!! How did she learn this word? It amazes me at the things she picks up on!! "WHY?"

I forgot...

...to mention yesterday in my post that Becca also graduated yesterday from Mercer with her Masters degree in Education! Congratulations Aunt Becky!! We are so very proud of you too!!!

Potty Update:
Only one accident today and lots of Hershey Kisses came Reese's way. I think she had an accident because we were letting her watch TV while getting ready for church and she was just distracted. She has been very good about telling us she needs to go! We filled up her first potty chart with stickers so I had to make a whole new one today!

We went to Kohl's tonight to buy Reese some new tennis shoes for school. She has been wearing her Crocs all summer and somehow she has outgrown ALL of her shoes. At the beginning of the summer she was in 5.5 (barely). The tennis shoes we bought her tonight are size 7!! Hopefully they will last at least through the winter!