Chris' Birthday Party

Saturday was a pretty action packed day for us, girls. We headed over to Broken Arrow just for the day for my brother, Chris', 29th birthday party. My girls are always up to going to a party and we left daddy here to install a new kitchen faucet during his alone time. I must say that the trip over there was pretty terrible. About the time we got to Sallisaw Alli started hollering for her "blankie" which I forgot (not a smart move on my part). I thought, of course, that she was so tired that she would get over it and fall asleep but, that wasn't the case. I think she pretty much cried/fussed non-stop for the remainder of the 1 1/2 hours in the car. I then proceeded to a Broken Arrow baby store and quickly purchase a blankie of the same brand to get us through for the trip home later that night. Things were looking much better at this point. We then arrived at my parents house to find my grandmother there by herself and she said that my mom had to take my dad to the Urgent Care place for the pain in his shoulder blade (which he has bad back problems which are the root of all evil). So, we got to spend time with her, which was nice, but it was too bad we didn't get to see my parents while we there because they decided to send him to the hospital in case it was his heart. It wasn't, thank goodness, but you know how it is in the ER and he didn't get to home until about 8 p.m. that night. (So, please keep him in your prayers in regards to his struggle with the pain in his back). Anyway, at 5 p.m. we headed over to brother's in-law's house to the party. They have a swimming pool so the girls got to swim with their cousins, Carlee and Cydnee, which they loved and also got a pool side hair trim (gotta love that). I, of course, forgot my camera so when Carrie e-mails me some pictures I'll post them.

Meredith's first week of school went really well and no complaints from her! She was even okay with no talking in the cafeteria. I guess since she doesn't know any different, it's no big deal.

First Day of School!

Well, we made it! Today was the first day of school for Meredith and she loved it!! I asked her what she liked about school today and she pretty much mentioned everything - recess, snacks, (I like her first two) 3 walks, her teacher, swinging, etc. You get the point. I feel so relieved and I appreciate your prayers! I must say she looked quite stylish. (I've included pictures of she and teacher and some of her classmates as well.) Neither her nor I shed a tear either which was a bonus. I was so relieved to see how excited she was to be there. There was one little boy in her class that just cried when it was time to go in and it just broke your heart (along with his mom's). However, he looked like he recovered quite nicely when I picked Meredith up so that was a relief, especially for his mom.

After dropping Meredith off at school, Alli and I headed to her gymnastics, ran errands, got lunch and she fell asleep in the car. It was a hallelujah moment so I could rest as well since the night before was rough. Alli woke up at 3 a.m. screaming then Meredith woke up at 4:30 a.m. and came and got me as well. I then laid down with Meredith and waited for her to fall asleep so I could make it back to my room with the alarm clock so I wouldn't oversleep. I could tell she was a little nervous about school because it seemed like it took her forever to go to sleep.

Another day tomorrow!

Kindergarten Open House

The big night finally came. On Thursday night we got to find out who Meredith's kindergarten teacher was going to be and take her to see her classroom. She was so excited all day long and was thrilled with her new class and her teacher. Me, on the other hand, was a little depressed as far as how much elementary school has changed from my days. I was disappointed to find out that no talking was alowed at lunchtime in the cafeteria and that they are not allowed to celebrate birthdays. I guess the days of parties at every holiday and birthday are over. I asked about the procedure for meeting my child for lunch and they said that was fine to bring something in and you can eat out in the hall with your child (I guess so you can talk). I know they have reasons but it all seems a little institutionalized if you ask me. Another wake up call to me was waiting in line for a shirt behind a father that was wearing a Corona shirt and probably never tought anything of it. I guess that's the real world. Does anyone have blinders and ear muffs I can send my child to school with? The good news is that her teacher seemed very nice and the classroom is very cute and I'm probably worrying too much because this is my sweet sensitive first born (yes, I know I'm biased).

I'll keep you posted on Monday on how it goes and I'll post her cute little picture on her first day of school.

Thursday, Friday, & Saturday

On Thursday, Meredith and I dropped Alli off at their Grammy's house (Patty's) and we then spent a few hours together, just the two of us. We first headed to the Olive Garden where Meredith loves plain spaghetti and butter where I noticed several patrons enjoying her spaghetti eating style almost as much as I do. She doesn't want me to cut it up because she likes to pile as much on her fork as possible and then hold the fork up in the air while she sucks off each piece of spaghetti one by one. We then headed to a nail salon to get a manicure and a pedicure. I was a little nervous at first as far as how she would react since she has never set foot in a nail salon but as I suspected she absolutely loved it! She just ate up all of the attention (just like her mom does) and the nail lady even put little flower stickers on her big toe nails and each of her fingernails. I must say she felt quite like the big girl that day. Following our nail care we then headed to Hallmark for her to get another Webkinz (not that I enjoy playing on the computer with them as well, or anything) and we then headed to her new school. I wasn't able to go back with her to her screening but from what I understand they just showed her pictures to identify and other little games like that and she did great.

On Friday, I dropped both the girls off at Grammy's house (gotta love that Grammy) and went and tried "Dinner with TLC" out. A friend of mine at church highly recommended it and a couple from our church also opened a "Pass Your Plate" in Bentonville so I thought I'd try it out. If your not familiar with the process, basically you just sign up for several meals and you go to the location and they have all of the ingredients there, cut and ready, for you to put together several entrees and then you take them home and freeze them. I was quite impressed and I hope to be going once a month to this lovely and convenient place. Today we tried the Stromboli and we were quite impressed. I highly recommend it. Their website is www.dinnerwithtlc.com for the Fort Smith location. For those of you in Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas, their website is www.passyourplate.com.

Saturday, the girls and I just hung out while Michael was working (anyone else notice the 100 degree heat?). Michael's cousin then came over Saturday night to watch the girls while we headed to the movies. We saw the "Bourne Ultimatum" and were quite impressed. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone that enjoys lots of action. It was nonstop.

Well, I'm heading to bed. Good night!

Update on Pacifier, etc.

Well, as many of you read in my previous post, I took the paci away from Alli and she was not very happy about it to say the least. The good news is that it has gotten much better. Nap time is still a struggle but I'm trying not to worry about it. I'm just glad it is over and now I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Yesterday the girls and I headed to the Carmike Theatre to check out the Care Bears movie which is fun. As usual Meredith was scared of the villainous bear in the movie (there always has to be a "bad guy" in cartoons) and Alli wasn't bothered. It was nice because there was only 3 other people in the room so I didn't worry too much about Alli's wandering about. One time I thought she was going to leave out the Exit door but she eventually changed her mind and wandered back when she discovered she wasn't getting a reaction from me (that's what she lives for, I've decided).

Today we headed to the Park and the girls and I rode the train. The girls played on the playground for all of about 5 minutes due to the heat and then we headed towards a drive-thru for a drink. I think that's the first time they have ever been ready to leave a park. You know it's hot when that happens.

Tomorrow Meredith goes to her school for the kindergarten "tests" or whatever they do. I'm sure she'll do fine. I'll update you on her reaction to her new school.

Till next time,
Jennifer

Swimming Lessons & Pacifiers

First of all, to all of my fans (I've always wanted to say that) I apologize for not posting in a while. I know you all have missed out on my very exciting life.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy. Meredith just finished two weeks of swimming lessons which she enjoyed. A little friend from her preschool class was in her swim group so they had a great time together. I'm not really sure if Meredith is ready to go swim the English Channel yet but hopefully there was some improvement. I think next year we're going to have to sign her up for a little more intensive type lesson. However, she did learn the phrase "Chicken, T, I" which I finally understood the next time we took her swimming. It's a very effective way for them to learn how to float on their back and the placement of their arms. We thought it was funny to say too.

My sister, Staci came to stay with me for a few days this week as well. She starts college (TU) on August 20th, the same day Meredith starts kindergarten (boo hoo). I can't believe my baby sister is going to college and my baby girl is going to kindergarten on the same day. Anyway, we had a great time with Staci and Meredith was more attached to her than ever. Aunt Staci stayed with her every night, which she loved, and played Webkinz on the computer with her too. Meredith now seems obsessed with it and I'm wondering what I've started by buying those little critters for the girls. They are awfully cute though.

Here's the traumatic news of the week. I took Alli's pacifier away from her yesterday (Friday). She took it mainly for sleep times but it made it no less traumatic for her. I bought her a Groovy Girl and told her it was for her not using the pacifier anymore which she seemed okay with. However, apparently it didn't actually "hit" her until bedtime. Needless to say, she was furious. (unfortunately she seemed to inherit her mother's temper) She probably screamed, kicked, hit, and hollered for over an hour nonstop. (Oh yeah, did I mention she threw the Groovy Girl across the room?) I purposefully didn't give her a nap in hopes she would fall asleep easier without it but this was to no avail. She finally conked out at 11:15 p.m. However, she then woke up at 2 a.m. screaming at the top of her lungs again. I'm talking about blood curdling screams and I'm not exaggerating. I don't know how long this went on but I fully expected the police to be knocking on my door investigating child abuse at any moment. It was that loud. I had already planned out that when the police did arrive I was going to ask them for any suggestions (I had destroyed all pacifiers so that wouldn't have been an option). Well, she finally fell back asleep and woke up this morning before 7 a.m. I was completely exhausted today. Thank goodness my parents came over to pick up Staci and let me take a nap. (Michael had to work today.) So, I changed my strategy tonight and just drove around until Alli fell asleep in the car and I laid her in bed at about 8:30 p.m. and she's still there, thank goodness. Now I probably just need to go to bed and pray that she sleeps through the night. I guess if I don't show up at church tomorrow you'll know what happened. I think if I make it through the next two nights we will be through it. UGH! (Yes, I know I should have done this a long time ago, but I didn't, so there.)

Good Night!