tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87338354445597312242024-03-12T22:18:20.121-04:00Capturing the DaysTrying to remember all the funny things my children say and do.
And the rest of life too.Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.comBlogger326125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-3215972233988634452014-02-06T21:23:00.000-05:002014-02-06T21:23:48.036-05:00Olympic CommentaryJust a few questions I fielded and observations made tonight while watching the Olympics with the kids...<br />
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How do they stay on that [snowboard]?<br />
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How do they keep going? How do they get up the hill?<br />
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What color is bronze?<br />
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Is bronze 2nd or 3rd?<br />
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Are the medals really made out of gold, silver and bronze?<br />
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Where are the people that are watching them? Is there anybody on the hill?<br />
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Is that the winner? What does semi-final mean?<br />
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Is this the second heat? What does 2nd heat mean? <br />
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Where are the Americans?<br />
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Is a sentence a sentence without verbs?<br />
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Do we want the Russians to win?<br />
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This is the 2nd Olympics where I really understand what is going on.<br />
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Are all female snowboarders hot blondes? (My question)<br />
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He looks like Daddy. (American figure skater)<br />
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Casey has moved no less than 4 times in 45 minutes...chair, couch, floor, floor on other side of room.<br />
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Do figure skaters get dizzy when they spin like that?<br />
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I can see his skin all the way to his belly.<br />
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Black is not a good winter color. People shouldn't wear black here.<br />
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They cry because they're so happy they won...they just have to cry a lot.<br />
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Commercials are for selling things or what can happen or what you don't want to happen or for movies or for crazy stuff.<br />
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I think I know why that movie is rated PG. Because he just took that gun and zapped him.<br />
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So what did they just say? Can you say that different?<br />
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What is the prize for the teams?<br />
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Where's the skiing? I really like the skiing.<br />
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How long is the longest song in the world? <br />
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<br />Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-33774255844515257882014-01-17T10:15:00.000-05:002014-01-17T10:15:42.191-05:002014 Update<div>
I thought I'd write an update on what the kids are into right now...</div>
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What We're Reading:<br />
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I started reading the first Harry Potter book to Jack & Casey in November. We finished in January and watched the movie. They loved the movie and I think it helped them visualize the magic of the book. Now we're reading the 2nd book and Jack keeps asking me to read more every night because "we just got to an interesting part!" Jack has been drawing pictures of the characters during his free time at school.</div>
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On his own, Jack is reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and a Nate the Great book. On Christmas Eve, he went to church early with Pat and read more than half of the Nate book! (Thanks for saving us seats!)</div>
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Casey is starting to read aloud to me while Jack does his reading. She does a very good job of sounding things out. She gets a little frustrated because she is not reading fast enough to comprehend and sometimes it doesn't make sense to her, but I'm sure it won't be long before she's figuring it all out.</div>
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What We're Watching:</div>
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For the past several months, it's been all things Ninja. It started when we found American Ninja Warrior on TV one night last spring. Then, this summer they started watching a show called Kickin' It which is the only non-animated show from Disney I've let them watch. I think they've seen every episode of every season at least 3 times. We met one of the actors this summer at a fair, standing in line for a good hour for her autograph. And now it's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I walk around with the catchy theme song in my head all day.</div>
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What We're Playing With:</div>
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Both Jack and Casey got a Rainbow Loom for Christmas and they make bracelets every day. I love that the "it" toy was only $16 (plus some extra for more bands) and has provided hours of entertainment, even for me. I now get requests to make them surprise bracelets while they're sleeping.</div>
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Jack got a Wii for Christmas and has been playing the Lego Star Wars game. He is still into all things Lego and he keeps finding new kinds…Star Wars, Chima, Hero Factory, and Ninja Turtles. I keep trying to find ways to organize them better. Lately it means dismantling sets and putting them in plastic bags although I did find a big plastic bin with dividers in the Christmas section for all his loose Legos.</div>
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Casey got an American Girl doll for Christmas, whose name is Casey Junior and she has been taking care of her "twin sister" pretty well. She's already been on a couple of plane rides and to downtown Memphis. </div>
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They both still love to "craft" and I don't understand how they go through so much tape. They just make things up - paper airplanes, tiny pieces of paper with staples in it, tiny pieces of paper with tape, brown paper bags with strings attached to papers. They also love when cardboard boxes come in the house. Right now in our house there is an elf house complete with furniture (leftover from Christmas), a garbage eating robot and another garbage eating robot decorated with Christmas items. </div>
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What We're Eating:</div>
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Since Pat suggested we offer dessert if they eat what's on their plates without complaint, they have both eaten more variety of vegetables, meat and even some soup. It's only a few bites of each, but I count that as success. And it's usually not without complaint…I should probably crack down on that. Offering ice cream for two bites of vegetables goes against every article I've ever read about how to deal with picky eaters but it so far it's working to get them to eat things besides carbs and sometimes they even forget about dessert. </div>
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Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-87063517074519820432013-10-14T21:50:00.003-04:002013-10-14T21:50:26.633-04:00Fall Break - St. LouisLast week the kids had a week off from school for fall break. We didn't have any big plans at first but then we decided on a few days in St. Louis. I figured I might be ready to get out of the house by Thursday!<br />
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We left Memphis Thursday morning and made it to St. Louis for lunch. Then we went to the City Museum. This museum made me wish I could be a kid again. I don't think I could have imagined a playground better than this. I can't even come up with the words to describe it but it was a really fun combination of tunnels, slides, hidden passageways, and ladders. We stayed until closing time and the kids weren't anywhere near bored. We almost missed a whole section of the museum (with a 10 story slide!) that was in a cave like area that we hadn't explored yet. When we left, Casey said it was the most awesome place she had been.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of city from top of City Museum</td></tr>
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On Friday, we explored downtown St. Louis and the Gateway Arch. We couldn't go up in the Arch because it was shutdown with the government but it's pretty amazing to just look at it from within the beautiful park surroundings. You could also walk right down to the edge of Mississippi River which turned out to be pretty fun for the kids. They were pretty happy to throw sticks in the river and play in the random bits of sand. Even I was excited to actually put my hand in the mighty Mississippi.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the base of the Arch</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Touching the Mississippi River</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting ready to build a raft a la Tom Sawyer</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Had to find a bigger stick than Jack's</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red fountains near stadium</td></tr>
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Next we toured Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. I wouldn't say this was the kids' favorite part, but it was fun to check out the dugout and all the posh places people with the good tickets can hang out. We learned quite a bit of team history and St. Louis has a lot of pride in their baseball past. </div>
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We originally wanted to go to St. Louis in the summer and catch a Cardinals game while we were there. (Pat generally likes to plan our trips around sports events.) Since it was post season, we didn't think we were going to catch a game this trip. But...turns out the Cards made it to the NLCS and the first game was in St. Louis on Friday night. After our stadium tour, we could see fans starting to stream into the city with their red shirts. And also after our stadium tour, Pat wanted to see this game more than ever. There were scalpers on every corner but Pat was able to get two pretty good tickets for him and Jack through the Cardinals ticket site on game day.<br />
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We headed to the St. Louis Zoo in the afternoon but the kids were tired so it was a quick trip. They seemed to have plenty of energy for the pool after though.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby elephant bum in the middle</td></tr>
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I promised Casey that she and I would go on a date and go shopping if Pat & Jack went to the game. She had fallen in love with a cute little Cardinals shirt and skirt in the team store so I told her we'd find an outfit on our date. Even when it was possible that Pat could get four tickets, Casey wanted to go on our date instead. We went to Trader Joe's, World Market and then Target. Casey loved looking at all the clothes and I loved some of the bargains we found. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fashionista!</td></tr>
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Pat and Jack ended up at the longest League Championship Series game ever! They didn't get back to the hotel until 1am...but they had a blast. Pat said there was an 11 year old boy beside them and he and Jack became fast friends and helped each other stay up so late. It was an awesome experience for both Pat and Jack. Jack wanted to know if we could fly to Los Angeles to watch Game 3.<br />
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When we left town on Saturday morning, Casey was crying she was so sad to leave. Our hotel turned out to be great - the Drury Inn Union Station. It had free breakfast and dinner, was only a mile from downtown and was right beside the beautiful Union Station. We could see the old train tracks out our window. (Also, I was impressed that our room had windows on 2 sides...we had a great corner room.)<br />
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On our way out of town, we stopped at Grant's Farm and saw some Clydesdale horses, fed some camels and enjoyed the tram ride around the park. <br />
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<br />Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-49968265754008127832013-10-08T20:41:00.002-04:002013-10-08T20:41:52.529-04:00Pete the Cat Visits CaseyCasey came home from school on Friday a couple weeks ago and excitedly told me she was Star of the Week for the next week. She came with a bag that contained Pete the Cat, his journal, and a Marvelous Me binder...and instructions on how to be the Star of the Week. Pete the Cat is a character in a series of books that Casey's teacher loves and luckily it was a stuffed animal version of the cat that came home, and not a real cat named Pete.<br />
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We had to make a poster all about Casey, take Pete the Cat around all weekend while journaling his activities and get ready for Show'n'Tell on Friday. I also got to go read her class a book and have lunch with her one day.<br />
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On Sunday afternoon before her special week, I got to work on my homework...I cut out clip art for the poster, found pictures of Casey and wrote in Pete's journal. Casey was pretty specific in how she wanted the poster put together, so she did all the glueing and I did some picture captions for her. <br />
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Then we realized that we didn't exactly take Pete out to all our weekend events. I believe he languished somewhere in her bedroom for most of the weekend. After reading the previous two entries in his journal, I tried to spice it up a bit and write from Pete's perspective. (And make excuses for his absence at a few events.) I'm not sure if I got his personality right or not since I haven't actually read any of the books but he seems like he should be a pretty funny cat.<br />
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With the help of a newsletter template in my word processing program I made a fun little journal entry and added some pictures. Here is the text since I couldn't figure out how to get a PDF on here...<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>I had a fun and busy adventure with Casey’s family this past weekend! Casey was so excited to bring me home and told her mom that she had to take me everywhere this weekend. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>First though, she tested to see if I still had some of my nine lives left by tossing me over the balcony to her mom downstairs. They did that a few times but luckily I’m a pretty tough cat and it was kind of fun.</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Apparently I just missed the tooth fairy by a night. Casey was very excited about the new hole in her mouth. I’m kind of glad though because I don’t know how a run-in with the tooth fairy would go. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>On Friday night, Casey & her brother took me to a sleepover at their friends’ house. The girls made a whole bunch of friendship bracelets and they even made one for me! Then they tried to keep me up way past my bedtime, but if there’s one thing cats are good at, it’s sleeping and taking naps. I curled up and went to sleep while they talked and talked and talked.</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Saturday was a beautiful day in Tennessee and Casey and her family headed to a fall fair. I stayed home to nap because I heard there would be bouncy houses - cat claws and inflatables don’t mix very well. I heard it was a lot of fun with bouncing, games and candy. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>On Saturday evening, the Eliasons had neighborhood friends over for dinner. It was taco night, so I helped myself to the buffet. Casey and I played and had a great time with Camryn (who used to be in Mrs. Waller’s class 2 years ago). </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>After church on Sunday, Casey showed me everything she had done in Sunday school. I got to sit on the counter and hang out with her and no one even yelled at me to get down or worried about cat hair in their food. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Casey had to get to work on her Star of the Week poster. She told her mom just how she wanted things and they worked on it together. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Then the Philadelphia Eagles came on TV and they taught me a new chant - E - A - G - L - E - S Eagles! I’m not sure I can get behind this team because I think an eagle could snatch me right off the ground if one ever wanted to. I’m more of a Bengals fan...at least they’re family.</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>On Sunday night everyone needed to get a good night of sleep and get ready for a new week of school, including me. They tried to make me take a bath but I let them know that I do NOT take baths! Other than that, it was a great weekend with Casey and her family!</i></span></div>
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Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-3752168144979037062013-10-04T21:00:00.002-04:002013-10-04T21:00:47.459-04:00Spider NightCasey was supposed to be in the bath and Jack was drying off after his (too) quick shower. Pat and I were trying to have one of those things called an uninterrupted conversation in the kitchen. Jack came in to the kitchen jabbering about a spider. Casey was yelling from the bathroom that she KNEW it was a spider because it had 8 legs and she had just learned all about that in school. <br />
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Is it in the bathtub with you Casey? No, then take your bath. Jack, go get your clothes on. I told them spiders eat other bugs and to leave it alone. I don't normally let spiders live in my house so that they'll eat other bugs, but I thought it would get the kids to move on.<br />
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Jack did not get his clothes on but went to investigate the spider. He came back and told me that it is having babies. I didn't believe this because I've watched Charlotte's Web and I know that spiders put all their eggs in a sack until they're ready to come out (hatch?). I wondered what would make him say she was having babies...did he see a sack somewhere? <br />
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The adult conversation was going no where. Casey was still only halfway into the bathtub. Finally I decided to kill the spider. I told the kids they were wimps and went off with some paper towels to get the big bad spider. I believe Pat mocked my non-chalant attitude.<br />
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Oooh...yes, that is a very big spider in the bathroom. Oh, and there are tiny little spiders all over the bathroom floor aka babies. The kids informed me that mama spider was under Casey's bath towel that didn't quite get hung on the hook like it should. I pick up the towel and shake several more babies out of the towel onto the floor and squish them. Casey was very concerned that I might make her use that towel after her bath. Not a chance...straight to the washing machine with it to drown any baby spiders that might have hung on.<br />
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That mama spider was so big I decided that Pat could take care of her. As he squished her more baby spiders came out. I really thought they were supposed to be in sacs! <br />
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I'm pretty sure we got them all but I'll be checking a few more times before I go to sleep tonight. Casey summed it up well, "So next time we tell you there's a spider, you just kill it...PLEASE!"<br />
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Post Script - Casey came home from school with only one of her earrings. She was very distraught. Cried about it every time she thought of her earrings. We went to put new ones in tonight and I tossed the single one that had lost its mate. I was determined to not keep random earrings around for "some day when we might find the other earring." I tossed it right into the garbage can with the paper towels containing all sorts of squished spider parts. <br />
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As soon as Casey got into bed tonight, she found the lost earring. It hadn't been lost at school. I got to dig through the garbage can of spider parts for its mate. New policy - we'll be keeping lost earrings for at least one move from after the time it is lost. Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-15178115127772858372013-07-16T16:22:00.001-04:002013-07-16T16:22:55.703-04:00A Trip to Shiloh BattlefieldOne of my contributions to our summer "bucket list" was to make the trip to the Shiloh Battlefield. A few months ago, I started reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blaze-Glory-Novel-Battle-Shiloh/dp/0345527364/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374005791&sr=1-1"><u>A Blaze of Glory</u> by Jeff Shaara</a> about the Battle of Shiloh and realized that it is only 2 hours from us. (Still haven't finished the book though.) And since we might not live in this area of the country again, I decided I wanted to go there before we leave. For a week or two our weather was unseasonably cool - meaning not 100 degrees! - and we had a free weekend, so I decided we should make a little trip last Saturday.<br />
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In the Battle of Shiloh the Confederate Army (the Army of the Mississippi) under General Johnston attacked the Union Army (the Army of the Tennessee) under General Ulysses Grant, with fighting starting near Shiloh Church. The Confederates almost surprised the Union and made great gains the first day. However, the Union Army of the Ohio under General Buell arrived and the Union was able to overwhelm the Confederates on the second day. It is one of the bloodiest battles on American soil with over 26,000 casualties.<br />
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This is the first Civil War battlefield that I have been to so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I was impressed. I knew that I might not be able to read and look around and absorb as much as I wanted to with the kids (and Pat) in tow but it was very easy to figure out the layout of the battlefield and figure out where the different armies were at what times.<br />
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Around the park, states have erected monuments to those who served in various regiments or to commemorate all of the soldiers from the state. The type of monument that Jack and Casey are posing on above marks the location of headquarters for various brigades or divisions.</div>
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There was a Junior Ranger Program for the kids and they had to fill out 8 different activities from their booklets. Some of them they could do themselves, but by the end Pat and I felt like we were doing homework. There is a driving tour of the park with different stops and we had to stop at various ones to answer different questions. I think I was the only one hopping out of the car by the end.<br />
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The monument above is the Confederate Monument and was one of the first stops in our driving tour. It is full of symbolism and was really very interesting. Thanks to the Junior Ranger Questions for making us stop and learn more about it. There is a woman in the center who represents Defeated Victory and she is surrendering the laurel wreath to Death and Night (on her right and left.) There is an infantryman holding a flag as a symbol of defiance to the Union Army and a calvaryman spreading his hands in frustration because they were unable to penetrate the dense woods during battle. Underneath the women in the center is General Johnston (who died during the 1st day of battle). The profiles of the soldiers on one side are happy as the Confederates were winning after the 1st day of battle. Their heads are bowed and defeated looking after the second day when the Union army of General Buell reached the area and along with General Grant pushed the Confederates back and they eventually left for Corinth, MS.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Confederate cannons lined up firing into the "Hornets Nest"</td></tr>
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Also on Saturday, there was a special cannon firing demonstration. There were re-enactors and a park rangers talked through all the steps of firing a cannon and what everyone's job was in between the 3 firings of the cannon. The kids both seemed to enjoy watching how it all worked and I learned how it all worked too.</div>
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After our walking and driving tour of the park, we headed to Pickwick State Park to check it out. Pat had heard that we could rent a pontoon boat and we make a half hearted attempt to find the rental area, but it was getting kind of late in the day. Instead, we found a swimming area in Pickwick Lake and a playground that interested the kids so we went in that direction. Jack didn't want to swim - he said to me a few days ago that "I only swim in pools and oceans, not lakes and rivers." But Casey had a blast swimming around and I almost wished I had put my bathing suit on...it was nice and warm. The people watching was very entertaining as well.<br />
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A couple hours later and we were back home, filled with new Civil War knowledge and a couple ticks we picked up along the way. Now that I've seen the battlefield, I'm going to finally finish up the book!<br />
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<br />Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-70427823454339406712013-07-13T17:36:00.001-04:002013-07-13T17:36:49.093-04:00Jack is 7!Jack is now officially 7! We had a pretty fun day on his birthday...<br />
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First things first, we had to open presents. They were pretty heavily Star Wars themed again and Jack immediately got to work building some Legos and skating around on his skateboard. I've been giving the non-birthday sibling a gift the last few birthdays and I found a Queen Amidala costume for Casey that she loved. <br />
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We went to a Memphis Redbirds game in the afternoon. The Redbirds are a AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. Pat signed the kids up for Rocky's Kids Club and they got to go on the field before the game and make a high five tunnel for the players to run through. They also got to go on the field after the game and run the bases.<br />
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But the best part was that the big "Happy 7th Birthday Jack!" that showed up on the Redbirds scoreboard. They showed it after the 2nd and 7th innings. The first time, Jack wasn't really sure what to make of it, but he loved seeing it the second time.<br />
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It also happened to be Nickolodeon day at the park and there were all kinds of shenanigans with slime going on in between innings. All the kids were invited to go get slimed by the slime-a-nator. The birthday boy had absolutely no interest in that, but his sister begged to go get slimed. I thought she might change her mind after seeing other kids get hit with the slime but she was determined to do it. A big bucket of cold slime crashed down on her head when it was her turn and she loved it! <br />
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On the way home from the game, we stopped at Baskin Robbins and let Jack pick out an ice cream cake. He found one with a golf ball and bag on top and assured me that he liked mint chocolate chip and we came home to light some more candles.<br />
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<br />Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-80077920740729722412013-06-28T11:34:00.000-04:002013-06-28T11:34:10.724-04:00Jack's Bowling Birthday Party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Sometimes Jack gets the short end of the stick with birthday parties. He gets parties, but they don't get quite the time and effort that Casey's do. Of course he hasn't noticed a difference so in the end it seems to work out for us. Casey is still asking what kind of crafts we're going to do at Jack's party though.</div>
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One year we thought we wouldn't have a big party until all my friends convinced me to have a little <a href="http://tleadventures.blogspot.com/2010/06/happy-4th-birthday-tired-mama.html">playdate party</a> for him. This is the one where Tugger ate the cake and I had to make a last minute call to a friend to pick up a cake. Last year we had just moved into the area and didn't really know anyone. On <a href="http://tleadventures.blogspot.com/2012/07/jacks-birthday.html">Jack's birthday</a> we went to a Hail & Farewell for Pat's office and the Captain's family got him a cake and some sweet people who didn't even know him brought presents for him! </div>
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This year we were trying to work around friends being in and out of town, so we decided to have an early party. Jack originally wanted to take some friends to a baseball game but the schedules didn't work out. When I suggested bowling, he thought it was great. So we invited three of his best friends, I grabbed some Star Wars themed plates, napkins and balloons at the store and we planned a party. </div>
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It also happened that Jack's party was in the middle of Vacation Bible School week for us and after I spent a morning with incoming 1st graders, I was not feeling ready for a bowling party. But I pushed through, got some brownies and ice cream made, blew up some balloons and Jack was happy. </div>
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As soon as the boys got here, an epic Star Wars battle began and there was a lot of energy in this house. I was kind of afraid to take that energy to the bowling alley by myself, but once we got to the bowling alley they all settled down and started focusing on getting strikes! I really had fun watching the boys bowl. (But I'm going to have to join in next time I go!)</div>
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After 2 games of bowling, we headed back to the house to make pizza and eat cake. Jack was so impatient to open his presents that he didn't even want to blow out the candles on his cake. Then he didn't even eat a piece of cake until after all his friends left. He was too busy putting Legos together!<br />
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Nana bought some great cake toppers for Jack's Ocean City birthday celebration back in May and Jack wanted to use them again. General Grievous and Anakin Skywalker battled it out on top of the brownies.</div>
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I think Jack was pretty happy with his birthday party. He really liked bowling so we'll have to go back a few more times this summer. And I was happy that everyone seemed to have a good time without me trying to recreate anything from Pinterest. I didn't even have party favors - gasp! </div>
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Only 2 more days until someone officially turns 7!</div>
Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-87054847306719297152013-06-10T21:33:00.000-04:002013-06-10T21:33:12.535-04:00First Swim Meet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Jack and Casey joined the Crocs swim team this summer. Last week was their first week of practice and their first swim meet. Casey was able to go to all the practices last week but Jack also had baseball camp and he only got to a few minutes of practice on a couple of days. </div>
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It's been a chilly spring here (by Memphis standards) and the water has not been very warm. But Casey has jumped right in and done everything coach has asked of her. Jack is a little more hesitant and prefers to be the last one in the water and tries to hang out at the back of the line before he has to jump in again. I really don't blame him. I've never really been a fan of cold water. One of my childhood friends always had a swimming party for her birthday...at the end of May, in a lake, in Maine. I'm pretty sure I never got past my knees at those parties. But, temps are forecast for the 90s this week so I have a feeling it will warm up pretty soon. </div>
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So far, I have been completely impressed with what a week of swim team practice has done for both of them. Four days of practice and then they swam in their first swim meet!</div>
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This swim meet was just chaos. The swim coordinator sent out a bajillion emails about what we had to do to be ready for it. The kids need to be marked a certain way in permanent marker, before sunscreen/bug spray, in a certain place. They need to be lined up and ready to go for their event, in the right lane, waiting for the beep. Some events are combined so you have to know if you're event might go a little sooner. </div>
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But, I figured it out and got them where they needed to be and they were so impressive! What I did not figure out until the end of the race was that I had been putting their swim caps on them sideways. Maybe this week it will be easier to get it on if I do it correctly. </div>
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Jack and Casey both swam a 25m freestyle relay and an individual 25m freestyle and it was the first time they had ever swum the length of the pool without touching the lane ropes for help. They did it both times and I'm still so proud of how well they did! Casey also did a 25m backstroke and did well at that. She just needs to work on her rudder control. </div>
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You get a ribbon in every event that you swim and these guys were very happy with their ribbons. Both of their relay teams came in first! </div>
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Jack got his first full practice in today and he was very excited for it. He is learning breast and back stroke and is excited to swim those events in the future. I have a feeling that I will continue to be impressed by my little crocs as the summer progresses.</div>
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Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-50708820031657557262013-06-06T10:49:00.000-04:002013-06-06T10:49:16.796-04:00The Blog Returns with the Beginning of Summer !I've decided not to let this blog die :) So it's back by popular demand...by the only readers...who happen to be the grandparents of my children.<br />
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I was writing about Christmas the last time I wrote. Fast forward six months...summer vacation has begun! Pat mentioned a couple weeks ago that he felt like the school year flew by. I told him it was a little different from my perspective; being the homework supervisor makes for some long weeks. And I just went through a stack of paperwork 2 feet tall that contained all the hard work of a year of first grade. I also cleaned out a mailbox of email reminders and notes from Jack's teacher. <br />
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After a week's vacation in Ocean City, we are back home to start the summer routine, or the lack of routine. We have a big list on the refrigerator of all the things we want to do this summer. We have started the summer point system whereby the kids get points for helping around the house and after so many points they get prizes, the big one being a trip to Chuck E Cheese. I just need to find that piece of paper I wrote last summer with all the things for which they can get a point.<br />
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The kids are on the swim team at our country club and started practice this week. Their first meet is tonight. Jack has been at baseball camp in the mornings and then gets a few minutes of swimming in after. Casey is watching a show while wearing her bathing suit as I write...she's been working very hard in the pool.<br />
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But so far, this week at home has been worse than the adjustment to the first couple weeks of school. These kids are tired! Casey threw a tantrum last night because I sent her to her room. I can't remember if she's ever thrown a tantrum like that. Jack got sent to bed without stories. They both broke down crying at the pizza place because they didn't have any mini make-your-own pizzas. (The employees had no pity for my plight. You make pizzas...can't you make two small crusts and throw it in a box for me? Seriously?)<br />
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And the questions! I feel like I have two three year olds right now. I think they must have stored up a school year's worth of random questions to ask me. Casey asked me this morning, "How many heads would it take to fill up the earth?" What? Maybe Pop Pop knows the answer to that because I sure don't. Are they 8 lb heads? Adult heads or child heads? <br />
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Jack has his own stash of questions but then he likes to argue with you after you give him an answer. I was telling him that the Arlington Baseball Team (where he is going to baseball camp) won the state championship in 2012. He, of course, already knew that because he saw the sign at the field and he wanted to know when they would take down the sign. I told him that they're proud of it and they'll probably leave it up for a while. Then I told him about the high school near our house in Virginia that won the state football championship in 2011 and I said that their sign is still up. <br />
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Jack: How do you know their sign is up?<br />
Me: I saw it when we drove by the high school when we were in the area last week.<br />
Jack: I didn't see it. Why didn't I see it?<br />
Me: You weren't looking out that side of the car.<br />
Jack: Oh it was on Casey's side? I thought it used to be on my side.<br />
Me: It's on different sides depending on which way we are going. It used to be on your side on the way to school and on Casey's side on the way home.<br />
Jack: I'm pretty sure it was on my side most of the time.<br />
Me: It was probably about half and half.<br />
Jack: Well you don't know if that sign is still up.<br />
Me: I just saw it last week.<br />
Jack: They might have taken it down.<br />
Me: Okay buddy, you win.<br />
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I think we will adjust to this summer business soon. Next week, we have no camps, just swim team, so I think we can have some fun and get some rest and start crossing some things off our list of things to do! And I will get to researching the surface area of the earth and figure out how many heads will fit on it.<br />
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Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-66227192585441796152013-01-08T21:42:00.002-05:002013-01-08T21:42:34.687-05:00Touring Memphis before ChristmasThe week before Christmas was a busy one as Mom and Dad came for Christmas. For some reason I thought we'd have all kinds of time to go out and shop and look around in the days before Christmas. It's fun shopping with other adults, but we never really had the desire to drag the kids out with us. They wouldn't even go out to lunch at Five Guys with us one day! They just wanted to go home and play. We did get around the area a bit though.<br />
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My mom has loved Elvis forever so she and I and Dad went on a tour of Graceland. I had heard that some people were disappointed with it because you just look at his house and that's it. But there was so much more and it was all so interesting. The house is really neat. It's like stepping back in time, only people usually think of going back centuries when you do that. Because it was only decades, it didn't feel so far removed. You could easily imagine the people that moved in and out of the house and it felt like Elvis could have walked through the door at any moment.<br />
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From shag carpet on the ceiling to a room that was covered in thousands of yards of fabric, there were so many details that were fascinating. On top of his house, we toured a trophy building with a chronological history of his hits and his movies and his charitable works. We went to a lot of extra little exhibits on our tickets as well and I have to say that I would definitely take anyone else who came into town to visit Graceland again.<br />
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We also spent an afternoon in Memphis. We went on our annual Christmas ice skating adventure. There is a rink set up at the zoo so went to that one. Casey was on skates for the first time this year. She was very excited but she has a little work to do on her balance. Jack has been playing hockey since November and he was a little show-off. He zoomed around the ice faster than any kid out there (and he knew it.) We had a great time until Casey had enough of the falling and Jack took a couple of rough spills too.<br />
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We wandered through the zoo on our way out and I've never seen the animals so active. It was like going to the zoo for the first time. The pandas were out and were even moving around and eating. All the cats were pacing and moving around. It's one of my favorite trips to the zoo and we weren't even looking at animals for all that long. </div>
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A quick tour of downtown Memphis one evening took us to the Peabody Hotel. The hotel is known for its ducks. In the morning, the ducks come down the elevator and hop into the fountain in the middle of the lobby. They spend the day there, enjoying the people while getting shooed back into the water as soon as they make a move to escape. (I think someone is payed to be on duck watch every day.) In the evenings, there's another big ceremony as the ducks march back to the elevator and back to their evening residence.<br />
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On this trip, we did not watch the march of the ducks. I've seen it twice and it is very misleading. The ducks do not in any way march. They get out of the pond and waddle to the elevator. There is really no where else for them to go because people are lined up on either side of them from the fountain to the elevator. But there is a bit of pomp and circumstance and a fun little story behind it and the kids like it, even though they have to sit and wait for 45 minutes if they want to get anywhere near where the red carpet.<br />
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So we saw no duck marching but we just enjoyed the gorgeous Christmas decorations in the lobby and the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. There was a huge gingerbread village with a train that travels around it that entertains the kids. There was live piano music. And it was gorgeous!<br />
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Finally, we went to get some traditional Memphis BBQ. I've been to a place in downtown Memphis which is renowned for it's bar-b-que and it's atmosphere but I was not impressed. Pat took us to another place this time and it was just right - great bar-b-que and a great atmosphere. We'll definitely go there again too!<br />
<br />Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-54391622564634824272013-01-04T22:48:00.000-05:002013-01-04T22:48:07.320-05:00Christmas with KissI joined my first book club when I moved here to Memphis and I've really been enjoying it. I've read some great books and met some great people. <br />
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For our November/December book club (for which no one read the book but me and the host), the big part of the night was really a white elephant gift swap. I don't think I've ever done that kind of swap but I was told to bring anything - a new gift, a gag gift or a re-gift...anything you might find around your house and want to pass on to some unsuspecting soul.<br />
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The first gift I ended up opening was a cute apron and book to go with it. But as we went down the line, someone snagged that and I chose another gift. It turned out to be a very interesting Christmas ornament. <br />
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The friend, H, that brought this gift felt bad because she claims I'm the quiet, sweet girl and I think she thought I deserved something better. Or maybe, she didn't think I would be able to appreciate the beauty and value. (She'd be mortified if I didn't also mention that she included a Starbucks gift card with it.)<br />
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The gift that I brought was an infinity scarf that I made. When H found out that I brought a homemade gift, this made her feel even worse. But it shouldn't have...to me the scarf was the easiest thing I could bring. I had already made it and it <i>was</i> sitting around my house. I had looked at some gag gifts in the store and honestly didn't feel like wasting my money. I'm just not a gag gift type of girl and being fairly new to the group, I didn't have much background in which to work in a funny gift. <br />
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When I first opened the ornament, I thought it was Star Wars related. In that fraction of a second I thought that my kids would be excited about it. Upon further inspection, I discovered it was this...<br />
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I didn't manage to capture my own picture of the box so I found this one on the internet. While searching for it, I learned his name is Gene Simmons. (Yes, I've probably heard that before but if you'd asked me his name, I couldn't have told you.) And I also learned that there are several more Kiss themed ornaments. <br />
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So we laughed about it. I promised to take pictures of it on my tree and I think she promised to come to my house to verify that it was actually on my tree.<br />
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It sat around the house for a few days because it took many days for the tree to "fall" and be ready for decorating. And then the kids found it and it turns out they were excited about it...<br />
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They thought it was hilarious and wanted to do their impressions. I think they did a pretty good job. Jack is actually holding the ornament in his hand but it's a little blurry there.<br />
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And when we finally decorated our tree, they fought over who would put it on the tree. I would have shoved them out of the way to have the honor but then I wouldn't have gotten any pictures. And we did not hide him! He's not up there with the angel obviously but he wasn't tucked in the back either.<br />
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This was serious business...</div>
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Behold the beauty...</div>
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This ornament will stick around. (I really hope he doesn't lose any of the spikes over the years.) It will always make me smile and remind me of my first book club and a fun night with new friends. I might even have to add to the collection. Or at least replace my red bead garland with something a little more chain-like. </div>
Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-33332937449515804432013-01-01T17:50:00.000-05:002013-01-01T17:50:00.233-05:00The NutcrackerI got to take Casey to her friend Nutcracker ballet this year. We had pretty good seats at the Orpheum in Memphis and I was excited to take her. I think I was probably in high school the last time I went to see it. <div>
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We got all dressed up in our finest and met with a friend and her little girl and headed downtown. </div>
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Casey took a short nap just in the car before we arrived...</div>
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Even though we had good seats, it was hard for little people to see over the heads in front of them. Casey spent the first half bouncing between her seat and my lap trying to find the best view. Then of course she had to use the bathroom just when the Mouse King was about to come out. For the second half she sat on the aisle seat and seemed to enjoy it a little better. I sat on the other side of our friends because she didn't want to sit on my lap any more.</div>
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I thought Casey behaved very well during the show. There were parts where even I was a little less enthusiastic about the length of the dances. There were also men in really tight white tights and that was a little distracting at times.</div>
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After the show some of the dancers came out for pictures and autographs.</div>
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Overall, it was a very nice first ballet experience!</div>
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Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-67363789658482910712012-12-29T17:29:00.000-05:002012-12-29T17:29:00.793-05:00Elfing AroundOur Elf on the Shelf, Bob, returned for a third year this Christmas season. He comes out the day after Thanksgiving and hangs around in various places until Christmas Eve when he heads back to his North Pole home.<br />
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The kids were even more excited about Bob than they have been in the past. Every morning they couldn't wait to find out where he was. Although he didn't do anything too crazy or elaborate, he found some fun places to keep an eye on the kids.<br />
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One day Bob was found dangling from the overhead light...<br />
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This was the day we brought our tree home and since they couldn't do any decorating until the tree settled, Jack and Casey entertained themselves. The took the tree skirt and some Santa hats and did their best impressions of Bob's mischievous smirk and eyes.<br />
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<br />Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-54572964835133662242012-12-28T17:15:00.000-05:002012-12-28T17:15:00.139-05:002012 Christmas TreeAfter several years of an artificial tree, we went with a real one this year. We got rid of our fake tree after last Christmas. The lights weren't all lighting and the branches were flopping all over the place and not staying level. I felt like I spent way too much time "fluffing" it and trying to make it look real. And I think our Yankee candle that smelled like a fir tree reached the end of its wick as well.<br />
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Our tree buying experience turned out easier that I could imagine. We decided to go with Costco because several friends mentioned they got their tree there and it was a good price. The only potential problem was that you couldn't pick the tree. You get what you get! But it was so easy to get the tree that I liked the idea of just working with whatever it turned out looking like. No searching the lot in the cold for the perfect tree. Although I'm pretty sure it wasn't anywhere near cold here in early December.<br />
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After <a href="http://tleadventures.blogspot.com/2012/12/breakfast-with-santa.html">breakfast with Santa</a>, we crossed the street to Costco, pulled the van up to the trailer, and the tree man put the tree on the roof and tied it down while I paid. So easy! <br />
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We pulled the tree stand out of the attic and brought the tree in. I think we only adjusted it about 3 times. Then we had to explain about letting the tree settle to the kids who were a little anxious to decorate!<br />
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Pat looks very proud of his tree!<br />
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Jack is helping out...</div>
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Then the kids decided they should take some pictures. And I think you can tell that we had just about squeezed all the joy out of the tree buying experience and it was time to move on to something else!</div>
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It ended up being another week or some before we finally got to decorating it although Jack was still placing new ornaments on up until Christmas Eve. </div>
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About halfway through decorating, I realized we should have had some sort of Tree Decorating 101 discussion with Jack. Some topics we could have covered - </div>
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- Heavy ornaments require a heavy branch</div>
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- Some ornaments need to go at the top of the tree</div>
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- Some ornaments need to be on the sides of the tree</div>
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But with a little redirection and some discreet repositioning, the tree got decorated. </div>
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We put a couple strands of LED lights on this year. I really wanted to like them because I like the idea of more energy efficient light bulbs, but they just didn't have that glow that I wanted. </div>
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Our theme is simply what we have collected over the years. We have ornaments from all the places we have lived and places we have visited. This year we got ornaments when we were at Disney World. When we got them out (of a bag I have yet to unpack from the trip!) Casey promptly dropped her castle and a few turrets broke off. It now goes well with her Cinderella carriage ornament of which all the wheels are broken.</div>
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It was Casey's year to put the angel on top.</div>
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After she was decorated, the kids once again wanted to take pictures with my camera. They each spent forever trying to get a good shot without people in it. But I couldn't resist jumping in a few pictures while someone else was behind the lens.</div>
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Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-72885070096193634812012-12-27T21:39:00.000-05:002012-12-27T21:39:26.870-05:00Breakfast with Santa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I didn't mean to take another long break from blogging. I reached the space limit for storing photos though Picasa and I've spent forever trying to figure out how to best put pictures on the blog without paying. Right now I've settled on Photobucket, even though I have upload them individually (as far as I can figure out). </div>
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And so, I'm going back to the beginning of the Christmas season! I think I struck a good balance between Christmas fun and getting things done this year. It felt like we had an extra week or two this year because we are celebrating Christmas with Pat's family in a couple days instead of the weekend before Christmas. </div>
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Way back at the beginning of December we had Breakfast with Santa at the country club. It was decorated beautifully, the food was good and the kids got to craft and visit with Santa. Although I wasn't totally impressed with the realism of Santa, I liked the fact that the kids got to spend as much time with them as they needed and he "knew" their names. We weren't hurried by a long line behind us and we didn't have to pay for overpriced picture packages. </div>
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Casey hopped right onto Santa's lap without a bit of hesitation. She asked for baby dolls, Barbie dolls and a toy puppy.</div>
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Jack didn't have a problem going up to Santa but looked a little nervous the whole time he was sitting there. This is only the second year he has spent time on Santa's lap! He asked for a Disney monorail, a video game and some Hotwheels. I can't believe he remembered about the monorail! I was hoping he'd forget after not talking about it for 3 months. (And since I'm posting this after Christmas, he did not get a monorail and thankfully hasn't asked about it. He came up with another different list of things at school!) </div>
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Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-27206297905191720172012-11-28T21:08:00.000-05:002012-11-28T21:08:14.214-05:00Chopsticks & Invisible SkeletonsA few weeks ago, after I put Casey in bed, she came out and yelled down from her room. "Mommy! Do you have any chopsticks?"<br />
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Since I was in the kitchen, I wasn't sure I had heard her correctly. "What do you want?"<br />
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She said, "Do you have any chopsticks?"<br />
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I was a little puzzled at this point so I decide to ask her why she needs them. "What do you need them for?"<br />
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She replies, "For my lips...my lips hurt."<br />
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"Ohhhh...you want chapstick! I'll bring some right up. That's chapstick, not chopsticks!"<br />
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A few weeks ago, I noticed that Casey's laundry basket was filled with all of Jack's clothes too, so I asked her why all of his clothes were in her laundry basket. She simply said, "Because he has an invisible skeleton under his bed." <br />
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Yes, right, the invisible skeleton. <br />
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It was funny to hear Casey say it in such a matter of fact way, but I wasn't confused when she mentioned the skeleton. I had heard about this invisible skeleton. It caused some bedtime stalling one night. <br />
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Jack can't tell me how he knows that it's there, but he knows it is. He would believe nothing I said about this skeleton. I told him there really wasn't one there. I told him if it <i>was</i> there it wouldn't bother him. I told him invisible skeletons are really quiet. Finally I told him there was an invisible ninja under his bed and it would protect him from the invisible skeleton. That seemed to do the trick for that night. <br />
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Apparently the invisible skeleton has not been dislodged from under Jack's bed. It no longer causes night time issues. However, I asked Jack why he was getting dressed in the hallway a few days ago. He said, "Because there's an invisible skeleton in my room." <br />
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Obviously. Silly question Mommy.Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-23486553429110716542012-11-27T20:57:00.002-05:002012-11-27T20:57:41.777-05:00SkittlesWhile Casey was at dance today, Jack and I had a few minutes alone together in the car. I guess we were in between movies because he was very chatty...<div>
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Jack: Mommy, Chinese Skittles have a very different package from regular ones.</div>
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Me: What? Where did you get Chinese Skittles?</div>
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(I'm very confused...I'm wondering if regular skittles say Made in China on them or something.)</div>
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Jack: At school.</div>
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Me: Where did they come from? Did Mrs. S bring them into class?</div>
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Jack: No, A brought them in.</div>
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Me: Does she have Chinese family? Where did she get them?</div>
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Jack: I don't know. I guess she got them from her family. But the bag is very different. The only thing Mrs. S could read on it was Skittles.</div>
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Me: Did you try one? Are they the same?</div>
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Jack: They are. Even the S is the same on them.</div>
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And there you have it. The only thing different is the bag. But it's very exciting to a 1st grader. And a little confusing for the 1st grader's mother but I feel a little more cultured after all that.</div>
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Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-39052698531657104272012-11-05T19:12:00.000-05:002012-11-05T19:20:27.497-05:00Election Eve***This is a rather abrupt jump back into blogging, but I just need to write when I feel like it. Hopefully there will be more to come.***<br />
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This boy. He came home and he was very grumpy about doing his homework. He chose to work on a math program on the computer called IXL and he had to do 20 minutes of it. He wanted to be done at about 15 minutes. He tried to out-grump me and then finally sat down to finish it up. When he was done he ran off to play.<br />
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Then I decided it was time to turn the heat on. I don't know why I resist this so much. I have been cold for a couple weeks. I like to see how long I can go without heat. And yet the whole time I resist it all I want to do is get in my bed because it's warm there. It's not very productive.</div>
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I went upstairs to set the program for the heat and Jack says, "Look Mommy. It's Romney and Obama! I have the O for Obama and the M for Mitt Romney." He shows me a Lego creation he has been working on. It amazed me that he had come up with an idea to build an election scene with his Legos. I ran to get my camera while was on a search for coffee cups so they would both have one.<br />
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I love his creation. He went on to tell me that people are voting tomorrow and that "both Romney and Obama were born in the 19s!" I told him I was born in the 19s too. The one on the left is Obama because he has flatter hair more like the real Obama's. I guess that left Romney with a beard and mustache. I think it looks good on him.<br />
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Then he created them each on their own stages. The red loose pieces are the curtains. I tried to get him to use blue curtains for Obama but he wasn't quite grasping the red and blue and different political parties. "Parties? What are you talking about?"<br />
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I asked him who he would vote for. He said Romney and when I asked him why, he said he didn't think Obama had done a very good job of running the country. He must catch bits and pieces of conservative talk radio in the car when he's not watching Batman or Star Wars. <br />
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Later he asked Casey who she was going to vote for. She said, "Is there someone that begins with O? I want to vote for him." <br />
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"Obama? You're only saying that because you don't know anyone else," Jack claimed.<br />
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Casey retorted with, "No, really, that's who I'd vote for. I like Obama."<br />
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Jack also came up with a "fun game" wherein he and Casey both run for president and I have to vote and pick the president. But after his two terms I would get to be president again.<br />
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And just before he ran off to play again, he said, "I can't wait for election day tomorrow. I don't even know why I like election day so much."Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-51866092442030954182012-09-10T16:13:00.000-04:002012-09-10T16:13:37.033-04:00School for CaseyCasey started school too! ...two weeks ago. Then she promptly got sick and missed a few days. But she is back on track and set to enjoy the third week of school...her first full week of school.<br />
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She goes to preschool at a very nice Baptist church down the street. (In Tennessee, there's a very nice Baptist church every mile or so it seems.) It's five days a week and on two days she stays a couple extra hours for "Stay and Play." She gets to eat lunch with her friends and play for a little bit. Last week was her first week of stay and play and it's the longest time I've had to myself in quite a while. Although I have to admit I was a little lonely at lunch. <br />
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So far she is having a great time at school and always has something to tell me and show me when I pick her up. She is even doing made-up "homework" in the afternoons when Jack has to work on his homework!<br />
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<br />Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-5714148215152610612012-08-19T21:03:00.000-04:002012-08-19T21:04:06.583-04:00Casey's New RoomLast week I got to spend A LOT of quality time with Casey while Jack was at school. Even though we went out to a store every day, we still spent a lot of time at home. The Barbie/Princess family also had a very busy week. They celebrated birthdays, went to the pool, went to the beach, went to the hairdresser, changed outfits a lot, and witnessed some amazing high diving by Cinderella. <br />
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In between Barbie adventures, I tried to do some little projects around the house that I thought Casey would be interested in. If I wanted to sew, I sewed something for her. One dress turned out to be a big failure and the other still needs just a little finishing. I also decided it was time to get the big bare wall behind her bed decorated.<br />
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A few months ago I found a great idea on Pinterest to make silhouettes of the princesses and use them as art. I thought this was a much more subtle princess decorating idea versus some big poster of the princesses. Basically I didn't want anything too cartoon-y. <br />
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I also have a Silhouette cutting machine that has been sitting idle for some time and now I have a big space near the computer for it. After a little search online I found the <a href="http://thecraftymamablog.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/disney-princess-wall-art-free-download-2/comment-page-1/">Crafty Mama</a> blog where she had already created templates to use with the Silhouette.<br />
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One quick trip to the scrapbook store, four dollars and a few hours later and I had princesses framed and ready to put on the wall. (And somehow I walked out of that scrapbook store with only what I needed!)<br />
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On Friday, I put the frames on the wall and got ready to take some pictures. I probably spent more time cleaning her room than hanging pictures. Casey was too busy with her babies to help.<br />
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Casey managed to be in almost every picture. She also wanted to take some pictures with my camera but they didn't make the cut for this post. I finally convinced her to go get her own camera. Then she was even more in my way as she tried to get all her pictures.<br />
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She has Christmas lights wrapped around her bed and sleeps with them on every night. After Christmas was over, she didn't want to take them off. We're now on our third strand. It makes for a nice little night light for her.</div>
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Her bed still needs a new bedskirt.<br />
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This is Casey's wall of butterflies and dragonflies. We found some vinyl Star Wars stickers for Jack soon after we moved here and I guided Casey towards these butterflies. It was one of the first things we put up in each of their rooms.<br />
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Here are the signs for Casey's room. It's been used as a storefront lately, which was why I had to do a lot of cleaning. Casey was selling lotions in there and then it turned into quite an operation one night as they were both making jewelry and selling it. Casey made the small yellow sign which has her name on it. Jack made the larger green and yellow signs. The green one says "Beauty" and he made it fancy (like Grammie did when she was babysitting in April) and the yellow one says "On." Jack decided that he would rather have No and Yes signs instead of Open and Closed but then No turned into On. <br />
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This is the wall opposite the bed. It's not quite as neat...once again Casey was busy with her babies and the lotion store (which she has staged on her empty doll bunk beds). And her top drawer is broken from the move or else I would fill it with all the <strike>junk</strike> beautiful hair bands/elastics/bows/etc. sitting on top of her dresser.<br />
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These are a lot of the things that I removed from her bedroom to take pictures. You can see the cash register that was being used for the store, but I'm not sure where the horse and shield were fitting into the place. I think that must have been from a cowboy playing day. (In full disclosure, a lot of that stuff is still sitting in the hallway outside Casey's room 5 days later.)<br />
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And so, Casey's room is the first room I've gotten to in showing off our new house. Casey and I have another long week together so maybe we can get to some more projects. Pat asked me today when I was going to finish hanging pictures in the rest of the house. Sometimes I just can't decide what I'm going to do and I do nothing! We'll fix some of that next week.<br />
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<br />Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-31763812968195247732012-08-14T20:00:00.000-04:002012-08-14T20:01:37.914-04:00Maine Vacation: Lighthouse Trip to West Quoddy HeadThere are so many great places to visit when we go to Maine but sometimes it can be a bit of a drive to get to them. In the past when I had driven 18 hours to get to Maine, we didn't make too many long trips on top of that. This year we didn't have as much time to take long trips; we flew from Memphis to Maine but then there was 4 hours of driving on top of a day of flying.<br />
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One of our adventures this year was to drive to the easternmost point in the United States to visit the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse and have some lunch in the town of Lubec. (Despite its eastern US location, the lighthouse is called West Quoddy Head because there is a lighthouse further east on Campobello Island (Canada) that gets the name East Quoddy Head.) <br />
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Jack remembered visiting the lighthouse a couple years ago and he remembered posing in front of the granite that says "Easternmost Point in the USA". This year, he became a little camera hog, posing multiple times in front of the sign and directing everyone else to get in or out of the pictures. It was a refreshing change from the faces he's been making lately when I take pictures. <br />
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Casey rarely turns down an opportunity to pose for the camera.<br />
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Jack is also a big fan of getting his photo taken in any type of wooden cutout with a place for his head. <br />
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After walking around the lighthouse and checking out the displays inside the lighthouse, we walked down to a set of stairs that lead to the beach. There were lots of rocks to climb on and rocks to walk on and rocks to throw. <br />
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Grampie followed Casey pretty closely around on the rocks. It's so hard to watch her climb on them because every time she takes a step she appears to lose her balance and looks like she is going to fall. She didn't have any big falls which I thinks was a combination of supervision and that fact that she can climb on them despite how it looks. She gained a lot of confidence in her rock climbing while we were in Maine but that only made her braver and more likely to fall because she was being silly at times. <br />
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We had lunch at a restaurant in Lubec, Maine overlooking the water. The lobster boats were to the left and the bridge to Campobello Island was to the right. It was a beautiful day. The kids and Grampie climbed around on the breakwater and played on another beach. <br />
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On the way out of town, we stopped at <a href="http://www.monicaschocolates.com/">Monica's Chocolates</a> to find some treats. Monica grew up in Peru and bases some of her chocolates on recipes she remembered growing up with her family. She met us at the door and immediately gave the kids balloons and a chocolate lollipop. She then treated the grown-ups with some samples. We all walked out with bags of chocolate and I even found a cute Peruvian necklace to buy. <br />
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It was a great Maine adventure...we drove on some dirt roads, saw a lighthouse, climbed on the rocks, ate lunch overlooking the water and got some Maine/Peruvian chocolate :)Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-28162615524756423772012-08-12T21:56:00.001-04:002012-08-12T21:56:30.112-04:001st Grade!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Jack started 1st grade on Monday! He was very excited about going to school and riding the bus. He didn't seem to be nervous at all. I guess I need to try not to project how nervous I would be if I were him onto him :) New school, new teacher, new friends, new bus experience...and it didn't phase him! </div>
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After pictures and getting to the bus stop nice and early, he hopped right on the bus without a second thought. The driver had to get him to turn around for a picture. Casey and I had a nice long day together and then walked up to the bus stop to get Jack. We waited for 20 minutes before we even saw a bus in our neighborhood. It drove back and forth on the cross street below ours a couple times like the driver didn't know where to go. Then I saw some people walking from the other end of the neighborhood towards us. It turned out to be Jack and another family from the bus stop where he decided to hop off the bus. He got off about 3 stops too early. The nice family decided to walk with him to make sure he got to our house. When I asked him why he got off so early he said, "I didn't know how close it was going to get to our house, so I just got off!" Brave kid! It didn't upset him in the least. </div>
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There's since been a week of school and I'm not quite sure what he's doing for 7 hours a day. There's "early bunch" in the morning which means they color until everyone gets there. There are announcements, two bathroom breaks, lunch, and recess (if everyone is good). I think maybe the learning starts this week? </div>
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He brought home some homemade play-doh that his teacher made and he said, "It's just like regular Play-Doh but it tells the future. Isn't that great? This one said we are going to have a great year." </div>
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I think he's made a few friends but he's iffy on the names. He said, "The one boy that I expected was going to be my best friend said he didn't want to be my friend." It makes my heart break and makes me laugh all at the same time. I'm not sure why he "expected" someone was going to be his best friend...it's kind of cute. And I'd like to hope he just misunderstood the situation and that boys are not that mean. Luckily it didn't seem to bother him too much. And then we talked about making sure he was nice to everyone and friends with everyone. </div>
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So far he's enjoying the experience but he said the homework starts this week. I hope he still likes school after this week :) </div>
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<br />Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-45278942571639251702012-07-31T19:36:00.001-04:002012-07-31T19:36:40.071-04:00School RegistrationToday was registration day at Jack's new school. He starts school next Monday! August 6th is pretty early but he gets done around the 3rd week in May. That's why we had to miss International Festival and our two weeks of August in Maine and visit earlier.<br />
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Pat asked Jack if he was nervous about starting school and he said, "A little bit." When pressed further, he said he is nervous because he hasn't really done as many worksheets as he should have done this summer. Not because he's going to a brand new school and has no idea where his classroom is or who his teacher is and not because he doesn't know anyone at the school! <br />
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I've tried to get him to do a few worksheets and some reading this summer so he doesn't completely forget how to read. He's been very resistant to it for the most part so I may have tried to guilt him into it by telling him he needs to remember what he learned last year or he'll be behind. Then I read something on Jack's 6-7 year checkup from the doctor that said not to push them into reading because it can interfere with his interest in learning. So I backed off. Mostly I really want him to love reading like I do but I think that will come in time.<br />
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Anyway, I was probably more nervous for his registration day. I had all my questions written down so I wouldn't forget anything. I had the most questions about the bus system. The only elementary school experience I have is my own and I had 10 students in my class, there were 4 classrooms and only one bus. This school has seven classrooms of 1st graders alone! <br />
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After driving home for a few more pieces of paperwork, Jack is officially registered for 1st grade. He met the principal and despite our coaching, when she asked him a question he responded with his typical "Yeah." At which point she said, "He'll be saying 'Yes, Ma'am!' in no time!" <br />
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I was really looking forward to back-to-school shopping but the school puts together a box of all items required for his class and it's one-stop shopping. I think Jack would have enjoyed the scavenger hunt of finding all the things on his list and filling the shopping cart, but Pat convinced me this would be much easier. We still have to go out and find a lunchbox though.<br />
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Thursday night is parents' night for Casey's school although she doesn't start until late August. It is also a movie night at Jack's school. He should find out his classroom and teacher then. <br />
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And so the school years really begin!!!<br />
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Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733835444559731224.post-79201781652489296032012-07-26T22:09:00.000-04:002012-07-26T22:09:42.856-04:00Elmo's RescueWe are now Tennesseans and survived our move. We got settled in our new house and a few weeks later headed to the airport for our trip to Maine. We had a great week there and there are more stories to tell. But this is just about our trip back to Tennessee.<div>
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On our way home from Maine, I decided to schedule late flights out of Maine. We had to drive four hours to the airport so I figured we might as well make a day of it and I would deal with the consequences of leaving Portland at 6pm and not arriving in Memphis until 10:30pm (which felt like 11:30pm). </div>
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We were feeling a little rushed on our way to the airport but got there an hour before the flight. Of course there was a long line to weigh baggage and they were making announcements on the speakers that a plane that had just landed was the plane to Atlanta and we should get to the boarding area. In reality, after waiting 10-15 minutes to check baggage and 10 minutes to go through security, they hadn't even started boarding yet. But once they did start boarding, Casey of course decided she had to go to the bathroom. </div>
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We had a layover in Atlanta and had to switch concourses to get to our next gate. While we were going down an escalator I was trying to tell Jack that we might be going on a shuttle to get to the next concourse. I said the word three or four times and he couldn't hear me & didn't understand what I was trying to say and I was getting very frustrated. When we got on the shuttle and he heard the announcement that it was called the "plane train", he just looked at me like I was crazy for calling it a shuttle. "It's a plane train Mommy!"</div>
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We waited about an hour for our next flight. I enjoyed some people watching. Casey acted like she was going to go to sleep but spent 15 minutes trying to get just right with her blanket and pillow, 2 minutes pretending to sleep and then sat up and said, "Good morning Mommy!" To which I meanly said, "We're not playing that game. Either sleep or sit up and find something to do."</div>
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We were among the last people to get on the plane, which was fine because I knew we had three seats together and that all our carry-ons would fit under the seat so we wouldn't be struggling to find overhead space. While we were in line, I said, "Does everyone have everything?" I glanced at all our things and it looked like we had all our bags.</div>
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While we were buckling our seat belts, Casey whimpered, "Where's Elmo?" I started to panic a little and said, "Isn't he in your bag?" A quick look around determined that he was not to be found. Casey started crying hysterically. My first thought was that it really was the end of Elmo. I said, "That's really sad, Casey." Jack chimed in with, "I'm kind of sad too because that used to be my Elmo." </div>
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That's when I realized that I couldn't let Elmo go without a fight. I asked the flight attendant if I could go search for him and she said I could as long as I had my boarding pass. I gave a brief moment's thought as to whether I should just leave my two children on the plane by themselves. I wasn't really worried about them but more about whether others would think it strange that I left them. </div>
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I ran down the ramp and out to our seat but Elmo wasn't anywhere to be seen. There was a man sitting near our seat and I asked if he had seen Elmo. He said a janitor had just come by and taken him. I couldn't see the janitor on the concourse at all. I wanted to run after him, but I didn't dare to go away from the plane. I was so dismayed after running all they way out there to rescue Elmo and I couldn't even do it.</div>
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I explained to the ticket agent what had happened. She said the janitor shouldn't have taken it but should have brought it to her, but that was all she could do for me. </div>
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I walked back onto the plane empty-handed. Casey broke down crying again and it made me start to cry. She calmed down a little and asked if she could get a new Elmo and I told her she could have any one she wanted. </div>
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Then I saw the ticket agent walking onto the plane and I saw a little flash of red in her hands. I quickly wiped the tears off my face. When she got to us, I was so thankful. She said the man sitting out there had tracked down the janitor and gotten Elmo for us!</div>
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I wish I could have run out there to thank him personally but I will never forget the kindness of that man in saving Elmo for us. </div>Teresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837067113832794931noreply@blogger.com0