30 Days of Thanks (5)

I am bursting with thanks today and can hardly type because the excitement is just flowing out of me. First, I am thankful for my parents. Not just for being the amazing parents that they are because they really are the best (and I know a lot of parents), but today I'm particularly thankful that they came to visit us and take our 1st annual (sorry Jeff) Fall Family Pics (see above photo) and for hanging out with us and our crazy girl. I'm also thankful for Walgreens offering 25 Free 4x6 pics. So, in case you're like me and have trouble with math, our family pics were FREE!!! And now I'll end this grammatically awkward post.

30 Days of Thanks (4)

Today I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who occupied Lucy while I slept in and for finally finishing my Thanksgiving wreath. I'm also thankful for the ice cream that is about to walk through my door!

30 Days of Thanks (1-3)

I seen many Facebook statuses over the past few days listing things people are thankful, 1 for each day of the month of November. I often find myself complaining rather than being thankful so I thought I would take this as an opportunity to express thanks to God for so many blessings and to challenge myself to write 1 post each day for a whole month. (Yes, I know, I'm setting myself up for disappointment, but I'm doing it anyway!)

Of course I am thankful for Jeff, Lucy, family, friends, food, clothing, and all other necessities of life, so I thought it would be more fun to focus on 1 thing that I am thankful for that happened each day. Hopefully you will feel inspired to thank God for some pretty great blessings in your day as well.

Nov.1: I'm thankful that yesterday was Halloween and that Lucy went trick-or-treating for the 1st time at the age of 2 because she can't really eat all types of candy yet so I get to help her out! (Since that was really about yesterday, I'll do another for today.) I'm thankful that I get to stay home and teach my crazy Goose because we have so much fun and it's way better than teaching other people's kids. (Not that I'm not thankful for the time I had doing that; this is just more fun.)

Nov.2: I'm thankful for CVS because I saved $19 today, only spent $3.39, and got toilet paper for $.20.

Nov. 3: I'm thankful for cleaning out my wallet and checking the balances on all of our gift cards to find that we have $7.45 at Target, $6.36 at Dunkin Donuts, $6.85 at Moes, $50 at Victoria's Secret, $8.53 at Cracker Barrel, and $4.83 at Starbucks to spend! What a great day!!! (I'm also thankful for the many family and friends who gave us the gift cards.)

Potty Break

Yes, some of you are thinking, "Oh, thank goodness she's taking a break from all of the preschool madness" and while that is true, this post may be somewhat of a "stinker" as well.

Let me just say that having a potty trained 2 year old is FRUSTRATING!!! First there's the constant need to go. Lucy drinks a lot. Like 3 cups of juice (1/4 juice, 3/4 water) or milk within the 1st hour of being awake a lot. So after her 2nd cup, the trips to the potty begin. Every 20 minutes. Every. Single. Morning. Your thinking, "Limit the amount that the kid drinks and get over it, lady" but Lucy comes from a long line of heavy drinkers and she really is thirsty so I feel like that would just be neglect and I can't just deprive the kid of liquids now can I?!

Of course, when your kid goes every 20 minutes, you have to plan your trips strategically. We used to have this great ritual of me saying, "Lucy, we're leaving in just a few minutes. Do you need to go potty?" and to which she says, "No, I not need to go." Followed by me saying, "lets try" and a huge meltdown because I carried her to the potty, wrestled with her to get her pants down, forced her to sit on the potty kicking and screaming just for her to sit there and not go. Then I say, "Ok, it's going to be a little while until we get there so if you need to go you're going to have wet pants." Then I gather our stuff, get her past the bushes, pine straw, flowers, and butterflies (she likes to bring nature on her journeys), and buckle her in her seat. Then I get myself buckled, sunglasses in place, Bob and Larry on the radio, get out of the driveway and she says, "I need to go potty, Mommy." Ugh!!! Is there anything more frustrating?!

We have gotten past the meltdowns and now she will generally go before we leave without much of a fuss. Instead she now has an obsession with public bathrooms. Gas station bathrooms to be specific. Some you may know that I have a fear of public bathrooms. Bad things happen in there. And gas stations are the worst. We have actually gone to a gas station bathroom (the outside kind) where the lights didn't work. Yes, try getting a 2 year on the potty without touching anything in complete and total pitch-black dark. And she thinks this is fun. She has even said when I've asked if she needed to go before leaving the house, "I go in gas station potty." Really??? She has to get this little pleasure from her daddy.

Because I have a blog and I can write anything I want, and since we're on the subject of public bathrooms, I thought I would share some public potty etiquette.

Rule: It is not ok to share with your fellow public potty uses what you are currently doing in the potty. We DO NOT want to know!

Here's a story for you.

We stop at yet another gas station potty (we live in a small town about 40 miles from our families and there are only gas stations) and Lucy is jabbering away as usual because, you know, she never stops, and the lady in the stall next to us says, "Do you have to go potty?" (Well hello lady. We are in a bathroom and it's certainly not by choice.) Lucy, being the happy little clam that she is, says "Uh-huh. You have to go potty too?" Lady: "Yes. I'm trying to pass some kidney stones. I just passed one 30 minutes ago and I've got 2 more to go. It's like having a baby." Me: (In my head) "Oh my goodness. Is she really saying this? Hurry Lucy, hurry. Must. Get. Out." Lucy: "You're having a baby in there? What's her name?" This conversation went on but it's kind of a blur because I was really focused on getting out of there.

In summary, my kid potty's a lot, public potties=gross, kidney stones AHHHHHHH!!!

C is for CANDY!!!

I do believe this is and will always be my very favorite week. I mean seriously, cookies, candy, chocolate, cooking, etc., etc., what is not to love?! I was somewhat apprehensive to do a candy theme with a 2 year old who receives limited sugar but then I read in a magazine that sugar doesn't actually cause a child to be hyper. It's generally the situation that increases the kid's energy level (think birthday party) so I thought, why not? (Yes, I do believe everything I read in magazines. What, it's not like it's TV and it's research based, right???)

Where was I going with this??? Ahhhh, yes... candy. So our theme was candy. Our book of the week was Chocolatina by Erik Kraft.

This is a very fun book about a little girl who loves chocolate so much that she wishes she could turn into chocolate but, when it actually happens, turns out she doesn't like it so much. You know, being stiff and melting in the sun and all isn't so great, not to mention that her classmates and health teacher want to eat her. Anyway, Lucy really likes this book and even though it makes the "ch" sound instead of the /k/ sound, it starts with a "C" so I chose to focus on that.

Our verse for the week was "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Psalm 34:8.

We started the week with some yummy chocolate chip muffins. (Thanks Martha White!)

We also had delicious candy cookies for dessert.

We went to Will's house to bake "Cookies for Kairos". Our goal is to do 1 ministry project each month. We are finding this very easy to do because our church does 1 "Be The Church" project each month and they are "coincidentally" corresponding to our themes. This project was a prison ministry where families bake cookies for prisoners, pray over them, deliver them to the church, and the church delivers them to prisoners to let them know that God loves them and through him they can find forgiveness.

To say Lucy and will had fun is a huge understatement. These 2 made a huge mess and taste-tested their way to make 4 dozen White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. They also put on a little concert for us while the cookies were baking...

Lucy practiced cutting,

coloring,

played Candy Land,

and cooked crayons.

Directions: Heat oven to 250 degrees. Break your crayons into small enough pieces to fit into your cupcake pan. We used crayons that were already broken because Lucy refuses to use them anyway. Line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners. (You can find many ways to do this online, including using cookie cutters or mini bread pans or silicone pans. I wasn't willing to risk loosing my cookie cutters and I didn't have the other options so I used cupcake liners.) Put like colors together in the cupcake liners then pop in the oven. I checked mine every 5 minutes until all lumps were gone. I tried stirring them but the wax just sticks to the spoon so I wouldn't recommend that. When they are sufficiently melted, put them in the fridge to harden, about 15 to 20 minutes. Then peel the paper off. (It comes off very easily.)

While our crayons were hardening, Lucy made a cereal necklace.

(She was very quick to tell me that you aren't supposed to play with your food.)

We ended the week with a bang by meeting Will at a candy store. The kids had a blast, as did the parents!

(It actually did rain that day, hence the rain boots.)

After the candy store, we enjoyed lunch at Chick-Fil-A.

"Look, we found a "C"!"

We all had another great week of preschool. I do think this will be the sweetest week ever!

B is for Bear

So it's been FOREVER since I've posted our preschool fun (so much for that weekly post, right?). We've just been so busy learning there hasn't been time for the blog. Since I'm so far behind, you may see lots of preschool posts in the next few weeks (if I can get myself together), so sorry to those who could care less about Lucy's preschool adventures.

Our book of the week was Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See?

Lucy loves this book and can "read" it by herself!

Our weekly verse was, "God's tests will never be more than you can Bear." 1 Corinthians 10:13.

We were still in Columbia when "B Week" Began so we met Lucy's Best friend Will at RiverBanks Zoo Bright and early Monday morning to see the

Bears,

Bats,

Bunnies, and

Birds.

Lucy and Will went home for some quick naps then we met at Teddy Mountain so they could Build their own Bears.

That thought Back-fired when Lucy decided on a unicorn and Will chose a tiger, but they had a Blast nonetheless.

I made Beary-yummy pancakes for breakfast the next morning.

(This also Back-fired as Lucy now wants all of her pancakes to look like Bears. Since her pancakes are usually made by Aunt Jemima and come from a box in the freezer, that's not possible.)

We went through our usual morning routine on Tuesday. Lucy created her B page for her alphabet book,

and practiced following directions and identifying body parts by playing the teddy Bear Boo-Boo game.

I used to play this game with my preschool speech kids and it is always a favorite. Get a Bear (or in Lucy's case, unicorn) and some Band aides. Then tell the child where Bear (unicorn) has a Boo-Boo and tell them to put a Band aide there. For example, Unicorn hurt her neck. Put a Band aide on Unicorn's neck.

Tuesday is dance day so we talked about how B is for Ballerina.

Please excuse the strange face. Lucy went through a weird smile phase. Glad that's over!

On Thursday, some friends joined Lucy for preschool so their mom could unpack and organize their new house. We enjoyed Pear Bear Muffins for Breakfast.

My pears had gone bad so mine are decorated a little differently than in the recipe, but the kids enjoyed them anyway.

The kids made Bird feeders by putting peanut butter on a pine cone and rolling it in bird seed.

Then Lucy and Caleb searched for Buried treasure in the sandbox.

Everyone had a fun week and I'm finding that our mornings go better on the days we have preschool. Lucy asks to play preschool almost daily and is always excited about the fun activities.

A is for Apple (Pruitt Preschool)

We had a bit of a slow start to our preschool days. Lucy had a new cousin who was supposed to make her debut on our 1st day of preschool so Lucy spent the day with her Memaw while I spent the day with my nephew. Kylie decided to take her sweet time so we only got one day of preschool in our first week. We didn't mind one bit because we got to spend some time with our newest and cutest family member.

We started with our "morning meeting" (at 6pm). Our book of the week was:

Our weekly verse was "Keep God as the apple of your eye" Psalm 17:8. (I know Lucy is waaaayyyy too young for idioms, but the whole point is to fill that little mind with scripture starting now while she's very young so, mission accomplished.)

Next we painted with apple stamps.

The painting was used to make Lucy's "A" page for her alphabet book.

For snack, we made applesauce using this recipe without the sugar.

Putting in the apples

Mashing them up

1 and a half thumbs up

Next she searched for "A's" that I hid around the living room. This is now her favorite game. She found a "C" (I'm a few weeks behind on my posts) on her carseat today and got very excited.

Then we did some table work. I used some activities and printables from this site.

Same vs. Different

Saturday was Lucy's Memaw's birthday so we made a homemade apple pie just for Memaw.

Lucy thought the apple pie was delicious!

Lucy had a great time and now says, "Mommy, want to play preschool with me?". I'd say we're off to a great start!