Mom, I love you and miss you everyday.

Say cheese (or rather cake)

Well, this is what happens when you let Andrew eat cake by himself. Abby and I made a cake a while back. It was a pink strawberry cake with chocolate frosting and Andrew seems to be wearing all of it, luckily it was bath and laundry night. Notice that there is not a crumb of cake on the fork.

You did what?!?

Let me set the scene. Saturday morning, I was at Target, Marty was working in the garage (with the door open) and the kids were playing nicely upstairs. Marty goes in to check on them and Abby says “Aren’t you glad I changed Andrew’s dirty diaper” Well; they are all the time playing baby and mommy so Marty didn’t think much about it. He said “Oh are y’all playing pretend” Abby then goes on to tell Marty that it wasn’t pretend, Andrew had a dirty diaper and instead of coming to get Marty, she changed it her self. Oh my!! Marty went to investigate the site, not knowing what he was going to find (probably scared to see what he was going to find) To his surprise, she did a pretty good job (she was so proud of herself) She did use about 20 wipes but Andrew’s hiney was spotless. The new diaper was on a little crooked but it was on the correct way. The dirty diaper was put in the diaper champ and the changing pad was on the floor. She even got his jammies back on. We told her thank you for helping us and Andrew out but let’s leave the dirty diaper changing to mommy and daddy. So, now it’s Sunday. Marty and I are downstairs and the kids are once again playing upstairs. I call the kids to come get ready for church and Abby tells me that Andrew had a wet diaper, so she changed it, again a little crooked but it was on. I had just changed his diaper 30 minute before, yes he might have already wet, but at that rate we would be broke from having to buy so many diapers. I elaborate a little more and tell her to leave all the diaper changing to us. She is very hurt and asks if we can take turns, we’ll see honey!

Plan C

There is no Plan C, but that’s OK because we don’t need a Plan C. We found out when we got back home yesterday that Abby has been accepted to Donelson Christian Academy. A huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders. We knew this was where Abby needed to be and we are so thankful that the admissions board saw what an asset Abby will be to their program.
Oh no, my baby is going to be in Kindergarten. How did that happen? Up until now, I have been stressing as to where she was going to go not that she is actually going to go. She is going to be a whole hand old in August and is going to real school, oh my baby. At least I am very happy about DCA and have full confidence that they will be everything and more that Abby needs, but she’s my baby!!

Consignment Sales

Consignment season is upon us and I love it. I absolutely love a good consignment sale. I went to one on Wednesday at DCA and found a few things for both the kids. But Marty put me to shame. He did something most men wouldn’t do in a million years; he shopped a consignment sale for me. Not only did he shop it, but he did awesome. Anyone that knows me, knows that I LOVE Gymboree. He racked up on Gymboree items. Things for both kids; many still with tags on. He bought Gymboree, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, shirts, shorts, shoes, you name it. He said at first he felt a little out of place (since he was the only male in sight) but after a few comments from other shoppers he felt at ease. Have I told you I’m married to the most awesome man? Thanks Marty for being such a great daddy; who just happens to have great taste in kids clothing.

Abby's bedtime prayer

Along with the various songs and stories that go along with our bedtime routine, Abby also says her prayers. I will have to paraphrase (although I’m pretty spot on) but you get the point.

“Thank you God for everything you give us; family, friends, food. Especially thank you for houses. If we didn’t have a house we would have to have a campout in a tent in the backyard. We would just have to cook food and roast marshmallows. We could play frisbee and sleep outside. Oh and thank you for all the dead people. Amen.”

What a random prayer I know. She always starts off really good and then she goes off on a major tangent. We have stuck with the campout prayer for a while now and she always thanks God for the dead people?!? I have no idea where that came from. To me it sounds like she would prefer to sleep in a tent, maybe we will have to go camping in the backyard when it gets warmer. Gotta love having a fenced in backyard.

When he gets it, he really gets it

Warning: Brag ahead

I guess I should just learn this about Andrew. When he gets something, he really gets it. He might do things later, but there is no learning period with him because once he figures out he can do it, he’s off. Just like when he started walking. Marty called me on my way home from work to tell me that Andrew had stood up on his own. Once I got home he was taking a few steps, by the time we put him to bed that night (2 hours later) he was walking down the hall to get his jammies on. He went from not walking at all to walking everywhere in just a matter of a few hours.
The same goes for talking. Marty asked me yesterday (he’s been gone for 3 days) when did Andrew start talking? Just a week or so ago I was telling my sister that I was getting concerned because Andrew wasn’t putting words together. I guess he heard and wanted to prove me wrong because he has really started putting words together. He told me “Andrew blankie kitchen” yesterday when I asked him where it was. He’s getting it!! I think he absorbs it all in until he’s ready to master it and then he will show us what he can do.

Guess who?

Can you guess who they are? The other day Abby came into the kitchen to get Marty and tell him something "important" This is what he saw when he went into the living room, that's right we have our very own manger. Abby was being Mary and she had Andrew playing the part of Baby Jesus. Can you tell we are at church a lot?!? Just had to share.

Yes, my kids often run around without clothes on in the middle of winter.

Our update

Wow, what a week and weekend. We have been fighting the family cold and Marty and I seem to have gotten it the worst. Better us than the kids though. I hate going to the doctor (but have no problems taking the kids for every small problem) and avoid it at all cost. We finally had to break down and go to the doctor yesterday, we had finally had enough. Marty and I both went and took the kids with us. The nurse starts talking to the kids asking them what was wrong and what hurts. Then she realized that we weren’t there (it’s a family practice that see kids too, just not our kids) for the kids, it was for us; the parents. It was pretty funny. I think Marty and I have every possible itis of the head and throat, everything seems to be inflamed. Marty and I both got a prescription and I was the lucky one who got a shot. Abby was not pleased in the least that they were giving me a shot. She was so cute; she held my hand and gave me one of her yogurt covered raisins for not crying. When we got home I also got a Dora sticker.
On a happier note, we think Abby did really good on her testing for DCA. We don’t know for sure, but everything is pointing to her doing well. She happily went back to the classroom with the teacher and seemed in really good spirits when she returned. From what we can tell, she had to write her name, the number 4 and 5, draw a circle and square, name some animals (one of the animals she named was a chipmunk, what does she know about a chipmunk?) and who knows what else. Now we are just waiting to see what happens. I have a really good feeling this time though.

One down one to go

Well, Marty and I had our interview with DCA this morning and I think we might have passed. WOOHOO!! Now it’s all up to Abby. She goes in on for “testing” Saturday morning. I say “testing” because for her it will seem more like playing, and I want to keep it that way. She will build with blocks, draw shapes, write her name, etc. We are trying to keep this fun for her.
The interview really wasn’t bad at all. It was more for us to get to know the school a little more intimately and be able to ask questions. We did learn that there are more applicants than spots available though, so here we go again. Please say a prayer that Abby gets in because this was our Plan B, there is no Plan C. The admission committee will look at the test results, the parent interview and the referral letter. Abby’s referral letter was amazing; Ms. Gayle (Abby’s current teacher) let us see it even though it was supposed to be confidential. She gave Abby a great review, Abby even got the well rounded compliment that Andrew got a few weeks ago. I feel a little more confident about this admissions process because Abby will be a part of the deciding factor. She is not just a computer generated number picked randomly. Besides, who couldn’t love Abby and not want her in their school. We should know something by the second or third week of March. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers; we want this so much for Abby.