It's Sunday. Beautiful Sunday.

What is there not to love about Sundays. It is a day filled with family and no school. A day to rest. A day to spend time enjoying each other around the house. Today our Sunday consisted of a wonderful church service where Brooklyn and I were both encouraged to serve others. She made a get well card for a friend and I sang my heart out like I always do at church. After church Brooklyn was rewarded with attending service for the last seven weeks by herself like a big girl. She was able to go to the store and pick out something that she wanted. So she picked out Princess Jasmine and Princess Sleeping Beauty. She painted today which she just loves to do and went outside after nap for some bubble blowing, mud puddle jumping and chalk drawing. We visited the new pony of Tony's and peeled hard boiled eggs for supper. When supper was over we went to return a movie, showered for school tomorrow, played hide and seek(which by the way she is getting good at) and tucked in for storytime. Tonight's stories consisted of A Surprise Garden for Pooh and friends, Eric Carle's Tiny Seed, A Pony for a Princess, Adventures of Walter the Duck, and The Story of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I love Sundays. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have Bud home instead of on his way to San Diego.

A busy little girl

Since Faith has turned three she has been going nonstop
...School party on Thursday and then party at home
...princess party with her two friends from school
...balloon games
...riding her new bike, only to have it broken the same day by daddy riding it
...princess stories out the wazoo
...trip to the park
...new bike again
...new helmet (calls it her space helmet) and even wears it in her carseat.
...trail walks to see the Spring arrivals
...merry go round ride at the mall
...shopping for a new swimsuit, shoes, and sandals
...and yes still had to make time for our naps.
As we try to enjoy the nice weather that is arriving, I am looking forward to having more time to spend with Faith this summer and Spring evenings for outdoor activities.

Happy Birthday!

Last day as a two year old

So how did Faith spend her last day as a two year old? Well she started the day off in Grace's old cowgirl boots before she was even out of her pajamas. Stomp stomp she came walking down the hall. Faith, go get dressed before you put on your boots. These boots are her favorite. They are three sizes too big but she wears them everywhere, even to school. I made a word match for my kids at school today and of course she wanted to do it. So I called out the word and she found it on the paper. She did great at sounding simple stuff out. We watched Mickey Mouse and then headed off to feed the horses some carrots before we left for school. Her paper said she learned how to count to seven at school. I asked her teacher if she was serious. Faith counts past thirty and by tens. Please. She enjoyed running outside and playing with her glow stress ball with her friends and I. She was seen by herself most of the afternoon as she fluttered around like a fairy on the playground. Ms Jo Jo chased her around the playground and Faith hid behind the trashcan. Her and her friend played kitties too. I picked her up after school and we headed off to church. There she played Hi Ho Cherry O, drew on the white board and played ball some more with the girls. She squealed and enjoyed every last second of her last day as a two year old.

And you may ask, how is mom taking all this? I'm sad. She is growing so fast. As I was talking to her in the car, she asked me if I realized that she was not ready to go to bed. As it is 930pm and she is still not asleep, I say that she is too excited to sleep. Me, I have a boat load of stuff to do before tomorrow. There is just not enough time in the day sometimes. Goodnight Faith. Tomorrow is the start of a new day. A year of being three and a year of lots of changes. As she says, "Mommy I will enjoy being three." She knows she gets to start gymnastics now. I love you so much Faith. Goodnight my little two year old princess.

To pick or not to pick

That is the question. I say pick all you want, not your nose that is. The flowers. They are popping up left and right and I just want to pick them all. Evidently Faith wants to pick them also. How can you enjoy them when they are in the ground. You can't smell them. You can't look at them each morning. So the answer is....let's pick them.

Saturday morning theatre

Faith had the opportunity to go to the children's theatre at the National Theatre Saturday morning. The production was Jack and the Very Green Beanstalk and it was awesome because the children had the opportunity to participate. There were several parts available, anything from the cottage to the fireplace to the beanstalk and gold keeper. Each child was dressed up in their costume, sat on the stage and waited until their turn. Catriona, the fairy godmother, told the story and as each child's part came, she helped them come forward, whispered their part and then they stated it. Faith's was, "I am a little cloud in the sky." She was so cute and enjoyed dressing up. She had her picture take with Catriona and was given a sticker and coloring page to take home. Every Saturday is free children's theatre. In a few weeks, Thumbelina is being told. Maybe we can go back.

That girl is FUNNY!

I asked Faith, when did you get so funny? She says, "I got that from my Andma." Faith, when did you learn to sing? "I got that from my Pa Pa." Faith when did you get so smart? "I got that from my daddy." She is just a riot to be around. I have never found myself laughing as hard as I do with her. Yesterday in the car we were talking about the fact that she was silly. She decided to make up a song to go with it. "You're a silly goose. You're a silly goose. No way no way, Jose. Now you've heard my silly goose song, next time won't you sing with me." Her song flowed so nicely together. She's been reading this Nemo book from Andma. Nemo asks Marlin outrageous questions like why are we clownfish when we aren't funny. Faith was sitting on the toilet and asks me, "Mommy, why are we humans?" In the car we have lots of nice conversations about anything and everything. The conversation yesterday involved 5 Little Monkeys. We were singing this song about them jumping on the bed and finished it. Then she said, "mommy sing the standard one." What? The standard one? What is that? Did you just say, standard one. You know mommy, the standard one where they are standing on the bed. Ok, Faith, I've never heard of it that way. My belly hurts from her most of the time. That girl is so funny.

A thank you

This is a thank you for all the wonderful books that everyone gives to Faith. I don't know how many hours are spent in her bed, on the couch, in the car, or in the recliner enjoying a story or sharing information, but it makes her life so interesting. Tonight, the choice of book is the Scholastic First Dictionary. Thank God for this book as I am a terrible person of definition. There is so much to learn and talk about in day to day activities as we read. She enjoys them and we also enjoy what they bring to our lives. Anyone who knows Faith knows that she loves stories.

Spring ahead

I can't believe it is 75 degrees today as well as it yesterday. What a weird Winter. It is still Winter you know. Yesterday was a wonderful day. With the warm weather comes spring flowers to plant. We headed to Lowes to pick out some yellow daffodils and purple hyacinths. Sorry mom, I'll just have to email you hyacinths this year. We also played at the park, went on a walking trail, saw the first bluejay of Spring, made a pretend castle where Sleeping Beauty (Faith) lay asleep waiting for her Prince Charming, a trip to Target to pick out the stuff for her goody bags for her birthday party for her friends. That was just the morning. After a short nap, we headed back outside to plant our flowers and wash the vehicles. Faith was a good cleaner. She loves scrubbing with soap. Her stepstool came out cleaner than the truck as she must have washed it and dried it 10 times. As if this wasn't enough for a days work, we had been invited over to a friend's house from church for dinner. There was one other family there. All of us had children similar in age. We ate Greek food and got stuffed. My oh my, what a busy fun day. What will today bring? No telling....

I can read!!

Since Faith has learned her letter sounds 99% of the way she can recognize words when placed in front of her. We played a game on Starfall.com where she was given four letters to choose from. Then she was given a picture as a word with the last two letters given. The object of the game....fill in the first letter of the word correctly to give a new word. (ex. hen, pen, ten, log, frog, fog, dog) She did great. Then as the week of Dr. Seuss draws to a close she picked her favorite book last night to read, Hop on Pop. Although we didn't read it at all this week, she managed to pick out words correctly when given a few choices. (Ex. given four choices, which one is the word sat...pat, sat, hat, cat) She is learning to look at the first letter and read the sound it makes, with help of course. She says she wants to be able to read to baby T when he arrives. Maybe Hop on Pop will be his first book he hears.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Three cheers for snow. Nothing like waiting until March to enjoy some snow with Faith. After the last two days I came to the realization that she loves snow. It doesn't make a difference if is 25 degrees out and windy. I guess I remember being a kid too and going out in the snow. Except, we had to wait until it was in the teen degrees. Yesterday she jumped, ran, and fell into the snow. Her sweet giggles could be heard from across the yard. Today, after a few more inches of snow, we stopped by the park. The other children were sledding but she was content with rolling down the hills. After she became dizzy from rolling she took a break to slide down the tunnel slide. She went so fast from being wet that I had to catch her before she crashed to the ground. She laughed, screamed, and completely ignored the fact that I was even around. I would call her and she just kept playing. When it was time to go she gladly left. She was cold but not cold enough to stop playing on her own. We had fun and definitely enjoyed our day away from school. What better way to finish the day off with then homemade snow ice cream. Yum Yum!