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Today was Avery's class Easter Party/Egg Hunt and let me tell ya, she was e.x.c.i.t.e.d. I wasn't able to take the entire morning off and drive, but I was able to take enough time off to meet all the 3rd grade classes at Lagoon Park for the party. Four classes of 8/9 year olds is a LOT of kids and they had a LOT of fun!!
While the kids ran wild and played a for a while, the parents hid all of the eggs. Then it was on! You would think those kids had never seen eggs before. They were each allowed to get 12 eggs total and the rule was - you touch it, it's yours. Here is Avery's stash of eggs - obviously her basket is a bit big as those eggs look pretty pitiful in there!
The party rounded out by the kids playing some more, having pizza for lunch and dessert.
Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without Avery making everyone laugh...
The party was wrapping up, so I headed back to work.
When I picked Avery up from school this afternoon, she was thrilled to tell me that she was selected for the Youth Chorus for Footloose! Their first rehearsal is tomorrow from 3:00 - 4:30 and then every Tuesday and Thursday for the same times. Whew, April is gonna be a busy month!
Avery was also ecstatic to bring home an entire pizza that was leftover from the party. Mrs. Stanley decided to take everyone who hasn't had their clip moved this week and place their name in a drawing to win a pizza. Avery was one of the lucky winners. To say she was happy would be a COMPLETE understatement! In her words:
- I've never won anything before!
- I haven't had my clip moved all year!
- Can you believe I won?!?
Seriously, I don't think excited describes it! Just take a look at her pizza for a bit of proof.
This was to ensure that it wasn't disturbed while at school :) Did you notice the spelling of touch? So cute!
We were planning to attend church tonight and our Small Group was going to tour the life size replica of the Tabernacle that our church as recreated. However, as I was leaving work I received a call from my mother-in-law letting me know that she had fallen down the stairs at work.
This is the second time in two years (also right before Easter) that she has fallen down the stairs at work. Two years ago her fall ended with a broken knee cap - split right in half straight down the middle! Today's fall ended with a whole lot of bumps, bruises, scrapes, sores, and a broken nose. Needless to say, we went to visit and check on her tonight instead of going to church.
Avery wanted to stop and pick her NaNa up a card. While we were there she found that little bunny that she had to have for her too :)
Avery still has that blasted rash - it's really more like welts. I've used several different creams and I've even pulled out the Zyrtec, but nothing seems to do the trick. Nope, NOT trying Benadryl. You know how some kids become hyper on that stuff? Well, Avery is one of 'em!! I'm just trying to keep her as comfortable as possible and keep them from getting any worse.
Today was finally the day for Avery to tryout for the Spring Musical, Footloose.
This is a performance put on by the High School and they have a youth chorus that opens each show. She tried out last year and performed for their play, Anything Goes and had a wonderful time. For this year's audition, Avery sang Jesus Loves Me and performed a short dance routine they taught her during the audition. She finds out tomorrow if she was selected.
However, Avery also learned an important life lesson today. When we got in the car after auditions, she told me that she told "the lady" that she wasn't coming back to Saint James next year while she was walking her down the stairs. Seriously?!? We've told Avery DAILY that she can't talk about this to anyone until we give her the OK. We still have to line up summer care and we don't want it to be held against her at school either. I mean, there are only 24 spots available. If they have 35 kids audition, are they really gonna take a kid who's parents aren't giving money (via tuition) to the school next year?
That's basically how straight forward I was with her too. Usually I try to "soften the blow" and "sugar coat" things, but not with this. I reminder her that we specifically told her that she was not to tell anyone and proceeded to explain to her why she might very well not get selected for the chorus. Do you know what she asked me? Well, why didn't you tell me exactly why I couldn't say anything? Really?!? From there I went into the fact that it doesn't matter - we TOLD you not to talk about it to anyone and you disobeyed us.
Was she crushed? Absolutely.
Did she cry? Yep, a LOT.
Did she learn an invaluable lesson? Most definitely.
Do I think she'll be selected? I have NO idea!
Needless to say, Avery was a little off at tonight's practice game. Her hitting was AMAZING though!! The team looked pretty good though and played well. Final score 21-13. Could it be that 21 is our team's lucky score???
Whew, after that whirlwind of a weekend...I seriously needed a slow day today. Luckily, work wasn't too crazy and Avery seems pretty worn out too. Her sunburn has now turned to a lovely rash on her arms that worsens as she gets hot or in the sun. I'm guessing she has a touch of sun poisoning - such a great mom, such a great mom. Obviously she listens to the commercials too because she is so concerned that she will get skin cancer from her sunburn. {sigh} If only she knew how many burns I got as a kid. Heck, I don't even think my parents put sunscreen on us - was there EVEN such a thing? I do remember being told to "put a t-shirt on" over your swimsuit. Yeah, lotta good that did!
Since we had such a beautiful sunshine filled day today, it seemed appropriate to take a photo of our Easter cross.
If you notice, it is draped with a purple cloth which symbolizes repentance. As we get further into the week, I will have additional pictures and detail what the various cloths represent.
We also witnessed a beautiful full moon tonight. This first picture really needs to be cropped a little, but here it is anyway :) That "extra" light in the corner is from the neighbor's house - sorry.
Here is another photo from later in the evening - isn't the glow just magnificent?
We had a wonderful message in church today leading up to Easter Sunday. After church, we headed to Flip's to meet our Small Group (Wednesday night Bible Study) and their families for a quick lunch. It was great to see everyone away from church and meet their kids as well. Avery "had" to take a picture of Princess to show everyone.
Once we got home, Avery immediately headed to her room and quickly emerged in her bathing suit. She wasted no time reminding me that I promised to take her swimming at the YMCA this afternoon. We joined earlier in the week and she has been on pins and needles waiting to go swimming. Luckily they have an awesome heated indoor pool and kids play area complete with two water slides.
Of course, Avery wanted me to put on my swim suit "just in case" there weren't any kids for her to play with. I ended up spending about an hour and a half in the pool with her. We swam around, worked on swimming, and played Marco Polo and "volleyball." I finally managed to work my way out of the pool when a TON of other kids arrived. She had a blast playing and swimming for another hour though and I finally got started reading a book. I can certainly see us spending a lot of time at the Y this summer!
After we got home, Wes decided my truck needed washing and it REALLY did!!! So Avery stayed in her bathing suit and helped Wes wash the truck.
It looks sooo much better! At least it's not suppose to rain for a week and hopefully the pollen won't be too bad. Hey, a girl can dream!
To wrap up another busy day, Avery decided she wanted to work on a painting out in her playhouse.
And with that, another weekend has come to an end. Whew, sometimes I think I need to go back to work just to catch my breath!! Again, I think I will probably pass out the minute my head touches the pillow tonight.
Another Saturday means another trip to WalMart. Guess I shouldn't complain since it has been a few weeks since I've had to make a "full" shopping trip. I think Wes and Avery were ready to disown me if I didn't stock the kitchen with some groceries!
Avery had a practice game at noon today. The morning started off cool and windy, but warmed up nicely to the mid 70's (but the wind stuck around). About halfway through her game, Avery called me over to the dugout to ask if I thought she needed any sunscreen. Of course I replied, "nah." Really should've thought that one through - middle of the day, sleeveless shirt, full sunshine, no sunscreen = really bad thinking! Now, Avery did fail to mention to me that she had sunscreen in her bag! Oh well, you live and learn. Avery's shoulders and face are fried and she's pretty certain (in her words) that "she's never had a sunburn this bad e.v.e.r."
Of course, Avery didn't notice that I also got fried with a beautiful farmer's tan - a wonderful scoop neck and 3/4 length sleeves. Oh, and let's not forget about my flip flops - they leave a BEAUTIFUL tan line!!
We played Sydney's team in the practice game today and not that we were keeping score (we were), but we won 21-12. I think we would have had an even better score, but we didn't actually "play" a game, we batted through the entire line up each inning so that each girl would have 4 at bats. It was a great learning experience for the girls. Many (and I do mean MANY) got their first taste of being hit by a ball - we are playing girl pitch for the first year. The game does seem to drag on a bit though. The way pitching works now - girl pitches until she walks 4 girls in one inning and then the coach pitches the rest of the inning. Needless to say, the girls in the field can get a bit bored and restless.
Anyway, didn't mean to go off quite that detailed.
Sydney came over later in the afternoon and the girls were determined they wanted to go swimming next door. We compromised and I bought a new Slip 'n Slide for them.
They lasted all of FIVE minutes before announcing they were cold and ready to come inside. Notice the lovely expressions on their faces?!? You can also see the beautiful redness of Avery's sunburn quite well in this photo.
I kindly informed them that if they thought this was cold, it wouldn't take much imagination to figure out how cold the pool is. They decided they would suffer through the pain, I mean cold, and play a few more minutes.
Wes grilled out some yummy pork chops for dinner and Sydney stayed until bedtime for what we like to call a "mini sleepover." They get to do everything except spend the night - she ate dinner, took a bath, put on her pj's, watched TV, and then went home right before bed.
A busy and packed day for sure! I'm thinking we'll all sleep good tonight!
Finally rid of that headache AND it's Friday AND we have dinner with friends tonight - woo hoo!!
First of all, Avery got her report card today and made straight A's again - that gives her A's for the entire year to date!! We are super proud of her and she's pretty excited herself!
However, she was not too happy when she realized we would not be going out tonight to celebrate her awesome grades. She actually cried and cried some more and then cried again :(
She went to her NaNa and PaPa's house while Wes and I went out to dinner and they took her to Bruster's to get an ice cream cup which I think softened the blow a little bit. I don't think the $20 bill she came with hurt any either :)
Wes and I had an amazing time at dinner! We met Robbie and Beth, Richard, and Rachel, and Brian and Mollie at LongHorn in Prattville.
The conversation could have lasted all night and the company was wonderful. I have really enjoyed these get togethers and am so glad we all decided to start doing them after our Christmas gathering. It's awesome to see everyone more often and catch up. Otherwise, six months to a year go by before you know it. Life moves fast, so be sure to enjoy it!
No such luck sleeping this headache away - ugh!!
Avery had softball practice at 5:00 tonight and it was cold and windy - again! Is it really spring? Yep, we just live in Alabama where the weather is SO unpredictable until it reaches 90+ degrees with 100% humidity.
The field was still really muddy from all of the rain over the past few weeks.
You would never know these were brand new just a month ago, would ya?
After practice, I treated us to dinner at Moe's (LOVE that place). They are currently running a special - Thank You Thursdays. If you buy two large drinks and a regular entree, you get your second entree free. We were all three able to eat for $15 - woo hoo!!!
Tomorrow is report card day for Avery. We normally let her pick a special place for dinner for a good report card, but we made plans earlier in the week to meet up with some friends for dinner. I don't think she has put two and two together yet, but I'm not thinking it's gonna be pretty! She takes that kinda stuff very serious and personal - uh oh...
Pretty uneventul day.
Avery had spring pictures at school which meant she got to wear "regular clothes." For anyone that has to wear uniforms to school, that is a HUGE deal!!! She debated for quite some time before deciding on this new spring outfit that her NaNa bought for her a few weeks back (during her grumpy shopping spree). She looked super cute too I must add!
Today was actually a pleasant day too. The sun was shining, it was in the upper 60's with hardly any wind. Very nice outside. So nice that Avery decided she wanted to do her homework and studying in her playhouse when we got home from school.
She even made a sign to hang above the doorway.
Lucky Mom got to stand on the steps and help study for her English test tomorrow. At least the weather was beautiful :)
I have been fighting a migraine all week long, so Wes dropped Avery off at church tonight and then headed to work for a few hours. I picked her up after it was over and we came home and both went to bed. Really hoping tomorrow is a better feeling day.
Avery REALLY struggled to get up this morning. I guess I can kinda see the reasoning in some of the thoughts from our softball parents. {sigh} She actually told me that she planned to go to bed tonight at 7:00 and then she thought about it and said maybe 7:30 :) I doubt it will be anywhere near that, but we'll see.
Wes and I "follow" Dave Ramsey's envelope system and cash a budget check twice a month for our envelopes. Well, I was given the check to cash last Wednesday the 17th. Of course, I forgot to cash it between picking Avery up from camp and getting ready for our trip. Did I remember to cash it yesterday? Negative again. So here we are today....
I finally made it to the bank and cashed this blasted check. I guess that means I don't have an excuse to not have food in the house, huh?
Avery forgot that blasted science folder again today!! I had to turn around and go back to school to get it too. Her punishment - no TV for two days. I think she's probably being harder on herself than I was though.
Wes decided there were a few things they "needed" from Academy for softball so he and Avery headed over there tonight. They game home with more than a few things! He bought this hitting stick that really seems to be helping Avery's batting. I just LOVE this picture of her.
Can you see how mad she is? Look at that face! The best part is that right after this, she hit two balls from the back of our house over the neighbor's fence halfway into their yard. I couldn't believe it. Avery was pretty proud of herself too!
I don't know who had a harder time getting up this morning - Wes, Avery, or me! We all made it through the day though, but it sure was tough!
Avery has a Social Studies test tomorrow and of course she left her folder at school with all of her study material in it. By the time she realized this it was too late to return to pick it up. I'm really hoping she studied it hard over the weekend with her NaNa!! She also was suppose to bring home her Science folder to study for a make up test. Negative on that one too....ugh!! Hopefully her teacher will allow her to put off the make up test one more day - she'll find out tomorrow.
Take a look at some of the signs of spring I noticed today. Hopefully this cold snap we've had won't do too much damage. I'm really hoping for some more blooms before Easter.
It was finally a little sunny today - NOT warm though! However, Avery wanted to ride her bike for a few minutes after we got home from school.
She made it around the cul de sac a few times before deciding it was way too cold and wanted to head back inside! I must say that I didn't mind heading back in either - the wind was whipping like crazy and it was COLD. I fixed her some dinner and then we got ready for softball practice. Of course we have practice - it's cold and windy. All we need is some rain for good measure! Luckily, we didn't get any of that!
Practice didn't start until 7:15 tonight - a school night. On top of that, the public schools have testing this week. I didn't think much about it, but obviously it's a big deal to some parents. We had quite a few girls not show up for practice due to testing. Really?? I guess I just don't quite understand that aspect of it. Avery has testing like this. Anyway, just kinda frustrating when we're getting so close to games starting up.
By the time practice wrapped up, we ran a little girl home, got home, Avery bathed, settled down and got to bed she was beyond tired. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep!
As much fun as we had in Savannah, I think we were both ready to come home today. We woke up, showered quickly, packed our bags, and were checked out before 10:00 (eastern time).
It was a yucky, dreary day - very cloudy, overcast, rainy, and cold again. I must say that we timed our trip just right for the perfect weather!
After a quick stop for gas and a drive through lunch, we were home at 2:00 (central time). Luckily, Wes's Mom was kind enough to pack Avery up and bring her back home for us. It sure was nice to not have to head over there and bring all of her stuff back home too!
I got busy washing clothes (yuck) and trying to put the house back together. We all had a nice afternoon and evening together just enjoying our time at home.
Take a look at this sweet picture of Princess curled up next to Avery in bed tonight.
Can you tell in the picture that Princess has her back legs up over her head? It totally cracked me up!!!
I don't know who was happier to be home - Wes and me, Avery and Princess, or NaNa and PaPa's cats (having Princess gone)!!
I sure hope Avery is ready for school tomorrow after her two week break! At least she got all of her make up work completed from the week before Spring Break. Now it's just all the make up tests.
OK, I'll admit...I'm overwhelmed by the number of photos I have from Savannah. Between the pics from the "big" camera and the "small" camera, the days are all mixed up. Plus I need to edit them all too.
The point being, I am going to skip a few days on my blog so that I don't get too far behind on the regular life stuff. Right now I'm a full SEVEN days behind on posting - ack!!!
I'll go back and add the missing Savannah days when I get time to edit, promise :)
Happy 10th Anniversary!!!!
Wes and I woke up early this morning (4:30) to finish packing and head for Savannah. We pulled out of the driveway at 6:00 on the nose. Considering Wes wanted to leave between 5:30 and 6:00, I feel we were successful - he would probably disagree :)
We plugged the hotel's address into the GPS and headed on our way. Imagine our surprise when we were "told" to turn off in Opelika. Did we question where we were heading? Nah...not until we were in the middle of nowhere Georgia. Turns out, we took the "quickest route" that cut out Atlanta and Macon and we ended up hitting I-16 a little West of Dublin, GA. Considering we made it to Savannah in a little over 5 hours, I'm NOT complaining! Everyone told us it would be a 6 hour trip, so yippee!!
We arrived at our hotel, Mansion on Forsyth Park, and luckily our room was ready early so we checked in.
The room was simply amazing! We had a view of the park, but were also directly over the front entrance/valet parking which we would come to find out later could get kind pretty loud. That bay window directly over the double arches (on the second floor) was our room.
After getting settled, we decided to head down to the riverfront area and just check out the area. Turns out, we were at the FAR end of the historic district away from everything, but it was still great. We walked and explored many of the squares along the way there and back - stopping at each one to read about it's history and significance.
Once we made it down to the river, we walked along River Street and checked out all of the shops and restaurants. We also stopped at Colonial Park, the city cemetery from the mid 1700's to mid 1800's. It was there that my camera finally decided to stop working. I didn't mention that it fell during our snow storm back on 02/12. It seemed to still be working pretty well so I was hoping that it would be OK, but deep down I knew that wasn't the case. Looks like it will be point and shoot for the rest of our trip (unless you can use a 75-300 lense!!).
Today was a pretty cool day - high 50's/low, low 60's and windy. Tomorrow should be a lot warmer - in the mid 70's. It's a mile one each way from our hotel straight to the riverfront area, so the cool weather wasn't too bad today. I know we will get lots more walking in the rest of the weekend too.
We had a wonderful day with LOTS of walking and can't wait to get a full day to explore tomorrow! Thanks for an amazing anniversary sweetie!!!
I picked Avery up from church this afternoon after returning from Camp Chandler - she had an awesome time!
While she was away, Wes and I talked about school for the upcoming year and finally made our decision - Avery would be going to Forest Avenue for 4th grade next year. Of course, Avery didn't know this yet. So, I decided I would let her know this afternoon.
On the way to my office (after leaving church) we took a slight detour. I pulled into the parking lot at Forest Avenue while Avery was just chatting away and asked her if she knew where we were. She looked around and figured it out, but still didn't know why we were there.
I proceeded to tell her about how the younger kids were over in the newer area of the school and she would be in this older part. She said OK and kept on talking.
I said it again. Once again she said OK and continued her conversation. Finally I asked her if she knew what that meant. I actually had to TELL her that it meant we decided she could go to Forest Avenue next year. This was her response along with some very loud screaming.
Can you tell she is excited?!? I hope it continues once her tutoring this summer gets started and the school year starts.
Avery went to work with me for a few hours this afternoon and then we headed home. I threw all of her clothes in the wash and started repacking her suitcase for her stay with NaNa and PaPa while Wes and I are in Savannah.
I also got Avery ready for softball practice. It's still crazy cold and windy - yuck! Maybe one day it will warm up and actually feel like spring. Of course that probably won't happen until after Easter!
I stayed home and took a sandwich tray across the street to our elderly neighbor - her husband (91 yrs old) passed away Monday night. I also had to take our house key around the corner to our neighbor whose daughter will be taking care of the dogs while we are gone. It's so much easier than boarding them and lets her earn some extra money too.
By this time, Wes and Avery were home from softball. Avery and I finished getting her bags packed and we headed over to Wes's parents house. I finally got back home at 9:00 and of course didn't have one single thing of mine packed yet! Good thing I pack quickly AND light. Recall my mention of how Wes packs? Take a quick look at the suitcases for our trip.
Most people would imagine the woman would be the one with two bags. Nope, not at our house! My suitcase is actually the small one on the left. It may look large in the photo, but it's actually just tall and pretty narrow (actually fits as a carry-on for flying). The other two (duffel and folding hanging bag) are both for Wes! I'll be truthful - I do have two small toiletry bags that Wes placed in his duffel bag, but still....it cracks me up. It's always been this way though and probably always will.
I can't wait to wake up tomorrow and head for Savannah!! This time 10 years ago...Wes and I wrapped up our wedding rehearsal and dinner (complete with a stop at Mickey D's for my before dinner meal) and I was wide awake thinking about our wedding the next day. Didn't sleep much then and don't sleep much more than that now :)
It sure has been quiet with Avery away at camp! I can tell you that Princess misses her too. She just looks around for her and eventually settles for curling up with me or Wes. I'm sure she will be ready for Avery to come home tomorrow afternoon!
Wes asked me the other day what I wanted for our anniversary and I told him that I would love a gift certificate for a pedicure. He told me that I had two of them in "the drawer" (which is our coupon and gift certificate drawer). Wow, I just LOVE "found" stuff!!
So, of course I had to call and schedule an appointment! I was super excited to get an appointment for today - just in time for our anniversary trip to Savannah. There is nothing like a little pampering. And the best part? There was no foreign language spoken at all during my spa visit today :)
I need to get started packing, but truthfully I'm not a big "pack in advancer." Don't get me wrong. I don't put it off, but I don't start way in advance either. That could be because I don't pack all that much unlike my dear husband :) Seriously, I can guarantee you that he will have double the amount of luggage for this trip that I have. I will have a photo for proof. Promise.
I planned to let Avery sleep a little later this morning, but accidentally woke her up - woops. I was trying to let Princess out of her room to play and it backfired on me. Oh well...
You would think that extra time would mean more time to make sure her suitcase is packed, but nah. Why do that when you can watch TV and have Mom do it for you? I finally turned the TV off and got her in gear, but she is just not the best at getting her things together. We packed a good bit last night though.
However, on the way to church Avery realized that she forgot her sleep mask. That may not seem like a big deal, but she does NOT sleep without it. Well, until now.
She seriously had a meltdown in the car. I finally had enough and told her to suck it up, stop crying, dry her tears, and get over it. We were a few blocks from church and she would look silly walking in there crying over something like that. Guess what? She said, "yes ma'am" and did it. I felt a wee bit bad, but it was ridiculous.
Here's my sweet girl (all over her earlier problem) packed and ready to go.
I know she will have an amazing time! She called me once they arrived at camp and again after they ate dinner tonight - she's loving it all!!!
Wow, that loss of an hour's sleep really made it tough to get up this morning. We actually had to wake Avery up which NEVER happens.
We headed out for church at St. James and arrived only to find out that there was not anyone there for our Sunday School class. Wes and I decided that we would just head across town to Eastern Hills for Sunday School. That would let us stop by and visit Mama Bill and Papa John afterwards and maybe even got to lunch with his parents after that. Luckily, we were able to do all three! After our visit with Wes's grandparents, we headed to Wings with his parents. The food was yummy as always and the company even better.
After we got home, Avery started working on her school work. She spent about 2 1/2 hours, but still has quite a bit left to finish up.
We decided to spend the afternoon together as family time. We headed up to the park to fly Avery's butterfly kite and play ball.
It was a perfect day to fly the kite - it was SO windy, but also pretty cold again. Is it ever going to warm up? I really thought it was suppose to be spring?!?
We got home, ate some dinner, and started packing Avery's bag for Camp Chandler tomorrow. She is not the best packer in the world - she gets sidetracked SO easily :) We got most things put together with the exception of the items she uses overnight or in the morning.
Let me tell ya, it's gonna be a quiet house with my sweet Angel Bug gone for two nights.
Ah, it's Saturday.
But then again...argh, it's Saturday which means cleaning which means :( for me. I got up this morning and got a move on to get as much done as I could. Wes decided to go into work for a few hours to play catch up from being out with Avery for three days this week.
I got to a stopping point in my morning cleaning just in time to make a quick stop at the bank before they closed at noon. I had this travel reimbursement check from my trip to Birmingham last month that I wanted to get cashed.
I had to take a photo of it for one reason. That signature you see at the bottom...it's my Dad! He was promoted to Comptroller for the State of Alabama back at the beginning of January and I could not be any more proud of him. He has worked so hard his entire career and this is just an awesome accomplishment!! Anyway, do you know how strange it is to see a check like that with your Dad's signature on it?!? At least my payroll check is direct deposit - imagine having his signature on that one!!!
Anywho, after the bank stop we headed over to WalMart to pick up several items for Wes plus some things Avery needed for camp this next week. On the way out, we stopped at the RedBox and I rented The Taking of Pelham 123. I really didn't know if we would stay up to watch the entire thing, but figured it would be worth a shot.
We left WalMart and stopped by to pick up Avery's friend, Gabrielle. She came to play for the afternoon before softball practice. They had a great time riding bikes and playing out in the freezing cold and wind. I worked to finish cleaning the house while they were playing.
I checked on them and noticed they were in the backyard playing near the drainage area (having lots of fun), finished my cleaning, and finally took a seat for a few minutes. About five minutes later, Wes walked in from work and asked me what the girls were doing in the mud outside. Needless to say, it wasn't good! They were digging in the mud to "plant trees" on their hands and knees. Avery had on her good clothes and new tennis shoes. Gabrielle was in the only clothes her Mom sent - yep, the ones she was going to wear to softball practice. They were covered in mud and NASTY!
I called Gabrielle's mom to bring her some more clothes, but she couldn't leave the house. Her solution was for me to put her muddy clothes in the dryer and make her wear them dirty. So that's what I did. Luckily all of the mud came out of Avery's clothes, but what was she thinking? Just being a kid, but...ack!
By this time it was 5:00 and we needed to get ready to head to the ball fields for our 5:30 softball practice. Do you recall me mentioning that it was cold and windy earlier? Well, it was colder and windier by now and got worse as the night went on! I asked Wes how long they were going to practice, maybe until 7:30? He said NO WAY! Guess what time he finished up? That would be 7:45! Luckily I took a big fleece type blanket with me. It makes those bleachers much more manageable to sit on. But that wind was brutal!
On top of a cold night of practice, time changed and we lost an hour of sleep. Can you say yuck?!?
Even with all of that, Wes decided he wanted to watch the movie I rented. I don't remember what time we started it, but it went off and we were in bed around midnight (new time). Seriously, WHO decided time should change on a Saturday night with church the next day????
OK seriously, how could I forget the most exciting thing from today?!? I knew that the magnet school letters were mailed out yesterday and I was expecting it to arrive today. Still, I was excited to open the mailbox and see the letter in there.
Avery was accepted at Forest Avenue!! She was beyond excited when I told her. Now, Wes and I just have to discuss it all and decide for certain that pulling her out of Saint James is the right thing.
Avery woke up fever free again today - yippee!! She still has a terrible cough, but I think that's just gonna stick around for a while.
We jumped right into that massive pile of school work.
Avery was able to get another entire day finished up before lunch. True to my word, we headed out to run a few errands and ler her spend some money.
She decided a few weeks back that she wanted this Moxie Girlz doll named Avery - mainly because of the name thing. She found the Avery doll and one other that I can't remember right now at Target and they were on sale too. She was really hoping to find the Moxie Girlz car and she remembered seeing it at WalMart a while back with her MiMi. I decided we would run over there and see if it was available. Needless to say, Avery was thrilled to see it on the shelf. She also found a pack of clothes for the dolls that you color.
After all of her purchases, she had -$5 left. Negative money you ask? Well, I let her "borrow" from her allowance for next week. I don't do it very often, but figured it would be alright this one time.
Well, my prediction was correct. Avery is feeling better and is ready to get out of the house. Problem is, she's still running a low grade fever (low 100's) and she really doesn't need to do anything.
Princess has still not been for her first vet visit though and it's very much past due. So, I called and they said it would be fine to bring Avery in - fever and all. We all pack up and head to the vet's office.
Of course Princess had to explore everything, but she did really well. Turns out she is actually 15 weeks old - a little older than we thought. Based on this they were able to go ahead and give her all three rounds of her shots. She did fine up until that third and final shot. It must have been a doozy because she just cried and it was pitiful :(
I must say that I was proud of myself for not getting suckered into all the "extra" stuff they try to sell you on. And let me tell ya, they try to sell it to you! All these tests for blah, blah, blah. I finally asked the tech if there was anything they could do if Princess tested positive for xyz disease. Her response was something along the lines of quality of life, etc. I asked if it would cure her, help her live longer, etc and she said well, no. I promptly passed.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for doing what's needed and taking care of our pets, but some of this stuff is just CRAZY!!
I will tell you that I could've killed that tech though. She was kind enough to tell Avery about:
- buying a harness to walk the cat - really?!?
- starting her on baths now so she can get use to the water - seriously?!?
- buying a bag to carry her around in when she gets older - huh?!?
I simply looked at her and told her thanks. Something tells me that she got my drift ;)
While we were out, I also stopped by the school and picked up Avery's school work for the week. Holy cow, that's gonna take a while! We did get started on it and she actually completed one day's worth of work this afternoon. Four more to go...
I also ran into our old church to sign Avery up for children's camp next week. She went last year and has been begging to go again. At first I said no since we weren't actively attending church at EHBC any longer. However, Wes said that since we haven't moved our membership it would be fine for her to attend.
Of course, Avery stayed in the car with Princess at school and church and she really didn't think our time out of the house constituted time out of the house. Luckily, by the time we got home, her fever had officially broken - woo hoo!!! I told her that if she was still feeling good and fever free tomorrow, I would take her to Target and/or WalMart so she could spend some of her money.
Oh, and how could I almost forget...thanks SO much to wonderful tech at the vet's office today. Avery has decided that we need to get Princess use to the water. Guess what that means? Yep, bath time. The only saving grace was that Princess got her nails trimmed at the vet today. Otherwise, it would have been pretty ugly!
Look at that sweet baby trying to put herself back together after being traumatized.
