Happy Birthday Violet!

We had a very busy day today!

This morning I went and ran and Brendon biked.  While Brendon biked Olivia and I ran up to school.  I thought I forgot my things that got laminated yesterday but to my surprise when I got to school they were not laminated.  I was sad... =( So Olivia and I did some things in the classroom and then since it was so nice we stopped at Tribble Mill Park on the way home.

We met up with Brendon after his bike ride and then played.  Olivia is getting much better at the equipment at the playground.  She had fun.

Then we came home and had a picnic lunch outside.  After lunch Brendon took Olivia in the pool while I went in the attic for a few minutes.  The attic was brutally hot! But I found some of the school stuff I was looking for.  Then I jumped in the pool for a few minutes with them.  Then we got ready for Violet's party.

Since her party was at 3:00, and by the time we were done with all the other stuff we skipped a nap.  She slept in the car on the way to Violet's house which was about 45 minutes! We had a fun time at the party.  We colored, ate yummy foods, played outside on the playground, sang, and had cake! Olivia and Griffin even played together.  They shared a toy and took turns! It was awesome to see them play together! The only bad thing about the party...both batteries in our camera ended up being dead! So I managed to get 2 pictures.

Olivia and her man Griffin

Connect and Disconnect

The theme this year at my school is connect and my principal showed a great video about what learning is like today for our students.  It made me think back to when I was in elementary school.  Never did I imagine a classroom with computers and now devices- tablets, phones etc.  So much has changed in education and now we need to think to the future for our students.  It made me think about Olivia and what it will be like in school for her.  Olivia is growing up in a world that is changing every second of every day.  We get information instantly and can connect with so many people and places.  Already we let Olivia explore technology and it is so interesting to see how fast she picks up how to do things.  I suggest watching the video below if you haven't been in a school in a long time.

Now the opposite of connecting is disconnecting.  My little heart got hurt earlier in the week to see so many parents disconnected with their children at the park.  Then my heart got hurt at Gymboree.  A person there was on their phone, looking at pictures of themself to find a new Facebook profile picture during class.  The person was sitting on the big mat they have there and just looking at self portraits and deciding which one looked best...all the while their child is playing and trying to interact with said parent.  Isn't that something you can do later....like after class? A Gymboree class is 45 minutes...disconnect yourself and connect with your child.  I know we all parent differently but take a technology time out...Facebook will be there later...but your child won't be 2 forever!

Sorry to rant....

Apples and Binoculars

Olivia and daddy were together ALL day today.  I had lots to do in my classroom so it was great to have some time to get all that work done.  Daddy and Olivia had some fun picking apples...we have LOTS of apples!

I got home right when she woke up from her nap and we just snuggled for a bit.  After dinner we had to change a toilet paper roll and a few weeks ago we had some extras around so I showed Olivia how to do binoculars.  Well I had an even better idea to hot glue the toilet paper rolls together...voila..binoculars! We took them outside and looked at lots of different things.  We saw birds, airplanes, butterflies, apple trees, and anything you can imagine we saw with those binoculars.  Tomorrow if we have time I think we will decorate them!

And daddy... Olivia said tonight, "I want to go fishing." So I guess we have to go fishing this weekend!

Hi ho, hi ho, off to work I go

Went back to work today.  It was bittersweet. Olivia woke up while I was getting dressed and she said, "I need to see mommy."  Awww... that about broke my heart.  She and her daddy had a great day today and they were eating lunch when I got home.  Then it was nap and zoom off to Gymboree.  Poor thing...she pooped at Gymboree...in her pants...on the slide.  while I was cleaning her up she said, "I pooped on the slide mommy!" There was no poop on the slide...just in her underwear.  That was just fabulous to clean up. 

Lots of work to do and it took forever for Olivia to get to bed...!!!

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Today was my last day of summer vacation before going back to work. Despite all the rain this summer it was pretty decent.  We did lots of different things with Olivia and it looks like she has grown so much! Today I accomplished one of my summer running goals...I ran from Tribble Mill Park to Archer High School and back to the park.  It ended up being about 5 miles.  The temperature this morning was so cool that as soon as I got out of the car I made up my mind to do it.  I ran almost 90 miles this summer which I am proud of!

After running and making a few phone calls, Olivia and I went to the store to get some birthday presents for two of her friends.  I thought I would treat her to a stop at the toddler park in Loganville.  We had a great time.  It seemed though that I was the only one interested in playing with their child though.  There was a group of grandparents sitting on some benches in the middle of the park just watching their little ones.  I guess maybe I am still a bit nervous with her on park equipment to let her just be by herself.  I was disheartened though to see some parents on their phones not even paying attention to their children.  I know not every moment is special to everyone and we all deserve breaks sometimes but I don't know...I could rant on about it but whatever we all parent differently.

Olivia took a good nap and then we had a snack and then it was pool time.  I have been skunked on dinner the past two nights...she hasn't really liked what I made...maybe tomorrow! Things she used to love...she hates now...oh nelly!

Better Day Today!

Olivia woke up today and was not a hot mess crying! I went and ran and when I left she was a happy camper.  She did pretty well this morning, just a little whining and then Brendon took her to Gymboree.  I did some work from home while they were gone. 

Olivia ate a pretty good lunch and then helped me vacuum upstairs! I hope she likes this when she gets older as much as she likes it now.  It was interrupted with several potty stops but it got done.  Olivia has become much better with telling us she needs to go potty.  I have backed off a bit of asking her and she is doing better with telling.  Is it perfect?  No but getting better...but she did poop her pants again today!

The sun was out so we had a snack outside and then went swimming.  We made some brownies for Kristy's birthday and took them over after dinner.  Of course she wouldn't go potty here but said there is a potty at Kristy's house... so of course she went there.  She loves Kristy and told Kristy we should go in your room and watch tv.  She was happy as a clam with Kristy.  When we left she said she wanted to take a bath and sleep at Kristy's house!

One more day to spend with her...booo!

Saturday and Sunday

Other than doing lots of cleaning up, laundry, and getting back into routine.  I was glad to get in a run yesterday morning and Brendon went for a bike ride.  Olivia was EXTRA whiny.  The terrible twos have hit us hard.  She whines about everything and wants to do everything herself.  At times all she wants is mommy.  She will say mommy a million times and want... nothing at all! She even sometimes won't let Brendon do things and pitches a fit.  I was exhausted from it yesterday afternoon. 

Thankfully the mommies in our Gymboree group planned a dinner.  It was so nice to go out to dinner and hear that I wasn't the only one going through this.  That is one good thing about our group...we are all going through the same thing and it helps to talk it out and try some different things others have tried.  The dinner was great.  We went to Milton's in Roswell and it was delicious.  We talked and laughed a lot and had such a great time.  We all don't get out that often so it was great to go out.

Today we went to church and hung around the house.  The sun was out for a bit so we relaxed by the pool.  Olivia was so great in the pool and loves the pool so much!

Hunting Island Day 5

Day 5 is come home day.  We had to pack up wet which really stinks.  Trying to pack up with a toddler is difficult too.  Trying to keep her entertained and pack up at the same time was a challenge.  If it wouldn't have rained the night before we would have been able to pack more stuff but the rain ruined that plan. 

We ate a quick breakfast of muffins and got all the stuff in the car.  It was overloaded to say the least and Brendon had to unpack stuff so I could get out when we stopped.  Olivia did ok in the car.  Trying to keep her entertained is the hardest part.  We watched movies and played but even she was antsy to get out of the car.  We were all very happy to get out of the car when we got home.

We are so glad that we went on the trip.  At times it is difficult.  It is hot, there are bugs- caterpillars galore, flies, spiders, and mosquitoes.  We came home with boo boos, bug bites, and boo hoos (Olivia cried and whined quite a lot).  But we love going here.  We know how special this island is and that one day we probably won't be able to go there due to nature in general.  The most important part of this trip is the memories we made- the good ones and the bad ones.

Hunting Island Day 4

On day 4 we decided to go to Port Royal and go to the boardwalk.  Brendon wanted to fish and they have a great little pavilion/gazebo that Olivia and I could sit under while Brendon fished.  Olivia and I were looking out in the water when I saw dolphins! There were about 8 of them so we watched them for awhile.  Then we walked back to the car and got some crayons to color with.  So we colored while Brendon fished.  He didn't get anything though.  Then we came back to the campsite for lunch and then the beach.

Olivia still didn't like the beach even at low tide with little waves.  She was fine in the sand and loved our little shade tent and looking for seashells.  The water was still off limits! Finally I carried her and just sat her in the water with me.  She was whiny (but she was whiny all trip) but finally she said things like the water felt good.  After a few minutes we went back to the shade tent and then took out the kite.  Olivia actually wanted to fly the kite and she did great holding it.  She did let go a few times but overall she loved letting it fly.

Since Olivia didn't really nap all day she fell asleep at dinner! So she really didn't eat dinner but then all of a sudden it started to thunder.  Then in a matter of minutes it poured.  And poured...and poured down rain.  She didn't like the rain at all.  The one thing it did do was drop the temperature which felt great.  We were even still able to have a campfire after the rain!

Hunting Island Day 3

Day 3 of Hunting Island we headed into Beaufort.  We walked around some of the downtown shops and then headed to lunch.  I guess Olivia was tired because she fell asleep during lunch!  Finally we woke her up and she ate a peanut butter sandwich on a bench outside and then was pretty crabby.  Then we walked around the market at the Water Festival and Brendon bought another belt.  Then we got ready for our dolphin boat ride.  Olivia was much happier on the boat.  We saw dolphins and learned a lot about Beaufort.  After the boat ride we got some ice cream and headed back to the campsite.

Then it was dinner and bath time.  We even saw a deer that night!