Candy Land Cheater

Olivia LOVES to play Candy Land.  Well I think she finally figured some things out on her own about the game.  She now has been telling me that she will get the game ready.  She needs help with the cards but tonight topped it all.  So I started making a nice and neat stack of cards (face down of course).  I noticed she was holding some cards in her hand.  I asked her nicely, "Hand them to me so I can mix those in with the rest." She said, "NO! These go on the top of your cards." Ummm....ok.  Well that little stinker figured out that if you pick one of the picture cards (gingerbread boy, gumdrop, ice cream, etc) that you get to skip to those places.  So what did she do...she put those cars on the top.  I really think she was trying to let me win also because the first picture card was the fun space towards the end...but then I drew candy cane and basically had to start at the beginning.  I was happy to see that she is starting to try some strategy...even though it is cheating....

The proud winner (I mean cheater!)

Picture taken by Olivia...!

Funny Face selfie!

I bought a planner...

So when picking up some school supplies I had the great idea to buy a planner...to plan life...ok maybe just keep events in order.  Well I opened it on Saturday for the 1st time and realized that I had not written one thing in it...nada...zip...zero.  So yesterday while waiting for a meeting to begin I finally filled in some things for August, September and October that were definite things on the calendar.  Now all I have to do is just make sure I open, read, and keep up with it!

1st Movie Under the Stars and Chalk Picture

Last night we went to Grayson Park for a movie under the stars.  They were playing "The Wizard of Oz." We made popcorn and brought some snacks from home.  We got there just about sunset and found a spot.  We made it almost to the end...we finished it tonight at home.  Olivia did pretty well even though some parts are a little scary but she was fine and overall liked it.  She liked it enough that she wants to be Dorothy for Halloween (thanks to someone that gave me the costume!)! We tried it on today and it fits and is complete with Toto in a basket.  We just need red sparkly shoes!

And she picked out her clothes yesterday...

Today we just bummed around the house and got some house stuff done.  After dinner and folding laundry Olivia was playing with her easel and she drew this picture! So proud of her!

Pretty impressed with her tree with apples, sun, clouds, bird, water, fish, sand, a squirrel and an x.

Independence

Today I noticed more independence from Olivia today.  When I picked her up at Susan's house she was playing with something- some form of counters or something.  On her own she cleaned them up and put them away without being asked! She did lots of things like that at home tonight- brought her milk cup to the dishwasher, helped with dinner, picked up Candyland all by herself, brought her clothes from the bathroom to her bedroom! Wahoo! It made life a bit easier tonight!!

Amazing....Feeling Fresh Out of it...

I am feeling fresh out of amazing.  I am waiting for life to get into a routine and not be so crazy. I need to remember this from Stacey Thacker

The grace and peace we need to make it through today, we already have. Because it comes from Jesus we don’t have to ask for it. It is already ours in abundance.

Can we take a deep breath and say thank you?

Exhale stress.

Breathe deep the grace and peace resting upon us from the Lord.

Tomorrow is a new day...maybe it will be amazing. 

Day with Daddy and TIRED

Yesterday Brendon had daddy-daughter day.  I worked all day, ran home for dinner, dressed Olivia for dance class, went back to school for Curriculum Night, and then zoomed home right in time for bedtime.  I was so tired I was delirious...needless to say I think I fell asleep at 10 pm.  Woke up today and was just flat out tired...we all were at school.  It was just a long day yesterday and lots of testing today which makes the day long and my feet are sore! I just couldn't wait to get Olivia today and spend some time with her.  I still am having so much guilt for working full time especially seeing the fun pictures from yesterday.  Right now I feel I am thinly spread out on a sandwich which is the wife, me, mom, and teacher sandwich.  I don't feel I am doing good at any of these jobs at the moment....my brain is working overtime and I know I am not doing a good job listening because my brain is thinking about 7 million other things at the same time....I hope it gets easier because at the end of the school day today I was tired and weary...and I had some tears at dinner because I was just so tired and Jake was being bad...tomorrow is a new day...

Allergy Appointment

We had Olivia's annual allergy appointment today.  I was probably more nervous than her.  For the past year we have watched her diet and avoided ALL tree nut products due to her positive allergy test last year to pistachios.  Pistachios and cashews are closely related so we had to make sure to avoid those and anything with tree nuts.  She has been off her Zyrtec for a week and had some minor breakouts...we think mostly heat related.  But today's skin test showed no allergic reaction to pistachios or any tree nuts- but lots of screaming and crying with it.  Then we had a blood test done to see if they match.  If they are both negative we are in the clear but will probably still have to monitor her but if we get a positive on the blood test we will have to bring her back for a food challenge.  We literally have to feed her foods that she is allergic to in the doctor's office.  I REALLY don't want to do that...that scares me and I am not sure she would even eat the foods! But I feel a bit better today about it because being an allergy parent is hard and you are constantly on guard and can't let your guard down about food.  But we will see...this will be one long week of waiting for results!