And then there was week 2

Week 2... getting adjusted, getting used to the routine. This week has been quite interesting with lots of ups and downs. I've enjoyed making fun of all of the excuses (for being absent or tardy from class) that my students are already giving me -- they must truly think that I am so dumb. Oh well, nothing a little reverse psychology can't cure. I also got to make fun of a student who thought the desk in my classroom was a nap mat... NOT a good idea on her part... great fun for me.
Joy is still doing wonderful at daycare. She is always smiling when I drop her off; still smiling when I pick her up. She really likes her little friends. She's had a bit of a runny nose this week, but I think she's gonna pull through it. I think it may be a result of the change in the weather. It's been cooler at night and in the mornings, and actually not-so-sweltering during the daytime too. Josh took us all for a 4-wheeler ride to see the trails that he's been working on in the woods behind our house. She loves to ride! But, it does put her to sleep everytime!! Sooo cute.
Jax. Ooooh, Jax. He's had a great week, too -- both a fun and educational week. This week, Jax's preschool class started a new "discipline system." All of the kids have a racecar on the wall -- the "track." If they engage in disapproved behaviors, their racecar goes to a "pit stop." The Green Pit Stop is a warning and results in the child not receiving a treat at the end of the week, but they still get to select a prize from the prize box. The Yellow Pit Stop is a strong caution and results in a treat at the end of the week, but no prize. And, the Red Pit Stop indicates extreme misdeeds and results with no prize or treat on Friday. Those who do not get off track at all during the week, receive both a prize and a treat on Friday. Ok. So we understand the rules. A letter was sent home last week, explaining the system, and I worked with Jax all weekend to make sure he understood how it would work when he returned to school after the weekend. Monday was great. No one had to go to a pit stop. Tuesday, 3 children went to the Green Pit Stop according to Jax. And one of those was little man Jax himself. ugh! The offense? - not listening and not following directions. As I picked him up Tuesday afternoon, his teacher told me about the situation and Jax stood below us, steadily trying to change the subject by showing me all of his pretty drawings and pictures he had created. Ok, so the Green Pit Stop is just a warning. It just means no treat. Ok, yeah, I understand. But still. ugh! Both Jax and his teacher assured me that he would be better the rest of the week. And, he has been -- no more Pit Stops! Hopefully, that was the only time he will "test the rules out". Lord, bless Ms. Melissa for having sooooo much patience with the preschoolers; she's amazing. :-)
In other "Jax adventures," he was super excited about "Show-and-Tell" this morning. Since they are studying the letter "W" this week, they were supposed to bring something "wild" for Show-and-Tell. Jax picked out his "toon ['coon] skin hat" and this morning as we were on the road, he asked, "Momma, where is Show-and-Tell?" I explained what it is, and he still was confused, thinking he was going to a place to show his hat and explain where he got it. He was so cute as he rehersed what he wanted to tell his friends about it, and he would ask me for verification that he was saying the right thing. Yep, a little politician in the making! Planning his speeches, and going to Momma for verification. That's alright little man!
Last night, as he was laying down, I asked Jax if he had already said his night time prayer. He immediately broke into "Dod [God] is dreat [great], Dod is dood [good], Let us thank him for our food..." I said, that's great Jax, but at night time you're supposed to tell God "thank you" for all the things you are thankful for. He began his "thank you for my____...." prayer and I listened quietly and proudly as he thanked God for his baby sister, Momma, Daddy, fwends at stool, etc. "...and the fwees, and..." WHAT? I had to interrupt. "What did you say, Jax?" "Thank you, Dod, for the fwees [fleas]. We have to tell Dod thank you for the fwees too, Momma, tuz [cause] he made them too!"
oooooooooooooo-kay, thank you, God, for fleas.

Lessons learned the first week of school

So, we all started or returned back to school last Monday. Jax started PreSchool, which he reminds us often -- "prestool, Mama, it's Pre-Stooool!" Joy started daycare. And, I returned to the classroom to teach tomorrow's future leaders everything Psychology, even though it is a well-known fact that they already know everything about everything.
We completed the week, barely sane, and in the chaos, I even managed to learn a few things in the process. Hence, lessons learned the first week of school:

1. It takes forever to drop off two children, even when their classrooms are located very close to each other. Get this one out, get that one out, get this bag, get that bag, redirect the mobile one that has run off into the parking lot; get his blankie, get her blankie, instruct both to not drop, drag, or step on blankies; hold on for dear life to all gear and pick up blankies off the ground, and try to brush dirt off with no available hands; get his cup, her bottles, sugar for him, sugar for her, then pick up everything that I just dumped out of bags on my shoulder as I bent down for good-byes; yep, now i'm the one causing all the other parents to shift from drive to reverse, and back and forth, as they try to weasel out of the drop-off line.
2. Do not stop to get gas in the mornings. Because, inevitably, someone will decide that it is time to pee and cannot wait any longer, no matter how much I beg or complain about how long it takes to strap and unstrap children in the carseats, muchless lugging said children into public restrooms and still managing to balance all of my hang-ups about touching stuff in a public restroom. ugh. #1 applies here again.
3. Playgrounds with bark-looking stuff are much, much better than playgrounds with sand. I am happy to report that we no longer have a sand pile in the floorboard of my car each afternoon. Yay.
4. Kids will do stuff at school, even when the parent who has spent the most time, not to mention the entire summer, with him/her says that he/she can't do some particular task yet. examples: She doesn't drink juice. He doesn't like academic stuff. She doesn't really crawl. He doesn't write letters well. She doesn't like a sippy cup. He doesn't eat anything. Yep, they tried their best to make a liar out of me this week. The list could go on...
5. There is no "run in real quick" anymore. No, I do not want to stop by anywhere and pick up anything for you, darling husband. I am tired... and I just do not desire to re-live that nightmare from #1 (or #2) again just because it would be nice for you to have some WD-40 for your deer stand. Or whatever. It's gonna have to be something real good to get me to stop anywhere "real quick"... like, um.... blue lights. ha. And, not yours, so don't even go that route.
6. Bye-Bye to "time to think and get my thoughts together" on the way to and from work, a 30 minute drive. Now, I listen to Jax's constant questions followed by his own answers, I guess because it takes me more than a quarter of a second to answer. On top of that I listen to random crying/whining from Joy, who still has to face backwards in her car seat, and just cannot understand that the car is not the best place for a game of Pick-Up with her favorite, must-have-all-the-time blankie. When blankie falls, no one can reach it to return it, no matter how much she fusses. Not beautiful music, but yet priceless times.
7. It is better to have blankie nearby at all times rather than having a clean blankie nearby only sometimes. Washing is not a fun time.
8. "I go where ever you go," says blankie. And, if you forget, you will get phone calls from teacher. and ten minutes between classes is plenty of time to book it over to drop off a blankie and save the day in the process. Yay, so it is still easy to be a hero from time to time.
9. The cafeteria food must not be bad, because no one ever remembers what they ate. But Jax always remembers what his friends ate. "I didn't eat the peaches, MaMa. But my friends ate the peaches AND the broccoli. But not me, I didn't eat the peaches or the broccoli, Mama." And, Joy, what did you eat? Hhhhm, that's what I thought.
10. Even Math Majors agree that there are NOT ENOUGH hours in the day, no matter how good you are at planning, budgeting, and organizing time. Sad, but true. The anal superego within me is starting to settle with this as fact, and my house, car, and office reflect this revelation with one glance. Oh well. I wouldn't trade any of it for anything in this world. I may be crazy, but I like my chaotic life.

Stay tuned for more after Week 2.... :-D

First Day Update

As promised here are the pictures from the first day of Preschool for Jax, and the first day of Daycare for Joy:

Yes, I know, it looks like tons of fun and lots of rebellion going on. But actually, they were both ok with going; Jax was crying because he didn't want his picture made (sleepy!) and Joy was crying because I took her beloved blankie away for the photo op (sleepy!).

Day 2 was much better so I took photos again:

That's about all I got... we were running late and Jax's Photo Tolerance level is currently at an all-time low.

1st day of Preschool / 1st day of Daycare

Today's the day. Both of my children are Co-Lin students now. What classes are they taking? Well, Jax is taking Preschool classes, and Joy is in the Child Development Center. They're hard-working little Wolves! :-)

Jax started his first day of Preschool this morning. He was excited. And tired. He fell asleep on the way this morning, but was happy to wake up and see his new classroom, and all of his friends, both new and old. He was super excited about getting to play on the "big" playground today. Lord, please don't let it rain today so my little man can play on the big playground. I just don't know if he would survive if they didn't let him get out on that big playground today. When I dropped him off, he ran into the room, and immediately returned to get me to show me something cool that he had found to play with (a rocket). Then, off he went again, and never looked back. He found his buddies and was so much into playing and chatting it up with them, that he never even noticed me leave. Aw. Bye, Jax, have a good day! I can't wait to pick him up this afternoon and find out how preschool went!

Joy started her first day of daycare this morning. She was excited. And tired. She fell asleep on the way this morning, but was happy to wake up and see her new room, new friends, and new toys. She was super excited about the mirror in her room. ha. And she was enjoying watching Amelia and Aiden when I left her with Ms. Margaret this morning. Ok, well, actually, she was inspecting them. But at least she was doing so quietly, and not calling attention to herself. yet. I put away all her things, and waved bye, but she was so busy inspecting, she didn't notice me leave either. Aw. Bye, Joy, have a good day! I can't wait to pick her up this afternoon and find out how her day went!
yes. she will tell me. stop snickering.

First day photos coming soon. In the haste to leave the house this morning, I forgot to bring my camera for uploading photos. Guess I thought I may be a little tied up with MY classes; it never occurred to me that I could do a little live blogging today during lunch break, since I forgot my lunch at home. ugh

tu-tu fun

what says GIRL more than a TU-TU???!!!!

we had so much fun with these pictures, I am finding it hard to pick which few I will post here. warning: picture overload ahead! :-)

once in a while, a girl kinda gets tired of all the fru-fru... and that makes adorable photos, too!

6 months old

oh my goodness, my precious little Joy is 1/2 year old! Time FLIES...

6/4/2009 -- I wanted to be sure to post the date these photos were taken just so you all could see, I was a little bit EARLY taking her 6-month photos, because she was not actually 6 months old until 6/9... so that is 5 DAYS early!!! woah! even I am flabbergasted! ha.

I guess the teeny weeny fact that I am nearly 2 MONTHS late posting them does sorta ruin the party... oh well... better late than never, that's my motto.

dedicated

May 31, 2009 ~ Baby Dedication Service ~ Calvary Baptist Church



we anticipated this service for a while, as we wanted to dedicate our precious baby girl to the Lord, just as we had dedicated Jax when he was just a wee one. the service was very nice, and special to us because our extended family was there. our children are definitely loved. we are so thankful that the Lord picked us to raise them up in his way here on Earth.



there were four other sweet babies (all girls!) dedicated on the same day as Joy. These girls will be friends as they grow up together, I'm sure.



here's a few pictures from the ceremony:

Jax is a wanna-be player...

an old wise man (who happens to have been my very first crush!) once said...

"Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be Cowboys...."

But, what about guitar-players?????

buddies

Jax calls him Davin 50% of the time. (He intends to say Gavin, it just comes out as Davin)

The other half of the time?

"Buddy"

they are cousins but Jax doesn't really seem to care to hear about the family tree.
Buddy is good enough for him.

they make me think of the Fox and the Hound... such good friends... and SO CUTE when they call each other "Buddy"

big taste made by the little folk

Jax is at the age where he sincerely wants to help. Help clean. Help cook. Help anything. Just help. He is excited to exert his growing awareness of his independence, and loves to display his skills by helping me or his Daddy do just about anything.

Sometimes, help is just a hindrance. Too much help can actually slow you down. But I try to remember what it was like to be in this wonderful age of discovery (yes, I can actually remember wanting to help my mom in the kitchen), and allow him the opportunity. I know, like so many other things, this won't last for long... so I better enjoy the help, whether desired or not, while I can. More importantly, I cherish the time spent during all of those occasions that I'm receiving the unsolicited help. They really are sweet times.

If your toddler is ready to help, try these for a fun supper one night. The kids can do practically all of the preparation themselves, and they are oh-so-proud of the resulting meal. And, it's something they will actually eat themselves! yay - everyone wins

Jax loves to make little pizzas. We take English muffins and cut them in half (we like the sourdough ones best). Place them on a cookie sheet (I always ask Jax to count them as he places them on the sheet.... you know, just to make sure we have enough!). He uses a spoon to spread pizza sauce (from a jar) on each muffin. Next, he adds other toppings that each person in our family will enjoy. Canadian bacon, pepperoni... Josh likes mushrooms and black olives, so we aim to please, and customize a few with those yucky-looking things. Sometimes. Sometimes, we make Daddy eat only the "normal" stuff. ha ha. Anyway, Jax also loves to sprinkle "white cheese" and "yellow cheese" on top. I help him put them into the oven, and we bake them until the cheese is melted... they are yummy. These are great snacks or appetizers. Sometimes, we make these little boogers for our main meal! (It's sad to say, but being the picky eater that I have always been, we aren't a very nutritionally-conscious family... these little pizzas are very "healthy" compared to some of the other junk foods I have suggested for our meals in the past!)

These are really quick (great for those little attention-spans!) and easy (no measuring; no right or wrong way to do it)... plus, what kid doesn't love PIZZA??? Even the big kids in your household will love them. Sometimes, you just gotta forget about the nutritional meal stuff and let the kid come out! YUM

an afternoon abbenture

"Momma?" he said, randomly, out of the blue, "Can we go on an abBENture [adventure]?"
Um, like what, Jax?
"An AbBENNNture! C'mon, Momma, it's a dreat [great] idea! Let's doe [go]!"

and, so, we spent the majority of the afternoon outside, walking around the yard, on an adventure. Jax, donning only shorts, and Joy, happy-go-lucky as usual, riding along in the wagon.
Where did our spontaneous adventure take us?
well, we never ventured out of the yard, but we visited every tree in this exquisite jungle. Our mission: to collect as many different leaf specimen as we could, and also to check for fruits and/or flowers ("gold" or "flags") before the squirrels ("sharks") eat them up. We let our imaginations lead us on this adventure... so much so, I honestly have forgotten all of the stops that we made.
But we had a blast all the while.
Thanks, Jax, for the wonderful abBENture.

the Leggett Playground

Oh! In all of my haste as I was playing "catch up" with my blog (and I'm STILL behind - more catching up to come, goodness) I somehow forgot to give some very important kuddos and share the corresponding story with you bloggies out there.


So, without further ado:



THANK YOU, DADDY!



Don't let the small font fool you. It is not small based on importance, no, nothing could be further from the truth. It is small font, you see, because it is a message of gratitude from the little voices of two little people, Jax and Joy.
For his third birthday, which was in January, ahem, Jax received a swingset. It was really cute in the picture.... but when the delivery truck brought it, it was somehow mistakenly in two teeny-tiny boxes. I could have swore that thing said ASSEMBLED when I purchased it. Well, it did, Josh. I don't know WHAT happened... those dang Made-In-China Products! They must not have known what they were saying!


ha ha, ahem, ha ha.

Anyway, Jax got the swingset in two tiny boxes for his birthday in January. And, FINALLY, four months later, in May, it was totally assembled and ready for little feet to operate all the gadgets.

Uncle Mike and Paw-Paw Johnny are to thank for getting the ball rolling. Josh would have never attempted to assemble the thing on his own. He needed the extra hands, but he also needed the extra encouragement. (I still have no idea why the box said that 2-3 adults should assemble the product in approximately 8 hours. Maybe Webster has a new definition of assembled ??!!!)
Jax bounced all over the place while the men were trying to put the swing set together. He would ask occasionally, (about every 5 minutes) if it was almost done. I was busy feeding Joy when they began the project but joined them outside as soon as she was finished. Joy was happy to play in her Exersaucer nearby, while Jax jumped around, and I organized all the pieces and insisted on taking the Instruction booklet out of the plastic and read it to them. All the while, the men ignored my dictated instructions and kept making statements that began with "I can't believe..." About 8 hours later (hhhmm., those crazy lying china people may be hitting it right on afterall!), the product was FINISHED!

It took me several days to get Jax to slow down enough to get some pictures. And, these are not the best, but they will do - you get the point. He calls it his "playground". Ha, I'm glad that he has a playground of his very own. Joy likes to watch him play on it, and we even added a little swing for her but it's still a little overwhelming for her. She doesn't do the slide too well yet, and the rock climbing wall and trapeze is for boys only, as per Jax -- he says it's too "dangerous" for her. He's a smart little dude - I totally agree.

Let us know when you're in the area, and you can certainly come over to play on the playground. Jax will not let you leave the premises without the grand tour (featuring, playground, garden, and firetruck!) Come on down!

love the dress, tolerate the rest

She tolerates the bow and shoes....
But only for a little while.

The dress... she loves.

Mostly because dresses are lose, and easy to chew on when there is absolutely nothing else handy.

Such as, when MaMa has already confiscated the tasty bow and shoes.

she's a perfect lil doll

This picture of Joy makes me think of a porcelin doll. She's perfect. I love her.

Wizard of Oz play

Although you can't really tell it by looking at this picture, Jax really, really enjoyed going to see Brookhaven Little Theater's production of The Wizard of Oz. Jax has been a fan of the Wizard of Oz for a while now (and never once frightened by the storyline or the characters!). In the BLT production, Jax personally knew the Wicked Witch of the West. He kept saying, "that witch (his pronunciation almost compromised!) made my birthday take [cake]." And he was right about that! Ms. Lisa is a very crafty and creative person. She bakes and decorates cakes, paints/draws, sings, and now, her newest discovered talent: she acts! Ms. Lisa's personality is nowhere near "witch-like" but she definitely knows how to act, and she even had the witch-y laugh down pat!!!
I think Jax (aka - the little politician who never meets a stranger) was trying to drum up some extra business for Ms. Lisa. ha ha He told everyone he saw "that witch made my birthday take! that one - the dreen [green] one - the mean one - yeah, her - she made my birthday take!"
After the show, Jax had only one question for the Wicked Witch of the West (Ms. Lisa) - he wanted to know what happened to her sister and if she was ok (only her legs were shown in one scene sticking out from under the house - the house fell on her). Now, isn't that observative and thoughtful for a 3-year-old!!?? Of all the things to remember from the 3-hour play!
We also had a picture made with "Dorfy" [Dorothy] but Jax's eyes were closed, so it's not even worth posting.
We are ready for the next BLT play! If it's something age-appropriate for Jax, we'll be there!

Mother's Day

I know, I know. Mother's Day has come and gone. But, I think we have already established that "Late" is my middle name. I took pictures and even thought about what I wanted to blog for Mother's Day... and then... I never got around to doing the actual post.

Part of the problem lately is that I am home for the summer (yay! - that's really NOT a problem... just when it comes to blogging) and dealing with Dial-Up, which is so, so frustrating. Yeah, they're still saying we are too deep in the boonies for DSL. Still. Hhheeeeeellll-llllllloooooooo out there! can anybody hear me? hello?!! If any BellSouth people happen to be lurking around my blog, please have mercy on me! I desperately need DSL. Us people in the boonies need it more than you city people! You know, so we can get online and buy shoes and research the DIY for indoor plumbing. help! (p.s., would it help if I also threw in that I teach a couple online classes? and that your dial-up is hindering the learning of tomorrow's leaders?!!) :-)

Ok, sorry folks, just had to take a moment to appeal to the imaginary BellSouth Blog Reader guy. I hope he will leave a comment this time... hey, I can't continue to give shout-outs if you don't ever comment! y'all understand.

anyway, mother's day. yeah, I took pictures, thought about the post, was inspired, and just never found the time in between. So, I'm posting now. So there. More evidence that I am late, in the Blogosphere just like in the Real World. The good thing is that being late in the Blog world doesn't really change anything; not really. So, here's pictures from Mother's Day. Taken on Mother's Day. Posted Late. As in, not on Mother's Day. Or, the day after. But, nevertheless, posted, and that's all that matters. I received the sweetest gifts from my children and husband. I just couldn't resist sharing the sweetness. Posting late just allows me to enjoy them all over again. So, maybe, just maybe, my tardiness was on purpose.

Pictures Above: Jax made this sweet gift for me at school, brought it home on Friday, and gave it to me to open on Sunday. Look at the wrapping! The "flowers" are his actual hands, traced and cut out of construction paper. I knew I'd love it before I even opened it. I didn't want to open it, but I did, and I managed to save the flower hands - they look great in a vase in my kitchen window. Inside the adorable wrapping was a little candleholder - a glass jar, painted green and decorated with little ladybugs - made from his very own thumb prints! LOVE IT! The next two pictures are more handmade gifts from my beautiful children. These were made at church. The first is a picture of flowers, made by Jax, with his thumb prints (flower petals), finger (flower stem), and finger prints (grass). Adorable! And, sweet little Joy made the cute pink footprints in her Sunday School class, with a sweet poem attached. Both are definite framers!!! love these!! Josh came up the the charm bracelet idea all on his own. I LOVE IT. The bracelet features a little boy head and a little girl head, each with their names and birthdates inscribed, and also a charm with my initials. This was perfect.... so ME! And lastly, a rare picture of me with both of my children - not everyone has a perfect smile in this photo, but at least we all have eyes open! ha. Thank you, Josh, for honoring me on Mother's Day. Being a Mother is the "hat" that I cherish most.