This Week...

{this is a quirky owl I drew for a shirt I sewed...I quite like it}

...was a grand week. We got a routine SOMEWHAT down with going to school, getting the kiddos to Mrs. Sandi's, arranging pick-ups, etc. It was overall a really nice week. I was super tired most of the nights from just running none stop from Mrs. Sandi's to school to Mrs. Sandi's to home, then dinner, then baths, then goodnights and somewhere in between there a few smiles and coo's from Baden and a dance or two with Maggie.

I am getting to where I actually want to go to work now. Getting there. I spent all day Monday (as I could) cleaning out my office and mopping it and putting stuff back where the stuff belongs. Since I was on maternity leave at the end of April until the beginning of this school year, my office was a WRECK with a capital W. I haven't cared and have just been watching everything stack up, until Monday...I hit the wall. I couldn't take it any longer. It feels good being organized and ready for each work day as soon as I walk into school. My office is about the size of a postage stamp and has to hold 520 kids worth of PE equipment. But, I secretly love this little hole in our old, old school that I lovingly call my office.

This little man decided that it would be a great idea to start rolling over last week. Yes, on Tuesday of last week (August 9th) he rolled over at Mrs. Sandi's house. I had been back at work 2 days and he starts showing off all his tricks. So I missed it. So I cried. A LOT! But then I stopped and realized that...yes, I missed it...but I didn't miss the 3 months I got to spend with him at home all summer long. It is a little hard for me to stop and realize that when we get out of school again for our next summer, Baden will be a year old. WOW! and NO THANK YOU! I just know he is going to grow up super duper fast and I am just not okay with that.

Maggie is learning and LOVING her new schedule of events. She goes to a wonderful lady named Mrs. Sandi, who I am pretty sure is the sweetest and most Godly woman I know, now and Baden goes with her. Mrs. Sandi watches Maggie all week and even takes her to MDO two days a week for me. She loves it. Totally a God thing. She is getting so smart...like sometimes she says things and I just sit and look at her like did that just come out of your mouth? This week we worked on writing her thank you notes for the people that came to her party. I love thank you notes and notes in general. I miss general mail and how imporant it used to be. I hope I can always teach her that sometimes a personalized letter or card has a lot of meaning and weight to it.

On Monday, (payday!!! YIPPEE!!!) I met up with some great friends and we got our toes done. It was so nice to see their beautiful faces and laugh and chat about life. I miss those friends. ALOT.

Discovery Center...How We Loved You!

On Monday, August 1st, we loaded up the car and went for a little road trip to Murfreesboro, TN. We were super excited to go visit a cool new place called the Discovery Center. We were looking for something fun to do on our last official day of summer break with Maggie and she doesn't love the Science Center in Nashville...so we wanted to give this a shot.

Don't get me wrong, Mags had a blast at the Science Center in Nash...she just was too small to do a lot of the activities and there were about 12 field trip groups there so the place was PACKED the one time we went. We like change and finding new places, so we got on the road and headed that way. The Discovery Center was super neat-o! Lots for Maggie to play with and do. She had some unique favorites though I must say.

Since Josh is basically 4 too, they had a blast together. Here they are riding on the awesome fire truck together. Maggie was a bit let down that none of the sirens worked...really Mags? Could you imagine how much of a headache the parents would have if those sirens actually did work!??!

They had these two sit down claw thingies that she was pretty good at. The rocks made a lot of noise, so it was her favorite for sure.


They had a station where you could work on drawings and rubbings. She did really well with this. She wasn't too sure about using the crayon on its' side though. Sometimes teaching change is so hard. Bless her heart, she didn't want to hurt the crayons!

This was probably my personal FAV!
They have a room for making rainbows and shadows. Okay...two of Maggie's loves!

Basically you stood in one spot in front of this super bright light for 10 seconds and then moved and turned the light off and your shadow stuck on the wall. I mean, I was floored. I love cool stuff like this!


Kinda hard to see, but I am on the left...Mags is in the middle...and Josh is on the right.

Maggie was pumped to try it "all by herself!" This was the stance she choose to use and away we went. She stood so still and counted...

And here is the result! She loved it. I won't tell you how many times we went back into that room just to play and make silly hand puppets!!

And where was Baden while we played, you ask? He slept for the majority of the trip and woke up right before we were about to leave to eat and scream a minute, then back to bed he went. He seemed to have a great time!

It was a great day to spend being silly and having fun as a family. Some of Maggie's favorites were the pretend grocery store and cash register, the water expo, and this old green car that was upstairs. You could sit and play with the steering wheel. She did this for atleast 45 minutes. They also had the pretend race car that you could change the oil and tires on. She loved that, but so did several other kids so she let them play and sat in the green car and watched them! :)

Maggie Moo turns 4 = SHOTS!

This sweet girl turned FOUR, yes 4, on July 24th. Where has time gone? I mean I swear she was just eating from a bottle and cuddling Bunny in her crib to fall asleep like yesterday! Well, not so much. Ready or not...she is growing up!

We had a wonderful party at our home on her actual birthday but then we had to go for her annual birthday check-up. Mommy forgot that Dr. Keith is BOOKED like weeks ahead for those kinds of things so we ended up seeing another Dr. that we equally love on August 5th at 3:00 pm.

I truly believe that Maggie wasn't scared or nervous because she plays Dr. at home ALL THE TIME. Trust me, if you sit in the living room very long, you will eventually become "sick" with something and she will get out her sweet little blue and tan dr. kit that JuJu got her and go to work. She even says "take a deep breathe...again...again"...it is quite cute.

She was ready and excited about her hearing test. She aced it last year and so she was comfortable with what she needed to do. I love these pictures. She is so serious and still sometimes...sometimes!

Probably her most favorite thing to do at the dr. is to read ALL the books they have stocked in the rooms. Now, I need to be honest and say that when I have to go to the dr. with the kiddos, I am a SUPER DUPER germ freak! I can't help it. Between Josh and I teaching and bringing home all the germs that we do, I just don't want to introduce anything new. But...she wants to read...all. the. books. How can I say no?


This was the last picture I captured of her before the SHOTS came through the door. O yes, three huge shots in her upper arms. She was not a happy camper. She did great the first two shots in her left arm, then the MMR shot in her left - that was all she could stand. She cried for the next 35 minutes. Alligator tears! Tore me up inside. I wanted to take the shots for her!

She was a sweet birdie while at the dr. and even while I asked to weigh Baden, she held his hand and promised it wouldn't hurt...

I love this sweet child. truly.