randomness on the way to school

SCENE: RIDING IN THE CAR ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL

(completely out of nowhere)

Brooklyn: "Mommy, you are not God."

Me: "You are right, Brooklyn."

Me to self: "Who ruined that for her so early in life? Has she been talking to Daddy???"

Brooklyn: "Church is God's house."

Me: "Again, you are right, Brooklyn."

Brooklyn: "We don't stand on God's furniture."

Me: "We don't stand on anyone's furniture."

Brooklyn: "Because it's durn-ger-ous, right?"

Me: "Dangerous?"

Brooklyn: "No, durngerous."

Me: "Oh, my fault- durngerous."

Brooklyn: "Alright.....the wheels on the bus go round and round......."

(SCENE ENDS WITH BROOKLYN SINGING AS IF THIS CONVERSATION NEVER HAPPENED)

move over steven and george...

Here are some cool still shots from my brother, Eric's, most recent film. It's currently titled "Dead in 10."

That's so cool that you can see "Director: Eric Bader." :-)

We are so proud of Eric and cannot wait to see the finished product!

a million dollar smile

So, Brooklyn made another huge step into "big girl-dom" this morning. She took her first trip to the dentist! Here are a few pictures chronicling our morning...

Brooklyn in the car saying "I'm going to the dentist today!"

Brooklyn chose to sit in my lap during the hygenist's cleaning, but she did a great job as Stephanie brushed her teeth and flossed between them. She said "no thank you and maybe next time" to the polishing, but Stefanie said that was OK. It was after the cleaning that she decided to sit in the dentist chair to play.

As you wait for the dentist, children can sit in the chairs, watch movies, color, or play with the train set. Brooklyn did all four, but here she is coloring a picture of Sleeping Beauty.

Because it was her first visit, Brooklyn got her picture taken in the chair with a stuffed character of her choice...and you guessed it...D-D-D-D-D Dora!

Dr. Malley met Brooklyn in a small examination room after her picture/play time, and Brooklyn laid with her head in Dr. Malley's lap as she counted teeth (20!), checked for cavities (0!), and applied a flouride solution to her teeth (painless!).

Brooklyn was such a big girl all morning. We left the dentist, had a few chick-n-mini's from Chick-fil-A, and went to school!

See you again in 6 months, Dr. Malley!

sweet spring treats

Last weekend, we took a quick, spur of the moment trip to Bernie's Berries on Groometown Road. My mom had taken Brooklyn there about two weeks ago, and she loved it, so we went back for another trip since we had run out of strawberries. She loves riding on the "strawberry cart" and then choosing just the perfect ones for her basket. I think her favorite part, though, was running up and down the rows and checking to see how everyone else was doing. Bernie's Berries has an awesome supply of strawberries, were priced VERY reasonably (we got two huge baskets for $4.95), and as an added bonus, it is owned by my high school math teacher, Bernice Kenan. Mrs. Kenan was one of THE hardest teachers at Ragsdale but always had a smile on her face. And, because of her, I didn't have to take a single math class at Carolina- so yay for that! So, it was great to catch up with her and show off the family.

Another sweet treat this week was a surprise visit from some furry friends. My CEO here at the Girl Scouts breeds basset hounds, and she had two litters a few weeks ago. Her husband brought all SIXTEEN to the office yesterday so we could play. She only has 4 left to sell, so if you are interested in one, let me know! :-) They are VERY sweet.....and, as you can see, the brown ones were my favorite.

News:

A special HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to our bestest friends/god-family, Joe and Misty Henzler. We love you guys and are glad to see you made it another year- ha ha!

And also a big CONGRATULATIONS to my friend, Andi, at work who announced she is 11 weeks pregnant. May the next 30 weeks be happy, healthy, and memorable!

And finally...the day is almost here...our friend, Brendan's, CD, The Day is Brave, is due out June 3rd! iTunes has released his single, Green, for sale this week, so if you have the 99 cents, buy it and support our boy! Just search Brendan James Green in the iTunes store.

Warning: Proud Mommy

Brooklyn deserves a post all to herself because I am so proud of her. Brooklyn's teachers completed a three year old "Developmental Assessment" for Brooklyn last week, and she did soooo well. Here's me as a proud mom (*with my usual sidenotes in pink).

Gross Motor Skills:

Mastered (Can do well and does often): running around obstacles, balances on one foot, marches, hops, slides, catches balls, jumps over 6 inches, push/steer toys

Emerging (Learning to do, does occassionally): walks stairs alternating feet

Fine Motor Skills:

Mastered: draws recognizable pictures (smiley faces and some letters), imitates cross (not sure what that means, but I mean the girl goes to church enough she should know what a cross looks like), traces patterns, copies circles, rolls/shapes clay, builds 9-12 block tower, drives nails (that makes her grandpas happy)

Emerging: strings 1/2 inch beads, cuts across paper strip, fastens snaps

Language Skills:

Mastered: uses plural, understands "let's pretend," repeats rhymes, sings songs (apparantly loves to sing "Better is One Day" when the other kids are napping), 4-5 word sentences, repeats 3 or more numbers in order, understands time concept, describes events or stories, 1000 word vocabulary

Emerging: NONE!

Personal Skills:

Mastered: eats independently, washes hands, uses potty independently, wipes nose with tissue, cleans up centers, dresses self with help, brushes hair

Emerging: snaps or hooks clothing, buttons and unbuttons large buttons, pours from a pitcher (when would I EVER want Brooklyn to pour from a pitcher?? "Here Brooklyn, please go set the table and fill the glasses with water...um, No!")

Social Skills:

Mastered: sings/dances to music, plays games with rules, enjoys play pretend, take turns/shares (that's arguable), helps with chores, answers phone (thank goodness for digital phone/caller ID), greets familiar adults (again, arguable), imitates peer actions (unfortunately, the good and the bad), joins other children in play, participates in show and tell

Emerging: NONE

Intellectual Skills:

Mastered: follows 2-4 related directions, understands same-different, matches geometrical forms, understands past-present, refers to self by I or me, knows gender and age, names 10 body parts, matches three colors and shapes

Emerging: NONE

General Comments:

-Brooklyn has excellent language skills. She can carry on conversations like an adult.

-Brooklyn loves to cook food in "home living." She also loves to do art and listen to stories.

-Brooklyn has good self-help skills. She can put her socks and shoes on all by herself.

-Brooklyn is very smart. She can recognize all the letters of the alphabet. She can even write many of them as well.

-Brooklyn is a joy to have in the classroom.

Jaclyn 1, Vacuum 1

So, as usual, we are busy. But when I read back to my other posts, I realize that I didn't know what busy was until the past two weeks. One of the perks in my job is to set my own schedule and plan my own events. Well, apparantly one of my weaknesses is my inability to see the "large picture", or large calendar. I scheduled three huge events and a few smaller ones within two weeks of one another. My bad. So, needless to say, Chad and I haven't spoken in about 8 days (because we haven't been home at the same time), and I have been getting quality time with Brooklyn by sitting with her at breakfast at school. But, things are slowing down now- finally- and summer will be here before we know it. Yay!

Many of you have asked about house selling/hunting. We put the hunting on hold until the selling transforms into "offering/negotiating/contracting/signing." We get soooo many people coming by the house, but no serious offers in a while. But, we are at peace with whatever happens. In fact, we are enjoying a clean, clutter free house and a low mortgage payment for as long as we can.

Most days keeping the house clean is fairly easy. If I know someone is coming that day, I do a quick vacuum around the house to give it that "fresh vacuum lines look." Well, I think the stress of work and our busy lives caught up to me yesterday, because we were leaving the house, running late for a meeting at church, and I wanted to vacuum real quick because someone was coming that evening. We have had numerous problems with this vacuum in the past, but Chad and I had just cleaned it all out- every nook and cranny- and it was working fine. Well, of course that thing decides to not suck up anything and as a bonus, proceeds to cough up dust balls the size of Cleveland in the hallway. Well, I had had enough of just everything at that point and just kicked the hell out of that vacuum. I wish I could say that it pepped up and started up again like a champ, but no, it still was a crappy vacuum, but I felt better after slapping it silly.