Saturday, I missed ya!

In some ways the past week has flown by, but in others it took forever for the weekend to arrive!  Easter Sunday found us at the lake (river, whatever) house of a friend's parents.  We spent last Easter with them as well & any day at their lake (river, whatever) house is so nice.  We spent our day sunning ourselves on the dock, having a delicious dinner (my mashed cauliflower, aka "warm yummy" was well received!), good company, kids swimming in the lake (river, whatever), and a boat ride.  Not too shabby.

Monday was the start of the BOGO Book Fair.  I think the only day that we weren't steadily busy was Thursday.   And it was still busy & we did really well.  I have to admit, I was driven to beat the previous Co-Chair's numbers from last year.  I know, what? Me? Competitive?  Who knew?!  

Yesterday the fair ended & as is tradition, we went out for margaritas afterward.  And shoe shopping.  Sadly no shoes were purchased, but our cocktails & the conversation were wonderful!

Did you watch the Royal Wedding?  You know I did!  I had the service streaming on my phone at 6 am while I was putting on my makeup and then watched on TV w/ Sunshine as we ate our breakfast.   I decided to make The Kiss my photo of the day for my 365 project.  Thanks to our wonderful Media Specialist I was able to borrow the school's camera (the battery in mine was dying!) & got the pic.  

Today is our lazy day.  I'm thinking that I could get some laundry done & maybe clean our bathrooms.  I don't dare go to the commissary as it's payday weekend & going after 11 am is suicide.  Hopefully I'll get there tomorrow morning by 10.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Coming up for air

You know you're tired when you wear your slippers to Family Night at the Book Fair! I have to admit that these comfy looking slippers aren't mine, they belong to uber cool Media Specialist & bad knittin' mama jamma, Kristine.

Today was the third day of Book Fair----we are doing SO well!! It's a BOGO fair so the fact that we're pulling in the numbers that we are is amazing! We've had great volunteers and hopefully they will return to help us in the fall when our next Book Fair rolls around.

All this busy-ness has me wiped out. It's not so bad being on my feet all day, but on my feet in one spot (ringing the register) wears me out! Monday I conked out on the love seat for about an hour. And I snored! Yesterday I caught about 10 minutes of sleep while Sunshine was at her speech appointment. Today I've managed to stay awake, but I think I'm headed to bed early.

Two more days & then we close up the fair & grab some celebratory cocktails. Next week we'll officially close it out on the Book Fair website & be done until fall. Well, sort of. AR Celebration Week is in 2 weeks. It's looking like it will be a lot of fun for the kids & we'll have a tradition in the school of what AR Celebration Week will be.

Happy Hump Day to you & I'll see you when I come back up for air at the end of the week!

Happy Easter!

I usually associate sunrise scenes with Easter, but today this view from my lounge chair was too beautiful to not share! What a glorious day!

Hope your holiday was happy!

Dogs on Thursday

Normally I'm not a "DOT" blogger, but today I feel the need to give equal time to Smitty & Tinkerbell.

As you well know, we have very little impulse control when it comes to adopting dogs in the spring. Smitty came to live with us in March '10 & Tinkerbell just barely a week ago. It's not to say that other dogs haven't touched our hearts, it's just that these two really struck a nerve with us.

In the year he's been with us, we've seen big changes in Smitty. He's SUCH a good dog. He listens & follows commands, as much as any Schnauzer/Scottie mix will. His "stay" is the best of any dog I've had or seen. He's all about Sunshine & will stay in bed with her until we call him to our room at night or go to get him. He's such a lovable boy & has brought so much joy to our family.

Tinkerbell is doing well adjusting to a new way of life with us. She's a runner & suffers from Corprophagia (google it, I won't gross you out with the definition).

We discovered these things after we got home on Saturday. The running part is being remedied by keeping her on a leash in the front yard & not allowing her off it during a walk until we're in the driveway & she's been told to "sit". The Corprophagia. Sigh. It's not her own, it's cat(s) who are allowed out at night or possibly strays as the people in our neighborhood who own cats don't let them out. I've covered a specific area with cayenne pepper & have cleaned it up. I'm hoping that cleaning the area combined with supplements & a better food than she ate in her old home will help. Yes, I realize that I'm most likely delusional about this behavior being corrected, but stranger things have happened.

And as you can see, Sunshine is in seventh heaven with her sweet doggies!

Everything old is new again

I've always loved antique stores---be they up scale or flea market level, there is something about the history of a piece that's always fascinated me.

I've collected a lot of things over the years: Carnival Glass, Whiting & Davis bags, mosaic jewelry, personal salt & pepper shakers, etc. Trust me, there's been a lot of collections. Sadly, during my apartment days I didn't have the room (or the money) to buy larger pieces. Ah, who am I kidding---if I hadn't spent the money on my other collections, I could have afforded vintage/antique furniture. At least 3 of my Whiting & Davis bags were over $150 each. Scratch the "woe is me, I couldn't afford vintage furniture" whine.

Almost 2 years ago I discovered Gina's here in town. It was love at first visit. Gina owns her building so her prices are ridiculously low. These are some of my treasures from her shop.

The green wicker chair became a white chair to go along with my 2 wicker chairs & table (who came to me from the camp my family shared with my uncle & his family when I was a little girl)

This trunk was purchased yesterday for Sunshine's room, which is furnished with a white wicke

r headboard & dresser/mirror. In case you haven't guessed, I LOVE white wicker.

This is the Basset sideboard that I found at Gina's last Christmas. Hunter refinished it over the summer & look at now! It's beautiful. Emails from Basset told us it was part of the Marquise Group which was made between Oct. '66 & April '70. The original finish was known as Cavalo Cherry. Ours is similar.

We also have a Thomasville writing desk from Gina's but I am having the hardest time finding the picture & am just too lazy to pull out the external hard drive to find it!

Book Fair is next week---Friday is set up & then we are up and running! If I haven't resurfaced by next Thursday, send some 5 hour energy drink!

The week that was

I have to say, getting back on our school routine was really rough on Monday! Both Sunshine & I weren't happy to be getting up at 630 again! But we're back on track. Letters home to parents for the Book Fair were copied, stapled to the flyer & have gone home. Next week I need to give the teachers their Wish List forms & hang the sign up schedule sheets in the teachers lounge. Friday is set up & then we're in full gear for 5 days.

Sunshine woke up yesterday with a tummy bug that kept her home from school. You know your child is sick when they crawl into your bed, take a 2 1/2 hour nap in the morning & then a 1 hr nap in the afternoon. The nice thing about Hunter's schedule is he's done for the day around noon on Fridays so I was able to get my errands done. Sadly, Friday was to be Sunshine's "school birthday" so I had made 2 dozen cupcakes to be decorated at school.

Luckily she was so much better today & was able to run to Target to use a gift card fr

om Hunter's aunt to buy more Squinkies. In case you were wondering, the Gumball Surprize! Playhouse was the item purchased as the Cupcake Surprize! Bake Shop was sold out.

Then we ran next door to PetSmart to pick up Smitty who was being groomed. The funniest thing happens to us in the spring when we go to PetSmart on an adoption weekend. Today, this little girl came home with us. She's a 2 1/2 year old Maltese/Shih Tzu mix & is an absolute love. She's found her food & water bowls, has already snuggled Sunshine in her bed (she's there now!) & so far (knock wood!) is getting along with Smitty. We'll be going to the vet hopefully on Monday & I'm hoping she gets a clean bill of health. Isn't she so cute?!!!!

Last Day of Spring Break

What a great week we've had---we spent some lazy time at home, we went to Atlanta twice (once to the Fernbank Museum & the other to Zoo Atlanta) & of course, Sunshine had her birthday!

We love the zoo & try to get there at least once a year. This year we realized that an annual pass would be the smart way to go so there will be lots more trips for us between now & April 2012!

We were able to see the baby panda--Po as well as the baby giraffe, Glenda. Sunshine had a great time & decided that this trip's souvenir would be a giraffe.

We ran by Aunt Holly & Uncle Mark's to say hello as well as to pick up a birthday present & Christmas present that was accidentally left behind at the holidays. A quick trip to Perimeter Mall (LOVE) for dinner & some shopping followed. We saw cousin Megan & then were on our way home.

Today is our last day of Spring Break---Sunshine is playing with her dolls, Hunter is panning for gold in the drive way (I need to dedicate a blog post to this new hobby) & I'm enjoying the laziness. Grocery shopping can wait until tomorrow. Laundry may get done today, we'll see.

This week starts prep work for our BOGO book fair at the end of the month---the letter home to parents has been written but needs to be printed, copied & sorted by classroom. Then the fun of stapling to the flyer so teachers can distribute to their students. A week of quiet & then the set up (which doesn't intimidate me now that I've done it!), the thrill of the fair & then pack it up until Sept when our big fair starts.

I can't believe that after BOGO there will be 3 weeks left of school. I don't want this school year to end! Sunshine has had SUCH a wonderful experience in 1st grade. We love her teacher & really are very sad at the idea of leaving her. I know Sunshine will have a great 2nd grade teacher (we're really blessed at our school----nearly every teacher is exceptional in his or her own way), but Mrs. P has been INCREDIBLE. I will miss seeing her.

Enjoy your Sunday and for those of you going back to school tomorrow---may your 1st day back go smoothly!

Seven

Seven is a big number in almost all cultures. There were seven sages in ancient Greece, seven in China. Seven wonders of the ancient world. There are seven notes in music scales. Creation took seven days, seven pillars of the House of Wisdom, seven deadly sins, seven Corporal Acts of Mercy. There are seven Sacraments in Catholicism. And of course, "lucky #7"

Seven is lucky to us today because seven years ago, Sunshine was born. Seventeen hours after we got to the hospital. She made her entrance into the world at 9:07 pm, although Hunter says they called it wrong---it was really 9:06. Regardless, she was finally here with us & we were finally able to hold her!

Today she slept in until almost 9am & we went out to breakfast at Starbucks (her choice). We've played with bubbles, googled toys on the internet (she did that!), looked at pictures from he day she was born (I got a little teary eyed) and are going to dinner tonight to celebrate the excitement that is turning seven. It's hard to say good bye to little kid-hood & know that your baby is growing up. I find myself looking at pictures of birthdays past & remember all the changes that each birthday brought. The skills learned, the challenges & adventures each year began. And while I'm so thankful that Hunter is home with us, I'm sad that he missed her 1st birthday, 3rd & 4th birthdays. Particularly her 1st. Gah! No sadness today---focus on the joy of our darling girl being seven! Happy Birthday, beautiful Sunshine! Mommy & Daddy love you more than you will ever know. We are so truly blessed to have you in our lives & are so thankful you are ours! xox

Spring Break!

We're on Spring Break this week so yesterday Sunshine & I went to Atlanta to the Fernbank Museum to see their Mythic Creatures exhibit.

After our museum visit, we wen to visit Hunter's aunt & had dinner with her & his uncle. Uncle Mark is one of Sunshine's favorites. There were lots hugs, squeals of "UNCLEEEE MARKKKKKK!" and she insisted on being his helper while he grilled our supper. And he was treated to a special concert as she banged out tunes on their piano.

And since tomorrow is a very special day in our house, the last picture is me, 7 years ago with almost 11 lbs of baby. Amazingly enough, I only gained about 35 (37 maybe?) lbs and had no swelling anywhere other than my ginormous belly.

Today we're doing some crafts, painting & playing. Unlike 7 years ago when we went to lunch at Atlanta Bread Co & walked a good 5 miles as I was being induced the next day. Luckily my labor started on it's own around 4 am, but that's a blog for tomorrow!

With all due respect to TS Eliot

We love April in this house. It brings flowers & warm weather (it's not unheard of for us to be swimming in April here). It brings Spring Break, Easter (sometimes) & our Sunshine.

Field Day was today & went off with nary a hitch! After a 2 1/2 hour planning meeting a couple weeks ago, I'd hope we'd ironed out all the glitches that held us back last year.

Sunshine's class did really well as a team---they cheered for one another, tried their best & never gave up. They won several events which was great.

Spring Break is next week & we've got a few day trips planned as well as some local things. And Sunshine's birthday. I can't believe that 7 years ago we were waiting for my induction date (ironically scheduled for my due date) & were so so very anxious to meet her.

Have a great weekend & don't believe everything you hear about April! It's really a great month!