Hurray for Me!!!!

I PASSED THE PRO ED SECTION OF THE FTCE!!!!!

The first day of school ran so smooth!

Hurray for D.P.! He did not get sick this year! But look at the expression on his face in the photo—that is the best smile I could pry out of him. Clearly, he was anxious before leaving for school. He said he grew more comfortable as the day went on. He is happy that he already knows 2/3 of his class.

D.A. was so excited to start 1st grade. She jumped out of bed as soon as I went in to wake her. She was dressed, ate breakfast and was sitting on the couch backpack in place before D.P. was even out of bed.

The kids arrived at school 15 minutes early (a record for this family!).

We celebrated our momentous event at McDonald’s for dinner and ICE CREAM!

Tropical Storm Cookies

Tropical Storm Fay bypassed us. The Tampa Bay area has been fortunate over the past five years as hurricanes have repeatedly blown past us.

Winds did not exceed 20 m.p.h. today and it didn’t rain a drop. D.A., D.P. and I took full advantage of this “free day” and made chocolate cookies to celebrate the fact that we still had electricity.

D.P. was so proud of himself because he was able to crack an egg without getting the shell in it. This is usually D.A.’s specialty. She took advantage of the fact that she did not have this responsibility and snuck a few licks of cookie dough from the beater.

Both kids decided to wrap up some cookies for their new teachers tomorrow. They were disappointed they could not include some for all of their classmates.

They also cut heart shapes into two cookies for Dad and I.

Tropical Storm Fay and The First Day of School

School has been cancelled Tuesday due to the fact that Pinellas County is still in Tropical Storm Fay’s projected path.

D.P. is more anxious than ever now with the postponement of the first day of school. Last night he complained that he was going to throw up and insisted on sleeping with a bowl next to his bed. It amazes me that my son, who is so charismatic, easygoing and successful in school, gets physically ill on the first day of school. He has done this in Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades.

The storm is not too intimidating. The projected path has Pinellas County on the west side which is always a good place to be during a tropical storm/hurricane. We are still making sure we have enough water and dry goods.

Feeling sad...

D.A. and D.P. have completed swim lessons. The pool is closing.

There are no more summer programs at the library.

With the forecast crying rain each day before school starts, I’m avoiding the beach.

We’ve shopped for new school clothes and supplies.

Summer is almost over. :-)

I guess I feel sad about this because I had planned what I thought would be exciting activities for the last full week of summer. We met friends at Chuck E Cheese on Monday and yesterday the kids enjoyed the Ultimate Party Play Zone. We did not, however, get to go to the beach nor the pool due to weather. Also, we skipped the aquarium because I was asked by family/friends to watch their children on Tuesday and Friday. I do not have enough seats in my car to travel with more than one extra child.

I am also sad about summer ending because this is my last summer home with the kids before I return to work next year (praying I get a job in my new career field!)

The kids are eager to start school however. This is a good thing. D.P. just can’t wait to use his new backpack. It is actually a pack for a laptop computer which is why I think he is so in love with it. D.A. is already convinced she will not like her 1st grade teacher (I don’t know why when she is one of the nicest teachers in the school).

Tomorrow, my brother will be moving to California. I cannot say that I will miss him exactly. He was in the military for 15 years and moved around so much that it seems normal for our relationship to be distant. I will miss my niece age 2 and nephew age 3 months.

Today, he stopped by my house and I really didn’t want to visit with him because I feel so irritated. He planned my dad’s first to visit with him in California during Thanksgiving. This was done without one mention to me of the time frame for his visit. This upsets me so much because Thanksgiving has always been the biggest holiday in our home. And this year will be the first since Mom passed. Now, I am not upset that dad is going to CA—I am upset that this was done without even informing me.

Our family has spent Thanksgiving at my house every year for the past 12 Thanksgivings. The least they could have done was mention this to me before I paid for dad’s ticket with my credit card.

I’m just a little upset…

When was the last time...

you were comfortable sleeping horizontally across your bed?

A friend invited us to go out on their boat Tuesday. The kids were so excited as it was their first time on a small private boat on the intercoastal. (I know kind of silly when we live in Florida. I really don’t care for boats as I do not know how to swim and didn’t feel comfortable being responsible for the safety of my children. But now, many swim lessons later, both of my children swim better than I probably ever will. I trust they would save me if anything were to happen. ;-) )

My friend had 2 young visitors from Chicago; ages 6 and 10. It was the 6 y.o.’s first time to Florida. There is nothing like the excitement in a child’s eye as they experience something new.

D.P. was able to captain the boat. Did I mention we also call him “Fire Marshall D.P.”? He was very concerned about where everyone was seated, the speed of the boat, and eye protection (as you can tell from the fact that he is wearing his goggles.)

D.A. even had a chance to steer. Her boating skills are no different from her biking skills—she is more interested in what she sees around her than where she is going. Then she kicked back in the chair proclaiming “this is the life!”

The boat was anchored so the kids could get out and swim. They enjoyed the water and tried to catch fish with a net. Unfortunately, the fish are much faster.

Our boating fun was cut short as thunderstorms rolled in.

I asked my kids what was the most exciting part about their day to which they both exclaimed “playing with your friend’s dog”. She has a very playful boxer with many favorite doggie toys. Maybe it’s time to consider adopting a family pet…

As I brush the knots out of my precious D.A.’s waist length blonde hair, we have the following conversation…

“Mom. What do you do if you have to go to the bathroom and someone is already on the toilet? “ (We only have one bathroom in our house.)

“Well, the best thing to do is knock on the door and tell the person to hurry up because you have to go too”.

“But what if you can’t wait? Can you go outside?”

“No. You can wait”

“But I’ve seen D.P. go pee outside before.” (Not sure if she is tattling or revealing facts at this point.)

“Really?!”

“Yes. He does it all the time when you are in the bathroom.”

“How do you know this?”

“I spy on him. Mom, do you want me to teach you how to be a spy?”

I find our conversation very curious.

First of all, is my son peeing outside? (He denied doing so when I brought it up even in a humorous kind of way.) And secondly, has my daughter ever “spied” on me when I wasn’t paying attention? Not that I have any reason to be concerned however there are certain conversations that should only be heard by adult ears.

I will certainly have to pay more attention now that I know.

Adventure Island

Yesterday, the whole family went to Adventure Island. We had a fabulous time!

D.P. had not been there since he was a toddler and it was D.A.’s first time. Both of them wanted to swim in the lagoon, but I encouraged them to try other things (because we could stay home and enjoy the pool for much less).

So we moved on to Fabian’s Funport, Splash Attack and the Ramblin’ Bayou. The Ramblin’ Bayou was probably their favorite and we must have floated around the long path a dozen times. Their dad convince them to join us down the slides (o.k., he had to convince me too). D.P. did not like them so much but after much resistence the first time, D.A. could not wait to go on them again.

We got through almost the entire day before the summer storms rolled in about 6 p.m. We were rambling down the bayou when the lifeguards had everyone evacuate out of the water. The storms came up so fast, we barely made it under cover. Two hours later, we finally drove out of the park and straight to Krystal for a dinner of those tasty little burgers.

It is fun like this that reminds me how out of shape I am the next day. Ugh.

Sorry, no pictures. I didn’t bring the camera.

Sometimes my children scare me...

I walked into my bedroom this afternoon to find this tucked into my bed.

The stuffed animal is “Jessica” and belongs to my daughter. It is a Littlest Pet Shop stuffed bunny. D.A. put a knit skull cap from Jamaica on “Jessica” and tucked her into bed with a baby bottle and a binky. Also, she played a book and a ball next to “Jessica” in case “she woke up early and wanted to play”. Then she insisted that I leave MY bedroom and “be quiet” so I wouldn’t “wake up Jessica” because she needed her “beauty sleep”.

I am just glad I noticed “Jessica” sleeping in my bed while it was still light out otherwise I may have been quite shocked to fall into bed later tonight (especially too tired to take a picture!).