It's Finally Time For School!!

The countdown paper chain is finally down to nothing. They have been counting the days all summer long using a paper chain with a link for each day of summer. Macy looks a little apprehensive here, but she was pretty excited! She looked darling with her new Gymboree dress with the Scotty dog on it and matching socks and bow in her head, all with Scotty dogs.

Julie had laid out a shirt for Marshall to wear, but he said, "No," that he had something else in mind and picked out this button-up shirt. He loves his new Sketcher shoes and couldn't wait for school to start, so he could wear them. I pick them up after school every Monday, and when they got in the car yesterday, I asked, "Well, how was your first day?" Marshall said, "AWESOME!" Macy said, "Kind of sad and kind of angry." I asked why and it was because the teacher took up her little pencil sharpener (which she wasn't supposed to be playing with), and because she didn't get to sit with Marshall at lunch! She told her mom later that night that she wanted to be "home-schooled" from now on! The second day was much better, and she announced she no longer wanted to be "home-schooled!" Yea!

Now, what in the world will I do with my Mondays? I've kept Macy and Marshall every Monday, since I retired in '04. Macy was just one and Marshall was an infant. Last year, when Macy started kindergarten, I just had Marshall which was different, but fun too. I felt extremely lonesome all day yesterday, thinking about all the things we used to do on Mondays. Here are just the ones I can remember: coloring, drawing, painting, Play-Doh, baby dolls, dress-up, jig-saw puzzles, Candy Land, building with blocks, taking walks with the baby doll stroller, looking for leaves and flowers, feeding the fish in the pond by my house, watching the squirrel in their backyard, cooking all kinds of things, Marshall driving the John Deere Gator with Macy in the passenger seat in their back yard, as he took her to "work," watching videos, going to McDonalds and Chick-Fil-A to play on the playgrounds, going to Dynamoze, playing kitchen and cooking pretend meals, building forts and setting up tents, playing with hotwheels and Thomas the Train, going to various parks, riding tricycles, scooters, and bicycles, and playing hide-and-seek, going to the library and book stores, making up dances, playing on their swings/fort in the backyard, blowing bubbles, playing all kinds of ball games, and reading lots and lots of books---some favorites were "Stuart Little," "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus," (and all the pigeon books), "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," and all the others in that series like "Moose/Muffin," "Pig/Pancake." Wow! Five years sure goes by fast! In five more years, Macy will be starting middle school! And five years later, she'll be in high school, then college. Time just travels way too fast when you're having fun with grandchildren!

Ready for "Meet the Teacher Night"

These pictures were taken last Thursday afternoon, as Macy and Marshall were waiting for their dad to come pick them up to take them to school to meet their new teachers. (Julie is the counselor at their school and was already there.) Macy picked out one of her new school dresses, then wanted her hair curled with a curling iron. Marshall wanted his hair spiked with gel. (He looks so different!) He found his "Jesus necklace" and even put it on by himself, saying, "I'm in kindergarten now, and I need to be able to do this by myself." Their energy and excitement were limitless!

Her First Haircut!

She's busy watching her movie at Cool Cuts for Kids. They just trimmed up the bangs and took a little off the ends. John said it cost $2.00 per snip!

Fun at the Magik Theatre

It was a great day at the Magik Theatre with Macy and Marshall. We saw "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" when it was playing last spring and we all loved it. They brought it back for just a couple of more weeks and we went to see it again today. Both of the kids love the book and I have Marshall on tape "reading" the book. He doesn't read very well yet (5 years old), but he has the book memorized, and does an excellent job of pretending that he really is reading it. Of course, our favorite character is the mouse, and Becky King, the young lady who plays the mouse, does an outstanding job in the play! As we were walking out of the theatre, Marshall saw a program on the floor, and he said, "Look, someone dropped their MENU on the floor!" I told him to pick it up, and when we went out into the foyer, there were the three main characters signing autographs and posing for pictures. He and Macy proudly took out their "menus" and got autographs and pictures taken. Next season, they're showing "If You Give a Moose a Muffin!" We'll be there!

http://www.magiktheatre.org

She's almost TWO!

Ainsley is twenty-one months old, and a blue-eyed blundle of joy! I went to Houston this past weekend and I couldn't keep up with all the funny things she said and did. John and Colleen have found a beautiful little playground at a nearby elementary school, and Ainsley was wild with excitement.

Can you see the excitement in her eyes here? She went down the big slide over and over and over. No fear at all. Mommy helped her get on, Daddy stood in the middle, and Mimi was snapping the pictures!

She loved the slide...

and playing in the little "house"....

and driving the "car."

She is fascinated with her body parts, and fixates on her belly button sometimes! When she gets out of the bathtub, her mom sometimes calls her "Nekked Baby!" When I was dressing Saturday morning, she walked in on me, partially dressed, and said, "Nekked Mimi!"

She just got a new Pottery Barn chair with her name on it for tv-watching!

And, what was so interesting on television??

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!! She can name all the characters on this show as well as all of them on Handy Manny, and Sid the Science Kid, other favorites!

This is her best buddy, George (below)---soother of all pains, cuddler at night, and all-around, best bud!

When it is time to go to bed, they tell her, "It's time to go night-night" and she takes her George, her blankie, and she climbs up into her bed (they've taken the side off after she climbed out of it last week!) There is not one peep, and this was five minutes later! It was truly amazing!

You have to know her dad to understand this picture---but he has taught her to vacuum up her own spilled messes, such as spilled dry Cheerios! She also throws away her own trash!

She won't be two until November, but she is talking non-stop and her vocabulary has everyone amazed, even her pediatrician! She is even putting words together to make short sentences. Like, "Take shirt off," "Ainsley's eggs," "Want more cereal," which makes taking care of her challenging and busy! She loves to read her books and we read many of them, with her counting and naming objects. She points to her name and tries to spell it, nailing the "A" and working on the others. One of her funniest words is "hamburger." I wish I had caught it on video. She has a wonderful appetite and eats almost anything put in front of her, including beef jerky that her dad gave her a big piece of. (I have to admit, the piece was a little too big, and when I held my hand out, she spit it out!) She can easily eat three scrambled eggs in the morning for breakfast! They call yogurt, "ice-cream," and she loves it as if it were real Blue Bell...but I may have to intervene on this one soon! It was so much fun to be with her this past weekend. She is changing by the month!