2014: page two hundred fifty-two

Anna, the bookseller, stopped by our house today.

I bought books.

Of course.

Well, it's really not my fault, you see, for two reasons.

1. I (usually) can't say no when someone comes to our door selling something.
2. They were books. How can I say no to books? Especially when they are fun, well-designed, educational books for B. 

Considering we aren't sending her to preschool and thus aren't spending the money for her class, I don't feel so bad about purchasing them. Although, I think it's time for a "No Soliciting" sign on our door. :)

In any case, Anna was a sweet college aged girl from Latvia selling these amazing books. Sitting with her and chatting was so much fun. Unfortunately, we were on our way out the door not long after she got there, so it was a mad rush at the end. I would have so enjoyed hanging out with her a bit more. But, now I have a new friend from Latvia.

As we were rushing out the door, we paused for a picture with Anna.

Rushing out the door, we met Randi at Gandolfo's for some lunch, then headed back home for B's nap.

Ryan's short day trip to Orangeville went longer than he expected, so he had to meet me at church a few minutes after worship practice was scheduled. So, I dropped B off at April's and drove over to church to open the door before everyone else got there.

Unfortunately, he wasn't done working for the day at that point either. Once worship practice was over, he met me at April's for a few minutes to hang out for a minute and so he could see B. Then back to work at the Roosevelt office until after midnight. :/

2014: page two hundred fifty-one

First day of (at home) "preschool"!

Since we opted against the preschool B was going to go to, I asked her if she wanted to have preschool at home with momma and she agreed. :)

I was going for the cute "this is my first day of school" picture and this is what I got. Ha ha ha! She had no interest in being cute and posing for a picture. Oh well.

We won't be doing anything too hard core, but I'm looking forward to it. Our "preschool" will look something like this:

• focus on a new letter of the alphabet each week following this Letters to Serve curriculum I purchased last year. I'm very excited about this because it combines learning, Jesus, and service and I love that! This includes songs, crafts, activities, books, coloring pages, Bible verses, Bible characters, praying for friends and family, and then an act of service.
• focus on a character trait or a fruit of the Spirit or an emotion. I think we'll start with the fruit of the spirit.

I've already pulled out my laminator, printed coloring pages, checked books out from the library that begin with the letters A and B, etc. The nerdy/geeky side of me is really enjoying this. :)

2014: page two hundred fifty

Football is back! :)

Our usual Sunday routine of church followed by lunch at Pelican with Ryan's family.

Then, it was time for Broncos football! Ryan cooked dinner for everyone and we headed over to watch the first half of the game at Ryan's parents' house. For the second half of the game we headed home so we could get B to bed and then watch the rest of the game.

Yeah for return of football on Sundays!

2014: page two hundred forty-nine

For the morning and early afternoon it was just B and me hanging out while Ryan went up to the mountains to do a little hunting.

After nap time it was time for Jennalee's birthday party! The weather was mostly perfect for her party at the park. B had fun playing with all the kids and giving Jenna her present. Oh, and the cake. She really enjoyed the cake...

Yes, that is a piece of cake she is holding in her hands. Who needs utensils anyway? :)

2014: page two hundred forty-eight

B wanted to do her morning chart right away this morning. :) Miracle of miracles, just by following the chart, there was no arguing over any of the activities on her chart (namely doing her hair, eating breakfast and sitting on the toilet first thing in the morning)! To top it off, she asked me for another chart, a potty chart. This might be getting out of hand. Ha ha ha!

Our special outing for the day was a trip to the library!

This was her first time at the library and to say that she was excited would be an understatement.

I definitely should have brought her before.

All morning I kept telling her we were going to go somewhere but it was a surprise. So, on the way to the library, she was trying to figure it out. As we drove past aunties and then Grandma and Grandpa's houses, she guessed we were going to one of their houses. I told her "nope, it's a place with a lot of books." Without hesitation, she exclaimed, "the library!" I had no idea that she would know just by that clue, so I was a bit surprised.

Of course, we needed a treat on this Friday after the library, so we headed to the coffee shop for a smoothie for her and a blended coffee for me. Yummy!

Once Ryan got home from work, the three of us headed to Marions for dinner. They have the best cheeseburgers and homemade broccoli cheese soup! Then off to Grandma and Grandpa's to give Grandpa his birthday present.

What a wonderful Friday!

2014: page two hundred forty-seven

The first thing B asked for this morning when she woke up was, "to do my chart again." :) I guess she did actually really like it. :) I told her that one was just for bedtime but I would make more charts for her if she wanted. She said yes, so I spent some time today putting together a morning routine chart and a responsibilities (chore) chart. We'll see if these ones are as popular as the bedtime one. She was pretty excited tonight when she got to do the bedtime chart again.

I'm thankful that I talked for a wonderfully long time on the phone today with one of my dearest friends! We haven't talked for a while, so it was great chatting and catching up! Her son and B did a little FaceTime at the end of our call and they both thought that was great, except for then they wanted to play. Hopefully soon sweet kiddos.

2014: page two hundred forty-six

While I am sad and frustrated with the whole preschool ordeal, I am also thankful for a few things. I am thankful that:

• my mind is starting to clear and I have a much better mindset and outlook
• my medication seems to be kicking in (based on the above)
• with a clearer mind I can see other options such as doing some "preschool" at home, which means I get this fun time with my girl
• I can truly see the good in this

Like I said above, my funk/fog/whatever-it-is is slowly going away and I can't say enough how wonderful that is! Starting to feel more like myself, enjoying life more, etc. makes me realize just how bad it was. Thank you, God, for being with me through this and for some relief through modern science!

On a completely unrelated note, tonight we started a new chart for B with her bedtime routine on it. And she loved it! I wasn't sure if she would like it or how she'd react, but I wanted to give it a try to see if it helped with bedtime. It's nothing fancy, but she likes putting stickers in the squares when she's finished a task and then seeing what's next. I'm pretty stoked that she was so in to it and hope that it continues that way!

2014: page two hundred forty-five

Ryan worked from home today, which I always enjoy. :) Even though he was locked up in the guest room for most of the day, it's just nice to have him here. And when he needed a break, we got to hang out for a bit.

B and I played outside for a while, enjoying the sunshine.

She filled this with water and got in it to "swim" :)

In the early evening, the three of us went to B's preschool open house. I was so, so excited about this, to see the new place (the preschool moved into a new house since I registered her), get to know her teacher a little bit more. In all honesty, during the summer I was reconsidering sending her to preschool, but the past few weeks all she has talked about is going to school (even though we hadn't ever talked to her about it). I figured that since she was so interested that I would stick to the original plan and send her.

Once we got there, we noticed that the house sits on the corner of a residential street and a busy, high speed street. And it didn't have a fence. "That's ok," I thought, "they probably just don't play outside." After all, it's just a 2 hour/day preschool and so playing outside isn't really necessary for that short of a time. I was wrong. They play outside the last 15 minutes of the class.

Expressing our concerns to the teacher about how B is only 2, likes to run and actually thinks it's a game, she kind of just blew off the dangers. Stating that the first time it happens she will get put in time out and will hate having to sit there watching the other kids play, which will lead to it not happening again. I'm not really comfortable with that answer considering there will be sixteen 2 year olds supervised by 2-3 adults. Somehow, being on that busy road I'm not comfortable with there being even a chance at running away even once. Not to mention that a fence is also a good way to keep other dangers out, such as creepers and mean dogs. I'm still in shock that there was not a fence and it wasn't a big deal.

Ryan and I brainstormed to see how we could make it work, but never came to a point where we felt comfortable sending her there.

I am so bummed! So, SO bummed! What bums me out more is that B will be bummed, too. :(

2014: page two hundred forty-four

Since today was Labor Day, Ryan had the day off. So went up to the mountains to play a bit and ride around on the 4 wheeler. Fun, fun!

It turns out, however, that a helmet is required for children under the age of 18. The $100 ticket that we got proved that to be true. :( Now, we had a helmet for B with us and she wore it most of the time, but we took it off when she was tired and fell asleep with me holding her. Ryan was driving very slowly on a mountain dirt road. Nonetheless, he got ticketed for it.

We were hoping that since we didn't know that it was a law that she would just give us a warning, but nope. No such luck. Apparently this lady officer has a reputation and it's not a good one. Like Ryan told her, no one cares more about B's safety than we do. Ugh. Pretty frustrating.

We made it home in time for B's nap and Ryan went over to help his dad with something for a while. Then we took his mom and dad out to celebrate his dad's (60th) birthday.

Other than the encounter with the mean lady, we had a wonderful holiday day. :)

2014: page two hundred forty-three

After church today was the 5th Sunday potluck. Actually talked to some people that I don't know very well or talk to very often, so that's good. :)

Followed that up with a 3 hour nap. Didn't mean to take a 3 hour nap or even realize that it had been 3 hours. But it felt good and I guess I needed it. I'm pretty sure I could have just kept sleeping if I hadn't forced myself to get up when I did.

In the evening we ended up over at Jeremy and Crystal's new house to help them with painting (well, Ryan helped anyway).