Blessings 271-280!

271. Beautiful fall weather. We're heading to the beach tomorrow for a nice afternoon!

272. Kids Club. (Actually, it’s called Kids Klub, but I refuse…) I’ve been volunteering this year to help with a Christian club that meets at Julia’s school one morning a week. All I do is lead a few songs and help with crowd control, but I’m enjoying my time there.

273. Sisterly bonds.

The girls aren’t allowed to sleep together on school nights. However, if one falls asleep the other is allowed to move next to her. They wind up together nearly every night b/c of this. I’d provide a picture of them sleeping next to each other, but they tend to sleep without pajamas.

... Come to think of it, they do pretty much everything without clothes on. Hmm... is this strange? Perhaps, we should be more strict about clothes wearing at our home. Please notice the strategically placed hand and book in the next 2 pics. :)

274. I’m blessed that Julia enjoys doing her homework (most of the time)


275. Seeing Audrey cuddling with her Daddy.


276. Going to school and sitting with Julia while she ate lunch today… just because.

277. Handmedowns we received this week. We now have plenty of dresses for Julia the next couple of summers! (Assuming she bothers to put any clothes on!) They’re so cute, and some still had the tags on them. One of my coworkers gave them to us. Thank you so much!

278. A good looking 1st haircut – Audrey had her haircut for the first time last Saturday. I did it myself, and I must say it turned out looking good despite her moving around A LOT!

279. Julia taking photos and video of the first haircut since Matt was away for the weekend. I would love to post some of those pictures, but... well... you guessed it, AKB wasn't wearing any clothes.

280. Delicious desserts. We had pumpkin cheesecake last night (and there's more in the refrigerator for tonight!) and the girls split this snow cone at a local festival recently.

I felt very old today when my kid came home with her first "progress report".

September Friday nights in the South just don't feel complete without a high school football game to attend.

And because I'm a true fashion diva, my hair looks fabulous and I'm wearing plaid. Be jealous of my style. Be jealous.

First Kindergarten "Project"

Julia has homework to do regularly, but last weekend was Julia's first little project that she had to complete for school, an "All About Me Tee."

I printed off applicable logos for her to cut out and glue on. She also painted, markered, and stickered the paper up a good bit for color. The one thing I'm second guessing myself on is helping her write some of the words in that middle part. I might not should have "helped" her so much, but Julia just can't write small enough yet to fit those words in the provided space.

Julia'sFavorites:
Place to eat: Chick-fil-a
Visit: Tennessee and Kangarooz
Thing to do at home: eat and play with dollhouse
Thing to do at school: p.e. and math
Thing to do in the community: go to church and library
Food: taco's
Song: Derek and the Dominos' "Layla".
Movie: Tangled
Book: Berenstain Bears

Counting while worrying...

I've been worrying about stuff lately (because that's just what I do best) so I'm turning some of those worries into recognized blessings. Here we go.

261. My weather worries aren't currently about our safety. Yes, I'm already bailing water off our porch and clearing closets that have a history of flooding (lovely), but potentially losing "stuff" to Tropical Storm Lee doesn't give me a near panic attack like tornado warnings do.

262. A break in the rainfall at this moment.
263. A 3 day weekend with little to do (other than bail water off the porch)

264. The feeling of camaraderie I feel when wearing TN orange on game day. I'm not near many other Vols fans, but knowing family is wearing orange too makes me feel good.

265. More than expected in my paychecks last month. This isn't supposed to continue, but it's great to have for August!

266. Julia's pride in showing us around her school during Open House Thursday. On an annoying note: I made sure to bring my camera with me to take pics of Julia in her room (since I forgot on the first day) but GUESS WHAT! I forgot to take any pictures! Cameras serve no purpose if they just stay in mom's purse! grrrr....

267. Girls willing to pose for a picture when I asked. We're ready for game day! Although Julia's already taken her jersey off... "it's itchy"


268. The huge hug Audrey gave Julia immediately after this picture was taken. I might not should mention that Julia whined and cried while receiving this big huge hug.
269. TS Lee not (yet?) interfering with our College Football viewing.
270. Free Kindergarten and preschool learning games available on the computer. I have a feeling we will be using these alot during this very wet 3 day weekend.

Counting my blessings!

261. A built in workout time. 2 days this week Audrey and I decided not to just sit in the car during our wait in the carline. Instead, we pulled out the stroller and went for a 40-45 minute walk. Here's a picture of Audrey entertaining herself in the car on one of the days we didn't exercise.

262. Dinner tonight with a family from church who will be co-leading a Life Group with us. They have 2 young girls too. Those 4 sure know how to make a mess with toys!

263. Little complaining from our girls during "clean up time" following the aforementioned dinner with friends.
264. Plenty of extra food from our dinner tonight to make tomorrow a fabulous day for leftovers!
265. The sweetness of sleeping children (and a sleeping dad!)

266.Good reports reguarding Julia's behavior at school. Not only has she gotten all 5's on her report sheet each day, but according to her, Julia is 1 of 3 kids in the class that often gets to run errands for the teacher. Walking a sick friend's backpack to the principal's office, walking the lunchcount to the cafeteria, picking up cupcakes from the front office, and more!

267. Precious time playing with just Audrey today. My favorite time was spent doing a quick reenactment of Sleeping Beauty pricking her finger and then being kissed awake. We did this over and over.

268. A successful french braid "just like Julia's" - I was afraid Audrey's hair would be too thin, but it braided.

269.Children who are so proud of their schoolwork that they want to throw nothing away! I know a few people who keep EVERYTHING their child brings home from school, but I just can't bring myself to do that! Can you imagine how much "stuff/junk" that would quickly grow to be? Instead, I'll keep something occasionally, but mostly I'll take a few items and photograph them.

270. A birthday party to attend at Kangarooz tomorrow! We haven't been there since Audrey's birthday!

251-260

Showing off school clothes: Julia can wear this "field trip" shirt on Wednesdays.

A picture of Audrey is required if I take a picture of Julia.

If you'll remember, awhile back I started a 1,000 Blessings list for myself and vowed to list no less than 10 blessings a week. I've really been slacking lately on the blessings and on blogging in general. Perhaps with school back in session I'll get back into a blessings/blogging routine.

251. Julia enjoying her first few days of school. She hasn't cried at all.

252. My school day tears not occuring until after dropping Julia off. I didn't cry the first day, but I cried the next 2 days at drop off and a couple of days at pick up too.

253. Audrey having NO PROBLEMS going into her preschool class. We were a little concerned because at preschool orientation all she would do was sit in the rocking chair in her class, rock back and forth, repeating "I don't like my new friends. I don't like my new friends." She's been just fine with her new teacher and new friends.

254. Audrey enjoying waiting in the carline at school. Julia's school gets out at 2:45. I'd heard (and have now experienced) that the carline can be LONG, so this week we have gotten there extra early (2:05-2:10) in order to be towards the front of the line. Despite the blazing heat, I turn the car off, roll down the windows, and allow Audrey to climb up front with me. She gets the biggest kick out of sitting in the front seat! We make sure to bring along ice water, crayons/color sheets, and a snack.

255. "Up Daddy home day" is today, and Audrey gets Mommy and Daddy all to herself! Daddy has played barbies and now Audrey is watching Snow White. We haven't watched Snow White in a long time because Julia insists she's terrified of the mean Queen. Audrey's enjoying not having to share parental attention for a little while!

256. A not too strict "resttime" for Julia. Julia has learned alot this week. Each day she's telling me the backstory of one of her classmates. I have since learned that this information is mostly exchanged during the 40 minutes long rest time. If pure quiet was required, we'd be getting alot of notes home!

257. The excitement of "homework." Starting Tuesday this week, we have an assignment every day but Friday. The first night of homework (pictured below) was to write her first name 3 times and to draw a picture of herself.

258. A yummy french toast breakfast with Matt and Audrey (I did make eggs for Julia before she left). Audrey wouldn't eat any french toast, but that just means I have leftovers for Julia to have breakfast for lunch at school tomorrow. Any other ideas for lunches? I'd like to steer clear of the peanut butter/turkey sandwich rut!

259. Insider reports on Julia. A teenager we know well from church, Breanna, comes to the Elementary school in the afternoons. Breanna has been helping inside with the kids waiting for the carline. She said that most of the Kindergartners don't know their names, especially not their last name. (I find this weird... 5 year old should know their name!) The teachers and aides have to go up and down the hallway reading name tags as the carline names get called in from the walkie talkie because just calling out the names gets them nowhere. Breanna reported to us Tuesday night that when the call came in for "Bowman. Julia Bowman" Julia raised her hand and said "I'm Bowman." Matt finds this funny that she's already referring to herself as just "Bowman." I find this funny because while Julia knows her name, the school does not. It apparently was put into the computer wrong because her name is on everything as "Bowan"

260. Fun packages received in the mail. We now have 2 Rapunzel wigs in our home. Thanks, Mammy.