August Book Basket...

Since August is back to school month here in Georgia we are going with a school/ABC themed collection. A smattering of this and that with a few favorites thrown in for good measure. I'm already itching to start compiling books for September, October, November, and December. I really do love the second half of the year because the weeks pass quickly and we go from one season/holiday to the next. Plus, it means the return of college football. :) Anyone else eagerly looking forward to the next few months?

Anyways, here's what we have for this month:

Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney
Llama Llama Time to Share by Anna Dewdney
Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer
The Best Teacher Ever by Mercer Mayer
The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola
Ruby the Copycat by Peggy Rathmann
Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard and James Marshall
Miss Nelson is Back by Harry Allard and James Marshall
Miss Nelson has a Field Day by Harry Allard and James Marshall
If You Take a Mouse to School by Felicia Numeroff
The Colors of Us by Karen Katz
I'd Choose You by John Trent
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Best First Book Ever by Richard Scarry

The Hullabaloo ABC by Beverly Clearly
Alphababies by Kim Golding
Capital! Washington D.C. from A to Z by Laura Krauss Melmed and Frane Lessac
Journey Around Boston from A to Z by Martha Day Zschock
P is for Passport A World Alphabet by Devin Scillian
P is for Peach A Georgia Alphabet by Carol Crane
ABCs of Baseball by Peter Golenbock
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg

And it dawns on me...

...that in a few short weeks AG will be home all day with me and Avi-Kate. Don't get me wrong I'm excited about summer vacation. BUT it will mean that I need to restructure my day and how things get done. It's also going to mean that I need to have activities lined up for us to do throughout the week. AG loves doing things hands on and so I need to get myself organized and prepared for what lies ahead in the coming weeks. I also feel like that while AG is young we do need to have some hands on materials for him for our trip to Williamsburg to make connections. I started researching possibilities and have yet to find anything that is developmentally appropriate and well put together. Most likely I'm going to make my own 'lap book' for him to work in. We'll see what I come up with. And while I'm on school type activities I am probably going to have to do some sort of Tot School this summer for AKs because she is quite insistent that she be included in whatever 'Bubba' is doing. On the upside she colors/holds writing utensils much better than AG did at this age. She is also starting to prefer her left hand when she holds a crayon/pencil. Last night, while out to dinner with my parents, I watched her hold a crayon with her right hand...try to color...then switch to her left hand because she like it better. She did this repeatedly every single time she switched crayons. This left handed mom is slightly optimistic that maybe I won't be the only lefty in the family.

It also dawns on me that...

I need to get with it on the birthday party planning for Avi-Kate. I can't believe she is going to be two in a month. Over the weekend I was looking at my calendar and realized that in all reality I need to have said party planned/ready to go before we leave for Williamsburg so that I'm not scrambling when we come home.

Here's to a productive next few weeks...not to mention the ideas I've schemed up to do around the house. :)

Words for Wednesday...All About AG Edition.

AG was Child of the Week last week and we had to make a poster for him to share with his classmates. I asked AG all the questions and wrote down all of his answers accordingly. He was over the moon to share his 'homework' with everyone the next day. AG is loving school these days. We are only paying for him to go half day at the moment (since I stay at home it seems silly in my mind to pay for a full day!) but he'd probably be okay if we'd let him stay for a full day. And I'm already mulling the possibility of giving him the option of full day preschool next year. We'll see how things continue before we make that call. Every day when I pick him up he tells me he doesn't want to leave. It's a sweet reminder that he's where he needs to be. That he's growing up and learning how to be independent. We've always said that our goal is to raise adults not children because one day they will leave the nest and have to spread their wings. Our hope and prayer is that when that day comes we've given them all the tools in the world to be successful and make a name for themselves. And so taking small steps of independence, like going to preschool, takes us a little closer to our goal in the end. Here are a few pictures of him with his poster...forgive his wild mane...he's since gotten it cut. :)

School Days are here...

Well, hot dog! Blogger decided this morning to cooperate and allow me to access pictures from the last few weeks. (Get ready for a slew of updates!) Anyways, here are AG's first day of school pictures. He's now in his fourth week of school and learning lots. He has had some moments for growth and learning how to adapt to new situations. However, overall I think this has been a great transition for him. He's done very well and although he has some mornings when he declares he doesn't need to go to school that day when we pick him up he's very happy. Two of our college girls are living in the building literally next door to his classroom and he loves being able to go visit them before/after school. I am grateful that we have the opportunity to send AG to Berry. To a place where Andy and I learned many valuable lessons in and out of the classroom. Our hope and prayer is that AG will be shaped by these same lessons. That he would gain not only 'head knowledge' but knowledge for his heart and hands as well over these next few years. So, here's to the first of many 'First Day of School' pictures at Berry College. AG, we can't believe what a wonderful young man you are growing up to be. We are so proud of you and love watching you conquer new situations. We can't wait to see what all you learn this year.

After dropping AG off Avi-Kate and I headed up to mountain campus to Berry Elementary and Middle School to see GrandMary. We spent the morning working in her classroom...Avi-Kate exploring her future kindergarten classroom and me doing my yearly activities to help Mary get ready for the upcoming school year. I've got one more year of doing it before I'll have a kid in Mary's classroom and that is crazy to me. At the same time I'm elated and can't wait for AG to start kindergarten. She's the best of the best and there really is no one quite like her. I'm just grateful that I was placed in her classroom ten years to be a student worker. GrandMary, we love you and can't wait to be in kindergarten! :)

Random Saturday Musings...

...lots of things rolling around in my head at the moment. This is the start of my favorite time of the year. Don't get me wrong as a gardner I love all the promises spring brings us each year. I also love spending time in the pool and at the beach each summer. However, with the arrival of school we have football season gearing up, the arrival of cooler temperatures, fall colors, and a season of Thanksgiving as a segway in to the Christmas season. Lots of excitement for the coming months and all that they will bring.

-In a few weeks, most likely around Labor Day, I'll start pulling out my fall stuff for the house. I need to swing by and pick up my favorite hand soap of all time from Bath and Body Works...Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin. Also, need to pick up a new fall candle to burn while I am there. In addition, I need to switch out the bedding in our room. (Post on that to come.) This also gives me time to finish my fall wreath I'm working on that I've put on hold the last few weeks.

-AG's first week of school went great. He LOVED it. We had no issues with him crying or being upset...clearly a sign that he was ready. This week was a little crazy and I didn't get much done around the house while he was in class BUT I can see that I will be able to tackle several projects in the coming weeks with just Avi-Kate to look after.

-Avi-Kate is enjoying having one on one time with us while AG is away. I'm grateful she gets to have this time.

-My goal this week is to really tackle the chaos in our bedroom...it's driving me nuts. I've started working on it today, actually, so we'll see how it goes.

-I went dumpster diving this week at Berry. Correction. I found a bunch of loot in a dumpster and Andy went in to retrieve it for me. :) Found some patterned metal for a project I've been mulling for the kitchen window for over a year now. Also, came up with two old doors. At the moment they are going to be regulated to the cellar but I'm trying to figure out a plan for one of them to be used in this house. The other door will just be held on to for the time being. Poor Andy he smiles and appeases me but I do think he shakes his head sometimes when I find my latest 'treasure'. Ha. I promise there is a method to my madness!

-Christmas. Yep, already started jotting down gift ideas for the kids. I've got a few things already that we've decided to do and I plan to start shopping slowly over the next few months. So as to space it out and be budget conscious. A few things we'll bring back from Disney...I'll space those out too. Buying some in October and some when we return for our Christmas trip.

-Andy has been working hard around the yard. Pressure washing everything. He's almost done and then we'll move on to some other yard projects that are season related.

-AG had another laser treatment on his hemangioma yesterday and it went well. He's happily running around the house and chasing Avi-Kate. You'd never know that he had surgery yesterday.

-I'm working on coupons and grocery lists for today. I'm trying to find a groove/rhythm for our new routine with AG in school. This includes grocery shopping, cooking, meals, etc. Over the summer I slacked in my couponing and freezer stashing of meals. I'm in the process of getting back on the bandwagon for both. I am planning to cook several things this week and stash half of it in the freezer.

There you have it...a little bit of what I'm mulling and pondering as I go about my day. Happy Saturday.

Quick updates...

Goodness gracious where has the time gone?!

Are we really in August? So, here's a sound off of things that are going around here...

-School. AG requested a baseball bookbag for his school year and thankfully, Pottery Barn had one that was 'AG approved'. Now, I'm hoping it arrives for the first day of school which is MONDAY! Yes, school starts for AG on Monday. Crazy. I can't believe it. Tonight we have Open House to check out his classroom and meet new friends. Again, it really boggles my mind. BUT we are excited. :)

-Avi-Kate is walking every where and she is quite the monkey.

See life is really hectic at the moment...I started this post on Thursday and didn't get a chance to even finish it. So, let's try this again...

-AG loved, loved, loved visiting his school for Open House! He kept telling us that everything was "just my size!" In our haste to be on time we put Avi-Kate in the car sans shoes and didn't realize this till after we had arrived. Oh, well. Live and learn...and laugh.

-We are watching Olympics non-stop. AG pretty much imitates whatever sport we are watching at the moment. Our favorite to watch him preform is diving. He lines up the bean bags in the den and drags his little red chairs over next to them and then proceeds to 'dive' in to them. It's hysterical...the best are when he does 'backflips'.

-The new couch arrived last week and I'm going to post pictures...but it's FABULOUS. (sigh) I really think I would just like to live on it full time. After relaxing on it for a week I can undertand why Pottery Barn uses the word 'comfort' in it's name. It really is very comfortable and every evening once the kids are in bed I relish sinking down in to it to watch the Olympics. :)

-Today has been spent rotating the kids toys out of the attic and organizing the play area. I guess it's the teacher in me that wants it revamped for the school year.

-I need to do a full post on the latest with the backyard but a quick update is that we had our lot surveyed and found out some great news...our backyard actually extends 21 feet beyond the back of our fence!

-Andy and my Dad some yard work yesterday. Cutting down some small trees and clearing out some growth. Plus, hauling some stuff to the dump. I'm looking forward to it cooling off in a few weeks (I hope!) so we can get out and do some heavy yard work.

-Avi-Kate went to the GI doctor on last Monday to let him check her out after we had three random vomiting episodes over the span of a week. Basically I wanted her to be seen so that if it happens again we can go from there. He said it's highly possible that what happened that week was a CVS episode given that it was identical to AG's episodes. He was glad that we brought her in so he could look her over and document things. The plan is to just wait and see what happens...we'll go from there. I feel better about all of it now that she's been seen.

-I'm in the process of researching jogging/running strollers. My hope is to get one soon so that I can start using it during the week while AG is in school. My plan is to drop him off and then strap Avi-Kate in so I can run on campus at Berry. I just need to narrow it down and then order it from Amazon. Oh, how I love Amazon Prime.

-Avi-Kate is a full fledge Braves fan...she starts doing 'The Chop' anytime she hears the music. And speaking of the Braves we took her to her first Braves game at Turner Field this past Friday. She did great but she's not in to it the way AG is. I think his status as a diehard fan has been cemented. I had to beg him to eat part of a hotdog...he was too engrossed in the game. He loves every single thing about the game.

-Our season tickets for UGA arrived this past week! Glory, glory. We are really looking forward to Saturdays in Athens this fall. I'm glad that our first game is now less than a month away.

I'm sure there are several things that I'm leaving out but at the moment this is all I've got. I'll be back with Disney updates soon.

Random updates on life...

Here's a random update on life:
Kids
~Last Monday, I took AG to visit his preschool. In a few weeks I'm not going to know what to do with myself when he's in school 5 days a week. I think we are going to sign Avi-Kate up for her first Kindermusik class while AG is in school. That'll be something fun to do with her one on one. This winter she'll be 18 months old and I plan to put her in a 'gymnastics' aka tumbling class. She has turned in to quite the monkey and has ridiculous balance on objects for being 13 months old. I think the plan is for AG to do Kindermusik at preschool and then do soccer this fall for the first time.
~AG is fully potty trained! As in, I haven't bought pull-ups since May. He's had one accident at night so far. I haven't wanted to post this due to jinx-ing it but it seems to be permanent now. HOORAY! I'm quite proud. He also outgrew all of his undies and enjoyed shopping for new ones a few weeks ago. I had to buy them from the actual boys section and not the infant/toddler section. That was really weird! First time for everything, right?
~Avi-Kate is walking full time now! She decided last Monday to start walking every where. Before that she was walking when she wanted but it was just a few steps here/there. And never on command. She's getting really good at it and is able to walk from the kitchen to the den without stopping. (Quite an impressive feat since our kitchen is incredibly long!) HOORAY for Avi-Kate!
~I pre-registered the other day for the kids to meet Santa at Phipps again. Crazy to be thinking about the holidays but they'll be here before we know it.

House
~I'm working on getting things organized for the school year and set up the way I want them so that when AG starts school in a few weeks we can really establish a new routine. I'm getting a bunch of homekeeping stuff together (post on that coming, soon! I'm documenting with pictures as I go.) and organizing some random stuff. I've also been purging stuff to donate.
~The ottoman arrived for the den the other day via UPS and the sofa should be here soon. I'm excited to see it in the den...I really need to figure out the fabric to put on the chair so I can get that recovered soon.
~I'm looking forward to putting out fall decorations, candles, etc. in a few short weeks. I've a got few projects pinned on Pinterest that I wanted to get ready for the fall...one of which I started last year and never finished due to having an infant  and two year old at the time. It's a little easier to do things now and once AG is in school I can craft during Avi-Kate's nap time. At least I'm hoping to do that once a week...ask me if that's realistic in a few weeks. :)


Andy and I
~Both registered for our first half marathon in January. We are renting Disney Vacation Club points for the first time and staying at Saratoga Springs. Which we are excited about trying that out. It'll be a super short trip because it falls right before the start of tax season.
~I'm also registered to run the Princess Half in February at Disney with my sister, Caroline, and my sister-in-law, Caroline. :) Along with several of my Berry Education friends...Evan, Jenn, Jessi, and Amanda. Should be a really fun weekend. I'm really looking forward to it. I currently have a room reserved at Port Orleans Riverside for Caroline, Caroline, and myself with the running discount. I went ahead and snagged it. I may change it if the Annual Pass discount for February is cheaper but we won't know that for a few more months. We'll see.
~Andy also got a road bike last week and is looking forward to biking on his days off from running.


College Family
~They are slowly trickling back in to Rome. In the next few weeks several more will return with the remainder here by the end of August. Classes resume that last Monday of August this year. We are ready to have them back and in the house. Summers are quiet with them gone. Although, we are enjoying having the ones that are Romans for the summer over. Last Tuesday night several of the girls came over for a porch night after the kids were in bed. Andy was out of town and it was wonderful to catch up with them.

Hope everyone is having a good Monday. I'm off to be productive...

Meet AG's GrandMary...

For those of you who don't know this would be AG's GrandMary. She is also known as the Queen of all things Kindergarten and THE Tooth Fairy (I can't even begin to guess how many teeth she has pulled in her 30+ years of teaching.) When I was a student at Berry I was assigned to work in Mary's Kindergarten Classroom at Berry Elementary as my on campus job. It was a match made in heaven. I adored working for her and learning everything I could from her. My sophomore year I even arranged my schedule so that I could work all day Tuesdays and Thursdays for her. She is hands down one of the most talented and gifted teachers I have ever known. She LOVES what she does 150%. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that. Ask anyone who knows her and they will agree with me. I know people dread the day their child goes to Kindergarten...I on the other hand can't wait because I know first hand what an amazing year my child is going to have. It will be one of the most memorable years of his school career.

Mary became one of my dear friends over the course of my time at Berry. And so when we told her two years ago that I was pregnant (after much squealing and excitement) she informed us that AG would call her GrandMary...her grandmother name of choice. I asked how that would work when he came to Kindergarten...she said we'd cross that bridge when we got there. When people ask us if we have family in Rome we always reply with a "yes--in a way" and a smile.

Every year I help Mary get her classroom ready for the upcoming school year. Last week AG and I spent three days helping get things together. This time last year AG played contentedly on a blanket with a few toys. This year he enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny. He mastered climbing the stairs (both ways) to the loft. (Even tested out gravity by throwing a few things from the loft!) Played in the housekeeping area. Colored in the writing center. Admired the fish and turtles. Opened every cabinet to learn what goes where. Even discovered how to use the PC in the classroom. (Which Mary and I were quite impressed with since at home we only have MACs.) Played with the blocks. Tried out a resting mat. Familiarized himself with the art table. Mastered all the chairs in the classroom, how to operate the water fountain in the hall, and putting the boys bathroom pass on and off. If he could go to Kindergarten tomorrow he would. :)

Mary, we love you more than you know! Thanks for being AG's GrandMary. Thanks for being my dear friend. We can't wait for AG to start school.

Ps- I call dibs on being your Room Mom for the school year 2014-2015.