Summer Goals and Pic A Day Friday June 8-13

It's officially Friday, the end of the first week of summer vacation!  I beg of you, someone anyone PLEASE explain exactly what summer vacation means to Chloe! Her idea of summer vacation thus far means rising with the chickens and taking pitifully short naps.  That being said, I do feel like I've been more productive than is my usual during the school year. I've been able to run to the bank at my leisure, get the car registration renewed that's been out since last September (shh!), and, the big one, my house is clean and the laundry isn't over flowing!  Honestly, I guess I just may owe Chloe a 'thank you.' I'm not sure that I would be so productive on my own clock. Seriously, let me put this into perspective. Today, Chloe woke me up at exactly 6:58am, and according to her daddy and the chair that was pushed up to the open refrigerator, she had already been up for a few minutes.  We didn't have to leave for her swim lessons until 9:40ish.  In that amount of time, which I surely would have slept away on my own clock, I was able to feed her a warm breakfast, clean up the kitchen, bathe Spanky, promptly stick his butt outside to dry, clean the bathrooms, vacuum all carpeted areas, and start a load of clothes.  Oh, and of course, get both of us dressed, teeth brushed, and hair combed.  I walked out the door feeling like I had a pretty successful start to our day. For that, I will swallow my pride and say that maybe there is a silver lining to my sleepless wonder of a child.  But still, it sure would be nice to sleep in every once in a while.

With summer, comes my annual "to do" list. I've been making them for years.  It's typically my version of spring cleaning, a list of everything I need to do around the house before I go back to school.  This week, I decided to have a "dead" week where I don't do much of anything aside from the normal, but I did make my list. My goal is always by the end of summer to have the whole list crossed out. I also made a new kind of list, a "to do with Chloe" list. Next week she will be three. THREE! Time is flying by, and I know I really need to savor every minute of it making memories as we go. Here are my two lists. We will start on both next week.

At the end of the summer, I'll come back to these lists and you can see how much we were able to accomplish on each list.

And now, on to Pic A Day Friday. Our week this week is starting on Sunday rather than Saturday. Apparently, I didn't take a single picture all day Saturday!

Sunday:

After a fun couple of hours at Urban Air, there's nothing like a mommy/Chloe selfie before she passes out for the drive home.

Monday:

It goes without saying that Chloe is missing Jakki. ALL week long she has colored pictures, placed them in envelopes sealed with just about a whole roll of tape, and put them in my purse or swim bag. Each time I ask her what is in the envelope, her response is, "Oh, it's just an email for my Jakki." #lovethisgirl

Tuesday:

Tuesday was a busy day.  Since it rained all day Monday, Tuesday was Chloe's first official day of summer swim lessons.  During the school year, we take a picture each morning to send to daddy. This summer, it will be a picture on the way to swim lessons. This was his first one of the summer.

After swim lessons, Chloe and I rushed home to get ready for the Northwest High School graduation. Here we are with miss Lindsey, one of my very special girls from the class of 2014.

This moved me.  Draped in the chair that Thomas would have sat in was his graduation robe.

 Wednesday:

Thursday started out rough. As you all know, last week, Chloe gave up her paci. All things considered, it went fairly smoothly, with only a few minor break downs.  Until Thursday....the day in which Chloe miraculously found her paci tucked away in a toy. That sneaky sleuth had hidden one in there long ago I guess. 

 Needless to say, it didn't end well.

I felt horrible. She wasn't having a tantrum. She was crying like I hurt her feelings worse than anyone ever had.  I could NOT  get her to stop crying. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and out came the Easter candy.

...followed by the pool. That paci was long forgotten. :)

Thursday:

It was 71 degrees, on and off rain, why not have a freezing cold swim lesson?

 Friday:

 

Just another morning picture for daddy!

This weekend is guaranteed to be filled with summer sun and fun! Then, on Wednesday, Chloe turns THREE! It will all be documented on next week's edition of Pic A Day Friday!

Till next time,

Lori

A Whirlwind Few Days

Phew! It's been a while since I was able to find a few spare minutes to log on and blog! I've been super busy, but I can't really say with any one thing in particular. It's just the life of a mom. :) Ya know, go, go, go...

This weekend Rusty had to work, so Chloe and I loaded up and headed over to my Mamaw's house. She got out of the hospital late last week, and we wanted to check up on her and see how she was feeling. GOOD NEWS! She looked great, is feeling better, and is CANCER FREE!!! God is good!  We had a great time visiting with Mamaw, Mimi, and Ashley.  Before we were about to head back home, Ashley and Chloe stumbled upon the cutest little black and white kitten. The poor thing's eyes were crusted shut.  So, Ashley and I went into rescue mode, got some wet towels, and cleaned the poor kitty's eyes up enough so she could open them. Mimi put some eye drops in the eyes, but that's about all we could do. In the long run, I'm not sure if it helped since she probably has an eye infection, but at least for the moment the poor cat probably felt a bit better.

Saturday was also the day the news came out the that Kidd Kraddick had passed away. I was pretty shocked and saddened. I've listened to him for what seems like my entire life. I feel so invested! When you listen to someone for that long, it's hard to imagine them gone. So many thoughts ran through my head: "His poor daughter!", "Maybe it's a hoax!", "What will happen to the show??", "I WILL NOT listen to Terry Dorsey!" Haha on the last one. It was a true thought, but more of a sarcastic, lighten the mood kind of thought. I will say this though.  I wouldn't know what to do and would be so lost if I didn't get to wake up with the KKITM cast, but I really don't know how they could ever go on and have the same kind of show without Kidd. He was what made that show great. Ho hum, who knows...I guess only time will tell. RIP Kidd, you will be truly missed by millions.

On Monday, Chloe had swim lessons. Yes, she's still swimming with a paci. #dontjudge  It takes true talent to swim 20 seconds, never choke on water, and never lose a paci! Here's a picture of her and her coach, Miss Kendall.

If you're just itching to see my girl in action, click HERE!

Tuesday was a day at home, and Jade came over for a short bit in the afternoon. Chloe was beside herself with excitement. She's never really had kids over to play with, so I was a bit worried about the whole "sharing toys" idea, but she did great! She was showing Jade all of her different toy bins, offered her a snack and drink (no, I'm not kidding) and had a blast playing with someone besides mommy.  In fact, when Jade left, the water works/fit/heartbreak began. She was just devastated. :(

Today, we met up with Mandi, Avery, Laura, and Selah for a little mommy/daughter play date. It was so much fun! The girls wore themselves out, us mommies got to have adult conversation time, and it has made for an easy nap time today! All in all, success! (Minus the whole ending where some kid pooped on the third floor of the playscape. THANK GOODNESS Chloe never went past the second floor!)

Speaking of naps, tomorrow I will be posting "An Ode To Naptime" Part 2. We are making headway people! :)

Till then,

Lori