A New Blogger in the House

I have been swamped!! Marion has had chicken pox for the last week and a half... it seems as if they are never going away at this point. I naively volunteered to be room mom for Grace's class. I thought that meant organizing their parties... yep, it meant that, along with organizing field day, and, oh yeah, our class's game at the big Seafood Jamboree this weekend! Anyway, I've been super busy, and I'm sorry for not keeping up more.

Jeremy has started a blog! He plans to document the progress of his shop and woodworking projects. He titled it Slices of the Honey Do, but I propose a new title... Why the Honey Do Goes Unfinished!! He's just getting started, check it out!

Slices of the Honey Do

Another Year of Mommy and Me

Marion in "The Chair"
Marion is here today, Marion is here today, Let's all clap together, 'cause our Marion is here today :)

This was her favorite part today, she collected lots of balls and dropped them in.

Marion, playing with a mask Grace made at school!

Uh oh, caught!! Marion being naughty! She climbed up onto the art desk!

Reading and Writing... It's Begun!!

Only a few weeks in to 4 year old Pre-K, my baby girl can read very simple books, and spell well enough that I can tell what she means!!

Can you read it?? I CAN!!! Little Miss Muffett was the nursery rhyme of the week at school. Grace made this drawing and wrote out the rhyme all by herself... no help!! Grace amazes me every day :)

The catalogs of Halloween costumes have been coming lately and Grace just loves to look at them. She wrote me this note describing what she thought we should all be (I decoded a bit in the gray marker!)...

Grace has Library class once a week at school. She now writes books at home, sits with them at a desk and has me "check-out" books from her library! It is so cute!!

Here is one of her first books...

"Baby, Hush Please!"
"Made by Grace"

"This (Dis) book has been made in 2010"

"Mom said, "Please Baby!"

"No, said Baby."

"Baby, go to bed!!"
I'm not sure what that last line is, I'll have to ask!!

This is from the first week of school.

Grace made this at school last week. When I saw it in her folder, I wondered if the teacher was as surprised as I was to see Grace spell and write so well!

"My Favorite Colors"

*cough* *cough*

It's been a while, and I really do have things to tell about, I just haven't gotten it done. One of my excuses is that I'm stressed... over a cough. An oh-so-constant cough that Grace has had for almost 3 weeks now. There are no other symptoms, and the cough is non-productive. It can best be described as an insatiable tickle in her throat. Yes, we've been to the doctor. Her lungs were clear and her throat looked good. She was treated for allergies, asthma, and a sinus infection... it's been A LOT of medicine. Still, the problem persists, *cough* *cough.*

I've now had two people (one was the doctor, the other was her teacher's husband) tell me that a cough can become a habit for a child. Seriously?! Well, she does stop when she's very focused on something, hmmm...

Tonight I tried a new approach. Grace really wants a Pandora bracelet and has been saving her quarter a day allowance to buy one. I know, my 4 year old wants a Pandora bracelet , it's crazy... welcome to the suburbs. In my defense, they do make one in her size, so we aren't alone in our craziness. Anyway, prepare yourselves... tonight I offered her money, not much, just a nickel and a dime ;), if she could stop coughing. It's working, at least for now. She didn't cough at dance and coughed very minimally at home tonight (I just kept threatening to take the money back! You may be reading this and thinking I'm quite crazy, even mean... but I'm doing what I have to do for my sanity!! It does seem to be at least somewhat habitual. I'll let you know...