Lessons From First Grade

Most of the time when Julia brings school work home, I look over it and then it goes right into the recycle bin. (Julia, if you are reading this at some later date and are offended, let me just tell you that I promise you will understand when you become a mom. As long as you are over your sneaky little hoarding tendencies by then.) Sometimes there is a gem that I like to keep, and this week there were actually two.

#1 The first was a worksheet about past, present and future. Julia had to write her own sentences using each of the tenses.

Past: "My mom washed the dishes."

Present: "I am in school. My mom washes the dishes."

Future: "My mom will wash the dishes."

I am not sure if this was a generic prompt from the teacher or if she came up with the idea for the sentences entirely on her own. Either way, she seems to think that I am much more involved with dish washing than I actually am.

#2 This one was much more tender for me. Julia was supposed to write a letter to her mom or dad, and she picked me. (Good thing I was done with my daily washing of the dishes so that I had time to read it.)

"Dear, mom

When can we play with the little peple toys. And make a breetend camp fire.

Love,
Julia"

A cute and simple request, right?

What amazes me is that she is talking about something that we did one other time, that we have never done since, and that she has somehow never forgotten. Many moons ago, before Julia was in school and back when Savanna still took naps, we took our Little People camping. They roasted marshmallows over a "breetend" fire, (tiny pieces of cotton taped to toothpicks and then taped to their bodies) set up a clothesline, (not unlike the one we hang when we go camping at the beach) and even swam in a big blue ocean. They had a blast. So did Julia and I. So much fun, in fact, that it is a cherished memory for both of us.

I didn't realize how long ago it was until I looked through the pictures to find them for this post. They were dated March 16, 2009, right before Julia's fourth birthday.

She just turned seven.

I can't decide what I am more thankful for: the fact that Julia still holds dear an afternoon of play from over three years ago, or the fact that, one day, I took the time to give my attention to a little girl whose tinyhood has since vanished. 

Whichever it is, it fills my heart is full to brimming.

What's Not to Love?

From day one, this little girl of mine has never ceased to be irresistible. She's cuddly, she's funny, she is smart as heck, and oh so adorable. If she fit in my pocket, I swear I would never let her out.

Cousin Lovin'

Over spring break, the girls and I got to spend a fabulous seven days in Cedar with my sister Cyndie and her awesome kids. Littles Lincoln and Lexa used the time to work on developing their love-hate relationship, spending the week vacillating between besties and beasties as only two-year-old cousins can do.

Sneaking my phone into a corner of Fan's 

room to watch Sesame Street videos.

(This image brought to you by Target.)

Making fast work of cake pops at the local cupcake shop

Composing a Cousin's Cantata

Bonding over new Circo cups and 

delicious Frosted Mimi-Wheats

Note: These are only the "besties" shots; all of the "beasties" moments went uncaptured.

Dressed to Impress

Ah, Easter Sunday: a time of reverence and appreciation, a time of reflection and peace.

And let's not forget that it's also a time of impromptu photo shoots in new Easter outfits with little to no cooperation on the part of the children. The girls posed for some quick after-church pictures in their usual holiday style: eating candy, squinting, looking away, and asking when we going to be done.

I suppose that next year some good-behavior bribes will be in order. 

Feeling Blah

I feel like there is something in the air that's making me feel...unmotivated. I have so much to catch up on here, and I am even on a break from school, which, theoretically, should make for ideal blogging conditions. The number of blog posts bumping around in my brain notwithstanding, I am finding that there is really only one thing that I feel like doing these days: nothing. 

Maybe it's a post-vacation depression, maybe it's the impending doom of the inherently scorching (and painstakingly lengthy) summer months, or maybe I am still sick of living at the computer screen for the entire eight weeks of my first (and overwhelmingly intense) 400-level English class at GCU. Whatever the case, aside from the occasional emptying of the dishwasher and the obligatory school pick-up and drop-off, there isn't too much I'm doing around these parts. It's a full-on funk.

I'm sure I'll shake it; I always do. And when I do, be prepared for the most amaza-zing blog posts to ever debut on this URL. 

Until then, I think I'll go find my book and put my new sweat pants back on.