Another long update

Well, as is completely obvious it has been forever since I last updated again. I am rarely home with both girls asleep and a husband at work in which I have time to update (and 9:00 at night is generally time for TV and wine- not blogs). But, with Monsoon 2009 striking last night I am surprisingly off of work and at home with the two girls napping while Clint is at his work dealing with literally 15 leaks in his store. Fabulous!

Life around here remains chaotic but it is great! Our routine is settling in quite nicely and both girls have adjusted amazingly well. I couldn't ask for anymore.

Natalie's teacher is back and has been back for a while after about 2 weeks out to deal with her father passing. Natalie loves her. There are only 3 full time kids in Natalie's class and 2 part time kids. So, there is just the one teacher from 8-5 so Natalie has developed a great relationship with her. Natalie is also pottying like a pro there. She has 1-2 accidents a day. She continues to eat like there is no tomorrow but she's getting taller (all in her torso just like Mel) so her belly isn't quite as huge (but it still is QUITE prominent!). She is saying more things and finally signs regularly for me. Her favorite two are more and help and she signs and apprx. words for them constantly. Her new fav thing to say is "One more" She'll hold up one finger and tell you one more for EVERYTHING until she gets 20 more of whatever. She needs "one more" book forever before bed. We've had to scoot her bed time WAAAAAY earlier to prevent some of the meltdowns. She is down now between 7:15-7:30. It makes life easier for EVERYONE!

Melanie is continuing to be a smart, social butterfly at school. She takes dance and an activity called PlayBall there where they learn various developmentally appropriate pre-sport skills. It is so cool to watch how they teach different things- they teach in ways I would have never thought of and they just jump into a sport b/c they claim a child's body is not developmentally ready for most sports, just certain skills of each sport and they only teach as the body shows it is ready for the next skill. Also, just part of the Legacy curriculum is a "special" of the county librarian coming in 1x per week for 1 month of each season, and a Spanish teacher coming in 1x/week every week of the school year (Ms. Lucy- I'm learning alot from her too!), and a music teacher coming in 1x/week. The ways all the various teachers teach things teaches me so much. It's so neat to see things taught in a developmental fashion in a daycare rather than in an academic fashion in a public school. It just goes to show that it is really best for the kids that can socially and cognitively handle it, a daycare is a more appropriate place for a 3-4 year old rather than a public elementary school.

I love my job these days. I got all of the kinks worked out from the first few weeks and it's been smooth sailing since then. The people I work with have been nothing but super nice to me and I've learned a lot about the GA Pre-K system, which I have to say again, I've been quite impressed with! My run is in just a couple of weeks. I think I am ready! I was in for quite an adventure when Elizabeth and I got stuck in pretty heavy rain with thunder 5 miles in this past Saturday. We ended up having to call Clint to bail us out. It was quite a funny hour.

Clint is trucking along figuring out things at work as Sherwin William's tries to weather all of the economic changes taking place in the world. But so far his company and his job all seem pretty secure so we couldn't ask for more. He is slowly settling in to the reality that he truly lives with 3 girls. These days Natalie isn't often found without a purse, sunglasses, her lovey, and a baby. Clint thinks to himself, "Dear God, her too?" I think he was secretly hoping she would be a tomboy...so far it is not looking too promising :)

Last weekend we watched the Teck's kid and the Jackson's dogs. So we had a 1,2,3, &5 year old kid and 4 dogs for the weekend. It was crazy. I don't think I will ever want 4 kids (ages 5 and under) and 4 dogs...EVER! It was a bit too much "kid planning" and a bit too little "adult planning." I told my dad I have no idea how his mom did it. Though the boys were not quite that close in age they were pretty close. I bet she was tired for many of her years of life!

The random pictures were from a family activity we did a couple of weeks ago I found in one of my teacher magazines. You make flashcards with numbers or number words on them and then you make fish (with a paperclip that is magnetic) with numbers on them. Then you make a fishing pole and go fishing for the fish that matches your flashcard. Clint and Melanie had the task of creating the fishing pole. I didn't give any instructions or show him the picture from the magazine- which was my error. He came back with a pole made out of the broom handle (quite large for the girls to handle). After quite a laugh by me I explained the whole activity and he came back with 2 poles made out a spatula, dental floss and our magnets at the end. The girls were so funny fishing. They could care less about matching to the flashcards after about 5 rounds and just wanted to fish. It was fun.