Mother to Daughter

Above all, remember to treat people the way you would want to be treated.* And remember that your sister will be your best friend for your whole life, no matter what comes. Treat each other with love and respect and kindness. * Don’t listen to rumors; and don’t fall prey to spreading rumors. * Be true to yourself and always follow your "gut" feelings. They are usually right. * Dishonesty never pays. * Quiet time is a good thing. It is always good to get back in touch with your own thoughts. * Being right is not always the most important thing, but being considerate is almost always important. * Don’t let people treat you badly – never shy away from standing up for yourself (or each other) * Attitude really is everything. If you approach life with a good attitude even the most unpleasant tasks are not so bad. * Pray * Even when you think something is impossible, don’t be afraid to give it a try. You might just surprise yourself with the things you can accomplish. * Lying never works out well. Tell the truth, even if you have to do it carefully so as not to hurt someone. * Trust God and love each other *

Game Night

On Friday, Big Girl was under the weather. She had a virus and a nasty fever and spent the day at home. Saturday she was a little better but still not feeling great. However, she was feeling good enough to get “cabin fever” from being at home with little to do for two days except watch TV and rest.

So, we broke out the board games on Saturday night and played Scrabble together.

What started out as four separate “teams” turned quickly into two “teams” playing. What was interesting was how hard it was to make words even when we had fourteen letters to use (instead of the usual seven). You would think it would’ve been easier. But, when you have six “A’s” and few consonants, I don’t think it matters much.

We had a good time, though. I was very proud of the girls’ spelling ability and their creativity in coming up with words. SuperMan’s creativity was impressive, too – especially his “creative spelling” on a few words.

I’m looking forward to more game nights this winter.

Wordless Wednesday

Knit one…

My babies are learning to knit.

They are having such fun. It’s a Saturday class and the lady who is teaching them is so patient and kind. Much more patient than I would be.

And they’re having a blast.

Losing Innocence

Image via Wikipedia

We had lots of drama and trauma this morning. All before 7:30 in the morning.

Driving to school these days, Big Girl sits in the front seat. She is very proud of the fact that she is now big enough to legally sit there and likes to be “in charge” of the radio and environmental controls wherever we go.

This morning, however, I was wishing she was still in the back seat.

We were driving down a stretch of road that, for our rural area, is fairly busy in the mornings with commuters and mommies headed to school carpool lines. There was a car in front of us and we were cruising along when out of nowhere a raccoon dashed out of the tall grass on the side of the road and in front of the car in front of us.

I quickly told Big Girl “don’t look, don’t look,” but I think it was too late.

The poor raccoon was rolled under the car as the driver was traveling too fast to stop and to swerve to avoid the creature would’ve surely meant a wreck.

It was the first time she’s ever seen anything like that. Understandably, she was very traumatized. (hysterical is a more accurate description, actually)

My poor baby.

How do you explain to a child those split-second decisions you make where you choose the safety of yourself and, most likely, the children riding in the car with you, over saving a creature’s life? She is such an animal fanatic that all she could think about was the poor animal dying and that the person had not even swerved or slowed down.

As a driver (and a mom) I can only imagine what went through that driver’s mind in the milliseconds before they hit the raccoon.

I hate that she had to see that. I hate that a little bit her innocence was taken away today.

I know it’s part of life. I know that she is going to see things and experience things that I will want to shield her from – and that seeing a raccoon get hit by a car is probably one of the milder things. (although I hope and pray not)

Big Girl is also dealing with some new realities this year at school. Fourth grade involves a lot more responsibilities (and less hand-holding) than last year – they actually change classes! And, she is dealing with the realization that some friends are not “forever friends” but more friends of a season – and that it’s ok that people move on to find other friends.

I hate knowing that I can’t wrap that protective bubble around my babies anymore. I want to keep them safe in the cocoon of mommy’s protection and shield them from anything negative or harmful. Unfortunately, life is not that way. Kids grow up, expand their horizons and experience new things – not all of them good.

Watching her deal with these things is hard. I want to swoop in and fix everything – make it all better and sunshine and roses for her. But, I know I can’t. I know she has to work through some of this on her own.

And I know that my job now is to be there to support and guide her as she learns how to deal with these things – as a big girl, not a little one.

But I still wish I could pull her into my lap and keep her there, safe, forever.

And so it begins

School started today.

The girls were so excited, bounding out of bed without any moans or groans
(I know it won’t last, but I’m enjoying it while it does)

Warm biscuits for breakfast, chased down with some chocolate milk, and we were out the door.

Well, after a little photo session, that is.

They wanted me to walk them in to their classrooms. I was only to happy to do so… glad they still want me to be a part of that part of their first day.

BUT

Once inside the halls of school, they walked ahead of me, chatting and laughing with their friends. I was just the pack-horse-mom carrying the 85 tons of school supplies to their classroom.

Still, it was fun to watch them happily reconnect with their friends. I’m so glad they like their school and feel at home there.

I can’t wait to pick them up this afternoon and hear all about the day.

Of course, I know I’m going to get extremely detailed answers to my query of “How was your day?”

Things like “good” and “great” or even “okay”

and that will be it.

sigh.

I’ll have to fill in the blanks in my imagination.

I love parenting.

I can Zoo, can You?

I'm a little under the weather, so rather than a big post, I'll be finishing up my story from last weekend’s little adventure to Chattanooga…

After a very restful and relaxing evening in our beautiful (free) hotel room (thanks, Mom, for the hotel points!) we woke early (I was up at 6AM, what is wrong with me?!?) and headed downstairs for breakfast. Being post-surgery girl that I am, there was not much on the carbohydrate and sugar-laden buffet for me to eat. But, I was prepared and had my trusty protein drink ready in the room just in case that happened.

The girls and SuperMan dined on reconstituted eggs, blueberry muffins, biscuits, yogurt and grapes (yum, not.)

Then, we headed out to the Chattanooga Zoo to see the animals before it got too hot.

I am so glad we did.

The zoo is fairly small (tiny) and has about 20-25 exhibits. Most of the animals are of the smaller kind – no zebras, giraffes, or elephants here. But that is part of the charm of the zoo, to me. It’s full of all sorts of animals you would not normally see in a zoo of a larger size.

There were capybaras

and coatis

spider monkeys

This little guy wanted to eat my glasses through the glass.

and red pandas

They look like stuffed animals, but they were real. Just real lazy, too.

But the most fun part was the fact that we got there so early in the morning. We got to see all of the animals having breakfast.

The jaguars were awesome to watch. They were a pair of male brothers, about 18 months old. The zookeeper had just hung boxes of food in their pen and we got to watch them DESTROY the boxes as they ate their breakfast. They were right in front of the viewing area, just on the other side of the glass. If the glass hadn’t been there, we could’ve pet them while they ate (pet? petted? which is it?)

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The zookeeper also put some treats (cheese) in hiding places for the jaguar boys to find. This was on top of about a 7 foot high pole. He just climbed it like nothing and ate the cheese right away.The other neat thing was, surprisingly, this crow (of all things) . He had a fixation with SuperMan and kept sticking his head out of the cage and looking at SuperMan like he wanted him to do SOMETHING. Finally, SuperMan decided to try scratching his head (nothing like risking a big bite from a big beak).

The stupid bird loved it.

The girls were afraid Daddy was going to be arrested by the zookeepers. (hee hee)

The first (and last) thing we saw at the zoo were the chimps.

They had just been fed and this female kept grabbing PILES of food and holding in in her hands (and feet) like she was hoarding it. It was really funny to watch as she fussed at the boys whenever they went by.

“Hey! This is MY food! Go find your own!”

And then there was Hank. He’s their “special” chimp who gets an exhibit all to himself. He’s old (40’s) and reminded me a lot of my late step-grandfather (hee hee) with his grey, balding head and arthritic legs.

He came right up to the window to see the girls and had a (mute) conversation with them through the glass. It’s a little eerie to see so much intellect in his eyes when he looks at you. Makes you wonder what he is thinking and what he thinks about all this zoo stuff.

We had a great morning at the zoo. If you are ever in Chattanooga, you should carve out a few hours of your day and visit. It’s worth it.

Hanging out in Chattanooga

After our visit to the Aquarium, we had lunch at the Big River Grille (our usual lunch spot) and the walked over to the Children’s Museum to spend the afternoon.

It’s usually SuperMan’s backside in these type pictures, not mine!

The girls love it there – you start out in a water play area that has a huge climby-thing.

Then we visited the dinosaurs

and dug for some fossils

Then, the girls practiced their medical skills

and produced a play and created with clay IMGP3033

And then we all collapsed from exhaustion.

The end.

Not really.

We went out for dinner, the girls went swimming in the hotel pool and THEN we collapsed from exhaustion!

A Quick Getaway

I mentioned we had a great weekend – we made an impromptu trip to Chattanooga to visit one of our favorite sister cities. We love hanging around in Chattanooga. There is so much to do and the fact that it is only 2 hours from home makes it a great place to go for a day or a quick weekend getaway. This past weekend was no exception.

We headed up Friday morning – SuperMan and I were both off work for the day. The girls planned our itinerary and we started out at the Tennessee Aquarium and then moved on to the Children’s Museum after lunch. I think I took close to 200 pictures in two days (well, SuperMan did this time, I gave him the camera and I just played with the girls) so I will not post them all on today’s blog post. I’ll force you to see more later in the week. :-) I think I’ve got enough that I could just about do an 8×8 album easily with the pictures.

SuperMan takes pictures from a totally different perspective than I do, so it was interesting to review what he took and to see his take out our trip. Very different than some of the things I usually take pictures of, but I loved that he captured our mini vacation from his perspective – and I love some of the shots he took.

Here are the pictures from the aquarium:

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Hanging out in the Butterfly Garden

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Little Bit is as tall as an Emperor Penguin

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Watching the Penguins swim by to say “Hello” IMGP2984

Hanging out watching the fish hiding in the little cavey-like area IMGP2991

We just love these guys. It is so amazing to think that they have no brains, no sentient thoughts, and yet they move about as if they know exactly where they are going and what they are doing.

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These were in the tunnel that goes under the big salt water tank. IMGP3004

This is one of those that SuperMan took that I just LOVE. I would’ve never tried that.

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They have a “stream” that runs between the two Aquarium buildings and all the kids “swim” and splash in the water. I couldn’t resist myself given that it was 96 degrees with 100% humidity.This is another one SuperMan did. I love it. IMGP3013