First school project - Flat Stanley!

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Maggie's reading class had read the book Flat Stanley and was preparing to send their own Flat Stanleys around the world - or at least around our part of it - for a series of adventures the students would later present to the class. Well, today is the day! Stanley projects were due today, and this has been Maggie's first real school project.

We mailed Flat Stanley to my friends the McDonah's, who live in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada (and run the gorgeous Belgravia B&B). While Stanley #1 enjoyed a month away from home, a second Stanley stayed in Chattanooga and experienced some "typical" things in Maggie's life.

When I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Maggie would be doing a presentation to the other first-graders, she got pretty nervous - she didn't want to get in front of the class and talk! I tried telling her that it was just like show-and-tell, except that instead of choosing what she'd show, she'd be telling about her Flat Stanley project. No good. The teacher had given the students the freedom to be creative in presenting their projects to the class, so I suggested a story book. Maggie could write a story about Stan's adventures, using photos as illustrations, and when it came time to do her presentation she could just read the class the story ... thus avoiding the fear of extemporaneous speaking. Again, no good. She hemmed and hawed and finally decided to make a two-sided poster.

Stanley goes to Canada!

Since this was her first project, I wasn't sure how much I should help her or whether she should do most herself. But seriously, she's just in kindergarten, so I figured a little help was OK. I foraged through my scrapbooking supplies and rounded up lots of alphabet stickers for the poster's titles (though she chose which ones we used); we stuck the letters on together. I found the Canada name and maple leaf graphic online, as well as the Canada/U.S. map. While she cut out the name Canada and the leaves, I marked Chattanooga and Truro on the map; she also wrote the summary in the center of the page. It reads, "Flat Stanley visited our friends in Nova Scotia, Canada. Here are some of the things he did while he was there - camping, basketball, orienteering, spelling bee, piano lessons, Curling Hall of Fame. We mailed Stanley to Canada. It cost $26 and took him one week to get there." Finally, she decided where the pictures would go.

Stanley stays in Chattanooga!

The Chattanooga side of the poster shows some of the things we did with Stanley here in our town. He visited the Extreme Home Makeover site a few weeks ago, meeting a local news personality while there. We also took him to the Tennessee Aquarium, where he rode the tall escalator and saw penguins and stingrays. Finally, he enjoyed more mundane activities like tree-climbing and bike-riding. On this poster, Maggie wrote the captions for each picture.

This morning, Maggie woke up to an email from Stanley himself!! She was especially excited to learn that when Stanley arrived in Truro, there were two feet of snow on the ground, that his host family has an ice skating rink in their backyard, and that one of his host "sisters" - Sarah, also age 6 - speaks French almost entirely at school! Here is Stanley's letter:

Dear Maggie,

I have been having so much fun in Nova Scotia which is on the east coast of Canada. It is colder here than it is in Chattanooga and I was surprised to find out that there was about two feet of snow on the ground when I got here!

The town where I spent most of my time is called Truro. Truro is located at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. The Bay of Fundy is famous for many reasons, but most of all because the highest recorded tides in the world were here. The difference between high and low tide was 56 feet. Something some people don’t understand is that there are two high tides and two low tides each day. When the tide in the Bay of Fundy is low, you can walk on the ocean floor for miles, but when the tide comes in, the water is very deep. You have to be careful not to get caught because the water rushes in so quickly. The amount of water that flows in and out of the Bay of Fundy each day is equal to the volume of water in every river in the world combined!! Right now, the Bay of Fundy is the only Canadian entry in the new Seven Wonders of the World contest. In Nova Scotia, they are able to create electricity from the power of the Bay of Fundy Tides. http://votemyfundy.com/galleries/galleries.html

The house where I am staying has four children and they even have their own skating rink in the backyard! They have an outdoor chimney beside the rink, so when we’re finished skating, we sit around the fire and drink hot chocolate with marshmallows.

While I was here, I got to go winter camping with the Cub Scouts. We had a lot of fun and I got to go orienteering and snowshoe. Can you see all the snow and water in my photos?

The children in this house, Evan, Alex, Sarah & Olivia participate in a lot of activities. They play basketball, play the piano, sing, dance (both Highland dancing and ballet), play drums in the school band, and curl. Curling is a game you play on the ice with special stones that weigh 45 pounds. Some of the people on the team sweep the ice with brooms to guide the rocks! It is cold here for half of the year, so they have a lot of fun activities to do outside. In the summer it gets warm here, but rarely as warm as it gets in Chattanooga. Not many people here have air conditioning because even when it is hot, there is usually a breeze.

I went with my host family to a special town named Lunenburg for a curling tournament. Lunenburg is a special fishing village which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The famous ship on the Canadian dime, named “the Bluenose” was built in Lunenburg. We weren’t able to see it because it is being fixed, but if you’re interested, there is a webcam where you can watch the restoration: http://www.novascotiawebcams.com/south-shore/bluenose-ii-stern-view.html

Another fun thing I got to do while I was here was participate in the Provincial spelling bee. (In Canada, they are called provinces instead of states!) The Spelling Bee included children from Grade Four to Grade Eight. The girl who won was in Grade Eight and she won for the second year in a row. Her championship word was “Harbinger.” It was a lot of fun! I especially loved the signs they made for me when they were cheering me on!

School in Nova Scotia is a lot of fun. There are almost 600 children in the elementary school in Truro from Primary to Grade Five. Children here start school when they are five. School starts the first week of September and then will finish the last week of June. The children here learn both French & English in school. My host sister, Sarah is in French Immersion which means most of her school day is in French. It was fun to listen to her reading some of her French stories to me!

Some of my favourite Nova Scotian foods are lobster, scallops and maple syrup! If I were here just a little bit longer, I’d be able to watch them make maple syrup. Within the next week or so the weather will be warm enough that the sap will start to run in the maple trees. That is what is used to make maple syrup.

Thank you for sending me here. I will be home soon with some souvenirs from my trip that you can share with your class. If you have any other questions about Nova Scotia, you can send them to my host family. I hope that you are feeling better soon! Maybe someday you will be able to visit Nova Scotia too!

Love,
Stanley

I think I've loved this project more than Maggie! It's been so neat learning more about my friend Anne's life, and I can't wait to visit school next week to see the other students' Flat Stanley projects. I'm not sure where the other Stanleys went, but I know that at least one met a Pulitzer Prize-winning author!

Huge thanks to Anne and her family for helping so enthusiastically with this project - I hope it was fun for them and not a complete headache. Stanley happened to arrive a few days after Anne had unexpected gallbladder surgery; between this, four kids, running a bed and breakfast, and teaching tourism classes, I'm sure it wasn't easy for her to juggle one. more. thing. on the agenda. This just shows what a GREAT friend she is!! Annie, you rock ... I am in your debt!

Her own red carpet

I don't usually get into tv awards shows, but I do like to watch the Oscars. This year I watched more Oscar coverage than usual because of the newly crowned best actor, Colin Firth (the Mr. Darcy).  But I didn't realize just how much this had affected Maggie until last week ...

She started modeling outfits and striking her best red carpet poses.

Look out, Hollywood! There's a new diva in town, and she's a natural!

School work

I'm behind on a lot of things - and being sidelined all last week with the flu didn't help. (As an aside, let me say that I'd never had the "real" flu before ... and it was terrible. I'll be getting my first-ever flu shot next season!)

Last month, Maggie received an Accelerated Reading award for meeting her first goal. Students read AR books and take computer quizzes on them; successful quizzes are worth points (points vary according to the difficulty of the book), and points accumulate throughout the school year. Students are given a points goal which they're supposed to meet within each 9-week grading period. (I think older students have some input on the goal-setting process, but young ones are assigned a goal.) Maggie had her first-ever AR goal during the second 9-week grading period, and she surpassed it! Her goal was 8 points; most of the quizzes she takes are worth .5 points, though she did take a few 1-pointers as well. I think she ended the term with 12+ points.

AR winners are recognized at the first school-wide Circle Time of 2011.

I'm impressed at the reading Maggie's doing in school. I think I've mentioned before that she goes to first grade for reading class, and there she is in the highest skill group (reading the most advanced material). Her official reading level is 3.5 - akin to the fifth month of third grade - and she is with 2-3 other first-graders who are reading at a similar level. During December, they read the book Junie B. Jones Shipwrecked, and they just finished Flat Stanley.

Along with the reading, they're having to put their thoughts into writing. Here are some examples of classwork that she's done:

Junie B. "report" title page

Junie B. - reporting on her favorite part. (My scanner cut off her G in doing.)

Flat Stanley quiz

The students are sending Flat Stanleys of their own around the world - Maggie's is going to visit my friends who run the beautiful Belgravia Bed & Breakfast in Truro, Nova Scotia. We can't wait to see what fun Stanley will have with our Canadian friends! We also have a second Stanley who will live at our home during the next month; in March Maggie will put together a presentation about Stanley's Canadian and Chattanooga adventures. I think local Stanley's first stop is going to be the spectator area at a local Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build site. Maybe we'll luck out and get a picture with one of the show's stars!!

Shoes

Not the most exciting topic in the world, but it's time for this week's Madhouse (ok, two days late ...) and this was the assigned topic. And really, anything that gets me back onto the blog these days is a good thing.

We are blessed to have several friends - friends who have well-dressed girls. Well-dressed girls who are older than Maggie. This means we are the frequent recipients of their hand-me-downs. Have I mentioned how much I love hand-me-downs? Not only are they nice on the wallet, but it makes it easier to convince Maggie to wear something of my choosing if I can say, "Mattie wore this," or "This came from Addy and Annsley."

So I was pleasantly surprised to arrive home Tuesday to find a bag of shoes on my front porch. Two pairs of black boots, a pair of Nikes, and two pairs of sandals, both of which caused Maggie to declare, "These make me feel like I'm in the movies!"

The Nikes had a different effect, causing Mag to race around the downstairs at top speed.

Thank you to all our wonderful friends who pass their clothes down to us. We love and appreciate it!
_______

It's Madhouse Wednesday over at Kate's blog ... or it was two days ago. Come play along - it's fun to see bloggers' different takes on the same topic. This week's topic is "Shoes."

With a sleepover here and a front tooth there ...

Here a milestone, there a milestone, everywhere a milestone!

This weekend Maggie had two more ... milestones, that is. At church Sunday, we sat with good friends. Their kindergartner leaned over and informed me that Heidi was coming to her house for a sleepover that night and asked if Maggie could come too. I told Meghan that before I could say yes, I'd have to make sure Maggie's daddy - who was home sick - was OK with his baby girl going for her first sleepover. We called him right after church and, much to the girls' delight, he said yes.

From all accounts, the girls had a great time! Heidi and Maggie arrived at Meghan's house around 4:30. They enjoyed necklace-making, "Minute to Win It" type silly games, and a little bit of TV, as well as pizza and ice cream for dinner. There were a few minor injuries (Maggie was accidentally hit in the head with a small wooden souvenir baseball bat!) and girl squabbles ... though the squabbles can probably be chalked up to fatigue since they occurred the next morning - after the girls had gotten just 6-7 hours of sleep.

Part of the reason Maggie got so little sleep is related to Milestone #2. Her second top tooth has been loose for some time, but it got very wiggly last week and she's been determined to get it out. Apparently, she and Meghan wanted the tooth to come out during the sleepover, preferably before they went to sleep. They were up past 12:30 a.m. trying to make this happen. When Meghan's mom went upstairs to tell them they really needed to get to sleep, they replied, "We're not sleeping until the tooth is out. We want the Tooth Fairy to come tonight." In a flash of quick thinking and parenting brilliance, Karen told them that since it was after midnight already, it was technically tomorrow, and they'd missed their window for getting the tooth fairy to come that night.

By 1 a.m. they were asleep, and the tooth came out the next morning.

New smile!

When I picked up Maggie the next morning, they had enjoyed donuts and pancakes for breakfast and were sitting at the kitchen table creating books that they'd planned to sell throughout the neighborhood. (Love their creativity!) Maggie and Meghan were planning to sell their books for $75,000 a piece; Heidi's were more reasonable at $1.

Maggie, Heidi, and Meghan

We all survived! Hooray for a great first sleepover!

Snowed in!

We have been snowed in all week! You'd think that would be an excellent recipe for blogging, but alas ... no. We've been doing lots of things together - all three of us, since Bobby is working from home - and that always takes precendence over computer stuff.

We had 8" of snow here ... our city's official total was 8.4, ranking this snowfall among our city's top ten snowfalls. Ever. (It was tied for sixth.) And we are loving it!! We've played outside a lot (if by 'a lot' you mean 'until we started losing feeling in our extremeties'), watched lots of movies, slept late, baked cookies and bread, and generally enjoyed an extended vacation. School may start back tomorrow; we haven't heard yet.

Here are some pictures of our unusual winter wonderland!

our house

our street

our beautiful girl

fun in the snow!

sledding with daddy

Open for business

Maggie opened a restaurant yesterday! She took advantage of the free advertising our front door and sidelight windows offered, hanging signs all over both.

"No smokeing or els"

Who knew that entering a restaurant would require so many instructions?

The menu. (I'm looking forward to trying the butterfly-shaped eggs.)

"Go upstairs to the playroom. New restront now opening."

Word is still out on the quality of the food; after we ordered, our chef/server was interrupted by a kitty emergency. Apparently she's also a veterinary specialist - lucky for us, since she quickly treated our cat for a severe case of "stythiacolmick." (And yes, I'm pretty sure I'm spelling stythiacolmick wrong.)



Expectations

When I was in grad school, one of the courses I took required journal-writing. Forced journal-writing, about things we would then discuss with our classmates. I looked forward to writing in my journal because while I've always loved the idea of journal-writing, I never could seem to make myself actually do it. This will make me become a journaler, I thought. Wrong. Forcing the idea was problem #1, having to share it with the class was problem #2. I think the professor agreed, because halfway through the semester, she abandoned the journal-writing requirement.

But one of the things I remember writing about was my reluctance to have children. I was turning 30 that semester, and 30 was the magic age at which Bobby and I had said we'd begin trying to start a family. (Age 30 came and went, by the way, and we didn't truly start trying for another two years.) I distinctly remember writing about one specific hindrance: "There's no guarantee how they'll turn out," I wrote about my hypothetical children. "As a parent, you can do all the 'right' things and still have your child be nothing like what you expect."

So yeah, I guess I had some expectations.

The funny thing is, once Maggie was born, a lot of those expectations disappeared. It suddenly became less important to have her "turn out" the way I wanted; instead I focused on learning who she was, what made her happy, and then encouraging those things. It's taken a lot of letting go - something I'm not very good at - but I think I'm doing an OK job. One of the biggest compliments I've received was by a grad school classmate whom I ran into last week at Target. We'd reconnected through facebook last year, but I hadn't actually seen her in a long time. "Your Maggie cracks me up," Abbie told me. "I have got to meet her some day." Yeah, a lot of my facebook updates are about her, I admitted, a little embarrassed. But she's so much fun, I quickly added, that it's hard not to share. "And you," Abbie continued, "you seem to do a great job of just letting her be herself."

I try. It's not easy on days when being herself involves sassing back at everything I say or arguing over everything I ask her to do. It's not easy when she wants to grow her hair out but then complains when it gets tangled and my combing it hurts. (Or when she balks at my suggestion that we just fortheloveofgod get. it. cut.) Or when she refuses to wear a hairbow or selects an outfit that doesn't match or picks a glittery Target Christmas dress over my Strasburg choice. (And omgosh did that Target dress leave puddles of glitter everywhere she went.) But as I see her confidence grow and her self-awareness emerge, it gets easier.

My expectations now center around behavior, chores, respect ... day-to-day things. I don't think as much about the long-term things I hope for or expect. I hope that by focusing on the little things, the big ones will fall into place. And that we don't slowly drive each other insane along the way.

________________________

It's Madhouse Wednesday over at Kate's blog ... Come play along! This week's topic is "expectations."

Testing, testing ... is this thing on?

- whoosh -

That's the sound of silence. I'm pretty sure the few people who actually read my blog have long since given up on my posting anything new ... but hopefully that will change! My new year's resolution for 2011 is to start blogging regularly again. Not only is this blog a great way for me to share - or keep track of - Maggie's antics, achievements, and plain old day-to-day life, but it's a great outlet for me too, since writing is, or was, a beloved hobby.

So hold me accountable, OK? If you don't see a post every couple of days or so, send me an email! Contact me through facebook! Nag me! It's ok, I give you permission ...

So what's been happening with us?

Maggie is doing great in kindergarten. She's on track academically, advanced in reading, has lots of friends, and is generally loving it. She had pneumonia last month and missed over a week of school, and she was so upset at not being allowed to go. I hope she keeps this love of school for a long, long time! Just before Christmas, the school's 9-week grading period ended, and during this time Maggie had her first Accelerated Reading goal. Her goal was 8 points, and she surpassed that, earning 12. (Most of the books she reads are worth half a point, though she did read some 1-point books as well.) All students who achieved their goals will receive awards this Friday at the school-wide Circle Time, so I'm curious to see if this recognition affects her desire to read more in the coming term.

She finished another session of swimming lessons in the fall. We weren't quite as pleased this time around; she had a different teacher who, while being very sweet, was younger and less experienced, and she wasn't as good about keeping Maggie on task. As a result, Maggie spent much of the time goofing off in the water instead of doing real swimming. Now that swimming is over, she's doing gymnastics again through Angela's Angels and Athletes, an organization that offers classes at her school. She does a gymnastics class, followed by a cheerleading class, so it's a bit of a long day for her, but she seems to be enjoying both activities. This week, she will begin a 9-week theatre class offered at the school and taught by one of the parents. (Our family policy on activities is one sport and one non-sport at a time ... though I just realized she's really doing two sports right now. Oh well ... ) She'd initially planned to do Girl Scouts as her non-sport, but that's been slow to come to fruition at her school, so we're trying the drama class instead. I think this will be up her alley, since her original idea for a 6th birthday party was that the kids would put on a show for the adults - complete with scripts, assigned parts, costumes, and practices held before-hand! (I admired her creativity, but I had no idea how to pull off a party like this, so I talked her into the tea party instead!)

Christmas was great ... we even had our first real white Christmas - more than 3" of snow! It was a good break, with lots of family time, but I have to admit ... except for the fact that I have to wake up early, I'm glad that she's back in school and we're back to a regular routine. I think she was going a bit stir crazy!

So that's it for now ... stay tuned for more posts in 2011!

Story time

I mentioned in this year's birthday letter that Maggie loves to write stories, especially tales that feature herself in the starring role and her classmate James as the princely hero. She types them on my phone in the "notes" app, and just this morning she went in and changed the heroine's name from Maggie to Lilly, which is the name she wants to be called today. Here are some of her recent creations. (Punctuation has been added by me for clarification, but the rest - spellings and run-on's and all - is 100% original.)

"Another Day for Maggie"
Chapter one
One day a girl was crying on a wall. James saw the girl. He went over to the wall and sat beside the girl and asked her what was wrong. She said her boy friend died. James said he would be her boy friend, then she said, "You would?" then he said yes then they hugged, then she said in a scared voice, "Will we will be able to marry?" James said, "Of course," and hugged Lilly. Then she went of crying and James went running after her. Finally he caught her. She ran back to the castle and locked the door.

"Maggie and James"
Chapter one - The New Day
One day Lilly was sitting on a wall. She was thinking about who she was going to marry. The next day she was looking out her window win she saw a prince. The queen had turned nice; she had told Lilly that there was going to be a gift. Since her father was not nice, she did not no if they were going to trick her, so her mother thought she would prove that she was nice since Lilly didn't no what it felt like or what to believe. So that prince's name was James. He was stopping at the castle door, so Lilly rushed down to the door and opened it and said hi to the prince and asked what his name was. And he said his name was James, then he asked what her name was. She said it was Lilly, then they shook hands. Then in December he didn't like her at all and she was sad. She was crying on the wall, then they saw each-other in the woods and they were happy. But Lilly just then she tripped on a stump and got a scratch and was hurt and James rushed to Lilly and looked at her boo-boo. It was bleeding on her nee but James took care of it. And he picked her up and got in a carriage and laid her in his lap and put his hand under her head and gently touched her boo-boo and then touched her head. And then win they got to the castle, James put Lilly in her bed, and then win they were older they married, and win they were going on the honeymoon James asked if the scar on her nee was OK. The end.

"Lilly's Story"
Chapter one
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, gorgeous, pretty princess. She was a slave. The queen and king were very mean because they were poor. They told her "Get money." A couple days later, a prince. He was rushing on his horse - his name was James - because the princess was drowning in the water, so James went even faster because the princess was going under water. Then James got in his boat and he went in the water and pulled the Princess Lilly up on the boat and sailed to shore and then asked her if she was OK. And then she said yes, then she was acting weird. The queen said that Lilly would have to prick her finger on a spinning wheel. The day she had to do it, James rushed to Lilly but it was to late. They were all sad!  The end.

Chapter two - Please Come Back, Lilly
James kissed Lilly. True love's kiss woke her up. They were all happy! The end.

Six ... in pix

Some photos of Maggie's sixth birthday festivities ...

Being sung to at school on her actual birthday.

The gift she really wanted - Felicity!

Her at-home party was a fairy tale tea party.

Love this shot - we played "pass the teapot" - she got caught holding the teapot and tried to argue her way out of it!

All the sweet princesses!

Decorations

Gorgeous guests!

Six

As I started typing this post, you were directly above me, upstairs, asleep. I said good-night to a 5-year-old and realized I'd be waking up a 6-year-old tomorrow morning. I went in and kissed you at midnight, realizing your birthday is here, as I watched you sleeping peacefully on your new Pillow Pet. Wistfully, I headed to my own bed, much later than usual.

---

Yes. The answer to the question I asked last year - will all birthdays feel like this? I think the answer is yes. Every year seems to pass so very quickly, every new age seems so much older. And today you are six. I'm torn between my desire to hold onto your little girl moments and the pride I feel at watching you charge confidently into life ... and unfortunately, as a friend put it last year, away from me.

Six.

You are six now. But you're so much more.

 You're tall. We still can't figure it out ... you continue to be very tall for your age. You tower over your classmates by a surprising amount, even the ones who are repeating kindergarten this year. I guess you inherited some of Pop's and Uncle David's tall genes.

 You're silly. Oh, my gosh, are you silly. You love jokes of all kinds, and one of your favorite things to read is a joke book. You love to make up silly songs, silly stories, and silly faces.

You're headstrong. You want things your way or else. And while Daddy and I work hard to treat you like the valued member of our family you are, it's a challenge whenever you realize you don't get to call the shots. It's a fine line: I want you to stay headstrong and independent, to be persistent when you believe in something ... yet I want you to do as you're told. Especially now, at age five six. 

You're imaginative. You can take something as simple as a cotton ball and transform it into a planet in orbit or turn a scrap of paper into an ancient treasure map. You love to draw and especially love writing - shopping lists, letters, parenting "citations" for Daddy and me, instructions and wall signage, and especially stories about your friends. Your current favorite genre is romance, with you and classmate James in the starring roles.

You're smart. Although you are in kindergarten, you're reading at nearly a 4th-grade level. There aren't many words you can't sound out - just tonight you read the words imagination, possibility, and literature all by yourself. Some of your favorite things to do are reading books, working puzzles, and doing workbooks (word searches are your favorite).

You're beautiful. You have soft blonde hair with so many gorgeous highlights that it would be impossible to replicate them in any salon (not that I've tried ...) and crystal blue eyes, though the left one is becoming greener than the right. You inherited your Daddy's great skin - smooth and tan - and his perfect teeth. And your muscle tone - I'd kill for your muscle tone. Or even just your abs.

You're natural. You love being outdoors. You find rocks, sticks, and nuts and proclaim them all treasures. You even decided on your own to stop eating seafood (my one vice) after questioning me about the fish having to die in order for us to eat it.

You're inquisitive. You ask so many questions, a trait I love but which frequently causes me to doubt my parenting skills - there's so much I don't know how to answer! I have found that often, the more complex the answer, the more satisfied you are. And even though I sometimes wish I could send you to bed with a simple kiss good-night, I cherish our snuggle time - which is when you seem to ask your most pointed questions.

You're loving. You still love to cuddle with Daddy and me, or to have us hold you. You openly love our pets, your dolls, your stuffed animals, and your family and friends. Nightly snuggles are part of our bedtime routine, and it's the rare night when Daddy and I don't wake to find you nestled between us in bed. (This used to annoy me, but now I've come to love it.)

You're happy. More than any of these other things, it means the most to me knowing you are happy. The world isn't always a pleasant place, and I worry every day about the things you'll face in your future. Bullying at school, peer pressure in your teens, relationship challenges, global warming, crime ... it's easy for a mother to get carried away with the extremes. But for now you are happy. You smile, you laugh, you love. And as I watch you race into another year of life, my fervent prayer is that you will hold onto this joy - or at least pieces of it - forever.

Happy birthday, my precious girl. You are loved more than you can possibly know.

I can't do ... right.

It's been a bit of a day here. By that, I mean a bit of a rough day. It started in the grocery store (facebook friends probably saw my photo of Maggie lying in the floor of the bread aisle) and has continued all night. So at bedtime, Maggie wouldn't lie still, close her eyes, or stop talking - all three requisites for getting snuggle time with Mommy. She got upset when I wouldn't stay, and I told her that I loved her very much and would miss our snuggling, but that she just wasn't doing a very good job of listening and obeying tonight.

Thus commenced the following string of other things she doesn't do a good job at ... at least in her mind.

I can't do anything right. I can't listen right. I can't obey right. I can't be a pirate right. I can't solve mysteries right. I can't drink milk right. I can't paint right. I can't draw right. I really really really really extremely extremely extremely really really can't draw a cat right.

There was more, but you get the picture. I, on the other hand, did do something right - I held my laughter until I was out of earshot.

Just like that ...

... summer's gone!

Maggie started Kindergarten last Friday, and so far everything is going great! It wasn't a huge transition for her, since she changed schools last year and will remain there until 8th grade (assuming all goes well). Still, the switch to five-days-a-week school has been a bigger deal than I thought, and while Maggie loves it, Mommy's emotions are a bit of a roller coaster. Yesterday I got so much accomplished and thought, "Ooh, maybe I'll switch Maggie to full days after Christmas - I love having a nice quiet house!" (Maggie currently is picked up at 1, rather than staying until 3 p.m.) Today, I felt just the opposite. My nice quiet house from the day before had been transformed into a lonely, empty house. (However, I was able to quickly divert myself by turning on the TV and catching a cool show about wine tasting.)

Here are some pictures of Maggie's first day:

Hanging out before leaving

Being silly before getting in the van

Think she has him a little bit wrapped?

And here are some pictures of summer fun that I meant to blog about but just never found the time ...

Fun at the Coolidge Park fountain

At the American Girl Bistro with friends.

Cheer Camp at The Little Gym.

Playing with Meghan after cheer camp.

With friend Kylie at the Apple Barn restaurant in Pigeon Forge.

Christmas in July!

Birthday party fun!

Getting made up at a friend's princess party.