A Major Problem Avoided

We have a problem! Millie's "Pinchy Part" broke. Millie has a blanket she has had since she was a baby. She can not sleep without it. It is raveled and worn and that's the way she likes it. There are 2 strings that have pulled out to create 2 loops for her to loop around her fingers. This would be the "Pinchy Part". I am not sure where the name for this came from. I think it started because these 2 loops are located on the pink side of the blanket. When she was little, I think she was trying to say pink part and it came out pinchy part. That is the only thing I can come up with. Well, one of the loops broke tonight. I knew it was only a matter of time because they were tiny delicate things. I tried to use this as a good chance to just take the blanket away and tell her it was broke but she was already upset and frankly, I did not feel like making tonight be the night to deal with no blanket. I mean, it was thundering and that in itself is cause for the world to end in our house. So I told her to figure out a new way to use the string. She decided she was smart enough for that and so far, she is still asleep so I guess it worked out after all. I hope when the day comes to take the blanket away, it goes over this easy.

And...Reed ate his first business card this evening so I guess we will see how that goes over (or comes out) tomorrow.

My Odd Children

Both of my kids have peculiar things going on right now. Well, they have lots of strange things...look at their dad...but these 2 things in particular:

Who watches Everyone Loves Raymond? I think Reed is Robert. There are several episodes where they comment on Robert's odd habit of touching his food to his chin before every bite. Do you know what I am talking about...is this thing on? Reed does not have a high chair, it is just a booster with a tray that sits on one of our chairs. Reed has started taking every cheerio and leaning over and touching it to the seat of our wooden chair before he eats it. I have no idea why he does this. At one point, he had several lined up on the chair and then when he was happy with the lineup, he picked them all up and ate them. Strange, right?

Millie is a little sponge of information. She is learning how to read very well and is starting to spell pretty darn good too. She enjoys counting and can count way past 100. However, every time she counts, she skips number 76. Again, I don't know why, I point it out every time. She acknowledges that it should be there, she can write it, she can read it but it never makes it in there when she is counting. strange, right?

Memorial Day Weekend...What Didn't We Do?

This may have been one of our busiest weekends in a long time. We left for Indiana on Friday morning. Since we had all day to get there, we decided to stop at the Horse Park in Lexington, KY. I have been there several times but we have never taken Millie. It was a beautiful day and Millie and Reed both enjoyed seeing, touching and riding the horses.

Rick could hardly hang on to Reed when he noticed a horse because he would try to jump out of Rick's arms. Millie was a little more cautious but did end up petting one and had a great time riding on the pony.

After the horse park, we made it to Floyd Knobs but not before stopping in Clarksville and getting a wedding dress for Millie. More to come on that in August. Reed had a blast at mom's house in the tree swing but he did not know what to think when Rick climbed to the top while he was swinging.

We all kept busy helping my dad plant corn. Well, maybe we played in the buggy while he planted corn. He did get it all done and this is the first year he was able to try out his new tractor for planting time. His health was not good enough last year to plant any crops but he did plant a little this year.


While dad was planting, Millie, TJ and Haley played in the creek while poor Reed just had to watch from the sidelines.


Saturday was a pretty important event for our area which even tops Derby weekend! Well, maybe not but it is close...the Starlight Strawberry Festival. This is put on by St. John's Church which is where my mom and dad were married and where my Grandma and most of my mom's family still attend. Here is Grandma hard at work stemming berries at the festival.

Millie was more than willing to make her own strawberry shortcake and dive right in. Man I love strawberry shortcake!


My sister and her family joined us later and took Millie to some of the rides while my mom and I hung with Reed. This is what Millie and Jacob looked like when she was brought back to me.

Even though this is where the photos end, that was not the end of the fun. Millie went hiking with Rick and his family that night while I went to a cookout at my sister's house with Reed. Sunday my sister went with me to Indy for a friend's baby shower. Monday morning we left bright and early and made it back to TN in time to take the kids swimming at the Y.

It was a wonderful weekend and I was blessed to get to spend it with such a great family.

Millie's Preschool 'Graduation'

Millie did not graduate because she is only 3 and has one more year of preschool but they still had a ceremony for the group that is advancing and the crew that is going on to Kindergarten. They sang several songs and each got a certificate. They also had a nice slide show at the end of all the preschool kids and their various events throughout the year.




I am sure Millie's favorite part of the evening was getting to play with H again. Since I do not know him or his family, I will not use his real name. She talks about H all the time and said she hopes he is in her class next year. I checked with his dad and he will be returning next year. To hear Millie talk about it, it seems much more like a genuine friendship than a 'boyfriend'. Since Millie's favorite things right now are trains, dinosaurs and race cars, it is not surprising she would end up with a best friend who was a boy. They ran around after the ceremony and had a fun time before we all had to head home.

Reed's Favorite Pastime

Reed has gotten a lot easier the past couple of days. He can entertain himself very well, mostly playing at the train table throwing all the track on the floor. When he makes enough room, then he drives his monster truck on it. Millie is ok with this because she has taken all her trains and put them in the "Reed Free Zone". We put a barrier up to give Millie a place to play where Reed does not bother her and it keeps him from my craft area.

Before both of his naps today, he did not cry or get fussy. He came up to me and laid his head on my leg. I asked him if he wanted a nap and he just looked at me and smiled.

The giraffe picture is getting more difficult every month. At least I only have 2 more to take. He would rather eat the giraffe, attack it or just bulldoze it. He is a little over 10 months old and has gotten another tooth so now he has 5 teeth.

Millie's Last Soccer Game

Millie had her last soccer game on Thursday. I highly recommend this program at Cool Sports. They had great ways of getting these little kickers to practice drills without them knowing it. Then they worked well on keeping the kids somewhat spread out and not just all in one blob chasing the ball when it was game time.

Millie scored 2 goals during her last game of the season.


After the game, they all got medals.


Reed got to practice his new skill of clapping while the medals were given to each child.

And then he almost fell over.

Reed's First Words and Clapping

I wanted to give a quick update, I am falling behind in all aspects of my life right now, and blogging is one of them. If anyone wants to get me the most wonderful gift ever, have a personal orginizer come to my house and tell me what I need to do! Wait, don't have them tell me what to do, just have them do it and send you the bill. Thanks in advance.

Reed was sitting on Rick's lap last night and they were clapping together and Reed was cracking up, as usual. He was very proud of himself. Also, when we left the post office this morning (had to go get those 2 cents stamps...ugh!) he waved to the lady that works there and said "Bye bye!". This may have just been a coincidence but it seemed pretty legit to me so I am claiming it as his fist words.

The Zoo Came to Millie's School

And this is the conversation we had on the way home from school...

Mom, I got to pet a wolf. (Really? Are you sure?) Yes. (A real wolf?) Yes. I also saw a fox! (A fox and a wolf?) No, we did not see a wolf, just a fox. It was a fox. Mom, did you know foxes suck blood? (Really? Are you sure?) Yes. They suck it in their ears and then their ears keep them warm and they don't get cold. Foxes (It is just fox, not foxes). No, it is foxes (okay, fine). Mom, foxes don't need to drink water. (What else did you see?) We got to see a snake, I even touched it. Mom? (What sweetie?) Did you know snakes can go down in little holes? (Yes, what else did you learn?) I got to see a turtle. Mom? (What?) Did you know bears can not even eat turtles because they can not bite through the shell. Mom! And we got to see a crocodile and I touched it. They come up out of the water and eat other crocodiles. They have sharp things that will get hurt.

Thomas the Train

We made the trip again this year to see Thomas the Train in Chattanooga. Millie still loves playing with her trains and so we drove through floods and lots of rain to get there. By only the Grace of God, it stopped raining for the afternoon and although it was still muddy, we were not walking around in the rain and were very fortunate.

Everything was exactly the same as last year (except the weather and the band) so we knew exactly where to go and what to do. Millie made sure to play in the bubbles for a while.

It was a good thing Reed went along because how would Rick have jumped in the back of the truck without Reed launching him up there one handed over his head? I was happy that my mom came with us again this year and am looking forward to having her here for the week.

Reed was looking a little thug-a-rific in his conductor's hat on the way to board the train.

He did not last long on the train ride before he was sleeping.

Millie did not want to get too close to Sir Topem Hat...

...But she had no problem with Spencer.

It is a long day and long drive but when it is all said and done, it is worth it watching Millie's excitement.