Tator Tot Time

Glasgow has a fabulous public library that happens to be located right around the corner from our house.  A few weeks ago, I signed Hadley up for their Summer Reading Program.   From a very early age she would sit in our laps and let us read entire books to her, cover to cover.  Part of our bedtime routine is reading two books each night.  This is a ritual Justin and I often switch up on (depending on nightly responsibilities and such), but is something we both cherish with our sweet girl.  This love of reading may or may not stick with her, but I intend to encourage it as much as I possibly can in the meantime. 

Tator Tot Time, a class for 2-3 year olds offered on Wednesday and Friday mornings throughout the summer, is an interactive program that includes songs, rhymes, and fingerplays.  It is so much fun!  The short and sweet pace of the activities helps to hold their little attention spans.

They sing songs about fishies swimming and frogs hopping.  The teacher models all the hand motions and movements.  I had to keep reminding Hadley to watch Miss Adrien and not the other kids in the class.  Most of the songs had counting involved, too.  Music and Math combined...this teacher/mommy was so proud! 

Listening to directions for the upcoming matching game.  We play our own version of this at home, too.  We turn the cards face up to make it easier, and limit the number of cards we put out at a time.  Hadley loves to find a match, though!

Being timid to get started in an activity such as this, I picked the first card up for her and then she found its match.  All the cards had different animals on them.

Bingo was very simple for this age group.  The cards were covered in different animals and when the teacher called out a specific animal, the children located it on their cards and covered it.  

Four in a row equals Bingo and that's exactly what she got.  She is so proud of that bracelet...she has talked about it nonstop.  Ah, the little things!

Next was craft time.  We colored the front and back of a coffee filter and used a pipe cleaner to make a butterfly craft.  She is intrigued with The Very Hungry Caterpillar right now, so I was able to remind her how the caterpillar turns in to that beautiful buttefly at the end of her book.  A Text-to-Self connection for sure!  

The parachute was the last activity and kids love it!  They hold on to a handle while walking clockwise in a circle singing Ring Around the Roses.  They fell down on the cue, "all fall down."  They also loved shaking the parachute up and down, with great vigor, and walking underneath it. 

After class, our last stop is checking out new books.  Hadley proudly gives the librarian my library card.  You have to be five years old to get your own library card but I let her think it's hers. 

With her two new books in tow, she is ready to go!  We are loving our local library and look forward to filling up our Summer Reading Log!

Concert in the Park

Wednesdays, in June, Fountain Square Park hosts Concerts in the Park.  A different local band performs each week and today it was Matchdaddy.  This particular band performs rock and roll cover songs that everyone knows.  I have enjoyed attending these concerts for several years.  It's a great excuse to pack a picnic lunch, listen to some fun music, and watch kids galore dance and have a blast.

Today we met up with Briley, Tanner, and Carson.  Briley was sweet enough to read to Hadley for awhile.  Ironically, she's reading a book called A Sleepy Story and Hadley was one sleepy girl for our excursion today.

The kids dancing to the music.  Not sure if it was Hadley's shyness or sleepiness, but she wasn't feeling the dancing on this day.  But they were so cute out there trying to cut a rug.

Chaney's Dairy Barn had a vendor on site selling their delicious ice cream.  Lucky girl got to have it twice in a week!  Strawberry this time and it was so much better than the Blue Moon.  Carson is thoroughly enjoying

his in the background, too.

Hadley and Briley checked out the tiny fish in the fountain.

 Face painting was a neat, free option for the kiddos.  I thought she was going to fall asleep in the chair.

Hadley sporting her butterfly face and Carson sporting his clown face.  Aren't they adorable?

Three minutes in to the car ride home, this girly was out.  We look forward to upcoming concerts, getting to  hang out with friends, and enjoy the outdoors under awesome shade trees. 

Weekend Fun

This was our first weekend, in June, to feel empowered enough (post potty-training) to really go out for a fun family time.  Having Justin's extra set of hands always makes me feel so much more at ease, in case of major accidents or anything.  We took a trip to Chaney's Dairy Barn to play and enjoy their delicious, handmade ice cream! 

The slides are certainly a hit for all kids.  Justin rode down with Hadley at first.  He was actually nervous about letting her go down by herself...he thought the slide was just too big.  Or maybe he wanted a good excuse to go down the slide himself??  All I know is, he forbade my pregnant self from going down the slide.  But it wasn't long until she insisted on going down all by herself.  Such a big girl!

Swinging is one of Hadley's very favorite things to do at this stage in her life.  She could swing for hours.  Many days, when we pick her up from daycare, she can be found on the swings.  The two year old class, at her daycare, is called the Sunshine Room.  The three year olds are called the Honeybears.  As she was swinging, she told me, "I swinging high like the Honeybears, Mommy!"  She was so proud!  Chaney's setting is so picturesque as it's located in some beautiful countryside.  You can see the dairy barn in the background.

 Playground mulch and sandals do not mix for this girl.  She insisted Daddy help her clean her feet off. 

You really can't visit Chaney's without having some of their delicious, homemade ice cream.  Hadley tried "blue moon," which after tasting, I decided kids only like because of the blue color.  But she loved it and that's all that mattered!  She made sure she got every last drop out of that cup!

The following morning we ventured up to the town square for "Bounty of the Barrens," or Glasgow's Farmer's Market.  Local musicians, farmers, and artisans are on the scene showing off their talents and/or wares.  It's such a fun time, running in to neighbors and friends, and just supporting local businesses. 

A friend of ours we ran in to was sweet enough to buy Hadley her very own cinammon roll from a family owned/operated bakery.  She couldn't wait until we got home to eat it.  Since we hadn't had breakfast yet, this was perfect.  Justin and I ended up getting a package of sticky buns that were out of this world!  I'm thinking Saturday morning breakfasts may be here each week this summer.

These flowers were just beautiful and since we were having company over that night, I decided that some nice fresh flowers would be fitting.  How can sunflowers not make you happy?  Isn't Justin adorable posing with the flowers?  He loved that!  Seriously, he's such a good sport.

My last purchase of the morning (before making myself stop spending) was these two canvas paintings by a local artist.  I thought they were perfect for our kitchen area.  We already have a distressed black table and chairs, yellow whimsical cabinet storage-type piece, and some lime green accents in that area.  So these paintings were exactly what I have had in mind to help tie the space together.  I am really pleased with how they look and love that I found them at the Farmer's Market.  I love when home decor has a "story" behind it, but that's just me.

Later that afternoon, Hadley made her debut in our swimming pool for the very first time.  She was very unsure of her puddle jumper at first.  So much so that I was starting to have flashbacks of last summer's pool disdain all over again.  But somehow or another, she realized that the puddle jumper wasn't letting her go under and she took off!  She made her way to the deep end, even swimming under the diving board.  Justin and I kept looking at each other going, "Are we letting our child swim in to the deep end all by herself?"  Of course we didn't take our eyes off of her and I really think us not making a big deal of what she was doing actually helped her.  Anyway, this made me super excited about the pool days ahead of us this summer.  I hope she keeps this up!!

Big Changes

Change #1:  June 1st wrapped up some pretty intense potty training at our house.  I really wanted to do the actual potty training at the beginning of the summer so that we would have time to practice before starting back to school and baby brother's arrival in early September.  If I had one person to tell me to "wait for the signs," I bet I had 50!  People in my part of the world really pay attention to the Farmer's Almanac for such things as taking pacifiers and bottles away from babies, and especially for potty training.  Well, I didn't wait for the "signs" because, frankly, they just didn't fit my time schedule.  Although, we still have a long way to go, we haven't had on a pair of pull-ups in several days.  We have had lots of accidents, but I'm hoping that will continue to get better.  I have found myself being somewhat scared to leave the house since this whole potty training escapade.  But I'm trying to tell myself  that packing around extra panties and clothes is perfectly fine and that I can, indeed, continue on with my life.

Change #2:  As if that hasn't provided enough of a change around here, I found out that I got a new teaching job at a new school.  Oh this is so bittersweet for me.  I LOVE my current school; love my teacher friends, and just how comfortable everything is for me there.  But, I have had a 30 minute drive since we moved to Glasgow earlier in the school year.  My new school is 10 minutes away, right here in Glasgow, and is on the same street as Justin's school.  For the first time in our marriage, we will be in the same school system.  Hallelujah!!  I will be teaching 4th grade Math, which means getting a new classroom ready, studying up on new standards this summer, and planning new units.  But I am SO excited and blessed for this opportunity!  Just nervous about being a "newbie" again.

Change #3:  My completely un-technological self reverted back to a good ole' flip phone (cellphone).  I dropped my other phone so much that I couldn't even read many text messages because the screen was so cracked.  I am a clutz!  So I decided that if I just went back to the flip phone, I couldn't break the screen anymore.  So now I have to do the whole keep clicking on a number 3 or 4 times, possibly, to get the letter or number I'm wanting.  So texting takes me much longer, but at least I can see messages now!!! 

Change #4:  Finally, after having my Honda Accord for the past 5 or so years and accumulating 200,000+ miles on it, we traded in for an SUV.  This might not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but when all you've ever driven are very small cars, this is a huge change in itself.  I feel like I'm driving a bus, and am scared to park in between two already-parked cars.  As a short person anyway, it's hard for me to see out the back.  It's just going to take a lot of getting used to.  But, again, as we continue to make preparations for the expansion of our family, we feel like our new vehicle will be easier in the long run.

I am not a person who takes to change very well.  I love for things in my world to remain constant.  But I think having a child somehow changes that because you never know what to expect with children.  Although there are lots of changes going on right now, I feel so immensely blessed by the Lord for his goodness.  Now to just take a deep breath and make it through this stage!