 |
|
|
| Monday, August 27, 2007 |
| "We learned a lot but I didn't talk." |
That is what Cole announced after we picked him up at preschool.
He was very excited about his first day! We arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule (this will probably be the first and last day that happens) and so I made a deal with Cole that we could get out of the car only if he'd let me take pictures. Hence, the photo of the sign, as well as the backpack, which is really what it's all about.
I'll confess, I was thankful to have one pudgy hand still gripping mine when Harper and I walked back out of the school without Cole. But honestly I think Harper had a harder time than I did -- she didn't understand why she couldn't go to school, too. She was all set to sit right down next to Cole in his classroom! She cried when we got in the car and asked, "Cole right back?" (She was also aggravated that there wasn't anyone else in the backseat to accommodate her requests for books or to reach her sippy cup when it fell down.)
But we commiserated together over a blueberry muffin at Starbucks, and I think when she realizes that she'll have free reign over the toys every morning she'll be more than fine. ; ) This morning when I woke up I thought, 10 more months of getting up this early? but then as Harper and I browsed the aisles at Target I thought, 10 more months of running errands with just one child, who still sits in a stroller or the cart and is rather compliant! So I'm sort of excited about that! Plus, Cole enjoyed his first day, and requested that we drop him off at the front door tomorrow rather than walk him inside, so I'd say that he's enjoying this new routine and independence as well.Labels: Cole |
posted by Joanna Bolick @ 1:46 PM  |
|
|
|
| Thursday, August 23, 2007 |
| if you really want to know who those curls come from |
It would be this guy.
my dad. : )Labels: Harper |
| posted by Joanna Bolick @ 4:20 PM |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, August 22, 2007 |
| just a photo today |
Ran across this one as I was proofing photos last night...Labels: summer |
| posted by Joanna Bolick @ 9:20 AM |
|
|
|
| Monday, August 20, 2007 |
| on the front porch |
We're just chillin' on the front porch today and thought you might like to join us.
How was your weekend?
It was our first weekend in a while where we didn't have a wedding, so we got quite a lot accomplished around the house. We're prepping for the "great basement renovation" (which isn't really that great, but it just sounds better that way.) In a couple of weeks we'll be ripping up the allergy-inducing carpet and putting in wood flooring, wiring speakers, adding some French doors, and officially making the 4th bedroom my scrapbook room (I'm excited about that part!) So on Saturday we sorted through the storage room, threw out a bunch of stuff, and took a trip to Goodwill in anticipation of that coming event.
We also rearranged all 3 of our bedrooms upstairs, and (drum roll, please) took down the crib in Harper's room. Her new bed has been in place for a few months, coexisting with the crib, just so we could get her used to the new arrangement. Now that the crib is gone she is delighted with the play space on the floor in her room, as well as her newfound freedom at naptime. Which is to say that naptime takes a loooooot longer than it used to. We read a book or two and then I explain to her that she needs to stay in bed and take a nap. And then I make several more trips back upstairs to remind her she's supposed to be sleeping whenever I hear her little feet tap, tapping on the floor. (Yesterday she took the time to remove all of her clothing from the drawers it was in and placed it all in a different set of drawers.) Then finally, finally she falls asleep, and we have to go wake her up so that she doesn't sleep through dinner. Obviously, it's a work in progress right now!
On Sunday we attended the installation for our new pastor at church. Sooo happy to have a full-time pastor back on staff and leading our congregation. The kids did miraculously well during the two-hour service and we rewarded them with a little time at the park followed by the oh-so-fun trip to the grocery store (but at least they got to ride in the cart that looks like a car.) During naptime I went out and did a little "just for fun" shopping for myself.
Which brings us to Monday and hanging out on the porch until the noontime sun drives us inside. This is our last "free" week before Coley starts preschool. We have his "meet the teacher" day on Friday, and he's feeling quite a bit of anxiety about the whole thing. Which explains why I found the new school clothes I bought him by the side of the toilet in the kids' bathroom. But since he's wearing one of those new shirts in the photo above I think he's coming around to the whole idea. I know he's going to have a lot of fun, make new friends, and learn so much this year. We'll see how next week goes (for him and for me!)
So that's a little Monday update from us...how 'bout you?Labels: our house |
| posted by Joanna Bolick @ 11:27 AM |
|
|
|
| Thursday, August 09, 2007 |
| Look alike? |
That's me on the left at age 2, and a photo of Harper on the right taken the other day.Labels: Harper |
| posted by Joanna Bolick @ 8:01 AM |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, August 08, 2007 |
| Cole's latest |
poptart
(it comes in several flavors)Labels: artwork |
| posted by Joanna Bolick @ 11:20 AM |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, August 07, 2007 |
| the doctor's appointment |
Ah, the doctor's office. As you know, it's one of Harper's very favorite places. I usually try to schedule the kids' appointments at the same time to eliminate having to go there more often than necessary. So today was a breathing check-up for Cole (asthma) as well as Harper's 2-year well-visit.
In the car she was adamantly clear on her position: "no doctor, no doctor!" But she was okay once we got there, especially when she found a Winnie-the-Pooh book and a wagon to pull her puppy around in. As it happened, the doctor's office was running waaaay behind today, (mental note: don't ever schedule an appointment right before schools get back in session if you can avoid it) which meant that we waited an entire hour before we were ushered to the back rooms. In the back rooms, of course, you have to wait again for the doctor to show up. A mere 15 minutes later he came into the room apologizing for all the delays and got right to work. Harper, amazingly, was surprisingly good this time around -- in other words, the doctor could actually hear her heartbeat since she wasn't screaming bloody murder the whole time. Cole was good as well. So glad we waited so long to know we're doing well. After the doctor left we had to wait again for the nurse to come back in for one of those dreaded S-H-O-T-S for Harper.
When the nurse finally came in she informed me that Harper would also have a "little" blood drawn from her pinky finger in order for them to do lead testing or something like that.
Commence screaming, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
Apparently they need a LOT of blood for said testing, and Harper wasn't about to let them have any.
Oh, the agony.
Actually the shot itself was quite a letdown in the drama department compared to the blood-letting.
And then finally it was over, and the nurse said "bye bye" and Harper glared at her through tear-stained eyes and walked directly past her without saying goodbye, snuggling her puppy (with its matching bandaid on the leg) and dragging her pink blanket behind her.
(nurses sure get a bad rap)
So, two hours after we first arrived at the doctor's office, we were one our way again. We were also starving, as it was now 12:30, and I decided to take the kids to Chick-fil-a for a quick lunch. We went inside, for reasons that I can't really justify now in hindsight. We ordered our food, all was fine, we sat at a table, all was fine, I unpacked the nuggets and emptied the contents of a ketchup pack on each of their napkins, and all was fine. Because I had ordered one meal with fruit as a side and one with fries as a side, I thought I would simply divvy up the contents of both between the kids. Unfortunately, I had already pushed to the back of my mind the extreme duress that Harper had been under for the past two hours (not to mention that shots usually make her cranky) and I was not prepared for the battle that ensued over the fruit cup. To end the argument I took the bowl away from both of them, but Harper was not satisfied. Her arms began flailing in front of her. I managed to remove her sippy cup and the box of nuggets before they sailed away, but I didn't have time to grab the napkin which held the contents of one small ketchup packet on it. This, my friends, was my fatal mistake.
The napkin whirled in the air and the ketchup went flying. Fortunately, it made contact with one large object, which prevented the ketchup from splattering all of our neighbors in what was a very crowded lunchroom. Most unfortunately, the large object it came into contact with was me. My face, my neck, my shirt, and as I later discovered accidentally while running my fingers through it, my hair. Can I just say that I have never in my life been in that situation before, plastered with ketchup while trying to calm down a screaming toddler who has had a very bad morning? The worst Cole ever did was throw a spoon across Cracker Barrel when he was little. It didn't hit anyone.
As there were no adults with me, I decided that we couldn't make it to the bathroom very easily, so I just sat there, extremely thankful for the extra-large stack of napkins I always grab when I am eating with my kids, and started to mop up the mess. Who knew one little ketchup pack held so much ketchup? I had never really thought about that before now. And I'd like to thank the male paramedic who sat across from us but acted like he didn't notice that there was ketchup streaming down my neck. As for all the single people in the room, as well as those who are married without kids or considering having kids, I am fully aware that this was one of those moments where your eyes widen, you nod discreetly in our direction, and whisper to the person across from you, "and that is why I will never have children."
Seriously, I couldn't believe that we were in one of those moments.
But then I cleaned myself up, gave Harper her nuggets and milk, and we all resumed eating as if I hadn't just received a tomato puree facial.
And so it goes.
She doesn't have another well-visit scheduled for a year.
Heeding Mel's request for photos, here's the little dolly all sacked out during her nap this afternoon.
 Labels: a humorous life |
| posted by Joanna Bolick @ 1:39 PM |
|
|
|
| Monday, August 06, 2007 |
| $7 for vegetables |
Have you seen the book Play with your Food? It came out about ten years ago, though Cole and Harper have just discovered it. Actually, they fight over who gets to look through the book, which is oh-so-fun. The book is filled with wonderful photographs of simple fruits and vegetables that suddenly become animated due to their inherent qualities. For example, a sweet potato with an oblong shape becomes a pig with a snout, and a set of 3 grapes with stems is turned into an ant with antennae and legs.
So anyway, we like the book. So much so that we were inspired to take a trip to the Farmer's Market last week to pick up the oddest looking vegetables we could find. Cole had a lot of fun stuffing various vegetables into a big brown bag, though I think the woman who rang up our purchase was not quite as delighted by the fact that we only bought one of each thing...which is maybe why we paid $7 for the following collection of items. I feel like there was some extra "handling" fee added for her trouble.
After Harper went down for her nap we put the assortment of produce in front of us on the table and waited to be inspired. Some of the items had a lot of potential, but unfortunately, we soon discovered that animating vegetables does not come very naturally to us.
Here's what we ended up with:
a mouse
an elephant (on a side note, Harper calls elephants "woos" because of the trumpeting sound they make when they raise their trunks)
and a lopsided walrus (with some peppercorns stolen from Mark's stash of cooking stuff)
Thankfully, eating fruits and vegetables does come quite naturally to us, and we made short work of the peach, the pear, the green apple, the green pepper, and one lemon.
PS. We decided the beans were "snakes" and left them as is.Labels: children's books |
| posted by Joanna Bolick @ 2:41 PM |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, August 01, 2007 |
| new photography articles at 2peas |
August 1st marks the start of a new series of photography articles written by Mark & I at 2peasinabucket.com. The articles are geared toward beginning photographers as well as those who are interested in improving their photography. We're starting with the basics and we'll move into more advanced topics later on toward the end of the year. New articles will appear on the 1st & 15th of each upcoming month as part of the Creating Garden at 2peas, and there'll be challenges and other fun things to come as well. We're excited!Labels: photography class |
| posted by Joanna Bolick @ 12:17 PM |
|
|
|
| About Us
|
|
A Few of my Favorite Things |
|
| Asheville Area Recommendations |
|
| Receive Journal Updates |
|
|
© 2008 Asheville Wedding and Portrait Photography - Tuesday's Frog Photography
All images on this site are copyright 2005-2008 Tuesdaysfrog LLC. Removal and use of these images in any manner is prohibited unless a written release is obtained from us. Thank you!
|
|
