School is cool

I've told you before how pleased we are with Ella's new preschool, and I mean it. Today, as we were driving away, she sighed and said 'I love preschool...' I told her that I was very glad, and asked if she liked it better than her old one. 'Yes,' she said 'they have better food.' At least the girl is honest.

Here is photographic evidence of why I love this new preschool so much:


This would be Ella Grace, READING. Her teacher send home a list of words that they have been working on reading each week, along with the blend sounds. This is Ella, reading both columns of words, repeatedly telling us No! I don't want help! I want to learn. Yes ma'am.

Ashley's channeling the '80s

Last week I decided that it was high time to step up efforts to get Ashley's hair to bend to my will and lay to the side. With the skill and precision of a woman hell bent, I gathered up her hair to the side and tied it up in a tiny pony tail holder.


She looked mildly hilarious, but her hair was out of her face, dang it! Oddly enough, Ashley left her little 'do done all day. And when we took out the pony tail holder, she was kickin' it Flock of Seagulls style.

Speaking of AK's hair, have I made mention of the fact that she has curls in the back? Ella never really had any curls, so we were very surprised to see these!

I love it!

One of the perks of motherhood

The jonquils and crocus held out as long as they could, but this past week's 70+ degree days were too much to bear. And I'm benefiting from it, thanks to a sweet little girl who loves her mama.

Somebody Got a Rose for Valentine's Day

And it wasn't me.

It appears that Ella Grace has a boyfriend. I KNOW.

Christian is the young man's name, and he gave this to Ella after she spilled the beans that she had given him two pieces of candy in his valentine.


She was rather pleased, especially since the first thing she had said after getting putting on her tights and dress that morning was 'Christian's going to think I look soooo cute!'

My new Life Goal

is to beat this S.O.B.

I'd like to thank David's family for allowing me to pick one up and start compulsively twisting it to get the damn thing sorted out. Do you detect sarcasm? Because there was definitely sarcasm there....

I'm adding this cube of insanity to my list of things to accomplish before I die. Unless frustration from trying to figure it out kills me, because Ken has already told me that I'm not allowed to move around the stickers. (On the old school Rubik's Cube at the M house, it is stickers. On the new school one that I bought today (because I'm INSANE), it's just colored sides. I couldn't cheat if I wanted to!)

This is what I'm up against

The peanut butter, when I so deviously caringly put this out, was all the way to the end. And now it's not.

I SEE YOU, smarty pants mouse! We'll see if you can escape with your life after the sweet addition of some mashed in cheese!

The Man is CLEVER

One of the many, many reasons I love my husband:

Through the course of conversation tonight, I was talking to David about a woman who is Wiccan. I tried to make a joke about asking her to do some hocus pocus for us, but found that I didn't know how to properly refer to someone who believes in Wicca. Is it 'a Wiccan'? Or just 'is Wiccan'? I stumbled over a few of my words, not sure of what to say when I finally expressed this to David. And he promptly told me that perhaps there was a Wicca-pedia?

Misinformation Out in the Yard

Dear Jonquils,

It appears that you may have been given some incorrect information... It is not, in fact, spring and in no way is it the appropriate time for you to be doing this:

I've heard what the weatherman said about tonight, my dears, and it may not turn out well for you. So gather all of your premature budding buddies together and tuck in tight. IT'S FEBRUARY, and it's gonna get cold.

Megan

Over the River and Through the Woods

Last weekend we decided to get out and get a little fresh air with a walk around the pasture and woods by our house. Since Ashley doesn't have the desire/ability to walk, we have to carry her increasingly heavy self. That's quite a burden load to bear, so we split duties according to who was about to die the least at the time.

Here's Ashley Kate, enjoying her no walking state with a little knowing glance back at me.

And then here's Pickpocket Kate, caught red handed as she tries, for the 57th time, to steal David's notebook out of his pocket. You can see the amusement on his face. Not.

Ella elected herself Head Boss of Lilly while out on the walk.

Lilly elected herself Head Boss of Pond Wading, Poop Eating and Rolling Around in Stinky Stuff in General while on the walk.

Even though Ella never once carried Ashley, she seemed to require the most hydration. Possibly at the expense of the hydration of the two pack mules with the extra load of a lazy baby.
BUT IT'S OK. No, really.

Important Announcement:

LET IT BE KNOWN that all in the McClure house are on heightened alert since it was discovered that one Miss Ashley Kate has decided that continuing on into her 15th month birthday with only two teeth absolutely will not do and that she will work on springing forth with FIVE new top teeth AT THE VERY SAME TIME.

For Ashley and her parents, there has been a nonstop Tylenol and beer drip, respectively.

Have mercy on us all.

Pancakes and Bacon

Today was pajama and movie day at preschool and Ella couldn't have been more excited. She took The Jungle Book with her and wore her new horse pajamas (from Aunt Jamie and Uncle Jeff). Her teacher, Ms. Regina, even made pancakes in class for breakfast!

At supper tonight I was trying to extract from Ella exactly which movies they watched today, when she continued to ignore me and said 'IIIII'm tryyyyyin' to fiiiiined the chicken!' in regards to our chicken noodle casserole meal. I scampered right off to get the camera in hopes that she would say it again, knowing full well that she only lays on the thick accent when she's showing out.

When I brought the camera back to the table, she froze up and refused to speak. So I just turned it on and let it roll. Eventually she forgot about the camera and started to talk (because, let's face it, the girl talks non.stop.). Unfortunately, she started to talk about baycun. More trying to be cute on her part, but highly amusing on my part!




A few things to note:

* Those are the horse pajamas. Rather handy, having your child go to school in her pajamas!

* She and David are reading more of the Hank the Cowdog books, in which most recently Hank eats fatty pieces of bacon.

* Ashley Kate is there, just off camera, but heard nonetheless.

* Ella had a collision with a classmate that gained her a bruised head, busted lip and any other minor injury she could think of.

* The laughing, followed by 'What?' is a result of me laughing at Ashley Kate filling up her pants (which you can actually hear, if you listen very, very carefully).

You know it warms my heart to hear Ella picking up bits and pieces of a Southern accent. Pretty much burns it up, really. But holy smokes, the amount she has picked up in such a short time kind of scares me. She very well may end up sounding like a backwoods hick! Aaah, I'll take it over 'pop' (Coke) and 'seerup' (syrup)!

Since Ashley Kate could not be ignored, I turned the camera on her (right before I whisked her off for a diaper change).




(You can hear Ella in the background telling David about her fatty baycun.)

Cabinet Cleaning, by Ashley Kate

I got all caught up trusting this cute face who so readily smiled for the camera, that I missed out on her true intentions: cabinet clearing.


But I wasn't mad. How could I be? Clearly the girl needed some dip to go in the dip bowl!

Getting Ed-u-cated

The new preschool that we have Ella and Ashley in is fantastic. Unfortunately, the preschool we had Ella in before was not fantastic, and she has a little catching up to do. No worries! Her teacher is so wonderful and has been there for years and years (one of the problems we were having with the old preschool was teacher turnover) and sees it as her personal mission to catch Ella up. For real.

This preschool is also a Christian preschool, which we think is fantastic as well. To that end, the other night Ella said to us:

"Did you know that if you call to Jesus he will come into your heart and eventually call you to Heaven?"

Me: "That's right, sweetie. Do you know who just went to Heaven?"

Ella: "Opie and George."

Me: "That's right, they sure did!"

How awesome is that?!

(I forgot to tell you that we had another death in the family... George passed away last Saturday.)

Sometimes That Camera Comes in Handy

One of the (many) things I will say about Kansas is that I have never seen such pretty sunsets. The sky would light up like fire with gorgeous reds, pinks and oranges that seemed to move on as fast as they came in. Once I was lucky enough to run outside from my post at the receptionist's desk at a local auto dealership and grab a photo of one such sunset. And I mailed a copy of that picture to many people in my address book, because I thought it was pretty dang stunning.

A few weeks before we moved, one such colorful sunset was taking place and I commented on it to David. Whether it was what he believed to be the truth (or a part of his sneaky ploy to get to stay), David told me that I wouldn't see those kinds of sunsets in Georgia.

We caught the tail end of one tonight that was very pretty, reminiscent of the one from weeks ago. Knowing how fast they change, I ran to get my camera and bolted outside to catch these few photos. I was indeed a little late, but I think they are pretty nonetheless.

As I wandered my way to the back door, I noticed that Ella Grace was leaned up in a window watching me.

Never one to shy away from the camera...

And then later on, once it was approaching bedtime, David and Ella sat down to read a few more chapters in Hank the Cowdog, one of all of our favorite series.

Didn't I Tell You? No, No, I Sure Didn't

I realized (after a very nice email from Granny) that I failed to fill you in on all of the scoop about our new place! So sorry!

A little more about our new digs:

The house is pretty dadgum big... 5 bedrooms, 2 baths, but I don't know the square footage. That doesn't really matter, because the point is, it's bigger than our old place so we are all a twitter with this turn of events. We hardly know what to do with that kind of breathing room!

The girls are sharing a bedroom (because it is that big) and now they have a dedicated play room. I KNOW!

David and I decided to use one of the extra bedrooms as an office/storage/tack room, which is really nice when it comes to me taking class online. The playroom is adjacent to this multipurpose room, with a door connecting them, so the girls can play while in 'in class' and it works out beautifully.

The last extra room has been deemed the spare bedroom, although there is no bed in it. Currently it is the spare recliner room, because that's about all you're going to be able to sleep on in it... :)

We have a very, very large dining room as well, which makes our lack of furniture all the more clear!

The living room does have a small wood stove insert (yea!) but we won't be using it until a chimney sweep comes out to ensure that we don't start a chimney fire. I'm sure once we get the first month's electricity bill for heating this big ol' house, we will be calling the chimney sweep immediately!

There are several buildings around the house, but we only have access to the garage. Two others are utilized by the family that owns the place, and the once nice barn is not safe for anything beyond housing feed and halters.

There are quite a few trees around, including pecan, walnut, chestnut and MAGNOLIA!! Hallelujah! We also have a muscadine and scuppernong vine in the back/side yard, so guess who will be busy picking up nuts and picking grapes?! ELLA GRACE, that's who!

There are two of these beauties, just waiting to thrill me with their blossoms. YUM!

To the side and rear of the house is a cow pasture that the family leases out. We routinely get serenaded by these black beauties, especially when the hay truck shows up.

From the fence in the side yard: above, to the pasture, below, to our house

We sure are hoping that we find a deal on a riding mower come springtime... That's A LOT of grass to cut with a push mower!

They were all about it, I tell you what!

Our Faithful Scout, Georgia Edition

Look who made it to Georgia: Coon!

There he sits, watching out from a front window

I told you we would take him wherever we went! Actually, Coon was one of the very last things to come out of our old place, so he got to ride with distinction in the console of my Explorer. Because, let's face it, there's wasn't once inch of space left anywhere else. (Oh, and Andria commented about Lilly getting to ride on the big comfy bed that that took up so much room. Weeell, you see, Lilly's bed was actually our feather bed that I couldn't fit into the back. So I just folded it up and covered it with a sheet to make her an elevated spot. There was no way I was putting her in the back; we had that thing packed to the ceiling!)

The 80's Are Dead And Gone, Unless You're Me

If you look closely at the picture of our house in the post below (after you have recovered from the gigantic nap that you needed after reading all of that above it!), you will notice that the shutters have Ts on them. That's right, Ts for Thomas. Because we are renting 'the old Thomas house' or so they tell me. And we live on Thomas Road to boot!

Apparently the Thomas's had a pretty nice farm back in the day but the original farm house burned down. Around about 1981 a member of the family rebuilt this house on the site of the old one, and here we are! Living in a lovely home with the very exact same fixtures and wallpaper that were put in it almost 30 years ago. For instance, the kitchen is very spacious with tons of counter space and cabinets. Problem is, when there is a lot of space, there is a lot of terrible wallpaper and yellow counter top to fill up all that space.

Well, you see what I mean:


Not that I'm complaining, mind you! We hardly even notice the wonderful yellow glow that we all have when standing in the kitchen!

And then, there above the door, you can't really see but trust me when I tell you that there is a woman's name, Miss Lois, fitted in stained glass above it. And a man's name is above the back door.


Of course it's DAVE! So all logic would tell you that that would then make me MISS LOIS, would it not?!

Eastbound and Down, part 2

Considering how nuts the past few weeks have been, I realize that I will probably not ever get to a long and detailed post about our move. So I'll try and sum it up in as few as words possible, for your benefit (and mine!).

Thursday, Dec. 18: David and I come down with a nasty stomach bug and stay up all night with the associated maladies

Friday, Dec. 19th: Feel like total junk, skip out on most of my last day of work, still have tons of stuff to pack as of 9 pm, agree to go to hotel and push off leave date

Saturday, Dec. 20th: Sleep in, David still feels bad, hope Ella doesn't get bug (Ashley already had it and probably gave it to us), finally get all of our shit packed with the help of the little hitch platform thingy, drive to Jamie's house

Sunday, Dec. 21st: Ella woke me up at 6:30 am saying she needed to throw up, have mild heart attack, finally leave late morning once she remains throw up free, stop once when she really, really has to go to the bathroom (have mild heart attack again) but then doesn't, stop at Mom's in Nashville for the night

Monday, Dec. 22nd: Hang out with Mom, Marisa and Anderson come up, go over to Uncle Randall and Aunt Pat's to see Granny and Grandaddy who flew up from Florida (Yea! Their first time seeing Ashley! Yea!), almost get UR and AP kicked out of their very nice neighborhood for our Clampett-mobile being parked out front, drive on the David's parent's house

Tuesday, Dec. 23rd: Drive to Griffin area to see the rental house I had chosen (I had even had the electricity and phone turned on there in my name), make the gut wrenching decision to turn it down, thrust my family into the the destitute and homeless category, have a mild heart attack

Wednesday, Dec. 24th: Determine that searching for a rental house on Christmas Eve is pointless, try to get the in-laws set up with the internet so I can feed the addiction that is email (and search for properties!), have NO LUCK, go last minute Christmas shopping for Ella from Santa, get word the George, David's grandmother's husband is sent to the hospital

Thursday, Dec. 25th: Have a great morning with the girls opening all of their gifts, take girls to visit Opie (David's other grandmother), have a great Christmas dinner, go visit George in hospital

Friday, Dec. 26th: Drive to Athens and see Marisa and fam, friends from way back, and my dad and Celeste, get on internet for the first time in a week, feel like I can almost breathe (this addiction is FOR THE BIRDS), scribble down names and phone numbers for rental houses

Saturday, Dec. 27th: Drive back to David's parents's house, learn the Opie has been admitted to the hospital

Sunday, Dec. 28th: I don't even know what we did here... something? Watch football?

Monday, Dec. 29th: We all load up and drive to Griffin to search for rental houses, can't get in touch with ANYONE, take David to see the one that I rejected, he agrees that it's awful, get word that Opie has cancer and will be undergoing surgery that night, have mild heart attack, fly back to in-laws and hospital

Tuesday, Dec. 30th: I drive to Griffin to search for rental houses, have almost no luck, get lost several times, stumble upon a realtor with a large house out in the sticks for rent, go visit, take lots of pictures, go back to show David, hear that George isn't doing so well

Wednesday, Dec. 31st: Drive to Griffin to see a few more houses, struggle over choice between two, decide on farm house in the sticks, haggle with realtor over details, FINALLY SIGN CONTRACT AND OBTAIN KEYS! We are no longer homeless!

Thursday, Jan. 1st: All drive to Griffin to purchase a refridgerator and get it plugged in so that we can move in on Friday

Friday, Jan. 2nd: George is doing better, Opie is not, stay in town, purchase really cool dryer on super clearance

Saturday, Jan. 3rd: Plan to load up stuff from storage unit and move down but it's raining and the stock trailer has windows, go to Home Depot and purchase plastic sheeting to cover windows, load up stock trailer with stuff from storage unit, realize that it's too damn late to move, stay in town

Sunday, Jan. 4th: Move down to new rental house in the sticks, realize that I will be spending AT LEAST a million dollars at Wal-Mart within the next few days, freak out a little over being sort of in the woods, hear that Opie isn't doing well at all

Monday, Jan. 5th: Plan to meet with my major professor, plans fall through, go to Wal-Mart and spend a million and one dollars, hear that Opie isn't doing well at all, go visit potential day care and preschool for girls, love day care and preschool, find out that DSL will not work, schedule technician to come out

Tuesday, Jan. 6th: Hear that Opie has passed away during the night, go to meet major prof, hunt down washing machine to match super cool dryer, eat at Waffle House, keep girls out WAY past their bedtimes

Wednesday, Jan. 7th: Meet with major prof again, have DSL tech come out and get us hooked up (how sweet it is!), take girls to day care/preschool for a few hours, go to new student orientation, almost kill myself from sitting through NSO, go home and have a nice TV and internet filled night

Thursday, Jan. 8th: Take girls to day care/preschool for first all day, go to class for the first time in 5 years, utilize new technology for classes that is so super cool, realize that I need to get organized, try to find something to wear to the funeral, fail miserably, have mild heart attack, drink a glass of wine

Friday, Jan. 9th: Run out to find funeral clothes and shoes, Success!, attend visitation, service and burial, drive home, get buzzed by low flying aircraft, seconds later see big plumes of smoke, almost call 911, try to find source of smoke, instead discover hidded little 'neighborhood' of people with personal aircraft who live in house-hangers around the smallest airport/landing strip you've ever seen

And then here we are! Good grief that seems like a bunch, but I suppose it's been a long time since I've really posted! Here is a shot of our rental farm house. I promise more pics of the house and land around it to come soon!

Eastbound and Down, part I

We're here! And more importantly, FINALLY have internet access! Woo hoo!

It's late, but very soon I will update you with all of the good details about the big move. Just to entice you to come back, take a little peek at what my Explorer looked like right as we drove out of town:

We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies, I swear to you

And that' pretty much how it went. (But none of that snow business for us in Georgia, THANK GOODNESS!)

Sometimes I wish I had a recording of our conversations

Quotes from the weekend

Ella Grace stunned us, twice, by beginning a sentence (and correctly so) with:

"Speaking of..." and

"I assume that you're going to..."

Good grief, that girl KILLS me.

David made me laugh when, during our 'packing up the whole freaking house to be loaded in a stock trailer with two horses and hauled to Georgia two weeks early" whirlwind, he says:

[looking around at all of junk] "We deserve to live in a trailer" and

"I'm going to go to bed... FLOOR, and try and get some sleep" (Yes, our bed is gone. We're sleeping on a feather bed and boatload of comforters/quilts.)

No quotes from Ashley Kate, but a pic of taking advantage of a carelessly tossed pillow during the moving madness.