A Note for Santa. Already.

Dear Santa,

Today I went to my cousin Marlee's 2nd birthday party!

I had the best time playing with my cousins!

But most of all, I LOVED this big car!

Zoe took me for lots of rides and I just laughed and laughed!

The car went really fast!

We drove up and down a big hill and said "WHEEEE!!"

That Zoe is a great driver!

CHEESE!

and CHEESE some more!

Mommy let me drive the car - but she said that she isn't quite ready for me to be 16 yet!

I took a short break from the awesome car to celebrate Marlee's birthday! We ate cake and ice cream and watched Mars open her presents! Mommy says it'll soon be MY birthday!

So, Santa...

How 'bout that car??!!

"So...are you ready to go back?"

I just HAD to post a few pictures from LONG LONG AGO...

Take a look at my baby girl on the very first time she rode in the stroller - as a BIG GIRL!

She still looked so small...

And I'll never forget putting those tiny size 2 Nike's on her...because, well...we were going for a walk! She needed her walkin' shoes!

Was she ever REALLY this small???

Because I'm only remembering THIS HUGE GIRL in that same stroller...
Size 7 sneakers.
Almost too big for the darn thing!

We've been enjoying every last second of the summer!
No matter where I go these days, people are saying the same thing..."So....are you ready to go back!!??"
Truthfully...I really am ready!
God knew what he was doing when he led me to be a teacher! I love the first day of school! I love the drama and the stress of the first few weeks! I love meeting new kids and their parents and forming relationships with families that will last a lifetime!
This time LAST YEAR, I wasn't so excited to get back...it was about to be the first time that I actually left Brooke...Remember?
I'm so lucky to have my parents keeping my daughter...it makes my life so much easier!
I know it makes theirs a whole lot more chaotic - but I'd be lost without them and their love for Brooke! I know she'll enjoy being with Nana and Pap again... Oh the fun you have at Nan's!

As much as I love my family at home and spending every waking minute with Brooke, I AM ready to get back to the regular grind...
But, I sure will miss these days....

The pictures above chronicle our last 'summer walk' with Amanda and the kids!
Brooke ADORES Halle and Max and talks about them all of the time!

I had to laugh when I shared a few stories with Amanda on our walk...
Ever since we spent 4 days with the Hertzler clan at the beach, Brooke talks about Halle and Max constantly! Everything she does, she refers back to whether or not Halle and Max have ever done it!
Like, when she doesn't want to ride in the cart at the grociery store. I will say, "But Halle and Max LOVE to ride in the cart!" Brooke will quickly smile and say, "Ok!"

I'm so glad that Halle and Max are so well behaved! Since I'm pretty sure they are Brooke's role-models!

Today, we enjoyed one last summer play date with Monster Caleb and VERY PREGGERS Leah!
We met for some play time at the park!
The kids bounced from the swings...

...to the slides...

...to a different slide...

...up the steps!

...and back down the steps!

They played and the Mommies talked!

Leah won't be joining the other teacher Mommies as we head back to work on Monday, so it was great to spend a little more time with her before the madness of Fall begins!
I can't believe, that the next time I'll see her, she may have newborn TWINS!

I'm DYING to know their names - believe me, she won't crack! This girl means business when it comes to keeping a secret!

We finished playing at the park and took the kids to McDonald's for Happy Meals!

We talked some more, laughed about how funny these little 2 year olds have become, and giggled about the fun that we'll have to come as we raise these kids together!

I'm so thankful for Leah's friendship!

(We missed Michelle and Malaina at this playdate - love you girls!)

Brooke's love affair with lolli-pops has not dwindled even a little bit...she just can't bear to be away from them!

This one?

She dropped it. Sat on it. Became a permanent fixture.

Happy Friday!

BIG GIRL STUFF!

Since our baby girl is officially no longer a BABY, we've been enjoying a few 'BIG GIRL' changes around here!

No, Brooke has not joined the Burnham Fire Company as a junior fire fighter, but we DID take her to her 3rd Penny Bizarre on Friday night! Brooke has been to this small festival in my belly, last year right before she turned 1, and now again this summer. We enjoyed yummy food, placed our tickets in lots of (unlucky) prize jars, and visited with lots of Zig's family!

Brooke decided that, even though she was terrified of the screaming fire truck sirens all evening, she wanted to take a ride on "Daddy's truck."

She proudly pronounced that she wanted to 'try it,' so Daddy and Chief Matt took her on her very own private ride around Burnham - lights, sirens, and all!

On BIG GIRLS get to do something so special!

I snapped this picture of Zig's fire gear. If you look closely, you can see our last name on his tag, but even cooler...his helmet says "Zig." We're proud of you Daddy!

And on Saturday...

After more than a week of ALL SCREAMING, ZERO NAPPING, and EARLY RISING...

We decided it was time for another BIG GIRL CHANGE!

Bed rail for conversion crib. Check.

Door knob safety device. Check.

Brand new Dora pillow. Check.

My almost-2-year-old no longer in the crib. CHECK!!

Since Brooke hasn't been sleeping well, I've really been trying to find ways to make sleeping a positive thing for her. I don't want her to associate sleeping with screaming...and frankly, they've been one in the same lately.

During scream-fest 2010, one of Brooke's favorite things to do is throw every bink (normally only 2 or 3) out of the crib, then scream when she awakes to NONE.

So, we're trying the BINK MADNESS strategy...millions of special binks that ONLY come out at nap/bed time! This way, she always has binks, and it seems extra special to her to have this colorful array found only in her big girl bed!


...and how cute is Dora!!??

I'm not sure at what age kids are supposed to start using pillows, but she loves this one and seems to figuring out how to use a pillow at night time...

Night #1 was a success!

Aunt Meg talked me through my stress and fears of what COULD happen on this first night...

She COULD get up and wander around.

She COULD fall out.

She COULD still scream for hours.

But, she didn't!!

After a long talk about bed and how special this new change was, she layed her little head down with Dora and fell asleep. All night. Not a peep. No wandering. No falling. No screaming!

And this is how we found her Sunday morning!

We celebrated her full night's sleep in the big girl bed with dancing, singing and clapping as a family of 3!

Can you picture that! HA!

A serious case of bed-head, but a well-rested Brooke!

To celebrate this huge accomplishment, we took Brookie on an adventure perfectly suited for a BIG GIRL!

We spent our day in Hershey yesterday, visiting Chocolate World, Zoo America and the outlets!

I'd say this BIG GIRL was sufficiently WORN OUT!

Her nap was spent in the car, but she spent night #2 in the BIG GIRL BED last night without any problems at all!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

This morning, Brooke packed up a few binks and a cup of milk to take along with Mommy to school! How cute is she!!?

We spent the morning in my classroom finishing up a few last details before 6th grade orientation on Wednesday night...

And this afternoon - Brooke took her first nap in the big girl bed and slept from 1:20-3!

She's happy and rested and said that her nap was "good."

I'd say it's safe to claim victory! At least for today!

Happy week, everyone!

A Shower and A Sprinkle!

I've been so honored as to have attended both a SHOWER and a SPRINKLE this week!

This brightly colored, perfectly detailed, full of love bridal shower was thrown for Danielle Shepherd! Danielle's mom is such a precious and valuable friend to me and I was so excited to share this day with their family! Danielle is the lucky bride to be...awaiting her special day in October!


The shower had a 'kitchen' theme -

Vicki and her younger daughter Courtney had such cute ideas and details that made the whole day so special!

Add a little sprinkle to that shower!

Today was Leah's BABY SPRINKLE!

Um. Oh. My. Goodness.
Are these cakes not the cutest things you've ever seen in your life!?

When Michelle and I met weeks ago to discuss details and work together on this special day for Leah, our brains went crazy with details and we so much fun! Michelle found these cake ideas online and asked a friend of hers to duplicate them! They turned out better than I could have ever expected!

Jena Knepp is the creator- and I'm pretty sure she's HIRED for all of our events for the rest of our LIVES! Incredible!

This gorgeous girl was the perfect hostess for the Sprinkle! Seeing her made me miss Brookie, who has stayed home with Daddy the passed 2 nights while Mommy has been SUPER BUSY!

Doesn't she look GREAT!!?

2 babies coming in a matter of weeks! What a blessing!

It was a great turn-out and Leah was sufficiently 'sprinkled' with lots of love...and plenty of things to give them a good start on welcoming 2 small miracles very soon!

Moral Support.

I needed it today. So, I called my husband.

Rewind to the beginning of summer.
Brooke decided to make up for all of the early morning wake-ups that I caused in order to get her to my Mom's each morning before school. It seemed as if a switch had gone off in her head and she knew that NOW she could do what kids do best during the summer months....SLEEP IN! (Wait, isn't that only supposed to be middle school kids?)
At any rate, Brooke was going to bed around 9pm, sleeping until 11:30 am. Unbelievable. Then, she'd take 2-3 hour naps in the afternoon. Every. Single. Day. Pure. Heaven.
Truthfully, I took a lot of grief for allowing her to sleep that late and some people even told me that I'd 'pay for that' when it came time to get Brooke back into our September-June schedule.

I wasn't about to wake her up super early each morning just to shut people up, but I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I've created an almost-2-year-old Monster.

Fast forward to the beginning of the week.
I have NO EARTHLY CLUE what is going on with my child, but she won't sleep! EVER!
Well, that's not completely true...I tend to exaggerate when I'm emotional.
It's close to impossible to get Brooke to bed before 10:15 pm. When she's asleep for the night, she stays asleep. That is, until about 7:45 am. Not enough sleep for this child.
You'd think that less night-time sleep would cause better (and maybe even LONGER) afternoon naps, but nope. Not so much.
Now, instead of a solid 2-3 hour nap, Brooke wakes up after about 30 minutes SCREAMING as if she's on FIRE! I can assure you that she's in fact, NOT on fire, and that I have absolutely no idea what is going on with her.

Catching up to right now. 2:33 pm.
Brooke has been up since 7:45 (when she started SCREAMING from her crib this morning!).
She could barely stay awake to eat her lunch and fell fast asleep in my lap around 1:15pm. I layed her down. She screamed. Then fell asleep. Back up. Screaming. At 1:45. She slept for 30 minutes. Not enough sleep.
So, I went upstairs and checked her diaper to be sure that she hadn't gone #2. No #2. So I kissed her, told her I loved her and that she needed more rest. Out the door I went. And she JUST stopped screaming. This is not a joke people.

Please understand that I LOVE MY DAUGHTER. And I'm not just worried about her not sleeping because I enjoy being away from her. But any mother out there would understand that sometimes, nap time is the only break a Mom gets during the day. Nap time is when I fold laundry, wash dishes, get supper ready, eat lunch, check email, blog, watch Y&R, do school work, write out bills, or anything else that really needs to get done around here. I'm entitled to a few minutes to myself right?

Let me say that I am NOT against the 'cry it out method.' I do realize, though, that it's not for everyone. When Brooke was around 9 months old, she started fighting us rocking her to sleep. Zig and I made the decision that we didn't want to fight with her in the evenings, and instead just enjoy our routine...so we began laying her down wide awake. Sometimes, she'd cry for a few minutes, but then would nestle right into her bed and fall asleep. And she slept so well once she realized that she could just rest and sleep on her own.

There have been dozens of times where Brooke has woken up during the night or from a nap when I KNOW that she's not ready to be awake yet, and I've just let her yell. She almost always puts herself right back down. And she's fine. No harm done.
Like I said, not for everyone, but it works for us.

But today, I'm thinking that I've never had to let her scream as long as I just did. I feel TERRIBLE and I just got done crying about it from when I called Zig for moral support. God love him, he offered to leave work early and come home to be with her - and let me leave. Destress. Unwind. Not necessary...but very nice of him to offer.

It's quiet upstairs now.
I have to admit that I'm not sure what I'll do the next time she awakes.
I'm just going to pray that she wakes up much more pleasant than she's been.

Who knows why I've composed this post.
Maybe it is to remind myself that I'm human and NOT Super-Mom.
Maybe it is just to document the fact that motherhood is hardwork. And that I should be proud of it.
Maybe I just needed to vent...
Maybe I just wanted to write down my thoughts so that I could remember these days...
These perfect, lazy, summer days. The good. The bad. And the ugly.

Weekend in review.

It's all about the shoes.

I spent Thursday AND Friday of last week in my classroom...

For Thursdays visit, Brooke came along and helped me finish up my bulletin boards. Since she was a real trooper, we stopped at Super Shoes on the way home and got a few GREAT deals!

These 3 little gems came home with us in a size 7. Um...7?

Brooke actually picked out a classic light-up pair of sneakers that might as well have had sirens on them! She wore them around the store and stomped her feet repeatedly to get them to flash and blink...but eventually (Mommy!) decided to leave them for another loving family to purchase.

Friday night, we headed back to the Youth Fair!

We met up with Stacie and Anna and tried our luck (again) at the fair!

Zig came along with us, but left shortly after got there for an emergency meeting at the firehouse. It turned out ok, though, because Stacie and I got to enjoy each other and let the kids spend time together.

We met up with my sweet Spike again, and she gave us the animal tour...again.

Spike earned some extremely impressive awards at this year's youth fair, and like I told her this week, I'm so proud of her I could just about BURST!

Events like the Youth Fair really make me proud to be a teacher! I usually only see my 'kids' in the classroom setting. Some, I have the priviledge of working closely with, as I did this special group of 8th graders that sort of became my 'posse.' But when a teacher gets to see her students being successful and responsible and respectable in the outside world - it just truly warms your heart.

I must note, that as I saw dozens of former sixth graders working with animals, showing them in the show ring, and taking care of them in the barns, I also saw HOARDS of them walking around the youth park...causing mahem! Stacie and I couldn't take 3 steps without hearing "MRS. WRAY!!" and having to stop and chat for a few seconds. I DO love these kids, and I supposed I should be happy that they WANT to stop and talk, but HOLY MAN! It was crazy!

The food at the Youth Park is amazing. I mean, amazing.

But 2 mommies with 2 babies on the hip leaves very little hands to carry the funnel cakes and soft pretzels that Stacie and I wanted to treat ourselves with.

So.

To the Dairy Queen we went!

We had so much fun!

We giggled and told stories and watched the girls make messes with ice cream!

And as if ONE night with Stacie and Anna wasn't enough, we packed up last night for another evening with the family!

This is Black Snake Hollow!

The first picture shows Uncle Butch and Aunt Rhonda's amazing cabin-esque home...

and the second is Stacie and Noah's newly built home!

Butch and Rhonda added a fire pit to their amazing property and invited us all out for mountain pies, s'mores, and hot dogs on the fire!

Brooke was so excited for more play time with Anna!

Showing off her 'tub!'

Growing up, Stacie and I compiled multiple books full of pictures of the two of us! TONS of pictures document our childhood, our adventures, and all of the crazy things we did together! So, we've recently started a book for Brooke and Anna!

BFF's!

Noah, Zig, Pap and Uncle Butch took a ride on the gator to explore the property and Noah's man-cave! So cool!

I love this babe :)

Brooke followed Stacie and Stephy to look for deer!!

Can you see the horns?

It's almost FALL!

Anna, Aunt Rhonda and Beam on the hammock!

2 sleepy girls relaxing! Brooke actually started to doze off with Aunt Rhonda at one point!

Yummy juice box by the fire!

It just doesn't get much better than this!

Hope YOU had a great weekend too!