Sneaky, sneaky!

Meghan was at the kitchen table doing homework last night when she got a little frustrated. The lines were different for writing letters, so writing lowercase c's just weren't working out the way Ms. Perfect wanted them to, so she got pissed and scribbled all over her paper. In a very calm voice, I told her that Mrs. Stevens, her teacher, would be pretty disappointed to see such sloppy work from her. She looked at me and said, maybe I should change my name on my homework to Anthony. HA! That's the kid in class that tends to get on the "Warning Spot" often. Guess the teacher might expect that from him, huh Meg? Nice try!

Oh....and I must dote for just a little bit. She's got a new girl in her class. Meg was so excited to tell me all about her last night and even made a little diagram with her fingers to show me exactly where she and the new girl sit....right next to each other! She told me how she helped her open her pencil box and a couple of other nice things. Today her teacher saw us in the hall after school and complimented Meg for being so kind. She said that the new girl really likes school and she thinks that Meghan has been a big part of that. Love, love, love that my baby girl shows such compassion for others. =)

The Big Surprise

As many of you know, Meg had a big surprise coming on Christmas Day....a new puppy! Mamaw and Papaw made this big purchase about a month before Christmas and he was kept a secret (and in hiding at their house) until the big day. He was wrapped up in a box, and when Meg took the lid off, he jumped out. She screamed and jumped back then immediately stood in shock. She was speechless....which RARELY happens. She is in absolute love and tends to his every need. Oh, I nearly forgot! Naming him was left all up to her and she decided that it is Pongo. This is the name of the father dog off of 101 Dalmations. It's a name that has been hard to remember for some. He's been called, Bongo, Pablo and Poncho more than once!

Conversation of the day...

Me: Meghan, it's just gonna be you, me and Greg for New Year's Eve. Do you want to do anything special?

Meg: **immediate response** Yeah! I wanna go camping!

Me: We can't because it's winter time and the camper is all closed up for the winter.

Meg: Can I camp in the back yard?

Me: Sure, but do you think you'll be warm enough?

Meg: Of course, I'll take my Snuggie and Pongo (her new dog) out with me. They'll keep me plenty warm.

Ahhh...the bliss of new Christmas gifts. Anything is possible these days! =)
Me: We'll help you get your tent set up! ;)

Bad Bad Blogger

OK....I've been a bad bad blogger the past couple of months. I think it is no coincidence that my last post was from Fall Break. Since then I took over a new classroom (mid-year) and am finishing up the last few weeks of my Master's program. Surely I can be forgiven for that????

Meg continues to be quite the observant little girl and ever so inquisitive! Lately her knew thing has been road lines. She asked one day why some were dotted and some were whole lines. We went over all the rules of that, so since then she has been telling me when I can pass and when I can't. Yesterday morning, so made a very interesting observation. She told me to look sideways at the road. Not sure what she meant, so I asked why. She then told me that if you look at the road that way when the lines are dotted in the middle, it looks like writing paper that they use in kindergarten. Hmmmmm...what an interesting thought! It really does look like that. =)

She very, very excited for Christmas and has two main wants, a Nintendo DS and an American Girl doll. We'll have to see if Santa can bring all of that or if he needs some help from Mommy and Greg. She's also getting one other surprise that will give her the surprise of her life. I can hardly wait!! I think this time of year is so much more exciting now that I've got her to surprise.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Fall Break!

Participating in an Egyptian ceremony and parade

Resting on an alligator in the Nile

Hard at work

Digging for dinosaur bones

Happy Cheerleader!

Snarly Cheerleader! (all in a matter of seconds!)

It hasn't been much of a restful break, but Meg and I have been enjoying our time off of school. On Thursday after a yumy breakfast out with Mamaw and Papaw, we took off to the Children's Museum. Mamaw went with us, so it was a nice girls day for us! We toured the haunted house at the museum during the friendly hours. Meg absolutely loved it! In each room, the friendly workers hand out some kind of treat and there is, of course, lots of neat things to look at while going through. We also spent time doing some of our other favorites. Three rides on the carousel, some play time in the science and water area, plus a visit to the Dinosphere pretty much covered our day.

She's also been very happy because she's been able to sleep in my bed twice. One of the biggest treats ever for her! On Wednesday night, we watched the Halloween special "Monsters vs. Aliens" while snuggled up together. She told me before it started that she didn't think it was scary, but if it was and I got scared, she'd hold me. Is that not the sweetest comment ever! Love moments like that!

Last night, she slept in my bed again and we talked for a little while before going to sleep. The conversation went like this:

Meg- Were Webkinz invented when you were a little girl?

Me- No, but I had Cabbage Patch Kids and Strawberry Shortcakes.

Meg- I've never heard of those, were there even stuffed animals invented yet?

Me- ***laughing** Yes, I'm not that old silly!

Meg- I know, but where there dolls invented?

Me- Yes

Meg- What about dinosaurs?

Me-**feeling pretty at this point!** LOL They were already extinct, how old do you think I am?

Meg- What's extinct mean?

Me-**relieved that the subject has changed** Extinct means they not around anymore.

That was a conversation that did not boost my ego! Good thing my birthday is still a ways away, so I wouldn't have a complex about it! =)

The rest of our time has pretty much been spent at school preparing my room since I switch grade levels on Monday! Meg's very excited that my new room is very close to hers and that we'll see each other on some of the days when she has recess. It's so great that she still loves her momma like that!

Perfect Princess Weekend!

The Princess Tea Party was Friday night and Meg was in absolute heaven! We attended this party last year and had a blast! This year it was even better. We had invited cousins Claire and Kate to join us this year. They came over a little while before the party and got all dolled up. We did everyone's hair and got them all fancied up in princess clothes. I got a fast forward to the future seeing them all getting ready for prom. They were giddy with excitement. I just love seeing that! =)

We got to party and there were princesses decorations everywhere and even Belle was there. The room was all decorated and looked very fancy. We had real china tea cups on our table and even magic wands for the girls! They had yummy tea party food for us like mini sandwiches, chips, veggies and even a chocolate fountain for dessert. That was DELICIOUS and enjoyed by all!

After we ate they had the chance to get their hair "done" which amounted to getting it spray painted (Meg got blue, Claire got red, and Kate got orange.) They also got makeup put on and had their nails painted. They looked absolutely precious. They were then able to dance and play a game in which they won big jeweled rings. When it was finally time to come home, no one was too excited about that. They would've stayed and continued to dance and twirl all night long. A great bonding time and memorable experience!

**Notice Kate's orange hair!!! =)

Pictures!

Just a few pics to share today. I'm home sick and am passing some of my time editing and uploading pics. Enjoy!

School news

Meg has these little reading books that she brings home from school to practice reading. Tonight we sat down after school to read a few of these and she made funny comment. She told me that she has to go back the back of the room and learn how to read these with the teacher. Then she lowered her voice to a low whisper and said, "Even though I already know how, I pretend like I'm learning how to read them from the teacher." Atta girl! That's the way to conform and not stir the pot. Make your teacher happy!!! =)

Television monitoring needed

Meghan's new thing has been to wake up about 20 minutes before we are ready to leave and watch tv. The usual cartoons (Magic School Bus mainly) that she watched last year aren't on any more, so she's taken to watching CMT. This child LOVES music and watching many of her favorite songs she hears on the radio is lots of fun. She'll often even yell for me to come watch with her if it's Taylor Swift or some other "pretty girl" as she refers to them if she doesn't know their names.

This morning as we were packing up in the car, I hear her humming a tune and singing a few words. As she continued I realized she was singing the Lady Antebellum song "I Need You Now." What she was singing was this, "It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I need you now." Uhhhh...maybe CMT in the morning isn't such a good idea! I didn't say anything in hopes that she'd forget. (Yeah right....Meg forgets nothing!) After school she was still singing it. We had a brief little conversation that the song was not something she should sing in public. She then, of course, had to ask why. I told her that little girls shouldn't be saying some of those words and left it at that. She had more questions, but the suggestion of playing Monopoly Jr. made her forget all about them! Whew...thank goodness she still falls for diversion! =) Parenting is so much fun! I learn something new everyday.

Growing up and more....

Meghan has entertained me tonight with her grown up talk. She's got a new jean skirt that she's excited to wear tomorrow to school and I told her that she had to wear leggings undereath of it because it's cold out now. She didn't like that idea, so I told her that she couldn't unless she wore the leggins. She then proceeded to make the following comment, "Fine I'll wear the skirt with leggins (and she put leggins in "air quotes" with her fingers!)

We also saw a preview of a movie and it said it was rated PG. She told me that she knew PG stood for Parent Guideman. I asked her if she meant Parental Guidance and she told that's just what she meant! Silly kid!

She also had her first basketball game yesterday and it was fantastic! She had fun and did a super job. She even displayed some aggressiveness, which made me proud. It was much better than any soccer game. I'm very hopeful that she's got some potential in basketball. She dribbled well and her defensive skills were super for a 5 year old, if I might say so myself! =)

She did decide that she doesn't like the buzzer at the end of the quarter, so she covered her ears for that. LOL I also found out today (I didn't see this because I was coaching, er directing the others), but while she was on the bench she was watching the clock and counting down with her ears covered and even convinced the little girl next to her to do the same!

Basketball Superstar!

Ok....maybe not just yet, but she still had FUN! First practice was tonight. She was getting her shorts on (long black mesh ones because I told her that was one of the rules of basketball that you HAD to wear long shorts, her short soccer shorts were not acceptable in the gym!) LOL She didn't like the t-shirt I picked out because it didn't match her ankle bracelet, so she picked out another one that did! Oy!! I thought I was in for it, but somehow she managed to toughen up for me and do a great job at practice.

Dribbling is an area that still needs lots of work. She's the kid on the court that just forgets and will pick up the ball and run to wherever she wants to go. Remember that she is also a perfectionist kid, so when the ref blows the whistle on Saturday and takes the ball from her to give to the other team because she screwed up it should be interesting. Email me for game info if you are in need of entertainment for the day. ;)

She did do a fantastic job at defense. Her dad was there to help out with coaching and he told her to put her arms up and stay between her man and the basket. She did that perfectly. =) The next thing to work on is when someone else shoots, she needs to turn and go after the ball and forget about her man for a minute. Once she gets that down, we should be in good shape!

She did say the sweetest thing tonight as I tucked her into bed. She thanked me for coaching her in basketball, twice actually and it was a genuine appreciation, not a stall tactic for bedtime. It's one of those moments that makes me tear up. What a sweet kid I've got! Love her!!!!!

First game is Saturday....I'll be coaching, er, running up and down/all over the court chasing the players, but I'll be sure someone gets some pics to post!

mommy tld me to

deer blog followrs that have been bugging my mommy about writing on here:

mommy tld me to get on this puter and let you all no that we r fin. she is vry vry busy these days and has not had time to blog. she promizes to post a vry long up date soon. no need to wrry bout me. mommy still loves me to peeses and takes good care of me, even feeding me dinner most nites. ;) just kding, i get rilly rilly crabby when i do not eat so she alwayz feeds me. she even still has time to tuck me in to bed and read lots of junie b. jones books to me. she just has not had time to tell the funne stuff i have been saying and doing. pickchures and stories will come soon....

luv,

meghan
xoxo

Little of this...little of that!

Hmmm....where to begin???? I guess I'll recap our weekend. We had a great camping trip with Mamaw and Papaw. Meg had an obsession with taking care of Lexie (their little dog) which included pickin up her poop in the little poop bags. She was so excited to do this. I must admit that I was quite shocked that Princess Meg would stoop so low, but she did and would actually get off of her bike to pick it up. As she'd pick it up, she'd always declare to us "It's hot poop!" HA HA! We also played quite a bit of McDonald's through the screen door on the RV, roasted marshmallows (which she managed to get in her hair), and even had time to fish. We are definitely not much of fisherman, but we did manage to catch two fish. Papaw caught one and Meghan caught the other one. Technically, I was holding her pole and doing the fishing because that was waaaaay too boring, but when I realized it was hooked, I let her reel it in. The look on her face and her excitement was priceless. So glad I had my camera to capture the moments.

The other funny of the weekend was that Meg decided she wanted to sleep under the stars (her words, not mine!) We all told her we were not sleeping out there with her, but that we'd be happy to set up the air mattress and let her do it. This was going to be perfectly fine with her, for a short while. Then she started second-guessing her decision. At one point she cracked me up by saying, "I have this picture in my head that I may come back in in the middle of the night!" The lines she comes up with have me rolling sometimes!

Once we got home, she was NOT tired, but managed to take a two hour nap. (I can only imagine how long her nap would've been if she had slept under the stars! LOL) I had promised to wake her up after one hour, so she wasn't wasting the whole day and play time. I did go in and wake her after an hour, but she mumbled something at me, then put the blanket over her head and slept for another hour. Good thing she wasn't really tired, or she may have slept until morning. **wink, wink**

Tonight she wanted to watch tv instead of reading books before bed. Funny video was on so she watched all of that. Right after it was other some other game show came on and this guy contestant introduced his "husband." This really caught Meg's attention and she asked several questions about it, most of which I dodged. Why can't she be a little less observant at times???

Tomorrow begins another week of kindergarten and I'm sure a new homework packet. Whooopee!

One week down...

Well, Meg officially has one week of kindergarten under her belt. On Monday, something happened that I must blog about, so I never forget the moment.

Picture this (flashback to Golden Girls! ha ha!):

Meg is the first one in line coming down the hallway with her class. She has the BIGGEST and I mean BIGGEST smile on her face. As soon as she hands her teacher her "ticket" for dismissal, she makes a beeline for me walking as fast as her little legs will go (She's been reminded numerous times by me that running is not allowed in the halls when all the kids are there!). When she gets up to me she is slipping out of her backpack and telling me that she has big news. She's got HOMEWORK and it has to be done right now! She was soooooo excited about having homework that she just couldn't wait to get it done. I looked over the packet and saw that it is actually a few things for us to do and we have until Friday though.

We came home though and got busy right away. She had to make a collage and cut pictures of things she likes. She cut out some Amercian Girl stuff, pictures of horses and kitty cats, an Oreo wrapper and also included a picture of her and Jasmine from Disney World. The teacher also wants us to read three books at home this week. ****in my most sarcastic tone*** Geeeeeee.....I wonder if we can do that?????? Actually we read at least three books most nights before bed. One of Meg's punishments is to take away a book at night and only read one or two if she has done something naughty. So......I think we can handle three. Oh...and the teacher would also like us to record any other books we read, but honestly...I'm not doing that! Go ahead and call me a slacker parent, but as a teacher, I just don't agree with book logs. They make it a pain to those of us that do read lots and they force the ones that don't read to lie. So really what's the point? We've recorded twelve so far for this week (it's only Wednesday) and I think that's enough, don't you??? So......check! Homework is complete for this week! I'm sure it won't be long before homework is not so much fun, so I better cherish this time while I've got it.

The final big news of the week is that Meg lost another tooth. It was really loose when she got home on Sunday night so I tried to pull it. No luck. She tugged on it for a little while and didn't have any luck either. Greg pulled on it and she kept saying "Ouch!" so he felt bad and quit. We finally convinced her that it needed to come it (it really was that looose) so she layed back on the couch. I told her instead of saying Ouch to squeeze my hand. After one quick pull, Greg got it out. She actually didn't even know when it came out so it couldn't have hurt that bad. The tooth fairy showed up overnight and Meg was ever so excited in the morning to wake up and see what she had left. Only a dollar this time...I guess the Greenfield Tooth Fairy is poorer than the Disney World Tooth Fairy!

First Day!!!!!

Wow...amazing, my baby girl started kindergarten today. She was soooooo excited. She's been counting down for well over the past week, which hasn't exactly been great for me. Every day she's been reminding me of how many days I didn't have left of summer vacation. HA!

Orientation was last night. Right before we left she asked me if she was going to be "intested" in anything at orientation. We took all of her supplies up and got to "meet" her teacher. Not a big deal, since she already knows Mrs. Stevens, but she was still excited. Mrs. Stevens even introduced her teaching assistant, Mrs. Elsbury. Meg knows Mrs. Elsbury as "Babber" and has for a long time. On the way home Meg and I had a talk that she should call her Mrs. Elsbury at school and not "Babber." Meg's repsonse? "What about if I call her Mrs. Babber?"

She could hardly get to sleep last night. She began to get a little nervous and started asking questions about her main concern, whether or not she was going to make friends, right before bed time. Now....she is quite a pro at delaying bed time, but I think she was honestly concerned and not just putting off bed. She finally got laid down and I thought she was asleep because she'd been in there for about 20 minutes or so. Greg came in from outside and went to peek in on her. He said she was laying there all wide-eyed and told him she was just too excited to sleep! He wished her a good day though and she did manage to fall asleep at some point.

When she woke up this morning, she had a huge grin and was ready to go. On the way to the sitter's she told me that she wished the morning was over because it was going to last forever (She's going to kdg in the afternoon.) I was not successful in leaving the sitter's without tears this morning. I was doing fine, until she bee-bopped away from me and said "Have a great day Mom!" This was just waaaaay too grown up and I lost it. She was so excited though that she didn't even notice. I left quickly though and was fine by the time the afternoon actually rolled around. I was able to get someone to cover my room for a couple of minutes so I could walk her in to the building.

After school, her first comment was that she had to go potty, then she came back and gave me the run-down of the day. She did make friends, although she couldn't remember their names. She got to listen to a story and color a page, and even had recess, although it was VERY short, too short for her! She even informed me they had a special visitor in the classroom. She proudly proclaimed that 'Jobie' came to see them. 'Jobie' is our school principal. I told her that she definitely needs to call him Mr. Whitaker and not 'Jobie' even though that is how she hears me refer to him. I guess it's time that I start referring to all school personnel as Mr. and Mrs. so she doesn't wind up in trouble!

All in all she was very excited about the day and says she can't wait to go back tomorrow....good thing 'cause there's no stopping now!

Fearless!

All summer Meg has worked on her swimming skills and they are quite impressive for a five-year old. (It's her blog and it's titled The Tales of Magnificent Meghan, so I'm entitled to brag here!) We all went to the pool today and it was the last day for it to be open this summer. She decided she wanted to take the swim test so she could jump off the diving board. She passed the swim test, all the way across the pool and back again, with flying colors. Let the jumping begin! Nervous Mommy sat right along the edge to watch, just in case, but she did great. After several jumps off the low dive, she decided she was ready to try the high dive. Uhhhhh...that was soooooo not on my agenda for today or even this summer. I was thinking maybe when she was like 7 or 8 or 15 she could do that! HA! Anyways, once Miss Thing decides she's gonna do sum'thin there's no stopping here, so off she went. Again and again and again. She loved it! She even made me feel like a big scaredy-cat, so I went off once (and only once) too. Hanging around these boys is making her fearless, I'm not sure if I like that or not. Maybe it's a good thing that accident insurance I got at school goes into effect in September! HA HA HA!

Oh....and if you are wanting pics of that...no such luck. I take great pride in being the super-o-so-prepared Mom who's ready for everything. I even started keeping my old camera in my purse for days just like today, when I need a picture of something but forgot my camera. I sent Greg out to the truck to get it. He brought it back and I as I was gloating about being so prepared and getting ready to snap the pic, I got a message on the camera that it had no memory card in it. **hides face in hands** OK....I'm not that good I guess and still have some work to do! So, no pics of Princess jumping off the diving board, but she'll be happy to tell you all about if you just ask!

Just a quick funny

I know that I've been a deliquent blogger once again, but I have a good excuse or ten actually. We went to Lake Michigan for a week on vacation which was a lot of fun, but resulted in many loads of laundry and being behind on my Master's work, plus school is right around the corner. This year, I not only have myself and my classroom to get ready, but I also have to get Miss Thing ready for school. It's been a whirlwind of a week so far! I'm slowly getting caught up and promise to update about our fun Lake Michigan trip soon, but not tonight. I do have a funny to share though. Meg is sitting here trying any way she can to get to sleep into my bed tonight. I keep shooting her down though. I thought she'd given up until I just got done saying that I was pooped. She responded that I was sooooo tired and would feel and sleep much better if I had her in my bed tonight. HA HA! Nice try, still not working though....having her feet in my side does not necessarily make for a better night's sleep.

A perfect match

This week at the Parks Dept. Meg attended The Pink Princess Palace Art Camp. Could there have been anything more suited for her? I think not! She absolutely loved it! Everything was totally princess themed (duh, right?!?!?!) and it was all artsy-fartsy kinda stuff. She got to color and make bead jewelry all week. She was in princess heaven. Each day I'd ask her what she did and she refused to tell me many details. This was because all of her work was in preparation for an art exhibit at the end of the week and she felt the need to keep it a secret. I mistakingly called it an art show a time or two and Miss Thing corrected me each time saying, "Mommy, you are wrong, it's an art EXHIBIT!" Ooooh! Sooooo sorry, your highness!

Today was thee big art exhibit and I will say she did an excellent job. Her work is worthy of being put on exhibition anywhere in my home. I will proudly display it wherever the highness decides it needs to be displayed. =) Here are pics for you to enjoy of my little artiste and her work.....

But Mommy!

We had to head up to school today to get a few things I've been needing for a Master's assignment. We ran into Mrs. Stevens, Meg's soon-to-be kindergarten teacher, and visited for a few. As we headed down to my room, Meghan was sparked with many questions about kindergarten. One of them was where her room was. I explained that it was up by the office and I'd point it out as we left. I did that as we walked out the door and Meg said, "It isn't very close to your room Mommy!" I replied that the older kids are further away from the office and that she'd be fine without me near. Her response? "But Moooooomy! What if I neeeeed you?" Awwww...how sweet just to think that she'd even admit that she might need me. I did tell her though that most all of the other kids at school didn't have their mommies even in the building, so she'd have to just make it. We also had a talk about how we will not see each during the day while she's in class. I can just imagine turning around in my class and seeing her little face peeking through my door window! LOL

Balloon excitement

There is no way that I can write this in a way to make it as funny as it actually was, but I will try my best....here goes...

Meg got a balloon last night at the fair. This morning, she untied the string around it so the helium started to come out and it was floating up towards the ceiling. I jumped up and grabbed it, squeezed the end shut and handed it back to her. She then put it up to her mouth to try to blow it back up (she is, or was, completely clueless about helium) but the helium came back in her face just as I was just getting ready to say, "Don't suck in that air." I realized she had gotten a pretty good whiff of it, so I asked her to say something. She says, "Mommy, I love you" and it was in that total squeaky-helium voice. Well, she was totally shocked by this and had no clue what had happened and needless to say, it scared the sh*t out of her! Her eyes got as round as half dollars as if to say "what the hell just happened to me????" and then she just buried her head into the couch and started wailing. I couldn't help but laugh, but I was also explaining that the air that makes a balloon float will make your voice sound goofy for just a short time. She didn't hear any of it and continued to wail. (I will admit that I continued to laugh and this was a pretty funny thing to happen.) This went on for at least five minutes, my laughing ceased before the five minutes though. ;) She finally got calmed down and I got her to speak again and she was very relieved to have her own voice back! I had to attempt to answer about 300-400 questions about what had happened and why, but at the end of it, she thought it was pretty funny too and as most kids do, she wanted to do it again a little while later. Too bad we only had one balloon.....