Friday, March 30, 2007

What is it with me and clean kitchen floors?

Current mood: frustrated

My kitchen floor is cursed. It wants to be dirty. I mean it truly WANTS to be dirty. The last time I cleaned it, I opened the pantry door only to have one of these full of Cheerios come tumbling from the top shelf and bust open all over the floor. This was first thing in the morning, so I didn't quite have my thinking cap on and decided I would vacuum them up. Using the upright only crushed them. Getting increasingly frustrated, I decided to use the hose. Now we're thinking, right? Wrong! The hose got clogged with Cheerios and the next thing I knew a huge cloud of whole grain dust came out. Aargh!

Finally, I conceded to the enemy and used a broom and dust pan. Duh.

Today, I cleaned the floors again while Lexi was at school. The sparkling, clean floor didn't even make it through the night and I wish I could say that it wasn't my fault. I had made Lexi some Macaroni & Cheese for dinner and stored what she didn't eat in a covered bowl in the refrigerator. The next time I opened the fridge, the container came tumbling out and busted wide open on the floor.

I give up!!

Lexism etc.

Lexism

Lexi's strange behavior continues. Every night this week when I have laid Lexi down for the night and returned downstairs I have heard the telltale pitter patter of her feet upstairs. It lasts about 30 seconds and then I don't hear another sound so I don't stress about it too much. Each night when I go upstairs I find her pillow on Stefan's side of the bed. When I check on her, she has his pillow tucked securely under her sleepy little angelic head.

When I asked her why she did this, she told me that her pillow is too scratchy motioning with her finger next to her eye as though she were scratching a scratch-n-sniff sticker.

Abby

Abby's newfound independence is growing in huge proportions daily. Thursday, she was standing with her tummy leaning against the ottoman flipping a remote control over and over in her hands. She got so entranced in doing this that she let go and turned. I got kind of excited until I realized she was resting her bum against the ottoman. It's just a matter of time though and she will be freestanding.

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Diaper changing is now a huge challenge now. She twists and contorts her body in ways that make securing the diapers close to impossible. Lexi did this too but not this early. Stefan broke out his old restraining system today and it just made me laugh but it works. And you know what they say....If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

No what are you gonna do, Abby?

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Trike-A-Thon Rescheduled Due to Inclement Weather

The Great (Bike) Race at Lexi's school will have to wait until after Spring Break due to this nasty little black cloud that is hovering over our area. I know Lexi will be disappointed because she has been looking forward to this since the letter came home at the first of the month and also she was looking forward to my coming to her school. She won't be completely let down, though, as I am still the mystery reader this afternoon.

Anyway, all you sponsors have another week to send in those checks.

Your Honor, I Object!!!

Stefan posted a comment on yesterday's post that is completely absurd. Don't think for a minute that he didn't know about the things I posted before I posted it. I came home from school talking about my day there and I did tell him about the neighborhood Dennis the Menace when he called home.

I have no idea what he is talking about!!! He must have been delirious at the time or something.

Anyway, today and tomorrow are very busy days.

Today, I'll take Lexi to school, return there at 10:00 for the trike-a-thon (sponsors get your wallets ready), come home and clean the house (company is expected to arrive at 3ish), go to the Y if there's time, return to Lexi's school to read during storytime at 2:00, and wait on Stefan's uncle to get here. From there I have no idea what me or the kids will be doing. I guess just playing it by ear.

Tomorrow, Lexi has her swim lessons at 10 in the morning, we have a birthday party in Alpharetta to go to, and I have Home Team at 6pm.

With a schedule like this, Jen, you guessed it!!! Dessert for tomorrow will have to be store bought.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Thursday Oh Thursday!!

School 1.0

I have come to the conclusion that my Spanish professor is an irrefutable doofus! He teaches from Power Point which is, in my opinion, the least effective way to teach on a daily basis - not to mention to teach a foreign language. He lacks compassion in every way possible whether it is in his comments/feedback on graded papers or if it involves his students' situations (i.e. a student had a fire destroy her apartment building and he required 3 forms of documentation before he would grant an extension on a paper for her!). Anyway, I'm glad that I won't have to take another class with him as Fall semester I will be taking the last class I need to complete my work for my Spanish minor.


Home

For the past two days the neighborhood Dennis the Menace has been going strong with his shananigans. This kid is 6 and is in a unique family situation in that his grandparents are doing most of the raising and Lord only knows where mommy and daddy are. Anyway, this kid is a handful - so much so that grandma sends him out into the neighborhood unsupervised just so she can have a break. That's never good.

Today I caught him spray painting someone's security sign in someone else's side yard. Upon further investigation, I found that he also spray painted the retaining wall and divider fence in the same yard he painted the sign. The guy that lives there is way too nice to ever do anything about it, but this is something I felt grandma should know. When I went to inform her of what he had done, he picked up the sprinkler in the front yard a sprayed me and Abby with it. What did she do? NOTHING!!! She then informed me that she doesn't know what to do with him; that she can't control him. Ummm....this is my problem how?

I told her that I wasn't going to discuss things any further with her if she was going to allow him to do spray me and Abby while I was trying to talk to her and she had the nerve to say that she didn't allow it. I pointed out the fact that the entire front of my clothes was wet but she still denied it saying that he was washing her car. With a lawn sprinkler? As if!!!! Then she said that everyone is always making things up about her grandson. I told her that I tried to do the right thing by informing her, but that it got me absolutely nowhere. So now she knows that the next time it happens, someone with much more authority than I will be called. I mean, come on lady, he spray painted someone's fence. That's vandalism.

There goes the neighborhood. Literally. They have cycled through many next door neighbors. No doubt because of his antics.

School 2.0 Much better than the first

On a brighter note, at school today I had the privilege of seeing the infamous New York Times Bestseller Ron Clark speak at school today. This is a teacher that has some exciting ideas and methods for the classroom. He's a dynamic speaker dancing and flailing about, climbing on tables, and just his facial expressions give you no choice but to pay attention. He's so inspiring. I picked up a copy of his two books: The Essential 55 and The Essential 11: Qualities Teachers and Parents Use to Motivate, Inspire, and Educate Children. This man has been featured on Rosie's show (when she had her own), Oprah, and even has a movie based on his story starring Matthew Perry. I was able to speak with him briefly while he autographed my books and just that brief encounter was enough for me to feel that he is on my side and wants me personally to succeed in the field.

He's opening a school in South Atlanta in the fall called The Ron Clark Academy. This school is for low Socioeconomic Status students between grades 5 and 8 and boasts a staff comprised of all award-winning teachers and also the President Emeritus of Kennesaw State University. Mr. Clark himself will even be in a classroom there in the Fall. Now those are some lucky students!

Anyway, that's my day. It had it's ups...it had it's downs but overall it was okay.

P.S. Abby has been pulling up more and more lately. In fact, Stefan found her standing in her crib yesterday. This marks the beginning of a new stage in baby proofing. Wish us luck!!!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Not new...but greatly improved!!!

I've done some work on my little space here and added a couple of sections in my sidebar. You'll find:

1) a links section with links to websites and blogs that I frequent.
2) a section of things that make me laugh. This is an all video section with stuff
I found on the web as well as some videos of the kiddos.
3) a new guestbook feature
4) site counter

I hope you enjoy!!!

Monday, March 26, 2007

Home Team

Current mood: giggly

Okay, so I've told you about my Home Team at church, now you can actually see the people I was referring to.



This is a small sample of the type of great people at RSC. I'm so thankful for this group and the church as a whole as just knowing them and being a part of the church has changed my life.

Speaking of RSC...if you thought the Christmas promo was funny, you don't want to miss the spoof of 24 they did for the Easter promo. This is part one of a three part trilogy for our Easter services. These guys pull out all the stops to reach the people of Canton, Ga and I love it!!!

Here's the 24 Easter promo

Saturday, March 24, 2007

What a day!

Current mood: blah

Last night was yet another rough night for Abby. I don't know what the problem is. She is waking me up every hour starting around 1 am (30 minutes or so after I normally go to bed). It's nothing serious...but it is persistent. It appears that she is just spitting out her pacifier and not able to find it because as soon as I plug it into her mouth, she lays her head down and goes to sleep....that is until an hour later when the same thing happens again.

When I awoke for the final time to begin my day, it was just after 8 o'clock. Of course, Abby was ready to begin her day and making it known throughout the halls of the upstairs. Lexi was already up and dressed and watching TV. She's so great. She's got her schedule down to a science and knows what she needs to be doing that day the minute she wakes up. When I found her in her room, she was fully dressed and I was thinking, 'great! now I'm going to have to undress her and get her ready for her swim lesson.' Nope! She informed me that she had her swimsuit under her clothes and a pair of panties for after the lesson so she wouldn't have to ride home in a wet swimsuit. Pretty impressive that she retained this routine since today was the start of a new session and she had last week off.

After Lexi's swim lesson, she and I were talking about the rest of the day and what we would do. She asked to go out for lunch but I suggested Long Horn for dinner instead since I've been craving prime rib and she has been asking to go for awhile. Just after that, I called Stefan to make sure that he was up and going to get the dogs to their appointment at the vet. I asked him if what he wanted to do for lunch and he suggested going out for dinner. I was flabbergasted!!! He actually is off for the weekend for the first time since the last weekend of February.

He spent the day doing this and that with Lexi. They painted the mailbox my dad made for her playhouse and hung the swing that he told me was a birthday present for Abby but yet it is hanging on our porch now. Anyway, Lexi likes it because it is at her level and when Abby's not using it she plans to swing her baby dolls in it. Always the little nurturer!!!

Here Lexi is pushing Abby.



And as you can see...Abby hates her new swing (<-- sarcasm here)
Bonus: A good unintentional tooth shot!







After that, we took the girls to Long Horn as promised. The food was so yummy. Then we came home, gave the girls their baths and put everyone to bed. I say everyone because Stefan decided it was bedtime for him, too. So here I am...up alone at 10:15...without a sole to talk to for the last three hours. I'm glad he's home and that he is able to get some rest, but the selfish side of me is thinking, 'how is this any different than if he had gone to work?' I'll tell you how, now I can't do laundry because I use our bed for folding and he's in it and I can't go near the bedroom until I am on the verge of sleep myself because the tv lulling me into my dreamworld is out of the question as it will wake him up and he'll never be able to go back to sleep.

Friday, March 23, 2007

My Home Team Baggage

At our church, we have Home Teams. To some this is like a bible study but the main purpose is to have a group of people to do life with. A group of people that will accept you regardless of your faults. People who will not judge you or look down on you, but will support you and lift you up in prayer when you need it the most.

I've been going to Ridge Stone church since it was in its infancy. At first, I'll be honest, I could take it or leave it. The music was loud. The band played too long. It seemed like the pastor and staff really were still trying to figure a lot out. I wasn't sure if this is what I felt I had been missing growing up for the most part unchurched. I didn't know if I could grow in my faith or learn from people that (as it appeared at the time) weren't sure how to reach me.

But something happened. My husband who is Jewish enjoyed going and, although his beliefs weren't necessarily in line with the religious aspect, he saw the sermons as motivational speaking with references to the bible and something that he could relate to in that sense. We did take a little break when my faith was seriously shaken during the time in which we were trying for our second child, but we did find our way back and I'm glad.

We've plugged into serving in the church and now I've plugged in in a more bold way. I actually finally joined a Home Team. These are small groups that have existed for quite sometime but I never felt compelled to join one. Up until now, I have been kind of a wallflower at church - trying to blend in and not be noticed because I had too many questions and uncertainties with faith and religion. I have recently realized that everyone (even the most devout and religious people) will encounter this sporadically throughout their lives.

Back in November, Gary posted some links to other church attenders on his blog. Not having a life, I checked them out just out of curiosity. Two women's blogs really stood out and I have watched them since. They were a part of a home team and spoke of it often on their blogs. I reached out and actually contacted one of them when she was going through a personal ordeal and I am thankful for the budding friendship and fellowship that I feel with her. Another woman in the group (whose blog I have been watching just as closely) recently posted that for personal scheduling conflicts she would have to vacate her spot on the home team that both women belonged to and said that anyone who wanted to join a great home team should use that opportunity to snatch up her spot. I was compelled to do so and tonight was my first night with this group.

You know the feeling you get when you're the last to join something? Like when you're the new student at the end of the school year? Or when you start a job that it seems everyone else in the office has been there for years and no one reaches out to you because they are established in their own cliques? I thought that may be what I walked into tonight. I WAS SOOOOO WRONG!!! These people are the best. They welcomed me with open arms and fed me with so much encouragement and support and knowledge. I went into tonight not knowing if I would return; not knowing if I would be in a situation where I felt like an outsider. Now, I am faced with trying to have the patience to wait for next week to come. Thank you guys for welcoming me.

Oh, and the food wasn't too shabby either. (Just had to throw that one out there.)

Lexism of the week

A couple of nights ago, Lexi's Uncle Faron called to speak with her during her winding down ritual at bedtime. While I was in the hallway folding laundry all I could hear coming from her room was a very vague-sounding voice saying, "What did you say? What did you say?" Over and over again.

I looked in her room to see her staring blankly at the TV with the phone to her ear saying, "What did you say?"

Finally I asked Lexi, "Are you paying attention."

Without changing her vague voice she said, "No" very matter-of-factly.

I'm not laughing AT you. I'm laughing WITH you!!!

Current mood: amused

Today after dinner, Abby was bumping around the house in her walker while Lexi watched TV. She came up to the chair that Lexi was sitting in and started hopping and laughing hysterically. This got Lexi upset because she thought that Abby's laughter was a form of teasing. When I explained that Abby loves her Big Sissy and that she only laughed because a smile wasn't enough, Lexi accepted her giggles somewhat. Here's a video.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

The girls' week

Current mood: happy

It has been a crazy and chaotic week here in the Lewitt household as I tried to take care of the kids and study for a huge Spanish test that took place today. I am so physically and mentally drained and have been dragging all day.

The kids are doing well. Abby is pulling up more and more each day. Her favorite thing to do anymore is to stand up leaning her belly against our ottomans playing with whatever is on top of them. The only problem with this is that when she falls she wails. You would think that she didn't have any cushion on her backside with the screams that come from her little lungs!

She now has a game that she engages people with when she's in her high chair. I call the game "Tick Tock." She'll put her left ear to her shoulder until you mime her and then she'll shift to the other side. This can go on for awhile. It's adorable but of course I cannot capture it on video because she freezes when she sees the camera. It also reminds me of an old blonde joke that goes something like this...
"How do you kill a blonde?"

"How?"

"You put spikes on her shoulder pads!"

She loves her time in the play room at the Y. She has many other children her age that she plays with. It's funny to see them all scooting around while they play together. All you see from the outside is a sea of bald heads with feet in the air as they inch around on all fours (or in Abby's case worming on her tummy). They have a Jumparoo there that she loves. It is a freestanding version of the Johnny Jump Ups that hang in doorways. Of course we have a Johnny Jump Up, but it is practically unusable in our house as our doorways are too high for the length of the strap and it doesn't reach close enough to the floor.

Lexi has been a little angel this week despite a cold that both she and Abby are fighting. They've both been on meds for it. Anyway, Tuesday morning Stefan got her up and ready for school (a welcomed break from Mommy who has been doing this solo for 3 1/2 weeks). She reminded him that she needed "nose medicine" and when he went to give it to her, she told him that I always give her a little bit more because he had only given her 1 tsp when she should have 1.5 tsps.

Yesterday, I braved the grocery store alone with both girls. This is usually a daunting task, but Lexi made it super easy on me. She walked along side me the whole time - never straying. When we were getting food for Abby, she helped out by picking whatever I pointed at and putting it in the cart. At checkout, she put whatever she could lift on the belt. When we got home, I put Abby in her high chair with a snack and the dogs outside so that I only had Lexi underfoot. The phone rang and I spoke with the caller as I unpacked the loot. The next thing I knew, Lexi was unloading the bags and putting the things that she knew where the went away and asking where the others went that she didn't know their place. This was a tremendous help.

Lexi's manners have been superb this week, too. She's saying her pleases, and thank yous, and even adding in excuse mes when she coughs along with a few yes ma'ams and whatnot. I worked with her a little bit earlier in the week, but I have a feeling that it wasn't just my influence. I suspect they are probably stressing manners moreso at school, too. Today she wore a dress to school and I told her that to do so, she need to make sure that she sat like a lady even when sitting "criss cross applesauce" during circle time. She dropped to the floor and folded her knees together to one side and pulled the dress over her knees. She knew this without me telling her. I was impressed.

Today, she and I were taking a walk with Abby in the stroller. Again she stayed by my side the entire time (an unusual event since she usually strays to rock collect). We were strolling along when she spotted some dandelions in someone's yard near the sidewalk. She picked one only to have the filaments float off into the air. I explained that when I was little, I used to make a wish and blow on it. She then picked another very carefully so as to not have the seeds take off again. She walked with her back to me and I heard her say,

"I wish that I can see Mary again and that we can still be friends."

This broke my heart. Mary is a sweet little girl that used to live in the house behind us. Her mom, Diane, and I became pretty good friends about 6 to 8 months ago. Diane's husband/Mary's Dad is in the army and has since been stationed close to Diane's hometown and they moved last month.

After our walk, Lexi came home and drew a picture of Mary. She asked me for a frame so that she could place it on her bedside table so that she will never forget Mary.

So sad....


Anyway, that's our week in a nutshell. I'll post tomorrow with a Lexism provided she gives me some material to work with tomorrow.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Lexi Ballerina

Current mood: busy

Today was the second parent observation week for Lexi's dance class. My mom came to help handle Abby so that I could take still pictures and videos for family, friends, and the two other people in the world that actually read this blog.

I admit that Lexi has improved since the first time around. She wasn't by far the best in the class, but she was more on point with the steps than before. She loved that we were there to see her perform and sheepishly grinned at us every chance she got.

I was able to video tape the dances she will be performing in her upcoming recital. The ballet dance will be to a song from "High School Musical" and the tap dance will be to a song from the movie, "Happy Feet." Abby couldn't contain herself as she jumped up and down in my mom's lap trying to get into the dancing action. I think we have another dancer among us!

The first pic is funny because it is of the finale for their tap dance and they basically form a line and pull the person in front of them slowly backward. I have visions of a replay from The Nutcracker when the soldiers line up and slowly lean backward until the last one is one the floor. I think we'll all see a sea of tap shoes in the air from the girls getting overzealous in their pulling. We'll see.



Next, Lexi awaits the next instructions.



And...point!


STRETCH!!!



That's my girl!!!!!

Next up is a video of Lexi shaking her money maker. I don't know what those faces are that she's making, but she does it whenever she concentrates on anything. As much as you try to bring it to her attention, this is not something that will change about her anytime soon.



And finally, another video of Lexi determined to hit her mark.



I know that I'm behind on posting other things, but I have been so incredibly busy trying to keep up with the girls mostly on my own because Stefan has been working 80 hour weeks for three weeks now. I try to keep them as unaffected as possible, but MAN is it draining on me!

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Lexism

Current mood: bored

The Lexism this week is brought to you by todos los osos enfermados (if you can read that, good for you).

Yesterday, Lexi came home from school and disappeared into the black hole that is her playroom. After about an hour of silence, she burst out and came running into the living room with her brown teddy bear (Tim - named after the bear in the "Dick and Jane" books from years gone by). She informed me in the most empathetic way that Tim was sick. She then set him up with a makeshift bed with a pillow and a blanket for poor Tim. I suggested that she read him a book and she wanted to read a Dora book that she can't quite read. I suggested that she read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?" (a book that Nana gave her last weekend).

"Tim is afraid of bears!" she exclaimed. So, she read the Dora book as best as she could.

The next step to Tim's illness was that he had a fever. Lexi went upstairs and came back down with a thermometer. She stuck it under his arm, pressed the button and gasped as it read "Lo°". Which Lexi read as L-O-o.

She informed me that his fever was L-O-o.

I just scratched my head. Poor, Tim.

UPDATE: Tim's fever broke Friday night and he is being ignored today.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Bear with me as I'm a bit blog heavy today

Abby's new trick

Today, I took the girls over to my parents' house to do a couple of things for them. While there, Lexi played with some Lego style blocks but Abby kept wanting to get the blocks from her. So, Lexi did what she normally does and tried to put them out of Abby's reach by moving them up to the fireplace hearth where she filled a toy dump truck and dumped them over and over. This was too much temptation for Abby to resist so she wormed (literally her crawl looks like she's doing the worm) over to the hearth and....pulled herself up for the first time ever!!! I happened to have my camera in-hand so here are the pics.

Hmmmm....what's this?




See sissy? I'm big too!!!!



Can I play with that truck? Oh yes I can!




The second time she tried to do it, she got up to a push up position but forgot how she got her feet under her so she bawled her eyes out until Grammy rescued her. Anyway, you can tell that Lexi was thrilled with Abby's new skill set.



Lexism 2.0

From my parents' house, we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. On the way there Lexi asked me where Daddy was. I told her that he was at work. She persisted to ask where and I reiterated that he was at work at the print shop. She asked if we could pretend that Daddy was in the car and I obliged. Little did I know how far this would go.

When we got to Cracker Barrel and were walking from the car to the building Lexi had a stuffed animal that she was holding the hand of. When I went to grab her other hand, she screamed an emphatic "No!" When I tried to reprimand her for it, she said that Daddy was holding that hand.

Inside, we had an extra chair at the table that she insisted was for Daddy. Through dinner, she made a few references to Daddy being at the table. When we went to leave, she went to "Daddy's chair" and pushed it in.

I'm in for it if this continues until June. It breaks my heart but I guess it's her coping mechanism for dealing with Daddy being gone all the time.

The Sweat Hog of the Y: a rant by Kaiti Lewitt

Current mood: disgusted

At the Y there are signs posted everywhere for members to wipe off equipment after use. There are paper towels and bottles of cleaner positioned at two posts in the gym. Well, about a month ago, my dad and I were on two of the three recumbent bikes when the gentleman on the third (smacking his gum like it was going out of style) got up and left his bike literally dripping with his sweat. This guy is a meat head that struts his stuff around the gym like everyone is supposed to watch him and his studly manness as he works out. When he does free weights (and even the weight machines) he grunts loudly in a way that if you didn't know better you would think he was "having relations" with someone if you know what I mean.

I turned to my dad and said, "I hope he plans on coming back and wiping that off."

No such luck. I told one of the employees about it because it was absolutely disgusting but before they could do anything about him or the sweat, a sweet old lady sat down at the bike and began her workout. I was going to be sick. This is when my dad tagged him (appropriately) with the name of Sweat Hog.

Since this incident he has been on my crap list as someone that is just too full of himself to even bother with but it's hard when the stinch of his ego just draws your attention to him and his disgusting habits.

Today, he was at it again and this time it was getting on my mom's nerves. She complained to an employee who did not talk to him but said that she would talk to his father who is evidently and employee at the Y. You would think that if his father worked there and he was taking advantage of the facilities that he would have the decency to display appropriate gym etiquette. I guess not.

The Sweat Hog saga continues...

Lexism of the week

The Lexism this week is brought to you by...the fibers in our bodies that make us feel sensations of touch.

Today, on the way home from school I was telling Lexi our agenda for today and tomorrow. Today is busy with preparing for the events that will occur tomorrow one such event being Corey's (my nephew) birthday party. Lexi was grasping all the information when she had the realization that tomorrow was also her swim lessons.

"Mommy, tomorrow is my swim lesson," she said. I ignored it.

She repeated, "Hey Mommy, you know what? Tomorrow is my swim lesson." I ignored.

She gasped as though the thought just hit her, "Mommy! Tomorrow is my swim lesson!"

I looked to Stefan and said something along the line of 'Haven't I heard this before?'

We repeated the phrase a couple of times back and forth teasing Lexi that she had repeated herself time and again when she said,

"Stop saying that! You're getting on my nerves!"

Why I oughtta.... Out of the mouths of babes, huh?

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Lord help us! Abby has wheels and she knows how to use them.

For awhile now, Abby has been scooting around our kitchen in a walker that Lexi never showed interest in. She loves to torture the dogs chasing them as she bangs into this and that. She has now mastered this walker to the point that she can shove herself over the carpet threshold and scoot around the living room on our berber carpet. This is such a blessing. She's a very active tot and keeps us busy constantly. With the walker, she gets pretty wore out and takes excellent naps after a good session in it. I've even applied the brakes so she'd have to work harder when she's showing no signs of slowing down after dinner.

Anyway, today I took a video of her. See her maniacal look as she crashes into my foot? Folks...we're in trouble.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Please support Lexi in her first Trike-A-Thon for St. Jude's

Dear family and friends,

Lexi's school will be holding a trike-a-thon for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Friday, March 30th. She needs sponsors who are willing to pledge as much as they see fit per lap that she completes. The Trike-A-Thon will consist of however many laps she can complete in a 30 minute time frame. According to the paperwork that was sent home, most children complete 25 laps however Lexi is an uncoordinated five year old that has not mastered the art of pedaling yet. Another option if you don't want to pay per lap is to donate $5 or more to St. Jude themselves

This is a good cause as it supports the world's largest pediatric cancer research center in terms of the number of patients enrolled and successfully treated. Please let me know if you are willing to sponsor her in this event. All donations will be due 10 days post-event and all checks should be made payable to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Please email me at klewitt@comcast.net to let me know of your intent to sponsor/donate and I will privately email you with the address to send payment to if you don't already know.

Thank you!!!!

P.S. If you know of anyone that is not listed as a recipient to this email that may be willing to sponsor Lexi, please forward it to them.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Call me bored...

Well, Stefan's busy season has officially started and thus I have become a widow to his work like I do three months out of every year. The quiet in the house is deafening once the kids turn in for the night. Keeping the girls' going so that they're as unaffected by this is a chore, but it's something I must do to maintain some sort of normalcy in their lives. It's a daunting task and I have much respect for the single parents out there that do it every day. With that said, here's our week in a nutshell.

One day while Lexi was at school, Abby was scooting around the living room - not an unusual occurrence. Of course, like most kids, she surpasses the toys and goes for the everyday items to entertain herself. She found the bucket I loaded with Valentine's Day goodies and found a new use for it and Daddy captured it on camera.



Saturday morning, Uncle Faron met us at our house to accompany us to Lexi's swim lesson. After the nautical fun, we all went to this place for lunch. We then parted ways with Uncle Faron and Stefan and Lexi baked brownies before he had to go to work. The rest of the afternoon was somewhat humdrum.

Lexi kept herself pretty well entertained for awhile. She was watching this movie in her playroom when inspiration struck to make a paper fan. I guess I was busy doing laundry and dishes and the normal household chores because I did not notice the repeated trips for more paper. This is what I found in her playroom - her and her "fan collection."



I received a call from a friend of mine from church later that evening. She and her husband used to live down the street from us but moved. They have a son that is a month older than Abby. She told me that her husband was way too in touch with his feminine side. Evidently, he commandeered her sewing machine and made bibs from leftover material she had once used for scrubs (she's a nurse). Anyway, the patterns were much too girlie for her to put on her son, so they were gifted to Abby who wears them proudly. Thanks Ron!!!




Sunday, the girls and I went to church. When we got there, I dropped the girls in their respective rooms and met up with my friend, Susan, and her husband. We went into the worship center and took our seats. The worship band started playing and they were rocking. There is a vocalist they use every once in awhile that sang today. She is in her late teens and her father also sing occasionally. This girl's voice reminds me of Shania who happens to be one of my favorite singers. When she sings, I love to watch her father's expression. He exudes pride for his sweet daughter and it brings a lump in my throat every time. I am certain that if she pursued her talent, one day she could make it big. Anyway, she was singing when an older gentleman sat next to me reeking of booze so bad that Susan's husband, Ron, who was sitting two seats to my left could smell it. Ron offered me the empty seat to his left but I didn't have the heart to move and offend the gentleman as much as his odor was offending me. He obviously needed to be there and there was no better day than today. Gary preached today on entering into a relationship with Christ and I prayed that the gentleman to my right (who left me thankful I wore scented lotion because I was sniffing my hand through the whole service) would be one to enter that relationship today and conquer his demons.

I guess that's enough rambling for today.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Lexism #4

Current mood: proud

The day after Faron moved into his new home, I took the girls to drop some stuff off directly from picking Lexi up from Pre-K. Doing this postponed Lexi's after school snack. While at Faron's house, Lexi asked him for a snack. Of course, since he had just moved his stuff there the previous day, his cabinets nor refrigerator were ready for such a request. He told her that he didn't have any snacks and I told her to wait until we got home.

Pulling away from Faron's house, Lexi was talking about the snacks she would have once we got home. Then she had an epiphany.

"I know, Mommy! We can share our snacks with Uncle Faron!"

It made perfect sense to her. I chose this for the Lexism this week because it was a proud mommy moment for me for many reasons.
1) She was thinking of Uncle Faron's needs.
2) She was willing to share without being asked.
3) She made the connection on her own of the two factors which showed great
critical thinking.

I could go on.

These are all well and good; however, totally not characteristic of the average 5 year old.

That's my sweet girl!