If I were President by Charlie Garrison

Charlie brought this home from school today and I just had to share it.

If you can't read it here is what it says:

If I Were President
By Charlie Garrison.

I can't wait to be the president of the United States. I would cepe children safe for evr. I will make lower taxes. I will give poor children water, food, toys and money. I will make more $2 bills. I will keep children safe. I would love to be President.

Question of the day - Or biggest laugh of the day!!

So Charlie just got in to the shower and I was sorting his dirty clothes into colors & white and realized he took off 3 pairs of underwear ~ REALLY!!! There were 2 pairs of briefs inside a pair of boxers. I am not sure why but hey if it works for him I am not going to argue.

Time flies when you are having fun.

Some days I sit down at the computer and realize it has been a while since I last blogged. The reality is time is flying by -I don't know how it goes so fast but it does.

Things have been great in the Garrison house the last few weeks. While it has been raining a ton we have also had some clear moments that we have taken advantage of. Last Wednesday my friend Helen took the girls and I on a walk around a lake out here that I had no clue had an incredible walking path. It is about a mile & a half around with a really well paved trail. Annie walked it with her friend and we had a great time visiting. I took the kids on the walk again on Thursday and Friday, both with different friends. The kid loved it, they wear their rain boots and jump in the puddles and just be outdoors -which as all mom's know when it has been rainy and wet your kids are chaffing at the bit to do! Hopefully it will still be dry after school today and I can take the kids again.

The potty training is going wonderful. Audrey has been in panties for over a week now and the accidents are very few and far between. I think it is safe to say she is potty trained! Although I am kicking myself on the timing a little bit. We are going to Florida in 2 weeks and I can just envision her little hands touching every disgustingly dirty toilet seat everywhere we go - not to mention once she realizes that all she has to do is say she has to go potty she is going to be able to get out of her seat on the airplane - I am sure we will do it a million times - we might just have to sit in the very back row!

Annie start her Kindergarten orientation this week. I can not believe she is almost five and going to start Kindergarten in the fall. Needless to say she loves it. She has been talking about going for a week. And yesterday morning she got up and had a million questions, When do we go? are we going to the library? Is Mrs. Wathens going to like my dress? Why can't I ride the bus? Why don't I go everyday. What the school does is the kids come once a week for an hour after school for 6 weeks to get to spend time learning what they will do in Kindergarten. I signed Annie up for the day with Mrs. Wathens, Charlie's teacher. Annie was so excited to be a big girl, Mrs. Wathens told me that Annie is ready to teach the class herself - that made me feel good that she wasn't shy or timid.

Preschool is going great. Annie is learning so much and I am proud of Audrey too! She is learning all the zoophonics sounds as well and will tell you what about 1/2 of them are.

Charlie has his last basketball game this week. He has loved it! I think he would rather play basketball than any other sport - even baseball which starts in 2 weeks. Charlie has been working really hard at school lately. I think things are starting to "click" if that makes sense. He has been getting 100% or 90%on his spelling tests for the last 5 weeks. We are so proud of him for working so hard and doing his best.


Last week we went to the fire station for a Tiger Cub field trip. The boys all had a great time. The firemen let the kids shoot the hose and I got some great pictures of both Charlie & Audrey doing it (Annie was at ballet).

Well this week is busy as well but we are counting down to our family vacation and can't wait to be in the warm Florida sunshine in 13 days!

Can it be true - we are diaper free?

Audrey has been dry through the night for months. If I put her on the potty first thing in the morning she would use it and then we would put a diaper or pull up on her and go about our day. Last week for some reason Audrey put on panties after she woke up and she has had them on ever since. Last week I would have to take her to the bathroom on a regular basis but yesterday morning she came running to me and said mommy me potty - she was dry she was just telling me she had to go!

We are still having a little harder time with #2 - if I can catch her before she realizes she needs to go it is fine but I think now that she realizes what it feels like to go #1 she will get it down soon! I am shocked at how easy she has been to potty train - we haven't needed candy, stickers or the Poopie Fairy which came for both Charlie & Annie. She has gotten some new princess & Dora panties which she loves & constantly wants to change so it has been no big deal.

I am thrilled that she is almost done with diapers but am a little sad that my baby has gotten so big so quickly! More than any thing I am just proud of her and how well she is doing with this whole endeavor - hopefully it will soon be a done deal!

Dancing Diva

Annie loves ballet as I know I have mentioned before but I made her this new tutu for ballet last week ~ it turned out very cute if I do say so myself!

TaaDaa...

Today we were at lunch after Charlie's basketball game and John leaned over to Annie and said look what I just pulled out of your ear (he showed her a mushed up skittle of Audrey's). Annie straight faced and without missing a beat looked and said "TaaaDaa".

John and I started laughing so hard. She has the funniest little sense of humor, and apparently great comedic timing!

Valentines Prep.

Charlie was so cute - he picked out a football game valentines card to do give his friends at school. He was able to write all the names himself this year! At one point he asked me if he had to give one to a girl in his class he doesn't really like and I said yes. I asked him why he didn't want to give her a card and he said "because she does weird stuff to herself, like she always licks her lips and it is all red down to her chin." I couldn't help but laugh. I was telling John about it later that night and he laughed and said - $10 bucks Charlie dates her when he is older. I don't really see this happening because the first day of school Charlie asked her if she was a boy or girl and when she tried to hug Audrey Charlie pushed her. But stranger things have happened - I just think it is funny because Charlie usually likes everyone and can be friends with anyone he meets.

Thankful

This posting is really for me more than anything. The last few weeks as a mom has been trying. Really nothing is that bad, just life is busy and I have a 2 year old who is whiny and her main way of communicating at me lately is to just cry and yell. I have a four year old who can get very attitudie (I don't think that it is a word but it works for me) and it seems to be aimed mostly at me. I have more things going on than I can handle and I don't know how to scale back because I am committed to them and need to see them out (most of them are over at the end of the school year). There is a pile of laundry that needs to be folded and as often as I do fold laundry it never seems to get any smaller. If all of this isn't enough we have been seriously looking at homes lately and that is a stress that just makes me want to bury my head in the sand. (We even went so far as to make an offer last week - it got turned down but we knew it would - it was more a long shot on a house that would be great if we could get a great deal on it - it had 3 ice makers in different rooms and a full oven circa 1970 in the family room, in the 70's when it was built it was a swinging party house I am sure!)

What the whole point of writing this down is that when I stop and think about life and my stresses I am overwhelmed by how lucky and blessed I am. I have an incredible husband who loves me and my kids. He works so hard so that we can have a great home and that we can make an offer on a house. He comes home to us every night and loves me even if the laundry isn't folded and supports me in all those things I have over committed myself to. I am lucky that the most important thing to my husband is that our kids our home with me during the day and works so hard so that I can be a stay at home mom. I am lucky that my kids are healthy and that the things I complain about with them are so minor in the scheme of life.

I realize that I am so LUCKY that I get to be the one who gets to deal with our attitudie 4 year old - to help nip it in the bud, so it is me who gets to talk with her and help her learn that saying she is the prettiest girl is okay but that she needs to make sure her friends feel special too, to teach her to be pretty on the inside also. I get to be home so she can have play dates and when she wasn't getting what she needed at preschool I could start a little one so that she is ready for kindergarten. I am lucky so that my daredevil of a daughter can ride her bike down the street at any time of the day! That she gets to be a little girl and that as much as I want her to go to kindergarten, I know that she has gotten 5 great years at home to just be!

I am lucky that when our 2 year old is whiny I can sit and hold her while she gets her pointy teeth that are making her cranky and hurt and it isn't someone else soothing her while she is in pain. I can just sit and read to her and that she gets to take a nap in her own bed every day. That even as I write this she is getting to play with her own toys, that she isn't being taken care of by someone who doesn't love her as much as I do.

I get to be home so Charlie can come home after school and doesn't have to go to YMCA (even though he thinks his friends all have a great time). He gets to go to the park all the time, ride his bike and play with his toys everyday. I get to be his den leader and be on the PTA at his school. I get to work in his classroom and get to know the Principal and teachers so we KNOW he is getting the most out of school. That I can work with him and help he get 100% on his spelling tests. I get to watch my son turn into an amazing little man, who is so sweet and thoughtful.

So while the pile of laundry is growing at this very moment and my darling 2 year old just chopped off a chunk of her beautiful curls, and Annie and her friend who is here on a play date want snacks RIGHT NOW I am going to take a moment and just be happy, to just feel lucky that I get to go take care of it all.

Cooler

John was quizzing Charlie on his spelling words on the way to work this morning. John said "cooler, I sell coolers at work". Charlie said, "I can use cooler in a sentence - I am cooler than all the kids at my school!"

Nothing like a good dose of self esteem & he even spelled it correctly!!

That's my dad!

John Is #41
Annie sitting on the bench with Dante.

 

Charlie coaching from the sidelines.

As much as we all love to go watch Charlie play ball we love to watch John also. The kids love to go to John's game. Charlie will yell from the sidelines and cheer the team on. Tonight at one point he got mad at Dante who kept getting fouled and yelled "DANTE - Just stop grabbing that guy!". I laughed so hard. Annie usually can be found sitting on the team bench talking to who ever isn't playing. Audrey even gets into it and will cheer for John "gooo daddy".