Pretty Painting

Margaret and I have really gotten into painting since we started our quilt project. Today, after the field trip, we decided to do a couple of squares and then Margaret painted her special wooden truck. She really worked hard on her trunk and was very proud of the final result.

Leapin' Lizards!

Margaret finally felt better enough to get out and about, so we joined the Special Needs Preschool class that I work with on a field trip to Leapin'Lizards. Despite some bus probems before we got going and the monsoon type rain, everyone had a great time. Margaret loves playing with the boys in the class. They all flocked to the train table before many of them even jumped! Margaret was really excited about dressing up, sliding and a little bit of jumping. She stated before we got there to Mrs. Turberville, that she could "not jump too much or she might get sick again." She told me, "If I get hot I will stop jumping because I don't want to feel sick again." She is such a smart little one! We did not get specific directions for the bus driver because I knew how to get there. So, on the way to and from our destination, I was going back and forth to the front of the bus to tell the driver where to turn and such. As we were on the way home, just before she fell asleep on the bus, Margaret looked at me and said, "The bus driver really needs a TomTom." I thought I wuld laugh my head off! I guess Margaret really does realize the value of a navigational system and she thinks everybody needs one. What a funny girl!!

Margaret and Gavin on the first bus.

Margaret and the boys enjoying the trains--we could have gone to Barnes and Noble and they would have been THRILLED!!!

Margaret on the "hot pink" dinasour----FUN!

Margaret helping Gavin into his Fireman outfit.

On the mend....we hope......

As I posted previously, Margaret came down with a mean fever on Wednesday afternoon. There have been several ups and downs since then. She did make it to school on Friday, as she was up, almost dressed and brushing her teeth before I knew it! This is very unlike my child. She REALLY wanted to go to school and participate in her circus. Her teacher reported that she was a great LION and that she rolled over and roared on command. However, by 3pm on Friday things went WAY down hill. She started complaining again of a headache and then the fever came back. It went up to 103 before Margaret threw up. YUCK! She felt really bad. Friday night we spent taking a cool bubble bath, watching movies, wiping down with cool clothes, cuddling and most importantly keeping ibuprophen and tylenol in her system. Saturday she felt a little better and was anxious to go to her Columbia house to play. Since her temp was down, we decided this would be a good for her. By about 9pm last night her temp was back up to 102. I hurried to Columbia to make sure my baby stayed cool through the night. The fever did go down and stayed. There have been no signs of illness today other than the occasional whining and being a little tired. Man, she should be tired!! We have not slept well since Tuesday night! I know I am tired and I have not been running high fevers! Hopefully, this is the end of this nasty virus that was supposedly not the flu. It sure felt fluish! Below are some pics from tonight as the princess is feeling better.

Margaret decided to decorate her animals with her bows to make her own circus.

Margaret really enjoyed eating corn on the cob for supper tonight. Her appetite is back!

RIGHT after I got the pictures downloaded, I heard Margaret start crying. She was complaining of a headache. I check her temp and it was 101. I got her up for some ibuprophen and by the time I started to rock and distract her (she was quite upset and feeling crummy) she was burning up, AGAIN! Her temp went up to 102.5 before the mirical medicine kicked in. Then, surprisingly we had a peaceful rest of the night.
Margaret woke up in a good mood this morning. She was excited to stay home with her Mimi, who came to our house to get her since I needed to be at work early. Margaret was excited to let Mimi see "how clean my room is" (it's not so much!!) and to ride in the big girl booster seat since Cousin Olivia is borrowing her car seat.

Margaret has not run fever all day and Mimi reports that she seemed to feel good and play well all day. Hopefully, last night was the last of this bugger of a virus!

Creating a Quilt

Margaret and I have been inspired by her best friend, Megan, and her mom to make a quilt. It will be a patchwork quilt with a square for each month. Each month will have a picture that is make from one of Margaret's sweet little hand prints. So far, we have picked out material, paint, other supplies and begun the hand print portion of the project. On Tuesday of last week, we did our first four hand prints at mom's house. These pictures will be added later, as they are on mom's camera. This weekend during some of my mommy alone time I turned the hand prints into pictures similar to those in the book that we are using as a guide. They really turned out well and Margaret was VERY proud to see each almost finished square. She still will have some gluing and stitching to do.

Hopefully, this labor of love will be finished before Christmas. I know that the putting together and sewing part of this project is going to be a challenge for me. We plan for all the hand prints to be finished well before Margaret's birthday, so they will all be 3-year-old hands. We will continue to post about our progress!

Visiting with Elin, Ava and Tall Margaret

Last weekend Margaret was delighted to go to her Mimi's church with her Daddy for her cousin Jayce's Christening then head to Charleston with me since we had Monday off of school. We had a great time visiting with Tall Margaret and her twins. The girls have gotten soooo grown up! They are talking and playing like little girls instead of babies. Margaret was VERY impressed with them and had a so much fun playing with them. On Sunday afternoon, the girls enjoyed playing at the park in Tall Margaret's neighborhood. The twins wanted to copy everything that my Margaret did--including LOTS of climbing. I don't think Tall Margaret was quite ready for this. I did not take many pictures, due to Melissa's cease and desist order--but just before we came home I found an extra cameral card! So, I do have a few shots of my silly girl playing at Chick-filet, which was our rainy morning activity on Monday. All three girls were up and down, sliding and squealing--it was great to watch!There are not any pictures of Tall Margaret's girls because by the time I found the cameral card I think they were already eating. Margaret met a friend and the above picture is when she and her friend were pretending to be "tooth fairies" and hiding from all the other kids that were playing.....such vivid imaginations!!

Stolen Photo

I forgot to mention that Melissa has instructed me to "cease and desist" in picture taken until she and Elliott can run a recovery program on my camera card to see if they can recover some of the bazillion pictures that I had dumped on my computer just before it passed away.

That is why you are seeing A LOT more writing than pictures in these posts. Hey, at least I am posting, right?

Here is an adorable picture of my growing girl as she enjoyed a tree at the Gug and Grandpa's house.......

She is a little monkey and does LOVE to climb. Not shown here or on Melissa's blog (thank goodness) is me in the tree! I like to climb too!

Fighting a Fever

YEAH--Margaret does not have the flu or another ear infection! Margaret began running a fever yesterday afternoon and was feeling really puny. When I got to her Mimi's house to pick her up, she was lying on the couch under a blanket and complaining of headache and being sleepy. She would not let Mimi take her temperature (this is one of the sure signs she has a fever) but when I touched her I knew she had at least 101*. The poor little monkey could barely keep hers eyes open on the way home. This was another sign of pretty significant illness for Margaret, she NEVER sleeps in the car. Anyway, we got home and I got some ibuprophen in her. It is absolutley the miracle drug to fight fever. In about 45 minutes, Margaret was still looking weak but did play a little and ate a decent supper. She had fever through the night but it was pretty easily controlled. She was quite restless from about 4am on so after careful consideration and after talking to a friend who convinced me that Tamaflu was GREAT if this was the beginning of the flu and that we needed to get it within the first 48 hours, we headed to the doctor this morning. Luckily, Margaret tested negative for the flu! She was rewarded for being a really good girl at the MD with a visit to her Mimi and Gramps' house. She played well and seemed to be feeling better until shortly after lunch. We have really been pretty quiet today and watched more TV (movies and etv) than we ever do but I think she is on the road to recovery. She has not had fever since about 12 or 1. She is determined to go to school tomorrow because her class is having a special circus performance for the younger classes. Margaret is a tiger and can't bear the thought of missing the performance. We will see how tonight goes.....I sure hope my little tiger feels well enough to be in the circus!This is Margaret right before going to the MD. She was NOT a happy girl!

Hunting for a Home

Margaret and I have decided recently that it is getting close to time to find a home to buy in this lovely little town we call home. Margaret has told me several times that she "wishes" she had a "tree to really climb" in her back yard. I have looked at several houses since the beginning of this year and have been talking to Cousin Anne and Mike about the possibility of buying their house if they find a place they like. They have been looking to move for some time, but have not found the right place yet and they do have a MAGICAL back yard. Anyway, in the "hunt for a home" I have found that real estate in this SMALL town that DOES NOT have a good grocery store and is at least 35 minutes away from the closest Target, is absolutely outrageous!! Seriously, we could have just as much if not more house for our money 3 minutes away from Target and in a great school district. YIKES! This is quite disheartening for me, but the search will continue. Hopefully, some sellers will realize that the housing market is not so great and that asking prices need to come down....a girl can always hope!
If anyone of my fellow small towners read this blog and knows of a great little home in this area, any information or advice is appreciated.

Death of a Computer

Death is part of life, but I did not think it would be part of my computers young life right now. When I sent the computer with Melissa and Elliott, I had no doubt that he would be able to retrieve the old data (most importantly, ALL Of my pictures) and then rework things so the computer would function again. Last night, I got the VERY bad news that retrieving the information (PICTURES and everything else) is probably not going to happen. Elliott, who is a computer know it ALL, has been working on mine for 2 days with no success. He said he can get it operating for a small price but getting everything off of it looks pretty impossible. I really feel like someone or something has died. ALL of my pictures are on that hard drive and if you know me you will not be surprised that the vast majority of them are not backed up anywhere. UUUGGGG! Yes, I have learned a lesson from this; a VERY hard lesson.
So Ashley, when you get back on track I really want to look into slurping my last blog into a book. I posted many pics on it that I may not get back any other way.
Lesson to all who have kids and cherish pictures: BACK THEM UP, BECAUSE DEATH IS PART OF EVERY COMPUTER'S LIFE AND IT IS UNPREDICTABLE!!!

Our Dancing Darling

Margaret started taking tap dancing and ballet since September. She absolutely loves it and is very proud to demonstrate her shuffles, curtsies, and ballet moves (I am not sure how to spell them all!!). Margaret was VERY excited to get some gymnastics and dancing equipment for Christmas. Margaret's dance class began learning their recital routine at the beginning of this year. She is very excited about the special song and dance that she is learning. Her recital is scheduled for May 9 and we are all VERY excited to see Margaret's first performance on the "big stage."

The things she says......continued

-Yesterday, as we were getting dressed, Margaret announced with a sweet but devilish smile that her friend John Christian was going to be her husband! This came completely out of the blue. She is so funny.
-Several times lately, Margaret has started looking sad and almost crying while we are driving in the car. I obviously as her what is wrong and this has been her response, "I am so sad because I miss EO because her home is so faaaaa away." Don't worry that I have a sad child, within minutes all of the times this has happened she has been laughing and smiling. But there is NO question that she wants her Auntie EO to live closer!
-Margaret is a little comedian! She loves to tease and say, "I'm joking you up!" and then she will laugh and laugh at herself.

Congratulations Cuttinos!

We are so happy for Ashley, Brad, Bailey, and Grayson as they added a new member to their clan, Anna Parker, yesterday! YEAH!

Our Visit to the ENT

Most of our family and friends know that Margaret was sick for the holidays this year. She began with a wicked ear infection on the Friday before Christmas and after 4 straight Fridays skip one then back again at the MD and 5 antibiotics later + addition of daily Prevacid it has FINALLY cleared up! She also was on a steriod during all the fun....YIKES! Steroids make typically sweet children EVIL. Anyway, when the doctor prescribed the last of the antibiotics (the one that finally kicked it) she also referred us to an ENT. I was not so thrilled when I learned the appointment was not until mid-Feb (this was toward the end of Jan), but that was as soon as they could get her in.
So, they ears cleared up and yesterday we did go for the ENT consult. He stated that Margaret's ears look great and have cleared up nicely. He explained that due to her recent history of chronic ear infections we could go ahead with the tubes, but that we could also wait since they have cleared up--possibly due to the Prevacid. Well, NO BRAINER---we will wait and see. YEAH! I am glad not to have to put my baby to sleep for this procedure at least not now. Hopefully, we have kicked the ear problems for good.
After getting finished at the ENT pretty quickly, we hated to waste a trip to the big city. So, Margaret and I met Jonathan for a reward donut at Krispy Kreme (her choice) since she had been so brave in letting some stranger look into her ears. Then we stopped by my old office to visit with Julianne and a previous patient and his family. Next, we ventured to JoAnne's to go crazy buying ribbon, paint, brushes, and fat quarter fabric for the quilt we will begin making next week (more info on the quilt is upcoming!). After shopping we went to a neat little park and played. THere was a cool Cinderella Coach in the park and we had lots of fun bouncing on it. Playing hard made two hungry girls! We met JL again to eat dinner and then headed back to the small town. Margaret fell asleep in the car and was quite content to have a quick wash off and teeth brushing and go right back to sleep. WOW! What a day!

Jazzy January

I will add pictures and event from jan here as I get some pics from melissa

Preparing Valentine's Day

Margaret and I have been pretty crafty lately. For her family and her classmates, we are painting/decorating small boxes and putting special surprises in them. We have also made cards for family and Margaret has had fun tracing over all the words that she dictates for me to write.

Lack of Pictures

OK, I guess since I have known that I would not be blogging, that I have NOT taken many pictures. Just before Christmas, I emptied my card onto the desktop in order to have lots and lots of room for more. Anyway, the computer died and I have only taken 29 pictures since Christmas morning. YIKES! I think that is a record! I will have to get some extras from my sister.
Margaret has been growing up so fast! I call Melissa all the time to share the amazing things that she says.....I really should write them all down. Here are a few:
-The most recent was at the end of last week "Mama is John Christian moving to California?" "But I will not even see him for a long time." "I will miss him." followed by sweet, drama filled tears.
-Talking about Marg's upcoming birthday party plans "I will have a Cinderella ball and dance with John Christian and Jackson will dance with McCollough." What????? who said she would even have boys at her party (JC will already have moved) and will they be dancing together??
-Talking to my mom "When I get big I am going to grow a baby in my belly and name her Punkin Olivia, so I can have a Punkin Olivia of my very own!" "I can't wait until I am older so I can make the rules."
-Talking to EO "I think Punkin is a toddla." Why? "Cause she walks."
-To some stranger driving by as Marg and Olivia strolled down the sidewalk "It's a baby doll stroller with a real baby inside!"
-To me at supper tonight about Emily Culler when she was pregnant "So when Emily Culla ate the baby ate too?"
-Somethings she repeats a good bit "I love everybody in my family!" "Mommy, I love you more than all the clouds!"
more to come as I remember......

YEAH!! A Fresh Start!

As anyone who keeps up with our blog knows, I have been TERRIBLE about keeping up since this summer. I have many excuses, mainly that it drives me crazy to post out of order and catching up and keeping up is absolutely impossible. Especially since my desktop computer DIED shortly after Christmas. I now have a laptop that I am borrowing from my mom and only have internet access at a certain spot in my bedroom.......but since this blog is NEW, I will not feel the need to catch up. It will begin with January 2008 events and will be CURRENT! I will finish the old blog slowly but surely! SO, get excited--WE ARE BACK!!
Thanks Rebecca for this great idea!