Gone All Day

Dear T Bear,

Congratulations on starting first grade!  I can't believe you are going to be gone all day.

The night before you started school, you came into our bed around 11pm due to a bad dream (or some "back-to-school" nerves).  I then tortured myself for an hour thinning back on the last 6 1/2 year of your life.

I remembered how you have had a smile that has lit up a room from the day you were born.  I remembered how you loved to held in my arms.  You have always loved to laugh.  You proved to be very clever and precocious from a very young age.  I have held you in my lap and read hundreds of books to you and you soaked everything up with excitement.

I wondered, "Have I loved you enough? Have I taught you enough?"  I know I am not a perfect mother to you.  We are both learning on this journey.

As you Dad gave you a special blessing the night before school, I was once again reminded that Heavenly Father loves you just as much as I do.  He wants you to pray to Him.  He will watch over you at school when I can not be there.  You were born with greatness inside of you.

I pray that first grade will be a fun year for you.  A year where you learn to be kind to others, work together, and love to learn.  I will miss you while you are gone.  But I know that for you, T Bear, you need this independence. You love growing and proving that you are a capable person.  I admire that about you.

I will gladly you send you off to school each day, but then anxiously wait until I can pick you up again.

With all the love in the world,

Love,
Mommy

Dog Food

 Dear Miss T,

If you chance to consider getting a dog while you still have little mouthy-babies around, consider yourself forewarned of this possibility:

I am having to be vigilant in making sure Baby J does not eat dog food. When she first started crawling she loved to head towards Nellie's dish...she knew I would come running! And when we would visit the dog upstairs (bowl pictured here), she could not get enough of a thrill sneaking around the corner, and then pausing and sitting and turning to see if I had caught her yet. She would hurry to grab some food and shove it in her mouth as I lunged at her. It just wasn't clear that dog food was not her food. As far as I know, she never fully ingested any. As far as I know.

At this point, she no longer tries to get it in her mouth (at least not immediately). She throws it! And she makes the "Neh Neh Neh" sound, which I am thinking is a pretty good effort to say "Nellie" because every time I take her away that is what I say "This food is for Nellie." So. There may be food in the floor and under some furniture, but none in her mouth. Nice.

But then, the other day I had handed a carrot stick to Baby J for her to gnaw on a little, and I look over to see this:

Clearly she doesn't realize that her food is not dog food. I am betting we could have a little problem here in the next few years where Nellie knows that a certain little someone will hand over food that she normally won't get anywhere else! At least I love it when Nellie cleans up under Baby J's high chair? Can't beat that.

Love, Kk

CONGRATULATIONS!

We gave away 2 free entries to the CelebrateWomen's Fitness Event (second entry was courtesy of Dr. David W. Cutler, DDS).

Kathleen Tuck

&

Kimberly and Matt

Thank you to our two comments who made it before the deadline.  (Miss Robin - we appreciate your comment from far across the Pacific Ocean as well!)

We look forward to seeing you and your "sisters" at the race.  You better register today if you still want a shirt!

-Miss T & KK