Dear Mr. Ben and Mr. Jerry,

I'm pretty sure this isn't what you had in mind when you decided to start putting Strawberry Cheesecake in single-serve cups, was it?  

Nope, I can clearly see each cup is one serving.  And I ate 3 of them.  Would you mind asking my husband to stop by Kroger on the way home tonight to get some more?  And remind him that I have yet to wean our baby from mamma's milk so I really need the extra calories and calcium.  Yes, that's it, the calcium.  Each cup has 10% of my daily allowance, so instead of "glass half empty" (as in:  I ate 3 single serve cups of Ben & Jerry's while the kids were at school today), I prefer to see this as "glass half full" (Look at me!  30% of my calcium in 20 minutes!!!)

Randomness

Fall foods are now available at Starbucks!  Get thee there on the double for a mini pumpkin bundt cake.  And don't be afraid to try the chocolate banana Vivanno.  Yum. 

Jack is intent on making people like him.  "You can never start too early" is his motto, hence his fascination with Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. 

Hmmm, purple socks... what will match my striped purple socks?  

Little Maggie Bubbles

And making his first appearance in the blog is Mr. Dublin Bray!  Affectionately known as "The Beast",  Dublin is turning 8 this fall.  He is much loved by all of us and has been very tolerant of each of our children as they entered the "getting-to-know-you" phase of childhood.  Well, except Lydia.  But I think she still pokes him in rude places so who can blame him?

Our Trip to the Memphis Zoo

jack loved watching the chickens at "the farm"

cousin ronan, lydia, and maggie- mesmerized by the panda bears 

lydia watched the panda with her trainer

Last Sunday my in-laws treated us to a morning at the zoo.  The kids all had a great time- it seems they enjoyed our visit more than I have ever seen them enjoy it before.   It was Jack's first visit and even he seemed to be enjoying watching the smaller animals- the nocturnal building was his favorite, probably because there are so many little critters running around the exhibits in there.  

New teachers, new preschool, first day!

Lydia started back to preschool this past Thursday morning.  She is at a new school this year, the same as Maggie (her classroom is just around the corner from Maggie's actually!).  So far the transition has been seamless for her and she seems to enjoy her teachers, Ms. Mary Francis and Ms. Donna.  Last night Lydia was pretending she was Ms. Mary Francis and insisted that she needed to teach Brian to "sign in" when he came home from work and that she needed to help him practice writing his "o's".  Adorable.  

Lydia's imagination has really been taking off the past few weeks- lots of imaginative play!  Just yesterday she filled her shopping cart with her Webkinz toys and invited me to go to the zoo with her and her "kids".  We had just been to the zoo on Sunday morning so this was all still fresh in her mind.  She guided me through the house and pointed out all sorts of animals to me- a cow eating grass, a scary snake, and a little brown bear.  It's a lot of fun for me to have a few days a week to spend some one on one time with her and give her the attention she needs- sometimes I worry that as our middle child she gets a little lost in the day to day shuffle.  

Maggie continues to do well in Kindergarten.  She adores her teacher, Ms. Margaret, and has made lots of new friends.  She has homework each evening- usually nothing more than a worksheet or two to practice writing her name or numbers/ letters.  I can tell she feels like such a big kid getting to do big kid things.  She really enjoys eating lunch in the cafeteria; we check the lunch menu each evening to see if it is something she might like to try and go from there.  I must say I have been quite impressed with the things she has been willing to try.  For those of you who don't know, Maggie can be quite the picky eater.  She has gotten better... Brian and I make it a priority to encourage her to try new things.  I am so proud of her for so many things!  She is so gentle and loving with Lydia and Jack since starting school.  I have really noticed a new level of maturity in her that I haven't seen before.  She and Lydia can still get into it and fight only the way siblings do, but for the most part they have been getting along great as of late.  I think Maggie might actually miss her little sister when she is away at school.  :)

And Mr. Jack- so fun, so happy, and so busy!  He is just a ton of fun to have around.  He is cruising now, really fast I might add.  His sleep patterns are becoming a bit more consistent- longer naps during the day and longer stretches during the night.  Now that we are into more of a daily schedule with the girls and school I have been able to make his schedule a bit more stable.  I get 2 days alone with him while Lydia is at preschool and I have been enjoying that.  Jack is really interested in the dog right now and I am quite pleased at how tolerant Dublin has been of him.  He was great with Maggie when she was a baby, but he was never really all that interested in Lydia when she tried to get to know him.  Not only do they look a lot alike, but Jack and Maggie are nearly identical personality wise- perhaps that has something to do with it?  I don't know... 

I think that is it for now!  I have about 30 minutes before I need to get going to pick up Lydia from preschool.  I do have pictures of the kids from our zoo trip this weekend that I will post later on.  

lmb

An update...

First day of Kindergarten

With Daddy on the first full day of school

Making brownies with Arthur, D.W., and the gang

Another missing tooth!   This makes 4 now!

Well Maggie's first week of school is over.  She is really adjusting wonderfully well to kindergarten and we couldn't be happier.  Her first day of school was eventful- between arriving to school late, Jack's diaper leaking all.over.me., and Maggie making an 11th hour decision to change her name to "Claire" as she arrived in the classroom- we had it all!  (Claire is her middle name by the way, and she had been toying with the idea of going from Maggie to Margaret.  Seems she decided to take it one step further).  All in all she has had a terrific week and she mostly looks forward to getting up each morning to get ready for school.  Her name was drawn from a hat on Friday to bring home the class pets- a basket of stuffed animals from the PBS show "Arthur".  We were to take these 4 pets with us where ever we needed to go and then journal about our adventures.  

Lydia is really enjoying being the big kid at home now.  She likes to be my special helper and is very attentive to Jack.  This morning we went to "Library School"- story time- and then to Chick-Fil-A for an early lunch with some of our friends from our neighborhood.  She will start preschool next Thursday, 9/4, and she will go on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 3pm.  Her classroom is actually right around the corner from Maggie's!  

Jack is having a good week.  He has 2 new teeth- 10 total now for those keeping track.  He seems to be sleeping more soundly since they came up so I am grateful for that.  He will wave hello, bye bye, and clap his hands now and he will also put his hand up to his ear when he sees anybody talking on a telephone.  Too funny! 

We are headed to Pickwick Lake with family and friends for the holiday weekend and I am looking forward to getting away for a few days.  I'll have lots of pictures I'm sure!

Night Before Jitters

This is it... Maggie starts Kindergarten tomorrow.  Our house is buzzing with excitement and emotion tonight.  I am so relieved to have reached the finish line that summer presented me with, but sad that Maggie is a big girl now.  For reals.  There isn't a bit of preschooler left in her;  she is ready to move on to the big time now.  Brian and I are a little dumbfounded, just wondering where on earth the last 5 and a half years have gone and scared about what this will mean for the next 5 and a half.  How quickly will time seem to pass before it's Lydia's turn for her first day of Kindergarten?  Jack?  Graduation from high school?  Ugh.  Too much to think about right now.  

I'll have pictures tomorrow!  Wish us luck! 

10 months? Huh?

10 months!  

My Little Bathing Beauty Lydia

Jack with MomMom Bray

Maggie and MomMom 

Maggie lost another tooth this week! 

Well it seems like only yesterday I wrote about Jack turning 9 months old.  Time has creeped up on us again and our baby boy turned 10 months this past Thursday!  I don't know how it keeps happening... and I don't like it one bit.  He is busier than ever before and I don't really expect that to change anytime soon.  He has perfected crawling and pulling up but doesn't seem too terribly interested in standing on his own yet (and that is just fine- we are in no rush at all).  We are working on more self-feeding- he seems bored with baby food and the whole spoon-feeding thing but not quite ready to embrace all the new flavors and textures of real food.  

Last weekend we had a very special visitor.  MomMom Bray, Brian's grandmother, came to visit from Florida.  It was certainly a treat to spend time with her- this was her first time meeting Jack, so the trip was extra special for us.  This is a big year for MomMom as she will be celebrating her 90th birthday in October!  She is still active as ever and keeps a very busy calendar, spending lots of time socializing with friends and neighbors in her community.  

Maggie begins Kindergarten next week- Tuesday is her first day with half of her class.  She will be home on Wednesday while the other half of the class goes and then everyone will be together for their first full day on Thursday.  This week we were busy with her registration on Wednesday morning and then Parents' Orientation on Thursday evening.  I had been feeling a bit conflicted over the prospect of Catholic school for a variety of reasons, but after spending some time at the school this week and meeting other families I am as confident as ever this was a great decision.  Our school seems to have a very close-knit community and I am looking forward to jumping in, meeting new friends, and helping out.  

I think that is about it for now.  Brian is in NYC for a short visit until tomorrow evening.  Right now Jack is sound asleep in his room, Lydia has fallen asleep on the floor in her Elmo sleeping bag while watching Stuart Little, and Maggie is watching over my shoulder trying to pick out her name in my post.  She is waiting so patiently to get on the computer to play with her Webkinz for a bit... I guess it's time for me to finish up!