After yesterday's trip to NC, we are relaxing a bit today. We went up to the little park in Piedmont, but it was too hot already this morning, so we came home to play in the shade. Liam loves Raina's bike (much to her consternation) and he pushes along on the ground...no pedals.

They did not eat very well this morning. Liam did pretty well on his oatmeal with bananas and some homemade bread and butter. Raina ate a few bites...and then some loose oat squares. I don't push either of them much, esp. Liam. When he said "all done" I said OK and got him down. After our trip outside we had some VERY watered down juice (that was already "less sugar for tots" stuff) and half a cookie. They will be ready for lunch, I think. Raina is watching Little Einsteins now while Liam plays with me in the computer room. More later...

Today is cookie day! We baked chocolate chip this morning and have a bin for the Harwood house. This caused Liam to learn a new word "cookie" which he repeated several time after he got half a one for a little snack. THEN he pulled open the oven door, scaring me half to death. I said "NO, NO" and he crinkled up his face to cry. Something more we have to watch. Raina has never tried that. He just loves his food, and now knows where the cookies are coming from.

They had scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast and I gave Liam some blueberry yogurt. Raina didn't eat hardly anything, but then said she'd eat grapes, so she had a handful of green grapes. (She was the one who asked for eggs BTW) Of course she has had a cookie and several sneaky chocolate chips.

Now we are playing. Liam was outside with Grandpa for a while as we were baking inside. I got Raina some sewing cardboard things and she has done them all. I can't convince her yet that they can be taken apart and done again, over and over.

We cleaned out our clothes and found the red size three winter coat you can have for Liam. I've got a 4T new (from a sale a while ago) London Fog winter coat for him next year and her for here if we need it this year. I'm set now for wet and dirty days without sending them home naked!

I baked a sweet potato this morning too for Liam's lunch. He likes it and it's a good thing for him to eat I think. Who knows about Raina?!

Both had hardy BM's so far today...

Lunch was toasted cheese and applesauce and sweet potato for Liam. Raina had the same but didn't eat well again. Liam has been having fun with a fork; I help him stab and then he knows what to do.

Raina has been having fun "sewing" and is bringing one card home to show you.

Grandma went to her prayer thing this morning and stayed for a little knitting while grandpa stayed behind. The kids seemed to have had a great time playing outdoors with him this morning. It is so nice it isn't so hot and sticky early on. They had oatmeal and a little toast for breakfast but did not eat heartily. Raina ate a lot of raisins and Liam had some banana.

Grandpa went to his men's group for lunch, so grandma had that meal.

Oh, did you know Liam eats pineapple???? For lunch he had spaghetti (left over from last night) and some carefully arranged blueberries and a little bread and butter. I was eating a left-over fruit salad that he "asked" for, so I let him put his hand in the container and he pulled out a chunk of pineapple, followed by about 6 more chunks. He just smiled and shoveled them in!

He had two poopie diapers and Raina went once, so all systems are go.

Raina had peanut butter sandwich and grapes for lunch and a little chocolate pudding for dessert.

She watched a show about reading this morning and was mouthing the answers...she seemed to understand a lot about putting the letters together. I'm going to figure out the name and start taping it for her.

We are shortly off to the zoo. 11:30 class for 3 year olds on orangutans. We plan to play outside on the equipment first and then go in and see a few animals. Lunch out on the way home.

Raina didn't eat much breakfast...only a few bites of oatmeal, some banana and a little nibble of whole wheat roll(bubble loaf!) Liam ate well the same things only a lot more. They had about half a cup of milk, too, since Raina said they had had juice. We will take a little for a zoo snack.

Liam had a very big, messy bm and soiled his clothes so he is in a brand new Carter's outfit (80% off from the outlet store in GA last time we went down) that just happens to have zoo animals all over the shirt!! So a question to Mom...did we score tickets for the Easley sale? I need some back up things...cheap! More after the trip...

We had a good time...the orangatan Bob was sooo cute, playing and with his mother. He is 4 now. The kids had popcorn and I think he saw it through the glass and wanted some too. They had some pretzels and very diluted juice as a snack at the zoo. Raina had some popcorn as a part of the program. They played outside the zoo for a long time on the playground and then inside saw elephant, monkeys, etc. before Raina's program.

We ate a McDonalds. They split a plain grilled chicken wrap and small fries and yogurt. Raina had chocolate milk and Liam had white.

They were pretty tired...Liam has awakened a bit crabby but is having graham cracker and juice on the porch with grandpa.

As a side note...Raina isn't getting any attention if she whines or asks for something with a single plaintive word that sounds like a baby. We are being firm, but not punishing...just ignoring the request until it is phrased in a normal voice, preferably with a "please". Hopefully this is just a short phase while she gets used to the new school year.

Tuesday...soccer day!

Breakfast was cinnamon toast and oat squares for Raina and oatmeal and toast for Liam with milk since they had already had juice. Our adventure for today was to go to the new playground behind the swim park on Grove Road. It was great!! And there was a little breeze so it wasn't too hot. Liam loved to climb and slide and Raina played a lot on the Ages 5-12 set. She is very strong! After that we went to their football field and grandpa set up a couple milk jugs for goals and Raina practiced dribbling down field and making a goal. Both kids got warn out. Good thing we brought water bottles. Then we went to Fred's but couldn't find what we were looking for. Raina and I found princess party things...very inexpensive...and she thought she'd like a princess theme this year. Is that what you're hearing?

Lunch was toasted cheese and fruit. Raina ate a whole sandwich. Liam concentrated on fruit. If I help stab it, he manipulates the fork to his mouth and smiles his sweet little grin. They had juice with lunch. Raina also had a fudgsicle since we had just bought them.

Monday

We had a great experience this morning...stopped in at Raina's new school to show everyone. Liam stood outside the little play area, watching kids a little older than him play and he talked through the fence at him and a bunch came over to babble back. He was enthralled.

Raina almost threw a fit when we told her we were just looking. She started to cry before we even went in because older kids were playing in the other play area and it just looked like too much fun.

We knocked on the door and Miss Becky showed us around. We met Miss Kayla who was getting her room ready for school to start. There were a lot of 4 year olds there with Miss Jordan. They asked if Raina wanted to stay for awhile and she said "YES!". So they said she could stay for an hour. We did our grocery shopping and came back and she was outside with the kids and very happy. She didn't want to go home; she thought she could stay with the kids and eat lunch. We finally convinced her to come home with us and now we are preparing mac and cheese for lunch.

They didn't eat a whole lot of oatmeal this morning, I think because I was ready when they got here and they would rather eat about 9. So we are doing a little bit early lunch.

Sooo I think school will be a great success.

One note...both their noses are running and I think the cranky factor is a bit elevated. And grandpa thinks he's getting it too. I shall try to stay strong~! Ha, Ha!!!

Liam had a great time with his little fork at lunch. I would help him spear watermelon or blueberry and he would just beam and then negotiate it to his mouth with no trouble!

Hi readers,

Today is Friday...we started the day with scrambled eggs and homemade toast. Raina had oat squares and raisins and toast. She broke all the eggs for the scrambled eggs by herself.

Liam went outside to play with grandpa. They walked all over and he tried several times to get on grandpa's motor cycle. Vroom.....

Raina worked on Barney on computer a bit, colored, practices cutting with her thumb on top and worked on counting past 10 and writing her first name. It is a start...we will do "school" a little each day. Now we are heading out for a few library books and some grandma exercise while Raina plays with "the children".

She loved playing with a little boy in a tent playhouse they made. She didn't want to go home, but did come to watch grandma throw the ball 20 times.

She did some fine coloring at the library. We are working on holding her crayons correctly. She just grabs with her fist. She needs to rest the crayon on her third finger and grasp with the pointer.

Lunch was great!!! Grandpa fixed green beans fresh from the garden. Yum!! Raina ate a whole plate full. And they had mac and cheese and grapes. Liam also had sweet potatoes. And everyone drank milk well.

After lunch they played in the kitchen on the porch and helped grandma clean the siding there and the table and chairs. Raina worked very hard on cleaning and it was a dirty job. I was actually very thankful for her "down low" work that saved me a lot of bending.

Then mama called and grandpa took off for the Harwoods to lay Liam down for his much-needed nap. Raina took home the 4 library books from Piedmont, saying she would bring them back Monday so we could read them here.

Tonight is grandpa's poker night so it's off to finish cleaning up for the men.