Angel/Hellraiser

It has occurred to me that I might have given people an incomplete picture of my daughter.

Yes, she is a happy baby. Yes, she is good-natured and a lot of fun and fairly easy temperament-wise.

But please believe me when I tell you this girl has crazy spunk!! She is no shrinking violet.

In fact, she is a bit of a hellraiser!

Check out this video of her -- and her attitude -- when I tell her we are not allowed to eat packing peanuts. Even if they are, in fact, called "peanuts."

What was that little push-up thing she was doing at the end??

Hahahaaa! She cracks me up!!

And I love it that she finally decides if she can't eat packing peanuts, she'll just eat stray plastic. LOL!

The good thing is, even when she's mad, she's still hilarious.

My daughter = so much personality! And I love it -- every last bit.

First "No Tears" day!

Hooray!

There was no whining on the ride to school, no whining walking into the building, no whining at the doorway of the classroom and NO TEARS when I left. In fact, Dean refused to even give me a kiss good-bye. And not in a "I'm mad at you for leaving me here" kind of way. More like a "Mom, go to work already!" kind of way. Which was, strangely, kind of nice.

Everything moved so smoothly, I even got to work super early and had to turn off the alarm and start the coffee!! I'm always one of the first ones at work, but I'm not always THE first one at work.

I'm hopeful this is the way things will go from now on. No tears, smooth transitions, get to work early, get my coffee, and quiet time at my desk to read news stories and blog. Whoo-hoo!

Sidenote: I did make an appointment to meet with Miss Toni tomorrow to discuss what I consider to be some significant issues with the way she is reporting on the boys' day. I don't want to go into too much here until after the meeting. So stay tuned. (Pray *I* don't leave the meeting in tears. LOL.)

Meanwhile, I leave you with this musical gem from yesterday:

 
CRACKS ME UP!!!

Happy 6-months Clair!!!

My baby girl turns 6 months today. A half a year has gone by like THAT.

AS I think back on the last 6 months, the most overwhelming thing I feel is grateful, because she is a pure joy to have as a daughter. Truly.

Check out this video of her with her Dad the other night. She's SUCH a happy girl.

 I'm blessed to have her. Our family is blessed to have her.

In other news, Lester and I went to Parent Night at the boys' new pre-school (which starts in just 11 days!!)
Among other things, we learned that the school does not want the children using backpacks, but instead wants them to use tote bags, which they provide.

So those adorable little zebra and elephant backpacks I bought? Useless.

See what happens when I stop procrastinating for one second?!

So, now I need to buy lunch bags, instead of backpacks, to keep their snacks in. I started looking last night and it's hard to find what I want. Which is:

• Relatively inexpensive
• Insulated
• Easy to open
• Easy to clean
• Small enough to fit in a tote bag
• Big enough to hold snacks and a thermos
• Kid-cute, but not covered in cartoon characters

I haven't found all that in one spot just yet. But I'll keep looking.

Also, please know that  I am focusing on these seemingly-inconsequential things to keep from thinking about the fact that my babies are going to SCHOOL. In 11 days!

Birthday serenade by the Davis children!

Reason No. 10,576 why I love our babysitter, Michelle.

Because she does stuff like this:

OMG! Best. Birthday present. EVER!

(Love their little slippers! And how Dean stretches out the ends of words like a true R&B singer! And how Cary is so over it. And the newest member of the singing sensations: Clair!)

Like I said earlier, "Happy Birthday to ME!"