Catching Up

It's time to catch you all up on all of our happenings. The girls and I left for STL Monday afternoon and came home yesterday morning. They were predicting alot of snow it STL for Tuesday so I figured it would be in our best interest to leave Monday. We had a full day and a half in spite of the 10 inches of snow we received in St. Peters (other places got lots more). Dance class was canceled on Tuesday, Aly was bummed. I had to call the studio and let her listen to the "dance class is canceled" message. I had a cavity filled on Tuesday afternoon, yuck. We spent the evening with Daddy playing, wrestling and watching American Idol and The Office.

After a frustrating reading session with Aly yesterday I had to come up with a new game plan in order to keep her motivated. Thus you will see a picture of "Aly's Reading Rewards" below. She thinks she should get "whatever I want" when she accomplishes her next story "Dan Ran". It's only two pages with about 10-15 words total so I don't think she will be getting "whatever I want". First of all, I'm not sure they make enough Hannah Montana (HM) stuff to reward her with a HM trinket every time she reads a couple of words (besides I've contributed to HM's college fund enough already) and I'm not spending $15-$20 each time she reads her 10 little words.

While we were shopping at Wal-Mart today I found this cute little lipstick container (after I took a picture of it I was kind of thinking that it doesn't exactly look like a lipstick container, it kind of looks like a giant pink glittery boy part, ew gross) filled with fun, colorful stationary, pens, stickers, etc. It was only $9.96 so she can be rewarded with one of these trinkets instead. Maybe when she reads the entire book and fills up her chart then we will talk about getting "whatever I want".

On to Ashley's Magic Slippers (see picture below). I picked up these "Magic Slippers" on clearance for $3 a couple of weeks ago at Payless. Ashley wore these slippers to Tumble Bee's last Thursday night and she had the best class she's ever had. Coach Bob and I joked about the slippers being magic the entire time. Ashley has been in Tumble Bee's since August and since she is so passionate she has very passionately expressed her unwillingness to participate and cooperate during class. She would cry and cling to Corey and I the entire time. Forget about her even getting close to Coach Bob except to stick her arms way our in front of her in order to receive a stamp on each hand at the end of every class.

I decided last week that since the house has not sold yet I would sign her up for one more session of Tumble Bee's. I decided to switch her to a morning class because her behavior is "fresher" in the morning and it's been a pain in the butt for me to take her at 5:30 in the evening (none of us want to get in the car and go at that time especially since it's been so cold this winter). So we get to Tumble Bee's this morning (with our magic slippers on) and Ash does phenomenal. She went through all the obstacles by herself, I actually had to tell her to wait her turn - a first, even Coach Bob was like "that's the first time I have ever heard you say that to her". She did the balance beam and by her last turn on the beam she was pushing my arms away so that she could do it by herself. The last thing they did was put their belly on the giant ball while Coach Bob pushed them on it, she laughed and smiled the whole time. Then at stamp time Ash sat down right in front of Bob and waited for her stamps. Talk about a stellar day, hmm, maybe I should work on potty training today!

After Tumble Bee's we went grocery shopping, again, the girls did excellent. I rewarded all of this good behavior with a trip to McAlister's Deli for grilled cheese, PB&J and sweet tea (for me). I love their sweet tea and their sugar cookies! I didn't have a sugar cookie today though, I figured 3 huge cups of sweet tea is probably enough sugar and caffeine for me today. I am feeling pretty jittery right about now! I'm thinking this will be my last hurrah with caffeine for a while anyway so I better live it up.

We've been working on this third baby since December (4 cycles) and still no luck. I don't get it, we've always joked that if Corey and I just look at each other I end up pregnant. I'm thinking that caffeine might be something that needs to be cut from my diet. When I have gotten pregnant in the past (all 5 times) I never drank coffee or soda. Now I drink coffee every morning and sometimes diet soda or tea in the afternoon. I've read that caffeine can have an affect on fertility so I think I am going to give this no caffeine thing a whirl. I think we are all ready for another baby in our house, Aly usually says the prayers before we eat and lately she tags the end of all of her prayers with "Thank you Jesus that our house is sold and that Mommy has a baby brother in her tummy". Ah, from the mouth of babes! I receive it!

Now that I've shared TMI with some of you I am going to let that be my final thought for the day (well...not for the day but for the blog).