I knew I hadn't blogged in a while, but wow! I whole month?!? Things have changed.
Alli is about the same. I mean, she's 5, so life doesn't change very quickly on her in a month. She just recently started getting an allowance. Her chores are to set the table, to pack her backpack in the mornings, and to hang it up after school. And she makes $2/week. This all stemmed from some dance pictures that were taken of her during class. She wanted to buy them, I didn't have money on me that night. So she was going to give me money to help and I told her I wouldn't take her money at all unless she had a way of making money to replenish it. (Of course, she wanted to buy $60 worth of pictures!) She actually mentioned that some kids in her class get an allowance, so I told her that would be fine, but we also discussed that in general, you should do things around the house because you are part of a family, and not because you get paid to do it. She hasn't stopped helping in other areas, so I think we are good there (for now).
Natalie has gone through many stages to become a bonafide toddler. She went from furniture surfing, so getting brave and taking a few steps in between the furniture, to walking many steps between furniture or a wall, to letting go of furniture and going to the middle of the room to pick a toy off the floor and then going back to the furniture.... Yes, many stages. The thing that turned her into a bonafide walker was gymnastics. We were there while Alli was in class and I told Molly that I needed to get a video of Natalie walking with her arms up for balance cause it would go away soon. So Molly whipped out her phone and started calling for Nat. So Nat started walking towards Molly, and with video rolling, decided she didn't need to hang on to anything anymore and just kept walking around and around. She then put her arms down for balance and was holding her belly, like "look at me! no hands!" So, go figure. The old video camera peer pressured her! Now we get the pleasure of coming home from work and having a happy little toddler walk down the hallway saying "Hi....hi....hi...." and then landing on us for a big hug. OH I LOVE IT!!!
We are trying to prepare for Christmas. Between figuring out gifts, shopping, working, and trying to get 120 cards in the mail, we are busy. Oh and the cards this year? Not so easy. The printer ran out of ink - twice! I ran out of address label stickers and have to purchase more. I still haven't bought all my stamps because the post office's automated machine will only let you purchase $40 at a time with a credit card... All these road blocks!! What's up with that!?!? It's not that I'm actually "ready" with my production line of card mailing, but still! (Yes, I'm OCD in that respect. I have to set up my whole production line before I begin. I could very well have gotten a few cards done, but no. If I don't have the means to finish all of them, I have no desire to start. What's up with me?!?!)
Oh, and one more item on the agenda. We are working with a landscape architect to fix a few issues with our pool, to re-flagstone our patio deck, and to finally put a railing up along the patio edge. My goal is to have it complete before swim season next year. We are still waiting on some bids and my fingers are crossed it all comes in within our budget. It would look so amazing, and I would finally not be so worried of Alli accidentally tripping and falling off the edge onto jagged rocks below!
