Join the Club...

Babysitter's Club, that is. Caroline has an awesome English teacher who requires 30 minutes or more of reading every night (Saturday and Sunday too!). She has to keep a log and I have to sign it every day. Nothing like me getting homework, too, but at least it keeps the kids accountable. Well, Caroline has pretty much breezed through everything on Mrs. Ericson's bookshelf. I was having a little bit of a nostalgic flashback and decided to hit Borders (before they went out of business) and get her some good ole-fashioned reading from my day--The Babysitter's Club! I originally was on a mission to find the wholesome series "Sweet Valley Twins" but to my dismay, a clerk from the bookstore, who had to look up where to find the series, informed me that the books were...out of print! I just about sobbed right there on the floor. The clerk, who was all of about 17 years old, gave me a look like "I wasn't trained for situations like these". Suffice it to say, I was a little bitter that I had tossed my entire series into the Salvation Army collection bin when I left for college. But they still had the Babysitter's Club...sort of. They all have new covers, and there's only 1-4 on the shelf, so I snatched those up and hope to find more. For now, Caroline loves the series. And she looks forward to reading every night, and she reads way past the 30 minute requirement. And that's the best part....that she will hopefully be a life-long reader.

In Memory

A year ago today, Sable passed away. And while life has gone on without her, she will always be my firstborn in my heart. To quote Tennyson:

"God gives us love. Something to love, he lends us."
Thanks for being the best thing I ever borrowed.

One Step Ahead

So I pick up Emily today, and the first thing out of Ms. Tammy's mouth is "So, do you want to hear about when she does stuff at daycare for the first time or do you want to be surprised at home?" Hmmmm, let me think about this for a moment. If I truly wanted to be surprised, that question kinda killed it for me, didn't it? So let's go with the first option! Turns out that Emily, who has been standing up on her own for over a week, took her first step! Which was followed by a kind-of-leap, then "collapse" onto Ms. Tammy, but a first step nonetheless! Soooo proud of herself!

Playing the game where we stand on our own for about a minute, then take a lunge towards Mommy, knowing that she will catch us every time!

Look Ma, no hands!