Contest

So I don't have much time to blog today. But I had to get this in. There is currently a contest in the Thompson family over who is the "oldest-young couple". Julie & Elliott had us beat when they bought an RV/camper last fall, however Tad and I aged ourselves quite a bit today with the purchase of a pontoon boat. I guess we'll let y'all decide.

With or Without You

I just got done looking at the first pictures of my friend Beth, her hubby Matt and the son they are in the process of adopting from Guatemala, Eli. This visit is a long time coming and I know its going to be SO hard for them to leave without him. I can't even imagine. The only feeling that I can liken it to is when we had to leave the hospital without Charlotte. That was the worst feeling in the world, especially because we had no set date of when she would be coming home. It felt like a giant weight in my chest that just overwhelmed me. And that isn't even close to what Beth is going through. At least Northside is only 45 minutes away and I could drive to see Charlotte and hold her during her "touch times". I LIVED for those minutes and I was crushed when they were over. I would get be so anxious every day until I saw her and then I would get this high while I was there, and when we left I just felt deflated and weighed down. Its hard to describe, but I will never forget that feeling. And seeing Beth in those pictures just reminds me of it. I am praying that Eli will come home soon, but I'm praying right now for Beth and her return from this trip.

Any Given Tuesday

We didn't do much today. The girls and I arranged some flowers I bought on clearance at Kroger, we made mini fritattas and sausage patties for brunch, I pin curled Sarah-Grace's hair for fun while Charlotte took a nap, we made another chocolate mousse cake and we ordered pizza for dinner. Charlotte learned how to cross her arms and it is so funny. (I know the picture is blurry but you have to catch the poses when you can). I love the summer! Tomorrow I promised Sarah-Grace we would make strawberry jam to go with the honey roasted peanut butter she made last week. Life is good.

Bodies Exhibit with Sarah-Grace

Today we went to see the Bodies exhibit in Atlanta, IKEA (a really cool store) and Fox Sports Grill in Atlantic Station. For those of you who don't know the Bodies exhibit is an exhibit of real human bodies and body parts preserved in a new way and displayed in different positions with different parts exposed (the skeletal system, the nervous system, the circulatory system, etc.). I know it sounds morbid and gross, but it really isn't. Here are a few signs that this exhibit was a little over Sarah-Grace's head:

• One of the displays is a "body" shooting a basketball - Sarah-Grace looks at it and says "look that guy died shooting a basketball". One of the displays is a "body" posed sitting in the "thinking man " position. Sarah-Grace says I wonder what the guy was thinking when he died. We finally realized that she thought all the bodies displayed died in the positions they were in.
• There are 2 lungs displayed at the exhibit, a healthy lung of a non smoker and a lung of a smoker who died of cancer. You can imagine that the unhealthy lung of the smoker was black. This part she got because Sarah-Grace started asking a lot of questions and plans on writing her family members that smoke a letter explaining what she learned and asking them to stop smoking (that would be her aunt Debbie, uncle Tommy, cousin Rick and cousin Kristi). However when we got to Fox Sports Grill for dinner she noticed 2 african american people standing and smoking in the lobby. She said "daddy those people shouldn't smoke because they will turn black...daddy, those 2 people already are black". Tad had to explain that your whole body doesn't turn black when you smoke just your lungs on the inside.

Play Date with Sarah-Grace

Today Sarah-Grace and I had a "playdate" with eachother. We went to the farmer's market together and she loved it. She was so excited and had to smell every flower, name every vegetable, try every cheese (but before she ate it she would say "that's smells disgusting") and we ground our own honey roasted peanut butter (thanks to ANNA - you're the best!!). She ate globs of the peanut butter all day long - she has yet to eat it with a cracker or on bread, her finger seems to be just fine. Then we went to the pool to practice swimming before her lesson tomorrow. She starting writing words today on the side of the bathtub with her bath crayons. She wrote cat, bat, pat all by herself! Her teachers said she was reading 3 letter words at school in the spring, but I've never seen her read or write them at home. It's like out of the blue she just wanted me to give her words to write. Weird! We really enjoyed oursleves. And Charlotte had a blast with her JeJe - I don't even think she noticed we were gone! Today she discovered how to "bark" back at Cricket (Jeannie & David's dog), nod her head "no", and throw her arms up when you ask her how much do you love her.

Reading in Waycross

This past wekeend we went to Waycross for Tad & his dad (David) to finish the remolding of Tad's grandparent's (BeBe & Papa) bathroom. It took way longer than they expected and this was the second visit to finish the work they started. It took so long because back in the 50's many people built their own homes, which was the case with original owners of their house. Nothing was level, the walls weren't straight and they were made of concrete. My grandfather built the house he and my grandmother lived in. I just think that is so cool. I've always loved the 50's & 60's. I've been fascinated ever since I read the Feminine Mystic about culture then.

I brought a book along with me on the trip and I'm almost done with it. I highly recommend it. Its called The Girls Who Went Away - The hidden history of women who surrendered children for apodtion in the decades before Roe vs Wade. It is so amazing. It basically just stories of these women, well girls actually, who became preganant out of wedlock in the 50's & 60's whose parents sent them to "maternity homes" to have their babies and then gave the babies up for adoption. Most of the time the parents made some ridiculous story up about the girls having to leave to take care of a distant relative or falling ill. But these stories are then interlaced with the history and statistics of the life and culture then. Its so scary how the fear back then affected society so dramatically. Fear of nuclear war, fear that the newly elevated socio-economic status most people found themsleves in (compared with their parents) caused people and familes to conform at all costs. Its even scary how the media perpetuated this fear and how TV and the media form the picture of "normal" that everyone was trying to obtain. It really is a window into how and why our grandparents and parents act the way they do.

Did you know that 1.5 million babies were given up for adoption during these 2 decades? During these decades the percentage of people married was the highest it had ever and has ever been since, the average age of newlyweds was the lowest it had been since the late 1800's and because obtaining the perfect family was so vital to a person's success (and hope of keeping that success) the highest percentage of adoptions ever took place.

These girls stories are so sad. They were so ignorant. Most of them has no sex education at all (which is why there were 1.5 million unplanned pregancies), they had no idea how you got pregnant and of those that did know NONE of the women in this book were told how the baby came out! When it was time for delivery they were simply dropped off at a hospital by themsleves and were left alone to labor in a hallway or a dark room by themselves (they couldn't be in the same places as the married mothers). They had no idea what was happening to their bodies. It is heartwrenching what happened to them.

Reading books like this really makes me appreciate my children more. And also, helps me see how important self esteem is to my girls and the perception they have of themselves. It also is kind of scary to see our culture, media and society beginning to embrace a new kind of fear. It makes me wonder what book my grandchildren will be reading - concerning the effects our current culture is having on family life. It just makes you wonder...

Memorial Day Weekend Pictures

Tad's cousin, Kim, sent me these pictures from Memorial Day weekend. So, since I don't scrapbook, I thought I would "blogbook" (I know this term isn't as cool as "blog stalking", but it could work). Anyway I hope you enjoy.

So, we spend every holiday during the summer at Tad's uncle Tommy's place on Clarks Hill lake. The lake's name was changed to Thurmond lake but nobody likes that name and people just keep calling it Clarks Hill. Anywho, up until a few months ago the lake place was a beautiful lot with a 1950's single wide trailer on it. It was originally owned by Tommy's father- in-law and sometime after he past away, Tommy bought it. We could crowd the 20-35 of the Thompson family members in it each summer holiday. Tommy and his wife Connie have decided to move there and so they purchased a new (90's) trailer, and it is a double (and a half) wide trailer. It is beautiful. Connie's son does custom wood floors and he's floored most of the "new" trailer. We keep saying it will be the nicest trailer house ever! I'll post pictures of it after 4th of July.

Jeannie bought the coolest new float. It's huge, round, can fit 4 adults comfortably and in the middle is a rectangular opening with a mesh bottom so the babies can sit and play in the water while the moms catch some rays. Charlotte is the perfect boat baby. These pictures are of her on the float and in the pack-n-play on the boat. Everytime we would stuff her into her "wet suit lifejacket" a.k.a the six pack suit, and put her on the float she would pass out. I don't mean take a nap, no I mean drooling, snoring, stiff as a board (which could be attributed to her six pack suit) pass out. She would sleep there as long as we could stand the sun! We eventually put her in the pack-n-play on the boat to move her to a more comfortable bed in the shade. I think the rocking of the water is what gets her. I'm just so hapy she loves the lake.





















































Sarah-Grace has been taking swimming lessons and so she is a fish in the water now. The 2 pictures of her are she and Heather (her cousin and Kim's daughter) in the lake and she and Madison (her cousin) by the cars outside.

Little Miss Independent

Charlotte and I are enjoying some time together this week while Sarah-Grace is at VBC. She definitely has her own personality. She loves the Little Mermaid, but only up until Ariel gets her legs. She just learned how to nod and so she nods "yes" all the time. She is even beginning to say yes for what she wants. She is already a "model montessori child", she goes and gets her diaper when she wants to be changed (or at our request), she then throws her diaper away in the diaper pail when she's been changed and puts her clothes in her hamper each night. She loves to read books. Her favorite 1st book is the same one that was Sarah-Grace's, Lovey Dovey. She's even beginning to develop her taste in music. Sarah-Grace LOVED bluegrass at this age (and still does), Charlotte's taste is very random. Today she was dancing to the theme music of Barefoot Contessa. Sometimes I just flip through the radio stations to see what she starts to dance to. Its really funny because she only moves to music she likes.

She still is NOT a cuddle baby, or if she decides to be its only for a short period of time (like 2 minutes max). She is beginning to develop a nurturing side. She holds her baby dolls now, "feeds" them and loves on them. We were a little worried because she use to just throw them down all the time. One of her favorite things to do is carry around a red plastic chair everywhere she goes. She doesn't sit in it, she just carries it around the house and sets it down for a few minutes, then picks it up and moves to the next location she's scouted out. She is so much more independent than Sarah-Grace was and I don't think any of us thought that was possible. Everything about her screams independence, even her birth. I can't believe that she will be starting school in less than 2 months! This is the time that they really go from being a baby to being a little child, and she's on her way...

1st Day at VBS

Today was Sarah-Grace's first day of vacation Bible camp. I was really nervous dropping her off this morning. She's never gone to vacation Bible school before and to top it off its with a new church, with strangers, at a place she's never been. It felt like the first day of school, you know that feeling of uneasiness in the pit of your stomach? Thankfully Sarah-Grace doesn't know that feeling yet, so she went free spirited and oblivious.

I sort of envy her right now. I wish I had that same feeling, that same approach to church. Right now I just feel really vulernable towards church. You know when you have a scab that falls off (or you yank it off) where the skin is red and shiny but its really tender. That's how I feel right now. And I can tell Tad is experiencing this in his own way. He's very guarded in how he's approaching our search for a new church.

This is an uncomfortable place to be. At our previous church, I knew everyone (or at least the leadership of anyone) I ever left Sarah-Grace in the care of, and they knew me. It is really kind of scary for me to just be leaving her in the care of, well, strangers. But, I also know this is my "issue" and I'm trying to be very careful not to let Sarah-Grace sense that in me. This was one of the hardest parts about leaving our previous church. Everytime I knew God was calling Tad and I to leave, the thought of dropping Sarah-Grace and Charlotte off at a nursery of strangers made me want to go running in the other direction. But God in His infinite wisdom and resources helped guide us down the path we knew we had been called to take. And here we are. The fact that Sarah-Grace has made this transition so easily and without reservation is just more proof that God is in this.

She of course had a blast today and when I picked her up she complained that I came to early. She's been singing all the songs she learned non stop. And "lucky" for the whole family they gave each child a CD with the songs that they will be learning this week. We had to listen to Trading My Sorrows 6 times on the way home because its the only song Sarah-Grace remembered the words and the signs to. The song after the first time was torture, but seeing her joy and excitement made it bearable. I know that this uncomfortableness in me is for a reason. God is calling us to do something better, something bigger in each of our lives. And I know deep down not only is it going to be good for Tad and I but Sarah-Grace and Charlotte will be better for it, too.

I just want to say one more thing. God in all his timing and resources brought people in our lives during this process. People I know He meant to help us combat the junk you can encounter when making such a difficult decision and starting such an uncomfortable process. People to encourage us and help us heed to what God is calling us to do. For me those people are Judge & Kathy, Josh & Anna and Tuck & Kristen. Even though each of us are going down different new paths, I am still encouraged by them and so very thankful to God for bringing them into our lives. They have no idea how much they've meant to me over the past few months, weeks and days. Even though we may not "do church" together anymore, I hope to "do life" with them for a long time to come.

Sangria Summer '06

So I've decided I am on the search for the perfect sangria this summer. I know this will be a tough job, but somebody has to do it! I am collecting recipes, visiting restaurants, and will be having a sangria sampler party (for anyone who is interested). Last night was my "kick off". I sampled the "Berry Sangria" at Olive Garden. It was very sweet and very good. I would highly recommend it!
Charlotte really enjoyed dinner last night. She and Sarah-Grace had angel hair pasta with alfredo sauce. Charlotte has now developed the habit of picking up her plate and licking it when she particularly enjoys a dish. Tad thought it was funny and encouraged her to do it, I'm sure you can imagine what I thought Anyway, she was a sight. There was pasta in her diaper last night when we brought her home and changed her. We dicovered Sarah-Grace likes artichokes...thanks to her Aunt Tracee!!
Tori is really good with teaching Charlotte language. Charlotte is constantly repeating words Tori says. Tori got an animal book out last night and Charlotte said lion, roar, duck, quack, cow, moo. It's amazing, those two have a bond. The minute Tracee walked in she said Tracee's name, too.
Tracee took Sarah-Grace to the park today, I am so lucky to have such great sisters who are great aunts too!! Apparently Tracee and her crew (she babysits 3 children!!) walked 2 miles at the park. After Tracee took Sarah-Grace back to the house Sarah-Grace asked to lay down. I don't think it dawned on Tracee that 2 miles is a lot for a 4 year old. But Sarah-Grace didn't mind a bit. She keeps recounting every single minute she spent with them today. She had a blast!
Oh, well. We're off to bed.

Just the Girls

This weekend the girls and I were solo, something we are becoming used to. Which is good because Tad will be traveling again this week. This weekend we tried a new waffle recipe, Sarah-Grace and I made Tyler Florence's "My Big Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies" and Ina Garten's "Iced Lemon Pouncake", we fixed some curtains in our living room, did some laundry, tried a new church and Sarah-Grace pitched the biggest fit EVER in Kohl's... so that rounded out our weekend. And by "fit" I mean she was SCREAMING at the top of her lungs saying she is mad at me while she sits in the floor and I am dragging her to the bathroom for a spanking and a discussion. For future reference, the bathroom at Kohl's is right by the service desk where there is a long line on a Sunday afternoon. Yeah, I'll be taking mother of the year applications from anyone shopping at Kohl's today.
Oh yes, and Saturday we went to Mary Elizabeth's 1st birthday fiesta. As usual Court had an amazing spread. There were sombreros, maracas, pinatas and even mini rubber duckies with sombreros & maracas (where does she find this stuff)!! The girls had so much fun...so much so that Sarah-Grace stayed a few hours by herself with "aunt" court and "uncle" dave while I ran Charlotte home for a nap. Sarah-Grace said on the way home that she is so lucky to be the big sister of 2 little girls (Charlotte & Mary Elizabeth). I even got a girl's night out scheduled while I was there, I can't wait!!
Anyway, Charlotte is really beginning to talk! This weekend she repeated almost everything. She is saying mama alot now...FINALY. And she really wants to be held...FINALY. She still is stubborn as all get out, but she's softening up. And that was the weekend with the girls.

Fruit Fit

So, today I took Sarah-Grace to Starbuck's at her request (no, really I promise) because she did such an excellent job at her swimming lesson. (And who are we kidding, if the child asked to go to Starbucks after burning the house down I would probably take her.) We walk in and she proceeds to pitch a royal fit because they are out of fruit cups and I am offering to buy her a brownie bite instead. What is wrong with this picture? Seriously, sometimes I wonder if she is my child. Its just NOT in my DNA to prefer a fruit cup over chocolate, I guess she did get all her good genes from Tad.

"Words of Grace"

Here are are few silly things that I don't want to forget about Sarah-Grace & Charlotte:

• Sarah-Grace used to pronounce "jet ski" as "jessakey", this summer she says it the right way.
• Sarah-Grace still pronounces "gymnastics" as "jewnastics".
• Charlotte says every word with the inflection of a question. Its like she talks like Yoda from Star Wars. Her two favorite words are ball and more.
• Charlotte's default word is daddy. She says it when she's scared, upset or frustrated.
• When Sarah-Grace was 2 1/2 she could recite the following scriptures. She then quickly lost interest in memorizing scripture and so I didn't push her to do more. Now I'm not sure she remembers many of them.
• Every good and perfect gift is from above. James 1:13
• Give me wisdom, help me know what is right and what is wrong. 1Kings 3:9
• I praise God because I am perfectly and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14
• Love God with all you heart, soul & strength. Dueteronomy 5:6
• Oh my goodness I know there is one more and I can't remember. I will have to find it and edit this post!!

My First Blog

OK, so since I have been "blog stalking" for a few months now (ever since I dicovered what a blog was) I decided I should start a blog of my own. Oh yeah, and "blog stalking" is a term I created when I first began reading other people's blogs because it felt wrong to be reading other people's blogs without their knowledge. It is a term I use often and my friends have begun using it too. I'm very proud of it. I'm thinking of submitting it to Stephen Colbert for the WORD segment (just kidding). Although I do feel a connection to Stephen since we have both successfully introduced a new term/word into our circle of friends' vernacular, granted his word (truthiness) was repeated by Oprah, a pinnacle to which I aspire to but not sure "blog stalking" will make it.
Anyway, I have never kept a diary in my life. Some parts I would rather forget, so I never kept one to remind myself of those parts. But now that I have children, I do think it is important to keep some written diary of the little idiosyncrasies of life with them. If not for them, for me later on when I can't rememer the little things they said and did. Everyone tells you when you have your first baby to write things down because you'll never remember and you roll your eyes at them. Then you have your first baby and low and behold, 8 months have gone by and you don't remember anything, especially life before them. SO, this blog is to help me remember.

I was very intimidated to create a blog. What would I write, what would I title it? So, the name I chose came from way back when Tad and I were getting a million suggestions for naming our first baby. My other mom, Jeannie, (she hates the term mother-in-law and I can't find a good one to replace it) tried making names from the letters of Tad's name and mine. The only 2 she came up with were Kate and Daily. So, daily came from her and grace is my grandma's name, my first child's name and my nickname most of my life because I am so clumsy. Plus, I like the name daily grace, cause Lord knows I use alot of His grace to get me through life. Anyway, I guess that's good for my first blog. To quote one of my favorite movies, Terms of Endearment, "I was really nervous but I think that went well, don't you?".