Last Day of School

I took this picture the morning of our first day of preschool last month. Kate adamantly insisted on carrying her backpack out of the house each morning - once I was confident she wouldn't fall over backwards, I let her since I had my own huge prekindergarten teacher bag to carry. Maybe the mismatch in the size of her huge backpack on her tiny body should have been a clue to me that school wasn't going to be a good fit for us this year, but I was so busy getting us out the door each day I didn't take the time to think about it.

After a few weeks of trying to adjust to our new fall schedule, Cody and I started seeing definite changes in Kate's behavior, emotions, and word choices we weren't too excited about. She never seemed to be getting enough rest at naptime or overnight, and I wasn't able to invest near enough time with her to maintain the crucial consistency necessary for successful potty training, discipline, and such that our precious two year old requires. And I've also been struggling personally to feel like I'm able to keep my head above the surface as far as patience in my parenting, housework, Bible study, and quality time with Cody.

So though we love our church's preschool program and the people involved, we decided the best choice for our family would be for me to resign my teaching position. This will allow me to spend more one on one time with my sweet girl at home, lay a more solid foundation with her before we launch her into the world again sometime in the future, and give me more time and energy to handle my responsibilities as a wife, mom, and friend.

Resigning was an easy choice as far as having confidence it was the best thing for my family, yet it was very difficult to leave my pre-k kids, co-teacher, and other staff members behind -- but this week the Lord provided an awesome new pre-k teacher for my class! If I can't be there I'm so glad she will be -- she immediately fit right in with the kids and my co-teacher, she's got great ideas, and seemed to enjoy being in the class with us this week.

So on that thankfully PEACE-FULL note, Kate and I enjoyed our last day of preschool today. We'll miss our friends there very much, but we're looking forward to the "simple" life and hoping to rebuild the peace in our lives!

Kate-speak

Lately Kate has said several things that have made me laugh out loud, so I thought I'd share those laughs with the blogosphere...

1) Last night Kate playing in her friend Luke's room with Luke, his mom, and his new baby sister Claire. They were having fun until Kate noticed that Claire had started spitting up -- she exclaimed with the utmost urgency, "Miss Carrie, your baby is spilling!"

2) A few nights ago I was putting Kate to bed. She asked me to lay down next to her for a few minutes and since I'm trying to squeeze as much quality time out of our days as possible lately I agreed. I told her how much I love her and she was being so sweet for a few minutes. Then she said, "Mommy, you smell." I asked her what I smelled like and after thinking about it for a minute she said, "You smell like a zebra." On that note, I quickly said goodnight!

3) On our way to a special friend's house last week we stopped by Sonic to pick up a treat for everyone. I've started letting Kate enjoy their apple juice slushes in the last month or so, but sometimes she still prefers a water in a cool looking Sonic cup. When we pulled up I asked her what she wanted to drink and she screamed: "A SMUSH PLEASE!" I said, "A sLush?" with careful enunciation of the letter L -- to which she replied with the same level of enunciation on the M: "No, I said a sMush!"

Another thing she's been doing lately that Cody and I find hilarious is exchanging her words without realizing it. When she gets out of the bath after playing for a long time, her fingers and toes are all "prickly" instead of wrinkly. If her friend is tickling her she asks for me to tell them not to "wiggle" her anymore. I think it's her level of confidence in her word choices and utter seriousness when you question her about her words that make it so funny to hear these sorts of things, but regardless of the reasons it's so funny it sure helps me re-discover the joy of parenting a toddler at times when I'm entrenched in the discipline, potty training, and other not so fun sides of toddler-hood!

Ode to the Crock Pot

It's embarrassing to admit, but I must confess: I really love my crock pot. I'm not too sure where or when we got it, but it's been a part of the family for probably the greater part of the nine years we've been married because I can remember sitting in our little Lubbock apartment peeling carrots and potatoes to make roasts on cold winter days.

Roasts were really the only reason I knew of to use the the good ole crock pot -- unless one needed a MASSIVE AMOUNT of cheese dip for a party. But since we've had Kate in our lives, the time I want to devote in my kitchen has dwindled significantly. The answer to my kitchen frustrations has been and continues to be my trusty crock pot: when Cody calls to say he's on his way home no wave of anxiety spreads over me on my way into the kitchen trying to figure out what I'll make for dinner, no dinner masterpiece worries if traffic keeps him longer than usual or he gets home in record time, no trauma if after Kate wakes up from her nap she just needs to be held for a while instead of me trying to wrench her off me so I can cook, and usually I end up with more food than I expected so there's always leftovers to eat the next night.

I've made chicken & dumplings, Italian chicken with potatoes, teriyaki chicken, chicken & rice, chicken with stuffing, and so many more fun things that I run across on the internet. I absolutely love having dinner made and off the to-do list before lunch (sometimes before breakfast) -- and it makes the house smell WONDERFUL in the afternoons... not to mention makes me feel like such a productive person!

Any other crock pot fans out there in the blogosphere? I'm always looking for new ideas, so what are some of your favorite crock pot creations?