Dinner Conversation

So tonight at dinner, Stu and I are trying to convince Eliana to give green beans another chance. She knows she doesn't get dessert ("bassert" - it's too cute to correct her) unless she finishes her dinner...

Stu: "Eliana, narrow is the path to the cupcakes. No one comes to the cupcakes except through the green beans."

It's making me laugh all over again.

Matthew 7:14; John 14:6 :)

Field Trip!

Eliana went on a field trip with her pre-school class last Thursday, and Luke and I had the pleasure of tagging along. We went to the Hunt Club Farm and had a hay ride, where we saw horses and the great pumpkin, enjoyed the petting farm, played in a huge pile of hay, and picked out a pumpkin. It was a lot of fun. Eliana's favorite part was catching and holding a baby chicken. That was cute! Picture Eliana running around the pen after one particular little chicken, and then not wanting to let it go. Since Thursday, she's been talking about going back to see "her chicken".

Apple Day

Eliana's school had "Apple Day" this past Thursday, and at parents' night about a month ago, I signed up to bring snacks for Apple Day. So Stu dropped Eliana off at school that day (which reminds me...on Eliana's second day of school, she told me I didn't have to walk her into school, I could just drop her off and she'd go in by herself. I wasn't quite ready for that.), and I stayed home and made some apple-strudel muffins and apple slices with peanut butter. Luke and I later went to Ellie's class to bring the snack and participate in "Apple Day." They learned about apple seeds and trees and made apple crafts. It was cute. Eliana loves school, and Zachary is her "best friend at school." (Too bad for Joshua, the only other kid in the class!)

Eliana's 1st Haircut

We waited a long time to cut her beautiful locks, and I'm having pangs of regret! I'm afraid I might have cut off her curls! I've been thinking all summer that it was time for a haircut as i was tired of unwrapping her hair from around her arms and fighting tangles. Long hair is kind of difficult with a very active 3 year old who loves to swim...I'm not sure why I waited until the end of the summer, but after bath-time last night, I decided to give her a trim. The trim turned into a bit more than that, unintentionally, to be honest. I guess it was about five inches.

Luke's 6 months old!

Luke had his 6-month check up yesterday. He's now 19 lbs and 26.5" long. He's supposed to start having "real" food, beginning with rice cereal, but the few times I've tried to feed him, he snaps his mouth shut as soon as the spoon comes near. Either that, or he blows raspberries and sprays the cereal all over me! Gotta love that. Happy half-Birthday, Luke!

Eliana's 1st Day of School!

All went well for both mom and child this morning when I took Eliana to school. No tears! She did climb back in bed this morning (which she never does) and say she was too tired to go to school, but after some encouragement, we got there and it didn't take long at all (about 5 minutes) for her to warm up to her teacher and the classroom and say an excited good-bye to me and Luke. She had a great time and can't wait to go back. In fact, she said it was too short! I took the picture after school, when she was very excited about her class. In her own words: "This morning I thought I didn't like school, but now I really really like school! It was so much fun!!!"

Eliana is in the 3 year old class Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:25-11:45 at Norfolk Christian's beach campus. We're hoping that they will move her up to the 4 year old class so that the following year she can enter kindergarten. That would be a year earlier than she's supposed to according to the age requirement, and the only way around that (that I've been able to find) is to have her complete a private state-accredited kindergarten, and then she can enter public school without any "age problem". That's our plan. We'll see how it goes!

I love Triple Coupons!

I just got back from Harris Teeter, where they're tripling coupons up to 99 cents through Tuesday. You can use 20 coupons per day. Look at all I got for just $9.89!!

The total was $77.80 before VIC Savings and coupons. I saved $51.27 with coupons! I really shouldn't have so much fun at a grocery store.