The Lily Pad

This past weekend Madelyn and I took an impromptu trip to surprise my parents for their 30th Anniversary.  I used the GPS to keep me updated on my time of arrival so that I knew where I needed to go for maximum surprising impact.  After exiting for the fourth potty break, and being yelled at by the woman in the box to make a U-turn.  Madelyn asked the following: "Momma, how come you can drive all the way from California without that thing but you can't find Nanna and Da-Daddy's?" Yep.  The GPS landed in the floor and I did NOT use it on the way home.

Today marks my Mom and Dads 30th wedding anniversary. Their story is our story, our family and our love. Mom caught dads eye with her beauty and grace. taken at Niagra Falls and the first picture Dad ever had of Mom Dad swept her off her feet by wearing tuxedos to drag races  you wish you could look this sexy  They dated and Dad set the standard for perms in the relationship.  It took Mom a few years to catch up, but when she did, she did it big. Mom instantly had a ready made family.  I personally think she got a pretty awesome deal.  I mean, look at that cuteness in her lap.  Not everybody gets so lucky as to marry a guy and get such an awesome daughter too!  This is the stuff of fairytales.  I was a perfect angel and never ever peed on her lap in the drivethrough. She also had the pleasure of spending time with my older sister, and although Brea's story is different from my own, the love and devotion from our Dad and Becky are not. ...

We may not have gotten out of bed as early as I wanted in order to start our day and then we may have taken an hour longer at the commissary than I wanted to but we did manage to make it through everything I had planned for the day. We worked this afternoon for a little longer than I think either one of our tolerance levels could handle.  In case I was unsure about that fact, when we started our handwriting exercise, Madelyn was thrilled that I was a "teacher mommy", by the end of it she informed me that maybe she just needed a different teacher.  I think I was fired by my 3 year old. Thats when we pulled out the crayons and stopped trying to make letters. While I finished up dinner she played a hopscotch game using the apple floor tiles from Confessions of a Homeschooler and then played in her kitchen after making it to 7 and losing interest.  Speaking of dinner, can I just say that I kind of want to make out with the inventor of the crock pot liners?...

So many of you have asked (OK, maybe none) what my plans are to teach Madelyn.  I'm going pretty basic and simple and we'll add more as is dictated by boredom and learning curve.  Every day will have a handwriting and phonics exercise as well as new material and new focus.  For example, we are still working on lower case letters so one day in the second week is intensive lower case work.  As in we're pulling out the house diagram and talking about who has what in the attic and in the basement.  Intense I tell ya.    Each week will have it's own theme.  We will use that theme for part of our handwriting and phonics skills, as well as a themed craft, books (fiction and non fiction), and as many related activities we can while maintaining my sanity.  Our first week is Ballet because she will be starting dance class the following week, so this will serve dual purpose of getting her excited and having a fun week 1 theme. My "gold*...