oops!

so, in my attempt to save you from all the drama that happened last week, i kind of forgot to tell you the biggest thing that happened...

some of you may remember that last summer chris and i were able to go to panama for a week because i had gotten first place in my region in my sales job. well friends, you are looking at another first place trophy!! my team was the best performing team in our region for the second straight year!! and where is the trip this year you ask?

SYDNEY, BABY!!

can't wait!

picture overload

so, i'm sorry for the delay in updates and new pictures. last week was really tough - but instead of boring you with the details of my trying week, and making ya'll worry about me, i have decided to leave you with a bunch of pictures and a couple updates.

here are the rest of the pictures from easter...

doesn't she look so big and old in these pictures! lately i have really noticed that she is quickly turning into a little person! she just cracks me up lately, shaking her head "yes", running all over the place, saying more words, finding objects you ask her to find...it's pretty remarkable!

this is daddy playing the piano with thalia's feet. she loves walking over there and pressing the keys. it's not nearly as obnoxious as i thought it might be.

thalia spent her second first day with the 1-2 year olds today. after "more observation" AND another bump to thalia's head, the director decided that kelsey and thalia are advanced enough to move up with the big kids. duh! and of course she did fine (again). it is funny though watching her sit in a circle with the other kids and do what the teacher asks. she is so attentive and really likes the big kids' teacher. i am already feeling more comfortable with her being in this room and not the "transition" class. her teacher told me a funny story today: apparently thalia's nap cot was around the corner from a few of the other kids. when she woke up, she sat up smiling, and waved at her little friends who were already awake. isn't that adorable!? i wish ya'll could see her wave. it is the cutest thing!

these are the most beautiful flowers down here. apparently they are azaleas, and they come in the most vibrant shades of pink. i guess they are like lilacs though and don't last long. in this picture they are already beginning to wilt :o(
isn't this the cutest outfit?!
this is the egg-bunny martha mama gave thalia for easter.

that's about all the updates i can stay awake for. i hope you enjoyed the picture updates. hopefully i can get through this week relatively unscathed and then we get to head home for aunt seffi's wedding!! can you believe it!? we can't wait.

much love and a lot of sleep lately,

c, c, and t

calming down...

so i spoke with the director at thalia's new school, and her new teacher, and i feel better about her being there. i will be keeping my eye out though! especially because her finger looks awful...she got pinched where her finger bends, so the scab keeps opening :o( i think she will survive though. it was funny though because i told my marketing team about the whole ordeal and two of them have kids, and they flipped out! "do you need to leave right away to go take care of this?!" it made me feel good knowing they care about thalia. but like i said, after talking to the director i feel better about the whole thing.

to send us happily in to the weekend, here are some inital easter pics, as well as a funny grampa pic from gamma. as soon as i get back to michigan, i will post the ones i took. enjoy!

grampa is reading the boys' favorite book..."everybody poops" their expressions are priceless!
that's chris' old easter basket!
thalia behaving... and misbehaving

this is one of my new favorites
can someone tell me who my daughter looks like? especially in the two with madilynn, i have a hard time figuring it out.

we got to spend last night with martha mama and uncle ronnie. they got her a huge easter bunny that i promise to take of a picture of. their friend jane came over for dinner and took an adorable picture of thalia. i will start bugging martha to get it from her.

heading back to michigan this weekend...it's insanity.

much love and some sleep,

c, c, and t

3:2

that is the ratio of thalia's days at school versus how many incident reports she has!! is that crazy?! i mean, really! 2 in 3 days!! what the heck! yesterday i wasn't as happy as monday. she is in this 'in-between' class, i guess to help her transition...and i just don't like the teacher as much. plus i feel like she is going backwards. she did just find hanging out with the big kids all day monday. when i got there after work yesterday, the teacher told me about thalia's finger (when they were outside some kid ran it over with something) and it looked a little pink and scratched but no big deal. YEAH RIGHT! tonight i looked at it and she essentially has a hole in her finger!! her poor tiny finger has this huge scab on it! it looks awful!!! not to mention that when i picked her up today she had ANOTHER incident report. apparently no one was watching her outside and she was by some steps, missed one and ate the pavement. so now the poor thing has a huge raspberry on the side of her forehead! good grief! she did better with the big kids!
i don't think she is going to be in this 'in-between' classroom for very long. she DEFINITELY won't be in there much longer if i keep picking up an incident report every time i pick up my child. in 7 months at childtime she had ONE incident report and its because she scratched herself!! not only is all of this happening, but i haven't seen the director all week. maybe she is on vacation. i am really feeling like i need to talk to her. hopefully she will be back tomorrow. i swear...if thalia gets hurt again tomorrow, i might flip out.
sigh...stayed tuned for an update on thalia's medical records! ;o) i need to clean up and go to sleep. its been a long day and tomorrow is destined to be even longer. at least we are going to go see martha mama tomorrow! and then we head back to michigan on saturday. i know...i'm running myself into the ground. at least i'm young...for now. until i am done with this rotation and i have aged 10 years!!! i'll be okay, i promise
much love and a bit of sleep,
c, c, and t

all grown up

so thalia survived, actually thrived, on her first day at her new school. i think she must have done better than i did. i was pretty anxious for her. i mean, not only was it a new school, but it was her first day with the bigger kids too. but she made a lot of new friends, and her friend kelsey from childtime will be there tomorrow. i bet thalia will be excited to see her. her new teachers were all very impressed that she adjusted so well. that's my girl. it was weird walking out this morning after dropping her off...i was all nostalgic about how complicated it used to be taking thalia to school. at first i just brought bottles. then they started feeding her breakfast, so i would measure out her cereal and her fruit and make bottles. then they started feeding her dinner too! so i had to make breakfast, dinner, and bottles. a few months ago she started eating lunch there, and then lunch and breakfast - long story short, i didn't have to pack as much stuff. now she doesn't even need bottles made. i walk her into daycare with only her in my arms instead of a bag of food and bottles!
other than the anxiety of thalia's second first day at school (i know...i have many, many more of these to come!) the pollen has finally calmed down around here. it was the weirdest thing i had ever since. it was like someone clapped yellow chalk dust out of a million erasers! it was everywhere! you could see it in the air, it was on everyone's car, it was tracked into the office. it was so bizarre...then it rained and it was swirling around in all the puddles. gross! it was like super mutant ninja turtles slime!! thank goodness it didn't trigger any allergies!!
here are a few new pictures for you...apparently my daughter has a knack for sitting in things...
i like the action shot of her kicking her feet! so silly!!
we had a wonderful easter weekend. we got to visit with a lot of family (mostly chris' side but greek easter is this sunday so we'll make up for it). thalia is learning how to kepp gamma's attention when madilynn is around. we are trying to teach thalia about "gentle" but i don't think its working. we tried taking some pictures of the girls in their easter dresses...i think jen got a good one. as soon as she sends them to me i will put them on here.
until then, we love you and miss you all. this back and forth travel is getting really old. keep praying for us.
much love and much sleep,
c, c, and t

sad day...

today was thalia's last day at her daycare :o( her center is closing next week, and chris is taking her back to michigan with him on monday. so today was her last day with her dear teacher, ms. alice... thalia loved her ms. alice...she went right to her every morning and could always get ms alice to laugh. ms alice took great, great care of my little one and we will miss her dearly. i have her email address though, so i think i may set up some playdates with ms alice, thalia and her little friend kelsey. speaking of kelsey, she and thalia are switching to the same new daycare. it is only a few dollars more a week, which i think is very much worth having the two of them stay together.

ms alice got thalia a few going away gifts, so to show ms alice how grateful i am for her, i made her this... the funny thing is that i bought the wrong kind of marker, so it wouldn't dry! even overnight!! so yesterday morning i ran to lowe's (thank goodness it opens at 7am!!!) and bought a can of clearcoat spray paint. luckily it worked great, so the notes on the front and back of the vase won't rub off. hey, my friend leticia may be able to create beautiful cakes, but i think i can put together some pretty good floral arrangements and gift baskets!! maybe tiece and i should go into business together!...may require us to live in the same state though ;o)

by the way, thalia has cut THREE new teeth, not two. now she has three on the bottom all in a row, and two on the top with a space between them. it is so funny looking. the good news is that after almost a week of not sleeping, thalia has slept through the night the past two nights in a row! and even better, thalia's daddy flew in for the weekend and tomorrow we are heading to the lake for a picnic lunch with elizabeth and cousin sophia! eat your hearts out phillips/krugers!! :oP

much much much love and more sleep,

c, c, and t