Tick Tock, Tick Tock

...that is a sound that I've been hearing more frequently lately. Literally! It is SO quiet around our house with Janelle gone for most of it. It's weird having her gone for so long. I definitely miss having her around! However, she is having a grand ol' time at kindergarten. She already has a new best friend and has come home with three smiley faces for behavior. It's hard to figure out what she does all day because I hear it in little bits and pieces. So far she's gone to P.E. twice, once to art, done lots of coloring, had lots of story times, had to come in from recess early one day because some kids weren't behaving ("Not me, Mom, I was being good."), and is dying to buy her lunch (I promised she could on Friday). Now I know it's the first week of school and things are a little crazy, but I'm dying to know a little more about their curriculum. I've asked her every single day if they've worked on any letters or numbers and the reply is always, "Nope, but we colored!" *Sigh* Okay, I will be patient...but not TOO patient! To ease my frustration this evening we took turns reading books. Janelle read me a "Strawberry Shortcake" book and I read her "Fancy Nancy Bonjour Butterfly." I love that she loves to read!

Wondering about the fabulous orange foam hat? Janelle participated in the summer reading program at the library and won it in a drawing. Nice. But she was SO proud that she won it!

.
.
.
Spencer has turned into a new little person. To celebrate the first day of school, I trekked all the way into Frisco to my favorite farmer's market style grocery store - Sprouts. Now usually when I go to the grocery store, Spencer gives me a total of two minutes before he is screaming bloody murder to get out of the cart and out of the store. So I had my list ready and a mental picture of everywhere I needed to go. But this particular day he surprised me and was chatty and perfectly content letting me actually browse! What a nice treat! I was so happy I rewarded him with chocolate covered pretzels. :)

On Tuesday I went out to lunch with my mom and my sister. I had to take Spencer, who, again, is not a patient person at restaurants. I'd packed him a lunch (because he wouldn't eat anything at the restaurant anyway) and then my mom bought him a chocolate chip cookie. And surprise! He was actually an angel! I couldn't believe it.

This morning, I invited my friend's little boy over to come play with Spencer. We've had lots of friends over before, but usually they just end up fighting and wrestling over toys. So I wasn't exactly sure how well it would go, but, surprise again! Both boys had a great time! They seemed to really enjoy having one another around. They had a few little spats over toys, but they were quickly resolved.

Maybe Spence just needed a little space or he's enjoying the extra mommy time or he's just growing up...I have no idea. But he has been such a pleasant little person the last few days! Hardly any tantrums, yea!!!

.
.
.
Last Friday night I was tucking Janelle into bed and she goes,
"Mom, could you make me a special breakfast in the morning?"
"Well, it depends on what it is."
"Could you make me two fried eggs and bacon in a smiley face?"

I just laughed. I'd never made her a smiley face out of fried eggs and bacon before and knew she'd seen it on a Mickey Mouse cartoon. Thank heavens we had bacon on hand!

Here's the creation I came up with the next morning.

(and no, she didn't eat all of it...only about half of it, but the smile was totally worth it!)