A Thumbster is on it's way!

Most of you who know us know that we have been struggling to get Jacob to stop sucking his thumb. In my search to find the magical cure I came across the website http://www.stopthumbsucking.net/ which sells Thumbsters. They are made of a soft material, much like a glove to be worn over the thumb and velcroed to the wrist. Jacob seems to have a fetish for wearing just one glove. (Maybe he saw a Michael Jackson video?) So I called him in and asked if he would wear it. He said Yes, but we shall see. I was very pleased to see the price of just $12. I was dreading the $75 price tag that I have seen on many anti-thumb sucking devices. So if this does not work, then it was not a total waste of $75. I am very anxious to receive it in the mail and see if it will work. Of course I will keep you updated on his progress.

Today will be a busy day for the Tanner family. Robert is out working on putting more irrigation to some of the trees. I am working on a weekly menu and shopping list. I found a great recipe on food networks website for Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars by Tyler Florence. Seeing as I have a plethora of blueberries (and by plethora I mean gallons!) and some lemons in the fridge it seems like a great thing to make right now. I'll probably wait till Mom and Dad are back so that some one can enjoy them with me. Robert is not a big fan of cheesecake and I am certainly not going to eat the whole pan of bars by myself. (As tempting as it may be!)

Also on today's agenda, going to WalMart to buy Abby some big girl underwear. I am determined to get this girl potty trained by the end of the week. Wow, breaking thumb sucking and potty training all in one week. Let's see if I have my hair by the end of the week!!

From Diamonds to Denim

Well here it is. The farm house. We arrived on Friday and have been busy working and relaxing. Yesterday we had a visitor. A little chocolate lab puppy showed up in our drive way. Filthy dirty and wet but just as precious as could be. I cleaned her up gave her some food and was ready to give her a good home. Just to be sure we went next door to see if she belonged to someone. Which she did. Her name was chocolate milk. In my opinion a bit of a silly name for something so beautiful but with much sadness I handed her back over. I only had her for one hour, but that one hour I fell in love with the big brown eyes!

Body Art

How's that for belly art? When Abby came up to me and said "Mommy Look!" I couldn't help but think, I HAVE to get a picture of this! I laughed and laughed at how Jacob and Abby placed all these stickers on her round chubby belly!! I know what your thinking though, "What's with the face?" She had Doritoes with dinner tonight. We are going to the farm tomorrow and I have very few groceries in my house. And with Rob at the station tonight, dinner consisted of PB&J's with chips. (Mine dinner was a bowl of cereal!)

I am not sure what is more adorable; the stickers that adorn her belly or the roundness and beauty of this belly?

A New Do, Well, Sorta....

Today I had my hair appointment with my stylist Rhonda. It's always nice to spend a few hours sitting in a chair, being pampered, and talking. Rhonda and I go way back to High School Youth Group. She's so talented at what she does. She is expecting so a lot of the conversation was about her upcoming birth and everything else that Mommies talk about together. Today I was really ready to have my hair cut. It's so funny because I used to have such long hair and now when it grows to my shoulders it bothers me. It feels like its in the way and I just can't stand it. Even though the hubby is wanting it to be long again, I couldn't wait to cut it short! And short it went. It's still the bias cut I usually do but we 'stacked' it in the back. She actually had to use a razor on my neck, which has never happened to me before in my life!! (I know, I get excited over simple things!) I love the new do, and so far I've only heard good compliments. Okay, two compliments and one was over a text message, but still....
The kiddos went to Water Play Day at the church today. They seemed to have had a blast. I was still in training so all of the information was relayed to me through the babysitter. Abby was sure to tell me she had Purple, which I found out was a purple snow cone. Jacob's snow cone color choice was Red, and very delicious. From what I can get from their stories it appears they enjoyed themselves and are ready to do it again. Which is good because they are already registered for the August Water Play Day! Yeah!

Punching Beauty Queen

This past Friday we were at the farm in Georgia. I love it there but usually get an itch to get out and go to town (which is a good 30 minute drive from the house.) After doing some research on the internet I found a specialty children's shop in Dublin called Kaleigh's Kloset. I told Rob I wanted to go in just to see what they had. Upon stepping foot in the door I found a beautiful pink and brown smocked dress that would look beautiful on Abby. I put it up knowing the $65 price tag was a bit more than what Rob would want to pay for a dress. Just then a sales girl walked up welcoming us and telling us about their 50% off sale. Twenty minutes later Rob and I were at the checkout counter with two dresses and one outfit for Abby that he and I picked out. While we are checking out I spot a back room with very outlandish dresses. I mean beyond prom dresses. After watching Toddler's and Tiara's a few times on TLC I was pretty sure these were pagent dresses. I inquired about the dresses and was informed they too were 50% off. Images of crazed moms putting their babies in these pagents danced through my head and I continued on out the door.
On the way home I asked Rob if he would ever allow Abby to compete in a pagent. His response was if she wanted to then he would let her. (Which actually surprised me.) I then asked him if he would allow her to do it now, at the age she is. He started to laugh and replied "No! Abby would beat the other girls up on stage! You've seen her wail on her brother, imagine what she would do to them!" Now that would make for a great Toddler's and Tiara's!

Unexpected Learning

Today was the first day of a Arts In Learning Training I was signed up for. I was asked by my principal if I would participate in it and I agreed. I wasn't expecting to get much out of the training and was actually thinking of the thousands of things I could be doing during my Summer Break instead of sitting in an all day training for one week. The only plus to this training is that it is stipened. Meaning I get paid! I couldn't complain about that aspect! This morning during my morning conversation with the Lord, I prayed that He would teach me something that I could use. Of course, he went above and beyond!
Our first session was with a local drummer, Ken Anoff, and I'm not talking about a rock band drummer. This gentleman was playing Doumbek drums along with three others. I felt like I was walking into an African Trible Dance. The best part is we got to play along with him. We spent the better part of the hour just beating on the drums, tamborines and other percussion instruments. I cannot think of a better way to start the training.
We followed the drumming up with a terrific lunch at Chik-fil-a with my co-workers. The hour was spent getting to know each other (some are new teachers to WJES) and discussing classrooms, family, and iPhone Apps. After lunch we were split up into our afternoon track sessions. Mine was Drama K-3- Engage, Support and Motivate Students: Drama in the Classroom. I have to say I was very leary doing a drama class but actually learned quite a bit. It reminded me of Power Teaching by Chris Biffle (Teachers: Google "Power Teaching") in how teaching kids through acting, drama, movement (basically kinesthetics) helps them retain the knowledge.
So not only did I learn something today, but I was able to beat out a couple great rhythms, laugh with coworkers and overall have a great time. Looking forward to see what tomorrow holds.

As for what the kids did today: Luckily daddy was home today and was able to take them out and about. They met Grandma and Grandpa T and Cousin Caleb for lunch to celebrate a belated Father's Day. They went to eat at Metro Diner on Hendricks Avenue. Daddy said Abby was being an instigator with Cousin Caleb. She can be a bit of a trouble maker! It's amazing to see the mind and thinking of a two year old!!