Survival Mode

Over the last month, Millie (who is 9 months today, thank you very much) has learned to say "Hi!" I think it sounds like Hi at least and she waves while doing it. She's standing and attempting to travel on her feet. She likes to pull up on my leg and gets mad when I don't pick her up after such accomplishment. She is not as independent as Lola was so Millie will definitely cry if you leave the room. It's therefore much harder to get chores down around the house. I'm just so thankful that Matt is not a neat freak...if I asked someone to check in on our house right now, they would probably call the police and say that it has been ransacked. Tuesday-Thursday are the worst...house looks as good as it's going to get on Monday and then it's just downhill from there. We are basically in survival mode until Friday.


Though football is over, there is still gymnastics and dance and now basketball. Getting to 2 different practices at the same time is a challenge. There are also nuisance homework assignments throwing us off course. Grayson gets his homework done so quickly, without perfection but good enough for an A. Matalley drags the process on and on and on so much that I think she forgets she is even doing homework. She loves school though and plays it often. I attribute it to her favored kindergarten teacher. Her first grade teacher is a totally different personality but she has a hard act to follow. Matalley was so impressed with Mrs. Soukup that we nominated her for teacher of the year. We were so excited to hear that she was awarded a contender in September. Not only did Mrs. Soukup receive $250 in prizes, but Matalley also received a $50 gift card. I think Matalley was excited (see picture) but she told me she was embarrassed since she had to go back to the kindergarten classroom. Someone else had to read the letter we wrote. Mrs. Soukup was very excited which made it all the more fun.

I'm not sure how Lola will be with homework. If I have to remind her to do it, we will be in trouble. Last week was picture day at school and I forgot. Thankfully Lola dressed herself with normal cute choices (sometimes she picks odd tops for the bottoms, etc.). As we were heading into school, a parent reminded me and I quickly grabbed a wipe-e, hairbow (that just happened to match the dress), and hairbrush (2 minutes later, Lola was all fixed up and ready for the photographer). It's a stark contrast to her photographer stare down photo from last year. On our way into school, she told me, "Mommy, you have a lot of friends." I'm just thankful our friend stopped us before we got to the classroom.