Izzy's PreSchool Graduation

Last Thursday Jack and I drove to Nashville to visit some of my family for the weekend and to celebrate as Izzy, my niece, graduated from preschool. 

When I was growing up I have no recollection of graduating from anything except high school, but it was fun and sweet to mark this passage of time with my family.

There were seven graduates, all with big personalities. They sang songs for us and wore their cap and gowns proudly. There were video interviews that were hilarious. 

For Izzy's video interview, she shared that her family is getting ready to move to Florida. She also told the videographer who she was going to marry and described, in elaborate detail, a bruise she had. All of which had us laughing.

The kids also did a little play and Izzy was the main speaker. She did a wonderful job and didn't forget any of her lines. It is hard to believe she will be 5 in a few short weeks. Jack was thrilled that we got to eat cake after having to sit still for so long.

We are going to miss being able to buzz over to Nashville for quick visits with cousins once my sister and her family move to Florida, but we are looking forward to be able to visit Florida and make trips to the beach.

Conversations with Izzy

Before Jack or Levi came along, my niece Izzy stole all of our hearts. And while we are enjoying the antics of two little toddler boys running around {creating chaos}, having Izzy around to speak her mind can be quite amusing.

Here are a couple of interactions I had with her while driving this past week...

Saturday night, Daniel and I picked up Izzy and took her to my Aunt Becky's to celebrate my cousin's graduation from college.

Once everyone was buckled in, we had the following conversation:

Izzy: Do you have Tarzan?
Me: No, honey.
Izzy: Well, what are we supposed to do in the car? (we had a 45 minute drive ahead of us)
Me: You can either talk to us, or take a nap.
Izzy: I don't want to take a nap.
Me: Then you better talk to us.

She actually did great and entertained Jack {or he entertained her?} all the way to my aunt's house. #firstworldproblems 

Tuesday Izzy rode with me again. We were having a picnic at Centennial Park in downtown Nashville before everyone went their separate ways. Centennial Park is pretty big and I wasn't completely sure where the playground was.

I turned into the park off of 25th and at the first stop sign Izzy told me to turn right. So I did. Then we came to another stop sign and she said to turn left. So I did. Shortly after that we found the playground. 

I am so impressed that my almost-four-year-old niece knew how to find the playground in downtown Nashville!

It will be fun to see what type of things Jack and his cousins tell us as they continue to develop their language skills!

Pancakes with Grammy

My niece is something else. She is almost three and pure joy to be around. When we were in Nashville for a family visit last week, I had the opportunity to help Izzy and my mom {Grammy} make pancakes.

Miss Izzy has reached the "I can do it" stage and insists on being in the middle of everything. She wanted to scoop out the flour and pour the flour into the bowl and stir.

We managed to compromise with Grammy scooping out the flour, Izzy dumping it in the bowl and me helping her to stir.

She actually did really well.

For some reason, while we were stirring together, I started making a sound like electric beaters {or a toy car} "Brrrrrrrrrrrr." I guess I am gearing up for making lots of noises when Jack gets bigger.

Of course Izzy is a little mimic so she made the "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr" sound and thought it was hilarious. 

The pancakes were delicious – and there was minimal mess to clean up. So glad to get to spend some quality time with family. I can't wait until the boys {Jack and his cousin, Levi} are big enough to join in on the fun.

Confessions of a non-parent...

I am thirty years old and I could probably count the number of times that I have babysat {in my lifetime} on both hands {maybe one hand}... Now that I have a precious little niece, most of those times have been in the last 20 months.

That said, I am a smart and competent adult and I believe that little Izzy has a fun time with me and that she is safe in my care.

However, there are times when my lack of knowledge/experience shines through.

There was the time at Christmas when I put her down for a nap without removing her shoes first. She didn't seem bothered by sleeping in her sneakers, though she also didn't nap as long as usual.

Then there was the time I was making cookies and my sister told me to let Izzy lick the beater. I handed Izzy a beater that was covered in lots of gooey chocolate goodness. My sister looked at me and laughed. She said that she would have cleaned most of the batter off first. Again, Izzy didn't seemed bothered. In fact she looked like she pretty much enjoyed it.

Most recently, I was on babysitting duty and I decided to take Izzy to Chik-fil-a for lunch. I thought it would be prudent to take a diaper and wipes with me {just in case}. I opened up the travel wipes container and it was empty. I glanced around and saw "wipes" on the counter in a larger container. I pulled out a couple of said "wipes" and put them in the travel container and we hit the road. Thankfully I didn't have to change Izzy at CFA. Later that day, my sister opened the wipes container and asked if I had used the "wipes" that were in it. She sounded a bit distressed. I told how I had taken the wipes with me but did not have to use them. It turns out that the wipes I had taken where Lysol Wipes for cleaning NOT Huggies Wipes for babies. My bad.

It was not that I didn't recognize that using a cleaning supply on a baby wasn't the best option, it was more that I was in a hurry and at the time, wipes looked like wipes. Both brands happened to be green. I should have taken a closer look.

Thankfully Izzy is no worse for wear.

*Pictures courtesy of my sister.

Girl's Trip

I just spent a week with my sister, my 20-month-old niece and my parents in my hometown of Searcy, Arkansas. 

It was a nice respite and I decided to take a break from blogging.

It was a lovely week. Angela and I shared a room, a true throw back to growing up. 

It was nice being around a toddler and experiencing the world through her eyes: big belly laughs, learning new words and generally appreciating everything. 

As always, it was great to see our parents: there was great food, discussions about books we had recently read and of course, scrabble. 

We also were blessed to see our Aunt and Grandma.

We visited old haunts: including the Harding campus and a trip to Bobby's (now Maddie's) for breakfast. 

I ran into a high school friend {at the drive-in at the bank of all places}. 

My dad and I discussed gardening and he provided me with some starter seeds for the garden I am planning on planting soon.

Izzy had to be a part of everything: including making her own pizza...

and helping in the garden.

I managed to get in my first 6-mile run {I figured skipping a week of running while training for my first half-marathon would be a bad idea}.

 I also managed to read two books during the week: The Happiness Project and Same Kind of Different As Me.

The only negative to the trip was that Izzy tripped and fell on Friday, breaking off part of her two front teeth on a concrete floor. She is a real trooper and wasn't phased by the experience... her mommy on the other hand was pretty upset.

I am home now. We are bumming it today because Daniel managed to come down with Bronchitis while I was gone and is still feeling pretty crummy.