Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

• miss watching Thomas the Tank Engine. It was such a huge part of Riley's life for so long before he insisted on growing up!
• hear you kid describe an episode of Bob's Burgers and realize it probably isn't the best show for them to watch. 
• think the word "epic" is way overused. It's epicly annoying. EPIC.
• not give a hoot about Kanye and Kim's baby. I. DON'T. CARE. The amount of care that I don't give is epic. (<-- did="" i="" li="" see="" there="" what="">

Head over to Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay! 

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay To...

• both look forward to and dread school being out.
• be glad Grace doesn't have therapy this week. She has four awesome therapists that are doing such a great job with her. But we needed a break! (A few minutes after typing this her speech therapist showed up. I had rescheduled it and forgot. Oops!!)
• really hate having the captcha thing on my comments now, but I got a weird rush of spam!
• curse your dishwasher because it's not getting anything clean...and then realize you never actually turned it on. 
• take three days writing a post because life happens.

Head over to Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay! 

It Should Be Five Cents

Shopping for clothes is the worst. And everything is so dang expensive. I always feel like Lucy from the MetLife commercials.

"It should be five cents!"

My lack of decent clothes became very apparent when I wanted to wear something nice for Brenna's Preschool Graduation. I knew my yoga pants and faded shirts were just not going to cut it. 

It's so easy for me to put myself last, because I'm just a stay-at-home mom. I don't need to look nice for anyone in particular. I mean the people at Meijer don't care what I look like as long as I pay for my groceries before I leave. 

But I should care. Not taking care of yourself can be a slippery slope that begins with wearing sweats everyday and can end with a very negative self-image. I need to remind myself that I deserve more than garage sale jeans that don't fit and my husband's old t-shirts.

So I threw caution to the wind and bought myself a new outfit. And spent a whopping $37. We can certainly afford to spend $40 every now and then to make sure I'm presentable when someone comes to the door.

I think I could get used to this shopping thing.

 

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

• read more than one book at a time. 
• love that Brenna is at the age where "Princess" is still a feasible future career.
• want to body check the woman who made a snide comment about Grace screaming while at the library. I don't like it either, but smacking her is not an option. Me slamming you into the bookshelf is a possibility.
•  wonder if anyone does have any practical ways to get her to stop screaming in public? She's two and doesn't listen to reason.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Burgers
Tuesday - Oven Tacos
Wednesday - Cocoa Wheats and toast
Thursday - Pepper Steak
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Southwestern Chicken Salad
Sunday - Nachos

I really need to start planning lunches for the weekends and during the week now that school is almost over! I buy for packed lunches, but lunches at home always end up being a free-for-all.

What do you like to have for lunch?

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Sloppy Joes, slop sloppy Joes
Tuesday - Taco Salad
Wednesday - Biscuits and gravy
Thursday - Chicken Fried Rice
Friday - Pizza
Saturday -
Sunday - Baked Ranch Chicken

The End of One Chapter, Beginning of Another

4 Days Old. Wasn't this just yesterday?

Grace will turn 3 in September. That means she will "age out" of First Steps, our Early Intervention program in Indiana. Our next recommended step for her development is the Special Needs Preschool.

I will be completely honest and admit that I DID NOT want Grace to go to the SN Preschool. All I could imagine was Grace being stuck in her "wheelchair" all day, having to go to school with kids who are severely disabled and/or have serious behavior issues.  Basically, I had a terrible view of a SN preschool, but I had never actually been to one.

Last week Jeff, Grace and I visited the preschool she could attend in the fall. I prepared myself for the worst and was looking for any small sign of the horrible conditions they were surely going to hide from me.

Thankfully my initial view of the preschool was very wrong. The kids were happy, comfortable in the environment and as well behaved as any preschool class. The teachers did a great job leading the class, but also took cues from the little ones and changed the game plan as they went. (They were a little more rambunctious than usual, so instead of expecting them to sit and do circle time, she took them outside to the playground to run around.)

I'm still in pretty deep denial about having a "special needs" child. Grace is normal in so many ways, but she does need some extra help in others. Deanna from Everything and Nothing in Essex wrote a beautiful post that put my attitude in check. Please read it here.

In the fall my last baby will be going to preschool. We'll start her out at the special needs program and see where life takes her from there.

I may need a large support group for that day.