Kitch Chronicles: On a roll

Carson's been doing very well since Friday afternoon (naturally - no school!). He is quite excited to go back tomorrow and thankfully he's caught up on homework as well.

Trav and I had a great date night on Friday night - yummy supper at Doolittles, some shopping at Macy's (had to burn some time before the movie and I found a winter coat for Grace for $21!) and then we saw Gran Torino. It is a wonderful movie. Clint Eastwood is amazing, as always. It's quite the story. I don't want to give anything away, but the storyline is powerful. The movie really reinforced for me that racism is something we learn. It is not inherent. We are taught it. Seems to be fairly easy to learn, unfortunately, but we can also be educated and called into action to undo and dismantle racism.

Grace and I both had haircuts on Saturday. Grace watched Elmo while her hair was cut, so she was delighted. Of course, Elmo had to come with us too, so he was propped on top of the TV set she was watching. She was thrilled to get a pretty in her hair at the end and the stylist sprayed sparkle spray, much to Grace's delight as well. She has come to expect the glitter treatment. Let's hope lil' Whipper Snippers stays in business or we'll be in trouble!

Grace debuted Elmo underwear on Saturday morning. She was so excited and proud. She hasn't yet connected to go potty in a potty, but it'll come. We now have one 0f the potties in our living room, so it is quite handy. As much as a clean freak as I am, I know that kids need to see it and have it convenient. And did I mention I love Clorox wipes? She went for about 2 1/2 hours of dry time. Pretty impressive! Now it is up to us to be consistent. I'm thinking of trying a sticker chart...will see what gets her excited for a reward. Maybe Oreo cookies? On a side note, I think Grace and I could polish off a whole package by ourselves. And it wouldn't be all me!!! Note - we have not attempted this feat...yet.

Proud girl!

Carson had a play date with girlfriend Sherryse on Saturday afternoon. He was quite excited and seemed to forget for a bit that Sherryse was getting married to Jeff in August. Once again, Carson is picturing himself as the groom, we think. (Sorry, Jeff!) Once he was reminded that he'll be ring bearer, he was good to go. It was great to see you both, Sherryse and Jeff!

We prepped and had a delicious supper on Saturday: lobster tail, shrimp scampi, scallops, oysters, wild rice and steamed veggies. The kids weren't that into the seafood (we weren't too surprised), so they had chicken. We brought out the china, stemware and 'special' napkins (as Carson refers to them - they are cloth). It was great - it was relaxing and a special way to celebrate a Valentine's Day with two wonderful kiddos.

Grace woke up pretty tired yesterday so we stayed home from church. Carson didn't have Sunday School, so it was a low-key day. We cleaned a lot - deep cleaning. You know, the exciting cleaning of cleaning lights and stuff like that!?! I'm hooked on the Norwex antibac cloths. They are amazing! I love the fact that I'm not burning through a roll of paper towels to clean as well as the microfiber cloths do a better job of cleaning. Yes, I get excited about cleaning. Always have and always will. I also steam mopped all of our non-carpeted floors. Germs didn't stand a chance yesterday. Let's hope they have been eradicated from our home.

We cleaned a bunch in our 5th bedroom downstairs. It's the only room that is unfinished. It's our storage room and it's been a disaster for about a year (since we started the basement project). Thanks to some great shelves at Menards all is looking a bit better down there. Still a bit to go, but a dramatic improvement.

Today we ordered Carson's new hearing aids. He is extremely excited. They should be ready a week from this Friday. We're also ordering new hearing aids for Grace. They will arrive in 2-3 weeks.

I did a bit of shopping today - great sales on winter closeouts right now. I also had a massage. Felt wonderful. My neck and back have been awful lately, so it was a treat.

Grace has been showing off her smartness the last few days. Carson decided she's ready to learn 'left' and 'right'. Only problem was he set the chairs up so they were his 'right' and 'left'. Thankfully, Grace didn't soak this lesson in.

Grace can count to nine. I've heard her count to six and Trav got her up to nine today. She can also fingerspell the letter 'E'. 'E' is not easy to fingerspell, but she's got it. She can recognize a capital E. Took us a few days before we FINALLY clued in about why 'E' was her favorite letter.

Got a guess?

Think red fuzzy lovable monster.

Yeah, Grace. Only took your folks about 5 days to connect the dots on that one. You'll be trilled with our 'quickness' when you are a teenager.

Speaking of, this is how Grace arranged her loves at the end of music therapy time.