not for the faint of heart

First you should look at the photos taken yesterday. These are the ones we managed to get with a busy 18 month old. Picture People now offer album viewing on their site so I thought I'd be lazy and share:

Photos from Grace's 18 month photos

Now, let me tell you what happened on the day the photos were taken. (Email me if you need any entry information to see the photos.) It was, ahem, "eventful". Dave and I were trying to pick the final picture packages. Dave had decided to leave the stroller in the car so Grace was sitting nicely on his lap. Jordan and William were behaving when all of a sudden a sound came from Dave and Grace's direction. It's a sound that you cannot mistake. Yes, you guessed it -- Grace threw up all over Dave and herself. To make matters worse, the photographer helping us exclaimed, "What did you feed her? It looks like chocolate malt balls." Apparently Grace had held her morning raisins in her stomach all day. They soaked in milk and looked like chocolate malt balls. Ewwwww. Poor Dave. I had a change of clothing for Grace, but not for him. So there he was in the studio bathroom trying to wash off his Sunday pants in the sink. It was a fun ride home with the windows down.

Once again I assert...the final job of getting pictures is not complete until the photos are in the mail to the grandparents. Fortunately we got some photos that show our 18 month old in her her full glory so we won't be going back for torture anytime soon. One day soon I am going to chronicle the saga of how our kids vomit at the oddest times. (Then again, when is throwing up convenient?)

For a few days we were sequestered to the house until we got whatever stomach fun under control. Lots of lysol necessary to contain the family germ spread. No one else got it so I consider that a minor miracle. But then Dave came down with a sinus and chest cold. Now I have it. I feel like walking death. Of course, little kids don't understand the "Mommy needs to lay down and die" theory so life has to go on. Needless to say, not much has gotten done this week.

I've been trying to get William's school arrangements under control for the new school year. In our area you must get in line now to finalize your spot. Georgia has taken the lottery money and financed Hope Scholarships for college students and a Pre-K program statewide. So Georgia Pre-K is held in some public schools (but not ours) and some private daycares. The curriculum is good and the teachers must be fully certified to teach the Kindergarten level work. Some daycares have both private and Georgia pre-k classes. The difference? You pay for the private. I've been shopping around trying to figure out which lists we need to be on and how their selection process will work. This is where Georgia has dropped the ball. Every other aspect of the program seems great, but the selection process is darn confusing. Some places hold lotteries for the open slots. Some do it on a 'first come, first serve' basis, and some have a Saturday morning event where people camp out through the night to guarantee a slot. Every center holds their 'event' on a different date ranging from December to April. I've had to use a spreadsheet to keep it all straight. I have one guaranteed spot at a nearby 'academy' which is an official Georgia Pre-K site. It's a decent place, but I'm trying to get more spots in hopes of finding the right place. The hours are usually from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm. The only payments necessary involve lunch and aftercare if desired. It's a great plan since William is anxiously ready to start back to school. I'll keep you updated once I figure it all out. William cannot wait for me to tell him which school is THE ONE. And he'll be thrilled with it as long as it is blue.