This Post Brought to You by Cheerios, Ziplock, & Kotex

The new Box Tops for Education website is live today! My friend Sonja and I are the box top coordinators for Natcher Elementary. I volunteered because I thought this would be something that I could do from home while drinking wine. Of course I was wrong, because it is hard to sort things while drinking wine. It is also hard to count things while drinking wine.

Anyway... for those of you that don't know, it is FREE MONEY, people. Basically you buy the stuff you would normally buy like cereal, baggies, granola bars, and adult diapers, except that you buy specific brands such as General Mills, Ziplock, Cascadian Farms, and Depends because they contain Box Tops. These are little coupons that you cut off your boxes and send to school, then Sonja and I will count, bundle and ship them off. For every box top that we send in Natcher will receive 10 cents. Yes, it is a bit of a sad and pathetic way to have to earn money, but General Mills will give up to $20,000 per school! I realize that $20,000 = 200,000 box tops that have to be sorted and counted and bundled and shipped, but we are dedicated coordinators!

Then you have some partners, like K Mart. They are giving away 20 bonus box tops for every 5 box top items that you purchase. Buy five additional items and you get 70 extra bonus box tops. That's 100 box tops!!! Doesn't it just make you want to run over to K Mart sometime before September 14th to purchase your Hefty Garbage Bags, Juicy Juice or Avery Labels? You need that stuff anyway, right? Don't bother asking the cashiers about it, because they won't know what you are talking about. The register will automatically spit out a coupon for your extra box tops!
If your child doesn't go to Natcher Elementary you can just mail the box tops directly to me, because I'm sure your school doesn't participate in such programs. (I believe I said "Box Top" 12 times in this post, just sayin'.)

A Leotard and a Pink Tattoo

Some recent ballet renderings. She told everyone that she saw that day that she was wearing a tattoo. Whatever.

A Redneck Wedding

Hannah decided to finally marry Baby Ghost's Daddy. Baby Ghost was in attendance. This was her choice of wedding attire. She told me they got married at a place called The Sandwich Hut. I've never heard of such a place, but Baby Ghost's Daddy seemed to like it. Hannah said that he ate his sandwich the whole time they were getting married. Men.

3 Minutes You'll Never Get Back

In other words, this is probably one post that only her Nana and Papa could love. To everyone else, you might want to just move along!

Precious Princess

Hannah was in her bed quietly talking and singing to herself after being tucked in for the night. Suddenly we heard her get up and shut her door. Paul checked on her and she turned away from him, saying that everything was "sine" (she has trouble with her "f"s.) A little while later I heard her quietly crying while saying "What is going to happen to my nose? Oooh noooo! What is going to happen to my nose?" After checking on her once again it seems that she had a pink Precious Princess pump firmly lodged in her right nostril. She tried to solve the problem on her own by closing her door and digging around with her finger, but was slowly coming to the realization that she was not going to be able to solve this alone. Solution: a flashlight, tweezers, a few sneezes and viola! The pink pump was ready for another day (after a quick rinse!)

The Bravest Person I've Never Met

Stephanie Nielson: a beautiful and brave soul. Please read more about her and her family and keep them in your thoughts.

First Day of Preschool

Today was Hannah's first day of preschool. We started preparing awhile ago, but the dress rehearsal was Open House last night. Paul, Grandma Lisa, Hannah and I all went to meet her teacher, Miss Laura, and to see her classroom. She was pretty quiet while visiting her room and really didn't have much to say to Miss Laura, but she seemed to be taking it all in. When we got home later that night she asked to go for a golf cart ride. While riding she said, "Mommy, I need to tell you something. I was scared tonight at my school." I explained that everyone is a little scared the first time they go to school and that it was o.k. I told her how much fun preschool is going to be and how nice Miss Laura is. She then explained that really she was "a little disappointed that the children were so loud." You know, because she comes from such a quiet household and all. I told her that today would be much better and that the children would be better behaved.

Today we got up and started preparing for school. She decided that she wanted curls in her hair and a googly eyed piggy barrette for her hair (who doesn't?) We packed her special school backpack that Miss Candy gave her and away we went. We were told in a letter from the school to take Hannah into her classroom and help her hang her backpack on her special hook then to quickly say goodbye and leave as soon as possible. That part was a little hard because there were two screaming little boys and I could tell from the look on Hannah's face that she thought Grandma Lisa and I were leaving her to be tortured for a few hours.

I took her over to the only child that wasn't screaming and told them to play together. I promised Hannah a Happy Meal after school, then I forced Grandma Lisa out of the room. As we walked out to the car I swallowed a huge lump and promised myself a chocolate chip bagel with hazelnut cream cheese at Panera if I didn't cry.

Hannah and Miss Laura

Hannah's classroom.

Getting ready for school. Outfit and fancy monogrammed backpack all courtesy of Miss Candy.

Hannah in Disguise

The many faces of Hannah.

Ziplock + iPhone=Underwater Camera

Paul recorded Hannah doing some underwater swim moves.

A Little Redecorating

Yes, it is a bit ghetto, but we took some old junk and redecorated. Then we moved Barbie and her dreamhouse to the basement. We used old curtains and a hula hoop to create an "American Girl Sanctuary" on top of the pool table. Only the best for the American Girls. We brought down anything that makes music to create a jam room for Cassie and Hannah. They rock out with their guitars, drums and accordion. There is nothing better than accordion music coming through the floors of your house. We keep a spray bottle of Febreeze handy because, well, it is a basement after all. I'm pretty sure HGTV won't want to interview me for their "Design on a Dime" show.

Oh, What a Great Summer We Had!!!

Today is the first day of school. I can't believe it's over. So sad. We had such a great summer vacation! I took most of my available time off this summer (thanks to my boss) so that I could spend every day with the kids, and boy, was it worth it!!!!

We started off the summer with a cruise and a visit to The Villages:

We played numerous games of Sequence:

We had family pictures made:

We went to Beech Bend Park:

and made fancy cakes with fondant:

We got some dogs:

We went to the lake bunches where Holly, Christian and Cassie learned to ski:

We cooked with Easy Bake Ovens:

We threw in a Vacation Bible School:

We played with friends:

We had a picnic in the park with their mom, we went with friends to the Imagination Station and jumped ourselves silly. We went shopping in Nashville, and we camped out in the backyard. We went to some Hot Rod baseball games. We had friends over for sleepovers and swim parties.

Best of all, I got to spend really great, quality time with the kids and Paul. Both individually and together as a family. It was better than I ever dreamed it could be!!

Lyrics Included (to the Best of My Ability)

Hannah rocks out with her "contar":

Beatles in the Sky, with Lucy in the Sky, With Her

Lucy in the sky had hearts with her, and Beatles too.

But nobody had a ____? (parasol gun?? pair of soft gum?? powerful gun???) so everybody picked out Lucy and not her Mom and Dad. Her Mommy and Daddy, too. And they picked out her Mommy and Daddy, too!!