Why do spiders have to be so Spidery??

This morning we had what I am calling the Great Spider Trauma of 2008. Those that know me well know that I am a long-time member of the spider loathing community. No joke, I hate the things. This loathing probably stems from my own, personal Spider Trauma Event of 1991. However, that's another long story, so I'll save it for another time.

Back to this morning. I took the kids on an errand, and on the way home we decided to swing by my parents house to pick up a movie. Both of my parents work, so I just ran in the house, grabbed the movie, and ran back out to the van and kids (please nobody call DHR, really). Once I jumped in the van and start backing out of the driveway, I hear Melody say in a very calm voice, "Mommy, don't freak out, but there is a spider next to your head." I respond in a very calm voice (which is an amazing feat considering my Trauma of 1991), "there's a spider on my seat next to my head?" Melody once again calmly confirms this fact. Gannon is also quiet and calm in his seat directly behind my seat. So, I finish backing out of the driveway and somewhat calmly pull over in front of the house. I grab a tissue from the Kleenex box, because that's what Jamie does when he's going after small spiders. I get out of the car to open the side door (Gannon's door). I'm still fairly calm at this point, because I'm thinking if Melody isn't freaking out then 1)it must not be a very big spider, and 2)I can't be silly and freak out because I'm supposed to be the brave adult. I'm looking around the headrest of my seat trying to find it and finally I see a very BIG spider crawl around to the front of the headrest. I look at my puny tissue and think, "yeah, right." Well, that was a dumb move because when I looked back up, the Big Spider has disappeared as only spiders can. Now, I've conditioned myself to control my freak-out tendencies when it's a small spider. I've had to learn this because of my children and I don't want to frighten them. But, I know a Big Spider when I see one. Well, now Mr. Big Spider has gone *poof* and I feel the tugs of panic fluttering in my heart. Oh dear. So I continue searching around and can't find him even in the tiny cracks of the seat. Suddenly, Gannon begins to SCREAM. I don't mean a shout or an exclamation of surprise, I mean an all-out-the-fear-is-in-me SCREAM. We tend to have a domino effect in our family when it comes to bugs, so Melody starts to scream, too. Mr. Big Spider has relocated himself to Gannon's seat, more specifically to Gannon's little body. Unfortunately, it took me a few seconds to get a good look at where the spider was because of everybody screaming, but I finally got the spider off of Gannon and onto his seat so I could whack him with a Backyardigans coloring book. Melody was already out of her seatbelt and mostly out of the door by this time and both kids continued the screaming. I tried my best to calm them down, but I have to admit that I was thoroughly freaked out too. It's no good to see Mr. Big Spider crawling on your child. No way.

So, I tell the kids that we'll go by the car wash place to vacuum the van so we can get rid of the yucky spider. This seems to help them some, so off we go. I'm reluctant to rest my head on the headrest (I hate having the willies!) so I just set off at a rather speedy pace to the car wash that's just down the road. All is quiet and peaceful once again when suddenly Gannon starts to scream again. He's screaming that there's a spider on him. Melody tells me that she doesn't see a spider anywhere, so I try to convince poor Gannon that he's just remembering the spider being on him and it's just the willies. He's not convinced, so he cries the rest of the way to the car wash. By the time I get there, Melody has begun crying again, too. I park at a spot to vacuum, and Melody leaps out of the van. Luckily, there were no other cars nearby or else I really would have lost it altogether. Somehow I vacuum the van (and the nasty spider) and everyone is calm once again.

I have a sneaky suspicion that Mr. Big Spider might haunt us for a while..

Summer Adventure!

The cute class I co-lead

We just had a very busy, very awesome week of VBS (aka Summer Adventure)! I teamed up with Amy to teach the rising 1st graders, so I had Melody in my class. The first day we had 18 kids!!! We leveled off at around 16-17 each day, but I came home pretty exhausted every day. We had an awesome group of very well-behaved children, thankfully! The theme of this year's program was Beach Party, and the kids got to learn a rough version of the Beatitudes from the Bible (where else?). The songs were very catchy and fun.

Here are some shots from the week:
Melody really didn't want her picture taken.. Melody and her friend, Kaitlyn

Fun stuff

We've been quite busy as of late just doing lots of fun things! We are winding down for summer, or so I'd like to think. We've actually been busier than ever! Jamie's been hard at work building our bookshelves (pictures to come later), today began the first day of Summer Adventure (aka Bible School) at church, and we've been making trips to the public library, the Botanical Garden, and various other fun places! School begins in about 2 weeks, and I still haven't bought supplies, yet! Agh!! But, I thought I'd share some pictures of the fun things we've been doing...




Summer sure is fun! At the beginning of summer, I have to admit I was a bit concerned about spending every day 24/7 with Melody and Gannon. After all, we are all a bit spoiled with having small breaks from one another during the school year. And while I've had my "I'm-losing-my-mind,-please-someone-get-me-out-of-here!" moments, overall it has really been fun to be with my kids so much. I've tried to keep our summer light and fun, and I feel as though this goal has been accomplished!

One last thing, and I have to include it because I'm so super-proud of Gannon.. he's (I think..knock on wood!) figured out the staying dry at night thing! He's gotten naptime down pat, and the past several nights he's kept his bed dry all night as well! He'll be so embarrassed by this photo later in life, but I am the Mommy so I can put it on my blog if I want..

How did potty training go?

Okay, so I've been meaning to check in with Gannon's progress, since we enrolled him in a 3-day potty training "boot camp" of sorts this past weekend. Okay, really I just bought an online book and we followed the directions found therein.

We started on Saturday and the big moment was Gannon throwing away all and I mean ALL of his diapers. We had a lot that I didn't know about (smaller sizes, but still...) so it was a big deal for him. He did end up asking a few times later on if he could wear his diaper. Although it was cute, it also showed that it was a lot for him to handle all at once. From the moment of throwing away the diapers, he had to put on his Big Boy underwear and he shall never wear a diaper again! To confess, as he was tossing out the diapers, I did tear up. I think it was a combination of factors that did it for me: my little boy is growing up, I'll never have to buy diapers again, and Oh did I mention I'LL NEVER HAVE TO BUY DIAPERS AGAIN????? Sweet.

So, overall it went very well. We had been letting him wear undies from time to time already, so the first couple of days he didn't even have an accident beyond the point of his underwear being damp. Not bad, eh? This was awesome for Jamie and me since we didn't have to clean up any messes off the floor. However, I have to say that staying dry during nap time and all night long has been quite a hurdle that he has not quite mastered as of yet. It's hit and miss. He's had a few dry naps, albeit nothing consistent. He's gotten up every night to go potty, and only one night has he remained dry and we didn't have to change sheets. He's just struggling with that one. I know it will get better, so we continue to encourage him. He'll get there!

I'm positively proud of him and he's proud of himself. We've been out and about every day this week (except Monday, which was Day 3 of boot camp), and he has stayed dry the entire time. He uses public toilets with no hesitation, which is awesome!

I guess this means that I officially don't have babies anymore *sniff sniff*. At least they still snuggle with me!

If a transformer married Ariel..

Earlier today, Gannon and Melody were playing with a toy castle. Gannon had a transformer and Melody had princess Ariel. Melody being the way she is (all girl!), said this:
"Okay, they're going to get married. Uh oh, Ariel is naked....It's going to be a private wedding!"

She didn't even say it to be funny, but I cracked up. Sometimes the funniest things come out of the mouths of babes, no?

This and that

Why is it that summer always flies by so fast? It's already July, which means that school starts back in one month. I feel like we've had an amazing summer thus far, but I'm sure I'll be ready for the kiddos to head back to some form of school soon.

This weekend is going to be a crazy one. Jamie is going to continue building some bookshelves for the family room tomorrow, then we'll head to a party with some folks from the bands at church. Should be lots of fun!

Beginning on Saturday morning, we'll be embarking on a 3-day potty training mission for Gannon. A friend of mine, Hillary, was able to accomplish this with her son who is Gannon's age. We've been doing a little bit here and there to potty train, but nothing major. Well, Mr. Gannon has to be trained before he starts at his preschool in August, so I figured a 3-day method was probably warranted. Cross your fingers, say prayers, etc that this will work for us! I'm attempting to mentally prepare myself as I write. :)

With any luck, we'll come out of the weekend unscathed and diaper-free! Next week is a relaxing week, with nothing major planned. I've neglected to take the kids to the Botanical Gardens yet this summer, so we'll likely make a trip there. I hope everyone has a happy and healthy 4th!