The family curse...

Sophie has been having headaches...lots of them. It seems like everyday I get an email from the nurse telling me that she is going downstairs for Tylenol. Naturally, I assumed that she was just like any other child in the world and looking for a way to get out of class (maybe I HAVE been teaching school too long!! :) The nurse finally called, however, and pointed out something that I should have realized myself (okay...chime bad parent music...)

Maybe, she suggested, it is her eyes.... What??  My tiny baby?? Could Sophie has been hit with the dreaded family curse...BAD EYES....???

You see, everyone in the family has them...me, her Daddy, her aunt, and her sister...we have had years and years of paying for exams, glasses, and contacts...we are even on a first name basis with our eye doctor, and I have been going to her office for over 30 years...naturally, I should have known that Sophie would be "blessed" cursed, too...

The doctor's appointment was Monday. Sophie and her daddy made a date of it (of course) and went to see Dr. Smith...because I was at work, I had to get the play-by-play via text...here are a few of the highlights...

Making faces with her daddy...

Reading the eye chart...

My poor baby's dialated eyes....:(

 

Well, the verdict??  She has 20/20 vision!  ....what??  really?? Yep, everything is perfect so far! For this year at least, she has escaped the curse...don't worry though....there is always next year! ha!

The ride back to school! (after a quick stop at McDonald's, of course :)

Mid-week madness...

No!! I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...ha....Weekdays, especially Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays are pure madness for me. Work and Sophie's activity schedule pretty much do me in. On Mondays and Wednesdays it's violin while gymnastics falls on Tuesday afternoons. Each require an hour round trip car ride. I'm lucky to make it home by six or six thirty each of those days. Wednesday evenings are church and then singing lessons fall on Thursdays. Luckily, those are very close to home. This is actually the second round of children's activities for me...it doesn't seem too long ago that I was taking Stephanie to a whirlwind of events (gymnastics, softball, basketball, volleyball, etc).

The question is: why as parents do we schedule so much for our children? Why do we bother with the hassle of running here and there and having our cars serve as our homes-away-from home? The only answer I can come up with is that adults today are trying desperately to build childhoods that they never had. I can not recall one time when my parents actually hauled me around like I do for my children. In fact, I played school volleyball for three years and my parents never went to one of my games! It wasn't that they were bad parents; it's just that society has changed, and what we deem as "good parenting" has a different definition from previous generations. We actually feel better about ourselves if we can brag that our kids are "in gymnastics" or "playing travel ball." Are our kids better off than we were?  Are we creating better kids? Probably not...research suggests that over scheduling creates stress in both children and adults which is sadly an American epidemic. Something can definitely be said for having the time to enjoy your life and having the ability to relish having no schedule at all. As for my family, as long as they are having fun, I will continue to participate in this daily rat race; however, summers are a sacred event in our family. No schedules, no timers, and definitely no alarm clocks. This way we enjoy another thing I distinctly do not remember from my childhood...family vacation!

Sophie at her violin recital in December.

Steph "hanging out" on our Spring Break trip to Charleston.

Bring on the rain...

Today is a very sleepy Sunday. While at church, the skies opened, and it really started pouring. Rather than preaching about Abraham, maybe Ronny should have preached about Noah...lol! We came home and spent a sleepy afternoon just eating, napping, and enjoying family time.

Saturday was a super sweet day. First, Sophie joined a tradition that was first started by her sister over 10 years ago. She got up and went with her Daddy to work! She dressed in work clothes, went for breakfast at Star Restaurant (aka Hardee's), and cleaned and waited tables for a few hours. Ang called me and bragged about her...usually she is shy and reserved around customers but not today! She actually took out drinks and interacted with the people. She was so proud of her tips and dollars she earned ($7)! She has plans to go there every Saturday morning. I am so proud of her, and if she is anything like Steph, she will be doing it for years to come and bringing in big bucks!

Another thing they did when it was not busy was draw. I love Ang's self-portraits!



During the afternoon Faith came and played. I loved that they took advantage of the warmer weather and played with sidewalk chalk. It is charming to see them crawling around on the driveway and drawing funny pictures. It is obvious that they are ready for warmer weather, too...bring on the sunshine!

The best part of the day came in the evening when Carolina wooped up on Duke!! Go Heels!

TGIF....

                                                                                                                                                                            Thank goodness it's Friday....a statement that people all over the world seem to enjoy saying to their peers...what's NOT to like about this much needed exclamation point that signals the end to a droll, monotonous, 9 to 5, never-seeming-to-end week?  Well, I enjoy this day just as much as the next guy but for a much different reason than others. I don't come home, change, and head back out to parties or bars (I didn't even do that when I WAS single many years ago-ha!). No, I have a better plan when it's time to go home....I relish in doing...hold your breathe...this is going to be good...NOTHING! "Nothing?" you ask..anything would be better than that, right? Not to me. You see, Angelo and Steph work on Friday nights, and it has never been considered one of "our" nights (and believe me I am a-okay with that). Instead, Sophie and I come home, take care of the animals, change into pajamas, and do absolutely, positively nothing of substance or worth. We watch movies (tonight it was Tinkerbell), play games, or read. Sometimes it gets super exciting and...we color! Many of you are probably saying to yourself, "What a loser!" or "Surely she's depressed," but I will be the first to rejoice and say, "No way!" I LOVE these nights and consider them sacred. This is great quality mother-daughter alone time, and if there is one thing I know for sure it is that moments like these are what makes life complete. We lounge around, nap, and eat junk (tonight it was Easy-Mac--I'm sure all of the mothers in blogland are freaking because I am allowing my baby girl to eat processed nonsense, but NO COOKING is also a hard rule we follow!). And Heaven help me if I have to give up this night! Once a month I go to Craft Night on Friday Nights at church, and I am here to tell you that I dread it like a mad-woman all week. Not because it's not fun (it really is) or that I don't enjoy girl time (Melanie! Janice!), but because it interrupts Sophie and me from our routine...so, while everyone is enjoying their nights on the town, do not for one second worry about me...I am having the time of my life!

How our evenings normally end!!

After months and months...

I have finally decided to take the plunge and start blogging. I have (obsessively) been following numerous blogs, and I have decided to give it a whirl. Of course, I have to do it in the typical-Kelley fashion.(i.e., Type-A, perfection-striving, obsessive-compulsive). I am already on the wait list with a blog-designer. She should be able to design my site the second week of April...needless to say, I cannot wait! I don't think that I will be one hundred percent committed until everything looks like I envision it...hopefully by then I will know how to upload pictures...ha!