Week 15

This week was FULL of fun things but BUSY! Monday night was my school's Literacy and Math Night for families to come up to the school together to learn some great ideas of games and activities to do at home that would help their child further their education in the classroom. This year the theme was Under the Sea. The Kindergarten booths were fantastic if I do say so myself! We had dowel rod fishing poles with magnets on the end of the fishing line. The kids tried to catch a fish that had a picture on it. When they caught a fish, they would have to tell what the beginning sound (can vary it with ending or middle sounds) it started with. They seemed to have a great time fishing. The math booth was a big fish bowl filled with fish shaped papers that had subtraction problems written down on them. The kids had to pick one out of the fish bowl and then were given the right amount of goldfish crackers to use as manipulatives to solve their subtraction problem. It was a hit as well and I am pretty sure we had several repeat visitors--guess they were hungry for a snack! Here is a picture of a harried Tara after coming home from that evening. On Tuesday night, we had dinner with Ross and Kacie Whigham and their sweet son Carson at Cheddar's! Drew and I had the BEST time with them and probably overwhelmed them with questions about parenting. I know it won't be the last time we go to them for advice and can't wait to join them in this adventure of becoming parents.

Thursday afternoon I met Drew at a car dealership in Denton to look for a new car. Drew's cousin's husband, Mark, had a buddy that worked at this dealership and was trying to find us something that we can actually put a carseat in! My 350Z just wasn't going to cut it in the mommy world. I knew I wanted a mid-sized SUV, but wasn't totally sold on one certain kind. That afternoon we test drove two: A Jeep Grand Cherokee and a Toyota 4Runner, both silver. I LOVED both, but was really being swayed by all the swanky stuff the Jeep was decked out with inside: leather interior, heated seats, wood-grain dash, built in GPS, and a sun-roof. He let us drive home the Jeep to "see how it fit into our lifestyle" for the day and told us to think about it, do some research, and come back the next day to let him know what we were thinking. That night, we got a subscription to Consumer Reports and found that there were several bad ratings for the Jeep and ONLY perfect ratings for the 4Runner. Now, I sure would like leather seats someday, but let's face it--we need something reliable. I will have precious cargo that I will be carting around in this vehicle soon. After we prayed about it, we both felt sure that the best choice was to get the Toyota 4Runner. I was excited! (but a little sad to say goodbye to my fancy sports car once and for all)

I took off a day of teaching on Friday. Friday morning I had to take Tango to a vet in Weatherford to be neutered. Poor thing. He is definitely a car-sick puppy and drooled and threw up on the way there...in the Jeep we were trying out from the dealership!! Thankfully I had a blanket all spread out in the back where I put him and the mess was contained. By the time I got home and cleaned up the house a bit, my parents arrived! I had been looking forward to their visit for a long time!! We met Lara and Maclaine for lunch and a cupcake from the cutest bakery and then went back to the dealership in Denton to sign the papers for the Toyota 4Runner. They made it very painless and it was comforting to have my parents with me since Drew had to stay at work. Here is my sweet new ride that I LOVE!

I am so glad we made a wise choice and feel very confident we made the right choice. That evening Drew brought home Tango from the vet and we picked up dinner from our favorite hole-in-the-wall Haslet place, Mama Licha's Tacos! Mmmmm!

Saturday morning, Mom and I left for Canton. This was our very first trip there! I have always been hearing about it and really wanted to check it out, but NOTHING can prepare you for the craziness and the vastness of this place. It was so much fun! We had a blast and I got some inspiration for the nursery. I have decided that boy or girl, the theme will be "branches" just like our last name. I envision a neutral color for the wall, browns, greens, and either touches of pink or blue depending on the gender (I can't wait to find out on May 23rd!). I want to get a huge tree wall decal to put near the crib. I also found this beauty to place in one corner of the room for decoration on our Canton trip! If it is a girl, I plan on hanging crystals from the branches. Sunday, we took my parents with us to The Hills Church of Christ and enjoyed a great brunch with them at Waffle House. After brunch, my parents came with us to Babies 'R Us so that we could show them the few things we registered for and get their opinion on strollers, bouncers, car seats, etc. Before when Drew and I went the first time....it was a little overwhelming and daunting to say the least! So many choices and so little personal experience! Going with my parents was refreshing. They were laughing and squealing at how cute things were or how neat this or that was and had so much joy in imagining their future grandchild in each item. It took a lot of pressure off of everything and I found myself pointing and clicking that scanner like crazy with such freedom! Here is the travel system that we registered for that day.

You should have seen Drew being very hands-on with taking it off of the shelve and trying it out, folding it up, putting the car seat on, etc. What a man!!! We were sad to see them go, but my parents left from Babies 'R Us to head home to College Station. Thanks Mom and Dad for visiting--we love y'all!