More pics

Maggie and cousin Amanda at the 4th of July concert.

And THEN, my daddy said, "No, you can't wear those

shoes tonight and it was SO NOT FAIR!"

Oops, I thought there were more pictures on the computer but I guess they haven't been downloaded yet. I wish I had an automatic downloader for the camera that would download pictures immediately.

Things have been rolling along here. Maggie went back to school 2 weeks ago because I had a weeklong workshop to attend and of course, David has been working all the time. She was rather glad to see her friends, I think. On her first day back, we got into her classroom and there was a collective gasp and a bunch of the kids said, "LOOK! It's Maggie! MAGGIE!" Ha. My kid, the daycare rockstar. She has already been felled by her first daycare cold but luckily, I don't go back to school until Tuesday so I was able to hang with her last week while she languished on the couch. Or not. She got sent home with a fever last Monday and I needed to do some work in my classroom so I packed her a lunch, picked her up and dosed her with some Motrin and let her have a picnic at my desk while I did some stuff. She talked my ears off the entire time we were there. She also "read aloud" to her (invisible) students and drew all over my easel. I think she had a good time but she was disappointed that the "big kids" weren't there.

On Friday, we went to Raleigh with Kimberly and Anna Kathryn to get the girls' NC birth certificates. I don't know what I thought we were getting but we paid $45 for a piece of paper that looks like a giant check. Oh well. It was a fun adventure and the government employees did not fail to impress me with their surly and rude attitudes. While we were waiting for our paperwork to be returned, we walked over to the Children's Museum that is also downtown. WOW, was that a fun afternoon! That place rocked. They had SO much for the kids to do and play with and we spent a long time there. The only downfall was that neither Kimberly nor I remembered to pack our cameras, DANGIT, so I only have some crappy cellphone pictures of the day. When we were ready to leave, Maggie said, "UH OH! It's RAINING!" Heh. We were not prepared for that and we didn't really want to buy expensive ladybug umbrellas at the gift shop so we went back and Maggie and AK and some other little girls spent a long time packing themselves into a very small car and trading places and climbing around. The rain finally let up and Maggie had a blast stomping through puddles. AK was trapped in the stroller, poor thing, so she only got to watch. Then we drove all over creation because I got on 40 going the wrong way but we finally found our way to the mall, which was our next destination. We were so tired, though, that we really just browsed through the mall and decided our final stop would be Cracker Barrel. My Garmin GPS exacted its revenge on me for not following her directions that morning and sent me to a used car dealership instead of Cracker Barrel and we were mad at her. We frantically popped grapes and Cheerios as we drove through the wilds of Durham, looking for a Cracker Barrel. I went into a food coma after we ate dinner because I got too hungry.

This morning, David took Maggie outside to help him pick up sticks (HA!) in the yard and I settled into my recliner with the laptop and was ready for some peace and quiet. Suddenly, I heard him fussing at her not very long after they got started. Then the back door unlocked and Maggie came inside. She told me she got too hot. Then I fussed at her about something so she picked up her toy cell phone, which is really a Christmas ornament, and called my mom. She said, "Grandma? Your mom--, MY mommy is yelling at me and I need you to come over here. She is YELLING at me. I didn't do anything. Okay, bye." Then Maggie rather huffily informed me that my mom was coming over and I'd better be nice. I didn't tell her that my mom is currently in Maine and the chances of her coming over right now are zero. Then Maggie proceeded to absolutely talk me to death. She talks so much. It is really kind of unbelievable. I have turned into one of those moms who's all, "Mmm hmmm, yeah, that's nice, sweetie."

David got a new car a few weeks ago, rather unexpectedly, and I wasn't with him. I can't remember where I was but I got a text informing me that he was test driving a new car. He did have Maggie with him and you know buying a car takes about five thousand hours. Maggie was super awesome while they were at the dealership so we took her to Target and let her pick out a toy for being so good. Here's what she picked:

That is a Disney Princess cash register. It is a terrible toy. It makes all kinds of racket and is SO loud. Oh wait, I just looked at the picture and that's not exactly the same one that she has. It's similar, though. Maggie was most disappointed that the makeup was plastic. My heart broke just a teeny bit when we opened it all and she said, "I thought this was real," as she poked at the lipstick. Ah, mommy guilt. It's so much fun. She does LOVE to swipe the credit card and scan items. And I guess in the long run, if she loves it, then it was worth it because man, was she ever great that day at the dealership!

So, that is a brief rundown of what's been going on around here lately. Things are going to get interesting when I go back to work on Tuesday. ::cries:: Summer is almost over!