Phew...

Okay, so there's a little taste of the last half of 2007 and the beginning of 2008...Still more to come (Christmas, Tatum's birthday, New Years Eve, Valentine's Day and many others).

Some School Projects

School has kept us busy, below are a few pictures of the girls' hard work:

Both girls did a report on Tiger Woods for Black History Month. Tatum selected him because "I can read both his first and last names." We had so much fun watching YouTube videos of him as a little kid that Kelly decided to do her report on him too.

More to come...

The Legend of Tatum

Around friends, family, and teachers, a favorite activty is sharing "Tatum Stories." I thought I would update you on a few recent Tatum stories...

1. In February, I received a call from a cafeteria worker at Tatum's school. The lady explained that she was with Tatum, who needed to come home because her loose tooth was bothering her too much to eat, so would I mind coming to pick Tatum up? I kindly explained that while I was happy to leave work and come speak to Tatum about her inability to eat, I was not taking her home.

2. During her gifted and talented class, Tatum and her classmates were challenged to think what Vincent Van gogh would do if he needed to wear glasses (s/p the whole ear cutting off incident). While other kids were busy creating special glasses, Tatum suggested that he could just wear contacts.

3. In preparation for open house back in August, the teacher had each 1st grader draw a picture and write about what they had learned so far in 1st grade. These sheets were waiting for us at the child's seat the night of open house. We were the first to arrive that night. Tatum's teacher suggested Tatum read me hers. I could have climbed under the table when Tatum read (in her flatest voice), "I have learned how to be very bored..."

4. When discussing with Tatum the banning of all words such as "boring, stupid, and dumb" in describing school activities, without missing a beat, Tatum asked, "What about wame ?" (lame in Tatum speak).

5. One night Tatum was having a hard time sleeping, she woke up several times during the night. I found her working 500 piece puzzles (yes, she's my child), reading books, doing math (so not my child). My favorite was being woken up at 2 am by her. She was explaining that Elizabeth had bitten her on her finger and "that wasn't very nice, was it?! I was just trying to pet her and give her some food. But it was ok at first since I could see her, but now she's under the stove and I cannot see her anymore. I'm going to go wake up Kelly!"

When I read parenting handbooks, I don't remember coming across a section on how to keep your hyperactive child from waking up their sibling (who would dissolve into tears over their missing and doomed pet) while simultaneously retrieving a dwarf hamster from under your stove at 2am. I think it would be very helpful if they covered such necessary topics.

6. During morning meeting, Tatum's teacher had decided to discuss a problem that a boy in her class was having. This boy did not like to come to school and would continuously complain that he wanted to be at home. The teacher wanted the other students to encourage this little boy by being positive about what they liked about going to school. Tatum leaned around the teacher and asked the boy, "Have you heard about homeschooling?" While the boy was *very* interested in this option, it was NOT the kind of help the teacher had been looking for.

7. At the pediatrician's office, Tatum needed to pass a hearing screen to start speech therapy. The tech took her from the examining room and I heard laughter from the multiple residents and nurses around (never a good sign). Turns out that the tech had instructed Tatum to raise her hand whenever she heard a beep. The tech started the test and Tatum began making these shoulder shrug movements. When the tech stopped the test to see if Tatum was confused over the instructions, Tatum stated, "Well, you told me to raise my hand when I heard the beeps, but the noises I am hearing are more like tones--is that what you meant or am I supposed to wait for the beeps?"

8. At another check-up, they were screening her vision with the little vision chart. Tatum couldn't identify the letters, so the lady changed to the shape chart. Tatum was still having a hard time, so we gave up and moved on. I scheduled an appointment with an optometrist and told Tatum that we needed to have her eyes looked at. She informed me that "nothing was wrong with my eyes, they just made the letters on the chart too small."

9. At church one night, the pastor dismissed the children to Sunday School by joking, "It's time for the kids to go off to wherever it is that they go, I can't remember where that is..." Tatum was already halfway to the aisle and out of my reach, so I just cringed as I heard her voice, "IT'S SUNDAY SCHOOL! WE GO TO SUNDAY SCHOOL!" The people around her got a good laugh.

10. Tatum was having her speech evaluated by Dana (one of our favorite SLPs!). Tatum requested that Dana read her one of the kids' books in her office. Dana was doing a great job reading the book with such expression and adding little comments about the story. Tatum stopped her and very seriously requested, "Um, excuse me, but could you please just read the story."

So there's the top 10 from the last few months, I'm sure I've forgotten many more but I will post more as I think of them.

RIP: Snowie 2005-2008

The first week of February, a friend borrowed my car. While driving through an intersection (with the green light), Tom was hit by a 2008 Lincoln Navigator. This led to an immediate decline in the value of my car and a whole lot of pain for Tom (he continues to heal). Thankfully, both drivers are healing, no children were in either vehicle, and now it is all a matter of dealing with the at fault driver's insurance company.

The girls were saddened by the loss of "Snowie." Prior to the accident, I had no idea that the girls had a name for our car, but I believe it has started a new tradition for us in naming our cars...

For right now I am thankful that I live close to work and the girls' school-makes life much easier without a car!

Flat Stanley: Memphis to Sydney

Kelly's 3rd grade class read the book Flat Stanley. They then created their own Flat Stanleys and mailed them to friends and family around the world. Kelly sent hers to Aunt Michelle, Uncle Wayne, Ben and Kirsten in Sydney, Australia. From the pictures it looks like Stanley had a great time! He then "flew" back to Memphis with gifts for all of Kelly's class-Thanks, Aunt Michelle!

We can't wait to see you all in July!!!!

Team Beautiful Keeps Growing

In the fall, Kelly's class read a story about a little boy that worked and saved his money to buy a bicycle. She stated that she would like to do that in order to save money for a hamster. We discussed options and settled on a pet sitting business around our apartment complex. It has worked out well, and she saved up the money a lot faster than I had expected!

On December 31st, Kelly went to Petco and selected Elizabeth, a dwarf hamster.

LeBonheur & the Girls

So the girls have made a few appearances on my hospital's website.

Tatum's picture from the Pumpkin Run 2006 has been featured on the commercial for the Pumpkin Run 2007 and during the groundbreaking ceremony for the new hospital. Kelly and Tatum are both featured in the rehab department on a video tour of the hospital. If you go to the link for the 2007 Pumpkin Run, they show a collage of pics from 2006 and you can see Tatum's picture and Kelly (during the costume contest-cheetah girl).

For the groundbreaking ceremony, I was selected to be one of the associates to wear a red fleece to make the heart in the picture above but had to cancel at the last minute...once I saw in the video that the associates were required to hold hands and sway, I was very relieved that I had to miss out. If you watch the video from that day, a few of the kids that are digging at the end of the video have been patients of mine or our rehab department.

Here are the links:

2006 Pumpkin Run: http://www.lebonheur.org/portal/site/lebonheur/menuitem.a88f7a459590241bd11fafd511b18a0c/?vgnextoid=8f169ca0baa6d010VgnVCM1000000917a8c0RCRD

Hospital Tour (you have to watch for a little bit-"Online Welcome Center: Your Care Team"): http://www.or-live.com/vbc/leb/index.cfm?CategoryID=AB19A54C-C3A5-3EBE-49904BDE201ED120

Dear Tooth Fairy...

So Tatum's first grown up tooth entered the world before her baby tooth fell out (seems to be a pattern of ours). She ate a lot of apples and spent a lot of time wiggling her baby tooth. She became so focused on it that her teachers teased that her homework was to pull the tooth out that night! Finally, it came out.

She talked her sister into writing a note to the Tooth Fairy to place with the tooth. Her note to the Tooth Fairy read:

"Dear Tooth Fairy,

I want the tooth and the money.

Love, Tatum"

Yeah, even imaginary adults aren't exempt from Tate.

Halloween 2007

This year we celebrated Halloween with Kelly's friend Mary and her family. Kelly was Mulan and Tatum was Pikachu (surprise!). We did not get around to carving pumpkins this year, so we carved pumpkin pancakes.

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for the great costumes!

Awards Program

At the end of every 6 weeks, Downtown Elementary holds an Awards Program for those students who have earned honor roll, perfect attendance, principal's list, etc. This is Tatum's first year to participate.

Keeping Cool in Downtown Memphis

Just a splash in our local fountains...

Beads*Beads*Beads

This summer our friend, Tom, had a visit from his mother and father. While visiting, Farmor (Tom's mom) decided that what Tatum needed was craft beads (the type that you place on templates and then melt together with an iron). She and Farfar (Tom's dad) purchased over 10,000 beads and containers to sort them in. Tatum was (and still is) in heaven! She wasted no time in organizing everyone (3 adults and 3 older kids) into teams sorting the beads based on color, hue, tint, etc.

Now if we could only find a use for little melted craft beads...

Summer 2007

Summer 2007 will always be remembered as the year of the bugs (at least in Team Beautiful's memory). Here is one of the rare moments when we (all of us!) enjoyed being outside--ice cream trucks help. : )

More Indiana Vacation

Lots more of our trip to Fort Wayne...visiting with (and being spoiled by!) Grandma and Grandpa, visiting Great Grandma Liston, swimming with the Vance Family, going to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo...It was a great time!

Our Hoosier Cousins

One of the highlights in visiting Indiana is our group of Ramsey Cousins...Mariah, Isaiah, Kyriah, and Shaniah. The girls love seeing their cousins and Uncle Todd and Aunt "-Iah" as Tatum labeled her one year. This year it was baseball and softball time, but we also worked in some bowling and a trip to the Magic Wand.

Kelly Turns Eight!

Kelly had a great time celebrating her birthday this past year. We were visiting our family in Indiana, and I surprised her with a trip over to Chicago to visit the American Girl Place (home to the American Girl Dolls). She had a wonderful day. We arrived in time to schedule her doll, Elizabeth, for a hair appointment. Kelly was able to purchase some outfits for Elizabeth. We ate lunch in the American Girl Cafe. Kelly received a birthday dessert at the end of the meal (complete with birthday song). We then enjoyed the American Girl Review. Afterwards, we stayed for autographs and when the actors discovered it was Kelly's birthday, they stopped their signing to sing her happy birthday. She was in heaven!