Two Thumbs Up!

Woo Hoo!! Greta has earned "Two Thumbs Up" for three days in a row this week. Greta Bug has a BFF at school and they chit-chat in class like they are at Starbucks having a latte. Her teacher and I came up with a reward plan to help encourage Greta to do less talking and more listening. If she gets a thumbs up in the a.m. and p.m. she is rewarded with a Twizzler after school. What would be a better reward than food? Okay, that would be my motivator. Not for Greta, her greatest desire is to wear a skirt and tights to school.

Things to Celebrate

The time has come... Gene is on his way to Iraq. We are overcome with feelings of sadness and also determination. This will be his first deployment where the girls understand time. The other two times he deployed Gigi was two and I was pregnant with Greta. Then the second time he deployed Gigi was three and Greta was a baby. I have to look at the blessings... he has been home for more than two years. That is something that many military families don't get to experience too often. We also have a wonderful collection of friends of neighbors, old and new.

Now it is time to be strong and inventive. There are so many suggestions on how to mark the passage of time, jelly beans in a jar, crossing days off of the calendar, but Gene and I thought... what speaks to our family. CAKE of course. So, on the third Friday of each month we are going to celebrate. Yes, it will be a party with a Countdown Cake. Gigi was so excited she announced that in February we will have to bake a Red Velvet Cake and May is cheesecake. Consider this your invitation!