Story time..

This picture creeps me out a little.. I have a thing about clowns, does Ronald count as a clown?

So today was pretty laid back. Jonathan and I got up at 8 and I decided to let Alissa sleep in. She has been a bit sniffly the last day or so so figured she needed her sleep. She finally decided to join us at 9:30. We got dressed and fed and headed to the Salem Library for story time. If you don't know what this is let me explain. It is a large usually crowded room full of mommies, daddies, and toddlers. And Friday story time is for the younger toddler crowd. It is a half hour where a librarian leads everyone in a song or interactive activity (treasure hunt, lady's ride, row your boat, etc etc) then reads a book and alternated song/activity and book for the half hour we are there. When it is over the kids all gather round the librarian for a hand stamp and off we go. The kids and I usually hang out in the room after everyone leaves to socialize with friends. Today we stayed an extra hour to chat with Colleen and let the kids play.

I am feeling a lot more confident with my ASL and was encouraged that Colleen thinks I am ready to interpret story time. Damon (her hubby and also a terp) told me it is a great place to practice because if I interpret something wrong it's not like someone will get the wrong medication or lose the wrong kidney.. story time is a safe environment to practice interpreting. I wasn't quite ready to take the step today and sit in the terp chair (although Colleen was nudging me that direction because for the second week there was no terp available). But some day soon I will do it. I feel so blessed to be a part of such an amazing community of people and have them share their language and culture with me. I hope to pass it all on to the kiddos and I hope they appreciate it like I do. Alissa understands 80% of what we sign, but doesn't use the signs herself very often.. unless she is in the mood. Jonathan is the opposite -- could care less about talking and LOVES to sign. Maybe it's a boy thing? More physical? Who knows.

So we got home from the library and I put Jon down for a nap. Alissa and I then made sandwiches. She wanted grilled cheese and was insisting that the bread needed butter on ALL sides not just the sides we cook.. that was an interesting debate. I won. :) And after sandwiches we made these yummy Earth's Best ABC noodles for a little learning time. You see I have had a heck of a time getting Alissa interested in learning her letters -- until the magic pasta!! Hehe.. We have fun fishing out the right letters and spelling words together before eating them. In fact, she insisted we leave "Alissa, Jonathan, Daddy, Mommy" spelled out on the table - so now I have semi-hard noodles superglued to my kitchen table. Fun fun.

After our noodle adventure Ali insisted on watching the Little Mermaid because she wanted to see Ursalla the sea witch... why? This is what she insists she wants to be for halloween. Umm.. good luck to me finding that one.. I guess I will have to get creative. I already have Jon's costume.. found it at a consignment shop -- it is awesome. I will post pics after halloween.

Matt worked o/t today so had to be up at 5pm (on o/t days he leaves for work at 6pm and comes home about 8am). So I made him a yummy omelette and said farewell. Still have not heard about an interview yet for patrol.. he finished his tests and passed everything.. the wheels of the county move ever so slowly. Speaking of jail I am SOO excited!! I get to go to jail for 4 hours!! :) I am going in on a Friday night to shadow Matt at work from 11 - 3am and see how he does in action. What a neat opportunity. I found out also that when he goes to patrol I can do a ride along WITH him. Nifty.

After Matt was off to work the kids and I went to my mom's house to eat dinner and hang out. Jonathan loves her doggies. He is a big time animal lover already, but I guess all kids are. Grandma Adams gave Alissa some "Bird Food" icecream... looked good, I'm not sure why they would name it bird food.. leave it to Ben and Jerry.

After my mom's we came back home, everyone got a bath and went to bed.. and here I am!! :) I'm trying to catch up on my laundry so writing this has been a good use of my time while waiting for the washer to finish hehe.