Amelia and I ate the last Girl Scout cookies tonight and it was delicious.

TV Turn Off Week was not too bad – Maddie spent most of her time running around instead of watching her favorite cartoons. This usually meant that she was EXHAUSTED in the evenings when it was time for bed. She was even EXHAUSTED when the May Holiday started on Saturday! Pics like this don’t happen that often anymore because Maddie is always on the go!

Jeff and Daneah were coming over for brunch so Maddie and I prepared by making sugar cookies! When Maddie is at school, every Friday is “Cooking Day” so when I told her that we were going to cook, she told me that it must be Friday! There was flour from floor to ceiling, but we had lots of fun and Maddie is quite the little mixer. We didn’t quite finish when Jeff and Daneah showed up so we’ll have to save the frosting and sprinkles session for later.

It was GREAT to have Jeff and Daneah over as Maddie always shows off for Jeff. She used to just run around and neigh like a horse, but now that her vocab is increasing, she goes to get things and shows him all of her worldly possessions!

May Holiday has been really relaxing so far. We’ve gone on shopping trips to scope out what’s in babyland in China. Andy has rearranged most of the furniture in our house – with Maddie’s approval of course. We baked cookies, enjoyed Jeff and Daneah’s company… now it’s back to school here within the next couple of days. Something tells me that Maddie is REALLY going to be ready!

I thought for sure there would be no way this would fly! Maddie without her cartoons? Me without my American Idol? Then the strangest thing happened when Andy and I got home from school today around 5:00. Maddie was upstairs playing with Ms. Zhou and when she heard us come in, she galloped down the stairs, screaming “NO TV MOMMY – NO TV DADDY – I SAID, NO TV!”

This week marks TV Turn Off Week or for the really hardcore folks out there, it’s a screen free week, including computers. Hmf! I’m not that hardcore! Maddie grabbed my hand and told me that SHE wanted to read a book to ME. She read me a quick story about butterflies and took both Andy and I outside for some serious chalk writing on the back porch. While taking a break from the chalk writing, she ran around the yard through plants and managed to scare all of the little creatures out of their wits. She did find a frog which kept her entertained for quite sometime. She would make it hop and then run over to tell us about how it was once a tadpole. She’s three and I’m amazed that she can remember this!

After some frog chasing, we all came inside to make cookies. Maddie LOVES to cook and measure things. She usually doesn’t like peanut butter, but today was the day! She and daddy mixed the ingredients and then she helped me grease the pan with Crisco. She was an absolute star at rolling dough into round balls and then flattening them in a grid pattern with a fork! I suspected that she may be one of those kids that likes batter better than the cookie itself by the way she was devouring the uncooked dough – weren’t we all like that at some point?! Sure enough, the end product came out of the oven and she dropped the bombshell – “I DON’T LIKE IT” she said with every “T” hit hard. Life is about the journey, life is about the journey, life is about the journey – now what I am going to do with all of these cookies?!

We then went into the den off the kitchen and listened to music while she danced for us. Before you knew it, it was time for books and bed! I thought for sure Andy and I would succumb to the TV’s whispers of “Prison Break”, but we went back into the den where he took the time to update his great blog, Sentiments of Common Sense, and I graded math papers. We’re still listening to music and now Lester is dancing and rolling right in the middle of us.

Happy TV Turn Off Week! Even if you aren’t participating – don’t forget to take the time to do the things you think you don’t have time to do!