Friday, August 17, 2012

Back to school & becoming Yankees

School has officially started back up again....hallelujah....I think. Here are my three school boys on the first day


Charlie-3rd grade, Henry-kindergarten, William-2nd grade.

This week we have been busy busy getting ready for school to start. We have had kindergarten orientation which was very informative. They even took the kids through the lunch line and showed them how it all worked, complete with snack and throwing their trash away and putting their tray away. We toured the school, practiced getting on and off the bus and met the teacher and all that jazz. The next night we had an ice cream social where we met the boys' teachers and dropped off their school supplies and signed up for pto and all that other good stuff. Then Wednesday was the first day of school. I can report that we have survived the first week, that is if my boys make it home all right this afternoon. Man, am I pooped.

So, in case you don't know yet we have moved to Indianapolis. We've been here a few weeks. We actually live in Carmel which is a northern suburb. I'm still getting used to people asking me where I'm from or having to repeat myself several times b/c they can't understand me with my twang. But all in all I think we're going to be super happy in this area. That is until we have to go home and it takes all day to travel. They actually say this is the Midwest so I guess we're really midwesterners. All I know is they call it pop and not coke. Sounds Yankee to me. But they don't act like Yankees, you know not making eye contact, etc. Everyone we've met is exact opposite. They are the nicest ever! We've even gotten cupcakes from our neighbors. I was not expecting fresh baked goods at all! Our neighbors are all great and we have convenience at our fingertips....Kroger less than a mile, all kinds of shopping 2 miles down the road, hobby lobby, target, walmart, kohls, dicks, dsw, childrens place, etc etc etc. I am loving all that! Plus I can get to the mall in less than 15 minutes! Parked in the garage and all! The girls and I have been two days in a row!! And they serve sweet tea at every restaurant, so I guess they are not Yankees after all.

I have found the girls an excellent dance studio and they went yesterday for the first time. Oh my, I am in heaven!!! It makes me realize that I basically just paid for a playdate once a week last year at our old studio (and a great date it was--made some of the best friends there!). But technique-wise I totally wasted my money last year. They learned more technique in yesterday's 45 minutes than they learned all year last year! And it's all ballet which I love! And they did fabulous! And the most important thing, it was the best part of their week! They loved it!! Which makes me so happy! I have also found them a preschool which they start after labor day.....I feel for their teacher, ha!!

I can say so far there are way more positives than negatives about living up here. The main thing that is driving me crazy is being in the eastern time zone. My body is still in cst and so are the kids. For instance, it doesn't get dark until almost 9. I don't know what time the sun comes up. All i can tell you is it's not early enough in daylight savings time. If my body had a choice it would wake up at 8:00. On est that means my body wakes up at 9:00.......my kids too! So since school is going on I have to get up at 6:30.......a long cry from 9:00!!! That really means my body is waking up at 5:30 which is way too early for anybody to up and at em! Not to mention it is still dark outside, which means it's time to sleep! This whole daylight savings time is for crap and I think we should all do away with it!

Now, when i was young and even after I was grown and even after I had kids even I liked saving the daylight. I mean, nobody wants to get off work at dusk and come home in the dark. But I tell ya, i'd much rather get off at dusk than have to crawl out of bed and get three kids to school at sunrise! Since my kids started school I think saving the daylight is for the birds! The birds I tell you!!!! We all just need to be on normal time all the time. The kind of normal time that tells you to go to bed at a decent hour so at least if you have to get up at sunrise, or heaven forbid before, you at least feel like you have gotten some rest! Not like staying up too late and then feeling like a truck ran you over the next day. But I'll get off my soap box for now.

Oh, I know I said some things about the bus earlier. Now, I have not gone crazy. Normally I would never even think of letting my kids on a cheese wagon. But apparently it's the only way to go up here. Everyone rides the bus! The first day I took the kids to school. I was like one of fifteen adults there walking kids to class, no lie! I passed a gazillion parents on the way, standing with their sweeties at the bus stop.....yes, the bus....on the first day of school! And even getting off the bus on the first day! So I took the plung. I let the boys ride home the first day. They were so excited. I was nervous as a cat. And my fears came true. They got off at the wrong stop. It was just down the street but I lost a few years off my life for those few seconds when they didn't get off the bus and then sprinting from the bus to see them walking down the sidewalk. They did much better the next day. And this morning I even let them ride it to school. They loved it! They think it's the best thing since sliced bread. I will say it is convenient. And it's just k-5 on the bus and they sit by grades and have Assigned seats. So I guess we're doing the Midwestern thing and conforming to the bus.

Enough chatter. Here are some first day pics.











































Yes, my girls (well, actually all my kids) love them a water fountain. It's gross, but it's like trying to get them to avoid nasty public bathrooms.....the more you discourage it the more they want to go hang out in them. So I give in. We stop at every single one we see....every.single.one. It hasn't killed them yet!

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

It's amazing what a few cans of spray paint will do!

In case you didn't know, we had a severe drought here in Texas this summer. In fact, our burn ban was just lifted a few weeks ago. Anyway, pumpkins were real hard to come by this year. Now, I like some Christmas decorations but I love me some fall decorations! I adore dressing my front porch with pumpkins, mums and scarecrows. This year it got a little pricey to adorn my porch. So pricey in fact I didn't even disclose my grand total for pumpkins to my hubby(good thing too b/c he might have killed me!). See those pumpkins stacked up on my urn? There's another stack on the other side of the door just like that one.


I loved my pumpkins so much I decided to keep them on the porch for my Christmas decorations!


Two cans of white spray paint (and a touch of black) and there you go:


There's his twin:


Getting two seasons use out of those babies made me feel better about telling Clayton how much I paid for them.....and I'm still alive!

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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Her pjs

I'm sitting in the kitchen enjoying the sounds of my kids actually getting along upstairs and trying to will myself up there to start baths. In walks Margaret Ann. We're talking, and while I notice she's been playing dress up obviously I don't give it a second thought. Then mid conversation she exclaims, "I've got my pjs on!". Inquisitive I peek behind her fireman jacket to find her in her birthday suit, complete with no panties ha! I guess she's thinking sleeping in the nude in 20 degree weather sounds like an adventure....not! So I'm headed upstairs to bathe my kiddos. Obviously one is ready and waiting. Just made me smile so I thought I'd share.





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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

School days

Since I am so behind I thought I'd play catch up backwards. So we'll start with the most recent of happenings around these parts. School has started back, three weeks ago to be exact. The past three weeks have been b.u.s.y! And I am exhausted! By the end of the summer I was ready for the kids to get back in school....quite frankly I was afraid our house might not survive any more summer! You see, in Texas summer feels like an inferno so it's really like winter because it's just too dang hot to be outside. Meaning, you're stuck indoors with five rowdy kids (who need to be outside burning off some energy). Sounds like fun, huh? But now that school has started back I am thinking I must have had a lapse of sanity wanting school to start back. See, the thing is I am NOT a morning person. To be presentable to drop kids off at school my alarm goes off before the sun comes up. People, it is just unnatural to be up before the sun in my opinion. So what do I do most days? I sleep until the very last possible minute and drop the kids off in my pjs, complete with no bra or shoes. Lord, please don't let me have a wreck or a flat or an emergency which would cause me to have to leave the comfort of my vehicle! I may die of embarrassment! But not so much as to make me want to get up before the sun!

So we're all back into a routine of sorts which leaves me wanting to lie down with kids at nap time, but a routine nonetheless. And so far things are going as usual around here. William got his progress report yesterday and his teacher wrote that he needed to spend less time talking and more time focussing on his work. If she can figure out a way to make this happen she will be my savior b/c my threats have had little effect thus far. They get a behavior chart and it's been written on four times in the past three weeks. Just to put this in perspective a little, Charlie had the same chart last year in first grade. It was written on one time the entire year. So that's how it's looking for my man William. As for Charlie, he's a little sneakier. He gets a homework chart for each week with his assignments for each day. The first week no homework. The second week was pretty easy. By the third week I caught on that we were supposed to read a story each night. Only I had no story. But the vocabulary sheet was related to the title of the story so I thought that was it. Until this week the vocab ties to the story only there's no mistaking that the story is in and of itself different. It's called "Meeting Rosina" and the vocab words are about being deaf and signing and so forth. Last week it was about harvesting crops and I forget what the story was but something harvest, so I didn't know it was separate. Don't even ask what the story was the other week b/c I have no idea but I do know that we didn't read it b/c it wasn't here. Come to find out from my neighbor that they have a text book where the stories are and they're supposed to come home daily. When asked about it Charlie told me, "you only have to bring it home if your mom wants you to"....yeah right! Needless to say I let him know that if Rosina didn't make it home today I was going to kill him and then go have a lengthy discussion with the teacher. We'll see if I get to hear all about Rosina tonight.

My sweet Henry has gone back to preschool and you'll never believe what was in his class when we walked in....a hamster....a real one. Poor thing! It's gonna get loved to death. "And it even has it's ball that it can run around the class in," Henry filled me in on! I hope ole Zena Max (that's what they named him) doesn't get shaken too much! So naturally Henry now wants a real hamster for home and has even asked his meme to get him one. I kindly asked my mother-in-law to have mercy on me. I'm just hoping that Zena Max doesn't get to come on field trips (aka home with kids) b/c then I'll have all five of them begging for a rodent and I just don't think I can handle a hamster loose in my house!

The girls are home with me and are taking dance once a week. They are just the cutest little things in a leotard and tights! And they love it! I'm actually shocked by how well they pay attention! They are some of the most attentive in the class and wake up daily asking me if it's time to go to dance......just warms my soul!

And that's about it for our daily routine for now. Oh, and I forgot, all three boys are playing little league baseball in the fall league so we're running around crazy all week going here and there and everywhere for practice/games. It's done in mid October though, so it's not so bad. And it's mostly during the week which frees up our weekends to watch Alabama play some ball and I love that! So how about some pics?

William's first day of first grade:



Charlie's first day of second grade:



Both my boys:



Walking to class:












On the big boys' first day we went to breakfast with friends:







And to the park to get filthy dirty so we'd have to shower before pick up time:















Can you see all that dirt above?

Henry's first day:






And our little dancing queens on their first day:







And some cuteness:



Anyone still reading this? More catching up to come soon!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

I think I can......

Oh my oh my! I think I have figured out how to blog on my iPad Clayton got me for Christmas last year! Good thing because I think my laptop has officially died. I can't get it to turn on anymore. So here's a snapshot from this past Saturday.....thank God for football season!!! I LOVE it!!!


And now that I have figured out how to blog again, boy do i have some catching up to do! But first my house is screaming, "clean me!". And it can be ignored no longer! I'll be back!
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Monday, April 25, 2011

Resurrection Sunday

We had a great Easter service on Sunday and here we are sporting our Easter duds:
 I am not pregnant, or that fat for that matter.  The wind was blowing up my dress and it looks like it added about 20 extra pounds under it, ha!
 And the kiddos:
 Loving on sister:
                                     
I got no pictures after lunch.  Clothes were stained, kids were tired, mom had had it.  We all headed down for a nap and hunted eggs late that afternoon.  The kids gorged on candy and I sneaked a little myself, ha!  But all candy aside, I'm so thankful that God loved me (& you) so much that he sent his Son Jesus to die for my sins so that I can live eternally with Him!  He is RISEN!  HE is RISEN indeed!!!!  Happy Easter!

A Hunting We Will Go

Good Friday was a good Friday this year.  Our neighborhood held its annual Easter egg hunt that morning.  It was a beautiful day, a tad hot, but sunny and the kids had a ball hunting eggs.  We each had to bring 3 dozen eggs per child, meaning I showed up to hide 15 dozen eggs.  One of our neighbors donated something like 1200 eggs and some 60 or so were filled with money.  Henry found seven dollar coins and Margaret Ann scored two.  They were really neat.  They have all different presidents on them.  Henry was very excited to fill his piggy bank.  The rest of our loot consisted of candy.  FYI:  if you are hunting eggs in the sunny, high 80's degree weather DO NOT fill your eggs with chocolate.....it melts.  I stuffed with something that doesn't melt but we found lots with melted chocolate candies inside.  Anyway, we came home with a lot more than 15 dozen eggs.  I normally end up throwing away our plastic eggs over the course of the Easter festivities (of course I usually don't have anywhere near 15 dozen) but this year I decided I'm keeping those babies for next year.  I mean, have you priced a dozen plastic eggs lately?  They used to only cost you a quarter.  Not anymore!  Needless to say, I am well prepared for next year, be it school or neighborhood egg hunt, I've got all my bases covered.  I cleaned all my eggs and stored them in a hidden bag so the kids can't find and destroy! 
Here's the crew before the hunting began:
 Mary Collins finding some eggs:

 Margaret Ann on the hunt:

 Henry man:
 Charlie:
 William:
 MA:
After egg hunting we ran some errands and played outside and then we went and ate out with our friends the Seibs for my birthday.  It was a fun day and we all slept like babies that night!