A Milestone

I feel I have come to a milestone in my life as a mother. I have finally come to the point in my motherhood where I have a child attending school full time. From the moment the girls get up, I am non-stop moving in at least five different directions. I have to pack a lunch for Alli and Tori on her preschool days. I have to make sure Alli eats her breakfast, brushes her teeth and brushes her hair. I have to help Tori and Katie dress and brush their teeth. I fix their hair. Alli no longer wants me to fix her hair :( (She is getting way too old!) After Alli gets on the bus, Tori has preschool or gymnastics or dance. So at 8:35am (I know I have it pretty easy considering the time that most elementary schools start in Texas.) I put her on the bus and don't see her or hear from her for 7 hours. WOW! This is a big deal! I never knew how easy I had it with half day PM kinder! I was rarely the anxious yelling mom in the mornings. If Alli did not eat all her breakfast, no big deal. I would give her a snack a couple hours later. All we had going on in the mornings last year was dance, gymnastics or Bible study. None of that even started until 9:30. And we had two days where we could stay in our PJ's until noon if we wanted to! So if I can say anything positive about PM kinder, it is that it gave me my mornings!

I will say that Alli really seems to be enjoying her full day at school. She is the type of child that likes to stay busy. She does not seem the least bit exhausted by a full day. She loves that she gets to go to two "specials" a day. And, again, just like she did last year, she loves riding the bus with her friends. Our bus stop is the last stop so, unfortunately, she only has about a 3 minute bus ride! She has her friends here in the neighborhood and is making new friends in her class. She also likes her teacher a lot. I am so anxious to go to Back to School Night to find out more about her day and her new school. It seems like they have it so late....shouldn't back to school night be the first week of school?

Tori also seems to like her school. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Morales. Tori says her name so cute, "Mrs. More Alice". Tori's school also has Back to School night next week. I am so glad that they welcome siblings to all school events!

I am enjoying the four hours two days a week that I have alone with Katie. On Tuesdays, she and I are doing a Mommy and Me gymnastics class. She had a lot of fun on the first day. She was a good listener and stayed in circle time the whole time. I will admit, I was surprised! She is a bit defiant and doesn't always do exactly what I am asking her to do- examples: get out of the car, come into the house, put your paci back in your bed, ect.! I will keep hoping she listens as well as she did the first day!

Alli has her second soccer game this weekend. I was so proud of her on her first game! She did great and really went after the ball. Soccer is huge here! Is it just here, or is it like that every where? I will post Alli's soccer, and Tori and Katie's dance and gymnastic pics soon! I have been totting my camera around every where and haven't had time to download pics!

Tori's First Day

Yesterday was Tori's first day of preschool. She did awesome! This day has been long awaited! She was so excited to start school.

Off to school! What a big girl!

I am trying hard not to compare this preschool to the perfect preschool that Alli went to in San Antonio. The schools here are so different............can't explain it- they are just different! But I am pleased with this preschool. And all that really matters is that Tori likes it. I want her to be in a loving environment where she has lots of fun and wants to go back every Tuesday and Thursday.

Some help from her teacher.

Ready to learn and have some fun!

 

While Tori was enjoying herself at school, Katie and I spent two hours at Target. It was great! I did not have to take any body to the restroom. I did not have to browse through the toys. And I did not have any one tell me that I wasn't fair for not buying them anything. I am sure these days will be short lived. Not long from now, Katie will be potty training. The mints, gum and rainbow Goldfish that I put into the cart upon her request will no longer seem like such a treat. And she will soon realize that there are a lot of toys in the store with the big red cart. But, I will enjoy it while it last!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Today Pete and I have been married ten years!

What an amazing ten years it has been!

You may remember that I mentioned a trip to Cancun to celebrate our anniversary early. We left from Texas back in July while the girls had plenty of family to love on them. It is always so hard for me to leave the girls. I get really stressed out the day before we leave, but I always enjoy myself and know that it is good for us to have some alone time. We had a great time! Pete and I love beach vacations where we can walk on the beach for a bit and then head back to the pool! I do love spending time on the beach- but mostly with the kids! When it is just us, I don't want to deal with all the sand! I want to lay in a chair, jump in and out of the pool when I need to cool off and have a waiter bring me fruity drinks! So that is exactly how we spent our time. We layed around the pool all day and managed to get in a round of golf and a couple of massages in between. I can't go on vacation without trying out the spa! And I am pretty sure Pete feels just the same when it comes to playing golf! The two go hand in hand.

Here is the happy couple waiting for our cab in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton. The hotel was great. And we had fabulous food every night.

Pete had flowers and champagne waiting in our room......so thoughtful!

This was taken as a tropical storm was coming through. Notice that the palm trees look like they are going to fly away.

My annual attempt at playing golf. The only time I get to play is when Pete and I have a vacation by ourselves. Pete is always super patient. He is a pretty good coach.

Pete playing well.

We had a very relaxing get-away in Cancun. These past ten years have flown by! I am so thankful for all that God has blessed us with. And I am looking forward to starting our 11th year here in New Jersey!

My Big First Grader!

Here is Alli right before we went to  Meet The Teacher at her school yesterday afternoon. She was very anxious and nervous. She kept telling me her belly was hurting. Which was making me SO NERVOUS! I felt so bad for her. On the inside, my belly was hurting too! But on the outside, I stayed positive and talked about all the good things that she gets to do in school this year- like go to specials every week, eat lunch at school, check out books, ride the bus....but what I really wanted to do was pick up my big six year old, hold her and hug her tight and promise her we will never move again! Alli really does not like "new" things. And I know how hard it must be for her to go to a new school. So we met her teacher. She is an older woman with a lot of experience. And I have only heard nice things about her. She seemed very nice and I am glad Alli is in her classroom. After prayers and kisses last night, as I was walking out of Alli's room she called me back in. "Do you think Mrs. Miller is nice, Mommy?" I say, "Yes! She seems very nice." And Alli says, "I think she seems very nice too." And that little conversation made me feel so much better. It was the first positive thing Alli had said about school!

So guess what Alli said about school today? She loved it! YAY! Oh- that just made my day!

This is our bus stop! All but 2 of these kids are right in our little neighborhood. And there are a total of 7 first graders. Alli is the second on the left.

My Big First Grader!!!

I did not get any pictures of Alli by herself this morning. I brought my camera to the bus stop without a memory card! I did get some of her this afternoon, but she was not really cooperating!

And this little cutie pie will have her first day next week!

Dog Days of Summer

(Isn't Maddie the cutest!?!)

 

It really has not been hot enough up here to call it "the dog days of summer", but our days have been quite mundane. We are lacking in excitement around here. But sometimes that is a good thing!

Since the weather has been so nice, the girls and I have been spending a lot of time outdoors. We have a lot to do right in our own back yard.

Kate and Tori swing.

Alli climbs the monkey bars.

And she catches butterflies.

She is really good at catching them. She keeps them in her little bug box for a little bit. And then, reluctantly, she lets them go.

They all pick raspberries.

We have a ton of raspberry bushes in our yard. They are yummy!

We look for weird bugs.

We feed the fish.

Next week Alli will go back to school. And the the following week Tori will start preschool. This is Alli's first year of all day school and Tori's first year of preschool. She will go to school two days a week. I am glad to be getting back on a schedule and routine, but I will miss my girls! And I am sure after about a month of running around to gymnastics, ballet and soccer practice, I will be wishing for those mundane days with nothing to do!

Oh- Mr. Bear has shown up around the hood a couple of more times. I had actually just started running with a neighbor and the day before we were scheduled to run the bear was in our neighborhood. My neighbor was like, "It will be fine. I have been running for a long time and nothing has ever happened." I gave in and went for a run with her the next day. I prayed before we ran that we would not run into Mr. Bear. So as we are about halfway into our run, a truck that was coming towards us slows down and then stops. The gentleman rolls down the window and tells us that we probably don't want to go any further because he just saw a bear down the road! Thank you Lord for sending this man to keep me from having a heart attack!! Seriously, I don't know what I would have done if I would have seen that bear! Could you imagine? I know some people think it is silly to let a bear keep me from running outside. They say the bear is scared of you and doesn't want anything to do with you. But this momma is not taking any chances. My neighbor and I made it back home in record time that day! Our running relationship was short lived......maybe we'll start up again when Mr. Bear is hibernating.

Virginia Beach Vacation

We had a great time on our vacation. We went to Virginia Beach with Pete and Jami Manternach and their two kids, Tyler and Carson. Pete and Jami are great friends of ours from our Army days. Pete (my Pete) went to school with both of them. It was about an eight hour drive for us. We were a bit nervous about how the drive would go, but it went very well. In fact, it went so well that we are actually considering driving home for Thanksgiving! I was also a bit nervous about being at at the beach with the kids for a whole week. Especially since we were not at a resort with a ton of other things to do. But the kids did fantastic. It was awesome to see them enjoy themselves so much. And vacationing with our friends was great. Tori was always referring to Pete M. as "the other Pete- not the one your married to". It was so cute.

We rented a house that was right across the street from the beach entrance. Location was key.....there were a lot of bathroom trips! The house was.....er, not so great. But it worked and we really did not spend a ton of time in the house. Our daily schedule was as follows:

* Wake up

* Eat breakfast

* Get sun screen and suits on

* Go to the beach for hours

* Back to the house for lunch

* Back to the beach for a few more hours.

* Back to the house

* Shower children outside

* Make and eat dinner

* Put the kids to bed

* Drink margaritas and play cards

* Go to bed

Yep, that pretty much wraps up our vacation! We did not do a whole lot more than hang on the beach! And that is my kind of vacation!

We did manage to exercise on a few days.

We adults got one night out! Pete and Jami go to VA Beach every year so they have a babysitter there.

The kids also had a couple of nights out. We let them ride their bikes down the boardwalk to get some ice cream one night. On our last night, we went to a little carnival type amusement park. And, of course, we spent some time in those overpriced souvenir shops!

Here are a few pictures from this past week.

Pete caught a little sting ray.

Alli and Carson are mermaids. They had a lot of fun together.

Tori spent hours building sand castles and decorating them with sea shells.

Run Katie Run! Katie loved to run into the water. She would lay down and splash around for about a minute, get back up and run back to me. She would tell me how cold it was and then turn around and repeat this- over and over again.

Tyler is really good at boogie boarding. Next year he gets a surf board!

Pete had a great beard by the end of the week.

What a nice way to end our vacation- Go-Cart racing!

Pete V. vs Pete M.

Vacations are always learning experiences. I am always leaving a vacation and saying next time we should do this or next time we wont do this. As always, I learned a few things from this vacation:

1.  Ultimate Margarita Mix must be refrigerated after opening......major intestinal problems will result if it is not refrigerated.

2.  Kids can be entertained for hours upon hours on the beach with nothing more than buckets and shovels.

3.  You can never have enough snacks for a day at the beach.

4.  Kids will still eat their snacks even if it has sand in it.

5.  No matter how long you leave windows and doors open, you can never really get rid of the moth ball smell.

6.  Never do all your laundry before leaving a rent house that smells like moth balls. When you return home and open up your suitcase, all the clean clothes will smell like moth balls and need to be rewashed.

7.  The sand is never completely gone.

8.  While going to the beach with your kids there is no need to bring a book........unless your name is Pete.

9.  Digging holes in the sand is considered a workout when you are on vacation.

10. Not all kids will pee in the water.

VA Beach

Eight hours in the car to spend one week on the beach.....I hope it is worth it!


I'll let you know!