2011 Week 39

Typical morning at the bus stop. All the kids hang out on the porch/driveway of the model home while we wait (and wait and wait - the bus never comes at the same time every day so we just plan on getting there early and waiting as long as it takes). Sometimes it's complete and absolute chaos.

It was a fun weekend. Kaitlyn went to a really long birthday party extravaganza on Saturday for her friend Ally. They got their nails done, went out to dinner, and went to a movie. I had plans to have a girls night of my own with some of the neighbors (so fun!) so Tyler and Sam went out and had some fun of their own. They went to the Lion King in 3D and out to dinner.

Sunday morning I went with a couple of friends to check out the flea market. Turns out it's not a good place to sell crafts, which is why we were checking it out, but as an outing it was a lot of fun. And none of us came home empty-handed (I found a Hello Kitty necklace/watch for Kaitlyn's bday) :)

Once I got home and put the house and the kids back in shape (so not fun to walk into the house and find Ty crying in his room with a frustrated husband on the couch), we decided to go bowling. This is something the kids LOVE to do and they get better and better every time. Neither one of them used the ball ramp thing and both got really good scores. In fact, Kaitlyn beat my score! (I purposelly threw a gutter ball after I got a spare on the last frame just to make sure of that, but mostly she did the winning on her own)

I've been making a lot of hats this week, and Tyler is my designated model. He loves this long-tailed one and wants me to make one for him in red. I had to laugh though because when I was trying to take a photo of another hat (it's a fall striped one that he has on UNDER this one) he told me "is this really mess-is-ary?" (necessary)

School photos were also this week, which usually I don't mind purchasing. But it seems like the prices have doubled since last year (and they were overpriced already) and I just couldn't justify paying that price for a photo that was never all that great. So I took a few minutes and snapped some of my own.

2011 Week 38

Random bits and pieces this week: Little boys and their pockets! :) Obviously, I'm going to have to start checking pockets when I do the laundry.

Practically every day when I pick him up at preschool, Tyler proudly shows me a "treasure" (or two or ten) he has found at recess. A couple of times it was a leaf, which he carefully stuck in his binder for later. Lately it has been rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. He would hop in the car and stick them in the cup holder of his car seat. Or bring them in and "wash" them. We now have a bucket by the door of the garage for his "collection."

I should have snapped a photo of the weather at some point because it's been the same every day - overcast and dark. I'm starting to miss the sun! The rain is always threatening but hasn't amounted to much most of the time. And once again I realize just how much the weather affects moods. One or two days of it and it's fun to enjoy being inside all warm and cozy. The cooler temperatures were a welcome break. Too many days of it and you start to feel tired for no reason and motivation and productivity go down the drain. Seriously. For the first time in a long time we had a weekend with all of us home and no plans and no intention to make plans. The only thing we had the energy or ambition to do was run to the grocery store, just for an excuse to get out of the house.

2011 Week 37

Just realized that the only photos I took this week are of crafts for the Etsy store and blog posts - nothing else! Note to self: pull out that camera more often! Though I am not going to beat myself up for just going ahead and living life and enjoying whatever we are doing. Not everything needs to be documented.

Oh wait, I take that back. Just remembered that Friday we took the kids to the fair. I really didn't go an entire week without pics of the kiddos!
It was a fun little outing for us. We chose to go Friday night because it was one of the few nights the Monster Trucks were going to be there and of course we just had to let Tyler see them. (He is completely obsessed with Monster Trucks. Says when he gets his driver's license he's gonna buy a monster truck :) ) The first thing we did when we got there was track down the monster trucks for Ty to see some in person. They were giving rides in the back of one so we shelled out the cash for Tyler to take his turn. He loved it!

Kaitlyn was trying to be patient but truly she was only excited about the rides. She's getting more daring than she used to be and wanted to go on pretty much every single one of them.

Our chatty little girl made a friend in about 2 seconds flat while waiting to get on this ride. I thought she must have known the girl from school with as quickly as they climbed on the ride together but according to Kate they were just friends right away.
We rode the rides with the kids for about an hour then it was time for the Monster Truck show. Tyler was so excited and so into it. It was so much fun to watch him cheering them on. Kaitlyn wasn't quite impressed and was only entertained for the first 20 min (of the hour it lasted). Eventually I gave her my phone to play with so she would quit pestering us to get back to the rides.

The finale was this guy attempting to do a back flip. Obviously he didn't succeed this time.
Kaitlyn was happy to drag us all back to the rides and we stayed as late as we dared (with Sam having an early morning at work the next day) and had a lot of fun. Sam even managed to find deep fried candy bar! (something he saw on the Food Network and has been scouring fairs for for at least a year)

Quick recap of the rest of the week:
-Sam had drill weekend - that always makes for a very long two weeks for all of us when he doesn't get a day off.
-the kids and I attended a neighborhood child's birthday party at the pool. The first of what I'm sure will be many functions like that. The kids had an absolute blast and because I had threatened Ty that we would leave if he took off his life jacket, I could enjoy visiting with the other parents while keeping an eye on him.

-personally it's been a really low key week. With the kids in school and Sam at work I feel like I have more time on my hands to do with what I will. That means a few fun outings with friends for errands and lunch and lots of extra craft time on my own. If I forget the parts of the week where I was trying desperately to stay out of the neighborhood drama then I'd have to say it was a pretty good, very normal week!

2011 Week 36

Guess what?! Our neighborhood pool is open and fully functional WOOHOOO! We went down to check out as as soon as we heard the news and when Kaitlyn got home from school she joined us too. We spent pretty much the entire evening there with a lot of the neighbors - so fun. We've been enjoying it quite often since, trying to get the most use out of it before the hot weather is gone.

We did a lot of random things over the holiday (Labor Day) weekend. Some time in the pool. Launching rockets (that Sam surprised the kids with one day). And Sam and I even got a date on our "anniversary" (13 years since the day we got engaged!) thanks to a nice friend that offered to take care of the kids for us all afternoon on Sunday.

School, work, and regular life - all pretty normal at the moment. First big craft day with the ladies in the neighborhood went very well. Life is good.

2011 Week 35

More stories than photos this week. Some weeks are like that.
First day of preschool - woohoo! I really thought we'd end up skipping this milestone and I'd be doing "home preschool" (as Kaitlyn calls it) myself. I still probably will a little bit since I've already got the stuff and the facility I'm taking him to isn't something I'm completely psyched about. But it does him good to get out and socialize with kids his own age, learn some of the things he will need to know for school next year like how to take direction from someone other than his parents, how to sit still and follow instructions, etc. And it doesn't hurt that I now have a few hours to myself every morning.
Tyler was SO excited for the first day of school. He wore his backback down to the bus stop with Kaitlyn. And when she was off on the bus he pretty much drug me all the way back home so we could go to school. It was pretty cute. Once we were there he showed no fear, especially when he saw that a little girl from our neighborhood (the one he says he's going to marry someday :) ) was also there. So I left him there without any problems, then came home and got hit pretty hard with the emotions that go along with having your baby hit a milestone like going to school. A nice friend checked in on me in the middle of my little pity party and I gratefully accepted her offer to go for a walk and get my mind off of it. We ended up spending most of the day together and having a great time. I love that I'm making more and more friends here and every week I feel more excited about how the neighborhood is shaping up.

They feed them breakfast and lunch at the preschool but I pick him up at lunchtime in order to avoid naps and because I think jumping from all day at home to all day at school is just too much. It's not like he'd eat whatever they feed him for lunch most of the time anyway.
When I picked him up the first day, one of the teachers asked if he knew the one little girl from our neighborhood already. Of course I said yes and was told that they two of them were pretty inseparable all day and had even held hands and given each other a hug. I've since noticed that every time I go to pick him up, the two of them are almost always together. Not sure if that is only because they only kids they know there are each other or what, but it's cute. Can't believe my little guy already has his first "girlfriend."

First and second days of drop off went smoothly but Tuesday of this week was another matter entirely. For the first time in his life Tyler did the Cling and Cry thing when I dropped him off. Completely threw me for a loop. The day after that wasn't much better. *sigh*

That doesn't keep him from having fun at school, or from the teachers having funny stories to tell. The other day, he was playing in the sand and got some down his pants. And in the process of demonstrating exactly where the sand was that was bothering him, he pretty much mooned the whole class! :)

Kaitlyn is settling in to school rather well. So far the only homework she has had is reading every day and she loves reading so much I never have to ask if she's done it.

The other bright spot in the week was the fact that I pushed the school hard enough to get our bus stop moved into the subdivision and off the busy road. Woohoo!

Let's see what else...Sam took a long weekend with his buddies and went to a race in Bristol. (I'll need to add one or two of his photos) They camped out for the duration and as far as I can tell, it was a good trip.

Almost forgot about the hurricane scare! Of course it would happen while Sam was gone. We had constant wind and scattered rain for 48 hours straight and I have to admit it made me a little nervous. I figured we were far enough inland it wouldn't be a big deal here and I was right. But I did have a little "adventure" helping a neighbor repair a section of her fence that got knocked down in the middle of the storm. No husbands around but we still got it done! :) Once again we were lucky - there was plenty of damage all up the coast.