Kindergarten!

After much anticipation, today was Shelby's big day- her first day of Kindergarten!  Last night we picked out all her clothes for the week, she received a blessing from Jeremy, and got to bed.  She told me she was so excited she could hardly sleep last night.  But, I know she slept pretty well because when I went to wake her up this morning and it was still dark outside she said, "What?!  Mom, it's still the nighttime!".  But she quickly popped out of bed, excited for the day.  She ate about one bite of breakfast (which was yummy quiche, by the way) and stopped because she "didn't want her tummy to hurt in class because she ate too much".  After a bath and finding her "Monday" clothes in her closet, we were ready to go. 

 



We got to the school a little early and I showed Shelby where she will sit in the cafeteria with her class while they wait for Ms. Logue.  As other kids came and sat down I tried to get Shelby to say hello to them but she told me she was too shy.  Shelby has always been the type to just go up to random kids at the playground and ask them to be her best friend- I think it was just a little overwhelming with all the kids and parents there.  Plus, maybe a little intimidating with 5th graders sitting just one table over.  (Still not sure how I feel about that!)  She kept fidgeting with her necklace and twirling her hair- it was cute!

 

Then the bell rang and it was time to line up and walk to class.  They went in, put their backpacks up and sat in their desks.  And then there was nothing left but for me to say goodbye.  Before I left I was trying to get Shelby to say hello to the boy sitting next to her, but she wouldn't.  I could tell she was feeling a little clingy so I reminded her that she was nervous the first day of preschool but then she made great friends like Jorrin and Skylar and that this would be just like that.  She gave me the biggest hug and kiss and said, "Thanks, mom!".  When I walked out I looked back and saw that the boy sitting next to Shelby was tearing up and I just prayed that him being sad wouldn't make Shelby sad too.

 

 

I was so excited to pick Shelby up and hear all about her day.  She told us they learned about what to do at school if there is a fire, and she was really excited that they got to visit the computer lab.  They did not go outside for recess "because of the mosquitoes" (good to know they are taking this West Nile thing seriously).  And then she said the sweetest thing of all.  She said the two best parts of her day were "playing with the marbles with Riley during centers time, and knowing that we loved her".  Awww!  She also gave me a huge hug when she asked if she could go back tomorrow and I said yes.  I hope she stays this excited about school!

Not a seamstress

Yesterday I found some cute, simple maternity dresses at H&M.  They were stretchy and comfortable, and only $14.95.  Sweet!  The only problem was they were just a tad too short.  So, I bought two- a plain black dress and a black and light tan striped dress.  I stopped by Hobby Lobby and picked up a little fabric, came home, and got to work.  So this project would probably take a normal person like 20 minutes to do.  But seeing as how I am terrible with sewing projects it took me about 2 hours.  It's not perfect by any means.  If you look closely you can my hemline on the dress, even though I was trying to match it up with one of the black stripes so that it'd be hidden.  The thing that took the longest was the pink sash/tie I did.  That sucker took forever to turn right side out!  Anyway, here I am this morning right before church.  Like I said, not perfect, but it did the job.  The dress was nice and comfy at church.  I got some gray fabric to add to the bottom of the black dress, and now that I have done it once, hopefully it'll go a little faster.

Almost 19 weeks

Seeing Spots

I am a little over 17 weeks now, and I have been feeling much better lately.  The nausea isn't 24/7 like it had been, and now I usually only get sick if I wait too long to eat or after I eat too much.  I am feeling big- I swear I am bigger at 17 weeks with this baby than I was at 27 weeks with Joey.  Other pregnancy symptoms include lots of stuffiness at night which has resulted in waking up with a migraine every single day for the past week, pregnancy brain which resulted in me forgetting a key to the church on Wednesday night (the one night The Colony ward wasn't there early, so we ended up having our class presidency meetings outside), fat face (I always gain weight in my arms and face first), and lovely dark spots on my cheeks (I didn't have this at all with Shelby, and with Joey it happened during delivery so I thought it was just a reaction to the epidural.  It is actually a reaction to hormones.)  But on a positive note, one of the best symptoms of all is that I have been feeling the baby for a couple of weeks now.  It's just little taps, mostly at night when I am laying down, but they are getting stronger and more frequent.

Since I have been feeling better, at least with the nausea, I decided to really make an effort this past week with dinner.  I have been wanting to try out a few recipes from the "Our Best Bites" cookbook, so I wrote out a menu plan and we stuck to it all week. 

                     Sunday  -   Roast with potatoes and carrots
                     Monday -  Creamy corn and potato chowder
                     Tuesday  -  Coconut chicken tenders with roasted ranch potatoes
                     Wednesday  -  Zaxby's (Hey, I planned on not cooking this day since it is so hectic trying to get ourselves and the girls ready for mutual.)
                     Thursday  -  Red beans and rice
                     Friday  - Homemade pizzas

The girls had a lot of fun making their pizzas last night, and I love when they can help cook dinner.

As you can see from the pictures, the girls were in need of haircuts so we woke up nice and early this morning and took them in.  They had the best time at the little kiddie salon.  Joey was in Heaven because the movie they put on for her was "Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper".  Each of the girls got over 2 inches trimmed, and then they braided their hair (I hate that they parted Joey's hair down the middle.  Oh well.), and then each girl got their nails painted and sparkles on their faces.  Of course Shelby LOVED it all, but it really surprised us how Joey reacted.  She kept posing in the mirror and telling everyone to look at her.  It was cute.

We ate some lunch and got back with enough time to do a little swimming before the rain hit.  I am so proud of Shelby.  Without any lessons she has learned to swim under water, dive in and swim to the steps, etc.  It eases the mom guilt a little about not putting her in swim lessons.  I know we probably won't have too much swim time left this summer since Jeremy has to go to New Orleans next week, then school starts the week after.  And then she starts soccer soon after that.  Whew!  I am getting tired just thinking how busy everything is about to become.  Anyway, with not much swim time left this summer I am just hoping that Shelby remembers all that she has learned once we start swimming again next summer!

Arise and Shine Forth

Last weekend we woke up early and drove down to Ft. Hood to help Tristan and Ana celebrate Liam's 1st birthday.  Liam is so cute and the girls just love playing with him.  We ate some yummy food, opened presents, and then went swimming.  The girls were wiped out when we drove home that night!

Friday night we went to a Rangers game.  Technically it was a work thing for Jeremy since we were there with some adjusters.  We had a great time eating unhealthy food and getting on the jumbo tron.  The Rangers lost, of course, and they usually do when we go to games.  We are seriously bad luck for them.  Of course they won the two other games in the series.  Haha!

Today was our Young Women's sacrament meeting program based on the 2012 theme "Arise and Shine Forth".  We decided that rather than do the traditional have each class president speak followed by a song and then me, that we would do a program more like the Primary program.  Each girl had several parts and we sang 4 songs.  The girls did such a great job and I was really proud of them.  I am just glad it is over now- not that it was really that stressful, it's just one less thing to have to worry about. 



Girlies

I was thinking about baby books the other day and how I have done a terrible job of filling out Joey's book, or even Shelby's book since Joey was born, for that matter.  I feel like it's somewhat ok, because I think I do an ok job of recording most of the events in their lives on the blog, but I realized I am doing horribly at writing down the little things- the funny things they say and do on a daily basis.  I really need to do better because they have us cracking up all day long.

Joey talks ALL THE TIME and it is so funny to hear her pick up phrases and use them in the correct context.  Yesterday I made them mac and cheese for lunch.  I gave Joey her bowl and said, "It's really hot, you need to blow on it."  Of course she ignored me and tried to eat a spoonful anyway and said, "Ooo-wee, that's hot!".  So she put her spoon down and said, "Phew!  That was close!".  She also looooves to sing.  She pretty much knows all the words to "Baby" (the only Justin Bieber song we let the girls listen to) and she knows all the words to all the songs on Barbie's "Princess and the Pauper".  Last night in the car I was teaching her what GOOD music is and put on some DMB.  She started dancing to "Ants Marching" and made me proud.  She also loves to take her diaper off and yell, "Booty cheeeeeeeeks!".  Also, if she does something and you laugh, and she didn't necessarily think it was funny, she will yell, "That's not very funny!".  She is saying her prayers by herself and reminds us every night before bed to read her "Jesus Christ book" (the Book of Mormon board book).

Shelby loves to sing as well and spends most of her day making up songs, drawing pictures of her costumes or dance moves, or practicing her performances.  One thing she does that KILLS me though is when she sings she imitates all those goofy teeny bop singers out there that don't know how to speak properly.  So "me" is pronounced more like "meh", etc.  Ugh!  It kills me!!  She is still in gymnastics and loves it, but we are going to finish up at her current gym at the end of the month and then look for another gym.  They have just gotten too crowded and they keep raising their fees, so it's time for us to move on.  She is starting soccer next month and is really excited about that.  She has been sounding out words but sometimes we get very frustrated when we work on this together (I could never be an elementary teacher).  The other day she saw one of those ads for shredded wheats and ran into our room and said, "I know what I need!  I need that cereal that helps you concentrate!  Then I will read better!".  Goofball.  She is so excited to start kindergarten on the 27th though.  I have no doubt she will make tons of friends and do really well.

Anyway, that is about all for now.  Hopefully I will do better at recording all these little things!

Happy 12th!

Sunday was our 12th anniversary!  It is still so weird sometimes to think we have been married so long since most people our age are only hitting the 7-8 year mark.  Saturday we had a date night at the temple and ate at Gordon Biersch afterwards.  Man I love those garlic fries.  I woke up Sunday and made breakfast for Jeremy as he got packed and ready to head to the airport.  He had to go to Boston for training for his new job for a few days, so it kind of stunk that we didn't actually get to spend our anniversary together, but we do plan on celebrating another time when we go have our traditional anniversary dinner at Copelands.

It was definitely hard not having him here for 3 whole days.  I know I can't really complain when there are so many single parents, or people who have spouses on deployment, or people whose spouses work crazy hours and are never home, BUT taking care of two young kids while pregnant and working full time is tough stuff, so I feel I have earned the right to complain just a tiny bit.  The girls were actually pretty good aside from the normal arguing over who is playing with what Barbie, etc.  During the day it isn't so bad because I am used to working and taking care of them while Jeremy is at work.  It's all the night time stuff that made me really miss and appreciate Jeremy.  It is so nice when he is home- just to have the extra pair of hands to help change diapers (hopefully not much longer- Joey has almost potty trained herself.   If I weren't so lazy she would have been in underwear weeks ago), get juice, entertain the girls while dinner is being made, etc.  He finally got home at 11:30 last night and showed me all his fun new gadgets- iPad, key chain camera to spy on people, etc.  This morning when the girls woke up he jumped right up and got them breakfast and gave them their shirts he got them in Boston and let me sleep a few minutes extra.  Such a sweet husband. 

So really the point is not that I want to complain about Jeremy being gone, but show my appreciation for when he is home.  He really is the best husband and father and I couldn't ask for anyone better.  We set out 12 years ago with so many people thinking we were dumb for getting married so young, but we had our goals and stuck to them and continue to work towards others we have set.    I love you, Jeremy!  Happy 12th Anniversary!