Quick 5

Is it just me or are the mornings getting quite cool around here?

1.  Not much to report.  We've been settling into our school routine, which has been going quite nicely.  Next week we'll add the layer that involves taking all the girls to school for drop off and pick up.  We've been able to skip that part because Lee has been working from home most of the time, but he says he needs to be in the office all next week.  I knew this day was coming. We'll manage.

2.  Joya actually loves staying home with Daddy while I run Alaina to school.  It surprises me, because she usually doesn't like being left out of anything.  Bria puts up a fuss so I take her with us, but Joya likes to stay home and color in peace.

3.  Speaking of Joya, if anyone needs a birthday present idea for her, you can't go wrong with a princess dress.  This one has been loved and loved and loved and I'm quite shocked it's still holding together.  She likes to wear it out and about on our errands and most of the comments from other people involve, "Oh, that must be a favorite!"

4.  Last Friday was Bria's 18 month well check up.  Our good doctor said that it is at this age that you can get a good idea of how tall they are going to be as adults.  It's not an exact science, but you can basically double what height they are between 18 and 24 months and get a good ball park figure. Based on this info, Bria will land between 5' 7" and 5' 9".  I'm 5' 4".  She's going to be a giant.  Our old pediatrician was laid back (so was I) so I don't really have a good record of how tall Alaina and Joya were at this age, but I expect Joya to be somewhere up there with her, and Alaina to probably be the shortest.  I'm preparing in my heart to be looked down upon by all my children.

5.  My project of the week has been these puppies:

 Another Pinterest success, if I do say so myself.  They're tooth fairy pillows, in case you couldn't tell. Alaina is probably another month or two away from needing it, but she does have a loose tooth. And since I was going through all the trouble of making one, I thought I might as well make three.  And I got to buy a fat quarter bundle, which is one of the funnest things on the planet to buy.  The girls like them, but I don't think they are quite as impressed as I am.  Oh well.

Quick 5

::insert witty opening line about our week::

1.  Last Friday I heard a noise while I was in the basement.  This was noteworthy because Joya was making a racket upstairs, and I heard this tiny noise coming from outside.  So I looked out the window into our largest window well, right into the eyes of a tiny bunny.  That well is deep and the bunny was tiny, so there was no way he was getting out on his own.  Like any respectable wife, I emailed Lee.  And then threw some grass down the well so he'd have something to munch on.  When Lee got home from work he suited up and got down in the well with the bunny.  It took a minute or two, but Lee prevailed and set that bunny free.  (If I find that the bunny ends up in my backyard eating my garden, there will be war in the camp.)

2. Alaina started first grade!  She's gone for four days now, and it already feels like we've been doing this all along.  My biggest concern is forgetting to pick her up after school, since that is something we've never done before.  So far so good.  Alaina loves her class and her teacher.  Her teacher is just as great as last year, but I have been marveling at the difference between the two.  Both are extremely kind and obviously love kids, but where Mrs. Galloway was soft-spoken, Mrs. Casassa is loud.  She just has a higher volume.  I worked with her for about 5 hours on Saturday at an all-school work day and really enjoyed her company, but definitely noticed the volume difference.

A little throw back to last year:

3.  Joya was pretty upset the day Alaina went to school.   We tried to tell her how great it was going to be to be the big sister for awhile each day, but she declared that she was NOT the big sister.  I never realized how much she enjoyed being Alaina's little sister.  And at one point during the day Bria looked around and said "Ay-na?"  She obviously missed her too.  As they days have passed they've gotten used to Alaina being gone, but she was definitely missed that first day.

4.  In addition to starting school, Awana started this week, and Joya got to go to Cubbies for the first time. She gave me a bunch of hooey about missing me, but when I gave her the option to stay home instead she adamantly refused. Of course she had a great time, and I'm excited for her to be doing big girl things like going to class.  She was pretty exhausted the next day after going to bed so late, but she'll get used to that.

5. I started a new job this week.  I think I'm the Queen of Many Small Jobs.  I still am the nursery director at church, which is about 10 hours a week.  I also work for my dad's company, which is about 10 hours a week.  And thanks to my good friend Misty, on Thursday mornings I will now watch the little kids for a homeschooling group.  Our first day was yesterday and it was both great and HORRIBLE.  The horrible part was my own youngest.  Bria had had a bad night before, and she was not happy that I was holding other babies.  So, like an infant, she screamed the whole three hours.  That's not an exaggeration either.  Moms kept stopping by the nursery and asking if they needed to go find a mom for me.  I had to swallow my embarrassment and confess that the screaming child was indeed mine.  The other kids were actually pretty amazing, considering the ruckus Bria was making.  So I am looking forward to next week, hoping that Bria just really had a bad day and will be back to her normal self next time.

Welcome to our Fall life.

Quick 5

There's something about mid-August that makes me want to go spend a few days at the YMCA Camp of the Rockies in Estes Park.

1.  Last Friday we were so lucky to be able to see our friend "Uncle" Joe.  Joe is Lee's old buddy who was the best man in our wedding, and now lives in Alaska with his lovely family.  He was down here on a job and came over for dinner.  It was so fun to see him, and the girls loved him too.  They hardly let him get a word in edgewise.  Our visits are with him are unfortunately few and far between, and we hope to see his whole family the next time.

2. Our newest addition to our household is a new table, brought to us by our garage sale and Craigslist.  It is the perfect size that we wanted and it was an amazing price.  Unfortunately, I think it's ugly.  It's a good, solid piece of furniture, just obviously dated.  Thanks to the encouragement of a friend and Pinterest I think we can paint it to update it.  It sounds like a huge project, but if I can truly make it like the ones I've seen then I will really love it.  But I'm trying to just be grateful, regardless of its appearance.  Like I said, it's the right size and it was the right price.  And I am thankful.

The cushions came with the table.  They're quite comfy.

 3.  With the new table came another change: Bria eats at the table with us now.  She had been doing a great job keeping the food on her plate at meals, so I moved her over.  She's like a real live human being now.

4.  This week I took Alaina on a special Before School Mommy Daughter Date.  We left the little girls at home to eat mac and cheese with Daddy, and she and I went to Panda Express.  It was her first time eating Chinese food out.  We had a nice visit, but she would have rather stayed home to eat mac and cheese with the little girls.  I guess it did turn out to be a special meal, since she got to have a cookie and lemonade for dinner and how often does that happen?  Oh well.

She had one bite of that delicious Chinese food and that was it.  I really enjoyed it later.

5.

These two peas in a pod. Life is going to look so different next week.  We met Alaina's teacher, Mrs. Casassa, and she seems so nice and energetic.  Many of Alaina's friends are in her class again, and this girl is ready for first grade.

So ends the Summer of 2014.

Quick 5

August.  That month of the year that feels like one big countdown.

1.  I survived my first garage sale, thanks to my mom and Lee's parents, who were such big helps.  For two days I hardly saw my girls and hardly thought about their daily care, since they were in capable hands.  Instead I sat in a stuffed, lonely garage.  We made signs and put up ads and put up flags, but I just did not get the traffic that I thought I would on our busy street.  So that was disappointing.  But we did make a little and got rid of some stuff, and that's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, right?  So now that I've done one I know I can handle it.  And I'll try again in a couple of years.

Believe it or not, this chair actually sold

2.  Alaina did hang out with me quite a bit, but mostly to run her very own Fun Pop stand.  (Fun Pops are the dollar store version of Otter Pops.)  She made her stand the week before, and would sit out in front of the garage calling to anyone passing by.  Sometimes she called out when there was no one passing by.  She made $1.25, and now is as good a time as any to start implementing Financial Peace Junior.

3.  Grampa did help out with an awesome project (that I will reveal later, when it is completed), but it wasn't all work.  The girls spent many hours playing and reading with Gramma and Grampa. Bria doesn't let me read stories to her the way Grampa does.  I think it's time to come to terms with the fact that she likes both of her grandfathers more than me.

 4.  We went to church on Saturday night so we could go hiking on Sunday.  We found an amazing hiking place, even though we got lost and it took us twice as long to get there as we should have.  Once we got there we immediately ate lunch to pacify Bria, and then got to spend a grand total of 15 minutes actually hiking.  The point is, though, that it was a scouting trip and we're looking forward to going back when a.) we know exactly how to get there, b.) we can get there much much earlier to beat the crowds, and c.) Bria will be older and not as crabby.

Happy now, not so happy in about 10 minutes

Joya had loaded down her pockets with rocks to throw in the river, so she had to constantly pull up her pants

5.  Alaina is officially registered for first grade.  All her school supplies are ready.  All her uniforms are ready.  I just need to figure out the whole packing a lunch thing.  Next week is back to school night, and then it will be time to jump in to the school year.  So exciting.

Here's to the last week of summer vacation!

Quick 5

The weather this week has been so wet and cool and wonderful.  Shades of those few summer days we spent in Alaska a couple of years ago.  #bliss

1.  This weekend is garage sale weekend.  I'll say it over and over, to anyone who has ears to hear: DO NOT wait 10 years to have a garage sale.  In honor of Garage Sale Weekend, you get a boring, abbreviated Quick 5 (mostly to pacify those members of my family who are cry babies and don't care how busy my life gets JUST GIVE THEM THE QUICK 5.)

2.  Next week school begins.  Not really, but we do have registration, and then the following week houses back to school night and then school starts.  But next week gets the whole ball rolling.  I am neither happy nor sad about it; it is what it is.  Another step in Alaina's life. Maybe I'm not mentally preparing for what it is actually going to be like when she goes to school full day.

3.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the relationship between Joya and Bria change and grow.  Really, for the past year and half it's been Alaina and Joya bumming around and Bria's just been a growing baby.  But Bria is almost old enough to play with others, and with Alaina gone for most of the day Joya and Bria will naturally become playmates.  The whole things should be fascinating.

4.  Our house is in a state of transition, as Bria figured out how to escape the cozy living room pen that we've made for her.  One day this week, while Lee was working from home at the kitchen table, he looked into the living room and didn't see Bria when he should have.  "Where's Bria?" he asked.  Bria then came from down the hall and poked her head around the corner of the dining room, very clearly outside of the gate.  So we've rearranged the gate to prevent her from coming into the kitchen, but giving her free reign of the living room and hall.  It's been high maintenance, as her main goal seems to be to inadvertently destroy all the books we have.  I'm hoping that a few days of freedom will wear off the newness of the books and she'll soon leave them alone, or at least learn how to handle them properly.

5.  And, just because we've been having so much fun looking at them, here's a little throwback for you:

Alaina and Joya, May 2011

Come to our garage sale!