The Road to Kindergarten: Part 1

I was in the kitchen, doing my usual morning routine: sip of coffee....get out vitamins for kids...sip of coffee...who needs a glass of milk?....sip of coffee.....get Gracie her breakfast....look at the time and realize that I need to chug the remainder of the coffee....as I'm putting my mug in the sink, I happened to glance at the calendar...time to flip it over!  August.  It was here.  Brian came up the stairs having finished ironing his work clothes, and I said "well...it's August.  The official Month of Kindergarten.  Countdown is ON!" Brian made a cheers-ing motion with his coffee, in salute to the fact that we would be slicing our daycare bill in half with Jake's departure.

And just like that, we flew through August...back to school shopping for supplies (this made me happier than I care to admit), figuring out first day of school outfits and orientation outfits, and what does one wear to a parents orientation??  All of this preparation, and then the week rolled around.

I'm not sure who was more anxious, me or Jake.  We were both excited for sure...he was anxious about making friends, finding someone to eat with at lunch, whether or not he would like his teacher.  I was anxious about all of those things for him PLUS anxiety over the unknown.  For me, that's always the worst part of anything new....I hate not knowing what I'm getting in to.  This goes for big things, like the first day of school or a new presentation that I have to do for work....and trivial things, like if I go to a different Target than I'm used to and I don't know where anything is.  Honestly, I think it should be a corporate rule of some sort that any big box store has to have the exact same layout no matter the location.  I'm onto something there, right? Right??

Totally off track, sorry.  So I had a lot of anxiety; going to parents orientation calmed down a lot of that for me, and it helped that I felt like I won the lottery in terms of the teacher he got.  No joke, when they announced who was in her class, I saw a few parents do the little silent fist pump to themselves in victory!  When the woman next to me saw which teacher we had, she tapped me on the shoulder with a desperate look in her eye and asked if we could trade folders so that her kid could have Jake's teacher, that she had been hoping all summer that's who she'd be assigned to.  Needless to say, I walked out of orientation feeling like I won the big prize of the night.

Jake had his orientation a few days later; unfortunately, I had a work event that I needed to be there for, so Brian was on his own.  Jake loved his teacher, and made a few new friends.  And I think that just seeing the way everything worked, the layout of the school, etc...really helped his anxiety about the new adventure, too.  (Like mother, like son!)

Working on the classroom scavenger hunt

They have little lockers: you just died from the level of cuteness, right??

After the classroom fun, they got to go test out the school bus!!

He looks so small in comparison to the giant bus!

Definitely a successful orientation! 

The road to kindergarten...to be continued....

Book Review Round-Up!

Behind on my blogging, behind on my book reviews...I'm just a mess!! 

Best books I've read recently that I adored and would highly recommend:

The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

Bossypants, by Tina Fey

Books I've read recently that have just been meh:

Seating Arrangements, by Maggie Shipstead

The Engagements, by Courtney Sullivan
*A quick note about this one, I wanted to like it.  I wanted to love it, because I LOVED her first book, Commencement.  I enjoyed her second book, Maine, though not as much as the first book.  I thought maybe the third time would be a charm with this new one, but it wasn't the case.  Not a bad book at all; very well-written and interesting characters, but it just didn't grab me like Commencement did.

The good news is, I haven't read any recently that I would categorize as terrible, or ones that I've had to stop reading because they're just that bad.  so yay to that! 

Right now, I'm reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette? and I have a feeling it will make my highly recommended list!! 

Recipe: Creamy Marinara Chicken Pasta

Creamy Marinara Chicken Pasta

Original recipe and image found here.

2-3 chicken breasts, sauteed & shredded

1 bag of baby spinach

1 24oz. jar Marinara

1 cup heavy whipping cream (*I didn't have cream, so I just used a jar of alfredo sauce instead)

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Olive Oil

•  Cook pasta according to package.  

• Meanwhile, saute chicken in olive oil & season with salt & pepper.  I cut my chicken into chunks so it would cook through faster.
• Shred chicken after it's cooked
•  Return chicken to the pan and add spinach, marinara, cream, parmesan, and red pepper.  Cook on medium high and mix well.   
• Cook spinach until wilted.
•  Drain pasta, return to pot, and toss in chicken & sauce mix.

This was deeeee-li-cious.  Now, I will say that it was SPICY.  Not sure if it was the crushed red pepper flakes, or the pepper that I put on the chicken when sauteeing, but it was pretty spicy....and I don't mind spice! To put it into perspective for you, Liam wouldn't eat it (and he's not picky), and Brian was humming the "Survivor" theme song while eating and downing glass after glass of water. Oops.  My suggestion would be cutting back on both of those ingredients.  But otherwise, I highly recommend it! 

Let's Luau!!

This was our 7th Annual Luau, and it was another success! I shouldn't even post this for fear of jinxing, but we have yet to have a rainy day for the luau.  There have been a few times that it has rained in the morning, or even sprinkled or clouded over just before the party, but the party itself has always been clear.  This year was nice because it wasn't sweltering hot or humid, as it's been in the past.  It was a nice change. 

As always, some decor and food pictures!!

We were lucky this year that Aunt Amy was able to join us from Colorado!!

We then tried to get some family pictures before the madness of the party ensued, we didn't get too many.   One of these years, I'm going to hire a photographer! :)  I never get as many pictures as I'd like once people start arriving.

How obsessed are you with this hat?  Because I'm pretty obsessed.

Until next year, party-goers!

Here I am!!

You've missed me terribly, yes?  Dry your tears, I'm back! 

My last post was on August 8th; prior to that, I wrote a post about how I was being a blog slacker due to the fact that it was summer, and the fact that I had recently become Scandal-obsessed.  I'm pleased to announce that the madness of August is past us....we had another successful luau party (I promise a post with pics soon), did some other fun summer stuff during the last official month of summer, and got Jake started at kindergarten.  YES, kindergarten.  A post to follow about that, I promise. 

In the time since I last posted, I finished up watching Scandal (2 seasons of back-to-back episode binge watching = a girl who is VERY excited for season 3 to start at the beginning of October), read a few books, fed my family a lot of things that would not be considered a real meal (though I received the award for "coolest mom ever" the day that I slapped some fruit and cupcakes on the table and called it dinner).....which has led me to realize that I need to get my act together and get back into the habit of meal planning/prep on the weekends (or that I just need to hit the lottery and find myself a personal assistant, chauffeur, and cook, which would solve a lot of my problems) but I digress.....and I've sent my first baby off to school on the big cheese wagon and he's survived the first few days.  And so have I.  Barely at times, but we're all still here.  Much more to come on that later.

Just wanted to get a post out there to assure everyone that we are alive and well....and looking forward to fall, for sure.  Cheers with your PSL!!!!!!!!!

"The Cleaning and Scrubbing Can Wait Until Tomorrow"

It's a poem that is posted on facebook, repinned on Pinterest, and a piece of advice that's dispensed from mother-to-mother.  It's a poem worth acknowledging, but at the same time, it also made me feel frustrated and guilty (like many well-meaning pieces of parenting advice often do) 

I've come a long way since first having Jake, in that I've learned to let go of a lot of things around the house that don't matter.  The laundry piles up for another day because it's a beautiful day and we want to go to the zoo?  No problem.  I have it in my head that I'm going to clean the house on a Sunday morning, but instead the kids ask me oh so very nicely if I will color a picture with them instead?  I put down my dust rag when I can and assure myself that I can get it done at nap time.  Nap time rolls around and Jake doesn't actually fall asleep (which is the norm at this point), but instead asks me to snuggle him on the couch to watch a movie?  He's a 5 year old boy; I know the time for these requests is limited, so I oblige when I can.

So, as I said, I've been better about doing those things listed above.  Putting something off because I'd rather spend time with the kids when I can.  But the reality of the situation is that eventually those things DO have to get done.  You can't ignore the cobwebs forever. I can ignore some dust for a few days, but eventually it has to get done.  My OCD behavior has really improved, but I will never be able to overlook a dirty bathroom, no matter how hard I may try.

I found myself stressed out and tired on the weekends.  We'd do fun stuff during the day, then I'd either run around like a maniac during nap time trying to get some stuff done, or be up until 11pm cleaning and folding laundry.  Or, the opposite would happen...we'd have great weekend plans and have a fun time as a family, but then the end of the weekend rolled around and even with the best of intentions to get stuff done, we just didn't have the motivation.  It wasn't working.

You may be sitting there saying, "Well, where is your husband through all of this?  You both work, he should chip in!"  And he does.  He certainly does, and he probably vacuums more often than I do (I love my Dyson with all of my heart, but that thing is heavy!) But even with two of us, there are always things that need to be done. Or he has other things to do (because there is no way I'm volunteering to mow the lawn or weed the flower beds or any of that other stuff outside!) 

Now you may be sitting there thinking, "Oh you poor thing!  What a terrible first-world problem to have that you have to clean your own house, just like millions of other families in America!"  I know, I know.  It is a first-world problem, and I'll be the first to admit it.  But for me, it was a problem with one logical solution: hire a cleaning lady.

Fortunately, through a neighbor referral, I was able to find someone who was very, very reasonable.  It is HEAVENLY.  They have been to our house twice, and I've been very happy with the results.

After we made this decision, I almost felt embarrassed by it.  Not embarrassed because I couldn't keep up with my own home, but embarrassed that it seemed indulgent and unnecessary.  But then, like so many other things when it comes to parenthood, I decided I just didn't care.  It's working for our family, and as long as we can continue doing it, we will. 

this is what I look like when I'm not stressed out about my first-world problems.

Mickey Mouse Money Saver

We are so very close to our Disney World trip!  No surprise here, but Jake has started talking about souvenirs he may want to buy while we're down there.  My mom and dad got both kids a disney gift card for Easter, so that will come in handy for him, but I wanted to take advantage of this moment while talking about spending money to bring up the subject of chores with Jake.  Up until this point, we've had a very loose definition of chores...Jake has been expected to take his dishes to the counter when he's done with them.  Sometimes he remembers, sometimes he doesn't; sometimes we remember to remind him, sometimes we don't.  Same thing with sending his dirty clothes down the laundry chute after his bath.

So, I figured the time had come since he had been talking about wanting to save up his money to spend at Disney World.  I made him a simple chore chart (with pictures so that he could understand what was expected and check on it himself) with these tasks: make his bed when he wakes up, clear his dishes after breakfast and dinner, and put his laundry down the chute after his bath.

I've struggled with this idea of "chores" in the past; Brian and I want to have him do these things, but haven't been sure that we necessarily wanted to give him an allowance for doing them.  They seem like very basic things that should be done without needing money.  But, the more we thought about it, the more we realized that maybe a small allowance was a good idea.  It gives him motivation AND it can start to teach him the value of money and the importance of saving up for things he may really want.  And obviously, the chores won't always have to be this basic; we're hoping that we can keep with these basic ones until they become habit, then as he gets older, add to it (Brian is so excited for the day Jake can help mow the grass) and he will then get paid for those chores instead.

So, back to the point of this post.  He wanted to save up some money for Disney souvenirs and also for the arcade that is in our resort.  I was going to start paying him a small allowance for those chores, and then I came across this great (and super cheap!) idea on pinterest:

Ta-da!  Original pinterest idea found here.  Breakdown of project:

Folgers coffee can: technically free, since that's the coffee we drink anyway.
Yellow paint: free, we had it from a kids art project kit
Foam balls: $2 for a 6 pack at walmart (I'm sure the other 4 will come in handy for some type of planet science project at a later date)
Black spray paint: free, already had it at home leftover from a project from Jake's superhero party

My little fish

We went to visit Nana and PopPop a few weeks ago....and lucky us, we got there right in the middle of a 100 degree heat wave!  Fortunately, they have a pool....which is very good, because it was so hot that the only other thing we could have possibly done is sit in air conditioning...it was brutal if you weren't in the water.  The kids had absolutely no objections to this non-stop pool business.

I love the look on Brian's face in this shot!

After dinner on our first night, we took a pool break to have a water gun battle (by "we" I mean all of the guys...Nana and I hid in the garage and I used the camera as an excuse to not be eligible to play)

The next morning, the men headed out to Jacobsburg Park early before it got too hot.

PopPop and his grandsons

dance party on the trail!

That afternoon, it was time for more swimming, of course!!  And jumping. So.much.jumping.  My arms were so sore for days after this trip from helping Liam up and down on the side.  He finally got the hang of the ladder on the 2nd day.  And he became completely insulted if you tried to catch him or give him any kind of help......"Liam do it all-self!!!"    :)

they only break for freezee-pops.

Video of both kids jumping in:

Video of Liam jumping in:  On Saturday morning, we went to visit a friend of Brian's, who has a 1 year old, so it was nice to see them.  And lucky for my kids, Dylan and Jamie happen to have a giant pool complete with a diving board.

Video of the diving board jumps:



And Saturday night, we went to visit Joy and family...you'll never guess what they did there! The nice part about this trip to the pool was that Joy and Keith have two awesome kids, Drew and Hannah who were kind of enough to watch our kids in the pool. It was a win-win: the adults got to sit around and observe the pool without having to get in (enabling us to enjoy some yummy drinks and snacks) and the kids got to play with other kids (and they adore Drew and Hannah, so they were super excited!)

 It was a great weekend, and we survived the heat wave!!