What Happened to my Blog?!

Yikes! I can't believe that the last time I posted anything here was September of 2008. So very much has changed since that September. Actually, I hadn't thought about this blog in a really long time until tonight and a friend of mine said something about HER blog. I had no idea she had a blog and we've been friends for years. It made me think, "Hmmm...bet nobody even remembers that I have a blog." So we'll see if anyone actually reads what I'm spittin' out.

Where to begin? The last post was about the kids starting their first day of school. K was starting preschool and T started Kindergarten. Well this Wednesday, K will start SECOND GRADE and T will begin THIRD. When did this happen? When did my little monkeys grow up? You know, when you have a baby, you hear over and over again - "It goes so fast." I used to get so sick of hearing that. As far as I was concerned, changing a million diapers a day and running on no sleep, it couldn't go fast enough. I just needed a little less poop and a little more sleep in my day. And then I blinked (or maybe I finally got some sleep) and now my kids are more and more independent every day.

Tonight T went to his second sleepover (ever) and they went to a high school football game. Our friend is the coach so T was able to go down on the sidelines during the game which I'm sure he thought was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and he'll probably come home telling me he wants to play tackle football (all 59 pounds of him. :)

K went with us to take dinner to a friend and her family (friend broke both wrists falling off a ladder - so painful!) and were invited to stay. She was so stinkin' polite - "yes please" "no thank you" "thank you" Ahhhh....makes a mama's heart so proud. I needed those moments after this week.

There must be something about the week leading up to school starting again. Is it in the air? Do they have some sort of internal radar that is set off? However it is that they know, it seems to be their cue to start bickering. Argh! (That almost sounds a bit pirate-ish, eh?) I nearly said this to one of the kids today:

Gee, am I mother of the year or what? The thing is, other than the bickering, I'm not at all ready for them to go back to school. I have been enjoying us sleeping in, making our own schedule, heading to the lake on a whim and spending 4 hours swimming. All that is going to be disappearing in less than a week and we'll be back to early mornings, surviving the mornings to get out the door and on to our day. Ugh, I can't even think about it anymore.

Well, my goal is to try and update this more regularly. Since it's currently 3:18 am, I think I'll call it quits for now but I'll be back soon to update the rest of the year(s).

First Day of School

It is official, I have two children in school. Where did the time go? You know, nearly every person you run into after having a baby, whether you know them or not, will tell you how quickly time goes and to cherish every moment. And of course they are telling you this at a time where you are awake half the night either feeding, burping or changing your little one. And you can't help but want to scream that you wish it could go faster. And then, little by little, you get more sleep at night. Their feedings grow further a part. And their diapers become easier...oh wait, that's not true. Their poo gets grosser and grosser the older they get! And then, before you know it, you are dropping them off for their first day of school. They sleep through the night, get themselves dressed in the morning and even brush their own teeth. So I suppose all those people were right, time does go by quickly and you find yourself longing for the time when they would just lay in your arms and you could have that special time with them in the middle of the night when the house is completely silent.

They of course did fine on the first day. I cried. A lot. We dropped T off in his class first, I cried. Then came K, I cried. Neither of them cried, they were eager to wave good-bye and explore their new independance without me. I cried all down the hallway, out to the car and to Starbucks. Each day was easier and easier though and they are both loving school. If half-day was this hard on me, I don't even want to think about what a full-day will do to me next year! :)

They both had such a hard time waking up for the first day of school

Grrrr to you 9791eleven!

I have been watching a costume for K on ebay these past few days. It is adorable, a princess lady bug of sorts. So here I am this afternoon with just minutes left, I'm the highest bidder and then out of nowhere comes 9791eleven. Grrr! She just starts bidding away. So I fight back and raise the price $1. And then she comes back, I hit back, she hits back, I hit back and then, all of a sudden, it stops telling me I've been outbid and is about to accept by highest bid when the clock runs out. So frustrating! So here is the costume that caused me such strife, hopefully I'll find something else like it soon! Okay, it is so small I'm not even sure you can see it but you get the idea...

Meeting the Teachers

Wow! I can't believe it is time for school to start. The summer went by fast, too fast, and now here we are. Today we went to the school and met the kids' teachers, put away their school supplies and just let them hang a little in their classes. We walked into K's class, she found her hook on the wall, hung her backpack and then came over and gave us hugs and said 'Bye Mom!' What the...??!! This wonderful little girl who has been attached at the hip with me her whole life is willing to let go just like that? I was devestated. Also devestated was T when we explained that he wasn't going to spend the entire morning at school, just this hour. What kind of children have I raised, both of them chomping at the bit to get away from me. Unbelievable! :0)

K proudly showing off her Little Pet Shop backpack that she's been wearing through the house for days.

I hope we put his collar down before we got to the school, I can't remember. My goodness I hope it wasn't up like that the whole time! And where are his glasses?!

2nd Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

K was so bummed that T got to go to the pumpkin patch on a field trip and she didn't so we planned an afternoon that we would take them both together. So yesterday after Cliff picked up T from school, we went out to Lone Pine Farms. They have a great playground there that the kids love, we were able to pet the goats, play on old tractors and then pick pumpkins.

We considered riding the hayride out to the patch but knew it wasn't too bad of a walk so we headed out. When we came to the pumpkin patch, there was a sign advising that one was closed. So we had to walk about another 1/2 mile to the next patch on the farm. It felt like four times that long. The kids did enjoy all the mud puddles though. K kept stopping and bending over so far that her hair was nearly in the water, she thought she could see horses in the water. Yeah, she's a crazy little girl. :0)

So we finally got to the patch and every pumpkin was so big that there wasn't anything the kids or I could carry. We looked around for about 20 minutes and the kids decided they didn't want one anymore so we walked all the way back.

After some more playing on the playground, we let them go into the store for cookies where they found the pumpkins they wanted. They were the ones that are a few inches high and cost something like $.69. Too bad we didn't know that was all they wanted before we walked all over the farm!

First Ever Field Trip - The Pumpkin Patch

I can't believe my son is old enough to be going on field trips. We had our first one this week and it was to Northern Lights Christmas Tree Farm which also has an awesome set up for a pumpkin patch, hay ride, spider shed (?), massive pumpkins, turkeys, goats, cows, a catapult from which they made 3 pumpkins fly further than I've ever seen and much to the kid's joy, smashed all over the ground. I volunteered to drive for the field trip and by the morning of was deeply regretting it. I woke up feeling awful and sicker than I had felt in a long time. However, I figured it was just a cold and I could tough it out. I am so glad I did, it was a blast! All the kids were able to pick a pumpkin, two gourds and three ears of popping corn. They had different colors of corn, red, white and blue. We are supposed to let it dry for a week, remove the husk and then put it in a paper bag into the microwave and I guess it just pops right on the ear. We'll see if it works.

I'm so glad that I am a stay at home mom and get to participate in things like this. My only complaint, sitting in the rain on a hay bale in the rain didn't help my cold and by that night I was in bed with a fever and have yet to recover. So next time, if I feel sick, I'll send grandma. :0)

WOF Conference 2007

Last weekend my Mom, Aunt Karen, Debi and I made our way to Portland (with a few shopping stops) for the Women of Faith Conference. What an amazing time. I'll admit, the motel (and I do mean MOTEL, not Hotel) lived up to it's 2 star rating but it did have a pretty big TV. Making up for our motel in the ghetto were the 3 Starbucks all within walking distance. Although on Saturday morning as Debi and I were walking to Starbucks we started wondering if people driving by were thinking, "Hm, those two gals must be from out of town. No two women walk alone in this part of town." Nonetheless, the shooting that happened during the night wasn't TOO close to our motel. :0) Okay, enough about the motel.

The first session was Friday night at 7:00. The conference was held at the Rose Garden which held all 18,000 women for the weekend. There were amazing speakers, singers and even someone who performed drama monologues. We laughed A LOT and at times had tears in our eyes. These women had been through a lot and yet they were able to stand up in front of thousands of women and tell their stories. None of their stories were fun ones to share but yet they shared anyway, hopefully benefiting someone else. We were there until 10 o'clock or so Friday night and then back again Saturday morning at 9 o'clock for the next day of speakers. It also was a wonderful day full of laughter. We were able to meet up during the lunch break with my Aunt Kathy and my Aunt Sherri who were there but in a different seating area. Then after the day was done, we met Aunt Sherri for dinner in Portland and then Mom and Karen rode home with her.

I am so glad that I was able to spend this time with my mom, aunts, and Debi - it was a blast. Hopefully we'll be there again next year!