Our first day...not the best start.

Yesterday was my daughter's first day of school. We were very prepared. We had all the supplies and we even had her lunch packed the night before. All her new clothes and her new shoes were laid out and ready to go.
The alarm went off very early Monday morning and things pretty much went downhill from there.
First off, my husband left his cell phones on his night stand, so there was absolutely no way of contacting him. I learned of this after I texted him that I was going to the store that morning after dropping our daughter off at school and wanted to know if he had any requests for the week's groceries. I send the text....I heard his phone vibrating from across the room...crap! Oh well, no big deal.
I get ready for the day and then wake up the kids and get them fed and dressed; we are doing great on time. 7am rolls around; time to load everything and everyone in the van. I do that. I put the key in the ignition...I turn the key...nothing...crap!!! Of all days for this to happen!!! The engine didn't even try to turn over. It was just dead. I called my mom, but I knew she was already at work and didn't know if she could help. Thankfully her husband was home and able to come and get us to school on time, (well, 5 minutes late, but not bad considering).
We finally arrive in the classroom and after many hugs and pictures, my daughter was ready for me to leave. I'm so proud of her, she is so big and so excited to take on kindergarten. She has a big job ahead of her...20 years of learning, and she is so ready.
Now I have to deal with MY separation anxiety! I've taught and prepared her as best I could. For 4 years we have been together full-time, learning, living, loving; and now she is gone all day and I'm not there to watch or help her. I can't be there to cry when she cries, to praise her successes, to laugh at her jokes, (and she knows funny...). My time at home with her is over. It was so precious and went by so fast...I am truly grateful for such an incredible opportunity to be a mom to such an amazing little person.
So now we close the chapter on being a precious, sweet baby and start a new adventure in her life...school days.

Less binge, more purge

About a month ago we began the tedious task of organizing and purging our home of useless junk. We began with a remodel of our home office which required clearing the room entirely. I HIGHLY recommend this if you are serious about ridding yourself of items you don't need. It is not easy to clean out a room completely of all of its furniture and bric-a-brac...so when the time comes to put things back and make the room look fantastic, the last thing you want to do is re-clutter the room with all the junk you just removed! It really forces you to look at all the items that go back in and make sure that they are needed in the room and not just there to take up space or collect dust.
This weekend we will be doing the same for our children's bedroom. It's amazing what we have found stored so far...things we thought we got rid of, or things we thought we needed to buy but we really have 3.
Since this was a personal goal for me this year, it really has been nice to finally begin to carry it out. It has been difficult to find the time to truly purge and organize, but the end results thus far have been well worth it.

Yes...I'm still alive...barely.

I realize that I have not written a post in quite a while now. Life is crazy and keeps getting worse...but in a good way these days. This just doesn't leave a lot of time for activities such as writing on the old blog. I'm hoping to be back up to writing very soon. Crazy things still happen around here; now I just need to find the time to put it all down in words.

My daughter, the international ambassador

So we went to visit my mom Monday night. They now live just down the street from a community park that the kids just love. She also lives a few doors down from a co-worker. This co-worker I have known for a few years; she is originally from Russia and her brother just arrived with his family a few weeks ago and they are staying with her. We pass by their house on the way to my mom's and someone is usually outside to wave at.
Anyway, Monday night we walk down to the park and we see the family from Russia there letting the kids play and ride their bikes. Eventually the young girl comes over to the swings where my daughter is. My child is quite chatty and immediately strikes up a conversation with this little girl. When the girl doesn't answer her, she looks to her grandpa and he says, "She doesn't speak English, honey." Not to worry...my kid knows what to do! She turns to the little girl, smiles and says, "Hola!"

Happy holiday???

Last week, I was very much looking forward to the three day Memorial weekend. My 4 year old had her preschool graduation last Thursday night and we were going to just relax, enjoy some family time and go to a BBQ on Sunday...some much needed R&R.
The graduation went well...it's all on video. All these little kids in their adorable little red caps and gowns, singing their little songs, doing their little motions. The whole thing totally overwhelmed me as I sat there thinking about how big my baby had become and how we are closing a chapter in her life with us and beginning the new and exciting venture of the school years. She looked so small and yet so big up there, all at the same time.
Okay, that was Thursday...what we didn't know was that the "fun" had just begun! That night my poor baby got sick with a stomach bug of some sort and spent the next 30 hours of her life vomiting and dehydrating. I thought we were out of the woods on Saturday morning, but sadly after a few sips of water and a soda cracker, we were back to square one. We ended up taking her to the emergency room, where I knew they would want to give her IV fluids. What I didn't know, or think about, was that she would end up with low blood sugar and electrolyte levels and that we would spend the next two days of our lives in the hospital! We were able to take her home Sunday night and she is definitely back to her normal self, appetite aside.
All I can say is thank goodness for the three day weekend! We actually managed to enjoy our Monday with good food, good company and good/abnormal weather!

Spring cleaning...

...in the summer?!
Better late than never I guess. I was a tad preoccupied this spring and the cleaning just never got done. ( I was hoping for fairies...but they never came...sad. )
If anyone has a great spring cleaning tip, I welcome it wholeheartedly.
We have too much stuff still and clutter and dust are friends, so I need to rid us of the clutter once again. I think my husband wants to live in an empty house right now, but I need to walk in the door and feel like I'm in a home, not a house. I want a homey feel - a lived in, family atmosphere.
Hopefully I can come to a happy compromise between stark and sterile, and over cluttered. Wish me luck!

Mintie

I just got my first MP3 player as a graduation gift from my wonderful husband! It's the mint green nano video ipod. It's so cute! The picture is amazingly clear. The screen is tiny but the image is so crisp that you forget it's so small. I really don't know what the heck I'm doing with an ipod, but my husband LOVES his and wanted me to have one too. I get lost in the itunes store!
I like the fact that I can now carry around current pictures of my kids and that I can start listening to books and podcasts too. I have downloaded a Harvard Business podcast and the 7 Habits. I'm excited...can't let all my school nerdiness go to waste. I wonder if they have a dictionary podcast? :)