Packing It In

We did a little making up for lost time this weekend.  It felt good to connect with our friends again, say yes to stuff, and end the weekend with laundry and groceries done.  A few highlights…

Friday came like an oasis.  Our peeps showed up, we ate, drank, and talked the night away.  Well, not really the whole night, these two had to be at a dance event by 5:15am so we had to make it an earlier night.

  

The next morning was brutal.  Up at a time that started with a 4(totally wrong), in the car before 5, and standing in a freezing parking lot by 5:15. It ended up being a really cool experience though.  The kids did several morning news spots promo-ing an event for later in the day, then they went back in the afternoon to do an actual performance.  Adrienne is very interested in broadcasting as a career, so she really enjoyed watching the news anchor do her thing. 

They had fun stuff for the kids to do, so my sis came up with the girls.  Kaitlyn was hysterical on the bungee cord.  She was so serious, and really thought she could beat it!

     

I did a little project…$10 garage sale score and a little spray paint.

   

Sunday we went out to support our friend Miss Beth.  We love Miss Beth, and her baked goods, and her heart of gold, and her new found dedication to herself.  She’s lost over 80 pounds this year, and in June she started training to walk a half marathon(that’s 13 miles people).  Amy and I planned to surprise her at the finish line with kids and signs and cheers.

     

   

We decided to look around for her husband.  We couldn’t find him, but we found Beth standing on a hill doing an interview. 

What?  How could we have missed her??  We calculated the timing just perfect.  We just didn’t know that the competitive walkers had their own category that left a 1/2 hour early! 

In the end it didn’t matter.  She knew we were proud of her!  We were able to have lunch and celebrate her accomplishment!

How perfect is this shirt?

Have a great week:)

Fall Interrupted

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted.  It’s not that I didn’t want too, it’s just that everything I wanted to do and would have taken pictures and wrote happy words about didn’t happen.  Our house has been overrun with illness, and it wasn’t pretty.  I’ll spare the details(3 kids with the stomach flu in succession), but it sucked.  We lost two weekends of fun to it.  After it there was a trail of unfinished business to catch up with.  What I can guarantee, is that we will make up for it big time in the next few weeks. 

The real bummer is that fall arrived while we were out of commission.  We had plans…fairs, orchards, and Saturday night get-togethers in jeans.  This week we had to be happy with little reminders of the season.  Like new fall clothes and sweater tights to die for.

    

Time inside with candles and board games.  Lexi won for the record:)

And an afternoon trip to Starbucks.  I don’t think you’re supposed to start a sentence with and.  Oh well.

Mark and Brian and several guy friends went to the cottage this weekend and cleared out all the furniture and everything else.  Since we were flying solo, Em came over with the girls Saturday night for a quiet hang out evening.

Sof wanted to help set the table.  I’ve mentioned before she has a fierce need to do everything herself.  Fierce I tell ya.  She set the table and was so proud.

  

I think we had about 12 place settings and 6 people.  Each person had a plethora of utensils to choose from.

We ate, and sat quietly around the table chatting.  Sof asked to play a game and read a book.

Eventually Sof got on her costume and used my phone to start up some music.  She was confused at this quiet evening.  She decided to get her own party started.  She proceeded to put on her own dance show!  Hilarious.  Girfriend is not into quiet evenings.

Today was moving the cottage home day.  It was a tremendous amount of work and I’m so thankful for a husband that works so hard.  It was 2 days of loading and unloading heavy furniture.

Now comes my part…joining two households worth of “stuff” together.  I love that the table is now in our kitchen to continue gathering friends and family to eat, drink, and be merry.

Here’s to a healthy week!

First Day of Dance

Sof started her new dance classes this week.  She’s taking tap and hippity hop(how cute is that!).  Her tap shoes were handed down from Kaitlyn and have been sitting on a shelf for a long time.  She has been desperate to wear them!  When I finally said it was her day she was very excited! 

Once we got there she began to get nervous.  Every time I asked her to smile she would pose, but her smile was little forced!

 

As she stood in line we talked about how her shoes were going to make such cool tapping sounds on the dance room floor! 

That was enough to spark her interest, so when it was time, she turned and walked into class all by herself with no tears. 

My girl is growing up and learning that she can do things by herself.  She knows mama will be there when she’s done. 

She loved her classes!  When it was Lexi’s turn to start back the next night, she had a melt down.  She wants to go every night!  She may be following in her big sissy’s foot steps! 

School’s In

Back to the grind.  I hate it and love it all at the same time.  Going to the gym at 5:30am I just hate, all the time, hate.  Getting new school clothes, organizing backpacks and lunchboxes, and planning for my class I love.  Everyone in the house knew exactly what they were going to wear the first day…except Adrienne.  Isn’t that a big deal in 8th grade?  Even I tried on 2 or 3 different wardrobe options the night before meeting my new kinderkids.  Adrienne got up in the morning and figured out that nothing from her summer wardrobe matched the dress code, and all her new school clothes were too warm to wear that day.  She put something together, wasn’t bothered at all, and went on her way.  Wish I had her confidence! 

   

Mark is taking her to school this year because she goes so darn early.  The bus comes at 6:42! 

Lexi was totally prepared with every sparkly piece of apparel you can imagine.  She had her clothes laid out, bag packed, and lunch made the night before!

She has her buddy Savannah in class again this year so she was excited!  She’s also on the news crew and safety patrol at her school.  She’s so good with the little ones the teachers love having her around to help.  When I picked her up after school she was over the moon because she was assigned to help a new Japanese boy in her class that knows no English.  She loves watching over people!

That brings us to Sof.  Poor baby.  She wants to be big like her sisters so bad!  It was technically her first day of preschool.  At her daycare everyone moves up to their new class at the same time.  Sof moved up earlier in the summer because she was ready.  So, it wasn’t that eventful for her!  Still, I let her wear a new school outfit,  she packed a bunch of shit stuff in a backpack, and at the last minute she had to have a lunchbox so she found an empty one of Adrienne’s.

   

She was so excited and willing to pose!

We happened to see Jack walking to the bus stop and stopped for a quick pic!  Lexi doesn’t go to our home school, so her and Jack are separated.  I actually think that helps them keep such a tight girl/boy friendship. 

 

Amy and I were also bright eyed and bushy tailed for our first day!

We weren’t looking quite so eager after having an aunt of one of our kindergarteners show up at lunch with a baby bottle for him.  Yup, trying to give a 5 year old a bottle in front of his new class of peers.  She was told no, but played the whole I don’t speak English card.  I don’t care what language you speak, you know what NO means!  She won’t be allowed back.  Later in the week I wasn’t looking so fresh as I ran through surrounding neighborhoods looking for a girl we thought we’d lost.  Her teacher had checked every bus for her, calling her name, and even having the bus driver call it over the loud speaker.  She’s one of these “I don’t have to listen to you” kinda kids.  After many frantic minutes, police calls, and tears from her teacher, the bus brought her back.  Her relieved mother came rushing up to school and after we all had our thank God moment I had to walk away so I didn’t say something nasty to that mother.  I’m sure she’ll spend her time this weekend writing angry emails about how we traumatized her child instead of teaching her kid that when an adult speaks to you you damn well better respond.  Honestly, sometimes I look at these kids and wonder if enough of them will grow into productive members of society in order to keep the world turning.  I will step down from my soapbox.  Uh Um, Thank you. 

All my kids were happy and talkative after the first day.  They love their teachers and schedules.  Sof brought home a dictated interview from her first day.  At the end it said, “When I grow up I want to eat chicken”.  Big dreams here at the Culley house.  We teach our kids to reach for the stars!