Oh, September

I can't say that I really mind that September has flown by, but I thought I better reassure you that the daily grind has not killed me or anything.

As school has started back up (which is like over a month ago now, can I really still consider this my adjustment phase?!) I've had to decide what gets cut out. So far blogging and watering my plants did not make the cut. Oh and deep cleaning. Ain't nobody got time for that. I feel it's "gold-star worthy" just to keep up with the laundry, dishes, meals, and a somewhat tidy home. Can I get an amen?

Actually our day to day schedules are running pretty smoothly. I'm using my menu board and doing plenty of freezer cooking and meal prep on the weekends to help out during the week. Things are actually going so smoothly that I hate to acknowledge it. Because, you know, in "Mom World" the minute you think "I've got this" something major falls through the cracks or disastrous occurs. It's like a law of nature. So let's just keep this between us.

I've taken significantly fewer pics, apparently I only document life in the summers.

Attempting to capture the moment before church one Sunday.

This is not how I originally thought this would turn out, but what activity with your children does turn out as planned?!

Reese has discovered that she loves to shove food down her shirt or just take her shirt off altogether during meals. It's fine.

This was one of the my favorite moments lately. I have such wonderful friends willing to move "Fun with J & D" to my place and even let Cade help out. Cade's so lucky to get a private cooking lesson with his future FACS teacher, Mrs. Gibson!

Hope everyone is doing well and not letting the "daily grind" get them down!

Preschool, Meet Cade

It's been so fun seeing everyone's "first day" pics come across Facebook and Instagram. What an exciting time! We are no different here. Preschool, meet Cade!

We attended the Open House last week and then Tuesday was the big day! His first day! He's already completed his first "homework" assignment. Gotta get in the habit of checking the homework folder.

Getting details from Cade is like trying to solve some sort of crime with no witnesses and no evidence. So it's tough to tell...but I think it's going well? I can't seem to locate our Preschool Handbook...epic "Mom fail" already. I'll keep looking. Deep down I'm pretty sure Matt lost it?

Labor Day in the Bend

I love me some Labor Day. I'm always so thankful that I'm rewarded with Labor Day...even after barely having "labored" since summer break. We traveled to the Bend to meet up with my family and celebrate September birthdays. Ice cream cake, yes please.

We wanted to take a picture after church on Sunday...but no one was around to take it. Except Cade, that is.

18 tries later...

Not bad, Cade!

The kids always love getting to do fun activities that are out of the norm of their regularly scheduled programming. This weekend included, running through the sprinkler, watering the tomatoes (and fence), fishing with Papa, using the neighbors toys, and enjoying watching a Bobcat tractor tear up the neighbors yard. See? Jam-packed with entertainment for all!

My dad organized a little fishing trip for the boys on Saturday morning. He was so excited about it. It was pretty cute.

The kids were great on the way home so we made a stop in Emporia at Braums. Cade insisted on "brown ice cream in a cone." And we all know I'm a pushover when it comes to ice cream. Reese clearly shares my excitement for treats. And although it took Cade just short of FOREVER to finish his cone so we could get back on the road, it was one of the sweetest moments just sitting there enjoying the kids. They are fun.

Three-day-weekends are fun. Three weeks until the next one!

Back to School

We enjoyed be-bopping around the back-to-school picnic...and then it happened.

We transitioned back to the working world. And we're doing fine. The kids seem to fit right in at the new sitter and I'm enjoying being back in my classroom at school.
I've always liked that I get to teach a couple sections of each grade-level so I get to have many of the same students over and over. Love those 3-peat FACSies. Most of them.

Our school building was painted over the summer and my FACS room got a facelift too! (Mainly so we can fit MORE kids in!) New tables, chairs, countertops, some appliances, sewing machines & cabinets, and a fancy demo mirror. Woo-hoo! Here's a sneak peak at all my new loot!

Love my personalized Erin Condren planner from Peggy!

Of course I miss our lazy days of summer, but I'm thankful that I really do enjoy my work at school. Now just to perfect that balance of things running smoothly both at home and at work...

It's Over, Baby

Summer. Over, done, gone, in the books.

It's alright to shed a few tears. It really is.

Because with each summer that comes and goes--it doesn't get easier. It gets harder. The summers get better, the kids get older and we have more fun as we interact and get out and do things. My heart hurts a little knowing that I won't be here when they wake up. (My heart hurts thinking about how early I will have to get up, actually!!) I'm sure I'll be missing funny things they say, and I won't be here to answer the questions they ask.

But it's alright. There's no absolute right or wrong way to be a mom. We all just do the best we can whether we work in or out of the home. I'm lucky I get to spend time doing both. I'm thankful for a job I truly enjoy. I'm thankful for the wonderful memories we made this summer.

It's time to put on my big-girl pants and head back to school. But just know that it's alright to cry about it too.

Enough about that...here are the last few outings of the summer.

Paradise Park with cousins Lukas & Lawson. Definitely something we'll hit up again next summer!

There was a little "cooking" part where the kids decorated cookies and I thanked my lucky stars I teach middle school kids and not toddlers!

Ah, the pool. Took advantage of the sunny days!

Enjoyed time with Aunt Gentry and had a really fun time with Aunt Beth this week too!

Another trip to the zoo...superhero day spiced it up a bit!

Oh yes, and I felt these next few deserved a quick mention.

We've started using a "stoplight" system with Cade. It's really gone well. I think it's helping give him a visual for the choices he's making. He REALLY desires to be on green...so that helps. Red = no TV. Which is pretty much the end of the world to Cade.

I think this was actually on my birthday. I spent the afternoon of my birthday dealing with a clogged drain and wet basement carpet. I'm a real idiot when it comes to stuff like this. Had no clue what to do. Luckily, I plunged the drain, the standing water went down, I pulled back the carpet, soaked up the water I could see and put fans on it for awhile. Doesn't this picture look like I know what I'm doing?!

Does anyone else do this? I have so many pics on my phone of the kids sleeping. They just look so cute and innocent. And quiet. Also, sometimes Cade gets caught red-handed defying us by falling asleep in the hall.

Next summer will be the best yet, and will be here before I know it, right?!

Bathroom Reveal

What? You didn't know I was re-decorating the hall bathroom? Yeah, me either. That's the danger of being home more in the summer. I get the itch to change things and have the time to do it!

Pin-spiration. Oh Pinterest, you double-edged sword, you. I don't know about you, but my projects always turn out a wee bit less than perfect. I always start out with high hopes...and then come the compromises.

Some things I pinned...

Isn't this hilarious?

I initially wanted gray walls with teal and orange accents. Chevron shower curtain was a must-have. Well...I already have some robins egg blue paint left over from Reese's accent wall. Gray paint would cost money, blue paint is free. Compromise #1.

Chevron shower curtain online, $60. Striped shower curtain from Target, $14. Compromise #2.

Three separate same-size shelves, $16 each. A set of three different sized shelves, $20 for all three. Compromise #3.

Fun prints from Etsy, or do-it-myself artwork...compromise #4. And NO chevron paper at Michael's. (This project was taking place on a Sunday. No Hobby Lobby.)


Turned out different than I had envisioned but I wanted it to be quick and relatively inexpensive since this was just a whim. Not bad for a one day project and so many compromises.

Turned out a little "nautical" unintentionally with the introduction of the navy-striped shower curtain. Bathrooms are so hard to photograph!

I was inspired by the cute art work on Pinterest, so I just printed some words off the computer and framed layers of scrapbook paper behind it. Even though I really wanted chevron, with the striped shower curtain I didn't want it to get too crazy with all the striped patterns. 

I liked the look of the three same-size floating shelves, but couldn't justify the extra cost to complete the look. 

Can't you hear Phoebe singing the words? "Lather, rinse, repeeeat!"

A few new rugs, towels, wall hangings, and throw pillows have helped to freshen up the rest of the house. Thank you, birthday money! 

Other future projects are quite costly, think flooring, so I think that's it for now. Home improvement itch, scratched!

See a pic of the bathroom before found in this post here. And other pics of the house when we moved in here (four years ago this month).

The hall bathroom walls were actually the last ones to paint...now we've painted every single wall in the house.

Done! Until I get that itch again.

Summer Schedule O' Fun

Our summer schedule...or lack thereof. We've been rolling with the punches around here, which has turned into quite the schedule for fun.

I know kids thrive on structure, but I also want to have kids that can adapt to change. So to craft our summer schedule, we just started doing things that we like to do, and then wanted to do them everyday! This is just a loose summary of our basic days of summer 2013. By no means am I saying that I know what I'm doing here or have any advice to give on parenting and schedules. I just know I'm having the best summer ever spending time with my kids.

We have stayed home very little. Turns out, after we wake up and have breakfast, we all want to go somewhere. Makes sense to me, that's what we do the other 9 months out of the year.

Most days, that "somewhere" has been the gym. We have loved our gym membership this summer. They have great group fitness classes, a fun kids area that both kids enjoy, and a very family-friendly outdoor pool.

See? This cropped-to-fit pic doesn't really do it justice.

So we get up, we eat breakfast, we (really just I) pack up our bag(s) of clothes, swimsuits, snacks, sippy cups, swim toys, towels, etc, etc! and head to the gym. The kids area is awesome. It's a huge play place (like what a restaurant would have) plus a gym with games and toys, and a toddler area. The kids are always eager to go and while I occasionally worry that they are moderately supervised by young high schoolers, more like just contained rather than really supervised at times...I tell Cade to keep an eye on Reesie and I figure for 50 minutes, surely they'll be fine. I really like all types of classes so it just depends what's scheduled in the time slot that works for us. I've been enjoying Zumba, kickboxing, and toning classes--and even dusted off my old step aerobics shoes a couple times. After class, I grab the kids, get changed and we play at the pool for about an hour and a half. If we can work it so we all have friends with us for this process, it makes for an even better day! We have LOVED getting to hang out with the King's and will miss them when reality of our daily-life-without-them hits us!

Swimming makes you hungry, even if you're really just wading. We eat our sack lunch at the pool and I'm thankful they don't really enforce the "no outside food" rule.

Reesie tries to avoid tan lines. Or her suit is just a tad big at the top and the occasional nip-slip is known to occur.

After swimming, we are very thankful for the family locker room to help us all get changed into dry clothes. The family locker room works perfectly to contain our chaos.

Also turns out that wading makes you tired! This is why changing into dry clothes is so important. Poor Reesie falls asleep on the way home about 97% of the time. Which actually works out fine. Transfer Reese to her bed and then trick Cade into napping in his.

Cade needs a good nap every couple days. It's become my mission to try to wear him out in the mornings so that he will nap. He is usually down for about an hour and a half. He does a pretty good job of observing "quiet time" even on the days he decides to forego the napping.

We've had a great time throwing in other outings about once a week, usually with the Heine's. We love getting to hang out with them and Jessica always knows of super-fun things to do! So far we've taken advantage of crafts at the library, gone to Kaleidoscope and Crown Center, visited Ernie Miller Nature Center, and hit up various parks.

We've also frequented Deanna Rose and continue to rave about it to anyone who will listen. I've made believers out of my parents. They love accompanying us to the farm.

At the conclusion of naps, usually around 3:30 or 4:00, that's when we explore what our own space has to offer. We play with our toys, play games or do a little project--pending anyone besides me is up for it. They're so little, I hate for it to be mandatory craft project time. I usually throw out some options and take cues from the kids. Next up is supper, usually an evening errand, baths and bed. I'm thankful the kids are great little shoppers. They love to get out and about even if it's just to the grocery store or Hobby Lobby! Cade is always petitioning for a stop at "The Giraffe Store." Took us awhile to figure out he was referring to Toys R Us. It has a big giraffe on it, must be the giraffe store! Cade has learned that he can pretty easily talk me into some sort of small purchase at the giraffe store--but no such luck with Dad. He is much stronger than I.

We momentarily took a break from our regularly scheduled programming this week since I took a jaunt down to Wichita to see Gentry's new place and classroom for about a day and a half.

I had a great time visiting her favorite stores and my favorite restaurants while I helped her settle in. What a refreshing trip!

We hung things on the walls at her new home and we took things down from the wall in her new classroom. All set for a great year!

Now to start thinking about my own classroom? Two weeks left of our laid-back schedule o'fun. Then, I imagine, we'll have a transition week of hair & doctor's appointments, professional pics, and trips to my classroom. THEN, BAM. Real world. Time to make the most of it and soak up these sweet moments! Some day our summers will be filled with day camps and sports events so I'm all for enjoying the simplicity of life right now!