how it all went down

Our little family had a BIG week this week. Audrie started Kindergarten! Annie started full-time at a new pre-school! And I started my first day teaching at the Jr High!

The past 4 days have had some highs and lows and we haven't had a moment to spare. But I wanted to at least get on here and try to capture how that first day went down.

So Audrie was OUT of her mind excited to start school.

Annie was pretty pumped, too, but really didn't know what she was getting in to. (She is only used to going two hours twice a week, so she has had to adjust to a full day away from us.)

And I was nervous but ready to meet my 8th and 9th graders!

I really thought I was going to be able to keep my cool with dropping Audrie off that first day, but I wasn't prepared for how chaotic it was going to be at her school with ALL those parents and ALL the anxious kiddos coming in that first day. Audrie's school is great, but that first day was quite a doozy. There were honestly kids screaming and crying as their parents left them. So that threw me off. Audrie was as cool as ever. Ready to roll.

I thought I had planned plenty of time to get her settled in her classroom, but there was so much confusion in the halls at her school that it took forever! So after about 30 minutes of waiting, I had to leave Audrie with her teacher and her class in the hall. Which was not what I had in mind and I started to cry. I said my goodbyes to Audrie and started to turn away before I started sobbing. Audrie called out "MOMMY...!". I turned, thinking she needed one more kiss or hug. But she yelled out "YOU HAVE MY LUNCH BOX!".  ha! What a great mother I am- walking off with my kid's lunch the first day!! Glad Audrie was keeping it together.

Jamie took Annie to school and said it went great! He texted me a pic of her in her classroom, so I was relieved to know that went smoothly.

Because Audrie's morning took so long, I got to my school a little later than I had hoped, so I didn't have time to be anxious and my classes started coming in.

Did I mention that I have 82 jr high boys in my 2nd period class?! Um, yeh.

It's amazing. I've never done any bull riding, but I think the 55 minutes that class lasts is equivalent to 8 seconds on a bull.

I teach 5 choir periods (with over 300 choir students) and have a really great schedule.

I did have a wonderful first day (full of fast paced adrenaline).

The drama occurred after school. 

The plan for Audrie was that she was going to ride a bus from her elementary over to my jr high. I can literally SEE Audrie's school across a field from my school. I was thinking it would take maybe 10 minutes at the most considering after school traffic.

So after AN HOUR of nervous pacing...!!!!... her bus finally comes around the corner. There is no one on her bus, except I see one tiny little blond head peaking through a window.

The bus driver opens the door and says to me "I sure hope you are Mommy, because we have one upset little girl here"!

Audrie comes flying off the bus, sobbing, throws her backpack down, and wraps her arms around my neck. She sobs "I thought I would NEVER find you, mommy!". I started crying, too.

The poor bus driver tried to explain that his route includes stopping at two other schools before dropping Audrie off, so she was the last stop. He said the route would get faster as the week went on. But I honestly didn't hear much because I was just holding a tearful Audrie in my arms. She couldn't even catch her breath she had been crying so hard. The main problem was that she didn't realize (nor did I!) that she would be on the bus that long and it freaked her out.

I did get her calmed down and got to hear about the first day of Kindergarten and the day itself went great for her.

We went and picked up Annie and her only complaint was "my teacher wouldn't let me take off my clothes for naptime"....! ha

The rest of the week went MUCH better. We are starting to settle into our routines a bit.

 The rest of the week I got to walk Audrie into her classroom each morning, so that has been nice!

My job is going to be truly awesome, I just hope I can catch up with the freight train I've been chasing since I've started. There is SO much work to be done it's ridiculous. But I do have a great assistant to help me out!

All in all, we each had a great start to our new adventures!

KINDERGARTEN??!!!!!!

Has it really been 5 years since this one rocked our worlds and came into our lives?!

I can not even begin to describe to you how EXCITED Audrie is to start Kindergarten. It's going to be an awesome year for this girl (and her poor teacher, ha ha!).

Craziest story ever

You are never going to believe this... I couldn't make this up if I tried:

This weekend I bought a couch for my classroom off Craigslist (good couch, little dusty from being in the girl's garage a few weeks) but the girl delivered it Sunday to my classroom. Only problem was I couldn't get into my room because the janitors were waxing the hallways. So I left the couch in the glass entryway/small enclosed lobby near my choir room.

I put a note on the couch that it was my couch and I would move it the next day when the halls were done.

Ok, so apparently, the night shift custodians were walking past and saw a KITTEN(?!) poke it's head out from under the couch..!

So the janitors opened the glass lobby doors and tried to call the kitty, but it was crazy and running wild.

So they got a box and somehow trapped the feral kitty in the box.

They took the box to the school's library (why there? I don't know?!) and called Animal Control.

They show up and open the door to the library and the crazed kitty darts off between their legs. THEY LOSE THE CAT IN THE SCHOOL.

Keep in my mind that my school is a brand new gorgeous construction. Huge multimillion dollar school. And now there is a poor wild little kitty on the loose!!!!

My principal had a big important meeting at school today with all the other principals and assistant principals and school board, etc- in the cafetorium (yes, that's a word) and he said he kept looking around in the middle of his speech expecting a crazed cat to streak through..!

Oh my goodness, I can't believe this. I'm amazed by the first impression I'm making on my staff and also going to lose sleep over this stranded kitty!

But If we find him, he's totally going to be the Choir Cat and live in my room all year!

bathroom makeover

 This is why I love being married to Jamie.

Saturday night about 6:30pm, he says... "why don't we remodel the bathroom now?".

Um, sure.

So we took the girls to Lowe's for an hour and a half (??) while we picked out the stuff...
and here are the pics of our 24 hour bathroom makeover:


This is the guest/girl's bathroom:

BEOFRE

 The walls were painted an olive green/brown color. Notice the round sink (it actually had a big chip out of the sink bowl but I didn't get it in the picture).

And the worst part is the popcorn ceilings throughout our house... (Jamie had already taken down the vent covers when I remembered to snap a before pic of the ceiling).

 Ok, and the grand reveal....

AFTER:

 We painted the walls grey, painted the vanity black with new knobs, put a new sink top on, and a new toilet. (It's crazy how easy painting the wood vanity was- I'm so glad we didn't try to rip it out and buy a new one.) I painted the mirror turquoise (of course) and got a new shower curtain.

But I will say that when we first started and were dry scraping the popcorn ceiling stuff off... I really almost quit right there. It was THE BIGGEST MESS I've ever seen in my life. It was like someone took 5 bags of flour and shook them all over that small room. And then trying to reach over your head to scrape while you are looking straight up into the nasty debris was so terrible. We will definitely try it a different way next time.

But the ceiling does look great now! In a few months it should come out of my hair.

Bought a 'cute' new toilet (if toilets can be called cute?). Doesn't it look like it's smiling and winking at you?

I love the new sink top and faucet.

Ok, there you have it. Project 1 is done. Just about 10 more to go on this sweet little house. But that's part of the fun!

a fun week

Hey there! Resuming life after a vacation is always rough but we've had a good week. Lots going on around here!

Annie is still rocking her gymnastics class each week and LOVES it.

I don't know if you can see here but she's working with her teacher to do flips on the uneven bars. Annie thinks gymnastics class is the best ever!

Emily and I met up this week to take the kids bowling.

Annie was too fast for me to get a pic, but she actually beat all of us!

Never too late to do some before bedtime painting (in your underwear, of course)!

We had a play date with the Lea girls and had fun catching up with those cuties.

Swiped this pic off Candace's instagram...

We went to the Burrows for dinner and had one of those "is this really my life?" moments when our bellies were full, the kids were playing in the backyard (in their underwear..!!), we were chatting with our dear friends, and a rainbow popped up just to confirm that God is good.

I took Audrie to get school supplies for Kindergarten and almost cried in Target. She's growing up too fast!

One of my goals this school year is to get better at fixing the girl's hairstyles. I know I just have to practice but feel like I need one of those hair dolls to practice on (one  that won't scream "you're hurting me mommy"..!). Ha

I let Audrie pick any lunch box she wanted and she chose this adorable kitty one. She said to remind her of Marla while she misses her at school.

I will do a separate blog post about my school/ new job stuff but we are all getting excited around our house about school starting!

Did I tell you we have blackberry bushes next to our house? The girls love to eat them!

Audrie told me she was "doing ballet on her scooter". :)

Tonight she was riding Annie's tricycle and didn't let a little rain stop her!

Jamie and I remodeled our guest bathroom this weekend- I'll post pics soon!

I start back to work (new teacher orientation) on Thursday and Audrie has her Kindergarten screening/placement on Thursday, too. 

Ok, that's a little catch up on our week. 

Thanks for tuning in! :)

meet marla

 Last weekend we got a cat! Her name is Marla (that's the name she had at the rescue shelter and the girls liked it). She is 8 months old. Marla is a Maine Coon mix and is THE sweetest kitty ever.

The poor cat has been smothered with love since she's arrived. We've had to make the girl's give Marla some "time out" time because they just want to pet her all day.

 She is very cuddly and wants to snuggle all the time.

Because she has Maine Coon breed, she has the fluffiest tail I've ever seen!

 We all love her!

Sadly, I used to be a pretty big cat-hater in the past, but something in my heart has changed and I was really excited about getting this kitty!

I don't know if I wrote on here about how, a few months ago, when were talking to the girls about getting a new cat when we moved- Audrie said... "I want a kitty who believes in me"...!

I'm pretty sure Marla believes in us! :)

Welcome to the family, Marla.

love

I sang this song to Jamie at our wedding 12 years ago. Even though I meant every word then, the lyrics are a million times truer now.