Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts

Friday, September 22, 2017

A Day In My Life

We went to our basement one night last week to have a movie night. Complete with popcorn, extra blankets, beverages for everyone and let the kiddos pic the feature film. Scrolling through their options they both easily agreed on Smurfs. And when the kids land on a "decent" family film that we haven't seen 400 times Hubs and I click "select" way too fast. We're in the "watch every movie we like on repeat" ALWAYS phase right now and while I love to listen to Branch (aka Justin Timberlake) sing his little Troll heart out - I'm about O.V.E.R. it :) 

So, Smurfs it was and we all snuggled up for movie night. If you've seen the movie you would probably agree with me, it's a solid mix between Trolls and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. All of the Smurfs have themed names based on what their talents are. I.e. Hefty is the strong one, Brainy is the smart one, etc. but the one that made us all laugh hysterically for some reason was Nosey - aka - the nosey/in everyone's business one. One scene in particular was in the beginning when everyone is being introduced and Nosey walks by a window, peers his little head in and in this silly voice said "Hey what's going on in here?!" - to which the Smurfs reply "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS" and he walks off and said "Oh, alright."

Not funny at all right? Right. Except his voice is spot on, and Bennett and I love to resight it to one another all the time and it makes us laugh - so I thought I would share :) Also, wanted to let you in on a little secret that Nosey Smurf is the inspiration behind today's post. I always love reading when other blogger's share their day. Nothing special, nothing fancy, just "A Day in The Life." It let's me be a little nosey and I also love spying on THOSE moms that seem to do EVERYTHING ... and I'm always "HOW DO THEY DO IT?! I WISH I COULD JUST SEE INTO THEIR LIFE FOR ONE DAY!" ... I am certainly NOT one of THOSE moms ... we barely keep things a float around here. But, nevertheless - if you're interested - here's "A Day In The Life." A Thursday to be exact. A Thursday in September 2017.

6:20 am ~ Shane heads to a Men's bible study early on Thursday mornings, so I got up soon after he left to start my day. About 6:20 I was pouring hot coffee in a quiet house in the morning. I should also note - this is a great perk about my husband - he makes the coffee everyday :) Usually we drink it out of Tervis Tumblers and it's almost always on my nightstand waiting for me before my feet ever hit the floor. But, on occasional mornings I prefer the warmth of holding a mug and cozying up.
 After a few sips of coffee and a little background morning news, I packed up Bennett's lunch box.
6:52 am ~ Then headed to my office to finish up some work before I needed to get the kiddos up for school. Bennett goes to school Tuesday - Friday and stays late on both Wednesday and Thursday. Lainey heads to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and has extended day on Thursday - so it's usually my full day to get A LOT done for the week. I had a session from the week before I was sending out, and needed to organize a few meetings and get some emails out in the inter webs.
 7:49 am ~And before I knew it - little miss was hollering "MOMMY, DADDY" Ya'll this girl is the happiest little on the planet. What person wakes up EVERYDAY with a smile from ear to ear and hugs galore?! Okay actually, both my mother and my husband do too ... but I certainly do not - NOT a morning person over here (and my sweet B isn't either), but little miss and her daddy are always so happy :) and she always looks so well rested.

 Then we got ready for school ... I always struggle with whether or not I should get her dressed before or after breakfast (because she's ridiculously messy) but this morning, Shane was gone I knew I didn't have an extra hand and we had time which meant we could give Bennett the extra time to sleep (which is always a good choice) ... so we got ready first.
 8:00 am ~ time to wake up Bubby! Complete with the "good morning to you - monkey song" our kiddos favorite and lots of kisses and snuggles while he was "still waking up" - his favorite thing to say in the mornings.
 I coaxed him into FINALLY getting out of bed with bribery and letting him know I had cinnamon rolls in the oven for breakfast :) Making my kiddos cinnamon rolls in the morning before school takes me straight back to my childhood. We were a cereal house for the most part during the week ... I have two brothers and it always seemed like we were rushing to head out the door to school ... BUT on the mornings my mom woke up early and had it all together she ALWAYS ALWAYS made cinnamon rolls and walking downstairs to that smell was THE BEST. The other times we didn't have cereal were the mornings dad took us to school (which was always WAYYY too early) and we'd have to wait in the cafeteria for school to start - BUT - it usually also included a McD's breakfast stop before school too -- which was also a great addition to the morning. But here's my little mini me - still tired and swollen and only awake because someone promised him something delicious :)
 8:15 am ~ we make our way to the kitchen, land on some morning cartoons we all agree are suitable for our breakfast and dig in.
 While the kiddos scarf some food - I tend to the rest of the morning chores before we have to scurry out the door - feed the dog, get the rest of the school bags packed and in the car, make sure I have all of my items I'll need for the day, etc.
 Then get mister Bennett dressed and head to the garage (it was purple day at school for B and we were hard pressed to find purple in his wardrobe - luckily our boys in purple - Louisville City - came through for us!)
  **** OKAY -- so here's a little something I'm sharing that was certainly the biggest LOW of my entire day -- and these photos were actually taken way later in the afternoon --- but need to be placed here to chronologically make sense. Y'all --- just thinking back and typing this is making me sweat. Alright, so I opened the garage door, turned the car ON to get some air flowing and opened the Bennett's back car do to let the kid "climb up" in their seats ... then I realized I'd forgotten to take Maggie out so I told them to hop in their seats while I walked Maggie to the patch of grass two feet away.

I turned my back to literally say "Maggie go potty" turned back around and THE GARAGE DOOR WAS CLOSED! The car was on, my keys were in the ignition, my phone was in my purse IN THE CAR, and SO WERE MY CHILDREN!!!!! Inside the garage, with a car running, near all kind of garage tools and stuff that still hasn't been properly put away since the move and I had NO WAY TO GET TO THEM!! Our garage does not have a keypad installed yet and my keys were in the car. I started FRANTICALLY screaming Bennett's name thinking I could coach him through how to help me, but he started screaming back that he had already buckled himself into his car seat (a great trick he knows how to do at literally EVERY moment but this one) and a straight PANICKED!

Everything went through my head - should I run to the neighbors? Do I kick in the brand new garage door, all the things that could go wrong, EVERYTHING! I started kicking the side door repeatedly, when I realized we have a side door with a glass top ... and a cute lawn owl (that also is a story for another time) that would be able to break the glass and I could unlock the door from the outside. So out come my mama bear claws and VOILA - I'm back inside. What felt like 3 hours was probably more like 5 minutes but HOLY SMOKES. Garage keypad will be installed next week :)


9:15 am - 20 minutes late for school and I need a shower - but both kids are dropped off and I'm a free woman for a few hours.
 9:30 am - I'm waiting at a body shop to get an estimate on my latest brilliant move of backing into my neighbors mailbox - such a great way to say welcome to the neighborhood - DUNCE CAP. Luckily Fixer Upper was on in the waiting room :) PERK!

 10:15 am - I realize in the midst of the breaking the window craziness I forgot to grab my breakfast - so after my car appointment I was STARVING, and certainly needed more coffee.
 10:45 am ~ I had a bunch of errands to run - so that took up most of my time until it was time to pick up little Lou Bug.
 12:00 pm ~ Lainey usually has extended day on Thursdays, but she couldn't this week - so I had to  snag little Miss from school at normal time and we headed home to have some lunch.
 12:30 pm~ lunch time for me and little bit. We chatted about her day while I sorted through the mail.

 1:15 pm ~ I laid little miss down for her afternoon nap and headed back to my office to finish the work I'd started that morning. Emails never end folks. Neither does laundry. While I tackled some afternoon work, I also streamed Game of Thrones on HBO Go because it's currently on my much watch list. I've just started season 4 and cannot believe the way season 3 ended! AHHH!

This is also usually where Hubs and I check in with one another about our days - he was in Evansville helping with the canning line for the new Falls City Beer can launch, so he was sending me all the photos like a kid in a candy store. 
 3:39 pm ~ I woke little miss up from her nap around 2:40 and we loaded up the car once again to snag her brother from his extended day. After we picked him up we headed to the mall. My mom needed me to check something out for her so we stopped in real quick and then took a few minutes to have a cookie break and throw some monies into the fountain.

 4:45 pm ~ we're finished with our errands and business for the day and head home to play, hang and be home! Everything from stickers, to Trolls bowling, sidewalk chalk, and hide and seek. We also set up our Himylayan salt lamp that I've been wanting to try and the kids loved the fancy orange glow!



 6:20 pm ~ their sassy attitudes remind me it's time to start thinking about dinner. Shane was headed to Cinci for the Thursday night Bengals game which meant I was home alone with the littles and also meant I was splurging on dinner :) Postmates sushi for me. YAY!

 And leftover pizza and fruit for the kiddos!
 While the kids ate dinner, we worked on our monthly Highlights magazine that had arrived (B really loves the hidden picture puzzles)

7:00 pm ~ After the kiddos were done eating I sent them to the basement to bounce off the last bit of energy before bedtime, while I called our alarm company to handle some doorbell issues we've been having, and wait for my dinner to arrive (postmates was way behind). Dinner arrived. The doorbell was working, the kids were playing nicely and I sat down to listen to my book and eat my dinner in peace ...
But, that's hilarious because after two pieces of Sushi the kids were screaming at each other. Lainey was crying "Bubby hit me" and Bennett was arguing his case that it didn't happen the way she was saying it went down. So, my yummy sushi sat on the counter while I played bounce house and basement toys to avoid anymore nighttime meltdowns. BTW - this bounce house is from Amazon, we bought it for Bennett's 3rd birthday party on their Cyber Monday sale and it was the best money we EVER spent!

 Daddy sent us "look how much fun I'm having" pictures and I secretly roll my eyes while I break up yet another fight :) hah!
8:15 pm ~ mama calls the bath and bedtime alarm .. and while I'm scrubbing off my makeup, I hear Bennett yelling LAINEY DON'T DO THAT! and come back in the bathroom to find her "helping" her stuffed animals go potty -- which translates as completely summering them into the toilet. Which reminds me, they are currently still int he guest bathtub and I should probably throw those things in the washer.  RASCALS!!

8:40 pm ~ We put on our pjs, brush our teeth, take our allergy medicines, and pick a couple of books to read together. Bennett was EXHAUSTED - so I tucked him in first, kissed him goodnight and little Lou and I headed to her room for a few more books that are better suited for her age before tucking her in.
 9:00 pm ~ the house is silent, dinner is FINALLY served and Game of Thrones is streaming once again. I head to bed around 10:45 and wake up to do {most} of it all again the very next day! :)
And there you have it folks! A day in the life. Nothing glamorous, nothing fancy - just a normal day for us. And we're glad to have them. Cheers to many more normal days ~ and the freakin' weekend!

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

The Preschool Pair

"Back to school, back to school to prove to dad I'm not a fool!" Any Adam Sandler fans out there? I'm equal parts nervous, excited, sad, and hopeful as I sit down to write this post today, so the only way I can think to open is with that terribly annoying tune from Billy Madison.

Somehow, enough time has gone by to where both of my little teeny tiny little babies are old enough for preschool. Ugh. To be honest, I love it. I'm totally the mom that appreciates small increments of time away from my littles and quiet time to focus on myself and tending to my own creative brain. But, in the very same breath I struggle with it too. The mom guilt is so real. 

Nevertheless, I love seeing them flourish and letting them experience some independence away from our home. And here we are today with another year of back to school updates! For a little recap, here's what we have under our belts so far:
And here we are at the start of the 2017/2018 school year with Bennett's first day in Four Day Fours and little Miss Lainey's big first day in the Older Toddler's room ~ Two Day Two's. Their first day was yesterday and we were all pretty excited about it.

Their little preschool does things a bit differently than our old preschool in Nash and it's actually kind of fun and cute. Before the first day of school the teachers host a shortened mock-schedule day where they let the kiddos come and explore their classroom with parents in tote. It's a way to get the kids oriented with their class and also let the parents see a bit into their normal day.

Lainey's orientation was last Wednesday and both Hubs and I took our little bit to meet her "new friends" (which Lainey loves to exclaim when we talk about school). We headed out for a little Starbucks to snag breakfast sandwich and this smart little tot picked a cake pop instead and we obliged ... because #letthembelittle 

And then we headed to her classroom to meet her teachers: Mrs. Debbie and Mrs. Beth. She's a bumblebee in the PDO program - Older Toddlers "2 Day 2's" ... my favorite part of the class was their little feet where they line up to head to the playground.




And even though, they're in separate classes for part of the day ... she's going to school with her future husband, Charlie, and that makes my heart happy.
After they explored their classrooms and met their new friends ... they were off to rule the halls and explore the playground! I'd say they "oriented" just fine.
Then Friday, it was Mister Bennett's turn to have his mock day. I goofed on the time and we had to skip out on his Starbucks cake pop before school. Whoopsie. But, similar to Lainey, we headed in to meet his teachers: Mrs. Boylan and Mrs. Klapheke, check out his classroom and meet some pals - and once we were all wrapped up they headed to playground as well.


And then, just like that, orientation and mock days were over and we were ready for the real thing!
My babies first day of preschool, and my big guy's last first day of preschool. Whew! That's a lot on a momma's heart in one day!

Like every year, the kiddos and I baked chocolate chip cookies and packed a treat for their sweet teachers that love and care for the them throughout the day.


Truth be told, I totally had it all together. Veteran mom over here, walking my littles in fully expecting to drop them at the door and head out to take on the day. But, sigh, I ran into Laura on my way in (it's Charlie's first year and his first ever drop off) and just like I was, my first day ever dropping off Bennett, she was a mess of emotions and I walked in to see her crying with tear stains on the tshirt of her cute pregnant belly and this veteran mom was NOT so veteran anymore. Que crying in the drop off line and and waving goodbye to my friend through teary eyes. Good grief!!! One of these years I won't cry. Maybe?!

~ Lainey Lou ~






~ Bennett Bernard ~ 





~ The Preschool Pair ~



 He promised to watch out for her and show her the ropes. And then proceeded to tell me the reason he kissed her on the cheek and not the lips is because "she's always so slobbery" ha!
 I hope they always stay close. And silly. Silly most of all :)