First day of kindergarten!

This is the outfit Ellie picked out for her first day back to school. I like tomorrow's outfit much better. Ellie was so excited to go to school this morning. This is her pose for just take the picture so we can go, mom. It is very similar to her I have to pee pose.

Ellie goes to Club Rewind in the morning which is a before-school program at her school. She is a car-rider in the afternoons. When Tom went to get her this afternoon, they couldn't find her. She had been sent back to Club Rewind for the afternoon session and she was MAD that Tom was picking her up! She didn't want to come home! She loved school...everything about it. What a relief.

Back to school

When I filled out the paperwork to enroll Ellie in kindergarten, one question asked what type of teacher would work best for my child. I think I put something like, "firm but loving." What I should have put is "not male." Ellie does not do well with men. She gets giggly and hyper and hangs all over them. I know, not a good sign for things to come. I actually moved her out of tumbling and into gymnastics just to switch her from male to female instructors. So, when Tom and I took Ellie to Meet the Teacher this Thursday, we were really dismayed to hear Ellie has a male kindergarten teacher. Before we even met him, Tom was all, "You have to be the annoying parent who insists her child gets another teacher." But, once we met him our fears were laid to rest. He is no-nonsense...just what Ellie needs. And I must say, it was weird being on the parent side of meet the teacher.

Prior to meeting her teacher, I took her to get a feather extension. I was tempted to get one for myself as well, but I have a feeling that the majority of my students will be sporting them this year and there is nothing lamer than a teacher trying to be cool. After meeting her teacher, I took Ellie school shopping. As I was standing in the check out line, my mother-in-law magically appeared and insisted we keep shopping. She managed to find all these great deals I had somehow missed and then footed the bill for the entire expedition! Even though Ellie had plenty of clothes by this point, I still couldn't resist hitting Target for tax free weekend. I let Ellie pick out all her own clothes without objecting (her taste is very different than mine). With all these new clothes and a feather in her hair, my girl is set for kindergarten!

I have been busy all week trying to get ready for school, too. I was moved to a different classroom, so all my spare time was spent moving couches, filing cabinets, and tables around. I have to have 4 different stations in my room: computers, independent reading, small group, and whole group. I just couldn't seem to make it work like in my old room. Oh well, I did have fun printing and framing these posters I stole off pinterest:

Now I am just excited and a little anxious for Monday morning!

Things that make me smile

Ellie came rushing out of the bathroom tonight to tell me, "Mommy, guess what? I just pooed the pokiest poo in my whole life!"

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I bought one of those Bounce dryer bars and as I installed it in my dryer, I just felt so happy. 10 year ago, I never would have gotten so much pleasure out of a new laundry product.

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I love when Jack pats the floor next to him and demands that I, "Sit down! Sit down!" He always wants someone sitting next to him when he plays.

I also love how he loudly says "Bye" to everyone we pass. Ellie always said hi, but Jack prefers the byes.

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When Ellie stayed with my parents a few days ago, she informed them that sometimes we run out of food and she has to go hungry. (Not true, Mom and Dad! No need to buy us groceries! Unless you want to. In that case, just some Blue Bell ice cream should do.)

End-of-summer blues

I go back to work tomorrow. And so I am a little down tonight. Ellie is with my mom for a few days and Jack is going to daycare tomorrow. I know I will have to pry him off me kicking and screaming. I hate that. It totally amps the mother-guilt. It's not that I hate my job or anything. It's just that I spent my summer with these three people:

They beat moody teenagers any day of the week.

My first (and hopefully not last) 5K

At the beginning of the summer, I made a list of things I hoped to accomplish and one of the things on the list was to run a 5k. Running a 5k has actually been a goal of mine since my freshman year of college when I signed up for the Habitat for Humanity 5K. I got the t-shirt when I signed up, but the morning of the race, I just turned my alarm off and went back to sleep. I still have the t-shirt. 15 years and 50 pounds later and I still haven't run a 5K. Nevermind that the rest of my siblings have been busy doing marathons and triathlons. This summer I began training in earnest, determined to finally run that measly 3.1 miles. My awesome sister-in-law, Sabrina, was doing the same thing and we decided to run one together. So, this morning, with our husbands and kids cheering us on, we completed our very first 5K in 32 minutes, 45 seconds. Yay us. Now I want to start training for a 10K. What say you, Sabrina?

An afternoon with a princess

Ellie's cousin Kinleigh had a birthday party last weekend. I didn't tell Ellie that Belle from Beauty and the Beast would be in attendance. Ellie was blown away. She honestly believed it was the REAL Belle and she constantly peppered her with questions about her life at the castle.

Belle did a great job. She read a story to the kids and danced with them, even bursting into song occasionally. Never once did she break from character.
Ellie has now switched her allegiance from Cinderella to Belle.
My little girl is starting kindergarten in a little over a week. I am surprised how hard I am taking it. I just want to keep her my little princess forever.

This is my last vacation post, I promise

When we go on road trips, Tom does all the driving. He says it is because he loves to drive, but maybe he just hates the way I drive? Either way, it is a win-win situation because I can read the whole time. I brought four books with me (Bossypants, What Happened to Goodbye, Something Borrowed, Before I Go To Sleep) and I was able to read them all in drive time alone. Of course, Tom kept wanting me to look at and discuss the scenery with him. This is a hidden side of Tom, he really appreciates beauty (which is why he married me, heh heh). He could even find beauty in the West Texas landscape. Every rest stop, he would make me take a picture of the kids with his chosen backdrop. As we got closer to Arizona, the terrain became more hilly. Tom kept referring to the hills as mountains, but, as someone who lived in Utah for a few years, I am an expert on mountains and I set him straight. We had a lively discussion going about the difference between hills and mountains (I know, we are so fun to hang out with) when suddenly a mountain sprang up from nowhere. According to my brother-in-law, Jason, it is the second largest mountain in Arizona. Tom wanted to go up this mountain, and as luck would have it, my brother-in-law had some ashes that he needed to scatter from the top of that very mountain. [Quick explanation: Jason is a mortician and owns his own funeral home. Apparently, the deceased family did not want to scatter the ashes themselves, but knew where they wanted them scattered.] So, we joined Jason and the deceased for the trip. Once we reached a good scattering place, we hiked around a bit while Jason did his thing (apparently, you have to make a map of where you scatter ashes, GPS coordinates and all. Just a fun fact for ya). Because of the dry weather, the forest rangers had gathered all the branches and brush into piles. My niece explained to Ellie that "the Indians used to live in them a long time ago. Like in the 1970s." I didn't bother correcting her.

On our way back down the mountain, the winding roads were getting to everyone. I have never been carsick in my life and even I was feeling it. Tom ended up vomiting and thus ended his obsession with the mountain.