Back to School

I have already completed almost a whole week of school and I am just now documenting the first day! As always at the beginning of the year, I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water.

Two days before school started, my friend took back-to-school pictures of my kiddos for me.  They turned out really cute!

Even though Sam isn't going to be in school, he still wanted pictures with his backpack.  Sam always wants to be able to do whatever the older two are doing.  He also REFUSES any help with anything.  He wants to do everything by himself.

That night, we took the kids to Build-a-Bear as part of our annual back-to-school tradition.  Now that we have three kids, I am wishing we had picked a cheaper back-to-school tradition five years ago!  The kids love it, though. This year we skipped The Cheesecake Factory and ate pizza in the food court instead.  I think the kids actually preferred it.  I know our wallets did.

The first day of school went smoothly and I was even able to snap a quick and blurry picture of Ellie and Jack as I dropped them off at their school's before-school program (Club Rewind).

Jack is in the same Kindergarten class as Naomi and his best buddy from preschool, Weston.  Their moms both took pictures for me the first day of school.  Jack is loving Kindergarten and his "sweet teacher."

As for my first day, well, I am supposed to have a maximum of 18 students in my Reading class. I have 42.  I have continued to have 42 all week.  I teach block classes so these students were crammed into my room for two hours every day, with several sitting on the floor and couches.  Needless to say, it made doing my first week's activities/lessons nearly impossible.  I have been told it will be fixed by Monday.  I sincerely hope so.

What I Did Over My Summer Vacation - part deaux

Today was my first day back at school.  Summer is officially over.  So, here are some things we did the latter part of the summer that I was too lazy to blog about...

Harry Potter Camp - Dianna, Sabrina, a couple of friends, and I put together a Harry Potter Camp for our 7-9 year olds.  We each picked a book (or two if we did more than one day) and showed the movie and did activities for that book.  It lasted 7 days and the kids LOVED it.  I am sure it was the highlight of Ellie's summer.  Well, tied with the cruise.  Here are some camp pics:

Redo boys' bedroom - The boys sleeping situation has been a little ridiculous.  Sam was in a crib in the boys' room, but Jack was sleeping on a toddler bed in the playroom.  I moved the toddler bed into the room with the crib so the boys could get used to sharing a room, but then Sam started insisting on sleeping in the toddler bed and Jack was sleeping on a mat in the playroom because Sam kept him up.  My goal was to get bunkbeds and completely redo the room.  My awesome sister, Dianna, helped me paint and decorate.  I went with an Americana theme since Jack's full name is very patriotic (and presidential). Heehee.  The boys have been sleeping in the bunkbeds for the past week and it has worked so well.  All last week, Jack would wake up with Sam, bring Sam downstairs, toast him some waffles, and put on Elmo.  All before I even made it downstairs. I wish I had done it at the beginning of the summer!

Indoor Karting - A friend of mine was moving to India so a group of us got together to say goodbye by going Indoor Karting.  I got dead last all four races.  It was awesome.  I'm never going again, though.  Once was enough for me!

Buy a new car - This is something we did just this afternoon.  I have been driving my Buick since Ellie was 7 months old.  I even documented its purchase on this blog!  We have taken some pretty amazing road trips in that car, but the time had come to put it to pasture.  I researched several types of vans and settled on the Kia Sedona.  Tom and I went together this afternoon and bargained for almost 2 hours before getting a price we were happy with.  The kids are so excited about the van...but probably not as excited as I am. Who knew 10 years ago that I would be so happy to cruise around town in a minivan (ahem, I mean swagger wagon).

And that about sums it up.  Now to prepare for a new school year and to accept that fact that my Jack is starting kindergarten!

Sunday best thoughts

I was reflecting during church today how much easier church is for me now. I remember when Ellie was young and how flustered I would get. We would spend much of church walking then halls.  And even with Jack, it all just seemed so overwhelming. But now I have three kids and it doesn't faze me at all. I even have to get there early to set up the nursery,  but getting three kids up and ready for church all by myself is a breeze. So, I am sitting there thinking all this while they are passing the sacrament and I reach to get the bread for Sam before he gobbles the whole tray, but he gets mad about it and knocks my arm, sending the bread flying. Then, when they are passing the water around, I also send that to the ground, dousing myself in the process.  I'd like to say today was an exception, but that pretty much happens every Sunday.  So maybe I am not as awesome as I think I am.

New Orleans 2015 - All about the food

Tom and I returned yesterday from what has become our yearly trip to New Orleans.  We love New Orleans for a lot of things, but mainly for the food so this time we planned everything around our meals.  Seriously, the amount we spent on food was ridiculous, but we had some dang good meals.

Obligatory road tip pic

Our first night in town, we ate at Bourbon House.  It is a Dickie Brennen restaurant and came highly recommended.  I shared charbroiled oysters and alligator boudin with Tom for an appetizer.  The oysters were good, but nowhere near as good as the Acme Oyster House.  The alligator boudin was delicious.  I had another starter for my main course, the crabmeat lasagna, which was mostly cheese and bits of shell.  Not a fan.

Thursday, we were up early because I had bought a tour off Groupon and pick-up was at 8:30. The tour was over 3 hours and was actually very interesting.  I have been to New Orleans several times and have taken smaller tours in the past, but this one was more comprehensive.  It was by bus, so I didn't take many pictures, but we did stop for beignets and I was able to snap this picture of Tom and a duck (or maybe a goose?).

3 hour tour and all I have to show for it is this picture of Tom and a duck

We did lunch that day at one of our favorite places, Napolean House.  We go there every year because the vibe is great and so are the muffalettas.  Then we went back to our hotel for a 5 hour nap.  Yep. 5 hours.  We were really tired.

That night, we had reservations at Mr. B's Bistro.  We had the garlic truffle fries as an appetizer and both of us couldn't stop raving about them.  Every bite was followed by a comment on how heavenly they were.  We also both ordered the bacon-wrapped shrimp and grits.  It was good, but how can you go wrong with bacon?  Neither of us could really fully embrace the texture of grits, though.  For dessert, I got the chocolate lava cupcake and I have to say that I was disappointed.  The star of the evening was definitely those fries. Oh, confession time...I wore my swimsuit cover to dinner.  You know, the one I wore to formal night on the cruise when I forgot all my dress clothes?  Well, this time I didn't forget, I just wanted to be comfortable and no one seemed to know it was a swimsuit cover when paired with heels and jewelry. Oh, I wore those heels all three nights and they were so comfortable! Thanks, Target!

Friday, we went to the World War II Museum.  It is rated the #1 attraction in New Orleans and I felt bad that we had never gone, so we hopped on the street car and rode over there.  Y'all, it is HUGE.  It comprises of multiple buildings and you could spend all day there and still not see it all.  But after awhile, I felt like it was just the same thing over and over again.  Honestly, if I had known it would cost $30/person, I probably wouldn't have gone.  Unless you are a big WWII buff, I would skip it.  I feel bad even typing that, but there are better ways to spend your day in New Orleans (like eating, apparently). We took a little break in the middle of museum-ing to grab lunch at the nearby Cochon Butcher.  It is really highly rated, but I just thought it was overpriced.  Tom really liked it, though.

Friday night we had reservations at Muriel's.  I liked it more than Tom, but maybe because they brought out the wrong main course and dessert for him?  Other than that, the service was amazing.  My water glass was always full and when I went to the bathroom, my napkin was folded in a cool fan shape when I returned.  I got the goat cheese crepes with shrimp as an appetizer and it was delightful.  I had oven roasted chicken for the entree. It was good, but I should have been more adventurous.  For dessert, we both had the flourless chocolate cake and it was AMAZING.  Since it was our last night, we decided to stay out late and go listen to music. Oh, I also got my fortune told by one of the fortune tellers at Jackson Square!  I have wanted to do it forever, but Tom hates that sort of thing.  He wasn't too happy when I relayed how she told me he would be going through a career change this year.  But she also told me I would travel for business this year...what kind of business travels does a high school teacher go on?  On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at Cafe du Monde for beignets.  On our way back is misleading, we actually walked the in the opposite direction from our hotel to go there, but it is a must when in New Orleans.

Saturday, we slept in and then hit the road.  I really wanted to stop at Central Market Grocery on our way out because I have had two different tour guides say it was the place to go. Apparently, they are the creators of the original muffaletta.  Tom and I paid close to $20 for a huge muffaletta to share,  Both of us agreed that it was too dry with too much bread and we both preferred muffalettas at Napolean House. After that, it was the long drive home.

See what I mean about spending a ridiculous amount on food?  I admit, we went over the top this time.  We both agreed that we enjoyed the food just as much in the past at less expensive places, Oh well, it was still a great trip and, most importantly, it gave Tom and I some much needed alone-time away from all of life's distractions.