We've been...

Living life...

making spider crafts

(yes, that's a headband HE is wearing!)

working out and stretching 

playing t-ball 

getting caught red-handed making HUGE messes when we're supposed to be sleeping 

sneaking in our room and climbing in the chair in the middle of the night 

so excited for "cowboy day" at school 

making fall shirts 

riding bikes after school 

getting ready for Christmas (painting Santa bisque) 

throwing fits 

playing at the park 

going through car washes 

eating new foods (for her, this is big...she ate a breakfast sandwich twice that week!) 

getting our teeth cleaned 

and brushing the animals teeth 

As you can see, just life.  Nothing over the top in the last 2 weeks.

Xander has been loving school.  His favorite part is show and tell and is constantly talking about "Cade".  I'm not sure if there really is a boy named Cade, but possibly a Gabe.  He also finally understands his schedule so it makes our days so much easier.  He knows that Tuesdays and Thursdays he goes to preschool, then to sissy's school.  Wednesdays and Fridays he goes to sissy's school.

Because Sterling won't eat sandwiches yet, I'm still having a difficult time finding her options to put in her lunches.  I'm going to pick up some turkey bites and see if she'll eat those.

School is going great for me.  Tomorrow I do my first "unfocused" observation.  I'm excited to get into the classroom and see what goes on in the inside.  

We finalized our travel plans for our December trip(s).  It's going to be a long one.  We've decided to drive the entire thing (because we had to rent one for 20 days, so why not add 2 more to it and just drive).  Most of the trip will be a lot of fun.  We're heading to Charlotte first, where we have Panthers tickets, then we'll go visit our friends that live an hour from there (we miss them SO much!), head down to Florida, up to Atlanta, over to Biloxi, then back home.  I'm not excited to be staying in a hotel most of the time (because come on people, that's expensive!).  I'll be glad for our Atlanta visit :)  No hotel required there.  But I am excited to be creating family memories.  We still need to find activities to do at each location so we're not wasting time or money.

What are some fun places to go with kids in Charlotte and Biloxi?

Have you heard that 5 on Friday is coming back this week?!  I'm excited and hope to keep up with a weekly post for it.

Talk to you on Friday!

Daily Happenings

Going back 2 weeks, so there's an overload of pictures.  Figured I best just get them all on one post rather than trying to break it up because it may be another 2 weeks before I post.  Hopefully not.  I really need to find a schedule to work for updates.  Any ways, hows and whys....onto the update

Aug 25th:  Just chilling before bed...yes, she wears headbands/bows to bed!  I don't even fight this battle, not worth it.

Aug 26th:  This girl is such a sassy pants.  So full of character.  Once a lady at the store said she's such a ham.  Nick happened to be with us, and he looked at me and was surprised I didn't have an angry reaction to her remark.  He thought she was saying she was a ham because she's bigger.  Nope, this lady was talking about how goofy she was being.  Nick had never heard of a kid being a ham.  Ha!  She's definitely a ham that's full of sass!

Just taking our bears on rides 

Aug 30th:  Happy 13th Anniversary to us!  We celebrated by taking a family selfie... 

And bought an espresso maker...best decision ever! 

Aug 31st:  This scene is a typical in the house lately.  Both kids LOVE helping...and most times I'll oblige and let them...mess and all 

Sept 1st:  Happy Fall!  We celebrated the 1st with a nice walk. 

Sept 5th:  I decided to go through the kids' winter gear to see what still fit and what we'd need to buy.  Xander didn't want to take his gear off.  The good news is that unless they have a growth spurt over the next few months, we'll be set except for boots for Sterling.  I'm just hoping I don't regret not buying snow pants now while there are some...there's fit just perfect, but not much room for growth.  Kids...don't grow until March...Love Mommy :)

Sept 8th:  No school for the kiddos so we spent 2 hours at the park.  Xander was actually playing with another little boy so I hated tearing him away from him to come home to eat lunch.  Hopefully next visit he won't be as shy either.  It's so much more fun playing with other kids! 

While we were at the park, Xander wanted to see if the splash pad was working.  I'd told him it didn't work in September so he'd have to wait until next summer.  Someone had to prove me wrong.  He had fun...it was only 74 but I'm pretty sure this will be his last water play day, so what the heck...let him have fun, right?! 

Of course I had helpers for dinner.  Tator-tot casserole. 

I noticed Sterling made a mess on her skirt so I told her to go upstairs and get a new skirt.  She does...but so does Xander!  Ahh! 

Happy Hippo.  Oh, how I miss you.  My sweet sister that's doing work in Germany sent us 2 boxes (56 pieces).  I so wish we could buy them closer to home...but I guess that would be a bad thing too. 

Sept 11th:  The ongoing study time.  I'm enjoying 3 of the 4 classes.  The one class I'm not to thrilled about I feel like I get attacked by the way people respond to my posts.  So, yeah, I don't look forward to posting.  I submitted my paperwork to the preschool here so I can observe a child a few times.  I'm looking forward to that assignment! 

It took 7 days of going to school for this boy before he didn't cry at drop-off.  Man was that a long 7 days!  So, his reward was this monster truck.  He loves it!  Bribery works folks...just keeping it real.

"warry mommy, warry"  = sorry mommy, sorry 

And today...well it's a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse up in this joint! 

Dancing girl

Sterling is obsessed with dancing and us watching her.  On Sunday night she started dancing and when she completed her dance, she gave us a bow.  I mean, really girl, where did you learn that one?  We've been doing a lot of dancing around here.  When those theme songs from the ending of the favorite cartoons come on, I bust some moves and the kids love it.  It's been a daily ritual for the past 2 weeks.  I love seeing their face when I come around the corner dancing out of surprise.  Man, do they love it!  Maybe it's prompted Sterling to put on her own show?  She loves to.  When we think she's done, she'll come next to us, look out the corner of her yes and say: "ust one more, one more".  All while holding up 1 finger telling us.  Too precious.

I think we may have a little dancer on her hands.  I love it!  I danced as a kid and would love Sterling to have a passion for it.  We can't wait until she turns 3 so we can enroll her!

Keep dancing girl!

School 2014

I started school on August 25th.  I had one week of work to accomplish before the kids started their school.  I figured it wouldn't be a problem because the first week is always the easiest and usually only introductions.  How hard is that, right?  My little buffoons were beyond ridiculous that week and resorted me enrolling them for more time in school.  I had them going 4 days a week, but only the morning session each day.  Now, they are still going 4 days a week, but 3 FULL days and 1 half day.

I'm taking 4 classes this semester.  Yes, 4!  What was I thinking?!  Let's hope this works out in the end...for now, I'll be sleep deprived and crabby.

These buffoons? Well they started school on Tuesday and I couldn't wait!  Trying to get my schoolwork done with them around...yeah, not possible!  I hope this year will be a  great one for them both this year!

They were both really excited 

And even gave some funny expressions along the way 

Of course I had to hop in one of the photos too 

They had too much fun taking pictures before we left

We made it to school and dropped Sterling off in her room first

Then walked over to drop off Xander.  He walked in great, and started playing with the "boat" that he eyed on open house night. 

As I was pulling out his snack and folder from his backpack, he was right next to me saying he don't want to go and that preschool is no fun.  I had to remind him that it's only been a minute and he can't say he don't like it yet...he needs to go at least 8 times to tell me otherwise.

His teacher did the takeoff from me as he was screaming and kicking.  

Wednesday he went full day at PDO with the teachers that he knew from last year, so I thought it would be better at drop off.  Wrong!  Even worse.  He started crying and saying he didn't want to go before we even got in the building.  He came home with a fever this day...after all morning complaining that he was freezing.  Should have known only day 2 and already sick.  But I'm going to be that jack wad mom this year, because obviously other moms or dads are bringing their twerp kids to school sick.  He didn't have a fever this morning, so yes, he went on to school although not 24 hour free of fever.  

Today...Worse yet!  As we were walking to his preschool door, he stopped, turned around and started running the opposite direction.  My goodness!  What is wrong with this child this year?  All he keeps saying is that he wants to go with me or with Sissy.  Poor boy!  He'll adjust and hopefully next week will be better.

Just for fun, I decided to take their weight and height so I can compare to the end of the year.

Sept 2nd stats:
Xander weighed 32.4 pounds and was 38 inches.
Sterling weighed 35 pounds and was 37.25 inches.  (To her defense she was 4 days constipated and on Wednesday morning she was back to her normal at 33.2 pounds)