Life Lately 2016 update

I was looking for something on my old blog and couldn't believe I hadn't updated in so long!

Gracie is in 3rd grade and doing great. Her school is great but tough, she is really getting prepared for middle and high school! This is her first year getting grades and we've had a big learning curve with it!  She's still in competitive soccer and loves it. For the last 2 years she's been on 2 teams so that means soccer every single day but one. She must really love it. We love watching her play and grow. She's learning some great life long skills and she hopes to be a professional player someday!!

Ramsey is in the 3yr old class at preschool at our church. He's not in my class but close by so I see him frequently. He's doing great and getting better at his speech. He finally qualified for speech by appointment through our school district so those will be starting up soon. He talks non stop but can be hard to understand. 

We are super busy during the week and weekends. We are trying to enjoy this time of the year (even with daily night time events) because it seems to fly by. 

Room Makeover

Our living room (Kelly's room as we call it) is where we spend the majority of our time as a family. We had an old rug in there that just needed to go. I knew that Ramsey would be getting to his mobile stages soon and I did not want him crawling around on that. So, in a quick decision I sold the rug. I've been selling all sorts of stuff around our house on facebook garage sales in our area. IF you haven't done that, check them out! I'm apart of many groups now- mainly kids swap groups- but I've been making some great fun $$!

Here's what the room looked like before:

That was way back in Sept. 2011 when we'd just moved. No pictures up yet but still you can see what it looked like. Small rug, nasty floor that I hate!

Here's the new room (phone pics only!)

SOOOO much better. We did all this one day when Kelly and Gracie were in Minnesota. Leave it to GG to totally change the room around and all we added was a new rug. We switched the furniture around and that's it! Total room makeover : $150 (price of the new rug!) Such a fun way to start the summer. It's perfect to sit on the floor now and play with Ramsey.

 Kelly and Gracie loved the new look too. Gracie noticed before Kelly (no surprise). She said "Heeeeyyyyy, this used to be over there and that used to be over here." It was funny. Thanks for your help GG. And in the middle is Ramsey- only 8 weeks old!

Around the House

Just some newer pics to show what we've been doing...

               I loved this one. What was he thinking when sleeping???




   Such a sweet love. Love after his bottle when he has a full belly. He is just so content!



Kelly gave Gracie a few snails from his science collection. She was thrilled and it got her to forget about wanting a dog! I couldn't believe how much she was into them. I was saying "Gross" slimy things but she liked them!




We even ventured out and met Nicole, Lydia, and Molly for dinner. Nicole and I with 4 kids ages 5, 2, and 6 weeks! Crazy fun!






Ha! Ramsey and Daddy


Giving smiles to Big Sis


Momma's sweet boy. Never gets old having him hang onto me. I forget all other worries :)

 What happens when Daddy is supposed to be staying up keeping him awake for his last feeding!



Lots of good yaws from Ramsey :)

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Life Lately...

 

Life is busy. I think I say that every time! With school back in session, it just seems there isn't much time. I love my new hours to my job but things are not any easier. My hours at school are 7:45-12:45. We still have to be in the car no later than 7:15 or I'm speeding to get there on time. There is so much traffic in the mornings! I usually get her to her school at 7:30 then really it takes about 5 more minutes to mine (only because it's a school zone pretty much the entire way!) Plus I get stopped by the crossing guard EVERY SINGLE DAY!   Never fails.

 

My 5 hours at school are  non-stop. Even though my day is shorter my work load is not at all. I actually serve more kids this year than last. I'm still with 3rd grade pulling resource groups but it is literally all day. I do get a 40 min planning/pre time and 30 min for lunch. Every day so far I've either skipped lunch to prep for the next day or I snack while I work. With all the kids I serve it's constant prepping/planning, paperwork and documentation! All day. I feel very overwhelmed when I walk/run out the door. I always bring home stuff with me but it's hard getting it all in.   The best time is when I get to scoop her up and we are done with school for the day. She's always happy as a lark to leave with me. Usually they are just fininshing up lunch at school. I'm so glad that she's already eaten. We've rarely come straight home. We stop for errands and the grocery stores and Target and not crowded at all from 1-2. We love it!  Sometimes we stop for a treat like a slurpee or slush.  I usually let her watch a My Little Pony when we get home, then it's rest time. Lately I'm resting too. I'm exhausted :) I don't let her sleep all day because I know this really is her last year for naps. She tends to lay down around 2:30 (but never goes straight to sleep) and I get her up by 4. I'm usually dragging her happy behind out of bed because once she's asleep, she's asleep. Most afternoons I can tell she's played in her room before getting back to rest and that's fine. As long as she's quiet and doesn't bother me I don't care what she does!!

 

 

In other news..

 

 

I'm in birthday party prep mode! We've changed our mind 10,000 times (well I have) but we finally made a decision and we're sticking to it. Gracie's never had a big party (inviting her class) and we were fully planning on doing that this year. Not going to a big party place but a bigger park in our city. Well then soccer happened and changed everything. She has a game every single Sat. and mostly are before 12. So they one on her party day happens to be 10. Ruined everything. I was fully prepared to let her miss one game but then I stayed awake a whole night trying to come up with plan b. She really, really wanted to have her whole class but  I think I talked her out of it for one more year! I talked to her teacher and she' s allowed to bring treats on her bday. So I said she could have little party at school and I'd bring treats and favors that way everyone could be there! Ha, She fell for it! Easy for me!! So then we knew we'd have to have an afternoon/evening party and daylight savings will already be on us so things get dark early. Park was out. My plan was a pj party with family and close friends. She loved it, of coarse. Nothing makes Gracie happier then wearing pj's! Kelly is going to grill out and the kids will play and watch a fun birthday movie in their pj's. She cannot wait and asks every day when it's going to be her birthday!  That's our plan right now!!

I can't believe our little bug is about to be 5! 5 whole years ago!! Where has the time gone? Makes me tear up every time I think about it. Our baby, 5 years old.

That's it for now!

Baby Birds

Back in May we had some Swallows decide to make a nest on our house. They used a tiny, tiny landing on our front porch. I do not know how they built that nest but it only took a few days. They used mud and sticks and worked day and night to prepare their home.

There is the finished house. For weeks and weeks we'd see the Momma and Daddy just hanging out. We royally irritated them every time we went to get the mail b/c they'd get all nervous and fly out. We watched and watched and every once in awhile Kelly would hold Gracie up to look in the nest. One day she came down with exciting news, there were 5 eggs!
Ji declared our house lucky when he came over once! I'll take that! Now the waiting game began- lots of waiting and waiting.

Finally, finally we started seeing life! Gracie just loved checking on the babies every day. We watched and watched. Sadly, when going to get the mail one day we discovered one had fallen out and not survived. We had to have a fact of life talk with Gracie.

Though they were fun to watch, what they left behind for us to clean away every day was not. It was nasty!

Once the babies were a tad bigger the Mommy and Daddy would leave bright and early in the morning and be gone all day. I always wondered what they were doing! They would never be out too far b/c we'd see them circling the area keeping an eye on things. At night they'd come back to perch for the night while the babies slept in the nest.

Every day we'd come out and check on them. Jack started coming out too. He was probably wondering what we were looking at/talking to!

Around mid June they grew up. I couldn't imagine how they all fit in that nest. I was worried sick thinking they were going to all fall out but they never did. They just knew I guess. They stayed there all snug waiting on Mommy and Daddy.

Finally one day they figured things out and started leaving the nest. The Mommy or Daddy would take one out to fly then come back for another until they were all gone.  I was glad when they finally got out so we wouldn't have that awful mess to wake up to every morning! Now the birds are back and ready to build nest #2 or reuse the same nest. While we were gone Pop got up and got the nest down and now we put pool noodles up blocking the landing so they can go somewhere else!! Bye bye birds!

Kitchen Tour

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner this week for the kitchen tour. I'm entering a little late- but better late than never :) We've lived in our house since September so here are some before pics.

See how nice and open it was? It looked like a decent size until we added all of our stuff. We had a much bigger kitchen in our last house with more counter space and a big island so we had to give a lot away! Also in the above pics a huge appliance is missing, the fridge. Once you get that in the kitchen shrinks down too. We even got a smaller one too. Here it is now:

Our kitchen is pretty much in the center of the house. To the right is playroom/outside. To the left is dining room, behind the table chairs is the family room and around the fridge is the hallway to the bedrooms. What we did like about the house is that everything was already done. Granite counter tops, new and unused cabinets that are slam proof, new appliances. The previous owners had just finished updating when we toured the house so it was all new.

This little table/cabinet sits snug behind the table. It was my Nana's so it holds a special place in my heart. The sunflower painting we brought back from Paris from our honeymoon. We have lots of "G's" around for our last name. My Nana loved birds. These were not hers but every time I see them I think of her. The little saying block says "Love you to the Moon and back" and it's what I say to our daughter every day!

My husband LOVED the ceiling detail. Very unique. It's growing on me :) The round table has been in my family for years. I ate off this table growing up and it went to college with me and my first apartment. We recently got new comfier chairs for it.

This is our little junk nook I guess. My husband and I each have a pull out drawer that we keep checks, bills, and personal junk. I have my calendar that I keep with fun monthly pictures too. We also charge our phones here!

Our main counter space. I try and keep it picked up b/c there is not much counter space so anything left out takes up room! Don't look to the right, my daugher's play room. What a mess!

I HATE the coffee maker out. Drives me crazy. I am not a coffee drinker so that is probably why. My husband is only a weekend coffee drinker but he was off today so the coffee maker was in use.

These are 2 things I really like in our cabinets. One is this corner cabinet. They installed a lazy susan type thing that spins around and holds all my Tupperware. As you can see I just throw them in there. 

I also love this pull out 3 tiered thing. It's great for baggies, foil, and that sort of stuff. 

I do love this little cut out. It gives me a little natural light from the outside and then I can see (sometimes) what my daughter is doing in her playroom. Most times she's right next to me begging me to play with her!

Finally it's the pantry. I like having a walk in pantry but this is on the other side of the fridge. It's actually on the hallway to our bedrooms and is directly across from the master. I guess there was no other place for it!  Don't judge. One of my summer projects is to clean it out. I tried a few months ago to organize and bought black bins and made labels but no one seems to follow the rules! (Me included I guess!) I do like the built ins on the side. It's perfect for cans and smaller items.

There you have it! Our kitchen :) It's not perfect but it works for us!

Testing

We're still here! For the past 2 weeks I've been studying like crazy for a big certification test I had to take. Plano is making all of there elementary teachers get ESL certified (English as a Second Language). I studied and studied and studied. Laundry didn't get done, not much playing time, and NO tv for me. (that took lots of will power!) I learned that I"m not a good studier anymore. I was so distracted!! But, I took my test on Monday. I was feeling okay about it but wasn't sure. Tuesday I got the news.... I PASSED!! Phew. I am now ESL certified (so I hold 3 certifications now!). I was so relived to get it done and out of the way. After the test I had the rest of the afternoon to run around all on my own. It wasn't too bad either! We are working on finishing up this school year. Only 6 more days :) I'm having to move classroom (AGAIN) so I am knee deep in boxes at school again because we are to be moved by the last day of school. Gracie had a great end of year program last night and did awesome. I've got lots to write about so hopefully I can get to it some day!

Gracie loves puzzles. She was so proud to put these around the house puzzles together and read the words on the cards. I've been buying/using pinterest to get some curriculum to work on with her this summer. We've got to keep busy and learn some new things :)

Spring Has Sprung

Spring is in full bloom and we are all suffering from bad allergies since we didn't have any sort of a winter! We have this amazing tree in our backyard that has turned into butterfly central. I swear it's their stopping/resting place as they fly by. We saw just a few one day then double the next then gazillions of them!

They were everywhere! So neat to watch. With every butterfly was a bee right next door too though. Had to be careful! I'm pretty sure they are painted lady butterflies. We used to grow them when I taught 2nd grade and we always released them around this time of year. Sadly though they only live about 2 weeks.

 

And speaking of spring, this girl sees a ray of sun (and sometimes not) and she jumps in the pool. We have to watch her like a hawk! She's started swimming lessons and is doing great. She is a natural swimmer and just loves the water. So thankful for that! 

Happy Spring!