Five on Friday

I haven't blogged in a few days just because we have been so BUSY.  Brandon has been out of town some so I've been in single working mama mode!  So, here are a few random things that have been going on:

1.  I took Anniston to her very first dentist appointment this past Wednesday.  I was super nervous just because I've heard so many horror stories but it was all for nothing- she did great!  I have to say that most of that is because of the staff at the pediatric dentist we chose.  They were awesome and so good with her.  They weren't pushy and played and talked with her so she wouldn't be scared.  I'm happy to report that all looks good.  Well, except for the fact that her 2nd year molars are already coming in!

2.  Brandon and I got this crazy idea last weekend to just jump right in on some of the house painting we have been planning.  All I have to say is this:  Toddler + house painting = not a good idea.  We limited our painting to nap time and after she went to bed at night.  So it was (and still is) a slow process.  We got one coat of paint on our entryway and decided we hated it.  So we started over and have yet to get finished.  My parents are coming to the rescue this weekend by entertaining Annie so we can knock a few rooms out, hopefully!

3.  I recently ordered the Liatorp desk from Ikea once I decided that I needed a desk.  I don't work from home (ever), so I'm not really sure what I will do there (blog?) but I'm super excited to make it pretty.  Maybe I will create some stuff to "do" at my new desk.  I'm currently stocking up my shopping cart over at See Jane Work with some cute and stylish office supplies! 

4.  Annie is obsessed with the "Easy" song from Sheryl Crow.  She insists we play it over and over when we get in the car.  She sways to the music and tries to snap her fingers.  I've even caught her a few times trying to sing it to herself when she thinks no one is paying attention.  Her favorite is when I pick her up and hold her and we dance around the kitchen to it.  And me?  I'd be ok if I didn't hear that song again for awhile....unless Annie wants to sing it to me:)

5.  I'm currently obsessed with Downton Abbey.  I know, I know, I'm late to the party.  I'm trying to get caught up before the 4th season starts.  I love it!  I love the clothes, the accents, the characters. I try to talk in my horrible British accent, which only makes Brandon laugh because I cannot do accents at all!  I told B one night that I think him and Anniston should start calling me "her ladyship." 

Linking up today with Natasha and the other girls for Five on Friday!

Adjustments

We've had a bit of a rough time adjusting to Anniston's new school.  It has been a very stressful past 2 weeks for both her and me.  I've cried on the way to work, after dropping her off, almost every day.  Then I have to fight to hold back tears when I pick her up because I'm so happy to see her and hold her.  And then I pass out about 9 pm because I'm so emotionally exhausted.

I'm really surprised that we have had this much trouble adjusting.  I know it's a new school and all, but she's accustomed to me leaving her to go to work.  I had no idea it would be this hard. 

On the 3rd morning she screamed when I left her.  Screamed.  And then started choking because she was crying so hard.  I sat in my car when I left and cried myself.  And all the way to work.  And then I cried again when I called to check in on her (even though they told me she was doing fine and was having fun.)  When I went to pick her up, she was playing, but when she saw me, her bottom lip started quivering and she ran over to me and threw her arms around my neck.  Once I picked her up, she was fine.  And she was fine the rest of the night- she was actually in a great mood and chatted all the way home. 

It got better last week.  A couple of days she didn't cry at all.  And on the days she did cry, it wasn't as bad.  Her teachers have been sending me text updates and pictures throughout the day.  She seems to do fine after I leave and looks as if she is having a great time.

Throughout all of this, I've been so impressed with all her teachers and the staff.  They have truly been wonderful.  I love all the different activities they do with the kids and that they have a devotion every single day.  So far, I'm very, very happy that we have chosen this school. 

Here are a couple of pictures that her teacher has sent me this week while I was at work:

 

 

Our Friday in Pictures

I picked up Annie from school early on Friday and we headed to the Botanic Gardens with Aunt Allie.  Anniston had SO MUCH fun playing at My Big Backyard- which is children's area there.  They have such cute little play houses there and she had such a big time exploring it all. 

We played in the sandbox, went down the "big girl" slide, played in all the houses, and had fun getting wet with the sprinklers.

Weekend Happenings

***Note:  I was in the middle of typing this post last Monday about our weekend when my computer died because my charger was not working.  I've finally got my computer back and I know it's a week late, but I still wanted to post this anyway!


Last weekend really consisted of last Sunday and Monday since I had to work on Saturday.  Brandon and Anniston had so much fun having some Daddy-daughter time, though.  It makes it so much easier to work some weekends when I know they are having special bonding time together.

Sunday morning consisted of grocery shopping, laundry, and picking up around the house.  After nap we headed over to our friends' house for a cookout.  The plan was for me and Emily to work on our consignment stuff while the kids played and the boys grilled.  Emily and I had fun going through our clothes to consign and ended up buying stuff off each other. 

We ate hotdogs, hamburgers, fries, and ice cream.  It was so yummy and everyone had a great time. 

Anniston found a stethoscope and had fun playing doctor.  I have no idea how she knew what to do with it- she's never played with one that I know of.  Regardless, she loved it!  I see a future birthday present!

I  was off work Monday too, and Anniston and I were up early to get ready for our busy day.  I feel like superwoman after Monday.  I got so much stuff done and had a blast with Anniston.  That morning we ran to Home Depot to look at hardware for our kitchen, then to the grocery again to pick up a few things since we decided last minute to have Brandon's mom over for dinner that night.

Then we met up with Sarah and Sally for story time at The Village Toymaker.  I was a little nervous about her sitting still for the story, but she did well!  We sang a song at the beginning and did a little craft project afterwards.  It was a lot of fun and it was free!

During naptime I cooked a casserole to save for Brandon and Anniston to eat on the two nights this week that I work until 8 pm.  I also made me something to take for lunch at work.  I started entering in my consignment clothes, too.  I tell you, I'm becoming quite the little cook!  I'm so proud of myself. 

After Anniston woke up from her nap, Allie came over to play and hang out for a bit.  We let Annie ride around outside in her little powered jeep.  She was so adorable riding it.  She was scared of it at first but this weekend she has really had fun on it!  She can't steer quite yet, so you have to make sure there is nothing in her way...

Brandon came home as we were outside and she wanted to make sure her Daddy saw how good she was at driving it.  She kept saying, "Daddy, watch!" 

Brandon's mom came over for dinner later that night and I made tacos.  In case no one was paying attention- that's 3 things that I cooked on Monday!!  I totally gave myself a little pat on the back. 

First Day of CTK

Anniston's first day at her new "school", Christ the King, was today.  I am utterly exhausted.  It has been such an emotional day (and not necessarily in a bad way) that I could have definitely benefited from a little anti-anxiety medication today.  Instead, I'm stretched out on the sofa, watching a little TV and my awesome hubby is giving me a foot massage.  Sigh...

I woke up super early this morning to prepare Anniston's lunch:

Anyone impressed?  Ok, so I know it's not Pinterest worthy as far as the real bento box lunches go, but I think I did pretty well for my first time!  So far, I'm loving the new bento system I purchased.  I wanted to make sure and send plenty of variety so I knew she would at least eat something on her first day.

We were packed up and out the door on schedule and I even had time for a few pics:

Ah, these just melt my heart.  My little girl is growing up so fast!

I was a little worried she would cry when I left, so I was prepared for that.  I'm happy to say I was wrong!  She walked right in and started playing with all the toys.  There was another little girl there already and they were checking each other out.  I hugged and kissed her bye and she never once cried or reached out for me.  This made my day at work so much easier.  I was still a nervous wreck all day, though.

I called the school about 1:30 to check on her.  I spoke to one of her teachers, who told me she had played well so far, ate well for lunch, and was now napping.  Whew.  We got off the phone and I broke down in tears.  Happy tears.  Tears of relief that she was doing well and adjusting to the new school.  The day seemed to drag on forever as I couldn't wait to go pick her up and hear about all the fun things she did that day.  I just knew she was having fun with all the activities they had planned for them.

I left work a little early and Allie met me at the school to pick her up from her first day.  She was the next to the last one left in her classroom and she was crying pretty bad when I walked into the room.  One of her teachers was holding her and said that she had just started getting upset when all the parents started coming in to pick up their kids.  She gets like that sometimes.  It's the end of the day, she's tired, and she sees all the other parents coming in.  She was fine once I had her and even yelled out "spiders!" while doing some new gesture with her hands.  I'm guessing they sang the song?

Here is her first daily report from her first day at school:

I came prepared with a special treat for the drive home- a sucker.  She was all over that!  I asked her various questions about her day and she responded with a "yeah" and then proceeded to laugh.  She was in a great mood the rest of the night and SO MUCH ENERGY.  This girl wore us out!  We "marched" around the house at least 150 times.  This was the best mood she has been in (at this hour) in a while! 

She crashed, though.  After bath, we sat on the sofa and watched Caillou and she fell asleep:(  I'm not too far behind her!  This day has been exhausting.  It was a good kind of exhausting, though.  I'm so happy that she had a good day and that it all went well.  Now I have to rest up for day 2!

Open House, School Supplies, and a Play Date

Anniston's open house for her new daycare was last night.  I was more excited than anyone, I think.  We met her teachers, saw her classroom, and got her school supply list.  Yes, apparently even the 18-24 month class has a supply list!

Annie was a little shy at first but once she got in the classroom she hopped right to it, checking out all the toys and books.  She didn't want to leave when I told her it was time to go!

I was a super good photographer and got some GREAT pics:)  Oh well, these were the best I could do with so much going on!

We hit up Target first thing today, list in hand, for Anniston's first school supply list!  Markers, crayons, diaper cream, watercolor paints were all on the list and, I have to admit, I LOVE back to school shopping!

We hung out with Aunt Allie for a good bit of the morning- taking pics, jumping on the bed, you know- the usual.  I'm still testing paints on various rooms of the house and it's DRIVING ME CRAZY!  One day I like one color, at night I like another, and then the next day I can't remember which color I liked yesterday!  See?  I told you it was making me crazy!

This afternoon we had my friend, Sarah, and her little girl, Sally, over for a play date.  I've known Sarah since college, where we were sorority sisters.  It's crazy how time flies!  Anniston was not the best at sharing at first. Every time Sally went to play with a toy, Annie would either want to play with it too or get mad because Sally was playing with it.  We had a little talk before they came over about sharing our toys but apparently she didn't listen.  She did better about sharing towards the end, though.

I'll leave you with one last pic of Anniston this morning:

This girl does love shoes:)!

Our Weekend

I should really try to come up with more creative names for my weekend round-up posts.  I'm feeling lazy right now, so I'll work on that next week:)

This was my 3 day weekend so we've had a full 3 days of fun activities and family time.  Friday morning, I had the carpet in the main family room professionally cleaned and then Allie, Anniston, and I headed up to Kid's Play for the Matilda Jane trunk show.  The new fall line is really cute, but I did so well and limited myself to only 2 outfits.  I got a dress and a little shirt and pants set.  Both are ADORABLE and I can't wait for her to wear them. 

Friday night we met our friends, Emily and Frank, and their two girls for dinner at Hog and Hominy.  This place is awesome.  Great food with a family atmosphere.  Perfect place to take 3 young kids.  We had a great time and all were so well behaved.

After dinner, the boys took the girls outside while Emily and I sat and talked and waited on our checks.  When we walked outside, we found the girls entertaining all the people waiting to be seated by building a fire pit, apparently.  They were having so much fun together.

Saturday morning, Annie and I cleaned up the house, did laundry, and made a quick trip to Target.  She insisted on wearing my "bacelets" inside Target.  I tried to get her to leave them in the car because I was afraid they would fall off inside, but she screamed "BACELETS, NO!!!!" when I tried to take them off.  So they went with her inside the store.  Don't mess with her bracelets, people. 

I bought Annie her first Little People set.  I tried to get her to like the little pink bus (which was one of the cheaper ones), but she had her eye on Ariel's carriage and I could not change her mind.  She was so excited that I let her buy a toy and couldn't wait to get home to open it. 

Saturday afternoon, my family came in town for a pool party.  We ordered pizza from Mellow Mushroom and had a great time hanging out and visiting.

Poppy and Kay Kay gave Anniston a little Dora necklace and bracelet set- which she is in love with.  This girl loves her jewelry!

She had fun going through Aunt Nancy's makeup bag- and putting it on:)

After everyone had left, I put Annie to bed and me, Allie, and the Brandon's all hung out by the pool, listening to music and talking.  Ah, what fun and a great way to relax after a full day.  Well, at least that's what Allie and I did.  The boys made up silly rules to water basketball.  Their inner 10 year selves were in full force. 

Sunday we did a w.hole lot of nothing and it was great.  Grocery shopping, Home Depot, laundry, etc. We went swimming in the pool for a bit.  Annie is becoming quite the little fish!

I cannot believe Annie starts her new school this week.  Be prepared for plenty of details of all the activities this week.  I'm sorry in advance!  We have her Open House tonight, which I'm so excited about.  Happy Monday!