Getting Into the Groove of School

Well, we are officially four and half weeks into the school year!  Isn't it crazy?!  If I'm doing the math right, that means we are 1/8th of the way through!  Insane.

We are sort of getting into the groove....although I don't think mornings will ever be easy for any of us!

Sydney is LOVING her preschool class -- praise the Lord!  She breezed through orange week and half of yellow week and got rave reviews from her teacher and dance teacher!  One of the teachers came up to me on Wednesday and told me that Sydney had consoled one of the other students during their worship session who was crying because it was too loud.  Awwwww.

➹ There is a small candy machine right by the door to leave.  I may or may not point it out to her and bring a quarter to reward her for her good days!  A little Skittles in a cup never hurt anybody! ➹

On Tuesday, Olivia woke up to me in her bed.  Sydney had crawled into bed with me and David and I was smooched between her and Magnum and could not get back to sleep.  So, I snuck out and went to sleep with Olivia.  It took me forever to fall back asleep and I could barely wake myself up when it was time to get going.  Olivia picked out her outfit, got completely dressed by herself, and poured herself her bowl of cereal {with milk!} all while I laid in her bed.  {Next up, teaching her how to pack her lunch. ;)}  She even brushed her hair and teeth without me prompting her to!  She was so proud of herself.  WE praised her up one side and down the other, but I guess not enough to get her to do it again this morning.  Ha! 

➹ I can't get enough of that smile! ➹

Mom was watching Sydney for us, so David and I went over to surprise her for lunch.  It's so funny to see her interact with her little friends at school!  We went outside with her for a few minutes after lunch and she showed off her jump roping skills.  She's getting pretty good at it!

➹ She's almost always the last one to go to recess. ➹

➹ She was so excited for her daddy to come to school! ➹

Our Weekend of Swim...

Are you guys sick of pool pictures?  I hope not because summer is not even close to being over here in the desert and the only way to stay cool is to take a dip in our oh so refreshing, 95 degree pool.  Yup, you read that right...NINETY-FIVE degrees has been the temp of our pool for the last week or so.  Oy.

Honestly, on Friday, we were SO hot, we couldn't even imagine getting in the pool.  Is that sad or what?  Sheri and I decided that maybe we would take the kiddos someplace with air conditioning instead, but neither of us wanted any place with crowds!!! We decided to try out Peter Piper Pizza right after school, and it was perfect!  There was only one other family in the place and after a couple hours of climbing and games, we walked across the parking lot {sweating the entire time} and ate at my favorite burger place, Freddy's.  It was a FUN FRIDAY for sure!

➹ Thank you, Dr Dre, for this. ➹

➹ Rewarded with a DQ ice cream cone for stuffing her face with french fries and a quarter of a hot dog made by someone other than me! And, I swear, Sydney was with us, she just didn't feel like being photographed! ➹

Saturday mornings are swim mornings around here these days, and you know what happens after morning swims, right?!  BOSA DONUTS!

➹ So proud of my amazing swimmer.  The teacher always has to go swim after her because she swims much farther than the rest of her class! ➹

➹ She is such a ham! ➹

We jumped in the pool after dinner Saturday evening, and it seriously felt like bath water.  I'm not really complaining because I sort of like it that way.  It always bums me out in the winter when it is too cold to swim in our own pool.  It was fun to do a little night swimming -- we stayed in long enough to turn the pool lights on.  

On Sunday, we went to a birthday party at a fancy country club pool.  They had a very cool splash pad / baby pool area and two awesome water slides!  I will have to try and upload some of the videos of Olivia and David going down the water slides -- they were obsessed!  I'm so proud of Olivia -- she used to be really scared of going down even a regular slide, so going down huge water slides is so awesome!

➹ My cuties on their way to the party! ➹

That Third Tooth is OUTTA There!

One of Liv's top incisors has been loose for awhile now.  At first, I sort of encouraged her not to wiggle it so much because I wasn't ready for her to have a {semi} toothless grin.  I think she obliged for awhile and then started wiggling it with her tongue while she was at school.  She was so proud of how loose it had gotten and by this past weekend, it was obvious it was time for it to come out.

As you can see from the picture above, no matter how much she was told it really wouldn't hurt for it to come out, she still threw on the dramatics and stretched out that wiggly tooth for HOURS.  She had her neighborhood crew over and despite promises of icy treats, gum, stuffed animals, Lego Friends kits, etc., she just could not let anyone pull it out.  She wiggled and wiggled until about 6:15 Sunday night, and I just couldn't take it anymore.  When she had her mouth open, I sort of jabbed my hand in there to knock it out...it was seriously barely hanging on, so it fell right out.  Of course, she said it didn't hurt.  It didn't even bleed.  And we were all relieved that it was out!

But all of that wiggling, drama, and change in her body made her a little sick to her stomach, and not twenty minutes later, she blew blue chunks {thanks blue raspberry italian ice} all over our bathroom. Quite the flair for the dramatics, this one has!  

She got a glittery $2 bill from the tooth fairy, a Lego Friends kit from Nana and Poppy, and all of the stuffed animals and gum her friends had promised her.  She came home from school on Monday and went right to work on that kit!

I'm not sure what I was so worried about with her toothless grin, because it is ADORABLE!  She loves it too!

Swim Lessons and Donuts!

We have been taking swim lessons {on and off} through the city pretty much since we moved her.  I think it will be about 4 years this coming January for lessons for Olivia.  We don't do them year round -- pretty much just in the summertime -- and sometimes it's 4x/week and sometimes it is just on Saturdays.   She has moved up from the Daddy & Me classes {see that post here}, breezed through tadpole, shrimp, duck, seahorse, otter, turtle and is now in frog!  She's such a great swimmer and just loves being in the water.

Sydney is in duck and is just waiting a few weeks so she can meet the age requirement to swim on into the seahorse class!  She's just as much a fish as Olivia is in the water.

Our evening classes are over for now and we are just to Saturday mornings, which makes it perfect for sleeping in a little bit and then rewarding their hard work with a little Bosa Donuts treat!  ;)

And, in case you wanted some swim pictures....

Sweet Little Reese Cup Turned ONE

Ohmyword -- is it really possible that Sweet Baby Reese is already a year old?!  Seems like no way a year has passed, but at the same time, it seems like we have known this incredible family for much more than just a year!

A little backstory on our dear friends -- we met Riley {Reese's big sister, and Liv's sweet classmate/friend/dance buddy} and her mom a couple years ago at our neighborhood playground and chatted for a few minutes about being at the same preschool {different days, different teachers}.  When Olivia graduated from Pre-K, I asked the director of our preschool if she knew of any families who would be at the same elementary school as Olivia and she mentioned Riley and said, "Oh, you would LOVE them...they are such a great family!"  Well, what do you know?  A few days later, on the day of kindergarten testing, Riley and her mom had the appointment right after ours.   We chatted and let the kiddos hang out a bit {the girls sort of knew each other because they were performing in the same number for the dance recital, but their classes were on different days}.  We exchanged numbers and said we would get together right before school started so the kids could hang out...we had our fingers crossed that they would be in the same class.

Well, when we got back from our summer in SLO, I texted Riley's mom about getting the girls together and it took her awhile to get back to me.  When she did, she had to cancel our play date because their world was about to get turned upside down....they were about to adopt a baby girl, and had appointments to get to and a nursery to prepare!

Fortunately, our girls were in the same class, and Sheri and I became instant friends.  We've known Baby Reese since she came home from the hospital and it's just been the sweetest, most amazing thing to watch her grow.  She's talking and walking and hanging with the big girls who just love on her constantly.  We were so lucky this past week to be able to celebrate ONE YEAR of Reese with their family.  Sheri throws a party like no other....

➹ Party hats with Reese's face on them! ➹

➹ Pin the diaper on Reese! ➹

➹ You can't tell from her face here because she's in a sugar coma, but she LOVED her giant cupcake! Happy Birthday, sweet girl! ➹

August Shenanigans

I'm either really great at blogging on a regular basis or really bad at it.  And, this month, I'm really bad.  #youwinsomeyoulosesome

David has been out of town for pretty much the last month.  No really, he's been home about as many days as I have fingers on one hand.  If it weren't for my incredibly amazing parents, we'd all be a lot nuts right now {instead of just a little nuts}.  Seriously, my parents have been awesome -- my dad took Olivia to swim lessons A TON, Mom fixed our dinners most nights, and she even stayed to put one of the girls to bed for me.  I'm spoiled, lucky, blessed, and extremely grateful.

➹ Olive Garden for the win!  Gotta treat the grandparents for all of their hard work! ➹

➹ UNLIMITED BREADSTICKS!!!!! ➹

With school in full force, I've been doing lots of shopping.  Ha!  Not that kind of shopping -- who has time for that even with kids in school?!  I'm talking about GROCERY shopping.  I seriously feel like I go to the A store just about every day.  Anyone else like this?  I have to go to Costco for the giant containers of fruit, Target for their Market Pantry cheese {as that's the only kind Olivia will eat}, Trader Joe's for their freeze dried apples and their Strawberry Yogurt O's cereal {David picked up 17 boxes before school started and we are down to 2}, Fry's for their frozen noodles {game changer}, and Albertson's for just about everything else that I have forgotten to get at the gazillion other stores I went to that week.  Thank goodness I've got one of the strongest helpers around!

➹ Somehow this stack of IU folders got stuck in with the red AZ Cardinals stuff! ➹

Sydney is her usual pistol self. ;) LOVE HER SO!  She is having mostly great days at school, but maaaaayyyyybbbeeeee could use a little work in the sharing department. #thisisnotnewstome

➹ Little Miss Thang was my coffee date at church a couple Sundays ago because she refused to go into the childcare class.  Good thing she's cute, am I right?! ➹

Praise the Lord for friends who live close -- Sheri and I have been taking turns picking up the entire crew from school.  While I miss our chats on our walk there, it's nice staying in every other day and not sweating my butt off in triple digit heat!  Our freezers are stocked with icy treats to help cool the kiddos down.  It's funny how it grew from our two kids {sometimes 3 w/ Sydney when I can't leave her home with David} to five to now seven.  I'm thinking the popsicles have something to do with it!

➹ These two girls -- such SWEET friends! ➹

➹ I mean, who wouldn't want to eat an Italian Ice when it is 108 degrees outside?! ➹

What do you get when you combine first grade, swim lessons after school, 2 mg of melatonin and Olivia?  A girl who falls asleep with her light on while waiting for her mom to finish putting her sister to bed.  

I'm not telling everyone to take melatonin, but oh man, it has helped us so much with Olivia.  My sweet girl used to take over an hour to fall asleep on most nights.  She just could not get her mind to quit working.  She is now asleep in minutes and wakes up happy and refreshed and ready for school.  And, just look at that face!  Nothing better than a sleeping child! {Except a sleeping child at 9am on a Saturday.  Where's the pill for that?! ;) }