Fun Saturday!

Well I made it through the first full week of school and we are all still alive. I consider this successful! The kids went full days at school(7:30 to 2:30) on Thursday and Friday. They really seemed to have a great time and never shed a tear when dropping them off either day. Nap time is where I thought LG would struggle in that she wouldn't get enough rest with the older kids not napping, but the teacher said she was the first one asleep on both days last week and did great. So I am thrilled she is napping well at school, otherwise it might be a looooog evening for everyone. Developmentally I need to be working on lots of things with both kids. It's really unbelievable what the GLE's(grade level expectations) are in kindergarten now a days, so I plan to try and work with Jake more this year(on top of what they do at school) so that he can be more prepared for preschool next year.

With all that aside, we took it easy today. Went to Lowe's this morning....PLEASE BEWARE that when you go into the store all the Halloween decor is out. Most children enjoy Halloween but my kids were petrified by some of the life size replicas. The witch, for example, sent Jake into a crying and running to the other end of the store episode. There was a worker who had control of the voice on the witch and was talking to them. Jake was pretty shaken and luckily there was a door in the back of the store that we exited. An LG, well, she was scared of everything. She's still taking about a scary dog that I never even saw.....maybe next year!

We then came home to work in the yard when my principal from school walked by with her granddaughter, Harper. Harper's mom, Jennifer Cado Anderson, and I grew up together and graduated from HS together as well. She and her family live in Dallas now but Harper was visiting for the week. Poor thing, LG and Jake were a little overwhelming to her but she stayed and played for a little while. Thanks for playing Harper!

After naps we put on our Tech gear and headed to town for the LaTech fan day. It was a way to meet and greet the football team and cheerleaders. We did neither as the kids were having too much fun throwing footballs, eating candy, and playing on the jumpees. They had a lot of fun and it was great to see such a good turnout.

So that brings us to tonight and we are just enjoying some downtime. Have a great week and enjoy the pictures.

Landry Grace and Harper. This pic captures the moment as LG is trying to take charge and poor Harper has "get me outta here" written all over her face!
Heading to Fan Day
LG and her buddy from church Addie Harrington
First year that both kids would pose beside Champ. She wouldn't get any closer and I wasn't going to push my luck!
On the way out of the building and we took a break for Sprite and suckers. I don't let them have Sprite very often, so both of them made sure to drink the entire cup.

First Day of Montessori!

I just couldn't help myself! Had to post some pictures of the kiddos first day. Mom took them because they normally do better without me. Apparently LG saw the hamster in her classroom and she was in heaven. Jake was a little more timid but fine when mom left. They are both SO excited about going back tomorrow and that warms my heart. I got so emotional when I picked them up at 11:30 and thought back on how fast the last 3.5 years have gone by. Lord help me when Jake goes to K(indergarten). I can remember thinking when I first started teaching school/PE how silly those K moms were dropping of their babies and crying. HA! I now can totally can relate!!!

With all of their gear on.
LG and her teacher, Ms. April.
Jake and Mrs. Renee

During prayers tonight, Jake said that his favorite part of the day was his teacher and LG is still talking about her pets(aka a gerbil). Oh how I love my sweet babies.

Fun Things!

Well school is back in session so my blogging is falling a bit behind. I'll catch you up briefly as I am ready to rest a little this evening. Last Friday we headed to Shreveport for Witten's birthday at Kid City. The kids had fun and it was a neat place that we hadn't been to before. Below is Landry Grace with her pal Avery Claire. The kids then spent the weekend with GiGi in Bossier and had a blast at the spray park on Brownlee Rd among other things. We are fortunate that GiGi loves having them and we got a lot accomplished around the house.

Saturday night we went to the Bistro and had dinner with the Sextons. I would rather have not posted this picture but Jenn is a devout blog reader and I had to document her;).
Jake has been doing well in gymnastics and seems to enjoy it for the most part. The class doesn't start until 6:30 which is a bit late and lasts for an hour, but he made it through last night with a little coaxing.
LG was dead set on participating by the end of the class and she won. I let her do circle time. Next week she might be staying at home:(. She just wants to be like her brother. Kelly Caston joined in as well to help even out the playing field a little.
And the main reason for this post was this! A friend of mine has a cousin who makes these cute hair accessories and they came in the mail last Friday. These are clips but I also bought the bows so that you can attach them. She all set for ballet and football season at Tech. She can do any color combo you wish.
Her website is The Haute Hatter and she does custom party hats, tiaras, and hair accessories. Have fun with it!

Both kids have their phase in day tomorrow morning at Montessori. Not sure if they are aware but I am excited and nervous. I am praying we don't have the adjustment problems like we did last year with LG. Will have pictures from that soon! They start their full days on Thursday.

Busy Fall

It's hard to believe that fall is upon us...BUT for the first time since I've had children, I can actually say that I look forward to returning to the classroom. So much change happens at the beginning of a school year and the last 3 years have been a difficult transition for our family. This year already feels so different as I am completely satisfied with the fact that both children will be at Wildflower Montessori school. We changed Landry Grace's plans last Monday when I was panicked that we would not find a babysitter in time to keep her on M/F's. I made a few calls last Monday and that afternoon we had paperwork for WMS. On Wednesday I had a call about a potential babysitter for M/F (she was enrolled in Trinity MDO for T/W/TH) but decided she would be better off with the 5 day a week program due to my schedule and Matt being gone during the fall.

School starts up next week for the kids and tomorrow for myself. In addition to that Landry Grace is taking dance on Monday afternoons and Jake is taking gymnastics on Monday evenings. He started last week and did fine until the last 10 minutes when he saw MAMA watching him. This week he informed me he wants me to just drop him off and leave....ok then!

LG is also doing Kindermusik on Tuesday evenings. She loves music and for me to sing to her, so I thought it would be something fun for us to do together. Then you add Sunday night kids choir(which I am thrilled they added a class for 2 and 3 year olds) and Wednesday night activities at church and you have a FULL schedule. It is fun that Jake and LG are old enough for all these activities but the question is are we ready?? Sure we are.

Landry Grace posing in her ballet outfit.
Jake showing me some acrobatic skills on the pouring rain...didn't have any from gymnastics so this pic will have to do!
One last swim in the baby pool before mom goes back to work full time!
And as for LG and her big girl bed....she has done great! I think we waited until she was old enough to understand and we are able to reason with her as to not get out of bed. On Thursday I was busy doing something and when I went to find her, could not. This is where I found her....in bed sacked out.
And this morning was promotion Sunday at church. LG is so excited that she is now in the 2 year old room and Jake in the 3 year old. We are blessed with wonderful teachers as well as a great church family. I took this pic with the automatic timer on my camera and was pretty impressed with it!

Matt is home keeping the kids this week while I go back to school and just informed that he is going to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese tomorrow. That's a pretty good daddy for ya! Be back soon.

View my movie on MobileMe Gallery.

Playing in the Rain! Sent to you by runsuzy@yahoo.com Last Friday we had a play date at Trinity. It was a lot of fun and we had a great turnout. After most had left, we decided to let them play in the water. They had a blast!! runsuzy@yahoo.com has shared a MobileMe Gallery movie with you. To check it out, click View Movie.

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For Sale

I am getting all of my clothes ready for the Kool Kids consignment sale and thought about just putting the items on my blog. That way if someone wanted to some look before the sale, it would benefit both of us:). I have already sold several outfits to a friend but still have what's pictured below.

I dry none of my clothes and wash them on cold water. They are in excellent condition. Jake's outfits below range in size 18mo(the Feltman outfit) all the way to 3T.

LG wore a size 4-6 last year depending on the shoe and Jake's shoes are 9s. Some are more worn than others and I priced some a little high because they were pretty expensive.
LG's outfits range from size 12 months(the a-line's are 12 or 18 months) and the long-all is 18/24 months. The pumpkin and snowman outfits are pants outfits with bows.
My prices for all pieces of clothing will be $15-$20. Call or e-mail me: runsuzy@yahoo.com. I will take the rest up to the sale tomorrow.

Lately

I apologize in advance for my random post. We've had several things going on lately and I'm just going to wrap everything into one post. First of all, CAN IT GET ANY HOTTER? It reached 103 yesterday! It's just about too hot to swim...not really but dang it's warm out there.

The first couple of pictures are from Landry Grace's room. The first pic is with her crib in it and then of course the next pics are with her new bed. We originally had planned on getting the bed that matched her chest and hutch, but after pricing those beds I felt we could get a better deal elsewhere. At a play date several weeks ago, a friend was telling me she got her daughter's bed at Sam's Club. I was so impressed by the look of the bed that we went to check it out ourselves. Worked beautifully....so much so that when Matt went back to get it on Saturday it was on sale for $50 cheaper than originally. I think it looks great!

The "after" shot
Still don't know if I want to put the bed in between the windows as the panels won't fall as pretty after they are installed, but we'll see. Pottery Barn was out of shams that matched her bedding so I am having some pillows made to go with it.
This the fabric that I found in Dallas. Fell in love and going to have panels made on each window...downfall is we are going to have to paint LG's room. Pink panels in a pink room would be a little much. Thinking of a celery green color.
Last week we were headed out for a swim play date and Matt found a baby turtle. I found it pretty funny that LG, as dainty as she is, went straight for it and carried it around while Jake screamed. He eventually held it himself. They refused to leave without the turtle so we just took him with us to the play date.
After a couple of kids' meals from Wendy's, the kids(with Caroline and Ava James) were singing "Jesus Loves Me" American Idol style for us. Thanks for having us Holly!
Yesterday we went over to Bossier because GiGi wanted to keep the kids for a night. Uncle Mark was bailing hay out in the country when we got there and the kids thought it would be great to ride with him. Didn't last long but made for a cute picture.

And last but not least, our SLOW MAN!! We live on a very busy street and I got this little man several months ago. Sadly, it was taken from our yard one night 2 weeks ago. On Monday I had a teacher workshop to attend and a teacher came up to me and told me that our slow man was at her church. Some youth had taken it as a prank and it was in her friend's office. I was thrilled that it had been found and so were the kids!
The end. We'll be back soon!