First Day of School 2011

Well, we finally went back to school on August 17th!

I had a boy who was very excited and a girl that wasn't! That is quite the switch! Usually it is the opposite.
Jack could not have been more excited about going to his new preschool.

Madalynn would have preferred to just drop out at this point. She isn't crazy about her new teacher mainly because she loved her teacher from last year so much!

I have to say, I think 2nd grade may be more of a struggle for her than anything has been before.
She still doesn't really want to go to class in the mornings. The days Jack has school, I walk them in and she really doesn't want me to leave.

No tears thank goodness, but she is definitely not happy. I sure hope it improves! She has also turned into a somewhat reluctant reader..I am shocked. I don't know what happened. I never had to ask or make her read last year and this year I have already had to start requiring her to read at least 2 books or two chapters a day. No off to a good start.
Jack on the other hand can't wait to get to school on Mondays and Wednesdays! Dropping him off is easy because he goes right in and just starts playing away. I have already received a compliment on his good manners and behavior from his teacher!
I hope Mady settles in and that Jack continues to enjoy his school this year!
I also hope to eventually have some time to do what I want to do on those two mornings. So far I have done nothing but run errands and go to doctor's appointments. Come on Lillie Claire!

Yard Sale

We finally sold our big house in town back in June!

It was on the market for years! Literally! I hated owning it and not being able to live in it. Plus the deadbeats that had rented it from us and paid the rent only half the time work at Madalynn's school, so seeing them made me see red! So we didn't get what we wanted for it, but at least we aren't still making mortgage payments on a house that is sitting empty.

So anyway, before we sold it the kids and I had a yard sale over there. It was a success! We lived in town for a few months one other time and Jenna and I had a yard sale. It is great! Tons of traffic and since people are already out scoping out yard sales in the neighborhoods, you don't have to spend money on advertising! I just made a couple of neon yellow signs and put them up at intersections and ta-da the people showed up.

We did it the weekend after Madalynn got out of school this summer. We held the sale on Friday and Saturday. On Friday we had a great turnout and sold a ton of the stuff. So much so I felt bad on Saturday because we had nothing but the junk's junk left. We actually had very few come by on Saturday so we packed it up early and left about 10 am. I took two big carloads to Goodwill. We did really well considering I didn't have anything worth anything to begin with. I will miss having access to a great yard sale location next time!

And Her Name Is...

We have a name for our newest daughter now...


Lillie Claire

Jeremy really liked Lillie. It grew on me and I really didn't have anything else that my heart was set on so we went with that. I picked that spelling since I had a great-grandmother whose name was Lillie. I liked the sound of Claire with Lillie and would really like to call her a double name. I have a really cute onesie with her full name on it to help encourage the use of both names!

I had already bought big brother and big sister shirts for Jack and Madalynn a while back, but at that time we didn't have a name for her yet.

Super cute! Can't wait until she is here and we get to use them!

Jeremy's Father's Day 2011

I know this is really late, but that's how I usually do things.
I had the idea of what I wanted to do for Jeremy for Father's Day months before the day, I just am not so good at the follow through. I had saved many of his old rodeo/ horse show t-shirts from his high school and college days for years. I had even looked up how to make the t-shirt quilt  and bought the other materials I would need. I (back when I first thought of doing this) was going to attempt to make a quilt out of them myself. Well, many years and two - almost three kids later I came to my senses and realized that would never happen. Even if it did, I was sure the results would not be up to my perfectionist standards.
I had seen an advertisement for Campus Quilts in the back of a magazine. They had been featured on several news and talk shows like the Today show and Rachel Ray's show. So I figured they did quality work and it wouldn't be some type of scam. I contacted them and got a packet of information the week before Father's Day. I picked all the shirts I wanted to use and figured out the size quilt I needed.

I got them all laid out and figured out what color backing and sashing I needed and sent it all off.
I got it back a couple of weeks after Father's Day, but unfortunately he is used to that. I think he really appreciated it. We now keep it on our bed. I had a quilt that my grandmother made on there, but I really needed to take it off and preserve it for the kiddos when I am dead and gone.
I think it turned out so well! I am very happy with the quality and look of the quilt. Now we can look at it and reminisce about the good old days!
I did order him a Reese's Peanut Butter Blizzard cake and we met him for lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse on the actual day of Father's Day. Plus he wanted a post hole digger for his tractor and he ordered that and I went and picked it up a few weeks before Father's Day, so he wasn't too deprived!

A Few Things I Won't Miss

As I type this I am about 6 weeks away from my supposed due date. That is, if the date is correct. I have measured 4 weeks ahead twice! So who knows! I may have a baby in the middle of August or the middle of September.
Jeremy and the kids are in Tennessee for the weekend. I decided to stay home and use this as "me" time. That is if you can call working like a dog me time. I have done all kinds of errands, laundry, put up the crib, found all the baby stuff, cleaned the girls room, hung the curtains in Mady and Jack's rooms (after 3 years!), cooked a batch of vegetable soup, cleaned out all the junk drawers, got the bassinet ready, hauled off all the recycling, cleaned out the garage and touched up all the scuffs on the walls. So instead of sleeping more like I thought I would, I have slept less, but I have gotten a lot accomplished.
Tonight as I suffered through terrible heartburn, and tried to reach around this belly to paint my toenails I thought of all the things I won't miss after being pregnant.
I won't miss the aforementioned heartburn. I won't miss the insomnia, thus why I am writing this at 1:30 am. I won't miss trying to roll around this big belly to get up or do anything. I won't miss getting up to go to the bathroom 58 times a night. I won't miss having a belly button that was once an "innie" that is now a major "outie". I won't miss swollen feet and hands. I won't miss not drinking caffeine. I won't miss the feeling of someone trying to kick their way out of my cervix.
I will miss the wonder of knowing I have a baby growing inside me; of creating something where there was nothing. I will miss feeling kicks and hiccups and later full blown rolls and flips. I will miss hearing your heartbeat at the doctor's office. I will miss seeing glimpses of you at my ultrasound appointments.  I will miss watching my belly grow and knowing you are growing too.
I'd do it all again and I can't wait to meet you Lillie Claire!