Jen Lately

Ah, what's been up with me lately?  Well, for one, I'm super mad at myself for not blogging more.  I feel like my mind has been racing a mile a minute all day long lately and I can't seem to get anything accomplished; I just constantly add to my 'mental list.'

Gavin's at an age where he's been testing the boundaries a lot and becoming more independent.  That, in turn, means we've had a lot of arguments.  I finally decided that we needed to get back to more structure and less electronics to keep both of us in better moods.  I spend time on Saturday and Sunday planning out our week and meal planning and have found that a lot more gets done when I have things written out.

I've been feeling the urge to be creative/crafty lately.  I keep thinking about all these things I'd love to make and sell in an etsy shop, but I just don't know if anything I'm thinking about is really good enough to sell. I wish I was great at one thing that I could run with. And I wish I had the time to teach myself how to get good at the things I really want to learn how to do.  Someday...

After being in the school to register Gavin for kindergarten, I kind of want to get back into tutoring.  I'm not sure how I'd have the time to do that, though....I am just excited to be a volunteer in the school!  So excited about that.  It felt great to be in the school last week.

I've failed on being healthy, and despite still exercising, I've gained back what I lost last summer, and with swimming season coming up, I have decided I need to get on track with my calorie intake again.  I've now started scheduling my 5am workout...like I said earlier, if it's written down, I'm much better about following through.  This week, I've been good and done all four days!  One more tomorrow.  But, I'm sure after a weekend in Dallas I'll weigh in next week and find that I've gained weight despite this week's workouts.  I'm so glad spring weather is finally back and I can start running again.  I seriously NEVER imagined that I would be saying that I want to get out and run more, but it's crazy how much I enjoy those 3 mile runs.

This past week or so has also been emotionally draining with the big move to California for the Faminis.  It sure is depressing when someone you're so close to is leaving.  Gonna miss you tons, Amy.  Thanks for being such an amazing friend.

Ok, enough procrastinating.  I need to get back to my list and get laundry done, packing started, and dinner on....not to mention I wanted to get out and walk today since it's close to 70 degrees out!  We'll see if I get to that or not.

Dancing Queen

Last month at Gavin's school Valentine party, I got some adorable {yet blurry!} photos of Riley dancing to the music.  The kids were playing a game with the CD player blaring and Riley was taking advantage of it and dancing her little booty off!  I felt they deserved their own post, but then forgot to go back and post them, but it's better late than never, right?

 

 

The Acceptance Letter

We got the notice yesterday that Gavin got into our first choice of schools for kindergarten.  The way it works around here is that we're zoned for a specific school, but if we want the non-traditional calendar, we're assigned by lottery, and that's the school we really wanted.  The nontraditional calendar means he'll start school earlier in August and go later in June, but it also means more breaks throughout the school year that I liked.  More chances for off-season traveling!  So we're very excited!

But talk about surreal!  It's official now.  There's no more talking about how he'll either go to this school or that....we know now exactly where he'll be spending his days, and we know that on August 1, we'll be taking our boy to kindergarten.  It means that we know where we'll need to look when we're ready to buy a house so that we can stay in the same school.  And honestly, it is so exciting to think about how much he's going to love kindergarten and how much he's going to learn while at the same time is so crazy to think about the fact that he's going to be a KINDERGARTENER.  My baby!   Five months from today, we'll be walking him into his classroom.  And cue the tears...

Great Week

A month or so ago, Rosi decided she was going to come down and visit when Jarrod was gone for YBM.   After some gentle nudging, my mom decided she would be able to come, too. I was so glad and couldn't wait to see them.  The kids were so excited, too.  Saturday was the big day, and they showed up around 3:00.  After about 10 minutes of hugs and welcomes, the doorbell rang and surprise visitors appeared....Megan and Kyle!  We had NO idea!  It was a great surprise.

We headed out to dinner Saturday night and hung out a bit before they headed back to their hotel.  I went to bed Saturday with an earache and a headache that had lasted 48 hours and decided I needed to go to the doctor asap.  So, Jarrod and I had planned to escape for a little date on Sunday, but instead we grabbed lunch and spend 2 hours at Urgent Care getting me a shot and a prescription for an antibiotic for an ear infection.  Yuck.

We grilled out on Sunday night and just enjoyed hanging out with the kids.  Monday morning, bright and early, Jarrod had to head out to Florida.  Gavin was excited to show Mimi his classroom that day.  We spent the rest of the week just hanging out and working on my 'Mommy-Do List.'  Lots of organizing and cleaning got done, but not everything I wanted...  Wish they could've stayed longer!

There was lots of reading that took place...

 

And lots of cuddles....

Megan and Kyle were definitely the highlight for Gavin...he wore them out!  They played War one night and Gavin loved beating Uncle Kyle.

This is a blurry picture, but isn't it great?  He was SO happy that he'd won the card game!

 We surprised Gavin on their last day with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, and then hit up Mama Fu's for lunch and Yum Yos for some frozen yogurt.  Great day!!

It sure was nice to have them here.  The kids LOVED the attention, and I loved having their help while Jarrod was gone.  Can't wait to see them again (and to see my Dad!!) 

Wordless Wednesday