3 day weekend!

Wes and I are both excited to have a 3-day weekend.  He's been traveling a LOT lately so he was ready for a break.  He's been in the kitchen all morning, cooking all our favorites while college football is on.  It's only noon and he's already made a batch of meatballs, fresh tuna salad and a chicken stock for a soup.  He's torn between Tom Ka Ga Soup and chicken noodle.  I love him!!

I've had a nasty cold the past 3 days so I haven't felt much like blogging after the kids went to bed.  It certainly was a busy week with Stella's new school and schedule.  I've been setting the alarm for 6:15 to get all 3 kids up, fed, dressed and packed for school.  We have to leave by 7:25 to make it out the door in time when I'm doing it solo.  When Wes was here Thursday and Friday, he took Stella to school so that made my morning less hectic.  Reese and Drake are enjoying their mother's day out program at the club.  That kids me a couple hours in the morning to make phone calls, pay bills, schedule appointments, etc.  Stella is dropped off at 12:30 each day.  Her bus driver is super sweet and tells us that Stella sings the whole way home.  I'm so glad the bus hasn't been a traumatic experience for her.  I'll have to get a picture of her getting off the bus - I did capture one of her walking down the pathway after Wes grabbed her from the bus.

 We can tell she really loves her new school/teacher.  She runs into the classroom each morning with a smile and gives us a "bye-bye" when we leave.  Ms. Jenkins sends us a daily note to tell us how great she is doing.  She is still doing afternoon therapy at home for a few hours 4 days a week.  I decided to turn her bedroom into her schoolroom since Reese is "resting" when Stella is in afternoon therapy.  Actually, Reese has been joining Stella for a portion of therapy to practice play skills.  Here is Stella's new room.

Last night, I made the mistake of leaving a box of her school supplies/toys in her room and she got up to play in the middle of the night.  I will have to remove all distractions tonight before bedtime and hope she stays in bed.  

Reese, Drake, and I went the the library to get new books.  Luckily, we showed up right as story time was starting.  So we joined about 30 other kids for reading, singing and dancing.  I think we will try and do that every Friday.  

Take a look at Reese's hair-do.  She is wearing her Elsa "crown" and she insists that I do one blue ponytail every time she wears it.  She insists that the hair has to go on the left side and "make it go down, mommy."  I just realized that she is trying to make her hair look exactly like Elsa from the movie frozen.  Sadly, she's going to need a lot more hair to pull off Elsa's hairstyle.  Check it out....

Drake is as cute as ever.  Happy as as clam.  Here he is working with Daddy in his office.  

As I took this picture, he is yelling "ball, ball" as he eyes Daddy's baseball collection.

I'll try and take more pictures this week.  I don't have one video:(

XOXO

Park Pictures, First Day of School

Is it Monday already?  Ugh.  The weekends are flying by.  Looking forward to our 3 day weekend coming up.  Here are our playground pics from Saturday.  

More about Stella's first day of school after the pics....

Wes is in California this week so Reese, Drake, Stella and I made it out the door by 7:30.  That is a feat in itself.  Stella was a little nervous when we turned to leave but her teacher was able to re-direct her.  After surviving the morning drop-off, I've decided I'm going to take her to school every morning.  The bus wants to pick her up at 6:30 am and that's just too early!!!  But I did let the bus bring her home.  The bus driver is super sweet and said Stella sang the whole way home.  Cutie!!  

That's all for now.

Busy busy busy

It has been a busy week here.  On Tuesday morning, I dropped Reese and Drake off at the club so I could have some alone time with Stella.  The weather was gorgeous so we headed to the park.  Stella loves climbing up the slides and swinging.   And I love chasing her around!!

We are in the process of getting both chimneys re-surfaced.  They were full of cracks and looked terrible.  It's quite a job, since both have to be accessed from scaffolding in the backyard.  The kids have enjoyed watching the action from inside.  Reese thinks the men are building a castle in the backyard.  We also bought 3 new exterior doors for the back of the house.  The one upstairs in Reese's room and the one in the kitchen leak when we have heavy rain.  And the one in our master bedroom is warped and has a big gap.  They should be ready in 2 weeks, then Home Depot will install them.  After those two projects are finished, we have some minor roof repairs.  Ah, the joys of home ownership!!

Reese and Drake went to the dentist this week.  Before we went, I showed them a 2 minute cartoon I found on YouTube that prepares kids for the dentist.  Reese was SO excited after watching the video, she started begging me to get in the car.  I asked her what prize she would like after the dentist visit and she asked for a ring.  (KK just got engaged!!!!  And Reese is obsessed with her ring.)  Reese did fantastic!!  Drake?  Not so much.  I pretty much had to pin him down for two minutes while the dentist took a look at his teeth.  The best part of the visit was the huge ring they gave Reese!!  Saved me a trip to Target.

Stella had Open House at her new school.  I am VERY excited about her new teacher Ms. Jenkins.  One of the dads pulled me aside at Open House (his daughter is entering her second year in this class) and told me how amazing she is.  The teacher has a full time aide and there are only 4 kids in her class.  YAY!!!!!  I met all the kids and parents - two of the kids are spending another year in this classroom so the teacher already knows them.   Stella and another student are joining them.

Here is a text message Joe sent me this morning.  What a sweet brother:)

And some random pictures:

I treated myself to sushi today after a loooooooooong week.

Watching a video.

Drake doesn't slide down the stairs anymore.  He has to walk and he won't let me hold his hand.  STUBBORN!!  He also likes jumping off the bottom step.