New Years Resolutions Revisited

I decided it was time to revisit my New Year's Resolutions and see how I was doing, so here goes:

1)Spend more time on me - This started out promising, I was going to paint my nails more, but found that it would chip within hours, so I got discouraged and gave up, until July when I visited my parents and my sister told me she paints her nails and the polish lasts almost a week!  I was shocked, the trick was not to buy the super cheap stuff, and to use a really good top coat.  So, when we got home I went shopping and bought 4 new nail polish colors!  I have since polished my nails once a week and I love it!  I did get my hair cut and colored once, and I've been keeping up with the grays since.  I plan on getting it cut about 2 more times before the end of the year. 

2)Be more content with what we have - I think I've accomplished this.  It's also helped with me going back to work, there's not a ton of extra money for buying things, but I'm not sitting around the house thinking about all the things I want, lol.

3)Do one home improvement/decorating project a month - again, I started out good with this and have gotten away from it, but I'm back.  I made a wreath for the front door last month and I've bought the paint for the hallways, I'm planning on painting the week I'm off from school, and then I'll tackle my picture wall, then Payton's room.  So I have lots of ideas, now it's time to implement them.

4)Go to church more - Huge fail here!!!  I still read the bible and I still spend time praying, but sadly I haven't made it to church on Sunday any more then in the past :-(  It's one of the only days Matt doesn't work and it seems to be more of a family time and I can't get us focused on going to church.  But, I'm not giving up!!

5)Be healthier - I'm afraid I've failed here too.  I do cook most of our meals, but I do eat out more now that I'm working and with my work schedule I'm struggling.  Most days I work 8-2 with no break, so I get a snack, but no lunch until after 2, when you eat at 2:30, you don't much want dinner at 5:30.  So, needless to say, I have not lost the 5 pounds that was my goal, I've probably gained 2 :-(  So, this is my new focus!

Second Day

Because I need to be to work by 7:45, Garrett was going to have to be dropped off about 7:15, where he would sit, supervised until his teacher got him at 7:30.  Matt wasn't too keen on this idea, so he's offered to drop him off at 7:30 and I'll take Payton to school.  In theory this sounds great, and I know there will be days when Matt will have to be to work early so there will be times Garrett will just have to go early.  But, I can count on one hand the number of times I have not dropped that child off for school, VBS, camp, anything.  It was harder on me this morning.  I knew I wouldn't be able to walk him to his classroom but I was fully prepared to park the car and walk him as far as I could.  Well, instead, I gave him a bug hug and kiss and he left with his daddy.  And the worst part is, Matt's been working hard all day and I have no idea if Matt walked him in or dropped him off!  I'm assuming he made it to his classroom because the school hasn't called me looking for him, but seriously, that has me more anxious then anything!  I think the hardest part about kindergarten is that I don't get to chat with his teacher everyday.  I've always made it a point to be very nice to all of my kid teachers and I love to chat and get a little rundown of the day, tell them how they slept, ate, or whatever.  I can't do that anymore and I'm not liking it!!  I guess this momma needs to give up a little control......

First day report

I was dying to go pick Garrett up!  I wanted to hear all about his first day.  Because of my long days at work and going back to school, we made the decision to have Garrett go to Powersports after school everyday and I'll just pick both kids up from the same place.  This is my short week and I had wanted to pick him up yesterday, but both the school and Powersports asked me not too.  They said everyone needs to understand, including Garrett, how the system works.  They didn't want me to change things up yet.  They wanted the "bus driver" teacher to know he rides a bus and for the Powersports driver and helper to recognize him and for Garrett to understand the system too, so I anxiously did homework all afternoon until about 4:30 when I couldn't take it anymore and we went and picked them up.  Matt wanted to go too.  The funny thing was, we've been going to Powersports for 2.5 years, but now he goes to a different area and I had to bring my id because no one knows me!  He came bouncing out just overflowing with excitement.  I wasn't sure he'd want to talk about it too much but who am I kidding, that kid likes to talk!  He told me everything.  How much fun he had, that they drew, not colored a picture, but drew 2 pictures, one was dinosaurs, the other was him and I, they had recess, he saw Keira at recess, they ate lunch and he forgot his water in the classroom.  I told him if he forgot it again, he could always buy milk, which resulted in him giving me an entire rundown of how you buy your lunch.  They talked about being kind to people, and they read 2 stories.  He said one girl was really nice but he didn't know her name.  He said one boy was out of control and when I asked what Mrs. Sowell did, he said she took him aside and said "no, no, that is not how we behave in kindergarten" and he went and sat down.  He told me he had so much fun and could not wait to go back.  I am so glad, it made my heart just swell yesterday and I couldn't give him enough hugs!

Ms. Reagan

Payton had a "first" yesterday too.  She is staying at Powersports, but she has a new teacher.  Ms. Devon was moved up to teach the 3 year olds.  They've been on the fence as to which class to put Payton in, but in the end she ended up in an older 2's class, so that means a new teacher.  Ms. Reagan was a teacher there before and recognized Garrett this summer, but we never had her as a teacher.  We missed Meet the Teacher night and she wasn't there in the morning so I was pleased to meet her when I picked Payton up.  She said to me "Payton is so smart", ok, now she's my favorite teacher, lol.  Honestly, I'm still up in the air on her, but I'm being open.  I have no reason to not like her, we just really loved Ms Devon and I'm sad she wasn't put with the 3's.  Payton had a new backpack, lunchbox and cup, so she was so excited to go to school.  There were new kids in her class and some old ones.  Ms. Reagan said she had a great day.  I got a rundown from Payton, "Ms Reagan my new teacher, Ms Tamara home sick, I got my clothes wet".  I guess she had a good day, lol!!  When I dropped her off in the morning, she clung to me like she always does, but then went right to the morning teacher.  I went to talk to Mimi for a second and remembered I needed to tell Payton's teacher something, when I poked my head in, she said "momma go bye bye".  I guess she was right, it wastime for momma to go bye bye.

First day of Kindergarten

Yesterday was Garrett's first day of kindergarten.  He was SO excited!!  I was too, I've always loved school and I know how much he loves reading and learning and I knew he'd love kindergarten.  I also know he was a little nervous, but so was I, lol.  It's funny, I'm not the sappy type, I'm just not.  But he has been at Powersports, with Ms Mimi for 2.5 years, so this was a big change.  He bounded out of bed, took a lot of encouragement to eat breakfast, he was just so excited/anxious/nervous, got dressed, brushed his teeth, wanted his hair down, etc. He couldn't stop talking.  Matt had already told us he wanted to go with me to drop him off, so of course, Garrett was excited about that.  We left a few minutes later then I wanted too, but I had already told the girls at work I'd be late, so I wasn't trying to rush us too much.  We got to school and I teared up!  Totally unexpected.  All the sweet people outside the school welcoming us and asking if it was his first day, it nearly did me in.  It was cloudy but yes, I kept my sunglasses on.  But, once we got inside all was good.  He was one of the last to his classroom so finding his seat was easy, he hung up his backpack, put his pencil box in his cubby and sat down to start coloring.  Mrs. Sowell had him come back over by us for a "first day of school" picture, and I was glad, it gave me a last chance to give him a big hug.  He said bye and we had to leave. So, I'm happy to report, there were no tears, from anyone.

Kindergarten

Is there anything as exciting to a little kid as kindergarten is?!?!  I'm not sure there is!!

Tuesday I had parent orientation at the school.  This was just for kindergarten parents, I guess they figure we have the most questions, lol.  It was just for parents and I could tell Matt wasn't too thrilled about going, so I let him off the hook.  It was short and sweet, we were there an hour, but it flew by.  The 3 kindergarten teachers and the principal talked us through everything we can expect.  Most of it was not a surprise, except that nap/rest time has been eliminated.  I know Garrett doesn't nap often but I think that rest time would help him, he'll just have to adjust.  The other thing that I wasn't expecting is that I have to pack a snack for him everyday.  Just one more thing to add to my list!

Garrett's teacher is Mrs. Sowell, she seems very nice, like the perfect kindergarten teacher, hugging people, laughing, lots of ideas, I think Garrett will love her.

Thursday night was meet the teacher, so we all headed up to the school together.  I forgot it was for the whole school so we were all taken back by the number of cars there, but the main crowd died down shortly after we got there, so it wasn't bad at all.  Just as I expected, as soon as Mrs. Sowell saw Garrett she hugged him.  He wasn't sure what to do or think and immediately asked if we could leave, but after I got him to relax a bit, he started noticing the room has a super hero theme and that there were books, and toys, and a whole bucket of dinosaurs.  He wanted to show Matt the library, he's super excited about checking new books out and the first thing he asked the librarian was if they had dinosaur books.  The cafeteria freaked him out a bit too.  I promised him I'd pack his lunch as long as he wanted, and if he decided he wanted to buy his lunch to just let me know and I'd make sure Mrs. Sowell helped him out.  I know all this is new and kind of scary to him, and I want him to know she's there to help him in any way she can.

I'll be dropping him off early, so we talked about that too, and after school he'll ride the bus to Powersports.  He seems excited about that, but I'm not sure it's sunk in that he won't be going to see Ms Mimi or even Payton, that he'll be where the big kids are.  I think he'll be fine with all of it by the end of the first week.  He's already told me he's going to be shy his first day.  I told him that's ok, most of the kids probably will be too.

I still can't believe he's starting Kindergarten in just a couple of days!

Lost/stolen purse

2 weeks ago, on Saturday, the kids and I went to Kroger for groceries and then Target for a little baby gift.  After that I have no recollection of my purse, until Monday morning when I realized it was missing.  Sunday early evening, we had cleaned out both cars and taken them to the self car wash on the corner, we vacuumed them out really good and washed them.  I swear I moved my purse from the passenger seat to the console, but it wasn't there when we went to leave for school/work Monday morning.  Imagine me frantically searching a very clean car and the inside of the house, I ended up giving up and being very late for work.  That night Matt and I looked everywhere for it, no luck, I searched again on Tuesday and decided it was officially gone, so I called our 3 banks (yes, 3!!) and reported all 5 debit cards lost/stolen, and the replacement fun began.  Thankfully I had just cleaned out my purse, so other then 5 debit cards, 4 check books and my license, SS card (yes, I know), the kids insurance cards and some punch cards for restaurants, oh and $33, I didn't really lose anything of too much value, the purse was also at least 4 years old.  It was just the headache of having to go to the banks, DPS and SS office to renew everything.  The banks were easy, we closed one account we never use anymore, the second bank I just called and she replaced the cards for me, the third I went in and the manager ID'd me and I got new cards on the spot.  I was told to go to SS first, but once there found out you can't get a new SS card without a picture ID, and since I had none, not even a work ID, I headed to DPS.  It was way out in the middle of nowhere now and when I got there and saw how many people were there I cringed, it was already 3:30 and I didn't want to sit there for hours.  I was there less then 15 minutes!  I have no idea how their system worked but only 3 numbers were called before mine.  The lady that helped me said there was a huge increase in wallet thefts recently and mine was probably stolen.  My new license arrived Wednesday and even though I had forgotten to change out of my scrubs it's not a bad picture!  I'm still in the process of replacing the insurance cards, library card, etc, but I'm slowly piecing it all back together.  Next, back to SS office, I'm not as worried about that now that I have my license.  This is the first time I've ever lost a purse/wallet, so I guess I should count myself lucky.  I just hope it never happens again!