Dress Code

We have a new dress code this year at school.

No shorts.  - No biggie.  This is MN anyway.
No jeans. - Hmmm, I can understand but it sucks.  I believe in getting on the floor with my students in the classroom and running, skipping, galloping, even the occasional race, outside.
No sandals.  What?!?  Maybe no flip flops.
What is considered a sandal anyway?

According to Wikipedia:

Sandals are an open type of outdoor footwear, consisting of a sole held to the wearer's foot by straps or thongs passing over the instep and generally, but not always, around the ankle. While the distinction between sandals and other types of footwear can sometimes be blurry (as in the case of huaraches—the woven leather footwear seen in Mexico), the common understanding is that a sandal leaves most or all of the foot exposed. People may choose to wear sandals for several reasons, among them economy (sandals tend to require less material than shoes), comfort in warm weather, and as a fashion choice.

Usually, people wear sandals in warmer climates or during warmer parts of the year in order to keep their feet cool and dry. The chances of developing athlete's foot is lower than with enclosed shoes, and the wearing of sandals may be part of the treatment regimen for such an infection.

I think I feel an fungal infection coming on:-)

Today I went shopping for new appropriate work pants.  Oh how I love shopping for pants.  No matter what my weight is, my inseam is always 29".  Yes, I'm seriously.  Two very short legs.  It's loads of fun covering them.

I've gone weeks before looking for new pants with no luck.  But today was my lucky day at TJ Maxx.  We stopped to return something Mark bought last week.  I found 6 pairs I was interested in.  I bought four!  That has to be a record for me!  Not one pair was over $16 too!

They are already at the taylors getting their 3-4 inches chopped of the bottom.  Some were even petites and they still need several inches.  They will be ready on Wed.  Still with the $8/pair hemming charge, it's still a great deal. I will now be appropriately dressed for school.  

It's too bad this athlete's foot won't clear up by the first day of school;-)

A Perfect Night's Sleep

It was a PERFECT night's sleep for all four of us.  I told Christian, after prayers last night, if he stays in his bed all night and doesn't cry we'll make peanut butter cookies for our picnic today.  Guess who just asked to bake. . .got to start the oven!  It's going to be a great day!

A (Terrible) Trip to the Library

This morning started out great.  Kids were happy as can be.  We read and cuddled.  I made mini pancakes for breakfast.  Only to also make french toast sticks and turtle (hard boiled) eggs before we were all out of our jammies.  We had a dance party in the living room while I folded clothes.  It's not really hot today so the wind was blowing while our windows were wide open.  We laughed and laughed.

A few weeks back Christian pulled or chewed a barcode off of a library book on the way home fromt he library.  I've been putting off bringing that book back in.  Today we did it.  No problem, Christian tossed the book way above his head on the counter and said he was sorry.  We all stood there as the guy replaced it.  Was that our punishment?! 

We continued our way through our wonderful library.  Climbed on stools.  Looked at cool books.  Did a couple puzzles.  I found another (isn't in the middle of three enough?) book for myself.  Found three DVDs and a CD.  Finally it was time to hit the road.  We had a lunch date with Papa in half an hour.

Then it happened. 

Christian wanted to take a puzzle home.  I showed him the library's name on it and explained we can't check that out.  No problem, until he grabbed the closest toy and clenched his little fist around it.  He wasn't giving in.  By this time Victoria had climbed a stool and had begun checking herself out with my card with a bit of help from a stranger.  I pulled the toy out of his hand and he literally SCREAMED in the library!  His first (please God let it be his last!) tantrum of his life!  Lay on the floor kicking and screaming - of all places a library.  All of a sudden I was that mom - hiding in the corner or two bookshelves with my hand over his mouth while whispering in his ear.  Apparently when dealing with a tantrum this does NO GOOD!  I really just wanted to get him out of there, but I wasn't going to penalize V and not let her get her goods while she was really good.  So there I stood with a screaming child in my left arm grabbing as much checked out stuff as I could from my 4 year old.  I thanked the nice lady ( I didn't even end out check out and get a receipt.  Hopefully noone added on to our card!) who ever so nicely smiled at me and said she had four kids. 
The tantrum continued outside, but not before I dropped all the books just inside the doors.  Oh, by then I was sweating, embarassed, and not very happy.  Outside I had to let him walk, I was exhausted.  He collapsed on the grass.

Then Victoria's motherly side took over and she tried to tickle him over his chin, which he loves.  He tried to kick her.  I practically dragged him to the car with one hand while books were falling out of my purse and V was picking them up.   I purposefully parked far away because it was such a beautiful day.  I clearly didn't see this coming.  I got him strapped in to the car and Victoria is looking at me with tears in her eyes.  She said, "You hurt my brother's feelings."  I explained exactly what happened.  She wasn't seeing my point of view.  Then she said, "You should just give him what he wanted and he would stop." 

Luckily I recently introduced her to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  I compared the situation to the spoiled Veruca Salt.  This is my big chance to teach Christian a huge lesson. 

Tantrums don't work with this Momma no matter what.

Thank goodness the CD V checked out was a classical one.  Within a mile we'd all calmed down.  Christian politely asked for a book.  Lunch was a success which was followed by a nearly three hour nap.

I think we're back on track. . .knock on wood.

Back to School Jitters

Even though I have an entire week left of summer vacation my back to school jitters have set in - bad!  It's the strangest thing how I got so anxious and nervous.  I wonder if this will ever change.  Christian continues to cry several times in the night.  I think he's so used to waking up and crying and I cuddle/rock/rub/kiss/sing to him that he would like that 3-5 times a night until he goes off to kindergarten.  Last night I reverted back to sleep training (ie crying it out).  Which means I enjoyed the late night (2:30am) 80's classic Mr. Mom while listening to my two year old cry and call for me.

In the end it worked out great.  He slept until 7 - this never happens - and he was happy.  He did, in the end, get the sleep he needed.  However, I couldn't fall back to sleep.  Thinking of all the things I want to do and finish and get started before I go back to work had my mind reeling.  So at 5:00 I decided I'd try a new Jillian Michael's workout video.  It's about time!  I gained 15 pounds this summer - damn those lunches out, late night snacks with Mark and beers by the fire! So I sweated and panted only to feel quite sick at the end.  Between being so tired and out of shape I deserved it.  However, mentally I feel so much better.  Hopefully I'm ready to get back into my routine.  Jillian said something to me this morning. 

She said, "Start getting comfortable with being uncomfortable."  That's my new mantra for the next two months.

One Cute Pic

I took this picture at the zoo last week.
I love it! 
Gorgeous!

A Trip to the Park

We love to walk/wagon/bike the two blocks to the park up the street.  Every summer I'm amazed by how much more these can do there.  This summer they are both completely independent at climbing all over.
Notice Baby jammed on the back of the dinosaur? 

The kids posing in front of the black eyed susans.
We love our park.

Lunch at Chilis

One of our favorite family restaurants is Chilis.  We stopped there for lunch last weekend.

Victoria loved playing mommy and sharing her food and milk with Baby.

Christian is getting better and better at having the patience of waiting for his food at the restaurants.

Going home happy with a full belly!