Cleaning Lady

I have a really great husband who is helpful, supportive, hard working, and also pretty hot! So imagine my diappointment today when I observed him laying on the bed watching College GameDay while the cleaning lady vacuumed the entire house with no help. And did I mention that our cleaning lady moved to SC and we have not bothered to replace her yet, so that cleaning lady now would be me!!! I HATE to clean, so vacuuming the whole house (and our house is not that huge) is like torture to me. After a couple of dirty looks, he just smiled and went to clean the potties... Did I mention I love him??

Happy weekend!!!

Week 1 is over, and so far, so good!

BigGirl LOVES her teacher and everyday has said that school is great. This is a huge improvement over her attitude toward school last year. She had a wonderful kindergarten teacher, but it was just not the same. Being a teacher here, I can pretty much choose her teacher, so I'm thinking we made a good decision... I'm just happy she's happy!

BabyGirl has been missing us a lot, and showing out because of it, I think. She is usually the easy one, but has been a PAIN this week. I think she misses having sister around to argue with during the day and has a whole day's worth of arguing to get out in the 4 hours they have together between school and bedtime. That is not fun for Mommy, let me tell ya...

I did not teach any classes this week, but if anybody walking past my classroom thought I was not busy, they can think again! I did not even eat lunch today until almost 1pm and most days barely even sat down long enough to check my email before lunch. On top of getting multiple pieces of paperwork sent home for 55+ kids in my 4th/5th grade gifted program, and planning lessons for 1st - 5th grade, cheerleading uniforms came in on Tuesday. So I was sorting, inventory-ing, sending home, and re-ordering uniforms for 45 girls!! Note to any of my cheer parents who may or may not be reading~ PLEASE listen to the coach who says to MEASURE your child before you pick a uniform size to avoid someone, that would be me- the coach, having to re-order a uniform for you because you did not measure your child!!! I had to put all the reorders on my credit card and Banker B might be calling your house come credit card statement time!

Ready for a weekend, can you tell??? I'm so glad it's a long one, I need it! I don't know about you, but I could really go for 4 10-hour days of work each week if it meant every weekend was a 3-day!!! Think of all the gas we'd save not running the school busses on the 5th day, heating/cooling bills for the schools, cafeteria costs, etc... Maybe I'll suggest that when I become a senator one day, but that's another post!!

Have a great weekend!

Day 1

The First Day of School... words that bring fear/relief/worry/anxiety/elation/optimism/etc.....

I have been the student on the FDoS 17 times. I have now been the teacher on the FDoS 11 times. I still get nervous~ what's up with that???

BigGirl did GREAT today~ I was so proud of her. She got right out of bed at 6:30 with no complaints, got dressed, did her OWN hair (?!), ate breakfast (with help- she is The Slowest Eater Alive), and was ready to go at 7:15. Mondays are usually my only day at the different school, and B will be taking her, but I dropped her off on my way today. She did let me walk her up the hall, but I just hugged and left and she was fine. One of her bff's from last year is in her class and they discovered that they had both brought Clorox wipes and High School Musical Kleenex, so she was dandy after that!! I headed off to my other school with only a small tear!!

I got lots accomplished today, so I was pretty proud of me too. Got my freaking ridiculously difficult schedule figured out and emailed to the lead teacher, paperwork prepared to be sent home by classroom teachers, parent meeting planned, and spreadsheets updated. Tomorrow thru Friday I'm at my base (aka: favorite) school doing the same thing!


BigGirl's report on her day~ it was great. Teacher~ nice. Teacher assistant~ great. The best part~ not having to miss out on any playtime because she did not get in trouble. AMEN!! She did say that she talked a lot, but apparently not too much!


You know those *watch me grow* pictures that you're supposed to do every year on the child's birthday (like in your wedding gown or daddy's football jersey or something). Here's our version on the bench in front of school every FDoS. Here's Kindergarten vs. 1st grade:

The bench already looks a little smaller...

1 day down, 179 to go til summer!!!

M.I.A. (AKA Back to School)

Yes, I am still here, only work started back for me last Monday, so I have been a LITTLE busy!!! Teacher workdays sound like they would be such easy, laid back days, but it is so the opposite. There are meetings after meetings, a room to arrange/decorate/make kid-ready, lessons to plan, and new for me this year, a schedule to arrange that includes visiting all 23 classrooms every week. I teach 4 days at my base school, and 1 day at another. The one day at the other school is giving me a really hard time with scheduling, so it's a good thing I don't have to actually start teaching for another week. The kids do start back tomorrow, so I will be working with the teachers but not really teaching any classes until after Labor Day~ OK with me!!

Tomorrow is also the first day of school for my BigGirl, who is now really a big girl at school. I can't believe she is going into first grade~ she seems so grown. She pulled her own tooth last week (one of the top front so she now has a HUGE gaping hole), has been starting to take her own shower and wash her own hair (no more bath with baby sis), make her own lunch, etc.... It makes me a little sad. I don't want to think about what lies ahead~ leg shaving, boyfriends, and the horrible girl drama! Maybe we still have a couple more years of sweet little girl?

Last night we took the girls to see the Wiggles Live~ I'm sure you all are SO jealous, right? It was actually really good! BabyGirl LOVES the Wiggles right now, so she was truly in heaven, dancing her little heart out. BigGirl had a pretty good time, although she is getting a little big for the Wiggly Party! Even Daddy B got up and did the Point Your Fingers and do the Twist bit! Getting BabyGirl to smile with out saying CHEEEEEEEEESE and tilting her chin way up is somewhat of a challenge right now...

I'm watching the end of the Olympics and really enjoying their replays of some of the more memorable moments. They just showed Nastia's floor exercise for the all-around gymnastics gold. My girls are really sad that the gymnastics is over~ they were amazed by the talent of these girls! I also enjoyed the swimming (who didn't enjoy looking at the US men's relay teams???) although I agree with Bela Karolyi that the judging was a real "reep off" at times...

Off to finish the laundry and make sure the bookbag is packed~ hers and mine!!

Growing up fast!

Sometimes I forget that my children are not babies anymore... Take today for instance...

One of BigGirl's best school friends had a bowling party for her birthday. It was so hilarious to watch all the little 5 and 6 year olds carrying those big ole balls around! BigGirl had never bowled before, but she actually threw one (accidental) strike and came in 2nd on her lane. After that, she and 2 other girls went to a movie and home with the birthday girl for a slumber party. This is her first slumber party and she was SO excited. I on the other hand, was NOT so excited! You just never know how they will behave at someone else's house, with so many little girls and the drama that brings. I know she is a good kid, but she definitely has her share of drama! I did OK until about 8pm when I started wondering what they were doing, was she remembering her manners, were they all getting along, etc... The birthday girl is one that was in BigGirl's class last year, they take gymnastics together, and her mom is also a teacher at our school, so they play together every afternoon during the school year. They do NOT always get along- both are the oldest child, and the other girl gets her feelings hurt at nothing. I'm glad there are 2 others there tonight to buffer these 2! I'm not looking forward to the slumber party hangover tomorrow, either...

BabyGirl loves all the attention she gets when her sister is away She DEMANDED that we had to eat Mexican tonight (2nd time this week, but I'm not counting) and loved getting all the attention from all the little workers there. She said to one of the guys when we were leaving, "[Leo]Nardo, can I work wiff you when I grow up?" B's answer~ NO, you cannot~ we grabbed some gum and got out of there!! She is SO funny sometimes. Yesterday we went to see B at the bank... She picked up one of his business cards from his desk and said, "Daddy, is dis a gift card??" Then she tried to *swipe* it through his adding machine. She is 3~ she knows TOO much!

Too cute monogrammed giveaway!

If you are into monogrammed gifts, go here and leave a comment on the Wacky Wednesday giveaway~ you'll be entered to win one of their adorable monogrammed notepads! These are perfect teacher gifts, (remember I'm a teacher)~ show up with one of these babies the first week of school and viola! Teacher's pet!! And don't forget to tell them Tiaras sent you so we can both win!!!

Open house?

So, our house has been for sale since the first of May (we want to move closer to mine and BigGirl's awesome school) and we have had a total of ONE showings since then. Today we held our second Open House and had our FIRST bit of OH traffic (no warm bodies at the first OH). Our realtor is young and new, but really enthusiastic (or so they say) about listing our house, but I'm beginning to think I might could do a better job with my elementary ed. degree/zero real estate experience. Last OH she put the signs out the day before~ this time we asked her to put them out earlier and she did it 2 days before. We have a busy road nearby, which could pick up lots of traffic. Wouldn't you think more people would see the sign if it were out more days in advance? I also asked her to please look into getting us on the MLS Listingbook website and she said she would check into it. Wouldn't you think she would come up with that herself? Our house is the only one she has listed and I don't think she makes any $$ until she sells it, so looks like time to get busy here! She did say that we had *a few* people stop by today, but she wasn't sure how serious they were. Wouldn't that be the realtor's job to figure out if they were serious buyers and somehow make them want to be? I know that is not realistic, but we're ready to get going here! I've always said I wanted to go into real estate when I quit teaching... For sale by owner, maybe??

On a different note, only one more week of summer, better enjoy it while it lasts :( No more no bedtime, no get up time, pool anytime, eat anytime, nap anytime, tv anytime, etc..... I'm sad already :(

She DOES listen!!

It's no secret around here that BigGirl has a serious issue with listening and following directions. At school, she is super smart, but very inattentive at times, and often does not get her work done because she is too busy paying attention to what all is going on around her. We are actually going to talk to the pediatrician when she has her checkup next week about attention management options for this school year. A lot of days, it seems like most of what I say to her goes in one ear and out the other... BabyGirl, so far does not show any of this, thank goodness!

So, imagine my surprise today, when after a long ride in the car with the girls talking and giggling in the back seat, we pull up to the gymnastics gym. My non listenting child jumps out of the car, hits a pose in the middle of the parking lot, and starts this booty shakin, hips swayin dance, while singing "Girl how you shake it, got a playa like WHOO" at the top of her lungs (the name of this song is Sexy Can I, if you needed help- not exactly 6-year old appropriate- bad mommy). I had no idea she was even listening to what was on the radio b/c she was so busy playing mommy in the backseat. So there we have it, proof that her ears DO work!

Weekend recap

Hold on to your seats, here comes a long post... !


We started the weekend with family night at the pool. This basically just means that they are open until 10pm instead of 8 and the kids get to swim with the lights on~ how cool is that when you're 3 and 6? We waited til B got home from the bank and then swung through the McD's drive thru on the way, really only intending to stay long enough to get a little swim time in after the lights came on. But of course when we got there we discovered the place was packed and we ended up staying until 10! The girls had a great time swimming with Daddy while I got to socialize for once! Our great next door neighbors were there with their 2 kids Claire(8) and Clark(5), and another pair of good friends with their 2 girls Madelyn(9) and Sophie(6). Clark is BigGirl's so-called "boyfriend" (OMG, already??), and Sophie is her BFF, so she had a blast. Their moms and I finally made a dance decision- YAY- we are going to the better studio with the longer drive, and carpooling. It feels good to decide!

Saturday we got up and BigGirl and I headed out to do some shopping. North Carolina has tax free weekend the first of August every year, so she got some school shoes for PE days and cheerleading, and both girls got some cute clothes- all tax free! Then we went over to my mother in law's house for dinner- sounds SO exciting, right? Well, she has some really crazy and fun friends, so we had a GREAT time (there was a lot of wine, so that helped, too). One of the couples brought their 2 girls Winslow (11) and Maitland (9), so my girls had a great time hanging out with the big girls. Win and Maitie were awesome babysitters/entertainers! The girls slept over at the MIL's house and went to church with her Sun. morning, so we got to sleep all night, for once (BabyGirl has been waking up lately :( ).







Here's Win and Maitie teaching BigGirl how to use her Webkins that she got for her birthday last month... BabyGirl is supervising...













Sunday, I hosted a baby shower with my great childhood friend Alice for another friend of ours, Heather, who has a baby girl on the way. I made some yummy pimento cheese and we had some great little goodies. Our thank you gift was these cute monogrammed towel wraps!





















The kids at the shower, A, big brother D, Alice's cutie pie R, BigGirl, & BabyGirl...



























And check out the monogrammed cake for little miss Emily...























These adorable ponytail holders came in the mail yesterday- so excited! Too bad BigGirl's monogram looks a little like a bad word...














We went out shopping Sun. night again, this time looking for a new video camera but did not pick one yet. Ours died earlier this summer and we had only had it about 3 years. It was a Sony Handycam, and it was really easy to use, but it was so hard to get the videos into a format that was quick and easy to view. If my grandpa can't come to the dance recital, I want to be able to get the video out of the camera and onto a dvd or something that he can watch without a lot of hassle. So that is what we are looking for next- maybe one that records onto the teeny dvd disk, or a bigger memory stick? Just not the mini-dv again- those are really video tapes anyway. Anyone have any suggestions?


Yesterday, it was back to the pool...

Gettin her float on...

SO big!

Popscicles are the best part!

Today is my mom's birthday, so we are heading out in a little bit for some more yummy Mexican food! Happy Birthday Grammy!

BTW, Harold & Kumar Guantanamo Bay was a little disappointing. If you've seen it, you might disagree, but I just thought the first one had a LOT more funny moments. I did enjoy Neil Patrick Harris's repeat performance, except for his exit!! Overall, good for a laugh or two, but if you really want to crack up, rent the first one again.

Lookie what I got!!

Happy Monday! Just a quick post ~ B and I are about to watch Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay! We've just finished a great fun filled weekend over here, which I will post about later... I'll just say there was lots of good friends, good times, and good wine!! :)

I'm pretty new to the bloggy world, but I know enough to get excited about receiving a blogger award and I was so proud to read that Reynie has awarded me the Colors of Friendship award!! She has the cutest blog over at Southern Girl Rambling~ check her out! Thanks, Reynie! That made my day!!

**THANKS, MonogramChick, for the uploading help! I am figuring this blogging out, slowly but surely :)