Good Times At Kindergarten Registration

This morning Ainsley, Reid, Jane Dare and I accompanied Jake to Kindergarten registration at his new school. What a lucky boy Jake was to have Reid climbing up on the table to "assist" him while he tried to demonstrate his skills during assessment. How blessed as his sister loudly announced the names of all the animals in the book she was reading during the lead teacher's speech. How wonderful for him that his mother couldn't do much to help as she was busy taking care of paperwork and holding his baby sister.

I'm sure Jake did great on his assessment. I bet that speech had lots of great information in it. Positive that the tour of the school took us lots of places we'll need to know about for next year. I couldn't hear or see any of it because I was busy listening to the chorus of "my you have your hands full" and "look at this busy mom" with the occasional "are they all yours?" thrown in.

Ainsley was all about it. She would be starting kindergarten tomorrow if they would take her. Within about 30 seconds of us being in the library one teacher commented to me that she was a "fireball". I wonder what took her so long to figure it out. As we were leaving Ainsley told me how excited she was about her new school. The excitement was not contagious as Jake pretty much just wanted out. He was not to be won over by the turtles, guinea pigs, juice or cookies. He's going to make these teachers work for his adoration.

I do need to toot my own horn here a bit. First of all I managed to get all five of us dressed, fed and out the door by 8:10 with all the correct forms and documents. This includes having a loaded diaper bag and stroller in the car. Secondly when the woman who came into the library five minutes after I did with her one and only child waltzed in front of me in line without even a glance in my direction I did not pull her hair out. Thirdly when Reid wanted in and out of the stroller at every one of the four kindergarten classrooms we visited I complied and did not try to slip him a mickey.

Like I said . . . good times.

Turning the corner

Thought I'd start off this post with a little smile from my girl Jane Dare. How could that baby not make anyone's day a little brighter? And then I had to share a shot of my big kids playing with their new bubble machine courtesy of the Remick family. It came in a huge box of goodies that was like Christmas all over again. Two weeks later I'm still grinning when I come across something special out of that box.

I feel like we are starting to turn the corner here in Pinehurst. I've met some really super nice ladies who are helping me get connected around here. One in particular who reminds me a lot of Nicki Clay - and that is just about one of the highest compliments I could pay someone. She is a "connector" and everyone (especially a newcomer) needs one of those in their lives! So far I've gotten hooked into MOPS, Mother's Morning Out, a church playgroup and gotten the lay of the land on hairdressers, VBS programs for the summer and more! On Saturday I ventured to a church baby shower and although I was nervous to put myself out there it was a good time and I was rewarded for my bravery by getting to talk to some very sweet ladies from the church. And then on Monday I was invited to join a group of moms with kids at the same preschool as mine who were heading to the zoo in Asheboro for the first day of spring break. I took a deep breathe, girded my loins, strapped on my baby bjorn and off we went! The kids had a great time, I was totally excited that we all survived and I was also energized at the chance to get to know a couple of ladies better. And just one more example of the quality people I'm meeting - one friend just called to offer to watch my kids so Ryan and I could go on one more date before he leaves in a couple of days. How thoughtful and generous! (too bad I have a hair appt and can't take her up on it!).

All of this business with "friend making" has got me thinking deep thoughts (dangerous, I know) on what makes a friend. Its caused me to think back to the beginning of some of my best friendships ever. All of them got off to a slow start (at least from the point I met them to the point of real, deep intimacy) but all of them are richer than I could ever have imagined. I met my bff Red right after I was newly married but we didn't really become friends until about 3+ years later and even then it was another year or two until we really deepened our relationship. And I have similar twists and turns in my other close friendships. With some I have very similar backgrounds, with others they are polar opposites. With some we always end up buying similar outfits, getting similar haircuts (ok, I'm talking about Troy) and with others our taste is totally dissimilar. All of this to say that I would do a pretty awful job on my own of deciding who my friends should be - but God always brings just the right person into my life at just the right time. And I'm thankful that I can rest in Him and enjoy this ride as I try to carve a niche for myself and my family in this new area.

A Tale of Three Lovies

This post probably doesn't need to much explanation but I'll give a brief story anyway. When Ains was born Ryan's aunt and uncle sent her lovie number one pictured far left. Its had a few nicknames - the Lover, Jorge, Juan - but Lovie is the name that has stuck. When we realized that she was getting attached we ordered lovie number two (center). For a while it didn't matter to her which was she had and they were virtually indistinguishable but all of the sudden she made it clear that her heart belonged to the one and only "real Lovie" (as opposed to "other lovie"). In a bind other Lovie will do but she always goes back to the original. So when Jane Dare came along I ordered her two bunny lovies of her own (which I hope to use interchangeably for as long as possible!). I just could not resist snapping a picture of the three all lined up to show the life of an adored Lovie. If I chose correctly than Jane Dare's will probably be in the same shape in 4 years!

Disenchanted

Lately I feel disenchanted. I love using this word even though it doesn't represent very positive feelings or emotions - it actually makes me feel a little less disenchanted. But then I begin to ruminate on life again and, whoops, there it is . . . disenchanted.

What is it causing me to feel so blah. I mean, I have on official friend now (see comment on my Observations blog), Ryan is home (for now), the kids are finally adjusting . . .

But then there are those last 5 pounds of pregnancy weight I can't get off now matter how much I run (or how many chocolate chip cookies I eat. Oh, wait.), the fact that I occasionally feel like I'm in junior high again when I'm trying to make a connection with other moms, Jane Dare's new pattern of waking multiple times at night, but mostly I know it has to do with the spiritual environment in my home. Or lack thereof.

I've become so lazy in making time with the Father a priority. I've let family worship time become a distant memory. I'm not being purposeful in my parenting, discipline, and homemaking. And rather than feeling motivated and excited to turn over a new leaf and start over I feel discouraged because I don't want to fail again. Jake is 5 - these days with him are precious and he'll never be so impressionable again. I feel like if I (we) screw up again we may never recover those lost opportunities.

Where does all this leave me? I don't know. I got up early this morning to try again in spending time in prayer and the Word. I got in about 10 minutes before Jane Dare and then Reid woke up. But its a start. I ordered some resources on the Internet last night and I'm excited to see how all those goes. And most importantly my wonderful husband and I are communicating on working together on this. What a blessing. So, I'll keep you posted. And in the meantime a few of you may be getting a tap on the shoulder requesting some accountability help. I sure need it.

How on earth could anyone NOT want to be around this guy?

He always smells like pancake syrup, he gives big kisses right on the lips on demand & he calls milk "miltch". Who could possibly resist that kind of cuteness?

Apparently, his brother, that's who:

(In case you are having difficulty seeing the picture hanging on Jake and Ainsley's door this is a picture of Reid (complete with pacifier) with a circle and line drawn through it).

Observations

- I lived in this house for well over a month before I realized that the little light/fan combos in the bathrooms actually blew hot air out of them when you hit a certain switch. Fantastic feature but it would've been helpful to know this through frigid December and January.

- I also lived here a month before I realized I didn't have a house key. I still don't have one.

- Do you know how many times I have read the book about the 10 little ladybugs without realizing that when "along came a (fill in the blank animal) and then there were (one less ladybug)" that this book is actually talking about the sweet ladybugs being eaten!!!!!! And I'm reading this to my 2 year old? Poor ladybugs - using their untimely demise to teach my kid how to count.

- I need to hurry up and get out all of my snarky comments about a few people I've met around here before my blog gets out there. Right now I have no friends so not much danger of anyone discovering it via my facebook page, etc.

- When we go to Walmart its always busy but as Ryan noted "we have a distinct advantage over all the other patrons because we aren't pulling our oxygen tanks behind us".

- My master bedroom is so frickity-frackin cold that I am never in here unless necessary. Right now two kids are napping and the other two are up in the play room watching a movie so I deem this necessary.

- Ryan and I had a small skirmish this morning. He called this afternoon to apologize and I laughed when we hung up thinking if he'd just called 45 minutes earlier he could've saved himself a lot of money. I excel at retail therapy.

- I have to keep reminding myself of all the painful experiences I had in C-ville before I actually made friends. Like that time I went to PWOC. Or my first time to MOMS Club. Just give it time, just give it time.

- Why in the heck is Jake upstairs screaming so loudly - what is the point of letting them watch a movie if he is going to scream. There is the end of Reid's nap.

Maybe, just maybe, you can buy happiness

I mean, I don't want to make this post seem too materialistic right from the get go but I don't have that much time to beat around the bush lately. So let's get right to the point - a couple of weeks ago I pulled out Ryan's laptop, I clicked here and clicked there, I entered in my Amex number from memory (oh yes, I know it forwards and backwards including the expiration date and security code), pressed "purchase" and instantly was happier at just the prospect of what was coming. Three days later the UPS man visited (don't think I need to detail again how I feel about that) and again, happiness. But that night, as I put my purchase to the test I found pure joy. What was it that brought me such delight?

Paintbrush flannel sheets from Garnet Hill. Without a doubt the best money I have spent in a long time. Every night I get into bed and am transported to my own special world. I actually plan what pj's I'm going to wear to bed to maximize the amount of skin that will be touching the sheets without freezing my tush off during those occasional middle of the night feedings. To sum up, I did buy myself some happiness. And I highly recommend you do the same - you will not be disappointed.