A New Water Filter

Oh the simple joys in life. Yesterday we bought a new PUR water filter. You know the kind...you hook them up to kitchen faucets so you can run your tap water through them to get all the nasty chemicals out of the water. I love them and I can't live without them.

Anyway, our old one had been giving us trouble lately. The part that connects to the faucet suddenly started leaking something fierce and in recent days began spraying all over the place when I tried to use it. Dakota tried to tighten it but to no avail. A new one was definitely needed.


When we got the store we noticed a new kind and I was so intrigued. It has flavor cartridges that you can add to flavor your water. What a great idea! I love raspberry flavored water but the cost is hard to justify so this seems like a doable solution. I hemmed and hawed over the cost (about $10 more for the unit plus the cartridges are $10 for two) but then Dakota said those magic words "You know you want to try it!" She was right - I did!


It is so much fun!! You can have either plain, unflavored filter water or, with the mere push of a button, have raspberry flavored filtered water! What an ingenious idea!!

So far, I am really enjoying it. :)

The Open House

Last night was Kelton's school's Open House and it actually mostly sucked. The teacher was flat with ZERO personality. There will be 23 kids in his class, apparently with NO teachers helper. Though honestly I guess I don't know that since we were given NO information. I don't know, as a parent who has a child entering the school system for the first time I had expected information. Maybe a "Hello and welcome to your kindergarten class room! I'm Mrs. FlubbityFlew and we are going to have so much fun together. We're going to do lots of fun art projects, we'll learn some new songs, play some fun instruments, learn to read AND write! Now when you arrive on Tuesday morning I'll be standing right outside the door. You will hang your jackets and backpacks right there on those hooks and then I'll show you to your seat. Once all the kids are here, our fun will start! Does anyone have any questions?"

I mean seriously - how hard would that have been????????????

I walked away from the open house knowing only one thing for certain: I'm even more uncertain about this whole school stuff and I think Tuesday is going to be even more difficult than I ever expected. Honestly, after the day camp experience, I was totally prepared to love this part. Kelton and I both know what to expect and we were ready. I can't speak for him, but I am no longer ready to turn my baby over to someone.

There are no toys or any warm and fuzzy feeling in the room. It's bleak and ...........sad. No bright colors. No happy bulletin boards. No colorful banners on the wall or a banner of the alphabet strung across the blackboard. No comfortable "circle time" area. No colorful bins for the supplies to go into. The room looked like it was ready to be turned into a storage room. It is NOT what I expected.

Feeling like throwing up, Dakota and I took the kids and wandered around the school. We found the library. It's ok - not great but ok. We stayed there until I had my wits about me again (all the while not letting on to Kelton that both moms were upset and trying to sort it all out).

Kelton and I met someone and he told her he was starting school. She asked what teacher so we told her. She said "Oh you are going to have so much fun in her class!" Kelton said "Yeah - I am." and walked away. I turned back and said "Have you had a child in her class?" She said no but that she was a regular volunteer at the school. I just looked at her - imploring her with my eyes for more information. She gave it to me. She said "You know - when I first met her I thought she was a very mean person but once she gets to know you she is really a warm, kind and loving person. She is really amazing with the kids. Honest, she is." I thanked her for the information and returned to share it with Dakota.

We returned to the room but the line to meet the teacher was super long and it was about a trillion degrees in there. We went outside again and Kelton decided to buy a school flag. Of course Kaylen needed one, too. Kelton was ok with stuff but he wanted to go home because things were a bit overwhelming. I just wanted to run home and lock my kids safely in the house forever. Dakota wanted to be sure we stayed to introduce ourselves to let her know that Kelton has two moms.

We ended up doing it Dakota's way. Dakota introduced us and Kelton interjected "I have two moms. Two moms. No dad. Just two moms." Matter of fact, that boy is. The teacher said "That's great! I bet lots of people wish they had two moms." so hopefully things will be fine in that area. She seemed completely uncomfortable with talking with all the people and meeting all the kids. I had warning bells going off everywhere! Mostly not in the teachers direction - more in the direction of the way the room was (not) set up and the general feelings I was picking up. Was this the right place for my son? More and more I wished I had been able to go to the open house in May but we were still in Seattle (it was the week between my mom dying and the funeral) and completely unable to attend.

We took the kids to the playground because Kelton wanted to see it. Dakota and I were talking out of earshot of the kids and she said "I want to go talk with someone about this." I told her I'd stay with the kids and off she went.

Dakota went and talked with the principal and basically said "Ok - after seeing the school and meeting the teacher I'm just wondering if you can ease my fears and convince me this is the right place for my son." (Gotta love that blunt and to the point personality sometimes! :) )

She said that the teacher takes a bit of time to warm up but that she is a great teacher and she believes in her 100%. She asked us to give it a week and if we weren't happy then we could have him changed to the other class (which we know nothing about since we didn't meet that teacher though she seemed nice in the hall and wore brightly colored clothes and her room seemed warmer. There are two AM classes and one PM.).

We also learned that they do art ONE time a week. That's it...and only if time allows (I will clearly be supplementing that every day since my son has always been, and will probably always be, all about art). Music once a week too as well as PE once a week. The school, as all schools in this district, are academically focused so there is no toy time or play time. I can not begin to tell you how much I HATE that. He is FIVE years old.

We talked with Kelton on the way home and asked (in our excited "isn't this great" voices) what he thought. He was excited though, as he put it, the teacher's hair kind of freaks him out. It's long and in braids. All things considering, that was easy enough to talk about. Mostly though - he does seem excited. Dakota and I talked about whether we just have higher expectations of what a classroom would look and feel like because we have the experience whereas Kelton has no expectations and doesn't know that a classroom should be bright and happy.

After we got home Dakota called up our old neighbor. (We had seen her at the school and chatted briefly before we were allowed into the school. her son is going into the 3rd grade there.) She offered to call a teacher friend of hers at the school and get information for us. She and Dakota talked and it sounds like it will be ok. The teacher assured our old neighbor that she would have no problem putting her own child into Kelton's teacher's class (and did with her first and plans to again with her youngest daughter). Kelton's teacher does has ADHD and is a bit disorganized but has good control over the class and is great with the kids. (Yeah, that is probably going beyond the bounds of info to share but still....this woman is taking care of, and teaching, OUR child and I want all information I can get to be sure this is a good place for him.)

I guess we have no real choice...just plunge ahead and see where it takes us.

The upshot though is Kelton seems very excited. I guess that should be what we watch. So - we'll see how the first week goes and re-evaluate from there. But I can totally see why people move into different neighborhoods to get their kids into different schools. I guess after his day camp teacher experience I was expecting another Ms. Emily and a bubbly personality... a bit of "Hi and welcome to ..." talk. There was nothing like that. Just people mingling in the room, filling out a form and then waiting in line to shake hands with the teacher. Maybe my expectations were too high. I really expected to hear what the year would hold and how their days would look. I don't think that would have been asking too much though. *sigh*

I'm suddenly NOT thrilled. *sigh*

Here are some photos of our time at the school.

Dirt - A Simple Joy

After being play group free for two years, I have finally joined a new one. The nicest thing of all is they came looking for *me* which I have to say, makes me feel a bit special. :)

Earlier this year I had actually been thinking of finding one to join once Kelton started school since it's an experience that Kaylen has yet to have. Kelton was in a play group from the time he was 9 months until he was 3.5 years. I just think that Kaylen could really benefit from playing with kids her own age and besides, with only one of them to watch over, I could actually enjoy the experience myself and be able to develop some new friendships. It's not easy for me to make the jump into meeting people so I was thrilled when someone approached me about joining their group.

Today was my first official get together. We met at a local park and the kids had a great time...of course, after their great time it was time to come home, fill up the tub and dunk them in it! The biggest of all fun today for them came from playing in a huge dirt area surrounding a tree. Lovely!! Four of the kids (three boys and my tomboy girl) had a rockin' good time and wow were they dirty when we finally called an end to it.

Here are a few pictures of my two:

A Note for my Beautiful Daughter

Dear Child of Mine,
I understand that you are having trouble with not seeing Mama for days at a time. I get that, really I do. But will you please hurry and process this gigantic change in your life so that you can return to your usual not-so-great sleep schedule? I have, in the past 2 years, gotten used to only getting blocks of sleep in three to four hours cycles but seriously? The past two nights have not been pretty. There is really *no need* to wake every hour to hour and a half and keep me awake for an hour past that.

Mommy is tired. Really, really tired.

I know you miss Mama. I get that. I miss her too. So does Kelton. But we all still need to get some sleep. Sleep helps. So please....please, please, please....SLEEP AT NIGHT!!!

Love,
Your Exhausted Mommy

Just Another Day

I'm feeling a bit better than yesterday. Well actually, a ton better than yesterday but I still feel cruddy overall. I'm tired of not feeling well. I want to go back to a few months ago when I didn't give my health a second thought. *sigh*

After I got the kids to bed last night I crashed on the couch but I was just too tired and feverish to stay up until Dakota got home from school (early night - she was home by 8:30) so I went into my room, switched on a repeat of The Gilmore Girls and crawled into bed. I don't think I even stayed coherent enough to follow the plot line (good thing I've seen it before). Dakota arrived home to find me huddled in bed, whimpering like a puppy. It wasn't the pain so much as the fever - I was just miserable. I'm sure I was wishing I was anywhere but there - maybe at the Orleans hotel Las Vegas even! :)


A couple of Tylenol later I was drifting in and out of sleep. Dakota went in and took care of Kaylen when she woke at nine but by 11:30 I was being summoned to the princess who had told Dakota to "Go wake up mommy, please. Me need mommy!" I hauled myself out of bed and spent the rest of the night in Kaylen's room with her waking every couple of hours. Needless to say, I didn't get much rest but thank goodness my fever was gone when I woke and I felt much better.

After spending a bit of time getting my feet back under me this morning (and a bit of food in my tummy as I hadn't eaten anything since early Tuesday afternoon) we were off and (sort of) running. Kelton's buddy from day camp came over for a three hour play date that went remarkably well (even though I wasn't 100% on top of my game). The boys played so well together and Kelton was a good big brother and made sure that Kaylen was included as much as possible. I was so proud of him when he would say "Make sure my sister gets a turn next, ok?" It was sweet and I love knowing that he looks after her so well when other people are around. And, in fact, after his buddy went home he and Kaylen played well together the rest of the afternoon and evening. Refreshing, I tell you!!

So that's the latest from here. I'm exhausted but no longer feel like a truck ran over me a few hundred times. At this rate, I think I can make it to my Tuesday appointment which is good. At least there is a long weekend coming up which means Sunday and Monday are family days. Having help is always a good thing! :)

The Invasion of Yo Gabba Gabba

Has anyone else seen Yo Gabba Gabba? It's a new show for the toddler/preschool set on NickJr and I am sad to say that my children are hooked on it. I'm taking HOOKED. It's recording on the DVR daily so I get the pleasure of listening/seeing it several times a day. If they didn't love it so darn much I would delete it from the schedule and happily move on with life but noooooooooo....they LOVE it. And who am I to deny them this pleasure in life?

We've even gone to the website and printed out all the coloring pages and masks and my two silly beans have been walking around the house for the past two days wearing silly masks and chasing each other around. It's sweet. It's cute. It's annoying. :)

Today I found myself longing for the days when I was dreaming about picking out Da Vinci baby furniture for our yet to be born child. I wanted to turn back time and make them not old enough for this show so that maybe, just maybe, the craze would be long gone by the time they *were* old enough. But alas - you can't turn back time, can you? *sigh*

I just am at a loss for understanding how this shows concept came about. Are you telling me that adults sat around a table and bounced ideas around and settled on this? Do you think someone said "I have this great idea...." and the rest of them said "Wow. Best thing I've ever heard of!"? It's just so far out there in the realm of shows. But then - lots of people like that BooBah show too so maybe it's just me. :)

Armchair Physician

Yeah - that's me. I've been spending the last couple of weeks trying to self-diagnose my side pain and here is my official take on it: I am having gall bladder attacks. Today's was the worst by far.

The funny thing is when I went into the doctor with my laundry list of symptoms a few weeks back, he did casually inquire as to whether I still had my gall bladder. Of course, then the symptoms weren't textbook - I had a few things going on but my side pain was more of a "stitch" in my side. Since then, the pain grew steadily worse and comes and goes. A fever also comes and goes. Other things come and go but I blame them all on viruses. After all, Kelton was in day camp and whenever the kids are out in the world viruses have a way of coming home to roost.

I had g*ogled gall bladder symptoms a couple of times and they seemed to fit but since nothing really seems dire, I am opting to wait until my appointment next week (getting in to see *my* doc is a pain)and then pick his brain about "Could this be..." and "What should I be on the look out for...".

At least, this was the plan until this afternoon.

Today's attack is leaving no real questions in my mind about if this is gall bladder related. Holy freakin' moly! I was sicker than a dog for about three hours. And then things started to calm down (being sicker than a dog with two kids who couldn't care less than you can't get off the couch is not fun!). I g*ogled again to refresh my memory and lo' and behold - I'm all but a perfect textbook case now.

As long as things continue to calm down and then return to the way it has been for the past two weeks, I am going to wait it out. But if things progress - I'm going to go in.

Through all of this anxiety I am also filled with anxiety for the care for the kids should I need to have surgery. The old fashioned way is a 5 day hospital stay. A laproscopic procedure is an overnight stay (definitely the route I would want to go!). With Dakota in school, there is no one around to step up and help me out and if Dakota misses too much school at the onset, it's near impossible to catch up. Dakota would, of course, do all the she could and needed to. Her mom would probably help out where she could but the two kids are a lot for her. I would need to get back home quickly so that I could play ringmaster with people helping out here and there (meals, picking up Kelton from school, a bit of afternoon playtime, etc.) OY! Everything is so much more complicated when you have children. The worries are so much greater and for me, I do better when I am at home with my kids than stressing out being away from them.

I guess time will tell how this will all play out. Hopefully everything calms down and gives me time to get my ducks in a row though I guess the upside to an emergent-type situation (you know - this is bad pain and I have to go in right now and surgery is scheduled for this afternoon (which I've had happen with an ovarian cyst before) is there is no time for planning - just doing and it would be all out of my hands at that point.

Oh joy.

The question I have though is why do so many people think 2007 is a lucky year? This has been the suckiest year EVER for me.

And onward we go.......

At least I don't feel like I have to look into getting high risk life insurance at this point in time. That's a plus, don't you think? :) But it is *always* good to know that such a thing exist. (Sorry - I had to get it in there. LOL!)

Silly Videos

You would not believe the trouble I went to tonight trying to get these on my blog. The quality sucked through DropShots so I went to One True Media to upload. That took two hours (!) and it gave me an error on the third one. Once I viewed them, I discovered the quality sucked through them as well. Weird. I think you will still find them fun to watch. :)

Anyway - here are two of them (combined into one):

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

and then the third:

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

Welcome to Autumn!

It's August 27th but autumn has arrived. The signs are all over my house. There are bright red and orange leaves across the fireplace mantle and the china hutch. There are autumn (fake) flowers in vases and scarecrow (or hair-crows, as Kelton has always called them) here and there. Yes - autumn has arrived. I've had to crush their dreams though of putting up the halloween decorations. I'm just not ready to go that far into autumn!

Dakota started school today. This semester she has a morning class three days a week in addition to her evening class load. Two late nights (not arriving home until 10) and three early nights (home around 8:30 two nights and around 5pm on one night). The kids will have to adjust to not seeing their other mom five days out of each week for the next 16 weeks. Ugh. The stress from today is palpable from all of us. I know we will adjust within a week or two (and once all the fall schedules are in place with school for Kelton, etc.) but the kids are both having a hard time today and keep asking when mom will be home. I feel for them - I know it's a hard change on *me* so I can only imagine how hard it is for them. For these kids, the sun sets and rises on Dakota - a very mutual feeling.

Two years down. Two years to go. We're at the half-way point. Amazing.

Kelton was upset last night that mom starting school would mean the end of fun for us so after I assured him that we would be ok and that we were used to mom not being home during the day we focused on making a plan for today. He wanted to go to the mall to look around and play. So - we were there when the doors opened and spent about two hours just roaming around. We hit the play area, Starbucks, wandered through the pet store, rode some of the rides, walked all over the mall and just soaked in everything.

Things fell apart again after getting home and I just have to keep reminding myself that they will adjust. Without day camp (which he is missing a lot) and now with Dakota being gone he is feeling lonely. I feel bad for him (and I admit that I'm feeling lonely already, too) but I know that he will adjust. We all will.

Autumn has definitely arrived for us.

Sad Day

It's my mom's birthday today. She would have been 69 years old. Instead, she's been dead for three months and two weeks.

It's weird how incredibly sad I feel today. It's not like today every really involved much on my part - I would send a card to be there in time for her birthday and then I'd call to wish her a happy birthday on the day.

*sigh* I'm just sad.

Kelton said "You can still send flowers to her. But remember mom, it's good that she doesn't have to be in her wheelchair anymore. She doesn't have pain and maybe that's her present." That incredible point of view was quickly followed up with "What happened to her wheelchair mom? Kaylen and I had so much fun playing in it. Can we get one?"

From the mouths of babes and all....but I still miss my mom.

Growing Pains

Mine. Not his.

This afternoon we were in the yard playing and the phone rang. It was the mom of Kelton's "best friend" from day camp calling to ask if Kelton was available to come over for a play date. Apparently her son (C) had been bugging her all afternoon about wanting Kelton to come play. When I agreed you could hear ear splitting screams of delight from both boys.

They don't live very far from us (but sadly the boys won't be in the same school) so Dakota stayed to play with Kaylen and I drove Kelton over to C's house.

Now is the time to be proud of me: I swallowed all my anxiety and said "I've never before left Kelton with someone for a play date so I'm going to play the paranoid mom for a second. If you have guns in the house I assume they are locked up?" To my GREAT relief she looked at me and said "We don't have guns. We don't even believe in having guns in our house." I'm not sure if she thought I would a loony toon or what but at least I asked and I feel good about that. And now I never have to worry about Kelton being over there. It feels so weird to have just left him there. He's only been on mommy-free play dates with a friend of mine and I've known her since we were both pregnant with our sons. This is a BIG step for me.....and for him but he seems to not notice. :)

When I arrived home I stopped to pick up the mail. In it was Kelton's kindergarten information. The fact that my baby is growing into his own hit me full-force today. Mommy-free play date AND a packet full of information for his first day of school.

*sigh*

End of Day Camp, End of the Summer

"Mom, I miss my day camp."

Those were the words that my son said as we walked to the car this afternoon after I picked him up. We had only left the building a mere 20 seconds before and he has said that line about 50 times since then.

You know what? I miss day camp, too. I actually had grown accustomed to seeing the teachers, kids and other parents in the past three weeks and I'm really going to miss it. I loved knowing that Kelton was having a great time - and learning so much. And I admit it, Kelton might not have gotten all misty eyed when the teachers were handing out the certificates and saying their final goodbyes to everyone but *I* sure did.

Kelton was so funny though - he managed to get addresses, emails and phone numbers for the three teachers and he has already dictated emails to two of them. That's my boy - ever the social one. Ms. Emily has a teenage daughter (Kelton's crush of the week) who loves to babysit and I was invited to call on her if I ever wanted. You know what? I just might take her up on it. I've never had a babysitter (excuse me - Kelton will scream if he knows I wrote "baby"sitter. KIDsitter) before except for Dakota's mom and our adult neighbor across the street (who stayed with the kids twice) and it might be nice to be able to get out of the house every now and again.

So here we are - the end of day camp. The end of summer. Dakota starts classes Monday and Kelton starts the following Tuesday. How in the world is it the end of summer already? It feels like we've only been back from our 5 week stay in Seattle for about a month which would make it what? The end of June? Yeah - that's what it should be....June. Anyone else want a "do over"?

My Girl

You know your 2 year old has been sick a lot in her short little life when she can sit up, grab the throw-up bowl and perfectly hurl her tummy contents into it without making a mess. When she's done, she puts the bowl down, picks up the washcloth, wipes her mouth and then sit back.

I'm just saying........

My poor baby. :(


This is one of those days that I really wish Dakota could work at home. An extra pair of hands sure would be nice.

Day Camp

I think Kelton is going to have trouble with the end of day camp tomorrow. This week I have noticed that pick up time is getting more and more complicated. In days gone by, he would run right over to me when it was over but today it took us 40 minutes to leave. The counselors keep the kids busy singing songs until their parents arrive and even though I was standing right there in plain sight, Kelton ran back over to the singing group to sing songs. I didn't mind - I enjoy watching him having fun and singing silly songs. But then, the kids thinned out and my son was still chatting up the staff and making himself at home.

"It's time to go, hon. Grab your stuff and let's go!"
"In a minute, mom."

I finally get him out the door only to have him turn around and run back to hug one of the teachers.

I'm so happy that he has had a great experience with day camp (especially considering how his stint in preschool went. So not good.). I'm so proud of him and how he has handled it and I know this child of mine is going to excel when he starts school in 11 days. The teachers/counselors all rave about him and what a terrific camper/student he is and how much fun he is to be around. I will never, ever tire of hearing that.

I have an amazing kid!!

That said though - I think tomorrow is going to be difficult for him. He is going to miss his friends and teachers (though one of his friends mom already has asked for our address/phone number because her son wants Kelton to come to his birthday party so at least Kelton knows he will see his "best friend" again soon). I wish there was some way I could let his teachers know how much they have enhanced my child's life. For the first time ever, I get the whole "I want to get the teacher something special" thing. When you have someone touch your child's life in such a positive and lasting way, makes you so very grateful.

Swiss Army Luggage

Where have I been? I have always known about Swiss Army knives but why have I never before heard of the Swiss Army Luggage line? Am I the only one who didn't know the makers of those amazing knives also make luggage? What else do they make? You just know it has to be quality stuff, right? They even have a messenger bag I'm a sucker for messenger bags and normally so is Dakota. Though with all her law books, etc that he has to lug around she only get to use a messenger bag during school breaks. Other than that, it's a backpack with wheels.

Swiss Army Luggage. Nope - I have to say, it never once crossed my mind.

Random Thoughts

What is it about the allure of office desks? The kids and I went into an office supply store the other day to pick up a couple things we needed and there were desks and chairs, etc. all over the place - many of them child sized. Makes sense given that it's back to school time and all but here's what got me; my kids were completely drawn to them. Kaylen was climbing into all the chairs and pulling herself up to the desks to "work". Kelton was saying "Wow! This would be a cool place to do art!" And yeah, OK, I'll admit it - I was drooling a bit over the more spacious computer desk setups (I love my computer hutch but sometimes I would love to have a bit more room in it.)

I swear, my family could spend an entire day in an office supply store and for most of us, it would be like a mini-vacation. :)

Memory Problems?

I'm a mom. Therefore, it stands to reason that I no longer have an IBM memory. If you are a mom, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not sure why it happens but there is no mistaking it, once you get pregnant (and especially after that baby is born) your memory ability reorganizes itself. You will be able to remember all sorts of strange things but suddenly, you might find yourself in the post office line completely unable to remember your PIN number for your debit card. The same debit card PIN number you have had for over 4 years. (And yes, that's a true story.)

It's strange how my memory works now. I can remember any and details about the kids, their needs, their schedule, their everything. It's as if the only things my mind thinks are of any value are kid-related. I suppose that makes sense on some basic level but wow - I sure wouldn't mind being able to recall phone numbers, passwords or PINs again.

Kindergarten

I called Kelton's school today to see if I could find out into which kindergarten class he was placed. When I registered him for school this spring I petitioned to have him placed in the morning class instead of the afternoon (our neighborhood is afternoon kindergarten because of the bus schedules) since Kelton is awake before the birds every. single. day. I just had this sinking feeling that to send him off to afternoon class at 1pm after he had already been awake eight hours would be pretty much setting him up to fail. Not the feeling a mom wants to have for her child.

Afternoon hours around here are not a pretty sight because he is so tired and seems to loose his ability to listen, comprehend and not melt down. Bedtime comes early too in order to offset the early start to the day (and yes, we've tried keeping him up later in the hopes he would sleep later but it has never, ever worked. Even going to be at 10pm does nothing to stop the 5AM wake up. He has been an early riser since the day he was born. It's just who he is.)

Anyway, I have been anxiously awaiting news of what class he would be in and I prepared to go in and plead my case in person if I had to...and go beyond the principal if necessary. After all, I'm his mom and that's my job. I just can't see setting him up to fail his first year out in the world. I know how great he is doing at day camp in the mornings and I know that will transfer easily to school. So I nervously called the school this morning and, good news of good news, he has been placed in the AM class!!! YES YES YES!!! I am so happy!

There is not much doubt that afternoon would be a much easier transition for me since I wouldn't have to worry about the morning chaos of getting ready but this isn't about me and what is easiest for *me*. This is about a successful start to school for Kelton. So, morning is it! The school bus will pick him up in the morning but because the neighborhood is PM kindergarten, there will be no bus ride home. I'll need to pick him up at the school. I have zero problem with that and I'm actually looking forward to it.

We are at the end of the bus route both directions (which makes no sense to me as I would think they would reverse the route in the afternoon) so when he is picked up in the morning, it's about 4 minutes to school. In the afternoon, it would take 40 minutes from the time the bus leaves the school until he is dropped off here. Personally, I think that is crazy and I am all too happy to drive the 4 minutes to the school to get him. It's something I can see myself doing next year as well since I just think 40 minutes on a bus in the afternoon with kindergarten - fifth grade is asking for trouble. That's just me. I'm not a fan of school buses anyway so picking him up is perfect!

I'm just so relieved that he will be in the morning class and since we've been doing the day camp thing for three weeks now, I feel like we have the whole "getting ready and out the door" routine down well. Which is good - since school starts in 12 days! Eeeeeeeek!

Fun Gift!

Look what I got today! Kaylen and I went to MOMS Club this morning while Kelton was at day camp and in walks Sheri with a gift for me. I had helped her (just a small bit) when she was setting up her blog and she had promised me coffee (Yes, that's right. I'll do just about anything for coffee! LOL!). She gave me something so much cooler than just a cup of joe though....she gave me an official Gilmore Girls coffee mug.....a BIG one! :) As you all probably remember, I am Gilmore Girls obsessed. I love, love, love, love, love that show!!

It cup says: "Please Luke, please, please, please...."

That lines comes from season one and the dialogue goes a bit like this:
*****************
Lorelai walks past a sign that says "Stars Hollow Founded 1779" and crosses the street. She goes into Luke's coffee shop. She takes off her coat and walks up to the counter, coffee cup in hand.

Lorelai: Please, Luke. Please, please, please.
Luke: How many cups have you had this morning?
Lorelai: None.
Luke: Plus...
Lorelai: Five, but yours is better.
Luke: You have a problem.
Lorelai: Yes, I do.
Luke pours her coffee.
Luke: Junkie.
Lorelai: Angel. You've got wings, baby.
*****************

I LOVE THIS CUP!!

Thank you Sheri - you totally made my week! :)

Funny Girl

Kaylen has a new thing that she says. We will say "No, thanks anyway." whenever we turn down something down (such as "Would you like more soup?" "No, thanks anyway."). Kaylen has turned this saying into something quite funny. She will say "Nothanksanyway" and runs it all together like it was just one word. Cracks me up! I just love to hear her say it.

Another funny thing she says is "Sorry." whenever she doesn't want to do what you ask her to do. This goes sort of like this: "Kaylen, please go take your cup and pick it in the sink" She will say "Sorry. No." It's just so darn funny that I can't help but giggle each and every time she does it. :)

She has a million other little things she says or ways she says things but those are the only two I can think of right now. I tell you, life with this girl is interesting and very, very amusing!