Happenings

We've been busy around here. Thus the lack of blog posts. Jim's been gone a lot, so I've been rockin' the single mom lifestyle as of late. He did manage to fly in for a day and half, and take our favorite girl to Donuts with Dad at her school early Friday morn. She was SO excited to show off her school to her daddy! I was SO grateful he made it home for this!

Before leaving for Donuts with Dad

I've also been channelling my inner Martha Stewart. I not only visited an orchard with my new friend and neighbor (she's super awesome AND we trade babysitting services! Double awesome!), but I also froze, canned, and dehydrated my way through over 60 lbs of produce. I'm totally an official domestic diva now. Move on over Martha, there's a new homemaker in town - Booyah!

My produce

A pic my friend took of me at her place being all domestic-y and stuff

Hey fellow moms, do you ever get so caught up juggling through all your jobs/hobbies that sometimes you neglect your most important (and cutest) responsibilities a bit, and then feel guilty so you put on your I'm-a-fun-mom metaphoric shoes and plan a super fun/messy activity to do with your lil' pretties to appease the guilt of said semi-neglect? Then do you shamelessly post your super fun/messy mommy-and-me craft project on instagram/facebook to convince the world (and maybe yourself) that you are an awesome mom all the time. Me? I NEVER do this, but if I did, my super fun/messy activity of choice might have been painting rocks with the wee ones. And they might have turned out a bit like this:

In other news, Tralee, my social butterfly, is the "it" girl in her class, so I've been told by other moms. There have been boys fighting for her attention, yeah, I KNOW! Crazy! I don't hear I word about it from her either. I get all my info from talking to other moms in the school yard. When I ask Tralee about what I hear she just giggles or blows it off like it's no big deal. Silly girl! Stinks also joined a play group, and loves every second of it. As soon as I drop her off all the girls announce to each other, "Yay!! Tralee is here!  Tralee is here!"  She is such an outgoing, friendly, kind-hearted little girl that she makes friends fast, and always has a grand ol' time wherever there's fun to be had.  I'm so glad!

My kids and my friend's kids watching The Little Mermaid

Hunter and I have been enjoying our one-on-one time together while Tralee is at school. I have to say, it's quite nice to have a little time alone with my favorite lil' boyfriend. He's such a fun, silly, happy, sensitive little boy. Oh, and he sure LOVES his momma! He loves me so, and I feel like the luckiest lady in the world!

I really am a lucky lady! I love our new home and neighborhood. I have a hot hubby who gets me, and still loves me when I act a bit crazy. My kids are adorable, fun, smart little cutie pies! And even though I have my anxieties/stresses/bad-mommy moments on a daily bases I can still find joy in the things that matter most (most of the time).  Life is rad.

Grandma, Wedding, and Bears - Oh My!

My mom A.K.A Grammy Char Char flew in for a visit last week.  We had a cousin's wedding to attend, and Grammy had some grand kids to squeeze.

Reading stories

The wedding was all over Idaho.  We drove to Rexburg to witness the nuptials, had a wedding luncheon in Idaho Falls, and a reception in Burley.

Walking from our hotel to visit Aunts/cousins in another hotel.  It was spooky. 

Tralee and Grammy Char Char wanted a picture in front of a giant waterfall. 

We had several hours to kill before the reception, so we ventured on over to Bear World.  If you're ever in Rexburg with small kids GO HERE!!  You won't be disappointed!

This is Tralee's fancy camera work.  There were bears all over the place here!  They don't call it Bear World world for nothing!

There's a petting zoo and amusement rides at Bear World.  The kids can ride the rides as many times as they want.  The lines weren't long at all, if there even were lines!  You can also drive through the animal viewing loop (think Jurassic park minus the dinosaurs and add bears, wolves, deer, and elk) as many times as you want as well.  SCORE!

This is Tralee's "everything is great mom!" look.

Tell me that isn't a happy lil' face!

These little beauts kept fighting over who got to sit on the pole.  

After Bear World we drove to Burley.  The kiddies slept the WHOLE way there!  We wore them right out at Bear World.

Before the reception we found an awesome park in Burley for the wee ones to play at.  This playground was AWESOME!  My kids had a blast!

 Overall we had a fun weekend with Grammy Char Char and other family members.  As all good things do, our little Idaho vacation ended way too fast. 

I LOVE(!!!!!!!!!!!) this girl!!!!!!

That's all.

Flowers. . . Oh My!

Last Thursday, as I was waiting with the other moms to pick Tralee up from school, a mother turned to me and said, "You're Tralee's mom, right?"

"Yes. . . "

"My son gave her flowers today."

"?!?!?!?!?!"

She went on to explain that her son had been talking about Tralee at home a lot, and how nice she is.  I guess he came home one day and said he HAD to bring her flowers.  He was adamant.  So, his mother took him to a flower shop and he picked out a little bouquet for Tralee, and presented them to her at the start of the day.

"WHAT?!?!  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  That's hilarious!"  Are the words that I said.  My brain still didn't really know how to process this information.

The mom then showed me the pictures she took of the event, and I promptly said, "I'm gonna need some copies of those!"  I was also upset that this was the first day I decided to drop Tralee off, and leave instead of waiting until the bell rang.  I missed the flower-giving.  My goodness!

Look at that face!  It cracks me up!

When Tralee came home I asked her all about the flowers and her new friend.  When I asked if she was surprised that he gave her flowers she said, "No.  He told me he was going to."  Oh, really?!  She also said on the walk home, "Daddy is going to be SO jealous!"  I laughed at that one!  

This whole thing has thrown me for a loop.  I mean, 1.  They're freakin' kindergartners and it was the first week of school!  2.  Tralee never mentioned this boy before.  3. Everyday she came home from school she said, "I only played with the girls today, and not the boys."

Then she recieved flowers and EVERYTHING CHANGED!!!  I'm now finding pieces of paper with his name written on it surrounded by hearts.  I'm officially worried!  

The night after Tralee received her first flowers from a non-family member, she was ADAMANT that she had to give her lil' Casanova a thank you card and a car.  We took her to the store, where she searched for the perfect car in a selection of Hot Wheels.  She found a black race car and deemed it worthy.  I also helped her pick out a thank you card, and write a nice little note inside.  We wrapped the car together, and afterwards Tralee said, "Mom, it needs a bow!"  I put on a blue bow and asked if it looked okay.  She said, "Actually, I thought red would be better, but I guess that's fine."  Oh goodness.

This whole thing as been so funny to me.  Funny, cute, and a little worrisome.  We've now had talks with Tralee about how we just love/like everyone at school as friends.  When she says things like, "I'm going to marry him" we tell her she has a LOOOOONG way to go before she needs to think of things like that, and for now, let's just all be friends!

Honestly, this will probably all blow over as quickly as it began.  Then again. . . my first crush started in kindergarten as well and lasted until sixth grade.  YIKES! 

We're just taking this situation one day at a time.  And I do have to say, I am glad that Tralee is making friends.  Friends. . . and nothing more!!

The First Day

I don't even know where to start.  Tralee's first day of school was such a jumble of emotions, it's hard to go back and describe what went down as I don't think I was all together myself that day.  I'll do my best.

The night before The First Day, as Jim was tucking Tralee into bed he asked her to please stop growing and to stay small forever.  Her reply was, "You know I would love to stay small and stay your little girl, but there's no way I can unless you're a scientist that has shrinking potion and can shrink me down, but you're not as scientist, so you can't do that.  I'll always stay small in your heart Dad, your big heart."  Talk about a heart-melter!  

Sadly, it's true.  Jim is NOT a scientist that can reverse aging, otherwise Tralee's first day as school would probably still be a long way off.  As it happens, her first day went ahead as scheduled. 

I love this picture.  The look on Tralee's face as she watched the children play on the playground, you can tell her tummy has butterflies in it!

Jim came home for lunch on The First Day, as he didn't want to miss this momentous event.  We ate lunch, packed Tralee's snack inside her new Tinkerbell lunchbox, made sure her kitty backpack was ready to go, and lastly made sure our little kindergartner was set.  She was so excited until a few minutes before it was time to leave the butterflies found their way to Tralee's tummy.  She turned and said to me, "Maybe I wish I could stay home with your guys, because I love my family so much."  Ah. . . another melty moment for my heart.  But, I put on a brave face and told Tralee we wouldn't be too far away, and before she knew it, she would be home telling us tales of her first day of school.  

When it was time to go, we walked to the school, which is awesomely located right behind our house, hand-in-hand.  I snuck glances at Tralee who started looking a little less excited and little more nervous.  I reminded myself that all week long I had been preparing her (and myself) for this moment.  I was preparing so well, that when it came right down to it, I was sure I wasn't going to cry.  On the walk over to the school, I watched Tralee get a little more nervous, and my own surety wore off I bit.  But, I was still convinced that although my eyes might get a little misty, I WOULD NOT CRY!

When we reached the school, we took pictures, gave our final hugs, and watched as Tralee went off to play on the playground with her peers.  I couldn't help but think about how fast time flew from the moment I first held Tralee in my arms those five-years-ago, to the moment I finally had to let her go.  Too fast.  As I watched her running around with all the other children I told Jim, "If I had only a handful of days I could go relive, I would go back to a day where Tralee was a baby."  I would breath her in, hold on tight, and enjoy every second she was attached at the hip.

A few minutes later the bell rung.  It was time for the children to go into their classrooms.  Tralee kept playing and I realized she had no idea what the bell meant.  I sent Jim over to tell her, and as soon as she knew, she ran over to her classroom door, put her backpack on, and walked in.  When she walked in I heard her say, "I don't remember where to hang my backpack!"  I showed her the day before, during orientation, but she was too anxious to go play that she must have not paid very close attention.  Every inch of me wanted to go in and help her hang up her backpack, find a nice place for her to sit, and hold her hand until she was ready to let go.  I didn't.  I knew she would figure out where things went.  She could find a seat on her own, and probably wouldn't want to hold my hand for very long anyways.  So I turned around with my family-minus-one and started walking home.  As I took a few steps away from school, the tears that I was SO SURE wouldn't come welled in my eyes.  I looked over at Jim, who was carrying Hunter, and realized he was using our son to shield his face that was also brimming with tears.

We were doing "the kissing hand"

We didn't say much on the walk home.  The silence between us and the tears rolling down Jim and my cheeks had enough to say for the both of us.  Hunter was oblivious to it all, and asked if we could stop by the creek and pick some cat tails.  We obliged, and has he ran around, Jim and I knowingly squeezed each other's hands.

When Hunty had his fill of cat tails, and Jim and I composed ourselves enough to finish walking home, we continued on our day. . . sort of.  I was unloading the dishwasher when Jim texted me to let me know he was still sitting in the driveway.  I walked out and we hugged for a few more minutes.  Words like, "I can't believe how fast this is going!" and "We're going to be blubbering idiots at her wedding!" were said.  Then we really did gather ourselves enough to continue on our day, and I couldn't wait for 3:45 to come around so I could go pick up my baby girl and find out how The First Day went.

The last picture before Tralee was off on her own!  She walked right into the classroom, and I realized she was officially on her own!

When Hunter and I picked Tralee up she was crying.  I panicked for a second thinking, "Oh no!  She had a bad day!!"  I asked what was wrong.  Tralee informed me she was sad because she wanted to ride the bus, but couldn't.  I explained that buses don't even come by our house, because we live so close.  She calmed down after a few minutes and told me how great The First Day was.  I heard a few stories then, and a few were remembered later.  All and all, The First Day was a success!

After school

Little Horse

On our way home from Wisconsin, Tralee lost her little stuffed animal horse named, Little Horse at the Denver airport.  So, she wrote the airport a letter, put it in an envelope with a picture she drew of herself and Little Horse, and we put in in our mailbox.  A few days later, wouldn't you know it, she had a package in the mail from the airport.

She was VERY happy to have Little Horse back, although she said she looked a little different.  Apparently all the traveling must have stressed Little Horse out a bit, because she came back with a white patch on her fur that wasn't there before.  It couldn't possibly be because "someone" ordered a replacement Little Horse off of Ebay, and didn't realize the new one wasn't the EXACT replica of the original.  No, it was the stress of traveling that left Little Horse looking a bit different, that's it!  (oops.)