Kindergarten!!

Ok, the following was written Monday, when I had every intention of posting photos, but just never got around to it! So it may be old news, but here it is: (and I'll update at the bottom!)


Well, Luke and I both survived his first day of kindergarten today! He wasn't at all afraid to say goodbye to me, which made me so proud! I saw him during the day twice and it was so weird to just look out in the hall and see my little guy walking around! At the end of the day, he was all smiles and so happy. His teacher, Mrs. Gonder (and my good friend) said he was like her best friend, talking away to her, which was a good thing. He even got an award, one of 2 kids, for best behavior in the hallway. He is more than ready to go back tomorrow, and told me he'll never get in trouble, because he's 5 years old!



Getting a photo this morning was the hardest part of the day because it was still dark out when we left, and our indoor lighting is so poor. Plus, it was 6:30 am and Luke was pretty tired! But at least I captured the moment.

Friday Night Updates...
Well, I didn't really capture the moment as it turns out. The photos were way too dark and blurry, so we did retakes after school, so that's what I'll share! Luke loved school all week, and really did well. His teacher said he "thinks ahead" alot.

As for me, my class is pretty good. Third grade has the most kids per teacher. Our limit is 22, and right now all teachers have 22 but I have 21. I was the "lucky" one that only had 20, so even though he has no business being in my tag class, the very angry boy who just returned from alternative school got put in my class thursday! Awesome. I am doing my best with him, but he's already showing some pretty angry behavior. But the rest, besides being talkative, are great. An interesting mix of kids, that's for sure! I'm really enjoying my grade level. Our new teacher has so much personality and is a bit crazy too, so she fits right in. A good change from the man we had last year that never showed an ounce of personality!

Tomorrow is an exciting day for Luke... he's (and the rest of us too!) going to Carsyn's new house with lots of stairs! We're headed up to Ft. Worth for the day and will return Sunday. Brenda and I made the plan that we will do nothing. Sounds great to all of us the first weekend after heading back to work.

Alright, I've probably already lost most of you with my super long update. I finally have an ounce of energy to blog though, so wanted to share. Hope all the other teachers out there are surviving if you've already started back!

Here's parts of Luke's room - instead of painting, we chose to paint a shelf and hang wall stickers. MUCH easier!

Ok, who can guess what they are doing? My money is on Brenda...

Luke is on the phone with Carsyn, debriefing at the end of their first day of kinder. It took him 3 phone calls to her to get all the conversation in! And he cracked me up... he kept saying, "So anyway..."

Is it really possible to be this tired?????

What a week! First off, I will let you know there are no photos coming. That is just asking way too much at this point! Don't even have it in me to write complete thoughts any longer, so you're about to get a bulleted list of the happenings of the past week!

*First, I discovered that if I sit on my bed, I can pick up someone's wireless signal, so I've enjoyed hanging out in here this week, getting some school work (ok, and a little surfing and emailing) done!!

*Went back to work. Mia went to daycare and Luke stayed home with a babysitter(s) who was absolutely wonderful! Thanks for the hookup Brenda! 

*Work has been ok. Grade level is pretty good this year. Got a new teacher who seems to have a personality so already a huge step up from the guy we had last year. Just very tired from getting back into a routine.

*Had a party last Friday at the house for coworkers, and had a good time hanging out and showing off the house.

*Survived Meet the Teacher Night. Have a lot of really good parents this year so hopefully things will go well.

*Luke was tested for kinder and made it into the TAG cluster class (for those non-texans, that stands for talented and gifted). My good friend is teaching it, and I am teaching her daughter this year. Plus, Luke's friend that he went swimming with over the summer will be in his class.

*Mia made it 3 days into the year at daycare before getting sick. Really? We couldn't make it a month, or even a full week? She went to the dr. today and has a viral infection. Hopefully she'll be good to go Monday!

*Mom and dad popped down from Brenda's for 2 days before heading home for good. It's a good treat for Luke and Mia before starting back to school.

*Our friends Jill and Doug (that went with us to Vegas last year) had their first baby girl, Alexandra Renee, today! Can't wait to make a side trip when we visit Brenda to squeeze the baby.

*After a little peer pressure from a high school friend, I joined Facebook 2 days ago and have enjoyed finding a few long lost friends and even a former youth pastor. Just seeing their photos online is wonderful after so many years.

I'm sure there's more, but I'm about to fall asleep on my laptop, so time to sign off for the night! 

Q: What have the Minatrea's been up to??

A: A lot!!

We have been working on the house, hosting visitors, trying to do some fun things with the kids, getting ready to go back to work, etc etc etc.

My parents arrived last Thursday, just in time for Brenda to move out of her home. Friday night we had the 4 of us, my parents, and Brenda's family all enjoying our new home for the night! Friday the Elliotts officially left town, and it was a bit hard for me to absorb, but knowing we will visit them (hopefully!) labor day weekend made it much easier to say bye! We miss you guys already and can't wait to come see your new home soon!!

With mom and dad visiting, we've tried to balance relaxing with getting a few things done around here, and even managed a trip for shaved ice (Amy and Chris - dad had the butterscotch love nest and mom and I tried Rootbeer love nest -- yummy!). A huge thanks to dad for figuring out our lighting system and getting things to work properly, along with creating shelves in some closets. Today we all went to the Austin Children's Museum. I found a great book in their store that I can't wait to use with my gifted kids this year. Anyone ever heard of "Not a Stick"? There's also "Not a Box". Great use of creativity... check it out.
Time to post photos. I'll add more as they come this week.

Finally having time to enjoy the Jacuzzi tub...


Luke and Carsyn doing what 5 year olds do best... making a mess! (They also painted parts of the house, a ball glove, and the bucket)


How cute is she??? Notice the bows? We've finally been able to do piggies and bows. The best is when I do two on top, then she gets food in them and they stick straight up like antenna! (Jill, she's wearing one of your outfits!)


Now two CALM 5 year olds playing with Leapsters. Amy and I got Carsyn hers for her birthday.


Friday night, when everyone was staying, I decided to celebrate a few things. I found this cute little puppy cake for Carsyn's birthday...


An ice cream cake for Mom and Dad's 40th Anniversary...


And I wanted to celebrate the Elliotts selling their home but didn't think a third cake was necessary, so they got a banana moon pie!


Payton, Luke, and Carsyn cooling off in the sprinklers...


...and Grandpa distracting Mia so she'd stay out of them!


Children's museum




Luke wanted his photo taken in our tree out front... Amy, are you proud of my good photo spot??


And finally, Luke helping Grandpa cut shelves for Mia's closet

Off to Kinder!

I enrolled Luke in kinder today, so he's officially ready to start school in a few weeks. Still can't believe he's old enough already! I also got my room keys for school today and spent the day working on getting it ready, and surprisingly got a lot done! And our last piece of furniture that was on order came in - our server/console table! It looks so good in our house. So the house is coming together, except our room which is so big and beige and needs some help!

Challenge: I have a bit of a challenge for my teachery friends and family. I found some things that are bugs and flowers, with quite a few sunflowers, and plan to make a welcome board for the hallway with it. Each student will have their name on a flower/bug, but I need a catchy welcome to my class title. Also, possibly a job chart will come from the same things, so could use a title for that. Anyone???

Mom and dad start their journey down to visit tomorrow. It'll be different since there is a 2-3 hour drive between my house and Brenda's instead of 30 minutes, so we can't spend as much time together as we usually do. Marc's parents are coming this weekend too, so they'll all get to see the new home together!

On a happy little note, when I checked the mail today there was a check for $678 from our home insurance that we totally weren't expecting! I guess ours was already paid right before we paid off the old house, so in my eyes, it's free money since we didn't count on it!

And back to reality big time with a full day of inservice tomorrow. A big thanks to mom and dad for arriving Thursday so that I can skip out on another full day of math textbook training! :)

New Additions

Friday some of our new furniture came in, so now we don't have a big empty room as soon as you walk in. I picked up the little table at Target last night, and not sure about it. Plus the curtains are ugly (came with house) and so are the throw pillows on the couch, and I plan to add a light rug. But it is much better than it was before! This came out dark, but the sofa is a green/grey color.








We are still waiting on a server/table and our big floor rug, which was also delayed.

Here's our new futon - not the one we ordered, which also fell through!! - but we're happy with this. It also has storage underneath which is always great. This is in the study. Now we're ready for company to come and stay!



The rest of the house is a bit at a stand still, with nothing much on the walls yet. The only problems we have are the lights still and the lawn, which died while sitting empty and doesn't seem to want to come back to life.

House Photos

Well, here it is... our house! Keep in mind not everything has a place yet, nothing is really hung on the walls, and we are still missing several pieces of furniture. But, you can get the idea. I realize I didn't put any photos of the outside, but I think most of you saw them from the realtor's site. I'll add some later. Also missing are photos of the study, kids' rooms, and bathrooms.

This is our bedroom -new bedding we bought before the move. Just started hanging curtains after this photo. The room is much longer than we thought! Now I also have 2 new Ikea lamps to add to it.

View from the study area - living room and kitchen - the rest of the kitchen is behind the big blank wall. We bought a server to put there, and have to wait until Monday for our large floor rug to come in.

Door to back patio

Our new table!! We went those 2 months without one, then the order fell through, so we went out Saturday, picked this out, and had it delivered a few hours later. LOVE IT! The windows go to the back patio.

The door leads to our bedroom.

Archway leads to dining room (which will be another living room)

Pantry on the right, other door goes to laundry then garage.

Playroom - thanks to our IKEA shopping day Monday, I found curtains, table, rug, easel, and a few other things that aren't up yet.

The dining room will become another living/sitting room. We have a green love seat and grey/green checked arm chair on order. Wow, that sounds ugly, but I promise it's very cool! Then we just need curtains, small tables, and that room should be good! The front door is right to the left of the room.


Our last photo at our old home

Mia messing with her Molly!

Day 3...

...of waking up in our new home, and for the first time, it's starting to feel like my new home. Today I woke up in my bed (not on the couch), and there was coffee waiting for me. Yesterday was a very productive day, and except for the study and a few other boxes, we are almost unpacked. Here are the highlights from yesterday:
1) Ok, so this was a low light. Marc found out our table, which we've waited for all summer, wasn't going to be coming in. Seriously? So we chose to get our money back and shop elsewhere.
2) Brenda and the kids came out and after getting some Jason's Deli for lunch, we left Marcus here with all the kids and the three of us took off to furniture shop. After going out with intentions to buy a table, we also bought a really cool chair grey/brown/green checked chair (ok, that sounds ugly, but it's really cool!) and a greenish loveseat for the formal dining which we decided to make into a formal living instead. We also got a server instead of just a sofa table to go on one of our many blank walls. Those should all be in in just a few weeks. Today we plan to head out and buy the table!
3) While we were out, Marcus put together my 2 new barstools, so now we actually have somewhere to sit!
4)At 11:38 last night, I finished unpacking my kitchen, and I love how it looks!! It looks so different without boxes and junk all over it.
5) We finally went out and spent a while 15 cents at Lowes for the hardware that was missing for our bed so we could put it together. Once we did, we realized our bedroom is so much bigger! Brenda suggested putting a pull out sofa at the end of our bed so that our guests can sleep at our feet. We opted not to. But, our new bedding looks fabulous!

What's on today's agenda??
1) Buy a table!
2) Head to Bed Bath and Beyond and get our new dishes and hopefully some art for the walls.
3) Find an ottoman for the bathroom (big open area, great place to sit and dry hair, etc)
4) Unpack boxes......
5) Hang curtain rods and curtains
6) Possibly attempt to redo the frequencies on the fans so they aren't psychotic anymore. (Got a suggestion off line and from Lowes. I'm sure I'll be on my own doing this as Marc usually doesn't do the manual labor!!)

I will have pictures soon, but still can't find my cable for the computer. Feel free to visit anytime, now that you can actually walk through the house!

Home Sweet Home

We are in our new home! We moved in yesterday and for the most part things went well. A big thanks to Brenda for putting up with us for several days while we were homeless! We closed on this house yesterday morning and were so excited to come right over and show our mortgage guy (Marc's friend) the home. When I tried to unlock it, no keys worked. Turns out the owners didn't want us in until the funding all went through officially. We got in early anyhow, but it took some of the joy out of coming to our house! We did have a few incidents - 1) no air for a while until we figured out to flip a breaker 2) a constant beeping all night of the smoke detector because we didn't have a new battery 3) and thinking the house was haunted. I was home alone with Mia, and she was asleep. I went back to her room, and her light was on. This happened throughout the house. I finally figured out later that night that our "really cool remote lights/fans" in every room are very sensitive. If you turn one light off, it triggers another room's light. So we have to figure that out still. Luke and I just got back from a big target trip, which is always exciting for me, but this was at the new one that just opened and we bought many great things that of course all require assembly.

I will share photos later, when I can find my cord! Here's my address in case anyone needs it:
5703 Bald Ridge Court
The rest is all the same. Off to unpack boxes!

Packing Day

9 hours, a garage full of boxes, 5 rolls of tape, one hole in the ceiling, several trips to the dumpster, and two showers later, Marc and I are pretty much done packing and are headed out to spend an Olive Garden gift certificate for dinner. The day went very smoothly, well, for the most part, and it helped so much having the kids gone during the process. The best part of the day was when we were emptying out the attic. I really wanted to show you photos to go with it, but my camera cable is packed somewhere and there's no way I'm finding it any time soon.
First, Marc was pretty excited to find a mystery box full of his old atari and games. I'm sure he'll be attempting to hook that up when we move! Then he threw down the computer box, and I let out a small yell as I noticed a snake in it! Luckily, he was very crispy and very dead, but I still wasn't too happy to see him. He was getting the crib box next, which is a 5 foot box, and next thing I know, I am getting hit with the box and knocked out of the way. I thought Marc had fallen down the attic steps, but when I turned around and looked up, I saw Marc's leg hanging through the garage ceiling! After a brief panic when I called out to him and heard no reply, I found out he was fine. It was probably 120 degrees up there, and he was so tired and hot, and just slipped. I'm very glad he's okay, but now we get to add a $100 dry wall bill to our list of ever growing expenses. At least it wasn't the $100 ER deductible! Now, of course, it's a bit funny and I laugh out loud every time I see it! Well, we're off to a much earned dinner. Have a super saturday!

Luke's Bowling Debut

Luke has been wanting to go bowling, so we took him yesterday for the first time. He had so much fun, and although his form needs some work, he did quite well with the help of the bumpers! I did notice that bowling alleys are probably the last place on earth that as an employee, you can smoke while on the job, without taking a break!!

Under Contract

I went to the website for our new home and now it says "Under Contract!" So nice to see something in print that shows we're getting the home we want. Here's the latest:
We are waiting to hear from our realtor to see if we'll be able to lease the new home before our closing date. We're hoping it all works out, because we're set to move our things out next Wednesday! We have to have it all out for cleaners, carpet people, and painters (ok, so the painters are going to be Marc and Marcus...) to come before closing.

Both home inspections went well - except for the man inspecting our new one was a bit odd - I found out way more than I need to know about my home inspector, including that he's been married 4 times, his ex wife died, and he even shared about UTIs. Nice.

Today Brenda was in town so I took her by the house - we had to settle for peeking in windows - but I was so happy to know she liked it alot! She's the first person to see it, and I have such great thoughts about the home and wanted everyone else to like it to!

A thanks in advance goes out to Nonno and Nonni for taking the kids this weekend so Marc and I can pack everything up without worrying about kids, and to Brenda, who agreed to take Luke on moving day!

I just can't wait to get in the new house, because I have high hopes for an IKEA trip to decorate the playroom and other areas. And I've already decided Marc isn't going- it'll be Brenda or another female who gets excited about decorating!

No new photos to post -Mia hasn't done anything new or remarkable, and right now Luke has a mysterious rash/bites on his face, so we're skipping photos for a few days!

Um, can't think of a title today...

First things first: We close on this house on the 21st, and our new house on the 23rd!! So far everything seems to be working out quickly for us. We had our current home inspected yesterday and our new one we'll go do tomorrow, so if both of those goes well, then we should be set. The biggest problem will be figuring out what to do those few days from when we move out of here and until we get in the new home. We may get to lease the new one and really hope that works out as it seems the easiest situation.

Ok, now for what else has been going on. We've been able to do a few things not involving the house lately, which is a nice change. We spent the 4th at Brenda's, swimming, eating, and seeing fireworks. This year there was no rain, and the weather was perfect at night, so the fireworks were a lot of fun. Except for a small incident (ok, maybe not so small) of a glass patio table shattering and making a mess, it was a great day!!

Today Luke is invited to do his first "friend" activity, so we're excited about that! There's a family that lives a few streets over and we knew the mom from years ago. Now, her oldest son will be my student this year, and her youngest will be in kinder with Luke (possibly same class), and they just got a pool and asked him to come swim today. He's pretty excited about that!

Mia is a bit of a trainwreck lately. She is finally getting rid of her 6 facial bruises from a variety o falls and unknown accidents. Now, she's walking funny - sort of dragging/not using her left room properly, and today she fell over a pillow and smacked her head on the bed - and has a nice fat purple lip to show for it! She's just a mess, but still cute!


As for me, I seem to be spending my free time going through furniture stores or looking online for things for the house. Here's my challenge for you all - especially those creative, HGTV friends and family members! The biggest room I'm focusing on changing will be the kids' playroom - the middle bedroom will be theirs for toys for now. I don't want to do too much, but I think I'm focusing on doing it in primary colors. I am set for a trip to IKEA to purchase a little table and chairs and some other random things. But I'd like some ideas for decoration/toy storage that is on the cheap end but easy and cute. Not sure if I'll paint the room right away, but thinking of letting the kids paint some canvases to hang. Other ideas??

Here are some photos that I finally have time to upload! :) Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

Here are my children, eating at our ghetto table. Since we sold ours at the garage sale, and our new one is yet to arrive, we end up eating somewhere new each day.



Cooling off in the new kiddie pool


Little Miss Thing making a total mess with her rice and being a bit crazy as usual!


Happy 4th of July!


Um, no explanation for what is going on here... just a typical 5 year old boy photo!


Mia quickly figured out how to ride Payton's 4 wheeler

Smores!!

This is at the fireworks - a man gave the kids boxes of little poppers and even Mia got in on the popping action!

Ready for fireworks!!

Random thoughts from an exhausted blogger

For the past few nights, our new neighbor has had all 3 little dogs out in the middle of the night, and they bark NON STOP. How does she sleep? We are wide awake and a bit bitter for a few hours. Last night we'd had it, and Marc called the police. Not sure what happened, but I guess we'll find out tonight! Also, with all the house stuff going through my brain, I'm having a hard time resting too! I have some photos I could post, but that takes too much effort at the moment so they will come later. Let's see what I have to share...

1) Yesterday someone put an offer on our house, after just 2 weeks. It wasn't a terrible offer, but had a few things we weren't happy about so we changed it a bit and we'll find out today if they like what we changed or not and accept it! The two things that stand out, besides $, are that they wanted in by July 18 and wanted us to paint Mia and Luke's rooms to match the beige in the rest of the house. So in 3 weeks, they want us to find a house, close on it, move out, and also paint for them? Not going to happen.

2) I think we found the house we'll put an offer on if things work out, but we're going to look one last time today just to make sure.

You can check out the house we're interested in here:
http://www.jeanshine.com/MyHomeDtl.asp?lstPages=3&HomeID=715611


(ps - we both still love the red door house, but aren't too comfortable with where it is located, so unless they want to pick it up and move it, it's out of the running)
3) Luke is still learning throughout the summer. He loves to add, and will ask random questions all the time about math. We went to story hour last week and checked out books and he's enjoying reading and learning new words every day. He'll go in soon to take his kinder test with my friend.

4)Mia - what can I say about her? She is walking/running everywhere, and climbing like a Monkey. She loved a few houses we looked at with her that had stairs, and was up them to fast! She's been very sad lately if noone is holding her. I think it's that last molar making its appearance. Her other tricks are: pointing where she wants to go, shutting every door she can find, says "uh oh, hot, and possibly dada and more", LOVES to eat, and gets very excited over the little einsteins theme song. I'm sure there are more wonderful things she's going, but I'm drawing a blank right now.

This week is going to be nuts if this offer goes through. Besides finding a house for us, we have plans to go see WallE, lunch for me with some coworkers, and fourth of july events with Brenda. This year we may even venture to the parade in Belton.

Off to make coffee so maybe I'll be able to function the rest of the day!

Super Sunday

Yesterday was one of those really busy, but really great days as I look back on it. It started with church. Luke attended VBS for the first time last week, and while so excited, it took me an hour with him before he'd stay and not follow me out, crying. In the end, he loved it and was so excited to go each day. (And I have to say, as far as VBS goes, I am super impressed! We paid $5, but ended up with a tshirt, tons of great crafts, and a CD of all the songs which he loves!!) Anyhow, the kids were to wear their shirts to church and sing yesterday. Simple enough, but not for my child. We talked a lot about going up there, and even if he didn't want to sing, just try it and go up. After a very brief hesitation, he sat with all the other kids, then went up when it was time to sing and sang all 3 songs with motions! I will admit, I got tears in my eyes. People probably thought I was nuts, but it was such a big deal for him to do that and I was just so proud!

After church, we went to feed the ducks at the nearby pond. Mia had a big day too, because she wore a bow for the first time! I bought some Saturday that stay in her hair, as long as she doesn't pull them out! She looked so cute in her yellow dress from grandma and grandpa and her yellow bow, standing by the duck pond!






I then took Luke to the new splash pad in Belton, Tx. I'd heard about it since they put in in last year but thought I'd check it out. It's free, and meant for littler kids. I was quite impressed, and Luke had a blast! So I think we can put that on our list of things to do again this summer.




After the splash pad, Luke was a trooper and drove by many new houses with me and checked out the model homes. We did find another good option - a house partially built in an area we love (White Rock) that will be ready in a few months. The great thing is that this builder said we can still choose everything for inside even though it's started already, and they'll even put in fans and blinds if we need them to. Plus, a big back yard, already sodded, fenced, and with sprinkler. So that's at the top of my list. Now, to just sell this house...

Luke grew sunflowers from seeds at school this year. One died quickly, but we were pretty excited to see the other one bloom this week!


This last photo was from Saturday night. In a nutshell, mom was gone, dad was in the attic, and Luke decided to give Mia his chocolate milkshake.
So that was our Sunday!