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Lately I’ve seen some of my friends posting these “random thoughts” notes on Facebook. They are so funny…well some are. I’ve been thinking of something to do weekly to fill in some days. So I was thinking, why not go back and forth between wordless wednesday and wednesday’s wonders. One is where I’ll post a picture without a “post” and the other will be what I’m randomly wondering for the week. I’ll start off this week with something that I am REALLY pondering:

Why is it that we run out of toilet paper so darn fast in this house…and other than drip drying myself I don’t see a solution to slow down that problem.

Ahhh….the problems of life.

Someone. Anyone. PAleeeez get me some toothpicks to hold my eye lids open. I am so sleepy. I know most people assume moms are up at the crack of dawn before anyone else to get a leg up on the work of the day. I am not one of those mothers. There’s nothing wrong with them. In fact, I’m jealous of my inability to rise at a decent hour to get a head start on life everyday. I’m just not hard wired like that. Luckily my kids got the “sleep in genes” too.

I’ve been waking up at 6:50 am to get myself ready and then I wake the kids around 7. Many of my friends have made fun of me for complaining about waking up at that time, but you don’t understand. Last year we didn’t even have to get up until 8 to start getting ready for school b/c the school bus came at 9:10. And then the kids spoiled me all summer. Neither of them woke up before 9, sometimes 10 the whole entire summer. And now boom, suddenly we’re waking up at the crack of dawn - well ok, that was a little dramatic as the sun is already up when we get up, but you get my point!

All that to say what? I’m tired. So tired that around 10:20 this morning I plopped my body face down onto Aryanna’s bed and didn’t get up until Patrick found me laying in the same position about an hour later when he didn’t hear me anywhere else in the house.

I suppose I need to change my bedtime to a more appropriate hour of 11 at the latest. By nature I’m a night person so that’s hard, but I have to do something otherwise you’ll see me walking the kids to school everyday with an IV drip of caffeine wheeling next to me. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I’m about to be.

It’s back to school time.  The kids had a great summer.  I took the summer off from writing to spend as much time with them as possible.  We moved over the summer to a place with a small pool.  It’s great…the kids love it.

Today, was a new day.  Jordyn started 2nd grade and Aryanna started kindergarten - gulp.  Of course I wasn’t worried about Jordyn.  He’s a pro by now.  He was confident and eager to get to his new class.  His first of Kindergarten I was just as nervous as I was today for Aryanna.  Even though they’ve been to day cares and pre-school programs there still is an element of fright at having to let go.  I mean, come oooon…they are 5 years old.  The school wants us to let them walk to their class all by themselves, when I won’t even let mine check the mail across the street without me watching them like a hawk.  But, I understand I have to let them develop a sense of independence and accomplishment.

So we dropped Aryanna off first.  She was so excited.  In fact, she heard me waking up Jordyn this morning and ran into his room yelling, “It’s time to get ready for school!”   When we got to her classroom she found her spot and sat right down.  I kept looking for signs of stress from her or worry, but saw nothing.  My little rock.  She was ready.  This from the child who everday cried when I dropped her off at day care.  This from the child who I had to negotiate a treat of some sort everyday to get her into her Pre-K class last year.  How time has changed her.

Jordyn was even more ready.  He couldn’t wait to get her in her class so that he could go to his.  Same thing with him.  He found his seat and sat right down like he’s been there every day for the last several years of his life.

Ok…I’ll admit.  I wanted to cry, but I didn’t.  I didn’t want to freak her out or anything.  It’s hard watching her grow up.  I’m used to her being with me all the time.  We are mother and daughter, but we’re also great friends and talk about everything - something I hope continues through the rest of my years on this planet.  Not to mention, I’m just leaving her in the care of a stranger.  None of them know her like I do or love her like I do.  So yeah, it was hard.  BUT, I managed to not cry and I’ve been keeping myself busy here in the house so I’ve made it ok so far.  Although, I have been clock watching since I got back home.  I can’t wait to hear every detail of their day.

Since the kids are in school, I ‘m back to writing.  Make sure you check back!

I know I put the blog up for sale last week, but that didn’t mean I was never gonna blog again.  ;-)  I’ve just been a busy little beaver as usual.  I’m finally able to come up for a little air.  So, yes, for the record, even though the blog is for sale I will continue working on my blog and my plan is to make some aesthetic changes to the site soon, so long as I own it and all.

ANYhoo….Aryanna graduated May 29th from Pre-k.  How cute are Pre-k graduations?? Too cute with all the mess ups and all the behaviors kids do, even though they are in front of a room full of parents, but seem to act as if no one is looking.  Man, this is great entertainment.

I had great seats for her graduation - right up front.  So no heads or hands in my pictures of her.  I would post a bunch of pictures here, but there are a lot of other kids and teachers in there and let’s face it, not everyone wants themselves plastered all over the internet.  I did get a few that had only us and I cropped one picture of Aryanna after she got her diploma.

I will say while it was fun hearing them singing and showcasing all the things they learned over the course of the year, I was a little disappointed they didn’t wear graduation cap and gowns.  They, instead, opted to have us provide white tees that the kids decorated with some iron ons of the school’s name.  Then the kids were supposed to wear either denim or khaki bottoms.  Maybe they were on a budget, I don’t know.  It was cute nonetheless!

I know you want to know if I cried.  Surprisingly I didn’t.  I teared up a little bit as she walked out and waved to us so proudly, but I held it together and didn’t ball like I did at Jordyn’s Pre-k graduation.  I think I didn’t cry as much b/c I was going into the unknown when Jordyn was entering school.  Obviously he survived.  I know if he made it ok, so will she.

Here are some of the pictures:

I might get some hate mail for this move.  Aryanna’s hair was almost down to her butt in the back.  A little over a year ago she said she wanted to grow her hair, in her words, “super-duper-luper long”.  Well, how can I argue with that want?  I, myself have mainly had such super-duper-luper long hair throughout my 32 years of life.  On occasion I have completely re-done my look and did something completely opposite of whatever I had at the time.

For months Aryanna has been saying that she wants to cut her hair.  I brushed the notion off at first, but then she kept asking and asking.  Recently, she’s mentioned it once a day, at the very least.  I figured she must really want to do this.  So off to the salon we went yesterday, much to her delight of course.

I love the new look, but I have to say it kind of took that baby look away from her.  She looks a little older now and we ALL know she doesn’t need help growing up any faster than she already is trying to.  They cut off so much that we are donating the hair to locks of love.  Yep, she cut that much off!  I have to say I love it personally.  This is her personality….long and drab is not her…short, fun and bubbly is her to a tee.

Here’s the before and after shots!

I love my children, but sometimes I just don’t understand how they think.  This is especially true for Aryanna.  She is one sharp tack.

Last night Jordyn invited her to have a camp-out in his room which only means she gets to sleep on the floor in her sleeping bag while he sleeps in his bed.  Why this appeals to her, I’ll never know.  Anyway, she was excited and talked about it for hours because even though Jordyn gives her a hard time most days, she loves him.  Since it’s the end of the school year, I decided to let this fly on a school night.  However, being experienced in the department of being a “sleep over hostess” I knew what was coming - lots of talking, fooling around, me going in and out, her coming in and out to tell and so much more.  Armed with this experience I advised both of them that they were only going to have 2 chances and if I had to come in more times than that, their party would be over.

Of course I was right.  They were fooling around and she got up and left the room to tell on him a couple times.  I also had to go in there a few times, so that means I even gave them an extra chance or two or three.  The last straw was when she came out to tell on him for throwing his teddy bear at her.  Here’s how the rest went down…

Me:  “That’s it.  I’m sorry.  I told you I would give you 2 chances and you’ve had more than that and now you have to sleep in your bed.”

In the most drama I have seen since being a faithful watcher of Days of Our Lives for years, she FLIPPED out yelling, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!  I fuh-got I only had a couple chances! I fuh-got! I fuh-got!” and then the child lunged her body through the air onto her sleeping bag and pillow.  I suppose she thought I couldn’t pick the stuff up with her on it.  Of course I swiped the sleeping bag from under her.  I had to pry the pillow from her clutches.  All the while Jordyn is trying to hold in his laughter at this crazy scene which in turn causes me to burst out hysterically laughing at all of the silliness happening.

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I had a glorious day at the beach yesterday.  I know you are wondering how great can a day at the beach be for me to use the word “glorious” and what made it so “glorious”?  Let me help put this into perspective for you.

Four words:  No spouse.  No kids.

It was just me and one of my closest friends who also went sans hubby and children. My husband and her husband agreed, as Mother’s Day gifts to us, to keep the children from when they wake up until we get home so that we could enjoy a day at the beach alone.  It was a win-win.  Mom’s get a break and Dad’s get some one-on-one bonding time.

The second my friend and I got into her mini van, we both let out a screech at the exact same moment.  It was a screech of freedom celebrating something we have long forgotten - ourselves.  As moms we tend to not take enough time to breathe and think of ourselves.  We put our kids, spouses, other family members, friends, houses and even pets first before we even take time for us, leaving us feeling overwhelmed, tired and, at times, emotional.

Anyhoo, back to my gloriousness.<—my word   I won’t bog you down with the details of our day except to say that it didn’t entail me eating my lunch with any little sandy hands in it.  Nor did I have to make several runs to the potty for anyone. I  didn’t have to make a sand castle for anyone.  Nor did I have to hold any shells with a death grip for fear we might lose it even though there are millions just like it under our feet.  I didn’t have to keep my eye on anyone, in fact I could close them if I wanted to.  I didn’t have anyone clinging to my spaghetti string strap top for dear life hoping that, even though it can hardly hold my boob in, surely it will hold a 46 lb child afloat as waves are crashing on us and pulling us back.

Ahhhhhh, the gloriousness of no responsibility for any other human beings.  All I had to do was be there to soak in the warmth of the sun on my body, smell the salty air and feel the sea breeze embrace me as if it were trying to welcome me into it’s home for the day.

The beauty of the day was that we did exactly what we wanted when we wanted.  The eye candy on the beach wasn’t too bad either.  We’re convinced the hot dad that came over to me asking for some sun block because he “left his in his car” was just coming to check me out…that’s what we’re telling ourselves anyways.

It was so relaxing.  I haven’t been to the beach without children in 7 years.  I forgot what it was like.  I hadn’t missed it actually,  I love going to the beach with my family.  It’s a lot of work, but we always have fun together.  It was just nice to get a break and take time for me.  We all need to take time for us!!