First day of Awanas

Aaaaaaah potty training, my worst nightmare, ha!

No not really but my experience with Jaina was not pleasant to say the least. This time around I have taken it slooooow. I introduced Jolee to the potty chair months ago, we read books about the potty, we try and go potty and have actually gone in it a few times. I really didn't want to start her until school started when it was just me and her and I could take her to the potty often. I think she has the idea of the potty and she knows when she has to go she just hasn't put two and two together

She even puts the potty on her head. YES its clean and sanitized. Plus is hasn't been used in a couple days anyways.

Jaina started Awanas today. Its like vacation Bible school but its only once a week and lasts all year long. The kids will learn Bible verses and stories. I volunteered to help out. They put me in Jaina's class. She was sooooo excited and giddy that I will be helping her class out. There is only 3 kindergarten kids in her class. Today they learned John 3:16 and made bags to carry their Bibles in.

It should be a great year in Awanas!

 Jolee likes to call for sissy when we go pick her up in the afternoon. She likes to scream SISSY real loud

our week without big sis

Daddy and his girl at breakfast yesterday.

 You will probably see less pictures of Jaina during the week on here because she will be in school.

We are getting into routine around here. Adjusting well. I will have to say this is the first time in 5 years I feel like my life is getting a little more organized

Jaina is a BIG art/project person. She loves to do project and will ask me "mom what kind of project can we do today". Jolee on the other hand isn't really into doing art projects. She lasts about 5 minutes then she's done. Maybe its her age but she would rather play by herself or watch cartoons. 

She's a sweet mess!

Here is Justin's medal he got for finishing his 100 mile bike ride

I hung this picture frame up to use as a white board. I plan to use this are for Jaina's school stuff and to remember us what activities we have going on during the week

I also started a weekly menu. It makes life so much more easier to plan ahead

I also have this little sign sitting on my hutch that I'll write little inspirational messages on

I will not tell a lie, the car rider line is a nightmare. Moms running everywhere, cars turning everywhere, kids and buses everywhere. And no matter how early you get there, you will never be the first one in line. Ever

The girls closet has been a little bit of mess for a long time. Since the girls are sharing a room (their choice) I had Justin put another rod in their closet so Jaina can have her own row of clothes and Jolee can have her own. I have no idea how I fit both of their clothes on one rack for so long.

#2 day of school! (No I'm not gonna take a picture of her everyday...just this week)

Jolee running errands with momma

Jaina's first assignment from school. She told me that a boy in her class got a red smiley face and was sent to the principals office for making farting noises in class today. Ha! And then she said two boys got in a fight at lunch, one boy hit the other in his nose and it started bleeding, lol

While I was out running errands I found some summer toys on sale and picked this little sprinkler up for the girls. Jaina loved it!

The girls saying their prayers together

They always want to sleep together They try but I end up having to separate them after about 10 minutes

Jolee saying her prayers

First day of Kindergarten

Today was the big day! A day she will remember for the rest of her life. The first day of Kindergarten!

We were up early. Jaina dressed herself in this adorable little outfit, she ate a little bit of breakfast and then it was picture time before we headed off to school.

I made this dry erase board out of an old picture frame. It was originally suppose to be a chalk board but I screwed it up and had to redo it so I painted the back of the glass white so the markers would show up on it

Ready to go with her back pack on

I made this little sign for her that says, she's 49.5 pounds, 3 1/2 ft tall, size 6x, size 11-12 shoe and wants to be a teacher when she grows up

Here is her lunch box. Crystal gave this to her. It matches her back pack

I packed her a peanut butter sandwich, some pretzels, goodie snacks, cheese stick and a juice pack. She said she ate all of it! I wrote a message to her on the inside that says Have a great day, love mom. But for now on Im just gonna draw funny pictures since she can't read yet

I have a pretty easy system down for lunches. I pack all things that she can open herself. That way she doesn't waste time holding up her hand and waiting for her teacher to come over to help her open her lunch. On Sunday I put all her snacks in one basket and then stick it in the fridge for the week. This makes it easy to pack a lunch the night before without having to "think" about what to send with her. I have cookies, pretzels, crackers, goodie snacks and fruit cups. I also make a week or two worth of "PBJ Uncrustables". They sell round peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without the crust in the frozen section at Walmart but instead of buying them I just make my own. So easy and effortless. I freeze them and then pop them into her box in the morning. I also freeze yogurt tubes and cheese sticks. By lunch they are thawed and ready to eat.

I also packed a lunch box with the same lunch for Jolee to have at lunch today and she loved it! She was SO excited!

Ready to go with her lunch, snack and jacket in her back pack

We got to school really early so we had to wait out in the car for awhile. Then we walked her into the school.

My big Kindergartener

We walked her into the library where she waited until her teacher came to get her. The parents had to wait in the hall until it was time to walk to the class room. This is where she will come every morning to wait for her teacher

At her desk! She got to hang her back pack on the hook all by herself

Building with play dough

The parents could stay for 10 minutes and then had to say their goodbyes. I think I told her Goodbye and I love you atleast 50 times. Its hard to say goodbye but I didn't cry and neither did she. I think the hardest part is leaving her in that big scary school all by herself. I never really thought about the events at Sandyhook Elementary until this morning. It made me think that it can happen anytime, anywhere and leaving your children in the hands of others is hard especially after being with them the last 5 years of her life.

As we were walking up to the school I told her if she gets scared anytime today to know that God is with her. She shook her head and said "ok mommy". And as we were leaving we saw a group of moms holding hands around the flag pole praying over the school.

"Be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go"

Joshua 1:9

Justin, Jolee and I had breakfast in town and then Justin went off to work. It was Sooooooo quiet in the house with one kid. Jolee is pretty quiet and content when its just her and she entertains herself very well. She likes to get up on the couch and watch tv in the morning. Then she took a long 2 hour nap. I will admit I felt a little lost, like a piece of me was missing. I was anxious for her to get home all day. I went and picked her up and she had ALOT to tell me. She said her new friend is a boy in her class named Webb and she saw her friend from MDO at the playground. She said they went to PE, art, had snack, lunch, recess and they had zero naps! She was even more excited about her homework she had tonight and couldn't wait to do it ( that won't last long). She was a spit fire when we got home. She had to release all that pent up energy! She was super tired too and gave us no fuss going to bed.

Now to do it all again tomorrow!

Last "free" weekend

Look I found a missing picture of the girls with pops from our trip to Wichita Falls last weekend

This girl cracks me up and keeps me on my toes. And these are all things she does by herself too. She's silly and loves that attention and will make sure all eyes are on her by saying "mommy watch", "Daddy watch". Speaking of mommy Jolee called me mommy at least 3 million times this weekend. Every 5 seconds it was, mommy, momma, mommy, momma MOMMY!

This girl is too cool for school!

Friday morning Justin left to go to Wichita Falls for the Hotter then Hell bike race. It is a 100 mile bicycle ride. He's been training for the last couple months.

 To be honest I wasn't sure if he would last all 100 miles but he did it! He pushed through. He peddled his bike from 7am to 4:30 in the afternoon! That's crazy and doesn't even sound like fun to me, lol.

I am proud of him! Way to go!

Friday my uncle came over and we had lunch at The Shed. Then we took the girls to the Sugar Shack for a back to school treat.

That evening Skyler had his birthday party. It was a swim party. Jaina had a blast with all those boys in the pool.

Saturday we went out to my uncles house for the day

The girls raided his candy bowls and then had bomb pops

 

They wanted to swim so he got out their tubs for them haha

They love it and are perfectly happy to play in them, splash each other and fight over the water hose

His neighbor has a pear tree so I went over and got some. Jolee put them down her shirt like they were boobs, haha

patting her boobs LOL

This morning the girls and I went to church. Now since Jaina is in Kindergarten she no longer gets to go to the nursery area during church. She has to stay in big church with me. I thought this Sunday would be a great start since she is fixing to start school. She did really good and got to have communion for the first time. It was a great moment to be able to share that with her. They are starting Awanas at church this Wednesday. Awana's is like youth but for little kids. They do fun activities and learn about God.  

Ha! Sucking her thumb and trying to cover it up with her leg so no one would see what she was doing

Justin came home around lunch today. I was so happy. The girls wore me out over these last few days and I had, had it. He took over daddy duties as soon as he walked in. Im grateful to have a helpful husband. I truly needed a break.

Now to start our week

"First day of school pics"

Today we went to the school to take "First day of school" pictures

Her school name is in the background. She will be attending Thomas Arnold Elementary

I put her in this adorable blue jean dress. One of her new outfits for school. Look her feet arnt even touching the ground. How sweet 

I'll have to bring her back when she's a senior to take a picture with her feet touching :)

They have pre-k through third grade with the teachers name and students who will be in each class on the wall. That's how we found out Jaina had Mrs. Bonstead for her teacher this year. Here she is pointing to her name 

The sun was right in her eyes and it was HOT outside today

Her sister was out in the car watching us (with the a/c going of course) she did not like that she had to stay in the car a whole 5 minutes

Here is her class. Mrs. Bonnie Bonstead's class. There are 17 kids in her class. A good mix of boys and girls. And she already knows a couple of the kids in her class so it should make things a little easier on Monday

I still can't believe this is happening!

Walking up to the school with her backpack. The teachers said Monday will be the only day we can walk our kids in school. Starting Tuesday they encourage the parents to just drive up and let the kids out on their own! Scary!!

But I'm sure a teacher will be outside monitoring the kids everyday

 

Looking into her new school

Ready to go to school and learn

My sweet baby all grown up

How did this happen?

My beautiful baby girl

For some reason to me, Jaina looks so much more older and mature then I was in kindergarten

 

Starting kindergarten this week has had me thinking a lot about when I started Kindergarten. It seems just like yesterday I was a Stevenson Elementary student 

My uncle would drive down every year to take our "First day of school" pictures. We looked forward to it every year until we got into Jr. High then it was just embarrassing! Ha! Now its the thing to do. Its all over pinterest

I have few memories of Kindergarten. I remember this back pack clearly. I remember I got it mixed up with another girl who had the same back pack while waiting for the bus to go home and I remember opening it up to get out my homework that night and crying my eyes out because I had someone else's back pack. The next day my dad took me to school and we had to explain to the secretary what happen and I got my back pack back

My mom was a 1st grade teacher all through the years we went to school so my dad took my sisters and I to school on the first day. I remember him dropping me off at my classroom and me just starring at me desk. When I went to Kindergarten there was a morning kindergarten and an afternoon kindergarten.

Jaina will go all day!

I went in the morning and rode the bus home at lunch. I remember my first bus ride because I sat with my very first friend Jessica Repka. My granny would wait for me every day to get off the bus and we would walk down the street home. She would cook me lunch, usually cut up hot dogs and ketch up and then I would watch Gumby, the cartoon and Mister Rogers.

I don't remember much about my first day of school. I have few memories of being in the classroom. My teacher's name was Mrs. Armstrong. I will have to admit I really didn't like her and thought she was mean, lol.

At the end of the day I would pin this little apple to my shirt so I could remember which bus to get on

I remember this rainbow was painted in the school cafeteria

I bought and brought my lunch to school.

Here was my kinder class with Mrs. Armstrong

I remember the day I learned how to tie my shoe and when I learned my left from right hand. I was SO proud of myself. She would give us a little test to see if we could do it and if we did we got this certificate

Turning 6 that year in Kindergarten

Here I am

 Jaina plays with those exact bears I'm holding

Haha Look at that wall paper.....Horrifying!

My big girl is about to be off to school for the next 13 years of her life. Its a new chapter for both of us. I'm excited to see where the road of education will take her, how well she will do in school, hear about all her new friends and see how much she will grow. I've done my best as a mother to prepare her for this stage of her life. I hope I can keep guiding her each step of the way. I now must leave it in God's hand when she is away from me at school and pray that he will put his hands on her and keep her safe. I pray she will have an awesome day and an awesome year with her new teacher and friends!

We are ready for Monday! Bring it on!