Monday, April 29, 2013

It's Like the First Day All Over Again

As my sweet Reese headed off to school today, I felt as if something went missing in my life....



See that lunch box in her right hand?  Yeah, lunch at school.  She doesn't normally eat lunch as school since kindergarten is only half day.  But as of today, she will now go to school ALL DAY, EVERY DAY.

For her classmates who would normally attend daycare, her school has what's called Kindercare.  They eat lunch, have recess, have about an hour extra learning time, centers, afternoon snack and recess...you get the point.  Then dismiss when the rest of school is out.  Since I'm home with the kids each day, there was never any reason for her to attend, plus it was going to cost us extra money on top of her monthly tuition.  But when Reese's bff in her class started attending last Thanksgiving, Reese started showing interest.  We put her off and put her off; I was constantly thinking of the next holiday or school break so I could say, "Well, maybe after Christmas....maybe after spring break....maybe after Easter...."

The girl wasn't giving up!

We asked her teacher about it at conferences in February, and she said it would be no problem for her to attend.  There are only 7 or 8 who stay.  So last week, I finally got everything arranged, and today is her first day!



After being beyond excited this entire weekend, she was pretty nervous and hesitant this morning, but I have a feeling that changed as soon as she walked into school.

I know it's short term since there are only a few weeks left of school, and I know she will love it and love being with her friends, and I know it will be a good transition in preparing for next school year, but I sure am going to miss having her home with us every afternoon :(  I feel as if I'm experiencing the first of school blues all over again....

Friday, April 19, 2013

Catch Up

Can you say bad blogger!!!

You see, there's the little app called Instagram....

 
While I completely love having my blog to document and reflect, I don't always have the time it takes to compose a post.  But I do have have Instagram!  It's there when I want to capture as many of life's little moments as I can.  These little loves I spend each and every day with are growing and changing so quickly, I want to remember them just as they are right now.

So, for those of you who don't follow me on Instagram (jbuchman35), lets get you caught up!

Off to school one cold morning (we are sick of cold mornings!!!), Cru insisted on wearing the stocking cap that Uncle Ty gave him (like 2 years ago!).  He would not get in the van until that hat was on his head!  Good thing he's cute!



































My dad takes the kids to school most mornings, which I am beyond thankful for!  I usually have to take them once or twice a week, and on those days, it's so early for Everlee.  One particular morning, she fell sound asleep on my lap watching cartoons....



Doesn't get much sweeter.

I think Chet thinks we nap every morning.  Yes, we may not get a whole lot done, but no, we don't nap every morning.  I guess I felt the need to show him we can be productive....



I finally put a frame collage up in Everlee's room!  All these pictures and frames are from the old house, and they've just been sitting on the floor collecting dust.  I knew I wanted to do something like this to fill up her big open wall, I just wasn't sure how to get it all to flow.  I love how it turned out!  A couple of the frames hung the other way on her walls at the old house, so once I get new pictures for those, I'm sure I'll love it even more!

You know what else we do in the mornings?  Pee in the potty!  Well, yes, of course, I do, but someone else in our house has started!!!



No, we are not in full blown potty training mode.  I'm not ready!  I don't know if I'm not ready for the hassle or for the fact that she's our baby and this will mean no more diapers....I know, I'm supposed to be excited about that, but to me, it just means no more babies.  So, in my head, I tell myself we are not training.  However, the little stinker is kicking butt!  She goes every time she wakes up in the morning, after her nap, before bath, even throughout the day if I ask her.  And best of all, she's even pooping on there! 



Haha!!  I sent this picture to my dad the other night while she was "doing her business"....twins!  We'll see where it goes.  My parenting skills aren't the best when it comes to using the bathroom....

One day while sitting in the van outside the gas station, Cru said he had to go potty (we had already been inside getting my pop and he said nothing, go figure).  Public bathrooms FREAK me out!  I'd rather pee my pants than use one!  And watching my kids use one....even worse!  So instead of dragging him and Everlee back into the gas station, I thought it would be much easier, quicker, and cleaner just to send him behind the gas station.



I was right!

The spring weather here has been hardly spring-like....



Since we've been cooped up day after day, the kids have found their new favorite form of entertainment to be our jaquzzi tub.



I can hardly blame them!  They fill it to the brim and fill it with toys, and it's like they are at a kiddy pool.  Splashing tends to get a bit out of hand, but when ice is covering every inch outside, mopping up drips of water on the inside are a fair trade off.








The above portion of the picture above is our house the morning after the ice storm and the bottom portion is after a day of sunshine!  We just wish that sunshine (along with warmer temperatures) would stay!!!

We are definitely thankful for the few spring days we have had, especially when we ran our 5k.



Reese's first!  She was not excited.  I think I've said this before, but the girl does NOT like competition.  Very much lacks confidence.  I tried to joke around and have fun with her beforehand just to ease her nerves a bit, like telling her we looked like twins.  Her reply, "Uhh, I don't have boobs."  That's my over observant little girl for ya!  Meanwhile, Cru is chiming in, "Yes, you have boobs, Reese!"

My mom participated with us, as well as my running trio and their families.



This was a local run hosted by the YMCA to benefit United Way.  It was called Speckle Your Shirt, and they had hopes of it being like a color run.  Hence everyone wearing white.  Well, that part was a little disappointing, but I think they probably learned lessons for next year.

Reese decided to ride her bike, so our plan was for her to ride and my mom and I would walk mainly because I didn't want to leave my mom behind and I was going to be running 12 miles later on, so I figured it was best for everyone just to walk.  So, we started at the very back of the pack, then Reese decided to take off like a mad woman on her bike, which left me sprinting after her leaving my mom in the dust chasing me yelling, "I thought we were walking!"  I can't imagine what we looked like...haha!  I honestly don't remember the first half of the race, I was running so fast trying to catch Reese.  Reese just kept biking with those at the front, then I think she finally realized I wasn't coming anytime soon and there was no one around that she knew, so she stopped at a corner and waited for a familiar face....thank you, Sherri!  She told Sherri my phone number, who called me, and I eventually caught up to her.  She rode her bike alongside me the rest of the way....that was the best part of the race!

We came up to a color station, and I slipped back a bit and told her to go ahead of me, then I motioned to the girls to really nail her with color!


They got her good!  Too bad it didn't stick!  That happened right outside Grandma Cheryl's, who saw the whole thing from her front porch.

Once Reese and I finished, I told her we needed to go backtrack and go find Grandma Linda.  She wasn't too far behind and had been walking with Reese's buddy, Carter.  Carter had done so well then entire race, but his feet were really starting to hurt, so I helped him out the last little bit :)

 

It was so fun to have our kids (and parents!) participate with us!  I think it helped give them a sense of what we do when we say we are going running every night.


Only one week until our half marathon!!!!!

Chet and I bought a couple new toys last week.  First, a pool table!

Chet and I love playing pool!  We played a lot when we first dated; he taught me.  I kept telling my dad I was pretty good, but apparently my skills are a bit rusty.

We bought this for $50 off a local buy/sell/trade site.  It's got some battle wounds, but after vacuuming the top and polishing the wood, it's cleaned up pretty nicely.


 Kids are obsessed!  And I think Grandpa's itching to take someone on!


 Our other toy was a surprise to the kids....


Our new house is about 20 steps away from a park, so we knew we didn't need a swing set.  Storms and cold temperatures have put a damper on their jumping, but I foresee a lot of fun in the future (and hopefully no er visits!).








I couldn't resist showing off the skillzzz!  My brother and I lived on a trampoline (and off since we had a tendency to fly off into the bushes), so I'm not sure who's the most excited about this!  Come jump with us!

Whew!  That's it for now!

Happy Friday!


Tuesday, April 9, 2013

He Is Risen

He is risen indeed!



We kicked off our Easter festivities with an egg hunt at the park hosted by the Optimist Club.  This has evolved into a tradition over the past few years.  The kids always enjoy running into familiar faces and no matter how many kids attend, there's always plenty to go around!

On the way to the hunt, I told Cru he has to run really fast and grab as many eggs as possible.  His response, "But Ms. Becky said we only get two eggs!"  Happy to know he was following directions!  I told him this egg hunt is different, so he insisted on wearing his shoes that make him run the fastest....


































Hunter and Cru....and the little girl in the back must run really fast in her boots too!


































They had several different age groups - 0-2. 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8.  Since I only had my mom helping me, she took Cru and Everlee into the 3-4 division, and I took Reese to the 5-6.











We ran into a few of our other friends after the hunt.











It was a bit chilly during the egg hunt, but the rest of the day was beautiful!  So beautiful my running trio went out for a little 10 mile run!!!


Ok, so not so much of a little run, especially when we are used to running in the cold and we all ended up sunburned!  But we did it!  We are only a little over three weeks away from our big race!

That evening we invited friends from our old hood over to our new hood for a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt (We missed you, Coopers!).  Our family started this tradition last year and loved it, and I hope it continues to be a favorite.

Do you see all those glowing eggs?  Yeah, me neither!  But they are there!  Lots of them!



Cru, Reanna, Everlee, Carter, Asher, Reese, and Hunter...quite the group, huh?!






The next morning was Easter Sunday.  The Easter bunny had delivered.


We don't really make a big deal over the Easter bunny at our house.  I don't really know why, just never have.  He/She always brings baskets for the kids, but Reese is fully aware who bought all the goodies in the baskets.  Still a lot of fun though!

Cru couldn't figure out why he didn't get sunglasses like the girls....well, because cool boy ones are very hard to find!


We literally had to pry Everlee's new swimming suit off her to get her dressed for church!  If I looked that cute, I wouldn't want to take it off either!


We had to hustle a bit to make it to church in time for the Sunday school egg hunt, but we made it!  I had no idea there would be a "bunny" there!  Poor Evee!  I thought with his real face showing, she wouldn't be as scared....I thought wrong!







They scatter tons of empty eggs at the church hunt, let the kids go crazy picking them all up, then in exchange for the empty eggs, they get a small bag of candy.  Smart thinking, in my opinion! 







The kids provided beautiful music at church...



After church, we went to my parent's and spent the entire day enjoying the wonderful holiday and the beautiful weather that came with it! 




Chet looks so handsome here ♥





My mom did the egg hunt for the kids a little different this year.  Each grandkid got the same amount of eggs (all with their names on them), filled with coins (change that her and my dad had saved for a year), then each child got to hunt their own eggs all by themselves.

We started with the youngest, so Everlee went first.





Dads kept the kids entertained while moms hid the eggs....





Candy also served as a distraction....


Next, it was Charlee's turn.


Then, Cru.





And finally, it was Reese's turn.  Papa took the reins on hiding her eggs.



As Grandpa hid the eggs and Reese waited inside, Cru couldn't resist....



Audrey to the rescue!


The wheelchair severed as a much needed distraction as well!


The girl just wouldn't stay away from the candy!!!  This is her I'll-smile-as-cute-as-I-can-because-I'm-as-guilty-as-can-be look!



































She's getting so big :(





Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa for a fun egg hunt...that didn't just lead to cavities!

The rest of the afternoon looked like this....



Happy Easter!  Hope you all had a wonderful one as well!