My New Morning Routine

Now that school has started back and I have two boys to drop off in two different places, combined with a husband who must leave the house by 5:30am to get to his project by 7am, I have had to develop a new morning routine.  Some of the things I do at night, or I would never be ready on time.

On Sunday afternoons, we iron all the clothes for the week. It may seem a little silly to iron clothes will just get dirty since Buddy works on a construction site. Buddy says that just because he works on-site doesn't mean he will look like a slob at work. So yes, he or I will iron his clothes, my clothes and Quinn's clothes for the week on Sunday while the boys are napping.

Each evening, I make sure that Jacob's bottles have water in them and the formula is bagged up and in his "lunch bag". (When he starts eating solids, I will add that in too.) I do what I can to prep Buddy's and my lunch bags as well...bagging chips, veggies, or whatever else we want to take for lunch.

In the mornings, I get up at 4:30am, get my shower and make sandwiches for our lunch. Neither of us like sandwiches made the night before...too soggy. I also get the coffee made and make sure Buddy's out of the bed. He's a hard sleeper and never hears the alarm!  I try to get my breakfast eaten and then go wake up Jacob so I can give him a bottle before we leave. I also have Quinn up and let Dixie out. By now, Buddy has left for work. While I'm getting ready, Quinn watches Blue's Clues and eats his breakfast, and Jacob plays on the floor or takes a post-bottle power nap. Then I get the boys dressed and Dixie fed and put back in her kennel.  I load everything in the car, and down the road we go!  

The plan is to be out the door no later than 6:40am....so I can drop Quinn off at the church, get Jacob down to Susan's house, and back to the other side of town at my school by 7:30am.  My goal is 7:30 because sometimes we have faculty meetings before school and they always start at 7:30am. 

Whew...makes me tired re-living it...makes me tired doing it!

But this is my life right now....and I'm thankful for it!

Cookie Coins

 \

At Quinn's school, each Wednesday is Cookie Day.  Some parent volunteers come in and bake the Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and sell them for 50 cents each.  Somehow we didn't discover this until the Spring of his K-3 year. He orders his cookie from Mrs. James and it gets delivered to him at lunch.  Quinn and I started at tradition of ordering 2 cookies. He gets one at lunch and we share the other cookie in the car on the way home from school (if he had a good day). If the day wasn't so good, he has to wait until after supper.

When Grandma and Grandpa found out that I had "deprived" Quinn of cookies for most of his K-3 year, they brought him several rolls of quarters and told him these coins were for his cookies.  Now he calls those his "Cookie Coins".  

Today was the first Cookie Day, so Quinn brought his 4 Cookie Coins to school.  As you can see, he had a good day!!

  

(Please excuse the horrible lighting....used my phone in the car and the afternoon sun caused horrible shadows!)

A Gift From Down Under

Jacob has had quite the difficult time with teething. While he hasn't developed the ear infections like Quinn did (PTL!) he has been super fussy and crying a lot. I remembered that one of my friends posted a picture on Facebook of her daughter wearing a teething necklace so I sent her a message about it.  It would have been hard to call her, because my friend lives in Australia.

I have known Michal since we were about 18 months old...we attended the same daycare, and all the same schools from elementary, all the way to Clemson! Her dad and my mom also went to high school together. She told me about the necklace and how well it worked for her daughter. Then she offered to send a necklace to me for Jacob!

A few days ago we got a package from Down Under!  Notice the Australia post mark.

In the package was a Koala bear postcard, an info sheet about the necklace, and the necklace itself.

The necklace is made of amber, and as you wear the necklace, the amber resin absorbs into your body. Something in the amber provides the analgesic affect that products like Orajel do, without having to apply a medicine to your gums. Plus it looks pretty stylish too!

Here's Jacob sporting his "Aussie Bling"!!

(Side Note...he's been wearing it several days now, and some new teeth have emerged....I didn't know they were there because he wasn't fussy, didn't drool, and didn't cry!  Guess this really works!)





Jacob's First Day at Mrs. Susan's

Today was also Jacob's first day of daycare. I found out while I was pregnant that a lady at our church keeps children at her home in an in-home daycare. She is certified through the state and licensed.  In fact, she told me she had been doing this over 30 years, because she wanted a way to stay home when her own daughters were born. Her younger daughter is in my Sunday School class.

Jacob will be staying with Mrs. Susan. It was harder dropping him off than I thought it would be.  I have been with him almost every single day since he was born, except for those few days I went back to work at the end of the school year.  I am so thankful he gets to stay with a nice, Christian lady. Being with Mrs. Susan will be just like he was being taken care of by his Grandma or his Nana.

Quinn's First Day of K-4 Preschool

Today was Quinn's first day of K-4 preschool.  Quinn will continue attending the Christian School at our church. He was so excited to be going back to school. There were many times throughout the summer that he would say, "Mommy, is today my school day?"

This picture really shows how much Quinn grew in a year. Last year on his first day, his eyes were even with the doorknob!

Hanging his book bag on his hook.

So excited!!

Getting a welcome back hug from Mrs. James, who was also his K-3 teacher! I was thrilled that Quinn gets to be in her class again!  He will have her three days a week...Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  The other days he will stay in the daycare room.

His name on the wall. The K-4s are puppies, and the K-3s are kittens.

Exploring the toys

A view of the classroom

The American Flag, Christian Flag, and Bible are prominently displayed!!

Quinn's name is the little yellow one under the big purple one.

Quinn leads the birthday train...he's the only January birthday.

I got my hug and kiss goodbye and as I turned around for one last peek, he was busily playing, barely even noticing I was gone.  And I'm glad for that. It tells me he is very comfortable with Mrs. James and he loves school. I am so happy he's here and so proud of what he will learn.

The Dust of His Feet

Lately I have become fascinated with taking pictures of the sky, clouds, and sunsets. I've mostly been using them on my classroom blog, as a feature called "Cloud Pic of the Day". I've also posted a few of them on Facebook, but I wanted to show some of my favorites here.

I was curious if there were any Bible verses about clouds, and I found several. Most of them talked about how the sky will look when Christ returns, but I did find one verse that really spoke to my heart.

Nahum 1:3 says "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power....His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet."

I can't look at the sky now without picturing the Lord walking around in heaven, and instead of looking like Pig Pen from Peanuts, He has clouds trailing behind him.  Ever since I read that verse a few weeks ago, I look at the sky and know that the Lord is walking right along with me!

Enjoy the Dust of His Feet!

New Recipe = New Family Favorite

A friend of mine from church recently started a recipe group on Facebook and invited me to join. I've seen lots of yummy things to try, but this one stood out, so I made it last week. I just wish I had taken a picture of it because it was soooooo yummy!  Buddy and I loved it. Quinn thought it was "too burny on my tongue Mommy", so next time I'm leaving out the chilies and Buddy can add hot sauce!

Fiesta Chicken Casserole

3 cup cooked chopped chicken
1 cup instant rice (uncooked)
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used 98% fat free)
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and chilies, undrained
1 Tbsp Southwestern or Taco seasoning
2 Tbsp milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips or Doritos

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine chicken, rice, soup, Rotel, seasoning, milk and 1 1/2 cups of cheese. Pour into a lightly greased 9x9 pan. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Top casserole with crushed chips and remaining cheese, bake uncovered for 5-10 minutes, until cheese is melted.

 

How I tweaked it.....

 

1.) I had no instant rice so I made some cooked rice in my rice cooker and then drained all the juice out of the tomatoes.

 

2.) To make it less spicy for kids, use tomatoes without chilies. And I used store brand, not Rotel....tasted fine.

 

3.) I didn't have any tortilla chips or Doritos...tasted fine without but I'm sure would taste good with.

 

Pair this with a vegetable, salad, or whatever side dish you think would go.

 

Thanks to my friend Kristen for posting this recipe on the Facebook Group!

Daddy's Home!

Almost every day when Buddy comes home from work, Quinn has gone out to greet him. As he got older, Buddy would let him sit on his lap and "drive" the truck home. He would stop in front of our neighbor's house and Quinn would run down to greet him, get in, and then "drive" back.

Buddy has a different truck now, so this is how Quinn helps him get home.

And for those wondering, Buddy was holding him and driving about 2 miles an hour!  Quinn thought it was fun to look out the "window on top of the truck"!!