Preparations for "big girl" school - Junior Kindergarten

Way, way behind on blogging. We have had a fun filled summer and I will catch up on creating those memories later. First and foremost, my little girls have their very first day of school tomorrow. And I feel like someone has punched me in the gut. BARF
I'm putting on a super smiley face and nothing but positive slogan are pouring out of my mouth. But I'm weeping on the inside.
I think the part that bothers me the worst is that I feel sorry for them. They will be in school for the next 18 plus years. Hopefully. Their lazy fall, winter, spring days are a thing of the past. No more Nannies to spoil them and cater to their every need. No more impromptu fun days in the middle of the week. Our lives from here on out will revolve around their school.
When I asked HC if anything about school made her nervous she replied with "I'm not looking forward to all the work. And I don't want to be away from my sister." Quinn's reply to the same questions was "I don't want to be away from you all day." sniff sniff
I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the new rules, hours, dress code, etc. It will be a huge change for all of us.
But I've been working on getting everything in order for the past month of so.

First we started with shopping for uniforms. I took Maema, Nana and the girls to the uniform shop that was set up in 2 small hotel rooms near our house. It was hot and there was zero space. But we got it knocked out in an hour and I about burst with pride when I saw them in their little uniforms. They wear the smallest size they have available and some of it is still too big for them.

Thank you Maema for the camera phone pics! Hassie Clare never stood still long enough for a picture.

Afterwards, we went shoe shopping and found their little Saddle Oxfords. Thankfully they liked them because according to the girls, they could run super fast away from the buys in them (I have a feeling Daddy must be talking to them also). A few days later I knocked out all of the school supplies one night during a Target trip.

And finally, the moment I have dreaded for the past year arrived. Their 5 year old check-up. I told them a few weeks before the appointment what was going to happen. I explained to them that they were going to get a few shots. They handled the news fairly well, minus a few tears. I told them all of this in advance BECAUSE ... my mom took me to the doctor once and promised me that I was not going to get a shot or even see a doctor. She was back in the back with my sister and they came out and called my name. I assured them they had the wrong Kristi Hagel.  But they insisted on taking me back to "talk." Before I knew it, 3 lab coats were holding me down and they were giving me a shot in my leg. As you can imagine, I was highly pissed off. In fact, I'm still holding a grudge against my mother:) Of course, she has a different version of the story but I'm positive my memory is more accurate. I wonder what stories my girls will twist all around when they get older.
Anyway, the appointment day finally arrived. I didn't tell them that "the day" was here until we were eating lunch at Chick-fila before the appointment. That was a mistake! They were hysterical. Rookie mom mistake obviously. Wasted $10 in food because they barely ate anything after I broke the news.  By the grace of God, my mom was able to go with me even though she has a killer UTI. The girls were the most devastated because I did not tell them about the finger prick. I had no idea ... honestly! Overall, they did great. They spent about an hour before the shots crying and only 30 seconds after the shots crying. Then we went to Gracie Blue's for some frozen yogurt and Target for a new toy:)
Here they are in their little hospital gowns:

"Maybe if we give Mommy a really good, fake smile she won't make was get a shot."

I was super stoked to find out the L.L. Bean has Junior backpacks. I let them pick out the color (both picked pink) and had their name put on it. I still have mine form high school! Of course I had to get the matching lunch boxes. Then I ordered bows that match their uniform from our bow lady.

Let's see ... what us. Oh yeah ... I paid tuition. Ouch.

Yesterday we had "sneak a peek" at their school for an hour. They got the meet their teachers and both of them are as sweet as can be. One of them has taught at this school for 43 years. Can you imagine????? And teaching Pre-K on top of that! I don't think I would last a week without ending up in jail or the psych ward.
Last night we went to the "New Family Orientation." We all had a good time and we left there feeling confident and excited about new beginnings. It was exactly what we all needed.

So now it is the day before school starts and we are ready. I have spent countless hours talking to the girls about school, danger situations, trusting your teacher, asking for help, honesty, friendship, loyalty, hard word, fun, etc. I still feel like someone kicked me in the stomach but I feel confident that we picked the right school for us and our girls are ready to start this journey!

1st Hair Cut

Yes, I realize my kids turned 5 a few weeks ago. And yes, I have given them a few "homemade" haircuts in the past. Quinn's official first cut happened at 3. I trimmed the back of her hair to keep her from sporting a mullet. I usually just whack 3 or 4 inches off of Hassie Clare's.
Since Quinn is turning into one of those little girls that looks adorable in a "bob" I decided she needed a professional haircut. And Hassie Clare's long, curly mane was getting a little more then my hair cutting talents will allow. 

By "professional" haircut I mean a hair-cut by my friend (old high school buddy) that went to beauty school .... in her kitchen. Nothing but the best for my little chick-a-dees!

Quinn and her sassy little bob.

Hassie Clare has seriously good hair. I'm sure she will hate it someday.

**For the record, I cut hair in college while living in the dorm. My clients mostly consisted of the short-haired, softball players. I even had my own sharp scissors and a hair buzzer. I charged $5 a cut or weekly trims for $10 a month. I had about 10 regular clients. I ended up getting in trouble by the Residential Director in our dorm for conducting business in the hallways. So I moved my "business" to the community bathrooms! **


Did you notice that my friend "the professional hair-cutter" is also my friend that makes our "out of this world" cakes? Yes, I have multi-talented friends. I know, I know...I'm a lucky girl. She has been doing my hair since we were teenagers ... but don't hold that against her!

Paisely

I might be slightly biased but OMG ... is my neice the cutest thing in the world or what!!!!!  She brings so much joy and laughter to our family. Happy 4 month birthday to my sweet little Paisley Pineapple.

3.5 months old at the girls 5th birthday party

Rapunzel party + waterslide = 2 happy 5 year olds



My 5 year old old little girls with their super hero. Hassie Clare is holding Rapunzel's frying pan and Quinn is holding her hair brush.

 I am not a crafty person. In fact, I'm comfortable saying I'm the opposite of creative. But when the girls finally decided they both wanted a Tangled theme party, I knew I had to get my "crafty" on. It's not glamorous. Fairly simple. But we pulled it off.

I just realized I didn't get a picture of our outdoor decorations. I bought 2 large thingys of yellow yarn. We braided a 25ish foot braid with an extra large lavender bow at the end and hung it out of the upstairs window. It hung down in the front of the house and laid on the steps in the front yard (get it ... her long hair is coming out of the tower window:). I thought it was super cute and it made my girls giggle.

Look at the post on the right hand side of this pic ... you can kind of see the long braid and get the idea.

For 3-4 weeks prior to the party, Hassie Clare and Quinn started painting and cutting. They thought they should paint their own decorations since Rapunzel was a painter. They used large and small paper plates (for the sun pieces) and leftover, faulty, orange file folders that the Hammer's generously donated when they were shipped in error to their office. They make great art paper! After daily painting sessions (thanks to their nanny Meredith) we had enough art pieces to string up our decorations. I punched holes in the top of them and used lavender sting to decorate the kitchen and mantle in the living room. We decorated the window slabs on the doors with the sun pieces (if you haven't seen the movie you would not get it).

This is what the tops of my counter would look like at the end of every day. All of their masterpieces had to dry!

Of course my ever so talented friend from high school, Jennifer, created the cake. I told her a few specifics (tower, 2 separate small cakes for each kid)  and she went with it. She totally outdid herself on this one!

It was glittery, had flowers and tasted delicious (lemon and strawberry - the girls picked the flavors). Of course she used homemade buttercream frosting. It smelled up the whole kitchen. The picture does not do it justice!

You can see some of the girls decorations well in this pic. In case you are wondering, the large oblong things are wishing lanterns and the lizard looking things next to their name is Pascal (Rapunzel's best and only  friend that happens to be a Chameleon).

Party favors. Me, my mom and the girls headed to a craft store to find the perfect party favor to go with our theme. The girls wanted to give their guest either something sweet they could eat or something they could paint. We found these wooden masks for $1 and paints with a brush for $1.00. I printed off some labels (I noticed when uploading a pic that I goofed up .... the label is suppose to say "RAPUNZEL PAINTS Thanks for coming to our party. Lots of love (not love of love), Hassie Clare & Quinn. My few crafty brain cells were in full force which apparently hinders other areas of my brain. I braided yellow yarn, put the labels on the paints, tied it all together and BAM ... we have party favors.  We had a total of 24 kids but I only expected about 15. I made 20 just in case so some of the older kids got left out.

Rapunzel herself made a special appearance all the way from Jonesboro, AR Disneyworld. She was precious. She sang a song, read a book, played a game and visited with the girls. The boys at the party took cover in the play room when she arrived. All of the girls were gaga over her.

They are all dressed for the waterslide (swimsuits & cover-ups) but wishing they had worn their dress-up dresses!

A big girly group hug with Rapunzel.

The girls picked out all the party food. They said Rapunzel was a healthy girl and that she eats lots of fruit and veggies. So here was the menu they came up with:
broccoli, carrots & cauliflower with our fav Lite Ranch
blueberries, raspberries, grapes & pineapple (the raspberries disappeared before the party started... hhuummm)
Later they added:
Cheese dip from the Mexican place and chips
Pizza Rolls
I can only assume they were craving junk food when they added the last two. I added some guacamole to the list and picked up almost everything at Sam's a few days before. I was clearly mistaken when I thought 350 pizza rolls would be enough. But I didn't realize 45ish people would show up!

I picked up a couple "Pascal" metal table decorations at the dollar store.

After Rapunzel left we headed outside to the water slide. It was a sauna outside and the perfect way to end the party. We got to keep this thing all weekend. The next day we bellied up to it redneck style and had a big time!

I ordered a bunch of Wishing Lanterns (AKA Chinese Rice Lanterns). The movie is based around these wishing lanterns that the castle sets off every year on Rapunzel's birthday. They were much bigger then what I expected so I wasn't able to decorate with them like I planned. And ... we were not able to let them go after we would light them cause of all the trees and it was a fire hazard ....blah, blah, blah. So, I tied string to them and we fired a few up after most of their school friends left. I thought it was a sweet gesture even though it didn't turn out as planned.

You can see some of the wishing lanterns hanging from the back of the house. We saved a few to set off at the lake so the girls could make more wishes.

I did a terrible job of taking pictures. I hope some of my family got more pictures .... I literally have 20 pics and a little bit of video of the entire day ... and most of them are from before and after the party. But the look and excitement in my little girls eyes will be forever embedded in my memory. Hassie Clare brings me something of hers everyday and says "Here Mommy. This is for you for letting us have a great birthday party." This morning she brought me a sheet of stickers with only one sticker left and said "This is for you for letting us have cheese dip at our party." The truth of the matter is that we could have invited a few of their friends over to play on their swing set or their blowup pool, ate a Kroger cake and watched Tangled on the TV and they would have been just as happy and excited. I guess that is how 5 year olds roll!

Since their party, my little "Rapunzel's" have not gone anywhere without their frying pans, always want me to braid their hair and they never want to wear shoes .... just like their super hero.

A Father's Day to remember - 2011

Jamie is so wonderful that on Father's Day I let him cut the grass, cut up 3 trees that we lost during a storm last week and then haul it to the curb ... in 98 degree heat, go to the grocery store and finally ... grill our dinner. You're welcome sweetheart ... thank you for being such an amazing father to our little bambinos.

I try not to spoil him but I went up and beyond the call of duty by letting him take a nap in the middle of the day to shake off any heat stroke related symptoms from all the yard work.  All is well.

Despite the abuse, he is loved. Very, very loved. He provides for his children. He meets there basic needs. But what makes him so unique and special are the rare "fatherly" qualities he possesses. Here are some examples:

The girls believe that he is a real life prince. He danced with Cinderella just to see the stars in their eyes!

He stood up to the wicked step-mother so that Quinnie would not be afraid of her. It didn't work. Quinn stayed underneath the dinner table until the step-mother was out of sight. But it was the thought that counted.

He is the only one that can convince Quinn to do things she is afraid of.

He does goofy things just to make us smile. And because he is a goof-ball.

He actually enjoys spending time with his kids and loves new adventures.

 Happy Father's Day to our Prince. You truly are one of a kind!

I'm officially a grown up

4 huge, ginormus things happened to our family this month so far:

1) We paid off our family car, AKA my car, AKA the grocery getter (I've never had a title to a vehicle in my name ... I can't wait to see it)
2) I paid off my student loans from graduate school.  I've paid this monthly (except those first couple years when I only paid the interest) since Jan. 1998 - the month I started my first job .... which is still my current job ...but different position.
3) Our kids turned 5.
4) We will be nanny-free for the first time since the girls were 8 weeks old.

I'm extremely stoked about the first 2, mixed emotions about the third one and scared to death about the last one.  But ... everything happens for a reason.

So what does all these major finiancial happenings mean? A nice built-in swimming pool in our back yard? A new car? A boat? A dream vacation with just me and my hubby? Well hell heck no. It means we can fork out the $10g's for the girls to go to private school next year without going into debt. Which makes me happy. At least that is what I keep telling myself.

Still "Mommy" .... for the time being

My kids are 4  ..... at least for the rest of today. Goodbye toddlerhood. We will miss you. Sniff Sniff

Hassie Clare and Quinn are beyond excited about their upcoming birthday. Every morning for the past 40ish days they have asked me "how many nights do we sleep until our birthday?"

Things are a changin'. I bought booster seats the other day but I'm keeping them in the box for as long as the girls will hold out. We went shopping for bunk beds since they are still in toddler beds and their toes poke through the slabs of wood at the end of the bed. They recently started wiping their own booty. They started buckling themselves into their carseat - HUGE! They can climb up on the counter, get a cup and make themselves a cup of water. All of this has happened in the past month!

I'm sad their infant and toddler years are over but I'm UBER excited about all the adventers turning 5 brings. They still need "Mommy" so I will hold onto that while it's available. They still scream for me when they get the slightest injury. They still want me to hold them and rock them any chance they get. They still tell me all their secrets. They still think I'm funny ... no matter what silly thing I'm doing. They know and I know that I can comfort them like no one else in the world can. My sad day will come when all these things start to fade away and I just become "Mom."

So until then I'm going to enjoy my baby girls, make as many memories as possible and give it my best shot at helping them become the person they want to be in life. Good gracious I hope I don't screw it up!  Do you every stop worrying about that as a parent?

Funnies 
-Yesterday the girls and I went up to their former dance studio to check out a summer camp they have. They were super excited, especially since their cousin Josie was there. I told the girls all about it and they loved the idea of going to camp and meeting new friends. We pulled into the parking lot and HC said "Where are the tents?" I told her there were no tents and that the camp was inside where they had dance class. The Director was showing us around and HC said "Mommy, I need to ask you a secret." So I leaned down and she whispered into my ear, "Where are the smores?"
- This morning Quinn told me my breathe smelled like chicken and strawberries .... in the garbage can.

Bearded Rabbits

We were on our way to gymnastics yesterday and I made a funny face at the girls in the backseat. Quinn said "Mommy, you are so funniest." I asked her what that meant. She said, "you are funnier then a blue rabbit with a beard. And pink mustache. That is eating a carrot while going poo poo. And holding her sister's hand cause she doesn't eat enough carrots and her poo poos are too hard. So she eats a bowl of cereal to keep her poo poos from hurting. While still on the potty."
Hassie Clare chimes in and said "Don't be silly Quinnie Ray. A blue rabbit would be a boy and not a girl so he would have a brother and not a sister."
The reasoning skills of a 4 (almost 5) year old never cease to amaze me!

I get a series of pics off my phone that look similar to this at least 3 times a week. Plus video. The video usually involves HC doing something ridiculously silly and talking about poop while Q is dying laughing and encouraging her. I can never bring myself to delete any of the photos of videos.

 

First day of Day School (2) / last day of Day School (4)

Hassie Clare and Quinn started a Mother's Day Out / Day School program right after they turned 2 years old. I remember the feeling I had the first day we took them. Jamie and I were walking out of the building and I thought "Are we seriously just going to just leave them here? With strangers. In a strange building. They are only 2 years old. Who does that?" My legs were wobbly, my stomach was week and my heart was heavy. I sat in the parking lot for over an hour talking myself into driving away.

We spent the next 3 years getting up every Tuesday and Thursday morning and heading to school for 6 hours. And then one day it was over. My little girls were ready to be sent to big kid school.

On their last day of school this year we said our goodbyes to all 3 of the teachers they had during their 3 year stint. Our last stop was to the girls first teacher. She was the perfect first teacher for them and for me. She held my hand and comforted me as much as she did them. And then I lost it. I was sobbing. Of course I had just come from a co-workers funeral so that did not help my emotional state.  It was the end of an era. The end of their toddlerhood.

And so we left the building and walked to the car. And once again, my legs were wobbly, my stomach was week and my heart was heavy.

First day of school 2008 - 2 year old class with our beloved Mrs. Ilona.

I think they had just figured out that we were not going to stay with them at school.

First day of school 2009 - 3 year old class

Last day of school 2011 - 4 year old class. They are saying goodbye to their in-door playground. I assured them that their new school would have an awesome outdoor playground!

This is a video I took while loading up the car to take them to their first day of Mother's Day Out. Their sweet little baby voices brought tears to my eyes.

**Sweet nothings for me to remember - HC was obsessed with fireworks at this age. She talked about them all the time. Quinn had a tiny plastic baby that fit into the palm of her hand. She had it on her at all times and called her "Baby Crying." I saved this baby in a plastic bag with all their baby stuff. It probably still has finger jam hidden in the cracks.**

Guilty again .... the life of an overbooker.

I have been in a blogging funk. Not because of lack of material but because of lack of time, creativity, desire, etc. I have so many wonderful things to blog about: our fabulous Disney trip, Easter weekend in eastern TN,  Jenny's surprise 40th birthday party, our weekend getaway to the country, the girls "graduation" from their mother's day out program, registration for junior kindergarten and testing, HC's first round of antibiotics cause of strep .... and the list goes on and on and on.
My work hours have been hectic and consume most of my waking hours - minus our weekend adventures. I just finished up our summer social schedule and we only have 2 open weekends from now until Sept 1. NUTS. I've said it before and I'll say it again ... I'm a chronic overbooker.
Let's see .... what else. I've been eating everything and anything. I'm not gaining much weight cause I'm still working out....thankfully! I've started rewarding myself with sweets. The sweeter the better. I've NEVER done this before. I need to get a grip ... real soon!

I sent the invitations out today for the girls 5th birthday party next month. I'm all over this one.  First HC wanted a bubble gum party and Q wanted a My Little Pony Party. Then HC wanted a Bat Man party but Q told her she wasn't coming to a Bat Man party.  Then one day out of the blue they jointly decided on a Rapunzel party .... from the movie Tangled. Done! That day I came up with the invitations and ordered them, ordered wishing lanterns to set off and went to the fabric store to buy yellow yarn to make a giant hair braid.  The girls, with help from their nanny, started painting paper plates to make suns, butterflies and tons of other stuff. We will use their art work for decorations ... just like Rapunzel. We rented a water slide for the day and I booked Rapunzel to come make a personal appearance. She will sing songs, play a game, read a story and a few other things. Anyway ... it is a work in progress and we are all excited about their special day. Turning 5 is a huge deal!

We will be saying goodbye to our nanny next month. It will be a sad goodbye. I'll be hiring a new one for the summer. That is always a dreadful challenging project.
Our wild, crazy, sweet, loving, intelligent, spastic fur baby is going blind. Well, she pretty much is blind. She is only 8 years old. There might be a surgery that can save one of her eyes. We can find out for $2,600. I'm leaving this one up to Jamie. I'm a tightwad but she is our first born and our baby. 

My sister in law, friend, Godmother to my child, turned 40 last week. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH.

This is the only recent picture I have of us and it is a good example of how we act when we get our silly hats on.

Hassie Clare and Quinn start 4 year old Kindergarten, Junior Kindergarten, big girl school .... whatever the heck you call it. My babies are going to school:( They will wear uniforms and be in school 5 days a week for 8 hours. At the school we choose, we had the option of 4k or 5k. Our alternate school (in the city) we did not have a choice. They would have had to go to 4k (birthday cutoff is June 1.) Even though we choose 4k, I like having a choice. Although I think they are ready for 5k, I think another year of maturity will pay off in the long run. Who wants to send their 17 year old off to college!

I realized the other day that the girls are officially kids and not toddlers anymore. Example #1 -I was clipping HC's toenails and got disgusted because of her nasty "grocery store" feet. Example #2 - I've always loved Quinn's sweet morning breathe. She likes to snuggle with me nose to nose. Lately I've had to hold my breathe because it smells like a horse crawled in her mouth and pooped. Ahhh .... my sweet little ballerinas are growing up!

Mother's Day - 2011

My sweet, little chicklets know me so well. If you click on the picture, you can read the writting better.

My sweet, loving and ever so thoughtful husband got me with a bottle of perfume. While we were touring the countries at Epcot, we went into a perfume shop in France. We did this for 3 reasons. #1 - the store had air-conditioning. And #2, we were a hot, sweaty mess and needed a little somethin’ somethin’ to make us smell better. #3 - I love perfumes ...especially the ones you can't buy at a department store. What better place then a French perfume shop! I feel in love with this one perfume so I lathered the girls and I up with the scent. Jamie said we smelled like we bathed in a tub of orange slices on a beautiful spring day. PERFECT! Anyway, he took a pic of the bottle on his phone, shopped around on the internet and WALA ... surprised me with it for Mother's Day. The cool thing about it is that every time I wear it I think of us on our fantabulous vacation to Disney World.


The thoughtful gift made up for the fact that Jamie had to work on Mother's Day. But it turned out okay because I got to spend the day with my sister and Momma. I felt very lucky on mother's day for several reasons. I thought of all the women out there that desperately want to be a mother and for one reason or another can't. I thought of all the people out there that are sad on mother's day because their mom is deceased. I felt really lucky to spend the day with my sister on her first Mother's Day. I felt blessed to be surrounded by love the entire day even though we didn't do anything exciting.

I hope that I can be the mom I want to be someday. No regrets.... right?