Back to School Means Back to Blogging

Weeelllll helloo there! (said in Mrs. Doubtfire's most excited voice! (RIP Robin Williams).

It goes without saying that this space has been dead as a door nail for the past year and half or so. With Grace starting kindergarten last year I really wanted to soak up my time with her and Charlotte. It was time well spent and I don't regret it for a second. I DO wish I'd been able to write down a snippet here or there - just for my memory's sake - I seriously can't remember a thing unless I write it down, but alas, I didn't. I only have the 10,000 photos locked away in my phone to trigger my memories which will have to suffice.

Now that Grace is in first grade (um, how did that happen?) and Charlotte is in pre-kinder (which is crazy because I feel like she is ready ready for college but for the fact she can't read) I have a couple of hours to myself. So I am hoping that I can manage a blog post here and there!

It's kind of a crazy schedule this year. Even though I have some time sans children it really isn't conducive to getting a lot done. (Although it is slowly preparing me for how quiet the house will be once they are both gone all day - audio books are filling the void very nicely!)

Grace gets to school at 8. Then, Charlotte and I have about three hours to "kill" until she has to eat lunch and get to school. After dropping Charlotte off around noon, I have about two hours (M, T TH & F) until I have to pick her up. Then the MADNESS begins!

Charlotte gets out at 2:45 - Grace at 2:50. Their schools are a 10 minute drive apart. Luckily, the teachers at Charlotte's school are awesome and knowing my predicament have being letting Charlotte out a few minutes early - which won't always be the case - but it sure helps! Once I have both kids safely buckled in their car seats, it is go time! Piano, soccer, tennis...I am quickly learning that every hour without kids during the day multiplies into about four hours of mayhem post-pickup. So for all you mothers (and fathers) out there thinking life will "change" once the kids are in school full time...I hate to burst your bubble...but life just gets crazier. Crazier meaning busier. Crazier sounds bad. Shall we say fuller?

All the activities take a lot of work and time but are worth it. To see your child score their very first soccer goal or for that matter not score any goals but are happy nonetheless just to be outside running around with new friends is priceless. It is life changing - for you AND your child. These seemingly small moments - each that have taken countless hours of practice and driving, behind the scenes snack and dinner prepping and sitting in the hot/cold/wind - they add up. They add up to a rich life - one that money can't buy, one that is funded only by love. These are busy years but ones I know I will miss all too soon.

We kicked off the school year with our annual back to school breakfast! We were anticipating a strike but luckily a timely agreement was reached. 

Aside from donuts, the girls each receive a few little treats...

The little journal is super fun! We do it before bed time each night as part of the bedtime routine. I think it will be fun to look back at how their opinions change and how their handwriting/vocabulary changes. Plus it works as a great transition to story time which is just one step closer to bedtime! 

The other book is substitute for a scrapbook. I wish, wish, wish I could pull together an awesome scrapbook filled with photos and tidbits but I can't. I save all the good stuff. School pictures, ticket stubs to plays, award certificates...it piles up! I wanted a spot where I could put all the good stuff - not just for this year but in the years to come. The School Years Record Book allows me to easily keep track of all the "good stuff" my kids bring home!

Grace was so excited for school to start. She marked off each day on her calendar and had a difficult time falling asleep for weeks before the first day. 

They were even treated to a trip to the nail salon!

Finally, the big day was upon us!

Obligatory first day photos...outfit, backpack and the MUST HAVE lunch box!

Charlotte started two weeks after Grace but was just as ready!

I love how the backpacks are bigger than the kid at this age! 

Charlotte is all about accessories. This outfit was chosen JUST so she could wear her doggy necklace from Grandma on the first day!

We forgot to hold up of "first day" sign at home. Luckily, the preschool had us covered! Charlotte was a bit under the weather the first few days of school so her smiles were a bit -shall we say - forced!?

Here she is - today - in the dress I made her for back to school! 

She has only four more days left as a four year old. 

We Made It…Kind of

Well, we survived the first full week of school! 

Charlotte had her first day of preschool and boy was she excited!

The only way I could get a picture showing her excitement was having them jump in place! Two seconds after this picture, I found a HUGE black widow spider about 12 inches away from me on the side of the house! Needless to say, it is no longer a threat and after a quick call to the "spider guy" to kill anything within a 10 mile radius with eight legs, I was told that this late summer/early fall season has been the WORST on record for black widow spiders. Schools, especially, have been spraying like crazy to keep them at bay. So word to the wise, be on the lookout! 

I don't know about you but I thought the back-to-school backpack selection this year was the pits. Anything that was cute and reasonably priced, sold out in July! Both girls starting new schools REQUIRES new back packs in my book and the ones I wanted were on back order until November. Who wants a new backpack in November?!?!? (I am talking to you Pottery Barn Kids! Shame, shame, shame on you!!) Eventually, I found one for Grace but no luck for Charlotte. So instead, I made her this one! It is a bit too small but she LOVES it and it will get her through until PBK hops to it and sends me the replacement. 

 Charlotte practically ran into the classroom. I had to call her back to give me a hug good bye! I swear I could drop her off two blocks away and she wouldn't think twice!

With both girls in school, I hit the gym for my favorite spinning class! 

The week also included piano lessons. The girls took the month of August off so it was the first lesson in a while. Charlotte moved up to the next level in gymnastics and I chopped all my hair off! No photos but me likey. It's been a while since my hairs has been this length and it is much more manageable. When I picked Grace up at school that afternoon, she was the last to be released. The teacher walked over to me and told me that Grace didn't recognize me and kept telling the teacher that she thought it was me, but that I must've gotten a hair cut. Grace, Charlotte and I now look like the bobbsey twins so that's "cool".  The week also included Grace's first soccer game and my first time coaching a soccer game. Other than one of the kids stepping in dog poop five seconds before game time, it went pretty well. Phew! 

In other news, Grace discovered her first loose tooth! 

(Bottom right!)

Can't believe she is about to lose her first tooth. I can remember her getting her first tooth like it was yesterday!

First teeth!

Needless to say, by Friday, I was pooped! 

The changing seasons always gets me and I spent the weekend sick as a dog. I managed one outing for a birthday party. Grace's friend at school has a younger sister Charlotte's age so they were both invited and both excited. 

It was a pop star party and the girls rocked it!

Unfortunately, the party "rocked" me.

Starting out the week a wee bit on the tired, want-to-crawl-back-under-the-covers-and-sleep-for-a year- side, but instead I decided to blog.

You are welcome sports fans!

Sick House

Only hours after North Pole Breakfast, Charlotte got hit by the flu. Luckily, we were able to stay at home and just relax. She was SICK all morning - spending most of the morning on the couch or sleeping. 

By mid-afternoon, she perked up and by dinner time she was back to herself and we even went out to dinner! Weird, right?

Best sick day in the history of sick days for sure!

Charlotte's Hello Kitty Picnic 3rd Birthday Party

Last weekend we held Charlotte's third birthday party! When Grace turned three, she had a Hello Kitty party. After a busy summer of moving, surgeries and recovery, I really didn't have the time or energy to be creative. Since we already had a lot of the

Hello Kitty paraphernalia, I decided to give Charlotte a Hello Kitty party - but with a picnic style twist!

The last few years, the weather on Charlotte's birthday has been perfect! Warm and sunny! So I figured that the weather would be nice once again and as our neck of the woods would be in apple harvest, why not celebrate outside with a picnic and apples?

Here are the invites -

I added the picnic basket part - it swivels around on a brad to reveal additional information - so that I could inform guests that we were planning on getting wet!

I had a lot of outside, water activities planned!

Next on the to-do list was a birthday outfit for the birthday girl! Nothing says picnic like gingham, right?

This dress was my own creation - kind of. I saw a dress like this online but they didn't make it in Charlotte's size. I couldn't find a pattern that was my exact vision, so I used portions of different patterns and winged it a bit - and this is what I came up with! 

Amazingly - it fit!

A few days before the party, the weather report was not good. The temperatures dipped, the skies clouded over and rain, rain, rain. Lots of rain! So we had to move the picnic indoors and make some last minute revisions. 

The decorations -

I had some fabric left over from making Charlotte's dress...and Grace's dress. I know the birthday girl is the only one who should get a party dress but I couldn't resist the gingham fabric. Anyway, with the leftover fabric, I made a garland and a centerpiece to hang above the children's table.

Unfortunately, all the party prep finished moments before guests arrived and I didn't do a very thorough job photographing the party. In fact, there are huge chunks of the party where I didn't get any pictures at all. Huge bummer! Hard to host a part and photograph it at the same time!

The cake once again was from Frost Me Sweet and they knocked it out of the park once again! You can't see it, but Hello Kitty is sitting on a gingham picnic blanket and the little apples on the side match the invitation perfectly! We devoured this cake!!

I made a few little things just to make it Charlotte's - since I didn't want it to feel like Grace's party all over again! Above was a little C for Charlotte and below a mason jar garland that says 'celebrate.'

This is a poor picture, but it was a candid camera moment so I didn't have time to make sure my camera was on the right settings. The little "flowers" have a letter on them and all together spell Charlotte. Charlotte was pointing to the letters and saying the letters as she pointed and at the end she yelled - CHARLOTTE! THAT'S ME!!

I dressed up the apple garland I made for the Back to School party with some photos of Charlotte from the past year. This was one of my favorite items I made. In fact, it is still hanging in the kitchen. I don't have the heart yet to take it down.

Each guest had a little picnic basket at their seat. The kids got a sucker and the adults got some minty gum. 

Our house is set up kind of funny. It has a front door and a side door into the kitchen. Everyone uses the side door. Everyone. In the off chance someone did use the front door, I set up a little welcome table.

I found this little shutter at a thrift shop and painted it a light blue. 

In fact, Charlotte helped me paint it one day while Grace was in school. A few apples, a few Hello Kitties and the party favors for all the kids!

Once guests arrived, the skies parted and we were able to set up the bounce house outside!

We bought this a few years ago and it has been the best money we've ever spent. It's amazing how kids never get tired of bouncing.

You can see the back of Grace's dress that I made!

While the kids were outside, burning off steam, the adults were inside munching on appetizers and having a cocktail...or two. 

I blew up a ton of balloons and threw them all over the play room - another hit!

The kids were totally content running from the playroom back to the bounce house. They could have done it for hours I think.

Balloons just never get old!

Warning - pictures get very thin here! As a great deal of our guests - all family - travel from out of town and rearrange their lives to attend a three year olds birthday party, we try to make it as adult friendly as possible. Liquor, wine and dinner! As this was going to be a picnic, we had flank steak, pasta salad, fruit salad and a quinoa salad. For the kids, we had cheese pizza.

The kids all sat together at a table and the lure of the bounce house had the fast eaters scarfing down their dinner. In order to keep them seated, we had them go around the table and ask each other questions. That bought a little time because a special visitor was on her way!

After dinner was complete, Hello Kitty surprised the kids with an appearance. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken during this time. Heartbreaking because the look on my niece's face was priceless. She didn't know whether to laugh, cry or run away screaming! 

Hello Kitty moved the party to the play room where she had hidden little apples filled with candy inside. Click here to see what they looked like. The kids were to find the apples hidden around the room - like an easter egg hunt. Not sure what it is about us Boyajians, but we can't seem to keep track of where we hide the eggs. Enough apples were hidden so that each child could find five. After searching and searching, we finally called it quits - of course, I found all the remaining apples the next day - and Hello Kitty handed out bags of treats to each participant! It kills me that I don't have any pictures! UGH!

Hello Kitty keeps a busy schedule and she had to move on to her next party! So we had the kids head downstairs for cake and ice cream while Hello Kitty made her departure. 

Everyone knows that guests are supposed to wear party hats while the birthday girl blows out candles. So I made these party hats for all the kids and I forgot to have them wear them while we sang Charlotte Happy Birthday! It's so hard to remember all the details in the heat of the moment. 

The special thing about these party hats is that the little flower yo-yo came off and could be worn as a headband! I absolutely love the idea of a party hat with an alternative purpose and I LOVED making these!

My niece in all her party hat glory!

After cake, we had all the kids huddle with Great Grandma Jean. This was only the second time, all the great grandkids were together so a picture was in order. Unfortunately, none of my pictures turned out. 

I did get a silly one of Charlotte and Great Grandma.

Such a goofball!

We opened gifts, said our thank yous and when the last guest left, started the clean up!

Another birthday party, come and gone. So much work but worth every minute seeing the kids and guests enjoy themselves. 

Thanks to all those that came to make Charlotte's third birthday so special!

Hope you had as much fun attending as we did hosting! Until Grace's 5th (gulp - better get cracking) birthday party....

If anyone captured any great pictures while at the party, I would love to see them! I clearly failed in the photography department this time!