procrastination

This is a horrible trait of mine:)
I just can't seem to get motivated to do some things until the last minute.
Like this online class I'm taking through the Museum of History. I have had 6 weeks to do 4 quite easy assignments. It's due tomorrow. I have the hardest one left to do. It's really not that hard, but it requires the most effort. I think I'll finish it tomorrow...

Today Mollie joined Sydney's gymnastics class! We are doing gymnastics through the end of May and poor Mollie has been such a trooper hanging out while Sydney takes her class. Mollie takes Kinderdance and I have always said they can do one extracurricular thing at a time. Well, dance has been long paid for even though she has it until the end of May and it's pretty cheap, $28 for a 4 week session. So we decided to let Mollie try gymnastics for the last 2 months of this session (I really didn't think money bags would go for it, but he did). She LOVED it! She's very cautious about doing new things physically. If she falls on her bike, that's it. She's not getting on it for like a month. Hmm...I think she might get this from me. Anyway, she really was proud of herself today and enjoyed it a lot. I'm glad she tried it. We might have to alternate gymnastics, dance, gymnastics, dance by the semester.

something to look forward to

I just reserved our week at the beach in June! Since I now know when Sydney will be in/out of school I wanted to make some summer plans. We'll basically have June to go and then her first track-out will be the last 2 weeks of August, first week in Sept. So we'll go back then also, but probably will play that by ear depending on rentals. But I wanted to go a whole week in June before she starts school the week of July 7th! Yikes! So we're going June 20-27. We're going one weekend in April and then will probably go a weekend in May. I can't wait. It's always nice to be able to stay a whole week.

Oh and the other exciting news from the last week...and I think I'm allowed to share...
My friend Daniele got a job at Laurel Park Elem! Sydney's soon to be school! I can't believe it worked out this way. 10 years ago this Fall is when we first met each other (sound cheesy) at new teacher orientation before we started our first years teaching. We taught next to each other in K for the five years:) She then moved to Apex and lives right down the road from me. We meet at the gym a lot in the summers and in the mornings if I can get up early enough to go when she goes. Needless to say that doesn't happen often;)
Anyway, so we've worked together 8 out of the last 10 years I guess. She doesn't know yet if she'll be teaching K or 1st grade and if she'll be Track 1 or 3. We're 2. But we'll get to see her lots still and most likely her daughter will go with her to school there the following Fall. She's 4 now.
She and Sydney will both be penguins!!! (that's the school mascot)

new cousin

And my cousin Laura had her baby!
Keira Elizabeth was born sometime around 2:15ish pm via c-section. She was 7lb. 13 oz. and 21 inches. I've been getting updates from MY aunt Nancy all day. Can't wait to meet her! Maybe I'll get up there tomorrow, want to give them some time to breathe!
Congrats Laura, Zach and Chloe!!

Mollie is so happy b/c one of her partners in crime at school is Keira and Mollie's middle name is Elizabeth. I think they're going to be tight;)

Year-Round here we come!

I found out today that we got in to our school choice!
Track 2 is what I wanted and that's what we got. I know other people going to LP, but not on that track. Which is probably good! I don't know if Sydney really should be in a class with someone she already knows that well, haha. Here is a link to the YR calendar so you can see what the idea is if you're confused. She will be the blue track. The blues are when they're in session.
http://www.wcpss.net/Calendars/2009-10/09-10-year-round.pdf
She will start July 7th for 6 weeks then have her 3 week break. I especially love the late Aug/beginning of Sept. break and the late May break. Perfect beach weather!
One drawback are that she'll only have a week or two between GRADES! But she won't have either all of Dec. off or all of Jan. off like Tracks 1 and 4. 1 and 4 are the most popular b/c they are most like the traditional school calendar.
Now I have to wrap my mind around the fact that she will start Kindergarten in a little over 3 months! Yikes! But you know what that means? Shopping for a cool new book bag!
The school mascot is penguins and I think that is so super cute:)
And it will be odd that Mollie will start preschool 2 months after she starts, haha.

Thank God that is over. Really. The wait was causing some sleepless nights over here. Oh, but I have to say that I found out in the best way. The data manager at my school has been stalking the mainframe computer for me checking Sydney's school status. It still had our base school number in it b/c that's where I registered her. I didn't even ask her at work today b/c I was really busy and b/c I figured I'd be getting my letter by Friday. I was walking through the office and she said, "Kelly! Your daughter got the year-round you wanted." I was like, "what?" She said "did you want Track 2? That's what they have her on." I said YES!!!
So then I got to preschool pick up and Jennifer had gotten her letter for her YR option and Matthew will be on Track 2 also!
Anyway, I'm glad I didn't have to stand at the mailbox with shaky hands and open the darn thing. Jennifer said she dropped her mail to open it real quick. My friend Chris almost dropped her sleeping kid to open hers;) I did have my letter when I got home, but got to open it confidently!
Excitement in Apex today!

Spring

Spring is officially here!
I could use more like 60's weather, but I've found that mid-upper 50's with some sunshine isn't so bad! Mollie's bff Lindsay had her birthday party on Saturday and it was outside and just gorgeous. OH, a funny note from the princess themed party: a game where you had to "pin"/tape the lips on the frog prince. Well, of course Mollie was a little confused about where the Prince was. I mean at least 12 kids put lips on the guy and he didn't turn into a Prince. It was cute.

Sydney's all better, she stayed home with Daddy yesterday morning from preschool to just get a little extra rest, but played outside all afternoon and was just fine. She slept 12 hours last night though which never happens so I think it will take some time to get back to normal.
Today we're back to our usual Tuesday routine of Mollie's Kinderdance class and Sydney's gymnastics class!

And here is my plead to Laura's baby: Come out! Make your mommy happy! It's time!

spoke too soon

Fever comes back then will go away then come back. Low, about 99-100.5. But still, you can tell she's not herself. She def. is not as sick as she was Friday so I think she's getting better. So no school for her tomorrow AGAIN! I am going to work though. Phil is staying with her in the morning. I hope this is the end of it. Now I'm convinced that she really did have the flu. Nastiness, nastiness. I am going to let her play outside today though! It's so beautiful and we all need the sunshine!

update

Sydney's fever went away, yeah!
Nothing interesting in the mail...

TGIS

Day 4 of Sydney having a fever. She's getting more of a cough, more congestion. But strangely enough she seems to be feeling a little better as far as getting up and playing and stuff is concerned. Or maybe she's just bored!
I took her back to the dr. yesterday and Dr. Bowman said her lungs/ears/throat, etc. all still look good and it's probably just a virus. I asked about the flu b/c I started hearing of a lot of people whose kids had influenza type B which seems to be a mild strain of flu. The symptoms sound exactly like what she has. He didn't even test her for it though b/c he said it won't change the outcome or treatment. That is was more of a matter of randomly doing flu tests and kids who "didn't seem that sick" really had the flu. But rest, fluids, etc., regular viral stuff you do is the same treatment. So if she's still running a fever on Monday we take her back and they'll prick her finger to see if it's in fact bacterial and not viral. She wasn't quite up for that yesterday;) I missed work all week so thankfully Phil said if she's still sick Monday he'll stay home for the morning.

On another note, the Wake Co. school letters for magnet or year-round application were mailed out yesterday. That means I could get it today. I'm not feeling too hopeful, but am still really stressed about it and I don't know why. Like really anxious. I really like the year-round calendar. People think I'm crazy. Ugh, the stress of having choices!

things

• I'm feeling better! So glad. Diet Coke still doesn't taste right though and burns my throat. That's sort of sad.
• Sydney woke up with a fever. No work for me again. See why I've realized work is inconvenient? half-kidding. I took her to the dr. in my panic of oh crap did I give her strep...and she doesn't have it. Just a cold probably, little virus. We'll see how she feels in the morning.
• My brother in law Cameron had something pretty exciting happen today. Very exciting for Courtney as well. He graduates from Pharmacy school at UNC in May. I don't really understand all the details, but he is doing a one year residency program thing and had to be selected to interview at certain schools and state his preferences for a "match". And the schools had to rank their preference of "matches". And he got his first choice, UNC for his match! He found out this morning. I think his other options would have been Moses-Cone in Greensboro and Wake Forest. So now no one has to move or commute or have a long distance relationship! And Cameron is one of the smartest people I know so it's no surprise that his first choice also picked him:)
• My cousin Laura's baby is due on Friday and she's way done so I'm really hoping she can pop her out soon. Go Laura! I selfishly just want to know her name, haha, kidding! I was a secret name keeper too!
• I should find out at the end of the week/early next week if Sydney got into year-round school or not. I'm pretty convinced she didn't b/c that would just be too perfect and I think there are a bajillion people trying to get in there for next school year...but I would sure love it b/c that would mean Mollie could go too!
• I'm happy that my friend Dawn's life is getting easier with the twins. Keep up the good work!
• I have another friend Tracy having twins in April and I'm super excited for her as well. Love some babies:)
• Mollie has a great time playing golf outside these days. We have 2 little golf sets and she likes to yell score! when she gets it into the pretend hole. Which is not difficult when the ball is on the edge of the hole, but whatever, she's 3.

great friends

Great friends are really one of the most valuable things in life.

For some reason I thought I would be feeling lots better this morning, but I wasn't. I wasn't running any fever at all so that helped the body aches and chills, but not the horrible neck pain and swelling. You can look at the outside of my neck and tell it's swollen. Yikes. Actually, as of tonight around dinner time I started feeling a little better so hopefully tomorrow I can go to work.
Anyway, I became really thankful that I scheduled Mollie's dance and Sydney's gymnastics classes with some of my friends' kids! I called my friend Kim this morning whose daughter Sarah is in Mollie's dance class. I was going to see if she could take Mollie to dance at 11:30 and bring her back. She offered to take both of them to get them out of the house and Sydney could play with her son who is her age. She called back minutes later and said they had my day worked out. She would take the girls to Wendy's for lunch after dance and meet my friend Chris and her 2 girls. Side note: Chris and Kim both always have 2 extra car seats in their vans b/c they transport each other's kids a lot. Chris would bring Mollie home and Kim would take Sydney to gymnastics at 2! Her son takes it a different day so she knows where it is. My friend Tracy's daughter Ella is in Sydney's gymnastics class so she would bring Sydney home. I gave Kim her extra booster seat so she could do that.
I am really thankful that that all worked out and they were so happy to help me and I barely even had to ask for help! It was just handed to me. I got several naps in and got to rest and the girls still got to do their activities. They could have skipped them, but they would not have wanted to be cooped up all day here with me anyway!
I am counting my blessings:)

sick

I have strep throat. Ugh. It's amazing how something can hit you so hard and knock you flat on your bum. It started late Sat. night with a scratchy throat. I was feeling worse yesterday, but it was a busy day. We had lunch for Courtney's birthday over at Mom's then met my friend Lauren and her husband Josh in Cary for dinner. I got home, took my temp, had a low grade fever and white spots creeping up on my tonsils. I hardly slept at all last night, emailed into work, haha, and then went to the dr. I have super strep. My throat is completely covered with the nastiness now. I got this for the first time my first year teaching and it was like death. The sickest I've ever been. I guess it's the fever that gets you. Even with 3 Advil it's still 99 or 100. Luckily the girls had preschool this morning and Sydney's class had a daddy lunch thing. So he was there to get them at the end of the day. He brought Mollie home for her nap and took Sydney to my friend Jennifer's house. She had volunteered to take them for the afternoon. But I could handle Mollie napping. We went to get her about 4 then I stayed on the couch and we watched Snow White until Phil got home at 5:45.
He thankfully decided to just take them to get dinner at Chili's then to the new HHGregg store that opened up down the road and Dick's Sporting Goods. Dick's is Sydney's favorite store and she has been begging to go for days:) She likes to pretend she's using the exercise equipment or run around the track by the shoes, LOL.
And they're still gone. I wonder if he remembers it's bath night...
I think I'll feel better tomorrow by lunch after I've had 3 doses of antibiotics in me.

sisters

The girls have been really cute together lately. They play so well together. Well, you know, when they're not yelling or fighting or something like that. This morning they got up and played in the playroom then decided to have a bathing suit party and I got them out beach towels. They stayed upstairs literally all morning. They needed us for a few things like breakfast and changing Mollie's clothes. But they played so independently from us and cooperatively together!

They came back down briefly before lunch and played some computer games. Phil put another little laptop thing he fashioned up next to their computer b/c they do fight a lot about playing. And they always want to do it at the same time. I realize that they could learn to share, but they do that with other stuff, haha. They honestly seemed to want to just hang out together doing the same things. And this happens a lot lately, today is just an example. We just were really amazed that they have grown so close and are doing so well sharing a room. I'm so glad they have each other. And of course that we have them:) They are almost 2 years apart, but it doesn't seem like it sometimes. Even when we have playdates with other kids it doesn't matter if they are almost 3 or 5, they can all get along really well.

I realize that this all could change at any minute;) But we'll take it while it lasts!

budget

So it looks like Wake County Schools are in a major crunch for next year. They're basically freaking out and saying that all terminating contract employees (like myself, less than 100%) will not be renewed. Not that I'm surprised. I wasn't planning on having my job next year anyway. I was hired with totally extra months of employment and didn't even start until Nov. 17 that's how temporary I am. But luckily I am not counting on it. I am feeling so bad for the tons of people I know who work 50 or 75 or 80% just to make a little extra time for their families, but NEED that money! I would not want to be in the shoes of the Governor, the legislature, the WCPSS school board...the principals...the student assignment office...for anything!!

Spring stay please!

We've been really enjoying our nice Spring weather! I know it will not be here to stay for now, but we at least have a glimmer and hope:)
I had a great birthday weekend! Thanks for all the wishes. I met my friend Holly at Concord Mills Mall in Concord (outside Charlotte) on Sat. morning. We shopped for 8 hours!! A record! We had breaks for lunch and pedicures. It was nice to take our time and not have any children with us. Definitely less bathroom breaks than with them! Oh and whining;)
We really found some great deals and I got some stuff for all of us while not going overboard...maybe.
Anyway, Phil had reserved us a room at the Embassy Suites with his Hilton points so we checked in, ate dinner at Carrabbas, then headed to bed. Had a nice breakfast Sunday morning and then checked out. I stopped in Salisbury to see my friend Brandon from college and her new baby girl who is tiiinnnnyy! So sweet though. And I don't think I'd seen her in like 2.5 years! I talk to her all the time. I actually hadn't seen Holly since early Fall I think, but didn't really realize that either. Too long, too long.
Sunday evening we had a yummy steak dinner with the family. What a great night to cook out. Mom and the girls made me a cake while I was gone. I love cake!
So now I'm 32. I guess I don't care. I just have no idea how I got to be this old! I still feel like I'm 24!

and this is what happened next...

But hey, if this is what it takes to get her to nap, she can play baby all she wants!

our day with Chase

Tuesday we had Chase with us all day:) It was so much fun! Travis was out of town and Nancy had to work late b/c they had a big trial starting the next day. So rather than deal with having to be there to pick him up from daycare at a certain time and all that I said, "he can hang out with us!" He took his morning nap like a good boy in the pack and play in my room. I hung on to ours so that he and any other babies can sleep here if they need to:) He went with us to Mollie's dance class and was so good. We went home, ate lunch, then headed to Sydney's gymnatics class. About half way through all Hell broke loose b/c Mollie decided that she would never be a good middle child. She screamed and cried for me to hold her. I was holding Chase b/c he didn't want to get down. He was being very good, but he just didn't know where he was and was shy and getting tired. Mollie was tired also and had a major melt down. So I threw them in the car, grabbed Sydney as soon as she was done and home we went for 2 out of 3 of them napping.
He loved to play with bowls!! He kept putting this one on his hat like a bowl, but it kept falling off. He was getting sleepy after dinner and ready to go home so he was crying over his bowl a lot. I gave him a bigger bowl and he immediately stopped and was happy, haha.

And Sydney begged me to leave the pack and play set up so she and Mollie could hide out in it and play with Barbies and princesses. It's going to have to go up later though! It's big!

snow day!

Our snow day turned out to be pretty fun despite the fact that I was not looking forward to it. The girls really enjoyed playing in it, but got cold quickly and ended up in my big bathtub taking a warm bubble bath:)

We then discovered that the roads were fine so we headed over to Chickfila, picked up lunch, and went to my friend Dawn's house to play with Ava and the sweet twins! We had a great visit. Those babies are great. They are 9 mo. old and so mischevious at such a young age, haha, especially Owen!

snow?

I really don't want it to snow tonight/tomorrow. Really. I am ready for Spring. It is March 1st. No snow please. But I think I may be out of luck. I do know that the girls would really enjoy it. But not I.

We had a great week. Phil has had a really busy last 2 weeks. He's finishing up his quarter I think. Something about a quest for 1 mil. (sold, not earned, LOL, I wish).

Thursday night I went to the Hurricanes hockey game with him and that was fun. We've had a really nice, low key weekend.

I haven't taken any pictures in a while I realized!!

Today Nancy and Chase and my mom came over for lunch. Mom and I pooled our ingredients and she made some chili and brought it over. Chase is finally a walker!! It's so awesome to watch him grow up. I love seeing him walk. He is 16 months now!

If I didn't distinctly remember the labor I would think that Sydney was Nancy's child:

Mollie wanted to do a silly face:

Sydney being silly: