Almost Ready

I've decided that registering your child for school in a new place is a full time job. I have taken time off work, made numerous phone calls, completed online forms, and sent faxes and emails, just to get Miles registered.  This doesn't include the physical and tracking down the shot record on the "correct" form. Kindergarten is no joke.

We went for Miles' physical a couple weeks ago. Even though he appears to be all smiles, he was terrified that he would have to get a shot.

We had an appointment with one of our friends from church. I had repeatedly promised Miles that he would not be getting any shots, and that Mr. Tyler only had to look at him. After texting with a friend about her son's physical, I was worried there might be a finger prick involved. I text Tyler and asked about a finger prick or anything of the such....his response was "nope. we will have a pain free good time". 

We discovered something during the appointment. Our boy has gotten T-A-L-L! He is 48.5" tall, which is the 92nd percentile.  I had no idea b/c he is not taller than his friends.  He has hit a growth spurt recently so maybe this just happened.  He weighed 46.5 lbs, which is the 62nd percentile.  The rest of the appointment went well and I was very glad to have that marked off the kindergarten checklist.

Another part of getting ready for daycare is saying goodbye to daycare.  We made treats for Miles to take to his daycare friends as a goodbye gesture.  Chocolate pudding, crushed oreos, and gummy worms. It was a throw back to his 4th birthday treats. 

We also took donuts to the teachers to say thank you.  Miles has been at the same daycare since he was 9 weeks old. The thought of walking out tomorrow for the last time is unbelievably sad. We have fantastic memories and have made some great friends, in both the teachers and parents.  Hands down, this is the hardest milestone I've dealt with as a parent. I am so excited for him to start kindergarten, but leaving daycare is closing a big, important chapter in Miles' life.  When I dropped him off almost 6 years ago, I couldn't even get a word out b/c I was crying so hard. Our last day tomorrow has the potential to be eerily similar.  I already told Darrin to prepare himself for the first day of school. I have a lump in my throat as I'm typing. I am not typically an emotional person, but this school thing has me rattled.

We attended open house tonight and met Miles teacher. Miles was overcome with nervousness when we walked in. He almost looked frozen in his seat. He couldn't even look at the teacher.  He calmed down quickly and seemed to soak everything in.  The teacher went over a lot of overwhelming information about folders, money, car rider line (which included an aerial view of the school...I felt like I needed a degree in logistics), the after school program, ice cream money, behavior charts, and on and on.  Again, Kindergarten is no joke. 

Miles is excited. He said that he wishes tomorrow was Monday (a come & go day) and Tuesday (full day for the boys). We have some school shopping to do this weekend and then he will be completely ready for school.  Bring it, our boy is ready.

7 Things

1)  I've been trying to post a weekend wrap up for 3 days, but our internet is a little spotty out here in the country.  Since it's Wednesday, I thought I would just recap with a numbered list.  Something must give with this internet situation. hint, hint, cough, cough, Darrin...

2) This is the current state of our house.

Sheet rock dust is the worst. I've kept my composure during this whole process, but the dust is on every surface, including inside kitchen cabinets that were closed.  How does that happen?  It will all be worth it...repeat....repeat...

3) Miles spent last weekend with Granny & Pa.  He sent Pa a text on Thursday asking if they could go fishing.

How could Pa say no to that?

And Granny can't say no to this...

4)  We joined a gym. While Miles was away for the weekend we worked out together. Well, at the same time, not really together. It felt like old times, before Miles, when we used to work out for 1-2 hours a day, 6 days a week.  I really should have used that time to sit on the couch.

My plan is to work out at home as much as possible.  I've been using the HIIT Interval Training Timer app and it's been working for me.  I need to push myself a little harder, but something is better than nothing right now.  Darrin was not loving the work out at home thing, so he found a gym.  I went ahead and joined b/c it wasn't that much more for both of us.  If I go every now and then, that will be good enough.  And they have a pool so there's that.

5)  Miles had superhero day at school.  He has twin friends at school, Hannah Kate & Anna Marie.  He loves them dearly. This is one of them.

6)  We spruced up our garage over the weekend.  Before...

After...

I saw this same garage makeover on a blog via Pinterest.  We spray painted our light fixtures and ordered the decorative hinge set all for less than $30. The hinges and handles are actually magnets that easily come on and off.  My only complaint is that the handles don't really have a good place on our garage door.  Within a square panel, they were either too high or too low. I'm not crazy with where they landed, but it definitely looks better than anything else we tried.  Overall, I think it's a nice improvement for $30.

7)  Glow in the dark baths never get old. 

They are perfect for a sad little boy that is struggling with the fact that his last day of daycare is Friday.  Me too, Miles, me too.  Hopefully I'll be back with a report on how Miles and I cope on Friday

Stuff I Like - Vacay Version

I discovered a few new things that I really like while we were on vacation.  Since I just wrapped up our vacation pictures, it seems like a good time to share them.

Reusable Shopping Bags
You know the reusable shopping bags that you can buy everywhere now...TJ Maxx, Sams, Old Navy, etc?  I love to use these for a beach bag.  They are roomy enough for towels, beach toys, sunscreen, and everything else. The straps make it easy to carry everything on your shoulder and it opens easily to be able to get to everything. The material is good for water & sand.  The best part is that if it gets yucky by the end of the trip, you can just throw it away since it was only a dollar :)

Nail Polish
Hot pink was the color of choice for my toe nails.  Isn't that always a big decision before a beach vacation? Oh, just me? It was a little sample bottle from Sally's and I thought it was super cute.  I'm usually a nail polish snob and only use OPI and occasionally Essie, but I wasn't feeling any of their colors.

Obligatory toes and the ocean picture...

Nectar Sunglasses
I read about Nectar sunglasses on Life of Blyss.  I'm not sure what it was that convinced me that I needed to try them, but they were reasonable so I ordered this pair.  Shipping and all, they were less than $30.  I was a little disappointed when I received them b/c they were so light, which made me think they were flimsy.  I love them sooooooo much.  They are so comfortable.  They stay put, but don't squeeze your head or indent in any way.  My eyes are very sensitive to the sun and these are the darkest glasses I've ever had.  I wear sunglasses even on a cloudy day. These glasses are so dark that I can't wear them when it's cloudy.  I don't know if they are all as dark as mine, but I love the tint.  My sis in law ordered two pairs after we got back from vacation and she loves hers too.

Olivia & Crystal with Nectars on...and a photo bomb by Ava....

Hawaiian Tropic Sunscreen
I have never been brand loyal with sunscreen. We jump around and just try to find something that will keep us from burning.  I bought some Hawaiian Tropic lotion SPF 8 before we went to Mexico, thinking I might want to use it on my legs in an attempt to turn them from pasty white to ivory.  This little SPF 8 worked better than the other SPF 50 & 60s that we used.  It went on easily and blocked the sun very well.  I will always use Hawaiian Tropic in the future.

Banded Headbands
I feel certain that I've bragged on Banded Headbands before b/c I think they are so great.  They are the only headband that stays put on my head.  My hair is fine and thin and I've never found a head band that worked with squeezing my head off and giving me a killer headache.  I have a ton of the skinny and 1" headbands, but I bought a couple wide ones before vacation. I thought it would be good to keep the hair out of out my face on the beach, and also they don't interfere with Nectar sunglasses.  Win, win. Banded Headband and Nectar glasses in this one...

If you try any of these things, let me know how you lik them!

Mexico - Part IV

Our last full day in Mexico, Steve, Crystal, and the girls went on an all day excursion.  We spent the morning hanging out around the main pavilion area. We are all early risers, which tends to leave some time to kill in the morning between breakfast and the beach.  I'm just not ready to hang out at the beach or pool at 8am in the morning.  So, we checked out some of the animals that were on the resort...

We also rested and talked in the shade. Darrin & I were excited about our move at this point so we spent time talking about that and the work that awaited us when we got home.

We also walked to the ruins that were located on the resort.

Miles took approximately 100 pictures of the iguanas...

 ...and a couple of us.  He's actually pretty good at taking pictures. He tells us where to stand and when to smile.

Finally, it was time to go to the beach. Miles played in the sand forever.  It's such a nice treat when he occupies himself.  

Then, he wanted to be buried in the sand.

We had early dinner reservations that night, so we went back to the room to get ready.  The first two days we encouraged Miles to take a bath and get in his bed to watch his DVD player, knowing he would fall asleep and take a quick nap. Both days we had to wake him up before he was ready. He's like me and when he's exhausted, he just cries for no reason & can't function. So, then we figured out that if we let him play in the bath tub the whole time we are getting ready, he will stay awake and be ready for dinner. It was a much better plan.

We had reservations at the Brazilian restaurant that night.  We love Texas de Brazil at home, so we had high hopes. No such luck.

Darrin thought some of it was ok, but Miles and I didn't really like anything except the dessert.

 
We walked around for a while after dinner and then called it a night.

We didn't have to leave for the airport until noon, so we just lounged around and killed time that morning.

It was a great trip and the kids made some great memories. The weather was absolutely perfect.  Looking back I realize that the move was weighing heavy on my mind during the trip.  While I had a great time, I wasn't able to relax completely.  I hardly slept at all the last three nights, and we've already discussed how well I function on lack of sleep.  Admittedly, I was a little cranky with my family during the trip.  What I wouldn't give to have a day on the beach now!  After a vacation, no matter how good it is, I will always be ready to come home.  We had a very long day of travel and flight delays on the way home.  We walked in the door in the wee hours of the morning to a house full of boxes. Nevertheless it was good to be home sweet home.

Mexico - Part III

Breakfast with the kids...

Then, it was time for our usual beach morning and pool afternoon.  I got lots of pretty beach pics on this day.

The kids had fun playing in the sand.

Uncle D joined in the castle making.  Quite a trooper as the rest of the adults lounged under the palm trees.

Can you guess how much my family loved laying in the sand for this picture??  

Cuteness...

Miles and Darrin can only take so much of a good thing, such as sitting on the beach and starring at the ocean, before they become stir crazy.  They snorkeled for a while...

...and then kayaked...

After a sufficient amount of beach time, we made our way to the pool.  This might be one of my favorite pictures ever.

Uncle Steve making waves in the pool...

On this night, we had reservations at the "surf & turf" restaurant.  Everyone was excited about it. 

Miles took this pic for us...

We also had some family pictures taken on the beach by one of the resort photographers.  We wanted a picture of all of us for my in laws.  I think it's good, but beach pics just never turn out like you imagine with all the wind and squinty eyes.  This was the best shot.  Mission accomplished.
 

The rest were taken by one of us.

Jumping in the air beach shot. Nailed it.

Dinner was really good.  Miles was able to get shrimp cocktail, which was fantastic, and I was able to get a really good steak.  It was a really pretty restaurant on the beach and definitely one of our favorite meals.

A rare picture of Steve. I'm not sure how he alluded my camera all week long.

One more post and should be finished with all the vacation pictures.  Revisiting these is making me want to go back to the beach a-sap!!!!