Back to School, Baby Girl

Vivi went to her first day of pre school today!
I couldn't resist this cute school girl outfit.

Family loved this pose when I emailed these photos out this morning!

She was so happy for school to finally be starting.

While it was still dark in the house this morning,

she brought me her outfit on it's hanger and said "Mommy, you help me put this on?"

She LOVES taking her lunch.

Mommy loves how cute and little and pink AND labeled everything is!

Brother insisted on bringing his backpack too. :)

Her 3's teacher is the same that taught her 2's class last semester!

She loves Ms. Jessica.

Her table spot.

Happy First Day of School, Baby Girl!!

My boy...so proud of him!

Look at this boy!

Officially a kindergartner. He had a wonderful first week of school. His teacher specifically pulled me aside twice at pick up time to tell me what a great job he was doing. She said that he is a leader in the classroom, helpful to the smaller kids, and that the music and art teachers even commented on how impressed they are with him! woohoo! She told me in an email that she is so happy to have him in her class this year. And at church today he came home with 3 prizes for being extra helpful in class and answering quiz questions like how many books are in the Bible. This is good news to my heart because the weeks preceding school were a nightmare around here with him. I think it was mainly because we were all getting stir crazy and he was having some nervousness which he didn't tell us about until after school started. In an attempt to sooth my sanity, I came up with a behavior modification technique. He now earns sticks throughout the day. The yellow sticks represent 10 minutes each of tv time. If he has no sticks, he watches no tv that day. The red ones are a consequence...meaning for 10 minutes he has to complete a chore of my choice. And the green sticks are 10 min. of computer time (very coveted around here). He earns these only for extra special behavior, and not every day.The yellow sticks are earned for getting ready for school in the morning with less than 2 reminders, walking/riding bike to school without any rule infractions, doing anything without an attitude, behaving at school/church, going to bed without fussing. He loses yellow sticks for unruly, rude, or fussy attitudes and behaviors towards anyone in the family. He has been doing fantastic with this system! We do not want to reward with prizes or toys because we want him to behave because it is the right thing to do. TV was something he always received each day, but now that he has to earn the privilege to partake in that most favorite of hobbies, it is the perfect amount of motivation for him.

Because we only buy the children toys two times a year, when we go to the store and they say they like something, I follow it up with "we will put that on your birthday/Christmas list this year" depending one which one is closer. So lately Isaac has had his eye on some DC superfriends toys to add to his collection of Imaginext. (Check out the toy in his hand in the above photo and you will see how crazy he still is about these) Of course I had my camera with me, so I was able to appease him by telling him he could have a pictoral list this year!

Toys R Us had so many new ones to match his bat cave and array of vehicles and guys. Including a villian building!

I was excited to see Toy Story 3 Imaginext coming out.

This will be some fun shopping this year!

Good grief

That is the title to my post because that has been the last two weeks for me. In the spirit of keeping-it-real around here, I thought I would share my frustrations, as I know many of you feel my pain. In the past two weeks, these events have gone down in no particular order. Isaac's meet the teacher (on my b-day) happened to be an absolute nightmare! First the school shuttled us into the cafeteria for the principal to lecture us about how school starts at 7:50, not 7:51...not 7:55....7:50. Okay. Got it. Then they herded all the kindergartners and posse in tow down a very hot and narrow hallway into the gym where there were only seats for about 1/4 of the crowd. There we had to sit through a painful slideshow of everything they want us parents to know about kindergarten. This was with crying babies and restless toddlers running around. Then if that wasn't bad, we all at the same time...keep in mind there are about 100 students x 2 parents and multiple siblings each...are flooded into the kindergarten corridor and into the tiny classrooms. It was so crowded that we had to wait 20 minutes for our turn in line to meet the teacher. Meanwhile, Isaac is showing off and acting out. So much for first impressions. Billy and I were fit to be tied leaving there. Thankfully, the first week of school has gone well and he has gotten great reports home. Vivi's meet the teacher last night was similar in aggravation and crowding, along with a 45 minute parent meeting where we were lectured that our children cannot come to school if they have had a fever in the past 24 hours. So if they had a fever yesterday at noon, they cannot come today. Please raise your hands if you heard me. OK. Got it. And you cannot be "friends" with your child's teacher on facebook. It is a liability. Ok. Got it. And of course after all that I have no pictures of her meet the teacher either. Amongst all of this aggravation, my A/C went out in the van for the 2nd time this summer while stuck in the carpool lane on a 107 degree afternoon, J has a raging cold again, after only about a 5 day reprieve from that last one, Vivi got gum in her hair that was not easy to get out resulting in me having a mini breakdown in Old Navy on the busiest clothing shopping day of the year, and Vivi locked Lucy into our bedroom...taking us hours and a call to the police station at 9 p.m. to get it unlocked. Thankfully Billy was able to use pliers to pry open the handle before the cop got here. So now we need a new bedroom doorknob. OH...and I got a call from J's dentist office saying they did not have him on the schedule for surgery. What?! That should have been taken care of 3 weeks ago. Thankfully I was able to clear that up and still get him in for his fillings on the 23rd of next month. Whew!! I am exhausted having to relive all of that. But I thought just in case you read this blog and think things are just peaches and cream over here all the time...um....no. Today we have ECI and tomorrow J's new CASA worker is coming over to meet him and us. SO amongst my normal cleaning and shopping and laundry that has to get done on the weekends, I have that to fit in. But I am not complaining...this is the life I chose. I get it. Doesn't mean it isn't mind numbing at times. As I type this, J and Vivi are in a very sweet hug with smiles on the couch. This is a child who shows little affection, so it warms my Mama heart to see him loving on his sister. Now they are laying down watching PBS kids and she is holding him! Awwww. What a blessing these two are to each other. Tomorrow night, I will be blessed when my dear friend, Jen picks me up for Cheesecake Factory. So maybe I will have some reprieve from the chaos that is my life, afterall!

Planning a Party

In just 6 weeks from tomorrow, my oldest child will turn 6 years old.

That is crazy!!

We are planning a Backyard Carnival theme and will be inviting his entire kindergarten class, along with our other friends. The party will have game stations, a tattoo booth, a concession stand, a prize table, and a big bounce house (courtesy of Nana). The kids will use real tickets to cash in on their food and prizes. Parents.com has some really cute b-day party ideas including this one (which is where I swiped this photo from). I am especially excited about the themed cupcakes I will be doing, those will remain a surprise until the party. ;) Billy is requesting a four day weekend as I will need all hands on deck to pull this one off. Either he or our friend will be donning my red apron and working the yard as a popcorn vendor.

Today I worked on the invitations, getting rental prices for the bounce house, and making some to- do lists. This party is going to require me getting really crafty...so I am a little nervous about that. But, as you know I LOVE children's birthday parties...hosting them, going to them...it is all fun for me. My sister-in-law is coming here for labor day weekend, so maybe I can get her to tap into her sorority event days and paint some poster signs for me! Hopefully the weather will be cooler than his pumpkin patch party when he was 3. Ninety seven degrees in October just chaps my hide.

Blog Award

Kelly over at Surprised by Hope, who also is a transracial adoptive mommy, awarded me this on her blog...on my birthday coincidentally :) I am supposed to share one thing I am happy about now and one thing I am hoping for in the future. I am happy about being a mother of 3. At any given time, one of my children is giving me grief, but having these three children in my home calling me Mom...is not lost upon me. I am so proud to take them out and about and have people staring at us and smiling and telling us how adorable our kids are. I know...thank you. :) J has fit in like he has always been here. He doesn't feel like the new kid. He feels like the brother we always had, that was just away for a long time. But he is home now. And what do I hope for the future? That we will be able to adopt him and bring home a baby by this time next year...okay so that was two things! So now I want to pass this along to a few bloggers whom I love to keep up with!

Brandi

Debbie

Mandy

Rebekah

Happy Blogging, Ladies!!

Playing....

A couple months ago, I joined a group in our area that coordinates FREE events for you and your kids during the week. You register online to attend and then they get vendors to come set up tables at the event in an effort to advertise and sell their products. The vendors pay a fee to be there, which in turn gets paid to the event place and allows us parents and kids to play for free. I love it. We have gone to about 5 events now. On my birthday, we spent 3 hours at a really nice gymnastics studio. There was plenty for everyone to do!

I couldn't get over the fact that we were able to be entertained for a whole afternoon in air conditioning and it cost us nothing. Such a brilliant concept these women had who came up with this group!

These two pretty much just like to hang around.

Isaac swam for a little over an hour in an indoor heated pool.

I broke down and put our suits on, so the little ones got to swim too.

The events range from bounce house facilities, to play places like Going Bonkers, to Gyms. They offer 2-3 a month.

The kids love it and I love having free entertainment, can't beat that!

Vivi and her Peeps

Mazzie looks so cute in her backpack on her 1st day of school....go check it out!!

Brandi's oldest daughter, Mazzie turned 5 years old on Saturday.

She starts kindergarten tomorrow too, and she will be sporting her new Jessie backpack that her parents gave her and the matching lunch box we gave her. They were in TX for the weekend to celebrate with Brandi's family and stopped here on their way back. Vivi, Maz, and Monae had fun dressing up and chasing Isaac through the house. Billy said he just loved the sound of laughter filling the halls...explains why we both love having lots of kids! I had to post this photo as it is just so darling! What sweet little princesses. Don't be fooled by the two on both ends. Those girls pack some serious attitude and are stubborn. Oh...and they are only a month apart in age. Hope they will grow up to be lifelong friends.

First Day of School!

My oldest child started Kindergarten today!!!

I was so anxious for him, and of course I didn't have our morning routine down pat so we were running a little behind (not officially tardy) just later than I had hoped. But he got there showered, lotioned, teeth brushed and flouride rinsed, hair creamed and brushed, and new shoes. I wasn't thinking about the fact that the highschool and elementary school feed off the same street, so when we approached the school, the traffic was so bad we had to pull over in front of a house and walk the rest of the journey. We live only a few streets away, so once the weather cools off we will just walk the whole way.

Once inside, it was like pulling teeth to get this kid to pose with his teacher.
I mean look how painful it was for him to stand there and smile for all of 2 seconds.
Sheesh.
It cracked me up because on the way into the class, he was walking ahead of me and of course none of the school personnel thought I was his mom, so they kept leaning down and asking him if he knew where he was going. Hilarious! I thought for sure me walking right behind him with a little brown skinned toddler in tow might tip them off that we might all be his family, but nope. That's okay! I am SO used to it by now. And atleast I know when I do begin to drop him off at the school entrance, he will have plenty of help getting to the kindergarten corridor.
Here is his table. He is sitting with girls who have names like, Genevieve, Ashtyn and Gabriella! Ha...long gone are the classmates named Sarah, Jennifer, and Becky...right?

Here was our first-day-of-school teacher gift.

The kindergartners are asked to bring an afternoon snack each day, so I also packed a weeks worth for the teacher along with a lemonade.

And a bundle of teacher school supplies (here is the front)

Dry erase markers, an eraser, and spray... along with tape and a flower pen.

On the back is a pack of sharpies and scissors.

Thought she might appreciate these much needed items!

Oh...and as I was leaving the kindergarten corridor, there was a teacher with a box of kleenex for parents who were in tears. I told Billy I wanted to cry out of relief that the summer was finally over! Does that make me a bad mom?

And to finish off this post, here are some of my adorable finds when I went tax free back-to-school clothes shopping over the weekend. I went by myself Friday night and then with the kids briefly the next day which ended with me in tears and Vivi with gum in her hair. Good grief. (P.S. Peanut butter does not work as well in getting gum out of hair as "they" say, Canola oil worked like a dream.) Vivi's rockin' pj's.

Brother outfits (got a few of these!)

Vivi's cool shirts and jeans.

( I was having difficulty getting the photos to rotate, so this is all I can post.)

Isaac's cool shirts and jeans.

J got some too, but those photos wouldn't post right.

Brother superhero shirts that with 15% off my order plus a $10 off coupon, I got for around 8 bucks each at old navy. These shirts seem to be all the rage for boys this season, so I was happy to get them at such a reasonable price, and in their sizes (not an easy feat)! I can't stand boys t-shirts with all kinds of graphics on the front or characters, but of course those are the shirts boys love. The above red sweatshirt was something Isaac chose. These shirts seemed to be a good compromise for us.

Stay tuned for pictures...

Eating Out As A Family of Five

Billy gets paid every two weeks and as I have mentioned before, we have been living cash only for 2 years this September. That means that we have a cash envelope for eating out that gets filled on payday. As a family of five now, this money goes fast. Once it is gone, it is a long 14 days til we get it back. And that is only eating out two times in that 2 week period. So as of late I have been on the prowl for ways that we can eat out for our whole family for $15 or less. This of course means our days of going to places where we tip are limited to special occasions. I sign up for every coupon program at all of our favorite places (mostly done online), and always take them up on the offers. Since our last pay day, I have been able to make our eating out money work at 3 places for all 5 of us and I still have $7 left!! Woohoo! Do I hear icecream, anyone?
Here is a list of where we have gone and how:
Cici's Pizza (with 2 boys we are a fan of the buffet establishments!) They let me use two coupons together and 3 and under are free. So we all eat there for $10 and some change.
Chick-Fil-A You all know how expensive this can be! Well...we go on Family Nights (Tuesdays), which vary in theme and promotions. Last night it was movie night w/free popcorn. So we bought two 12 pack adult nugget meals, which allowed us to divvy up plenty of nuggets to the kids. They didn't need the fries because popcorn was their side dish, and we got them waters to drink which is healthier anyways. So that put our total at $13 for all 5 of us, which would have been about what 3 kids meals would have cost me alone!
Souper Salad They sent me a free meal coupon for my b-day, we printed one off for Isaac to eat free, and the 3 and unders were free automatically. This works because we pay cash so Billy and I do two seperate transactions which allows us to use more than one coupon. At times where the cashier makes me feel a little embarrassed or cheap, I ease the tension with "3 mouths to feed ain't easy in this economy!" and they almost always smile and say how much they get it. I mean we aren't pulling these tactics at steak houses...so it works! With water to drink again, that put our total at $7 and some change. Awesome for a buffet!
At other places, we all order off the dollar menu and skip the expensive kids meals, which I swear keep increasing in price every year. And we save money by always drinking water, or Billy and I share a drink. And in the past we have gone to Denny's and used coupons for the adult meals while kids eat free, up to two kids per one paying adult. Denny's has great healthy side dish options for kids.

There are lots of websites where you can find what places in your area have free kids meals. But sometimes by the time you buy two adult meals and tip...you are still out a lot of money and would have been better off eating at home and saving the cash for a date night. I prefer coupons and buy one get one deals on adult meals. So many times the portions are plenty big enough to share with the little ones anyway. Have fun eating out on a budget!

Wrapping Up Our Summer...

Here are some of my favorite shots as we are wrapping up the summer...

(I LOVE having 3 kids. Love, love, love it.)

J

Sweet summertime.

These two are peas in a pod. J does everything Vivi does.

Here they are playing with their plastic food. We have never had a play kitchen for some reason. Guess I just didn't want to spend the money on something that I have seen a lot of kids get and never play with after the initial excitement wears off. I think J would like one though. I may look into one of those boy play grills. Gotta love a man in an apron! This child is just so beautiful in so many ways.

I can say that, I'm her Mom.

I adore this photo!