happy fall y'all!

Sunday morning Nathan brought out the fall bins and we did a little bit of decorating.  Here is the fireplace:

And the table in the entryway:

And the mums Nathan planted in the window boxes off the kitchen:

The mornings were pretty cool earlier in the week, and the weather has been just beautiful.  The kids love playing outside waiting for Nathan to come home.  Hello, fall!

back to skate!

Saturday we ventured back to Clemmons for the first time.  I was a little nervous about it, since none of us has made any new friends yet, and we would be seeing some of the besties.  We started off our day with a playdate at Nickolas's house, and then we went to McDonalds to see Megan and Ella-Brooke. We spent the afternoon at Krista's birthday party at Skateland.  The kids had an absolute blast.  Seth was perfectly happy whipping around the rink, and Amelia was so happy to see all her friends again.  

 Both kids had to go up a size in skates, and Amelia started dancing on wheels this time.  Here they are doing the cha-cha slide together:

We headed home after the party happy, not heartsick...I think it was exactly what we needed!

fall flowers

Last week we got the nicest surprise...the "shrub" in the front yard started blooming daisies!  I love it!  Every few days, Amelia braves the bees and picks fresh flowers for us to display in the kitchen.

We also have a rogue morning glory growing on the fence by the garden.  They are taking over now that the garden has passed its peak.

life of a dresser

Amelia has always had this dresser:

It was my mom's when she was a baby*.  I had talked about painting it before Amelia was born, and Nathan correctly predicted that the Sara of late-2007 would not paint it.  All I did was update the knobs.  Fresh off painting her room, I decided to paint the dresser (with my mom's permission).  I did some pinterest research, and one Monday morning I headed to Lowes to get my supplies.  I gathered my courage and applied a coat of primer.  And then another.  And then another.  On Tuesday, I added three coats of paint.  On Wednesday I took another deep breath and traced 48 circles on each of the sides (to match her bed skirt and curtains).  I painted one side of it, and then got a little sidetracked with the consignment sale.  On Saturday, I painted the other side, and on Sunday I sealed it with polyacrylic.  By Monday, Amelia's clothes were out of bins and back in drawers.  It's not perfect, but she LOVES it:

It's not a very big dresser, but if I only bought clothes she'd actually wear, everything should fit for a while, ha! It will last her until she has a cousin on the B side that can use it (and then they can paint it how they want it!).

*The dresser was chocolate brown when it was my mom's.  My aunt used it for her kids, and painted it white with blue stripes.  Before I was born, my parents stripped all the paint off and stained it.  This was its first paint job in over 34 years.  So this dresser started in northern Minnesota, has been to Georgia, and Colorado, back to southern Minnesota, and from there, New York, Florida, Minnesota, Cary, Clemmons, and now here.

theme weeks

Amelia's school has a themes each week.  I'm going to try to document them each week, because this school is pretty impressive.  At the parent meeting, the director said there would probably be less arts and crafts this year because they are trying to align their program with the new state-wide core curriculum in the elementary schools.  Well, if this is less projects, I would like to see what it used to be like!  She makes something substantial every day.  The second week of school was "H is for home week."  By the end of the week, Amelia knew our new address, and my cell phone number.  The teachers even made them these cute cell phones out of styrofoam with the phone number on it, and taught her how to dial it.

For show and tell that week, they had a hat week.  Amelia's class is the owls, so of course she had to wear her owl hat.

our big helper

We sold a bunch of stuff before our move, because we knew it wouldn't work in the new house.  We've spent the last few weekends buying things to help complete our home.  Seth has been more than willing to help with assembly, but a lot of things are too big for him to help with.  Except ikea.  He helped put together a chair and two benches, and he put this footstool together all by himself.  

More pictures of the house coming soon, I promise!

a day later...

Man, I meant business when I said I was going to snap out of it!  As soon as I published my last post, I saw that Michael J Fox was in the top ten topics trending on a search engine.  Curious, I clicked on it, and found this.  Ellen joins my short list of celebs I like for their support of Team Fox (which previously only included Rachel Ray and Ryan Reynolds).

So...I dropped Amelia off at preschool, and ran from her school, to the park, and back (3 miles).  Then I came home and scoured our shower.  And I think as a true indication that the funk was gone, I made our bed.  Then my oldest, dearest friend called and we talked for well over an hour, which is always good for the soul.  I sat out of the deck with Colette and read through the stack of scouting info Nathan gave me on Tuesday that I had set aside.  When I picked up Amelia, I felt like me again.

Now because of how I spent my morning, Amelia and I had to run a couple errands again, to buy bird seed and make a return at Walmart this time.  We picked up Seth and the kids played great, until I finally had to mandate dinner.  I tried another new red potato recipe to go with dinner, and Nathan requested an ice cream run.  Besides for the Panthers losing, it was a great day!

ho-hum

I've had a week of the ho-hums, but I think I'm snapping out of it.  I was not sad to move, but I think the ugliness of the sale of our house made me GLAD to get out of there at the time.  We were absolute rock stars at getting moved and settled, and then we had adventure week, and then school started and there's always been some sort of not-to-small project on my plate.  I never realized how completely settled I was before.  I went to the same Target, Walmart, etc for twelve years.  After a month, I can almost find everything on the first try at the grocery store.  I had a hissy fit at the Y a couple weeks ago, because I was so unhappy with the level of customer service I received there.  Who knew all Y's aren't created the same?  I'm trying to meet people...I've gone to school meetings and a couple social functions, and last week I started a Bible study with our neighbors.  Our neighbors are really nice, and I'm the only Lutheran in the bunch, but I think I'll enjoy it.  I was chatting with another lady who moved here a month before us.  She confided in me, "I hate it here."  I was shocked, because she and her kids look so happy when we see them outside.  We got to talking more, and she had moved after living in the same place for twelve years, her daughters are in school, but her little boy isn't settling in well.  He's not in preschool so he spends his days bored at home with her (thank goodness I registered Amelia in April so I'm not in the same boat!)  I don't hate it here, and being a complete family unit overrides any of my complaints, but I think that conversation birthed some woe-is-me thoughts in my brain.  I was in a funk on Thursday, and the copy machine at Seth's school almost had me in tears (can't anything be easy?).  Then I got in his classroom, to find him in tears.  And then I pick Amelia up and she's in tears.  Okay, it's a beautiful day, let's go to the greenway.  We had done it the day before, and I jogged two miles while the kids rode.  This time, though, somebody got really comfortable on his two wheels, took off back to the park, "couldn't hear me" when I yelled for him, and I was stuck in the horrible position of not being able to leave Amelia, and not knowing where he was.   So we had a little talk about mommy's expectations on the greenway, but that didn't exactly help my bad mood.  The consignment sale was fun, and the ladies I talked to were nice, but it was just another morning of pleasantries.

We stuck close to home this weekend, and on Monday my plan was to take the massive amounts of cardboard from all our recent purchases to the recycling center.  Had they not already been loaded in the van, I would have changed my plans.  We had torrential downpours off and on all day Monday, and they happened to be "on" while I was at the recycling center.  I ran a couple other errands and called it quits for the day.  On Tuesday I decided it was time to quell my anger at the Y and go take a class.  I took pilates.  It wasn't as challenging as what I'm used to, but I was sore yesterday, so I guess it worked!  I also tried something new...usually I pick up Amelia, we're home a little over an hour, and then we have to get Seth.  Amelia and I ran a few small errands during that time, which was much more productive than we have been.  Yesterday we explored the downtown shops during that time.  Productive?  No.  Better than going home for an hour?  Yes.  I did my volunteer hours at Seth's school yesterday, so the next two mornings are a blank slate.  I have plans, but they aren't set in stone.  And they don't involve paint.  :)  I hope I'm back on track.  I don't like who I was this past week.

baby Lea?

At Amelia's preschool, every Monday the teachers switch out the artwork above the kids' hooks in the hallway.  Imagine my surprise last Monday when I saw this:

I looked over at Amelia, she looked at me, and said, "Don't tell them."  On the ride home, we had a talk about lying to teachers.  On Tuesday morning, one of the teachers asked me if we were adopting, because Amelia had told them on two separate occasions that she had a baby sister named Lea, but our family picture didn't include a baby and they couldn't find anything about a baby in her bio.  I just told her that it was a new imaginary baby sister who was staying imaginary.  Amelia!

So on Friday at the consignment sale, I let Amelia get a Baby Alive doll who pretends to eat and talks, and Amelia has named her Lea.

consignment, wow

I knew there was a consignment sale in the church that houses Amelia's preschool.  When I asked the preschool director about it in July, she said she'd get me in touch with the right people when school started.  Two days before we moved, I happened upon the sale's FB page, and found out that registration had been the month of July, but the week before there had been a couple spaces left.  I sent an email explaining our situation and was allowed to join the sale.  I had no idea what I was getting into.  It was crazy.  During preschool Friday I worked a pre-sale shift and was assigned to the girls' shoe room.  That's right:  girls. shoe. room.  This is one of three walls of shoes, all sorted by size.  The room also had three racks of maternity clothes and two tables in the middle of the room for decor items.

There was another room of boys shoes, two rooms full of "big-ticket" items, a teen room that spilled outdoors, and the church courtyard was used for bikes and other outdoor toys.  The dining area was lined with checkout booths, but the multipurpose room was the most impressive.  Here is the toy/book section:

 And the clothes:

Because I volunteered, I could go to the first pre-sale at 4pm.  When I went to pick Seth up at 2:30, there were already people camped out waiting to go in.  We got there right at 4, and it was craziness.  I was able to find everything we needed, and a few things we didn't!  That night there was a second pre-sale for consigners (non-volunteers), and the sale opened to the public Saturday morning.  The sale uses a barcode tagging system, has security cameras, police officers, and boy scout volunteers manning the doors. The church parking lot was full every time we drove past Saturday.  I had to go pick up my unsold times at 5pm.  They didn't let us in the building until 5:22, and here is what the line for pick-up looked like when I got there.

Insane!  I sorted my stuff Sunday night and it looks like I made about $300.  Not bad for the new kid in town!  I just got an email from the sale that said they sold over $94,000.  Wow!

after school activities

Each kid was allowed to pick out one activity they wanted to do this fall.  Amelia chose tumbling, and Seth chose tennis.  They were supposed to start two weeks ago, but the Y made a big goof (which caused the momma bear in me to come out because Amelia was really looking forward to it and it broke her heart that she didn't have class) and then Seth's lesson was cancelled due to rain.  It makes those afternoons kind of crazy, but they had a lot of fun in their first week.  I don't think Amelia stopped smiling the whole time:

Seth got a little frustrated that he wasn't perfect right away, but I used the same schpeal I used when he was learning how to ride his bike ("You are doing exactly what someone is learning is supposed to do.  No one expects you to be perfect.  Just try your best.")

And to make that Tuesday a little more crazy, Seth talked Nathan into going to the cub scout informational meeting.  Sounds like we'll be giving that a whirl too.  Fun fall!

new park

A brand-spanking-new park opened just a few miles from us.  One hot Sunday afternoon I took the kids to go check it out.  The kids had never seen a merry-go-round before.  Ever.  It was fun to watch them test it out, running and jumping on, trying to walk across it while it was spinning; you know, all that fun stuff I did as a kid.  I let them get thoroughly nauseated, and then we had a drink break.

 We were waiting patiently for 2:30, when the splash pad opened again:

End of summer fun, for sure!

pretty in pink

It came as no surprise to those who know her well, but Amelia instantly hated her new room.  Seth's room was already blue, and had it been a bad color, he would have understood that it would be painted as soon as possible.  Try explaining that to a 4-year-old, when her parents' and brother's rooms were already nice.  Heck, Amelia's room is the only room we're changing due to ugliness.  Add that to the fact that her room has one closet, not two, like the other rooms, and she was one mad little hen.  She told my friends, "My room is orange and yellow and it's been painted infinity times so my mom can't paint it anymore."  Well, she got the orange/yellow part right:

I bought the paint on Labor Day, taped off her room Friday morning, applied a first coat of paint during preschool and a second before we picked up Seth, and removed the tape when Nathan got home.  Here is a sneak peak:

I will post more when it has been accessorized!

the kitchen

One day I finally dug through all the stacks of stuff in the kitchen and got the counters cleaned, and I decided to take pictures of it.  We have less cabinet space, but it hasn't been a problem so far.  The glass doors in the first picture open out to the deck:

The door in this picture leads to the laundry closet and the hallway that leads to the garage:

The kids eat breakfast and lunch at this table, and Seth sits down here in the afternoons to do his homework:

There is also a little desk area in the kitchen.  The cabinets are organized, but I have yet to maintain a clean counter there.  Which is fine, because there is no room for a chair under it right now.  We started to find Colette sleeping on our shoes under there, so we moved her bed in there instead!

home is where my family is

Aside from the kids missing their friends, and my frustration with the fact that every (every!) store has a different layout than it did 90 minutes away from here, we have made a relatively smooth transition.  During my whirlwind day of house hunting, this house had a peaceful vibe to it, even more so now that we're settling in.  Our yard is about half the size as it was before, but as you can see, it's been nicely landscaped.  It's fenced in, and Colette hasn't figured out an escape route yet. 

The previous owners had a raised-bed garden, and we (especially Amelia) are loving the flowers and vegetables.  We'll make some changes next year, but right now there are zinnias, morning glories, cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, jalepenos, cayenne peppers, and green bell peppers.

the new kid at school (part 2)

Preschool finally started Tuesday morning.  (We found the perfect hair bow over the weekend at the craft fair.)  Amelia found this outfit at Gram's Target, and had to have it for the first day of school.  It'd been in my room for safekeeping.  I had brand-new sneakers put away.  She didn't like them at first, but she decided if she had to wear sneakers, these would do.

She broke her backpack the end of July, but since I paid $3 for it and it lasted for two years, I really couldn't complain. She picked it out before she picked out the outfit.  I love that it's dark blue and hopefully won't get too dirty!

With, ta-da!, a matching lunch box, because Amelia's class eats lunch at school four of the five days each week!

I have to walk her in/out, which is new to me, and it's fairly chaotic since it's such a big preschool.  Amelia hangs up her backpack, puts her lunch box on the floor, uses hand sanitizer, and goes into the classroom without a backwards glance at me.

We all loved our old preschool, but since we had to leave, this is a darn good replacement.  Her teachers are so nice, and the curriculum in outstanding.  I am excited about what Amelia has on her calendar for the rest of the month!

small town festival

Last weekend there was a festival in our little downtown area, where all the profits went to support local charities.  We spent a little bit of every day there.  There were food vendors along the main street, carnival rides in the park, and a craft fair around Seth's school.  Friday night was an all-you-can-ride night. 

Naturally the lines got long, and the kids twisted Nathan's arm to ride one or two more Saturday morning after the parade.

On Monday, we went back to town, and Nathan took the kids back to the rides while I wandered through the crafts.  Nathan went with the kids on the Tempest and was wishing he hadn't.  Right before it closed down Monday, we headed back to buy a clock, and Seth had just enough tickets left for me to ride the Paratrooper with him.  It looked like a ferris wheel at a 45 degree angle.  It felt like it was hanging on by one bolt, and each time we reached the top, I was convinced we were going to go airborne and crash somewhere in the vicinity of the elementary school.  Once back on solid ground, the heat/motion sickness got to me, and I took a short nap on the comfy carpet in the family room.  Somebody is going to have to go with us to the fair next time, because our kids are way more adventurous than we are.

b-o-r-i-n-g

That's how Amelia's week was while Seth was in school.  We went to the Y, we ran errands, we played babies, but Amelia watched a lot more TV than she normally would to pass the time.  I took this picture on Thursday before our new couches were delivered.  Nathan and I had moved the old couches out, but left the cushions in there so the kids could make a fort.  Amelia lounged, a lot:

Seth didn't have homework all last week, and after the first day, they would run upstairs and play in Seth's room.  Eventually they'd ask to play outside, and more days than not Nathane would find us socializing in someone's driveway when he came home.

meanwhile at home...

Now, what to do for two girls while the boys are off at school/work?  At open house I volunteered to help in the classroom in whatever capacity was needed.  Tentative plans were made involving book sorting sometime in the near future.  On the first day of school, the teacher asked if I would mind cutting these out:

No problem! (Nathan told her she had struck the jackpot.)

When we got home, Amelia wanted to make Seth cupcakes as a surprise.  She did everything except crack the eggs and put the cupcakes in/out of the oven.

 She was so proud of them:

And her tired brother shot her down as soon as he got home.  He's not big on sweets anyways, and he wasn't kind in his refusal.  First time I've sided with Amelia in one of their spats in a long time.  I made sure Nathan ate a cupcake as soon as he got home.  They were good...chocolate in the middle!

We went to the Y and ran a couple errands, but boy, was the house quiet without Seth around!  Amelia was miserable without him!

the new kid in school (part 1)

None of us had any time to be nervous Monday morning, we had to get out the door to get to school!  We have to leave about 30 minutes earlier than we used to.  We did have time to snap a couple pictures before we left:

 Amelia didn't want to be in any pictures, but she did take one for us:

Seth settled right into his desk, and didn't seem at all phased that we didn't stay:

He was tired when he got home (it's almost an hour longer school day),  but by the time Nathan got home, he was ready to tell us every little thing about second grade!  He loves it so far!

on 2 wheels!

Sunday morning we headed to the greenway...Nathan played a round of solo frisbee golf and the kids rode bikes.  Our old neighborhood wasn't a good place to learn how to ride a bike, and Seth had himself pretty psyched out about it.  But there are lots of kids riding bikes in our new neighborhood, and Seth wanted to learn.  So after a couple false starts and some reassurance that it wasn't supposed to be perfect the first day, we now have another bike rider in our house!

By the time we met up with Nathan, he was going quite far on his own, and starting himself when he did stop.  Amelia was tearing up the greenway on her training wheels, and I think it's safe to say she won't be seven when we take hers off.  We were so proud of Seth for conquering his fears so quickly, and it was a great confidence booster the day before school started!  Since then, every day he has had his bike out, even if it's only for a quick trip up a couple mailboxes and back.

bye bye boxes

In what may be a world record, we had every box unpacked by Saturday morning, and I met a friend from church who is moving in September and gave her all our boxes.  Paying it forward!  And then took a quick loop around the outlet mall, because I could.  While I was gone, Nathan took the kids to play frisbee golf, and by the sounds of it, they all had a blast.

That afternoon we bought new couches, which wasn't as painful as you would think because we had done our research ahead of time.  Our trip to Costco made up for it.  The kids were tired/hungry/whiney, and can I just ask why not one store in this town can be set up the same way as it was in Clemmons?  Sheesh.  The kids were appeased with snacks and we went home and ate a fancy dinner of hot dogs.  Woo-hoo.  Everyone got a good night's sleep, because boy, did we need it.  Grump-city!

Friday Y day

Friday morning we went to the Y, because the kids wanted to check out their respective areas.  Seth's room has games galore, a rock wall, a bounce house, 3 wii, and fitness equipment.  Amelia's room is split into ages, and she is in the oldest group, which has a structured daily schedule like a preschool, so I guess you could technically plan your workout around what your kid likes best.  I had a horrific run.  In retrospect, I guess it's a bad idea to test out new music and new shoes on a new-to-you treadmill at a new-to-you YMCA while your kids are in new-to-them childcare and after a month of no cardio (but have I mentioned how strong the guys thought I was during moving?).  My subsequent runs have gone better.

That afternoon, the kids BEGGED to check out the Y pool.  They had to take a swim test when we arrived. Seth passed with flying colors and has free reign of the pool.  Amelia could not float on her back long enough to earn the first level of independence.  She was TICKED that I had to be in the water with her, even in the shallow end (and I wasn't too happy about it either, since that meant I had to get in the way-too-cold-for-late-August water).  We ended up snuggling on a pool chaise watching Seth go down the water slides a bunch of times.  

The week was fun, but we're still exploring!

legos and learning

Thursday morning the kids and I checked out a new lego play area for open play.  I have a punch card for four hours for each of them, but I didn't want it to be too much of a good thing, so we only stayed for one hour.  Seth had a blast playing creationary, and Amelia built a house and a family out of duplos.  I spent most of my time with Amelia, but would walk over to Seth when he told me he was ready for me to guess his creation.

We had some down time at home because a big event awaited us, open house at Seth's new school.  Seth was so brave.  He was shaking like a leaf, but he went right up to his new teacher and said, "My name is Seth and I am new."  She has been great with him (and me) so far, so we're looking forward to a really good year.  We picked up our car line pass, signed up for the PTO, bought a school t-shirt, and found out where all the specials are held.  Seth put on a good front, but he wasn't nearly as comfortable as I would have liked him to be, and I was a worried momma all weekend about how the first day of school was going to go.