It's Me Again, Margaret!

So much for updating this thing. I read so many blogs, you'd think I could remember to update my own.

Anyway, it is now 2012. I would say the obligatory "Good riddance to 2011. Worst year yet!," but I have to say that 2011 was much better to us than 2010 was. Here's to hoping 2012 will be a great year!

Hmmmm...what has been going on with us? Let's see....

1. Reagan has adjusted well to school. She loves to go and see her friends and misses it when they have days off. She is so ready to go back from the holidays.

2. Aftan is doing good. Getting taller, as usual. I think someone forgot to tell her that you are supposed to not grow so fast after the age of 2 or 3. :)

3. Reagan just turned 3, and we just barely met our goal of being potty trained by 3. She has been accident-free for a week now and has been going out of the house in undies.

4. Aftan has her first loose tooth. It is really loose and I thought it would have fallen out by now, but nope. Just hanging in there. I can see her adult tooth behind it, so I am hoping it falls out soon.

5. I got semi-furloughed at my job. That's been fun times, but we are managing.

6. The in-laws so graciously provided us w/ two months worth of membership dues at the Y, so we are going to start exercising and eating healthier. That is my New Year's resolution....just be more healthy in general and lose about 40 pounds. (Not saying it wouldn't hurt to get into some skinny jeans. #just saying)

That's it really. We are boring people. No wonder I don't update this thing more often.

Let's see if I can muster up a recent photo of the kids.

School Time

I can't believe the summer went by that quick and that school time has already started.

I have both my girlies in school now. Aftan is in "kindergarten" and Reagan in preschool. Aftan was very excited to go back to school and see her teacher. She really missed her this summer. Reagan is liking school, but she is not yet adjusted to having to be away from me all day. She cries for me at drop-off in the morning, but I peek in the window when I am outside (yes, I am a preschool stalker) and she is already done crying every time I look in. She is excited when I come to pick her up and announces to her entire class that "My mommy is here!!!!". She tells me all about her day and all the things she did. Aftan is hit or miss. Some days she "can't remember" what she did and some days, like the day she got to be the teacher's assistant, she will explain in great detail. I guess it's the age ;)

I have gone back to work outside the home. My original plan was to work 9-2 M-F, but right now it is not working out quite that way. I am working 9-2 some days, but I am working a couple nights after the girls go to bed and maybe will start working some weekends if the weekday hours don't pan out. I kind of like it b/c a couple days a week, I have some time at home to myself. I enjoy that down time and the ability to get things straightened up w/out someone asking for things constantly.

I do miss my girls, though.

Here is a pic from their first day of school:

Six Months Later...

I can't believe it has been just about six months since I last updated this thing. This year is just slipping through my fingers. I can't believe it is almost half over. It is kind of surreal.

The school year is almost over. We still have about three weeks left. Only about five weeks until Aftan's 5th birthday. How is it that I can remember the day she was born like yesterday, but in just a few months she will be in "kindergarten"? *I use quotey fingers for "kindergarten" b/c she will be in the same class she was in this year, teacher and all, but moves to the top of the cycle in her class. For those that don't know, she goes to a Montessori school and their classes are divided by age, with 3 different ages per class. She is in the 3-young six class (those kids that did not make the 1st grade cutoff). She will not move up until next year when she is in the 1st grade. She will then stay in that class from 1st through 3rd grades. It gives her a chance to be the youngest and receive help and learn from older kids and will also give her the chance (like this coming school year) to be the oldest and help the younger kids.* Anyway, Reagan will also be going to school in September. Actually, she is going to go to a week of Summer Camp at school w/ Aftan this summer, as well. She will be in the 2-young 3s class. I can't believe that she is just about 2 1/2 now. She talks in complete sentences and sometimes just says the funniest things. I can also remember very vividly holding her in the rocking chair when we brought her home from the hospital. I would rock her all day and just daydream about what she would look like and what she would say when she was old enough to talk. Now I know, and it's so cute.

Oh....Aftan's birthday. We decided to forgo a big party w/ her friends from school and spend the day as a family at Busch Gardens. She is very excited about it and said she'd rather spend her day w/ us than her friends. She is already planning on what rides she is going on (she has never even been. LOL) and what food she is going to eat. We are thinking of trying to get her in to have lunch w/ Elmo, so hopefully that will be available on the day we go.

But, that is pretty much it. We haven't really done anything exciting or new. I am going to try to update this thing more now. :)

Thank you, Universe!

May I have another?

It just seems like we can't catch a break. My van is still not ready. It was supposed to be done last Friday, but the transmission that came in was a dud and had to be rebuilt. He told me it'd be ready on Tuesday. Well, it snowed on Monday, so it never got delivered. He told me on Tuesday that'd he'd put it in that afternoon or Wednesday morning. Never heard from him on Wednesday despite calling nearly 20 times throughout the day. I call him this morning (Thursday) and he says he has double pneumonia and is trying to get his worker to put it in under his (doped up) instruction. It started snowing and the area shut down. We didn't hear from him again today. No idea if it will be ready tomorrow or not.

Aftan's school was cancelled today b/c of the snow and ice. She didn't go yesterday owing to no transportation.

Yesterday, I noticed that the hot water would run out after about 1-2 minutes. I tried giving the girls a bath during the day and could not get enough hot water. I mentioned it to Steve when he got home late last night from a business dinner. He went up in the attic to look at the heater and the wire on the bottom was so hot that it had melted the plastic casing and the styrofoam insulation. It could have burned our house down. So, we turned the circuit off to the heater. We have no hot water. I called Lowe's this morning about buying a new one and having it delivered and installed today. The guy was really beyond helpful. I purchased the heater and he said they'd talk to the contractor who delivers them and he'd call me. The contractor calls shortly thereafter saying they have us slated for 4 p.m. depending upon the weather. He calls back around noon saying they are not coming out today and only had a 75% chance of coming out tomorrow.

So, that's where we stand. No van. No hot water. Aftan hasn't been to school since Tuesday, and if they are only delay will not be going tomorrow since there will be no before school care and Steve would have to drop her off early.

At least we have heat and are done Christmas shopping.

Christmas Time

Has it really been almost two months since I last did a post? Wow. The year, especially the last couple of months, has gone by so fast. In just a couple of weeks it will be Christmas and just a week after that my little baby will turn 2.

I forgot that on the last post I had some stuff to tell, but could not tell them. I can now. :) The first thing is that my in-laws, Aftan and Reagan's Me-Na and Grandpa, are moving down the street from us. They are actually going to be settled in within the next couple of days, I think. Aftan and Reagan are crazy excited, as you can imagine. The second thing was that Steve left his job and got offered a job with a nice pay increase at a job he had previously, but got laid off from. So, he is working there now and I think is happier. I think he's just happy he doesn't have to dress up anymore. :)

Since the last post, the transmission on my van died. I have not had it for over a month now because it is costing over $3,000 to replace the transmission and we had to save up for it (at Christmas time, no less). It is in the shop now getting done and will hopefully be done next Tuesday (was supposed to be done tomorrow, but they had some set backs with the "new" transmission). I miss my van so much. My mother-in-law has graciously been letting us borrowing her SUV for 5 out of 7 days of the week and it has helped so much, but I feel like I am missing a limb without my van.

So, anyway, we are gearing up for the holidays and for Reagan's 2nd birthday. She is becoming such a big girl now. She is starting to really talk and is saying 4-5 word sentences now. She's still a little peanut at about 34.5-35 inches and only 23-24 pounds, but she is healthy as all get out. Aftan is just growing like a weed, as well. It's crazy. She is doing great in school. Starting to read and write. She picked up pink eye from school that I have to take her to the pediatrician for tomorrow, but she has escaped any major illnesses so far this year. Knock on Wood.

Let's see if I can rustle up a good recent picture of the girls. This is from about 6 weeks ago, but it's a good one of them together when we converted Reagan's crib to the toddler bed:

Ch Ch Ch Changes

Man, so much going on right now. None of which I can fully disclose. LOL. Let's just suffice it to say that within the next 3ish weeks a lot of things are changing for us. In good ways. Don't worry I will tell all about it when everything comes to fruition. LOL.

Aftan is still doing great in school. She had a little bit of a rough start behavior-wise, but everything seems to be falling in place and she has really matured in the last month or so.

Reagan..well, Reagan is still cute and sweet, but we are seeing little streaks of the terrible 2s. NO! is the favorite word.

Nothing much else to report, I don't think. I am stoked because my little sis (I say "little", but she is 29. LOL) and I are going to Busch Gardens together next weekend. We have not really had much occasion to hang out just us, so it will be nice to spend a whole day with her and having fun.

Fall pic of my girly girls.

ABCs...123s

Aftan has only been back in school for three weeks now and she is doing amazingly. She is starting to read a little and spell a little. I am pretty sure watching her learn to read and write has been one of my favorite mommy moments. She really enjoys it. She tries to read everything. She is also able to count out objects and write the numbers next to the object. I am just in awe of the Montessori method and am fully confident we made the right choice in this type of school. It is incredibly draining financially, but it is SOOO worth it. I'd rather be poor my entire life and give her this opportunity. She is excited to go to school every day and she learns something new every day, as well.

It is officially the fall, yet I think fall actually did not get the memo that it is here. It has been in the 90s every single day. Definitely not fall-like. Maybe if I change the backgrounds on my blog, the weather will get the hint :)~