Success is Making it to Friday

It's Friday! We are getting this back-to-school routine down.

We are getting through car line by packing a bunch of snacks, as evidenced by my many chins. We also have some landmarks we enjoy seeing everyday. The girls get just as excited as I do.

These huge trucks are about 3 houses down from the school.

June really enjoys school and is doing quite well.

 If that's the way you get a smiley face in pre-k, June will have NOOOOOOO problems.

Gwen is adjusting to being by herself by making new friends. Like with this bottle of honey she gets out of the pantry and plays with. Every day. So sad.

The girls are finally getting what to do when I ask them to take a picture. Still hard for them to stay still, pose AND make eye contact, so each photo is usually one or two of those. Still a vast improvement. And that dinosaur shirt is June's fave.

Dan twisted his ankle at a sports night at the church this week. We are going to make up a heroic story about his game-saving dive across the gym floor to spike the volleyball. But until then, we will stick to the truth of a chest-bump-gone-bad. Poor guy has been hobbling all week.

And I don't know how much you guys know about me or Becks in general. But we don't really buy stuff. We were raised by parents who never bought anything extra when we were out. It was a given that we weren't getting appetizers at the restaurant, we weren't getting popcorn at the movie theater, and you can FORGET IT about the glow stick or other junky toy at an amusement park. I have proudly held on to that tradition with my own family, but found myself buying this CD in a Walmart parking lot this week.

Looks totally like my type of music, right? I don't know what came over me, but the guy selling it had an air of an entrepreneurial spirit about him that I appreciated, so I bought the dang thing. I SHOULD have asked if it contained explicit language BEFORE I bought it, but quickly found that almost all of the names of the songs listed on the actual CD contained words that I don't appreciate. Especially words that degrade females that I have NO patience for.

Still, the first few songs seemed to be clean, and I started listening to some rap music on my way home. Not immediately, of course, because "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner was playing on the radio when I turned the car on. I pretty must have a cardinal rule that you can't change the station on that song. 

As a side note, there are PLENTY of songs I turn off no matter what, even if it means I have to sit in silence because those songs ANNOY me. "Hotel California" comes to mind.

Anyway, I listened to about 1.5 songs until the CD stopped working entirely. Totally worth every penny.

The moral of the story--Don't turn off Foreigner for a bad rap CD. I also think there might be a lesson to be learned about not buying an unknown rap CD from a guy in a Walmart parking lot, but I can't quite piece that one together yet.

June's First Day of Pre-K 2016

This morning was the first day of school. I wrestled a bit with the idea of June going back to school. I truly like having her around. I truly do not like rushing around in the morning arguing about whether or not she's a dog, or a mommy or Junebug and whether or not she has to wear shoes. So while I was kind of sad about the summer being over, there was a faint, yet-ever crescendo-ing Hallelujah chorus playing in my ear.

Summer is so fun, but this Jolley clan does better with a some structure. We started off the summer with several fun activities and daily learning and physical exertion and slowly morphed into wild animals with no schedule, no idea what day it was and no desire to wear non-elastic pants. And by "we", I of course am referring to myself. My work schedule took over with a vengeance a few weeks ago and the girls have been sitting around a lot. So school is a good thing.

June is the only 4-year old I know that is on her third public school experience. She is attending her second year of preschool in an ESE (Exceptional Student Education) classroom for kids with Varying Exceptionalities. 

 

June picked out these shoes and would have no others. Even though there were gold-sparkly tennies available. June pointed to these over and over, and I'd say, "yes! let's get those!" and then i would be sneaky and say, "oh but look at these gold sparklies! they are so much cooler!" and she would tell me no. 3 separate times.

Dan helped me haul June's stuff to the school this morning, and it's a good thing he did. Pre-schoolers have a lot on their supplies list. Even between the both of us, our hands were full of bags containing glue, fat crayons, a box of diapers (don't you be jealous of my diaper-wearing 4 year old!), wipes, extra change of clothes, etc. We even accidentally left her nap blanket and a couple of things behind. I don't remember having to bring this much stuff, but then again, I don't remember anything about being 4.

When you're the mom, you get to post photos where you are the only one looking halfway decent. It's one of the rules.

Every once in awhile, the girls show affection toward each other. The End Is Near.

Not to be outdone, Gwen requested her backpack this morning too. And I luckily found it in a pile in the girls' room. Organization is key!!

We took June to her classroom, where she quickly busied herself with a puzzle. We chatted with the teacher for a bit, and then went to say our goodbyes to June. I said, "June, can you give Mama a kiss? I'm going bye bye." To which she gave me the brick-wall hand, and without looking up from her activity, replied, "BYE."

Parting is such sweet sorrow.