The Weekend Captured--A Proud Mommy

It was one of those weekends that fill your heart and soul....

Spending time with our daughter is something that we want to do.  We aren't the kind of parents to make plans sans child.  I mean, occasionally, like once every two months or so, we may have a date night...but more often than not, we would rather spend time doing things with her than without.

I was beaming with pride when I talked to my grandma and she commented on how impressed she is with how we raise our daughter.  She is right when she says that "nowadays" parents would rather be out without their children than spend time with their children.  We see it all too often.  It's just not for us.  To raise a well-rounded child, you have to expose them to all that life has to offer.  Right?

This weekend we had such a beautiful time together.  Truly.

On Friday, we spent the evening at this amazing farm.  They cook wood fired pizza in an open-air type setting. There are picnic tables around, a large fire pit area, a stage for local music performers and a few farm animals.  The pizza was amazing.  And the environment was perfect for a beautiful Friday evening.  KG loved the farm animals--and I loved witnessing her pure curiosity while she wandered the grounds exploring.  She is so in love with animals and nature.  She talked to the donkey and goat as if they were her friends.

On Saturday, we went to her last fall session ballet class.  Because this was the last class for this semester, the parents were invited in.  I was hesitant with this idea, because I knew that she would pull the "I'm shy" bit if we were sitting in there rather than doing her routine.  I was right.  But she did participate about half of it!  I loved watching my tiny ballerina!  She has really learned some of the basics and I am very pleased with this dance school.  Her summer semester starts in a couple of weeks and I'm hoping that she continues to blossom into a talented dancer.

We have been spending time each day at our community pool and our little fishy is really taking to the water!  I had intended to put her into swimming classes this summer, but I'm starting to second guess that plan.  She has already accomplished the basics that are taught for her age group so I may not put her in and just continue taking her to our pool daily to practice.

There is a mulberry tree outside of the pool area.
She insists on having a handful after her swim.

Saturday evening, we went to a local festival for some fair food and rides.  Our daughter is absolutely fearless when it comes to rides.  So unlike her mommy!  She loves them all!  Unfortunately, her petite build works against her on this.  Most of the rides that she wants to go on, requires a minimum height of 36 inches.  She's still about 3-4 inches shy.  Poor girl.  But she has a blast on the rides that she can go on!  And daddy takes her on some of the bigger rides that she is too short to ride alone.

The street festivals are a major perk of the area we live in...it seems that there is a festival somewhere almost every weekend!  It has gotten much more expensive this year, now that she wants to ride all of the rides, but seeing her face light up makes it so worth it!

On Sunday, we took her to the zoo.  Our girl is a real animal lover.  She couldn't wait to see the animals!  Her favorite had to be the giraffe, or "raffe" as she calls it.  The last time we took her, she was so tiny that she couldn't really see much and didn't interact with the experience.  This time, she "got" it.  She wanted to stay with each animal and we had a hard time getting her to move to the next exhibit.  She had a million questions about each one:  "what's the tiger doing?  are his ears soft?  does he have eyes?  is he going swimming?  is he going to play in the mud?  is he tired?  is he hungry?  why?  why?  why?"

So excited to be at the zoo!

 

How she measures up to a dolphin

Maybe following in her daddy's footsteps?

Even a perfect weekend wouldn't be perfect without a tantrum!

We packed a picnic lunch and being members of the zoo, we were able to spend the day there for free--well, plus the five dollar Dippin' Dots for our girl!

When we got home from the zoo, we went to the pool to cool down.  We ended our weekend by going out for a yummy Mexican dinner and walking along the river of our town.

This is Eric, Richie's co-worker, and Kinley's first real crush.  She calls him "Ekik."
They are posing outside of the library at her favorite horse sculpture.  She calls it
"her horsey."

Melt my heart.

She is such a girly-girl but still loves the adventure!  Walking in the river.

Beauty.

It's weekends like these that make your heart feel full!

Welcome to Monday, my first day on the job as a SAHM, again.  I am excited for our day.  We're visiting a new place today, a farm.  She's going to be so excited!  I got the idea from a friend to make play date cards to give out as we adventure out this summer.  Hopefully we find some new friends to share our summer with!

50 Shades of Busy

I am feeling an enormous sense of pressure today.  Tomorrow is my last "me day" before becoming the SAHM.  I tell ya, I have been a roller coaster of emotions about it.  One minute I am totally okay with it and excited, and the next I am in a fierce streak of panic.

It doesn't help that when I pick her up from school, her teacher is slowly ridding the classroom of all things Kinley.  Each day, there is a picture that once hung on the wall, or like yesterday, her birthday balloon from the birthday board.  That one, made me cry.  It's just little silly things...but it rips my heart out.  Kinley loves her school and she loves her teachers and she loves her friends.  Will she miss them too much?  Will she wonder why she's not going to see them ever again?  Have we moved her around too much in her two short years?  So many questions that I bog my mind with.  And unfortunately, all of the answers fall into the world of wonder as a parent.  You never know the right answer, you just have to do the best with what you have at that given time.

I know that she loves me more than her school or her teachers or her friends, but I can't provide the things that her friendships can.  I'm fooling myself if I even pretend that I can.  But I'm keeping myself sane by realizing that I am offering her so much more than what school ever can.  And come fall, she will be back in a new school with new friends and a mommy two rooms over.

I am getting the best of both worlds?  Right?  Working but still "with" her (as in, same building?).

I think that more than anything, I am trying to justify in my head that preschool teaching, or this job in particular, is okay.  It's okay to have this job even though I have a BA degree in elementary and even though I have acquired 50K in college debt and am not putting it to use.  It's okay to take a 20K yearly pay cut.

It's not okay, but it's necessary.

Let's face it, teaching jobs are like a needle in a haystack.  Good luck finding one!  Maybe in a year or two, things will change, but until then.  I am doing what needs to be done.

I have become absolutely obsessed with budgeting since having time off.  I think I spend at least 2-3 hours each day going over the spreadsheet and our check book to see where I can pinch another penny.  But, it's working!  I have (on paper) put aside almost 2500 for savings this month!  Obviously, that's from the lack of day care and two hours of commuting each day...but that's a huge gain for one month!  I am pretty proud.

Our summer events calendar is filling up nicely.  We decided to take Kage swimming in the evenings since our community has a pool right across the street.  It would  be silly not to utilize it.  I'm telling you, Kage is a little fish!  She just wants to go, go, go!  She even went underwater a few times.  I was shocked!  I was planning to enroll her in swimming classes but I may not need to at this point.

Since my free days are down to the last two, I am planning to spend the rest of today reading the book that everyone and their mother has been talking about, Fifty Shades of Grey.  I know, I know, it's smut.  Whatever.  It will just continue my romance hangover from yesterday, right?!

It's one of the many that are on my summer reading list, and if I know me, I won't even get through one.  But good intentions are the best kind.  And I've got tons of those!  :)

Bright Lights Big Puddles

Bright Lights Bigger City by Cee Lo makes me dance.  How about you?  That's the background music that I'm playing during this post.  But it's playing much softer now that K's down for a nap.  The poor girl has a terrible cold.  Sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes and fever.  I thought it was just allergies but the fever assures me that it's more than that.  Thank you Chicago weather.  Cold then hot then colder then hotter.  Or could be the gym day care, I guess.  That's probably it.

I have an interview this afternoon at the gym.  I'm excited.  The pay won't be great but for a summer part-time job, it may be just the ticket.  Plus, I'll most likely get my membership free or at least discounted.  So that would be a monthly savings plus income.  So we'll see how that turns out.  I also have an interview at a bar in the downtown area here.  That place looks so fun!  We went to try out their menu last weekend and really enjoyed it.  They have the prettiest beer garden too. Again, that pay won't be great but tips are usually pretty good in a place like that.  I'd be happy with either position.  I just have to see which offers the better schedule.  If I'm even offered the job, that is.

Kage is going to visit with the neighbor lady while I'm on my interviews.  We met them a few weeks ago  Young married couple and she is a housewife.  We actually met through our dogs.  Their yellow lab, Corona, came to meet Lucy when they were both outside.  So we got to talking and really liked them.  She said that if I ever needed a sitter to let her know.  Well, I need a sitter.  Our regular "day care lady" isn't available either day and our night-time sitter works during the day.  I was desperate.  So I knocked on her door yesterday and she was thrilled to be asked.  Yea!

Our Memorial Day was pretty uneventful.  We went to the gym for hell on wheels spin class.  Again, I praise God that I was saved by the poop again.  Yes, K pooped and I got called out of class to change her.  I am beginning to think that she is doing it intentionally now.  The girls working in there said that many kids do. 

After we left the gym we decided to head back to that park that I had found a few weeks ago.  It was so nice out and we wanted Kage to enjoy the weather.  This park is so nice because it is so wide open with tons of grassed area for her to run around and play.  With the storms that we've had recently, the low areas were flooded with about 8 inches of water.  And of course you know where she wanted to play!

I was a bit freaked out by the gross standing water aka: giant puddle, but she surely was not.  So I put my big girl panties on and waded in with her.  All three of us were playing in this huge puddle.  And then she sat down.  And then laid down.  Ugh.  I had to do my best to not be the dirt freak that I am and remind myself that she's a toddler and needs to explore and HAVE FUN.  So uptight mommy took a back seat this day and just enjoyed the day for what it was.

And leaving the park, we were a bit embarrassed.  We had the "Hoosier Baby" in the stroller.  I didn't think to bring extra clothes to the park....I'll know better next time.

On our way home, we noticed that there was a parade setting up so we ran home to change and pack some things to head up to watch it.  And we missed it.  Darn it.  We did get to watch the Memorial Day flag ceremony though....so that was nice.

I remembered that our community pool opened up that weekend too, so we walked over to check it out.  Sure enough, it was open and hopping!  We had to go back home to let Kage nap but then headed over to check it out later in the afternoon.  Kinley went nuts!  She loved the water and even let us dunk her a few times.  The first time, she choked but then the next two times she took it like a champ and loved it!  Swimming lessons may have paid off.  Not for her, of course, because she was too young to remember (6 months old, I think?) but I remember the techniques that were taught.

Where's Kinley?

Peek-a-boo!

Love that baby butt!  Just wish it weren't a blurred shot!

And for those wondering, I was in the pool with her too.  Just never seem to get mommy-baby pictures.  You other moms know what I mean.... if we're not taking the pictures, no one is.