Back to Work

OK..so this is the week....the week that Tahoma teachers come back to school for four days of meetings before school will begin next Wednesday. This is a tough week. It did not used to be this hard...before we had kids. It is hard to get back into the swing of getting up at the crack of dawn (5:30ish) and getting myself ready very quietly so I am ready before the kids wake up. So far this week, I was almost ready yesterday when Maggee awoke and I was barely ready today. Yesterday, I grabbed Gregory's nice soft blanket and wrapped him in it before plugging his sleepy body in the car in his jammies. Since I have to be at work at 8:00, this means we must leave before 7:00 to get to Maple Valley where the kids are going three of the four days this week and get them settled before getting to my meeting by 8:00. It really has not been that bad. I am realizing why I am glad that the kids have childcare during the school year in Buckley close to home rather than being close to my school. Gregory has been choosing not to nap during the day so he zonks out within 5 minutes of being in the car. This means he is sleeping at 5:00. Maggee is so happy to see me after becoming quite the mommy's girl this summer and then I have to plug her in her car seat facing the rear....for a 45 minute drive home. She is not impressed! So, I will be glad when this week in over...when I am done with my meetings at 6:00 on Thursday. That will leave us with 5 straight days before the real day of back to school and daycare. We will find some fun things to do on some of those days....hmmmmm...maybe the zoo.

And then there is Jon. He is getting up before the crack of dawn to leave before
4:00. Tomorrow morning he will need to leave before 3:30 so he can be at a meeting at 4:30. OUCH. Of course, tonight Maggee did not want to go to sleep at 8, she needed to do a little grouchy crying. Jon was not impressed that he could not sleep. We need to get Maggee going to sleep a little easier. We may have to begin that training over the weekend.... stay tuned for how that goes. We were not so good at this with Gregory...

Ok, I am a sleepy girl. Night Night!

Terrible Twos Day!

Here is the picture for your head. Picture the nice little family of four going into Costco today....Myself, My Nephew Jacob, Sweet Maggee, and Gregory (the two year old :( Got the picture....ok... We are in the store and Gregory does not want to ride in the cart anymore after about 2 minutes. "I wanna walk," he says. I tell him he must stay by us and that is fine. But...it is Sunday...there are a thousand people at Costco...and they do not want to shop at the pace in which Gregory Schmitz wants to get out of their way. He is definately holding up traffic. So I pick him up......"WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," he wails. I calmly walk down the isle like I do not have a screaming two year old on my arm, maybe throwing things in my cart a little quicker. Luckily, Jacob is there to man the cart..and Maggee (who by the way has a smile on her face the entire Costco experience). So, I play the put him down and pick him up screaming game with Gregory for the entire Costco shopping excurtion. I also point out nicely to him every single other nice child in Costco as I tell him, "look at that sweet little boy listening to his mommy and sitting so nicely. I bet he might get a prize today." I am sweating by the end of the trip. I pay for the goods and we have headed to the car. By this time, I have given Gregory the information that he will not be getting back the little gun that we had just purchased prior to this shopping spree. We get in the car and he says to his sweating mommy, "I'm bein a good boy mommy. Can I have my gun now?" I then give him the information that the gun is going bye bye. And...........the gun will be put away for later use....much later....like a stocking stuffer or something.

Vacation

We, just this afternoon, returned home from a week long vacation first to Winthrop for a few days at the cabin and then on to Colville for a couple of days with my Mom and Dad. What a fun time we had. We arrived in Winthrop last Monday at around dinner time. Jon and Gregory immediately hit the river for some fishing. Yep...they caught some. So much fun! We spent the whole week in Winthrop enjoying ourselves there. Jon did some fishing with and without Gregory. Besides fishing, we enjoyed evening rides to look for deer, and a trip to the swimming pool in Twisp only to find out they did not open for us to swim until 1:00 (it was 11:00). 1:00 was not going to work for a toddler and a baby. Back to the cabin we went. One of the days we enjoyed a lunch in town with ice cream to follow. There were also lots of deer to look at. Gregory really enjoyed just being outside at the cabin with his chainsaw by the woodpile. Here are some pics of our time there. Oh....I forgot to mention our trip down to the river for some water time with Maggee and throwing rocks for Gregory.

On Friday, we headed to Colville to visit with my family. On Friday night my mom watched Maggee and Gregory while Jon and I went to the beer garden in the park with some friends. We had such a great time. I saw so many people that I had not seen in years. The added bonus for the weekend was that mom slept with the kids all three nights, even getting up in the night with Maggee. Wow! What a gift that was. On Saturday, we enjoyed our perfect day with my dad on the water. My mom also joined us. We went out in dad's boat and had a very relaxing afternoon. Maggee loved it. Gregory was very nervous at first, but got used to it and couldn't get enough. What fun that was. After that, we went with my mom and visited some friends who have property on a lake. What a great evening. We tried Indian Tacoes for the first time. YUM! On Sunday, we went to Kettle Falls to visit with both of my Grandmas. Gregory figured Grandma Millie (GG to him) needed some help with her trees in her yard so he had his chainsaw ready to go while we were there.

Jon is probably off work for a few days while the woods are shut down for fire danger. We will enjoy some more time with him off work. Not sure what this week will bring... stay tuned!!

Oh yeah.... What is Maggee doing this week: Sitting up, saying more sounds including mamama...finally, scooting all over, smiling and laughing more than ever, eating some baby snacks, and drinking water from a sippy cup.