Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Routines

I have never been one much for routines. I'm a firm believer that children naturally develop their own routines.

Since I started teaching preschool and the kids have started going to preschool, we have stuck to a pretty tight schedule. I sure miss staying up late and waking whenever I wish.

For now, our schedule is as follows:
I wake up at 6:15am, shower, get ready, prepare breakfast, and finalize lesson plans.
Between 7:20-7:30am I wake the kids. Oy! Cohen is a morning person, just like his daddy. Chyenne? Well she takes after me and doesn't fully open her eyes until I put her in the car. LOL!
They eat breakfast, use the potty, I help them get dressed, do hair, brush teeth, and load them in the car by 8:10am.

On Mondays, we're at school from 8:30-12:30. We eat lunch immediately after school.
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we're at school from 8:30-1:30pm and we eat lunch at school.
On Thursdays, we have music class, so we're at school from 8:30-1:00pm. We eat lunch after school.
On Fridays, the kids stay with my mom or sister, as it's only the 4/5 year olds. I get to leave school around 12:30.

The kids nap some days...Cohen more than Chyenne. I could use a nap every day.

Dinner is served between 6pm-7pm depending on schedules, (i.e, Chyenne has soccer games at 6 on Mondays, so we eat a snack before and dinner immediately following).
They get a bath EVERY single night. I bathe them immediately after dinner. They get in pajamas, read stories, snuggle, and get in bed no later than 8:30pm. I prefer to put them to bed at 8:00pm so I have time to clean the kitchen, get ready, and be at the gym by 9:00pm.

Saturdays and Sundays haven't been regular for us--yet! We've had so much going on lately with the military. I hope to get in a better weekend routine real soon. Hopefully getting back in the groove for church every Sunday and FAMILY DAY every Saturday.

I'm exhausted, but this schedule seems to be working with the kids.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

He's HOME to stay--for now!

Several months ago hubby applied for a STATE-SIDE position with the Army. He didn't think he got the job because they sent him away for training for his Kosovo deployment... well halfway into his train-up he called and said "can you pick me up if I get a ride close to home?" umm YES!
He got the new JOB and he won't be DEPLOYING now... or in the next THREE YEARS! We are SO excited!!!

Chyenne is still a little to apprehensive about all of it to be happy that Daddy is home. We've told her that he doesn't have to go away with the Army for a long time again but she doesn't believe it. She's far too smart for her own good. She said she "hates afghanistan-ddd!" and I'm sure she would say that she "hates Kosovo" if he went there too.

Cohen is just happy to have daddy back. He follows daddy everywhere.

Hubby is especially excited that he won't get to miss any of Chyenne and Cohen growing up--for now.

I'm excited and anxious to live like REAL PEOPLE. A normal life without seperations. ah!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Chyenne's First Pageant

Last blog I mentioned how Chyenne was in her first pageant on the 21st of August this year. She had SO much fun.

My sweet girl is a natural on stage. The words we used to describe her for her "about me" portion were: imaginative, articulate, and peppy. TOTALLY her. :)

The pageant host was Georgia's Heavenly Faces and boy did she look heavenly. The title of the pageant was Miss Boots and Bows. She participated in all of the categories that the pageant offered. She was contestant number 17.

For beauty wear, she wore a navy blue dress, white dress shoes, white dress socks, a navy blue and white bow and a pearl necklace. Her hair was curled and she (of course) wore NO makeup. She was absolutely stunning!

She was such a doll on stage. When they announced her name and number, she pranced onto the stage with a smile on her face and her hands on her hips. SUCH a DIVA. She charmed the judges and all of the viewers.

She kept spinning around in circles like a ballerina. SO cute. I was highly impressed with how she didn't FALL. She is an extremely clumsy princess.

After beauty, we had to rush to change her into her WESTERN WEAR. Of course my princess LOVES pigs so we had her a piggy princess shirt made. We paired her pig shirt with a tiered denim skirt, her pink cowgirl boots, and mommy-made bows (with pig centers). She also carried her cowgirl hat on stage.

She was fanstastic. She did her little "spin-arounds", blew kisses, and waved. Absolutely adorable.

She did not want to get off the stage when her turn was up. She is such a star!

We had a good little wait (well at least 30 minutes) until they did crowning... in the mean time, the judges were scoring the "most photogenic", "best dress", "best attire", "best western wear", "prettiest smile", "best hair", "best eyes", "best personality", "miss bows and boots princess", "little miss boots and bows queen", etc.

She was so silly during the waiting time. Cohen was ready for a nap, but he looked adorable sporting his "world's best brother" shirt. He certainly is!

Next came time for crowning. When Chyenne first decided she wanted to do the pageant, she said "I really want to win a big crown"...


Her age division (3 years old, and 2-5 years) was up.

They had all of the girls in her division line up. Then they called out the winners.
They called her name SO many times! She won "best hair", "best eyes", "best smile", "best western wear", "best personality", and "QUEEN!" for her division! SO PROUD OF HER!  



 (slightly OCD, lining her trophies up)






SO incredibly proud of my sweet girl! She's already planning her next pageants...but daddy is going to have to build her a new shelf if she wins any more!
SIX TROPHIES, A HUGE CROWN, AND A SASH! SHE ROCKED!