First Day of "School"

( I had a picture but it's not going to load right. So sorry)

Alexis is going to a learning center while I am at work. It's daycare with a curriculum :). I was very, very, concerned and worried about how she would handle being away from not only me, but someone besides family. In her whole two years she has never stayed with anyone except family. We've never even had a friend watch her. So, I knew there would be tears, screaming, kicking, and worst of all those horrible words...."Mommy don't leave me!" I was dreading it, but I didn't let her know that....

Before we even registered her we went to the daycare several times at different parts of the day, unannounced. We took a tour. I grilled her teachers. I grilled the secretary. Then we visited the daycare with Daddy. We had a family talk, and decided that this was the place for us. Two days before we left I started making a big deal about her going to daycare naming all the pros. You'll get to play with new toys, you're going to make friends, yada yada. I talked it up big! We went to JCPenney and picked out a new outfit for her first day of day care, we laid out her blanket and pillow for nap time,we packed her bag, and we talked about how much fun she would have the next day.

So the next day came and I reluctantly woke her up. She woke up very happy! I asked her if she was ready to get ready to go to daycare, and she said "YES!". She ate "purple cereal" (blueberry frosted mini wheats), and got dressed quickly.We took pictures, and made a big deal, and kissed Daddy bye bye. Once we got to the daycare I gave her a big hug and a kiss outside, so I could tell her goodbye before she got upset. We walked into the daycare and she started to tear up. I told her that I was going to go to work, and I would be back to pick her up after she woke up from her nap. She started to cry, and said "okay mommy". Then the teacher asked her if she wanted to go put her milk in the fridge, and she stopped crying immediately. I told her bye and she said "bye bye Mommy!" No crying, kicking, screaming, and best of all not those horrible words that I feared. I couldn't believe it, and I was so proud of my big girl! I called at lunch to check on her, and they said she cried for a little bit in the morning, and she was fine the rest of the day! When I went to pick her up she said, "MOMMY! YOU CAME BACK!!" I said, "Of course I came back silly!" She laughed, and we left. And she hasn't had any problems since. What a relief! My big girl grew up just a little bit more this week, and has started some wonderful things! It was much harder for me than her, and I'm so thrilled that we only have to do this for a year and then she will be in preschool at the same school I'm at. It will just make me feel better having her close, and we get to sleep in a little later :)!!

Busy, Busy....

I have felt so busy the past couple of weeks! It all started with finally getting the keys to my classroom! It is pretty big, and I am so excited about my new job! I spent an entire day moving furniture, with some help with a volunteer. Michael was particularly excited that he didn't have to help me move the heavy stuff around. Not that he wouldn't, but he knows how much I change my mind when moving heavy objects. :) I felt bad for the volunteer. Who was a college student, and called me "Ma'am", and it made me feel old. A lot of my furniture was broken, and I got to set it out in the hall to take off to the dump. The headmaster told me that he would replace anything I wanted. Oh, and another point. My school has a headmaster...I feel like I'm working at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry :). It was a mess, but I've started going through things, and it's looking like a classroom instead of a storage room!!

Then we went to West Virginia for 4 days to see family. When Alexis was born we had 5

generations on my mom's side. So we went to get a picture with my great grandpa, grandpa, mom,

me, and Lexi. So, yes in essence we drove 13 hours for a picture, but it was worth it. It was good to

see family I don't get to see often. Alexis was a pretty good little traveler. She just really hates being

in a car, but my parents had a car dvd player, and it saved the day. :) She also slept in the same bed as me for the whole 5 days we were gone. f

I thought it might be hard to get her back into her own bed when we got home, but it wasn't. She's slept like,

well, a baby :). She's definitely glad to have her own bed back....and so am I!

Now, we are getting the end of the summer things together. I'm working on getting stuff ready to consign.

This is the first year I'm going to actually put stuff in the sale instead of just going to buy. I went

to the dentist, and apparently I have a clenching/grinding problem. It's going to take a splint( kinda a

retainer/night guard) which costs a mere $785! It's causing a lot of tooth sensitivity and jaw pain so I guess it's necessary. They are sending the request into my insurance so

hopefully they will cover most of it!

That's about all the news for now!

The Job Front

Well, I signed my contract, and I start work on August 2. I'm really excited to see my classroom come together. I have big plans for it. :) Right now they are cleaning and painting everything so it will be nice and pretty (I hope!) When I walk in. I am in the process of finding lots of things at yard sales, and thrift stores. Like books, and other helpful things. I have found quite a bit of stuff at some yard sales, and I can't wait to get it out of my house!! We have also found a great learning center for Alexis. They have on of those big mazes like you would find at play world, or Chik-fil-A with safety nets all around it, and swirly slides for them to play in when it is too hot, cold, or rainy.It's pretty cool! They also seem to have a great staff, and a good area for the kids so I think we will really like it! But, that's the only update I have so I'll post more in August!!

Obsession

Alexis is obsessed with birthdays. Absolutely. 100%. Obsessed. It's so silly :). We sing the "birthday song" about 20 times a day. Everyday we sing happy birthday to Mommy, Daddy, and Alexis. Then we sing it to all 5 of her Fairy Barbies (Tinker Bell and the gang), then we sing to all of the My Little Pony's, then we sing it to Alexis a few more times. While we are singing this song all day she is holding a little birthday candle (unlit) and after we sing, every time, she yells "MAKE A WISH!" And proceeds to "blow out" the little candle. And she knows all of the words and leads it every time.

This all started with my mom, brother, and sister-in-laws birthdays in February. Then at my nephews birthday party in April she was ecstatic, by her birthday in May she understood that a birthday meant cake and presents, and she couldn't have been happier that it was her turn. By Daddy and Big Pa's birthday's in June she knew all the words to the "birthday song" and we began singing it every day. Now with my birthday coming up in August, she is geared and ready for it. She knows I'm next and is forever trying to plan my party. The other day she told me "Mommy you need a Snow White cake for your birthday!" She said it with such a big smile on her face, and with true excitement. I said "Maybe" We'll see....:)

Which brings me to my next point. She's also obsessed with Snow White at the moment. She's taken turns having a favorite princess. Cinderella was her favorite for a while, then she moved to Ariel, Aurora, and now Snow White. She started this right after her birthday. We were shopping with some of her birthday money, and she HAD to have a Snow White dress. And of course the shoes. So she has worn in everyday around the house (well, all the days I haven't hidden it ;)...) She has torn the lace off of the bottom, and I've had to cover the ends with fray check several times. She ripped the Snow White heart off of the front, which I've put back on for her, and it's been washed way more times than it needs to have been. She also started putting it on over her pajamas after I left her room, and I would find her in full costume (shoes included) when I would go check on her before I went to bed. One night I was taking off the shoes and she woke up screaming I " NO NO NO MOMMY! I NEED MY SNOW WHITE SHOES ON!! DON'T TAKE THEM AWAY!" And since I really wanted to go to bed too, and it's not going to hurt anyone. I put them back on. :) She wants to watch it everyday, but I try to not let that happen. We're actually watching it right now, but it's the only T.V. she's watched today, well except a little Diego. Actually, I don't mind so much sometimes because well, you know how at the beginning it's a book. And Snow White was one of the only movies that doesn't read it to you. So Lexi says "Mommy read it." I mean she will find me wherever I am in the house. And she listens with a big smile on her face, and after I'm done she says, "Good reading Mommy. Thank you! " And it makes me happy. I used to like it when my mom read that to me too. :)

He Had My Back

I got a job. That I didn't apply for. Until I was 15 minutes into the interview. God definitely had my back! Last week I got a call from the White Hall HS principal asking me to interview for an elementary school that he was moving to. He got my name from the Asst. Superintendent from White Hall, because she was impressed with my White Hall interview (But, apparently not impressed enough to hire me :)!) So I scheduled the interview for Monday, went in and talked to the principal and the former principal for about 30 minutes (15 of those minutes I was talking and filling out the application)They told me I wouldn't know anything until Thursday, but they called me that afternoon and offered me a third grade position!! I hastily accepted, and am now employed! I also found out during my interview that I was the only person that was recommended from the other White Hall interviews, so apparently I was pretty close to getting that job too. The school I am working for is a private Christian school here, Trinity Episcopal. Now, you don't have to be Episcopalian to work there, this school is a ministry of the Episcopalian church in town, and they just teach basic Christian values that I'm sure all Christians can agree with. Even though I didn't set out to work at a private school, I'm definitely seeing the benefits. A great work environment, small class sizes, and not as much paper work!!

Also, not this year (I hope!), but maybe in a couple of years they would like to start some sort of band program. They asked me if they could work it into my schedule if I would like to do basically sectionals. I said sure, and so who knows what will happen.It would be pretty easy to work in since there are only 30 5th and 6th graders tops, and I'm sure not everyone will want to learn to play something. It may never come about, but it's something to think about.

Another great perk of working here is that they have a 3 year old PK program. So Alexis will only have to be in day care one school year, and then she can be closer to me every day. We can do that, any other baby Varnell's won't be as lucky, but we will deal with that when the time comes. Plus, as much as I don't like her being away from me during the day, she will learn lots of social skills that will help her the rest of her life. And make that first day of school a little easier on all of us!

That's all I know for now. The principal said he would call me once they got all the rooms cleaned out. So I'm not sure what's next. But, I'm ready to get started!!

Update

This is just an update to fill everyone in about what has been going on with us lately. Let's see. Well, first of all we've moved, down to southern Arkansas.Which was an ordeal because we found out that our land lady had cancer when we turned in our 30 day notice, and she ended up passing away at the end of the month. She did so much for us, and it was so sad, she was pretty young. So we had to make lots of extra trips to finish things up with the Realtor that took over her property. Anyway, we are settling in nicely, after two months. Alexis had a little bit of a hard time with it, but it was mostly just the noises around the house were different and scared her a little. She's fine now. The biggest adjustment for me was the lack of things to do in this area. We came from Conway, a fairly large town with LOTS to do. The parks were great, well kept and used, there was a walking trail that everyone used, we just placed membership with a new church that we loved, the library had lots of activities, not to mention all the shopping and restaurant options. I was going to the ladies bible class on Tuesday's at church which was giving Alexis 2 hours of play time with other kids, and she would just run into bible class and was completely comfortable. Now, we are still trying churches and are having a hard time finding a good fit for us, probably since our last church was a perfect fit, and we are comparing churches more than we probably should. The good news is that I'm finding some activities to fill up our week around here now, so we are not couch potatoes all summer. We have enjoyed going to the community pool several times a week! Alexis loves the water and we've been spending a couple hours at a time out there. I have gotten burned every single time we've gone. Using sunscreen!! On the other hand my very fair, red headed daughter has not even gotten one freckle!! Which is good, I'm not trying to damage her skin! But, I hate being burned. Especially when your loving two year old hangs all over the sunburn, because she has no idea that it hurts. She just thought "Mommy is pretty pink!", but I sure didn't feel pretty! I have now turned to a nice "more golden than I was", and hopefully the sunburns are over. Plus, the pool has been wonderful in teaching Alexis to SHARE! We've had to really start working on that! And maybe our library cards will be ready for us tomorrow.

On the job front, we will know more about Michael's store on the first of July. I also got a job!! I will be working at a private Christian school here teaching third grade. More on my job later! Alexis and I are going to tour a day care center tomorrow, so we will see how that goes!

I think that's about it! We are just enjoying our summer and trying to spend as much time as we can together!!

TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2010

2 Years Old!

Alexis is now officially 2 years old! And she is a MESS :)! She has really grown-up a lot and is truly a big girl now. For us, the "terrible two's" began around 15 months, with the tantrum, kicking, and screaming. I thought I was going to lose my mind and I seriously considered not having any more kids for a couple of months because I couldn't imagine those days times two. My heart goes out to the mom's of multiples. But, those days seem to be coming to an end. Either that or I have just gotten used to them and can handle them now. The tantrums are much fewer and farther in between, and obviously Michael and I still want to have more kids. Alexis has always been very, very independent and wants to do everything herself. This has graduated from doing little things by herself to wanting to do EVERYTHING by herself. Including, taking a bath, brushing teeth, cooking her own food, and wanting to sit in a "big girl chair" (the regular old car seat) in the car. Obviously, I do not let her cook her own food, or sit in the car without her car seat. These are where our tantrum come in...daily. However, once I get her strapped into the car and give her a Barbie or a pony she's fine, and in the kitchen I give her another important job, like stirring air in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon and again she is perfectly content. I try to let her "give herself" a bath and brush her teeth, and then just follow up behind her. She also for a few months now has preferred "big girl showers." She will only take a bath if their are bubbles. If their are no bubbles, she screams for a shower.

She is also talking my ear off. She talks all..day..long. I don't know where she gets that from ;)! She will repeat ANYTHING you say. She has started stringing several audible sentences together. We can communicate very well with her, and she is hardly ever frustrated because she can't convey what she wants to say. She can count to 20 all by herself, and to 10 in Spanish. She can count to 50 by repeating mommy or daddy in English, and to 30 in Spanish. (She gets tired of counting after that) She knows all of her colors, animals, and animal sounds. She can turn anything into a slide. She runs, jumps, and plays hard outside. She loves to sing, and can sing fairly well, "twinkle twinkle" "the itsy bitsy spider" "ABC's", and "fuzzy caterpillar". Oh and she also loves to sing the B-I-B-L-E. And sings it during church service no matter what everyone else is singing, and she sings it at the top of her lungs. When I ask her to pray during prayers at church she says "Dear God, thank you for mommy and daddy Jesus name AMEN!...mommy i prayed okay?" She is SO FUN! We have a blast and I am loving getting to stay home with her for the moment.

We have also delved into the world of potty training. I'm not all for letting them just go when they are "ready". How in the world are they suppose to know what to do?? That's why it's called pottytraining and not potty do it whenever they want to. She can hold it during naps, and tells me when she's wet and dirty. So we are learning the ins and outs of going potty with lots of reminder charts, going to the potty frequently, and learning how to wipe, flush, and wash hands and such. It's going pretty good. We are on week three. Week one we had one successful trip to the potty, and week two we had 3 successful trips, and this week we already have one! So we will see where this journey takes us.

Here's to my big girl. A 2 year old...I can't believe it....

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2010

"Twinkle Twinkle"

Here is a video of Alexis singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Most of the words are there. Oh, and her shushing me....I warn you she starts squealing at the end so turn your volume down a little bit!! You've been warned! Enjoy!! :)

MONDAY, MAY 10, 2010

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was great! I went to my parent's for the weekend and stayed with them. We had a really great visit, and Alexis loved being spoiled. Michael had to work all weekend so he couldn't come :(. Our drive was LONG....especially with it being just me and Alexis, who is the WORST traveler ever, or pretty close to it. When we got to about Conway on the way up she started yelling from the backseat "I NEED TO WALK MOMMY! I NEED TO WALK NOW!!!" Over and over and over....so finally I told her that if she could wait until Greenbrier she could have some ice cream. So we stopped for gas, and shared a kid's scoop of strawberry ice cream at the Baskin Robbins inside the gas station. Then she was fine, and we made it (3 hours later) to my parents.

The way home did not go so smoothly. I put Alexis in the car, and she immediately fell asleep. Which was good, but we had to stop at Target in Conway to see my brother, and get a few potty training supplies. So we got to Target, found my brother, gave him is party invite, and then headed to the snack bar for hot dogs for dinner. I got Alexis the kid hot dogs with apples and white milk, and I got a hot dog and a soda. When we got out to the car I put everything on the trunk of the car to put Alexis in, and I knocked the soda off the car and it spilled all down my jeans.....Then after I got Alexis in the car I dumped out her sorta old juice to put her milk in her cup (she hadn't had much milk that day) I took the lid off the milk and someone had already opened it, drank about 1/4 of it and put it back in the cooler. (Having my hands full I didn't notice this in the store. So with both of us having no drinks I went across the street to Arby's to get Alexis some milk. I waited 15 minutes to get to the speaker to only find out they had chocolate milk, and were out of juice. I NEVER give her chocolate milk, but at this point I thought it was better than nothing. I'm just afraid she would stop drinking white milk. Anyway, I got the chocolate milk, put it in her cup, gave it to her, and drove off. About 2 minutes later I heard Alexis throw her cup, and yell "I NEED REAL MILK MOMMY! I NEED REAL MILK!" I said, "But it's chocolate milk, it's yummy and special milk." All I got was "I WILL NEVER EVER DRINK CHOCOLATE MILK AGAIN! YUCK!!" And she cried off and on for about 45 minutes for real milk. So, I guess I don't have to worry about her getting addicted to flavored milk. Then we hit a wreck, and rain....I'm glad to be home! :)

TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2010

Mama's First (Unnecessary) Freakout

My first (unnecessary) ahem...freak out happened about 6 months ago. It was right after we put

Alexis in her toddler bed, and I was always checking on her. Apparently, when I tucked her in for bed I left her light on. (For some unknown reason!) However, I didn't notice this until about midnight as I was ready for bed. Michael and I had been outside on the porch with the dogs,and forgot the baby monitor inside, and when I came in to check on her one last time I noticed the light on through her door. Terrified that I had left the front door unlocked and someone had come in and taken her, and left her light on I threw open her bedroom door and found her tucked in fast asleep, she hadn't moved! (She's such a good sleeper!)

Now I've been very cautious about turning off her light....

Sunday I woke up early and I can see down the hall to Alexis' room. Knowing I did not leave the light on the night before I saw her light on, streaming down the dark hallway. Terrified again that someone had gotten through two locks on the door, a Pomeranian, a German shepherd, the baby monitor, and us, left the light on (my robbers are never courteous apparently!),and taken my child. I ran down the hall (I've never run so fast in my life!) threw open her door and found a panicked little girl wondering why her mommy had bust into her room at an ungodly hour.

It was the sun coming through the window.....and 6:30 am.

SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 2010

Disney On Ice

Today was a WONDERFUL day!! We had so much fun going to see Disney on Ice in Little Rock today. We went to the 11:00 show, and had a blast. Alexis got a souvenir Flounder, and a Tinker Bell snow cone with a collector cup. At the beginning of the show all of the characters started coming out one or two at a time, and Alexis would yell out all of their names and point and clap, and yell. It was so cute, and she could hardly contain her excitement. She also loved the whole show, and was glued to it, except that Captain Hook scared her to pieces and she crawled up in my lap. That really surprised me considering they had Maleficent, Jafar, and the evil step mother from Snow White as the witch, plus lots of other more scary Disney villains. I never thought Captain Hook would scare her, but it did. We also got to see all of the princesses except for Sleeping Beauty (one of my favorites :(, and Tinker Bell was in the opening and the finale, but there wasn't a Tinker Bell segment of the show. Alexis was so sad. Halfway through the show she started yelling "Tinker Bell come back!" Here are a few pictures of our day! I will post the rest on Facebook later! Enjoy!!

Mommy's Helper

I have such a little helper around here, and lately she's gotten to where she will try to beat me to the messes. Like the other day when she deliberately poured all of the dog water onto the kitchen floor I heard, "I get a towel Mommy, It's okay, I get a towel." And she went and got a kitchen towel, and started to clean up her mess. And then there was another day when she peed on our ottoman (thank goodness we were already planning on getting rid of that), I heard "I get a towel Mommy, it's okay." And today when she peed in my house shoes (which are ruined), I heard the same thing...irritating, but slightly adorable, mostly irritating.

Since we've started potty training she's been pointing out her accidents, and she's pretty sneaky about them. The other day she told me "There's an accident in the Dora house Mommy." Which is one of those pop up tent things with a Dora theme that she got for Christmas last year. And sure enough when I pulled back the Dora tent there was pee there. And to top it off, as I was cleaning it up she said. "Accidents are so yucky", like Dora had the accident instead of her or something. And let me tell you, those cloth training pants aren't as absorbent as diapers like they say...which is why there was pee on my floor, but they seem to be working, since she knows right away when she goes, and thankfully I found some enzyme which is suppose to knock it all out.So, I'm sure this helping thing will be wonderful in the future, but right now I'd settle with her just leaving the dog water alone, and peeing in the potty =).