August ALREADY??

Caution: Pure random rambling ahead. Get out now while you can!

I can't believe today is August 5th. So far, it's already been a wild, busy month. One of the things about working in education is that work ramps up right as the summer ends and it's time to get Kayci ready for school. The kids and I have been to Houston for work 3 days (Friday, Tuesday, Wednesday) in the past week, and have to go back tomorrow...if not today. It's a lot. I'm not sure what next week will bring (hopefully work from home since most of our team will be in a week-long training), and then the week before school starts will be a busy one, too.

Kayci is pretty well outfitted for school. When she started PreK (well, Ms. Alison's class!) we went and bought a new wardrobe. And she wanted to wear jeans and t-shirts. :) Then when she started "big school," we went ALL out at Gymboree and our favorite stores and bought her a closet full of new clothes...even though we'd just bought her a whole new spring/summer wardrobe when Noble was born. And...she wore jeans and t-shirts. So last year I finally got smart. Truth be told, we buy Kayci clothes year-round. Like, it's in our budget every month. The kid loves clothes, what can I say? Now her uniform is t-shirt, Chucks and jeans or (sigh) jean shorts. Preferably ripped or embellished (any of the above). Because we are always buying things, we now have a policy that whenever something goes INto her closet or dresser, something comes out to give away. This policy has served us well, and keeps things under control a bit. Also, when she asks for something that I know she won't really wear and I remind her that she has to trade it for something in her closet, sometimes she'll opt not to get it...and my evil plan works. So back to back to school...last year, after the Kindergarten stock up and lose fiasco, I decided that we were going to honor what she likes and make use of the closet full of new and favorite clothes she had. We had her go through and try on every single clothing item and every pair of shoes and weeded out what no longer fit. Then we made a list of what we needed to fill in and then bought those few things for back to school. (And one "special" first day of school outfit...who can forget the flourescent Justice tank top and leggings?) This year we did the same thing, but I was pleased to see that her closet was already pretty well cleaned out since we've implemented the one thing in, one thing out policy. Of course I screwed up--she doesn't NEED anything for school right now, but last week we were at Target and they had so much cute stuff that just had to jump in our basket...but you know, when we got home, it was freakin' impossible to pull stuff out of her closet per our policy. So that tells me we're done shopping. But she still wants to check out Justice to see if her first day outfit is there or in her closet already. :) Maybe we'll do that this weekend.

I'm rambling. But I know we Moms talk about all of this stuff...how do you do school supplies? How do you school shop? How do you Christmas shop? I'm meeting a bunch of friends at the park today (yea, HEADLEYS!!!) and I know this will all come up. So girls, here's my input. :) School supplies...we did that one day last week. Again, Kayci first went through the bag of "extra" supplies her first grade teacher sent home at the end of the year and pulled out what was on her list for second grade (seriously, all 8 folders and 3 boxes of crayons and a few other things...not a lot of money saved, but it felt nice not to "waste" that stuff that already had Bitty's name on it!). We planned a special time to go to WalMart JUST for Kayci to buy school supplies, and she took her "Kayci" bag and school supply list. She went down the list and got the supplies and had a blast. Noble had fun crashing the cart. I had...a time keeping him from crashing it into people and out of her way so she could have her special time. (The kid loves school supplies like I do...she's so my child!) We always buy an extra set of supplies to donate, too, because I know there are so many families who cannot (or do not, let's be real) buy supplies and I think all kids should have new pencils and crayons on the first day of school. :)

So that's the school update. Kayci's ready to find out who her second grade teachers will be, and my teachers are getting ready for the new year. Noble is kind of in limbo...if he doesn't get into the program at St. Paul's, Heather will keep him on Wednesdays. (If he DOES get in, she'll just pick him up with Alex on Wednesdays and keep him on Wednesday afternoons...her schedule is changing this year, and I hate for her to "have" to have Noble on Wednesday AM...long story. But she's glad to do it and I am so lucky to have her as a friend...we all are!)

I'm really low-energy these days, and need to get back to the gym. James and I were just talking about that this morning. I've got to get that figured out ASAP...I'm ready to have energy when I wake up in the morning again!

Hmm. The course I wrote went live last week for one group, and the other groups pick it up this week. So far, just a couple of minor changes. Woo hoo! I'm looking forward to the payment from this project, as it's going to go a long way toward our goal of debt-free. As much fun as it would be to spend the money...it'll be more fun to pay off debt so we have that money to play with every month. Cross your fingers...we're getting there, slowly but surely.

OH! Next week we are going to Kansas! I can't wait! It was a spur of the moment thing...it's been bugging me that we haven't been since last summer and didn't plan to go until NEXT summer...that's just too long. We are very lucky to get to see some of our family during the year, but there's just something about going to Kansas. It's going to be fun...we'll get back one week before school starts, and the day after we get back I'll have all-day staff development and it'll begin.

It's been a great summer, and we're all ready for a new school year. I'm determined to be better about getting to Galena Park EARLIER every week...no more leaving after the kids are up, we're all going to have to get used to it. We'll cross that bridge in a couple of weeks, but it's time. Everything is different again this year, but we'll roll with it and make it all work. If Noble does go to dayschool for a couple of days a week it will be great, but if not, it'll work out.

Sigh. James started back on his 8-5 (rather than summer 7-4) schedule today, so it was fun to see him this morning. He made muffins for us. :) I've got an hour to get motivated and get out the door so we can run a couple of errands before our park playdate. Crossing my fingers that I DON'T have to go in to Houston this afternoon...but if I do, we'll live.

OH! And one last thing...I have vowed to QUIT watching the Bachelor/Bachelorette. Keep me honest!