Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Alaska Air flying over Seattle!

Things that make me happy besides my family: spending time with friends, and traveling. This weekend I get to combine the two as me and my crew of besties are headed to Seattle to visit one of our oldest friends! We have quite the fun weekend planned, between heading to Gene Juarez for spa treatments, sight-seeing (Space Needle) and dinner, taking a ferry to Bainbridge Island and of course visiting the ever popular Pikes Place Market and more...Getting to stay at the lovely Westin Seattle with my girlies and getting a break from my hubs and the kiddos...sounds heavenly! The weather is supposed to be gorgeous, sunny and high 70's, not a raincloud in sight.

I know we will have fun. But I do have in the back of my mind that I will be returning on an airplane on the 10th anniversary of September 11.  And the first September 11 since Osama bin Laden was killed. I can be a worrier by nature, but it wouldn't be as bad if I weren't separated from my husband and kids. While I will be thinking back to that day where so many lives were senselessly taken in the worst attack on the U.S. ever, I pray that in present time the worst that can happen to me is that I am delayed getting home to my family.

I wish you all a lovely end of summer weekend, hang on to it for another few weeks!

Kinder Success!

Cool first-day duds

Well, here we are, finishing up our 3rd week of kindergarten. What? This is the first time I have mentioned kindergarten? It has been so smooth and so far without incident but I have a lot to report! I am so very proud of my Monkey. He was not nervous about starting kinder in the slightest. He was excited. I guess it was more or less my fears that I was trying to project on him. Here he went from this tiny preschool, where he was fortunate enough to have the same teachers for two years in a row - to a big school that goes all the way to 5th grade. Almost twice as many students in his class, and 2 teachers who share the teaching duties. Additionally, the early birds and late birds overlap for a while in the middle of the day. Sounds like utter chaos to me! This would also be the first time he would need to bring a lunch.What would I pack? Would he eat it? Would he make friends?

Turns out, there are 2 kids in his class he went to preschool with (win!). A neighbor boy from across the court is also in his class. He got the "good" teachers that everyone raves about. And lunch? Its at 10:45 a.m. It's like a freakin' snack. Who eats lunch at 10:45? I keep it pretty basic. Celery, carrots and cherry tomatoes - seriously - my kid likes this stuff. Some baked Goldfish crackers. A Juicy Juice box. And 1/4 of a sandwich...which is really teeny but as it is it nearly goes to waste since he eats the other stuff first and wants to play and again, who wants to eat lunch at 10:45?!

Locating his name tag so everyone can start to learn his name

Lining up to go into his classroom. Not a tear in sight!

I am starting to volunteer in his classroom every other week for an hour. I get to spy on visit with my son, see who these friends are that he is talking about, and see how these teachers are in the class room. And I love seeing him make new friends. The first couple days he told me there was a boy who did not want to play with him. I told him, "Move on and play with other kids. Don't get hung up on someone who doesn't want to play with you." He told me, "No, I am going to keep trying until he plays with me." The next day he was very excited, because this boy DID play with him! And they are now bosom buddies. He's going to be just fine!

I get to drop him off every morning, so I get to spend alone time with him in the car, plus I often run into some of my Mom friends for brief chit-chat before I head off to work. His class starts at 7:45, and I wake him up at 6:15 or so. I am mostly ready by the time I wake him up but occasionally stop home to finish my make up before I head off to work. I can't say I love this new schedule. I am so tired in the morning, and I am not a big fan of mornings or of having to go to bed so early!  Additionally its been a struggle to find time to work out but I am slowly falling into a routine with school and hope soon everything will be settled so I can figure things out. Whew.

Has your school year started yet? How has it been going so far? Any big transitions/hurdles?

Labor Day (Unplugged)

We spotted this beach cottage called "Happyland"

 Aaah. I fully relished in the American celebration of the working people. My family spent a weekend away in Capitola, CA.  Being away from home is really the only way I get to relax. During the week, I work full time and prep my two young ones for school in the morning, drive them and come home in time for dinner and baths. Which means, beyond the essential cleaning-up-after-dinner and some laundry I don't really do much housework. I always say I'm going to start doing a little every day so my weekends don't suck. Because right now, they usually suck. I spend a fair chunk of my Saturday cleaning when I should be hanging out with my family and having fun.

So, this past weekend, we hung out with friends, spent our days at the beach watching our kids play ball, build moats, castles, look for sand crabs and dig endlessly. We ate great meals and had some cocktails. We went to the legendary Margaritaville and of course had dinner one night on the patio at Zelda's. It was fabulous not to cook and clean. The first morning we were there, my husband not only cooked our family breakfast but he did all the dishes too! I was feeling a little groggy from a few too many margaritas from the previous night and fortunately he picked up my slack. Can you say keeper?

My iPhone had spotty service down at the beach, which I noticed the first few times I tried to "check-in" at locations. At least it worked when we the adults were texting each other our locations and ETA's the few times we split up. But I actually found it kind of liberating to not constantly be on my phone, the way I am at home...tweeting, Facebooking, playing Words With Friends.

A showing of "Grease" on the beach our first night there.

I am never a fan of leisure time coming to an end. But it always does. Back to the grind tomorrow, for a nice short week.  Right now I am catching up on the beach laundry which is never fun. I am fortunate to have been able to have an end of summer weekend getaway with my "boys" and spend time with good friends. Until next time!

What did you do over Labor Day weekend? Have a wonderful week!

Going Greek - Yogurt, That Is!

 

 I wrote this post while participating in a blog tour conducted by Clever Girls on behalf of Dannon. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program but my opinions are my own. For more information and recipe ideas, visit www.oikosyogurt.com or www.Facebook.com/oikos. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

 When I received the opportunity to review Dannon's new Oikos® Greek Yogurt, I couldn't have been more excited. Well, first I just love plain Greek Yogurt. It is often my go-to mid-morning snack. On its own...or with granola, nuts, honey or fruit mixed in.I also love how versatile it is. I have used it in place of sour cream - most recently to top a Mexican dish. I have used it in my morning smoothies to make them rich and creamy.  The flavors available for me to try in my local supermarket were fat free plain and vanilla, fat free fruit-on-the-bottom peach and fat free fruit-on-the-bottom blueberry.  I loved the vanilla, and can see myself keeping it on hand for snacks and using it in my smoothies. Both fruit-on-the-bottom flavors were delicious, not too sweet, and I couldn't believe that they were FAT FREE.

Plain Greek Yogurt on Zucchini Enchiladas

You all know I try my hardest to eat healthy whenever possible, but I don't want to suffer with boring taste. This was some pretty yummy stuff. And this yogurt has twice the protein as most regular low fat yogurts! Dannon® Oikos® is created through an authentic Greek straining process which gives it a rich and creamy-thick texture. Hard to believe something so filling was so low-cal! Dannon® Oikos® 0% varieties contain active yogurt cultures and range from only 80 calories (Plain) to 130 calories (Fruit on the Bottom) per 5.3 oz. cup. This snack definitely got me through my morning and I survived until lunch time.

Snack Time at Work

I can't wait to try some of the recipes on the website - Blue Cheese Avocado Dip or Mac n'Cheese, anyone? I froze my peach fruit-on-the-bottom container for a little while, just until it was not quite completely frozen and it was an almost-frozen-yogurt delite! How easy was that??

 Are you interested in giving it a try yourself? Dannon Oikos is offering a coupon for a free cup on www.facebook.com/oikos.

I have partnered with Dannon to help promote the Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt Series.  I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program, which includes writing about the promotion and product.  However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

The Littlest Birdy Has Left The Nest!

Could it be possible - my youngest has headed off to preschool. I know, its only 2 days a week, for 2-1/2 hours. But its still a really big deal.

It's a big deal that on his first day, he ran straight into the classroom with no reservations.

My sweet Buddha baby! All grown up!

It's a big deal that he had the confidence to head over to the Thomas the train toys, which he loves and just dive right in.

It's a big deal that he felt comfortable with his teacher, and followed her around as she blew bubbles.

He loves bubbles!!

It's a big deal that he kept it together when other kids came over and started playing with "his" toys.

Checking each other out

The biggest deal of all is that I left, and he didn't cry. He was excited to be there, in the care of other people and in the company of other kids besides his brother.

At pick up, the teacher said he had a great first day. That was music to this mama's ears.