First Day Of School

I am getting in here bright and early this morning ... today is Jades first day of school, Pre-K, one more year and then Kindergarten !!! One more year of sleeping in, it seemed way too early to get up this morning but it is nothing compared to what time we are going to have to get up when she has to catch the bus to school !!! The kids in the road have one more week before they go to school, Jades school always breaks up one to two weeks early and goes back earlier as well, thankfully she doesn't realize that or that would be something else we would have to deal with ...

This morning she got up no problem considering the late night she had on Friday, she must have caught up on her sleep, thank heavens because she is like me, not a morning person if she is woken up :-) but if she wakes up on her own, the first thing she does is sing, it's too cute, definitely doesn't take after me on that one !!!

Anyway Jade got to chose the clothing she wanted to wear on her first day, it seems to be what is done here, thankfully she is still big into the Hello Kitty stuff so when we were out last week buying a shirt for her High School Musical party, she saw this one, we had bought the bookbag a while back before they all got sold out thank Heavens and this little shirt matched it perfectly. Now skirts are not something Jade is in a lot just because of how rough she is and all, but this one has the built in shorts which helps, now once that skirt and those new tennis shoes go through today, they will never be that pink again LOL but what the heck, it's what she wanted right and they only have this first day once a year right ?

Shame, the bookbag looks huge on her, it's not heavy, oh golly I just remembered she wanted me to take a picture of her Hello Kitty lunch box too but I forgot, anyway all that's in there is a change of clothing, you know just in case ... her big lunch box and her folder that stays in there for communication between the teachers and I. So that's Jade all ready for her first day !!!

Thank you to those that called yesterday and this morning to wish her good luck, she thought she was very special getting all these calls :-)

Jades Room ... At Last !!!

It just dawned on me from a comment that Jen posted (thanks Jen) that I haven't ever posted pictures of Jades room, it's been a work in progress but for the most part it is done now, so let me tell you how it all came about ...

Firstly we were given the dresser by a friend of mine, someone I met through the Moms Club and have been friends with since Jade was a baby, her name is Jen too, she had no use for the dresser so asked me if I wanted it and of course, she didn't have to ask me twice :-) We looked forever for a headboard to match and eventually bought a cheap one which we have now trashed because two years down the road, Jen moved houses and now didn't have a use for matching headboard, can you believe that, what a wonderful gift that was from her to Jade :-)

Ok so all we knew is that Jade wanted pink and purple in her room so that was the starting point, I went out looking for a bedroom set, a comforter set ... well that was a tough one, I had millions of comforters to chose from but no cute ones because I was putting my toddler into a queen size bed which most people don't do, anyway eventually I found this one, it's a Lizzie Maguire set which she knows nothing about right now but I am sure in time will grow into ... but for now it worked color wise.

Then I went looking for a border for her walls and was totally blown away when I found this one, they just matched so well, then it was a matter of matching the border up with the paint and this is what it ended up looking like :-)

I had bought a while back the little handles for her dresser, I thought that was a nice touch, the original handles are just wooden ones. The curtains were the old ones that were in her room, they don't match too well but I have been lazy to change them so for now those will have to do. The little hearts above her headboard were a Dollar Store fine (hehehe) but thought they looked good there ... then I filled a few picture frames with family and friends pics, added her bedtime prayer to a frame, hung her JADE name cap or coat rack and added a few goodies to her dresser that kind of matched and we were done.

Last but not least, the last thing we added in the corner above her bed, I have always liked angels and fairies but they don't really fit her room too well but while on our last trip to SA, Nana bought her this long hanging goodie with feathers and shiney goodies and well that started me on the feathered fairy decorations, I bought another 3 while in Hermanus one weekend and we just hung them all today. I told Jade every time I got to SA, I am going to buy a few on these so that eventually her roof will be full on them, I thought that would look really pretty, only by the time I get all that done, she will probably be too old for them ... but a mom can dream right ???

The only thing you can't see is in all these pics is the detail on some of the goodies on her dresser and her night light plugged in below her photo's on the wall, it matches the border, I think it all came together well, don't you ... ok come on, at least TRY and post a comment !!!











I wanted to add just one thing to this update, Friday night Jade had a High School Musical party / sleepover / campout at my neighbor Tina's house, this is the same house she had the Cheetah Girls party last year. It's the fun house in the road :-) Anyway, Dave and I took advantage of the free time and went shopping for his birthday gift on Friday evening, we went for a nice dinner and went to see a late movie which brought us home around 12h30. I walked down to see if it was all quiet in Tina's back yard only to find Tina and another neighbor Shawn chatting away while the kids, all in their tents, (three tents divided age wise) still messing around. I went to first talk to Jade and told her to go to sleep, at close to 1h30 I went to threaten her that if she didn't fall asleep in the next 5 minutes, she was coming home with me to sleep at home, so that put her to sleep pretty quickly. I left around 2am which is a late night for me but apparently the older kids only got to sleep after 4am.

At 10am the next morning I went to go get Jade, she had apparently woken up at 7am and was one of the first (hehehe), she had a ball !!! We had a very slow day yesterday because we were all tired, I did a bit of cleaning since I have my renewal show here on Tuesday but that was about it. Jade was in bed by 7h30 and asleep by 8pm. She slept till after 9am this morning which was a treat for Dave and I.

Later this afternoon we will go to the pool for a bit but then it will be an early night tonight because tomorrow is Jades first day of school so I will probably update again ... so until then :-)

Monday Morning

Just got Jade dressed and as usual when I dress her in a dress or skirt, she turned on her 'model' mode and I figured I would take advantage while she is in the mode, since as she gets older the mood comes up less often :-) I take so many pics when she gets into these moods but would hate to bore you with them all, so here is just a few :-)

Ok, let's see, what's on the cards this week, Jades last week of vacation before she goes back to school ... Today as soon as I can get done on here, I am going to rush off to run some errands before I get online with my mom for our usual Monday chat. Then this evening our friends Tina and Lewis are coming over with their three kids for pizza and fun at our pool, so Jade is looking forward to that :-)

Tomorrow we are suppose to be having a play date with Jade little school friend Evelyn but we have not finalized arrangements so only time will tell, they are lucky enough to have a really nice pool in their back yard so we might go over there to swim.

Wednesday Jade has an afternoon playdate with Ryan, one of her friends in our neighborhood, it's late afternoon so I may take her to the YMCA pool in the morning, it's so very hot here that being at the pool at some stage in the day is a must !!!

Thursday I don't have anything planned yet and then Friday Jade has her open day at school, so we will be meeting her teacher Ms Cindy that morning, I love Ms Cindy so I hope Jade does too, I am sure she will.

Friday night is great excitement for Jade. Last year during Summer, some of you will remember she had a sleepover / camp out in one of my neighbors back yards, it was the release of the Cheetah Girls movie, all the girls in the road went over to Tina's to watch the movie, have fun and then to sleepover in a tent in the back yard, Jade had a ball so ... this year the big Summer movie is High School Musical 2 which gets released this weekend so Tina is doing the same as last year, another camp out, it's so hot, good luck to her :-) She really has the fun house around here :-) Dave and I are going to take total advantage of the time out and go out for dinner with friends and then a possible movie ... now I am excited :-)

Then Saturday is our pool Olympics which I had hoped would be a really good one for Jade this year being the little fish that she is but after her late night at Tina on Friday and probably very little decent sleep, I don't know, we will have to see, maybe we will just give it a skip, again only time will tell.

My other friend Tina, since you guys are probably confused, I have a Tina as a neighbor and then a different Tina as my best friend, well Tina, my best friend she and her hubby are taking her two boys to see Monster Trucks on Saturday evening so I am going to babysit little Layla, she's too cute so it should be fun, it's been a while that I have babysat a child that small so hold thumbs it goes off well.

Sunday will hopefully be a relaxing day to get Jade ready for school on Monday, I might update later the week if she does the pool Olympics otherwise my update will probably only be on Monday. Until then, have a good week :-)

More Exciting News

Hi There

I have more exciting news ... I signed my second jewelery yesterday. She is a SA'n friend that actually did one of my first parties and said she would do a second one when the new catalogue came out, well it just did so I contacted her and couldn't believe she was interested in coming into the business. I went over there yesterday and did all the paperwork so I am very excited, I now have two new babies in my Premier family :-)

Other that that exciting news, I wanted to add these two quick videos they are of Jade swimming at our community pool. The first one she is actually swimming the width of the pool, unfortunately she had been swimming for almost 2 hours already when I had her do this for the video so she is a little worn out but still, she did pretty well considering the distance and of course I have to keep reminding myself she is only 4 !!!

The last one is her doing her gymnastics in the pool, she is so amazing, I am so thankful that she has taken to water so well and almost does better under water than on top, it's been a great Summer, she and I have had so much fun !!!

I cannot believe, one more week and then she is back to school, she will have Ms Cindy this year and she is really nice so I am thrilled about that. Next Friday is her open day at school and then she starts Monday, she and I are both excited about that but I guess for different reasons (hehehe).

Have a great weekend everyone.

Just Dressing Up And Messing Around

I have a show tonight and should really be getting ready for it but Jade and I have had a hectic week so today we were taking it easy and playing dress up and she was modelling everything, the little show off that she is :-)

Anyway she loves dresses but is such a rough little girl that she doesn't really ever wear them out, so she has a bunch like this one in her dress up drawer and every now and again she plays princess and dresses up and has a ball doing so. Today was one of those days :-)

Other than my show tonight tomorrow we are going to again try and have a relaxing day, then Sunday she has a party to go to, a Monkey Joes party which is one of those fun inflatable places, so no dresses there (hehehe).

Below are a few of the pics I took of her in the one dress, her hair has gone very light from the pool, we have no doubt she won't stay fair forever but for right now it's pretty cute :-)

Have a great weekend y'all.

No Exciting News ...

Its been a good 10 days since I last wrote anything in here but nothing much has happened to write about but I just wanted to let you know I have not fallen off the planet or anything :-)

Last weekend I attended a mini rally for my jewelry, it was really cool the new catalogue has just been released and the new jewelry is great, I can't wait to get some of it. I actually have my renewal show this month so that will earn me some free new jewelry so that is exciting :-) My calendar is starting to fill up a bit now too which is great since I have been very lazy since I got back from my SA trip. I did a show this past weekend and have another coming up this weekend, that's the way I like it. What is also exciting is I may be signing my second new jeweler soon, I don't want to jinx it too much but a fellow SA'n and friend of mine has shown a lot of interest and is deciding whether the show I am doing for her then end of August whether she just wants that as a normal home show or whether she is going to turn it into a training show which means she would have bought into the business, so hold thumbs whatever is meant to happen will :-) In this meantime I am just continuing to train my other new jeweler Laurie, so far so good :-)

Then the week was pretty slow, Jade had a couple of playdates which were cool and then the rest of the time we spent at the pool, we spent little time at our community pool though since Jade is enjoying me taking her to the YMCA pool which has more splash areas and slides which she loves :-) Many of the kids in the road are away on vacation at the moment so the road is very quiet which means I really need to keep Jade occupied in other ways, so far so good and well the Summer is almost over, I can hardly believe it.

Other than my show on Saturday night, we have a very lazy weekend, spending much of it in our pj's which was a nice change :-)

This coming week Jade has gymnastics camp Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and a couple of playdates inbetween so she should have a fun week, then the following week she has two parents day out playdates at school and a few more other pool playdates lined up and then can you believe it, the following week will be her last week at home with her schools open day on the 17th. She starts school on the Monday, the 20th, wow, I cannot believe Summer is almost over, thankfully we still have a few weeks of the pool being open but it won't be long and we will be moving into Fall again, this year has flown by, it's amazing !!!

So I guess that is about it, not much else to say ... I will see if any photo opportunities come up this week and might post more, but until next time, bye for now :-)

Good I Took These Before Going To The Pool !!!

Well we are finally getting back into the swing of things after or latest family visit ... we still miss them lots !!! Anyway we are trying to keep busy which helps. Yesterday I went to Concord Mills (sorry Karen) as I needed to return something to Old Navy and also got to check out more of the Childrens Place big sale, this was a great sale, anyway I took Jade with and when she set her eyes and heart on this little grass hula skirt, that was it, so it was on sale so I bought it for her since she has wanted one since the beginning of Summer.

Anyway she loves the skirt so much that when I needed her to get dressed so that she could go with me to work last night, she decided she would rather stay home with her dad so she could wear the skirt. This was very weird since she has so much fun with all the other kids in my class on Wednesday nights that usually there is no way I can get her to stay home but anyway ...

So this morning before I got her in her bathing suit to go to the pool and told her she could wear the skirt to the pool, not swim in it as she thought but wear it to the pool. She looked so cute in it that I decided to take these pics, she has a cute little tan coming on too which is what she is trying to show Nana in that one little picture where her behind is showing some. Actally the picture really doesn't show it much she looks much browner in person, thankfully it looks like she has my skin even though she is so fair. I just love the last picture even though it doesn't even show the skirt :-) it's such a natural picture of her.

As I said in my title of this post, it's a good thing we took these pictures before we went to the pool, we actually went to a new pool, the Ballentyne YMCA which has some water slides, I hadn't taken her there before since I wasn't sure how she would do, I guess I shouldn't really second guess her swimming or any other water ability because she really is a little fish, she loves the water. She did the test that they have to pass to use those slides and passed it no problem first time, always a proud parent moment but anyway, she spent the next 3 hours going up and down those slides till she bumped her head or face on the slide going down and grazed her face open a little. It really wasn't anything big but the drama queen did her thing and begged me to put a bandaid on which then had her good to go for another hour before we came home.

I now notice she had a bit of a bump on her head too so she must have knocked it hard, hopefully she doesn't get a blue eye, but then it won't be the first time or I am sure the last, she is so rough !!! Anyway go take a look, the pics are pretty cute.

Enjoy :-)

Lots Of Tears ...

Ok before I type up a new post I wanted to quickly tell you that I am trying something new that I saw on another blog, when you open my blog on the right of the page you will see a world map, this function will map where people that read my blog are from, I thought it would be fun. If you click there now, there won't be any 'red dots' yet as it takes a few days to update but if you pop back in a week or so, I thought it might be fun to see how 'international' my blog really is :-)

Anyway George, Karen, Amy, Megan and Sasha left at 5h30 this morning, I cannot believe that Jade slept through all the noise of them getting ready to leave but she did, and then at 7h15 when she first woke up, I told her to shhhhhhhhhh like I would if we had people visiting and she went back off to sleep till 8h30, which means we all slept till 8h30 and of course, being Monday Dave was late for work.

Even though Jade had said goodbye to everyone last night just in case she didn't wake up this morning, she was very heart sore and teary eyed this morning. I of course had already shed a good amount of tears before her getting up, I am so going to miss Karen's companionship, she and I are so alike in so many ways and then again so very different in others that it's been fun spending all this time together almost getting to know each other on another level. I cannot believe they were here a little over two weeks, time just flew by which shows how much fun we had right :-) The last time we saw each other was two years ago when Jade and I flew there to spend two weeks with them, we have now decided that driving to each other is a long drive but a totally worth while drive and that we are going to do this yearly, perhaps alternating every year :-)

So as I sit here in my very quiet house I know it is going to be tough getting back into the swing of things or back to normal but I know it will happen in time, hopefully quickly for Jade though since she has really gotten used to having company 24/7, poor thing probably is going to be a little lost today. Thankfully my new jeweler is coming over this afternoon and she has two kids so that will help a little and from tomorrow well it will be my task again to keep busy. This Summer has flown by so quickly, before we know it she will be back at school so I am going to try and make the remainder of her vacation time as fun as possible, we really have had a great Summer !!!

So I guess all that is left to say is, thank you George and David for helping this happen, without the two of you, well Karen and I still would have made it happen but you guys made it easier. George it was fun having you here the last couple of days too, I am sure Dave enjoyed the male company after living alone with six girls the past two weeks :-) Karen gosh, thanks for everything, you were this holiday to me like the sister I always wanted and never had, I had an awesome time with you and girls ... thank you too for being so nice to Jade and doing your parents proud with you manners and just the way you are !!!

We are all going to miss you so very much, Dave even said he would miss the warmth and affection the girls showed him on a daily basis :-) not to mention Karen making him coffee all the time !!! I know what I am going to miss most other than you guys of course PEPPERMINT CRISP PUDDING !!! I dare not make it for us, I best forget those ingredients (hehehe) !!!

I wanted to add some pictures of the trip below so you can see how much fun was had but all of us ... the pics are mainly of the girls, I have finally found someone that hates pics as much as I do (hehehe).



We took the girls to dinner at CiCi's Pizza for one of Megans birthday surprises ...



Playing with some of the kids in the road, Jade was so happy to share her neighbors with everyone :-)



It is clear that we often exhausted the kids right :-)



This was one taken at Lake Wylie for 4th of July ... now that I am thinking, I might have posted this pic already, not sure now but I aint gonna go back and check :-)



This was at Tina I's house, she invited us over to swim and celebrate another suprise birthday party for Megan



This was at Cane Creek Park, which was a lot of fun for the girls and I, Karen doesn't like 'lake water' she says give her a clorinated pool any day (hehehe) but it was as close to a beach we could get on short notice





At least the kids got to build sand castles, which was nice ...



Doesn't matter which dad was at hand, they were going to give him lots of love :-)



I am surprised all the beds held all the jumping on them :-)





These were taken in my back garden



The men bbq'ing



The twins ... or partners in crime :-)



These were all taken the day before they left, it was almost impossible to get them all to smile at one time for all these pics ...



Playing fashion models ...



And how can we leave Dave out of the fun, this gives being the center of attention a new meaning right ?



Here the kids were doing songs that they had practised the entire two weeks that they were here, they did pretty well, impressed all the parents :-) Very cute too.



Jade singing her sole :-)

Almost Time To Leave Again ...

I cannot believe that Karen and the girls have been here for over a week already, it has been so much fun having them all here. The plan was always to stay 2 - 3 weeks but George has decided to surprise them all the end of this week and to drive down and to come and spend a couple of days here with us and then for them all to leave either Sunday or Monday, hopefully Monday because the drive is a long one and at least George will then be well rested. George if you are reading this ... that is a hint !!!

Anyway we have done so much, but with the kids, it has been mainly trips to the pool since that is easiest. Yesterday we went to a small lake close to us which was fun as it has a little beach area, Jade and I had never been there before, it wasn't great but I think the kids had a wonderful time. The kids have also become quiet friendly with the neighbors kids in the road which has been so nice for me to see. The evening before July 4th they went over to Tina's house (Tina in the road) and had smores and watched the local fireworks go off. Last night while Karen and I were out the kids invited other kids in the road over for a movie party ... see what a push over Dave is, he said he was clearly out voted !!!

For the 4th of July we went out to Lake Wylie which was really nice, the fireworks were awesome !!! Unfortunately we battled traffic to get home but thank heavens eventually got home safely as the roads were very busy as you can well imagine.

Megan had a birthday while they were here and we tried to make it a special one her being so far away from home and all, I hope she enjoyed it. We went out to Cici's for dinner during the week, then the night before her birthday, my best friend Tina, another Tina, not Tina in my road, invited us all over to her house for a celebration for Megans birthday, her hubby Lewis put on a fireworks display for us too and I think Megan felt very special this was all done for her. There they got to swim and play on the trampoline, so we had a nice evening, thanks Tina, you are the best !!!

For her actual birthday we pretty much spent most of the day at the pool which the kids always enjoy :-) One thing that was a shock to the system was Karen has all sorts of traditions for birthdays that she does which is very cute and makes it very special for the girls but one that I don't think I will be carrying forward, two actually, the first being that the birthday girls gets to cut her cake ... no way am I letting any child of mine distroy cake (hehehe), Megan had fun but it was no fun me watching all that go down, Karen definitely has better nerves than me. Secondly on their birthdays they get to have cake for breakfast, now as much as I like cake, that is just wrong (hehehe) but it was fun all the same :-)

Karen and I have done tons of shopping, she is convinced that George and I have plotted together her 'death by shopping' it's all been very overwelming for her how much there is here. I have thoroughly enjoyed it all because as much as it has become the norm for me, I don't get to walk EVERY isle like she has made me do this past week and I have gotten to see so much that normal I would just not have seen. She is such fun to be with and we are so alike in so many ways that this has just been a wonderful experience for me. Hopefully one that we are going to do yearly.

Anyway, this morning we had a fashion show, last night Karen and I went shopping and bought the kids some new clothes and it was fashion show time, I think they had a ball. I have added two video's to YouTube hopefully by the time you view this they are loaded and you can view them, in the meantime, enjoy the pictures :-)






This is the four of them, golly we took a few pics of the four of them and you think we could get one nice one with them all smiling and looking in the right direction ... now freaking way !!!



This is just one of Jade which golly, tried to steal the show at every opportunity.



This is Megan, she is the one that just had a birthday here and turned 7 years old.



This is Amy that is 9 and Megan



I just loved this bathing suit for Amy and well it didn't take much to talk Karen into getting it for her but thankfully she like it too :-)



This is Jade and Sasha, they actually in one of the pics had same shorts on but Jade just fills them out a little more (hehehe) and she is a whole year younger than Sasha !!!



These were PJ's that I bought Jade coz the girls had PJ dresses as she calls them so I had to buy her these and she was over the moon.





This will probably be the last post before they leave, then afterwards I will write a little more but then it will be back to a quiet house ... I am so going to miss everyone, Jade is going to be heartbroken to see them go :-(

Until then enjoy the rest of your week.

Well ... The Van's Have Arrived !!!

Just a quick update while Dave has gone off to work, Karen is still sleeping and the kids are playing somewhat quietly upstairs ...

Jade slept at my girlfriend Tina on Friday and Saturday night, Dave and I left at 6am on Saturday morning to drive up to Cranberry to collect Karen, the trip up was pretty uneventful, we stopped once to buy gas and breakfast and then were on our way again, Dave played my mp3 player a lot of the trip while I caught up on movies and TV that he had DVR'd for me which was cool. We made good time as did Karen and George so when we met up, it wasn't long before we hit the road back again.

The kids were angels in the back of the car, they all had a DVD player to watch which helped hugely, it was amazing. We only stopped once, to fill gas, allow the kids to play a bit, get a restroom break and to grab dinner, all at once and then we hit the road back again, getting us home around 10pm which was amazing.

Yesterday Dave went to get Jade pretty early, the kids played outside a bit late morning which is something we don't do here in Summer that is for sure but I will have to get Karen used to how we do stuff here LOL, after a light lunch we went to the pool for the majority of the afternoon, the girls totally wore Dave out but he looked as if he had fun, or he put on a pretty good front.

When we got back, we had dinner, then I took a detour to the store to show Karen all the new developments around us ... and then it was relaxing for the night ... or so I thought. My child that is hardly ever sick and NEVER throws up, threw up in the night, I didn't hear her so poor Karen cleaned up most of it before getting me up. After that she seemed ok but still had runny tummy later in the night as well, so golly, I hope it was just all the excitement yesterday and that she hasn't caught a bug coz the good man upstairs knows, all we need is us all to catch a 'throw up' bug, well that would make our vacation :-( so hold thumbs !!!

So today I think we are going to take it easy, maybe do some driving around, go to the SA shops but easy stuff, hopefully we don't have to go to the pool today, and Jade can take it a bit easy, we will see, she seems fine this morning but hasn't eaten anything yet.

Anyway more later.