First day, here and gone.

Mia rode her bike to school for the first time with us trailing behind her. Cool wheels huh?!


Kai started pre-k and did fantastic, no separation anxiety whatsoever! The only thing he didn't want to do was wear a backpack.


We celebrated making it through the first day with Yumi Yogurt! (Kai's saying "yogurt" very dramatically)


Been a loooooong day...going to bed now.

Farewell footloose and fancy free days.

Well, this is it! Our last day before the new school year begins. Our days of lounging around in our pj's, late movie nights and long mornings in bed are up. Tomorrow my alarm will go off earlier than it has in two months and I will proceed to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off for the next hour getting ready for the first day of school. I should be grateful, summer was a little longer than it usually is. So tomorrow it's back to the grind, not just for the kids, but for me too. I'm teaching preschool again this year. I'm about to find out if I can create 48 new file folders, then stuff each one with the endless amount of back to school papers that a new school year brings, write names on nametags, fold three loads of laundry and straighten my hair before I go to bed tonight.
Mia's got that excited, anxiety about returning to school, so I'm sure she'll take forever to fall asleep tonight. She's so happy she got the teacher she wanted, and she'll have more friends in her class this year. Last year she was in a 1st/2nd combo class and she's very happy to be in an all one grade classroom this year. I can't believe I am the mother to a second grader!
Kai's also starting pre-k and I'm excited to see how he'll do. I'm hoping for a lot of growth since he's behind. As of right now I'll hold him back another year before starting kindergarten. With any luck, a desire on Kai's part and a knowledgeable teacher, he'll progress enough to start kindergarten next year.
I'm also happy I'll have some one on one time with my little Noah. I only work mornings and Kai's pre-k is in the afternoon, so from 12:30 to 2:30 it's mom and Noah time. It'll be the first time since he was born it'll be just he and I on a regular basis.
Wish us luck, I'll be back to let you know how it all goes down.

*Don't read if easily depressed*

I feel so sickened by this world sometimes. I sometimes wish I could just be an ostrich that sticks their head in the sand and be oblivious to the world around me. This latest news story about the Lake Tahoe girl who was kidnapped in 1991 and just found yesterday is my worst nightmare (click here for story). I can't imagine having Mia taken away from me when she's 11 and having her turn up a 29 year old woman with two kids of her own. After so many years probably believing she was dead, and then to find out she was alive the whole time, suffering. The guilt would be overwhelming because you probably stopped formally searching long ago, while she was out there waiting to be found. Then how normal would it ever be again? Sure I would be ecstatic to see her face again, but the amount of damages could never be repaired. As a mom your instinct is to want to fix any hurt your child suffers and this would be "unfixable". This may be selfish of me, it's definitely not noble or brave, but I always say that if my child was ever kidnapped I'd rather just find them dead. I couldn't be searching for years on end and having that question always hanging over me if they are out there. It sounds terrible as I type that, but I know my heart and mind could not handle that uncertainty. At least if they were gone I believe in an after life, and I believe it is much better than ANYTHING this world has to offer. I would need finality one way or another or I would not be able to go on, even for my other kids. How can these horrible people who commit crimes like this live with themselves, how can they do these things to children?! Really these stories do horrible things to my mind. I'm not meaning to ruin anyone's day, but really I had to get this out of my system.

Drawing a blog blank!

I sat down to blog and just as I got to the compose page I was called into the bathroom to help with shampooing, rinsing, and drying of two little kids. I just sat back down and now have no clue what I was originally going to post. I'm serious, I sat and stared at the blank screen for 10 minutes waiting for it to come back to me and it didn't! What the heck! I didn't realize what I had to say was that boring.

Family Reunion

A week ago we got to go down to so-cal for a wonderful family reunion. It was a quick trip, but totally worth it! I got to see all six of my cousins I grew up with for the first time in 5 years plus my 92 year old grandpa was there from Arizona. A lot has changed in 5 years. Mia was the ONLY child between the Billen and Florence families and now there are 11 second cousins running around. Of course we missed Aaron and my brothers who couldn't make it. It was a lot of fun and the food was great as always when our auntie Marty is in charge. Mia learned how to play croquet, the boys got to run around with all the other toddlers and I got to catch up with my awesome extended family.


Me and my cuz Mandy


Bubble blowing babies


4 generations


Pa with half his grandkids


Pa and the little Shongy's

Sock Monster

The sock monster is alive and well at our house. I cannot figure out where all the mates go or why there are so many missing?! Does anyone else have this many mismatched socks?



I happy to report that since this photo was taken the pink sock has found her mate, however, I'm sure three more were added to the pile in her place.

Camp Freeze

Once again Mia participated in ice skating summer camp and had a blast. Even though she hadn't been on the ice since last year's camp she wasn't hesitant at all on the ice. Her favorite new trick is skating on one foot. She also got quite good skating backwards. Maybe this year we'll actually make it to an open skate session!