Author: Michelle

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A School Day Bucket List

IndyforBucketListWe are now down to….oh 169 days of school left. I only know this because Andrew fills me in on the number of days he’s been in school. Every day. I kind of love having a kindergartner in the house again.

Anyway, it all started with a friend posting a photo of herself at the Indiana State Fair. By herself. During the day.

And then I realized something. Many of my friends sent a kindergartener off to school this week. Suddenly, my mom friends have a little bit of time on their hands. Time enough to go to the fair solo. While I’m working most days, there are few hours here and there I can dictate.

Last Thursday, Leilan and I went to lunch. By ourselves.

Now I’m thinking and I have more Ideas.I’ve got maybe one morning per week that is all mine. Here’s my pie-in-sky list, by month:

August: Prep for the IKC Sale, by myself. Instead of my covert after bedtime operation, I could do this in broad daylight.

September: It’s my birthday!  It’s fair to celebrate with a latte and nowhere to be, right? I think I shall go to Perk Up, order one and drink it there, while I read my book. Booyah!

October: The Heartland Film Festival! It will be here! And I can go to it!

November: Instead of going out to Christmas shop after bedtime, I’m thinking I can knock it out after I drop the kids off at school one more. Fancy that. I wonder if I could even make to the Junior League’s Holiday Mart…

December: Wrapping Day! It’s a day to get together with friends, and wrap all the Christmas presents. And drink Christmas-themed cocktails. Hooray!

January: There’s this Little Nail Shop right across from my office- I think I’d like to go to there.

February: The month of love! Perhaps Leilan and I can have a fancy lunch somewhere while the children eat their lunch in the cafeteria. Hmm….

March: It will be IKC sale time again!

April: I love going to the 100 Acres Art Park. Usually though, I’m going where my kidswander. The plan here is to go and see what I want to see.

May: I think going to the track during time trials is totally reasonable, don’t you? Again, I’ve only ever gone with the kids. Which is fun, but let’s face it. Sometimes it’s more fun without them.

I plan on updating this as the year goes on….what’s on your School Day Bucket list?

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Third Grade Musings and Kindergarten Excitement

School started for the kids back on August 7th. The new “balanced” calendar gives me feelings, but so it goes.

SO.

The girl started third grade, and all of a sudden, it appears that things are clicking. A lot of the “training” that took place in first and second grade seems to be getting put to good use. The homework planner that she’s lugged back and forth just for exercise is being written in daily. There’s now a special weekly log that requires she read every day for 20 minutes. She’s starting to listen to the morning announcements at school- it’s the first time she’s ever come home and told me Friday is spirit day. (Every Friday is Spirit Day. When I asked her last night if she wanted to wear a school t-shirt, she looked at me, exasperated, and said, “It’s required Mom.It’s Spirit Day.” Note, she has never once worn either of the school tshirts she happens to own. EVER.)

There is a sudden awareness of her surroundings that can only be attributed to being eight (moving in head first into the second plane of development, according to Dr. Montessori).

The boy walked into kindergarten on the first day and said, “I can’t believe I am at my new school!” He comes home with tales of morning meetings, chocolate milk and recess. His class is doing the traditional counting the school days, and every day he tells me the number. He’s eight days in, in case you are curious.

Eight days in, and things are going just fine. I’ll take it.

 

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Saying Yes To…my morning routine

Depending on the day, morning can be the best or worst time of the day.

With school back in session, I often find myself wanting to spike my coffee after wrangling the children out of bed. and out the door Since that’s frowned up in carpool, I’m forced to cope in other ways. I’ve got three parts of my morning that are critical to my day’s success.

bathtime

To start my day off right, I wake up first. It sort of kills me, but it’s key. I’ve learned that an extra half an hour in the morning makes everything go so much more smoothly.

Every morning, I Say Yes to… an extra hot shower. I clear out the bath toys, make sure I have a clean towel, and stay in there until I feel awake. The steamier the better. Some days it takes longer than others. I have my own stash of products kept out of the reach from the roommates who are still fascinated by bubbles and how gravity works.

Every morning, I employ my coffee maker. Because damn. Morning without coffee isn’t pretty.

I can adapt almost any other part of my routine, but those to three things have to happen if i want my day to be on track.

linqiaphotoLately, I’ve been using some yummy body washes in the shower that go a long way to waking me up and making my skin feel silky smooth. The new body wash collection from Yes To is the perfect way to start any day. The more I learn about the company, the more I like them. I mean, really- (from their website)

“Yes to is made up of fun-loving, wine-drinking, yoga-doing, active-life-living bunch of folks in San Francisco who a) create affordable natural products that really work b) give back by planting school gardens for kids to help teach them about healthy living and nutrition, and c) have a pretty awesome time doing it.” Yeah. We’d probably all be friends in real life.

Interested in trying out this new Yes To line? I can help you out with that! 

Visit the Yes to Body Wash page and pick two body washes you want to use in order to steam up your shower routine. Then enter the code Y2LINQ for your savings of buy one, get one 50% off. 

Disclosure: Thanks to Yes To for providing products and compensation for this post. All opinions on the morning are expressly my own.

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