We have gotten into what I like to call "our new normal" around the Varner house. Staying at home now has been a wonderful adjustment for our family. It is so nice to not bring home my work stress and to be able to enjoy my kids without worrying about my job. Jarod and I feel so blessed that we are able to do this for our family.
We start our mornings pretty early. I get Allie up at 6:45 and she is out the door by 7:30. Jack wakes up usually by 8 or a little earlier. We both eat breakfast and I sneak in a cup of coffee (barely) and he is ready to go! He brings me his shoes or my shoes and says "go outside". Every morning we walk to the park by our house. Our yard is a mess (we are going to laid sod once the heat goes away). Even when it was 95 or hotter, we went for at least 45 min. The key was getting there early! We also discovered an awesome park in Carrollton that is covered and had a splash park with fountains. Now that the heat has died down, we are able to stay at the park a lot longer. After outside play, we come home for a snack, play a little more and then lunch. Usually we have an early lunch because Jack has to get down by 12:30 in order to get in a nap before it's time to get Allie. Jack loves to go get Allie from school! He has missed his sister.
Once we get home, we have snacks, play time with siblings, and homework. Then Allie helps me contain Jack while I get dinner ready. Now that the weather is cool, we go to the park after school too! Jack loves being outside and that way Allie hasn't felt left out. We also tried toddler time at the library this week. Jack did pretty well. He likes the singing and dancing.
We are all enjoying our "new normal"!
We loved this park...they have two different play grounds for different ages. Jack of course liked them both!
Hard to believe this sweet girl is old enough for Kindergarten! It seems like just yesterday she was this small (see pic below)...
Where did the time go? I feel like the last five years have flown by and my little girl is all grown up. She has been excited about Kinder since last year and couldn't wait for the first day of school. I always thought I would be able to handle it, since I was used to leaving her every day, but I was wrong. Now that I am able to stay home, I've had some "guilt" set in b/c I wasn't able to stay home with her. But, I am able to take her to school, pick her up, go to meetings, go eat lunch with her...things I wasn't sure I would ever be able to do with my sweet girl. I am so grateful that I get to be available to her at school and home with Jack!
This past week I had wanted to do lots of fun things with her, but unfortunately, Jack decided it was a good time to get sick and Jarod was out of town. So, we had to cram in some things this weekend.
I'm so proud of my sweet girl! When I woke her up this morning, she said, "Mommy, I can't believe it...I'm a Kindergartner!" She sounded so grown up and it made me weep. From there she got dressed in her new dress and shoes she picked out when we went shopping. Then we had biscuits for breakfast (one of her favorites), took a few pictures and then off to school. It was weird to be on "this side" of things. I haven never felt so lost! We all took her to school and when we got back in the car, Jack immediately went, "Allie?" and held up his hands. It broke my heart. He loves her so much and I know he will miss having her around.
We had a dinner celebration...spaghetti (her favorite) and I made her a funfetti cake with cream cheese icing and sprinkles. My mom was even able to come celebrate with us.
We are so proud of our girl and look forward to an exciting year of Kindergarten!
Jack of course had to be in a picture and he was squatting down b/c she was:)
Jarod and I were able to escape to Cancun for a few days, while my parents watched the kids. This was a much needed vacation and we feel so blessed that we were able to do this. It was so nice to have no distractions and to be able to rest, relax and focus on each other. We got to Cancun on a Thursday afternoon and we left the following Tuesday afternoon. Jarod and I have not been to Cancun since our honeymoon 8 years ago. For our honeymoon, we stayed at a huge all inclusive resort that was not close to town. This time we decided to not go that route and stay at a smaller hotel (Hilton) and go out for our meals. I really enjoyed our hotel...it was not very crowded, had very polite staff, awesome pools and beach!
We spent every day at the pool and every night we went into town for dinner. We swam, lounged, read (I read 4 books), and took naps. I guess you could say we were LAZY! I only had one major meltdown-I forgot my makeup bag and brush at my parents house. I realized this on our first night at 8:30 and my awesome husband agreed to get out and take the bus to Wal-Mart in downtown Cancun. It was a long adventure and it was hard to pick out make-up when it's all written in Spanish, but something that will never be forgotten. Everyday I looked for seashells on the beach for Allie and Jack. She was so excited to get them!
I fell in love with Cancun again...I had forgotten how beautiful it was there. Every time I looked at the ocean, I kept thanking God for creating something so beautiful and breathtaking.
There were several small pools and one huge pool...it was awesome! When you swam to the furthest point, you had the ocean right in front of you.
#73 was our spot on most days
This was taken on our last day, we got to the pool at 8 that morning. I love how the sun is reflecting on the ocean.
