All Sorts of New Stuff

Kindergarten. It has begun. Ryleigh's first day in Kindergarten was two weeks ago. She was so nervous the weekend before, and so was mama. Sunday night we were both basket cases trying to get ready for bed and get ready for the day ahead. Ryleigh went to bed the first time at 8, but it was well past 10 before she finally got to sleep.

Monday morning we all popped out of bed and got ready in record time. Jeramy's office is just a few blocks from our temporary apartment so we picked him up on the way to Ryleigh's school, which is abo0ut 30 minutes away. We went ahead and enrolled her in the school that the neighborhood where our new house is goes to. Thirty Minutes...each way. Jeramy, Avery and I all walked her to her classroom. She seemed a little unsure of her surroundings, but didn't cry and didn't try to make us stay. Since I did my crying the night before, I was holding my own. I walked out the door with Jeramy behind me and Avery on my hip. Dad had to turn and take one last peek before we could completely walk away and when we did walk away it was Avery with the worried cry.."Sista! Sista!...Momma, Sista!"


So I felt good about the drop off and was looking forward to the pick-up. Her school lets out at 3:40, I got there at 3:20 and I got to load her into the car at 4:10. She seemed a little dazed, kind of like she didn't know what was going on. After we pulled out of the parking lot and began the drive home I asked her how her day was to which she responded..."Awful". Uh oh. She continued to tell me that she was so hungry because her teacher didn't let her eat her lunch, and by the way her teacher didn't smile at all and was so mean, and she hates her new school and she is HUNGRY! Then the tears came and I just really didn't know what to do. So I reached back behind me and took her hand and let her cry while I drove us to Chick-Fil-A. After scarfing down her chicken and chocolate milk she got some good play time in and was in a much better mood. But yikes, it was real touch and go for a little bit.

Over the past few weeks, things have gotten much better. She has started to make friends and has found lots of joy in her P.E. class, art class and music class. She has also learned to look forward to her weekends and was super excited when I told her yesterday that this weekend she gets THREE days off. Whatever will we do with so much time!!

I will be painting the majority of this weekend. We closed on our house last Thursday! The carpets will be cleaned on Tuesday, our household goods shipment will be delivered on Wednesday along with our new mattress!! Jeramy and I have had nothing but hand me down mattresses our entire cohabiting life, so this is huge for us. Also being delivered on Wednesday is our washer and dryer, but my new mega awesome fridge will take two weeks to come in. So, we will either wait to move into the house or we'll resort to ice chest living. It all depends on how badly I want to stop driving 30 minutes each way to drop off and pick up Ryleigh!

Jeramy leaves on Tuesday for his new, new, but not permanent rig. Explanation...when we moved back Jeramy was put in an Assistant Performance Rig Manager position, but last week that changed. Apparently he had mastered that position in a mere month and now he will be a Drilling Engineer, which is a rotating position. And they're putting him on a brand spankin' new rig that hasn't even made it all the way to the gulf yet. So, they're shipping him out to a rig to start learning on because this is a position that he knows less than shit about for the most part. However, he is really excited to get to work in this area. It is a position that he had asked for when we were in Canada and we think they intended to put him in it all along, they just weren't ready to right when we got back. The rotating part will be an adjustment, but the good thing is when he's home...HE IS HOME. Except when he's in training. *Sigh*....Such is life right, roll with it? Did I tell you I got a new fridge....29 cubic feet of fridge??

Time to paint...gotta get this done cause I gots me a hot date tonight! My oil riggin' man is taking me out for my favorite pork chops and a movie!

Returning to Texas, Cyber Style

Yay for me...I updated our blog! We are now officially in Texas, my blog says so.

We had a great visit with my sister this weekend. She and Blake came in on Saturday and headed for home this morning. Unfortunately I was sick the whole time with a middle ear infection, but we all know they were here to see the girls anyway. Not sure how I got a middle ear infection, but I think it might have had something to do with us going swimming last weekend. Talk about ouch, it's not something I hope to repeat again, ever.

Despite the girl in a coma on the couch holding her ear, we had a great time just hanging out, playing games and laughing at the silliest things...like creamed corn. You had to be there. It's cool, us all being adults and having grown-up things to discuss. And since we've all been together for so long, we actually have things to reminisce about. And then there's Becca and I, in the same room, not yelling at each other. Progress without therapy, it can be done.

We said goodbye to Aunt Becca and Uncle Blake this morning but it's not for long. We're heading up to their house on Friday to hang out for the weekend and cook out for my brother's birthday. Little Curdle will be 23, not that it matters, we just want cake.

One week from Thursday we SHOULD close on our house. We hit a little bump in the road today with our lender, but I'm pretty sure that the loan dude will see the light in the morning. His appraisal came in considerably below the selling price, but these things happen when you use short sales and houses that back up to tollways as comparable sales. Idiots.

The weekend after we close on the house we're going to San Antonio for a night. My "little" cousin Haesten will be playing on the Odessa Permian varsity football team against some other team there. Yes folks, that's the team from Friday Night Lights. Ummm, and did I mention that Haesten is a freshman? Really cool stuff, and a great chance to see a lot of family.

Time to return to Texas, via Facebook.

Jennifer to Earth...I'm Still Here

Oh geeze, where to start. So much in the last two weeks...too much it seems. But it's all good, things are all starting to come together and slowly I'm starting to feel home. Okay, I'll start with today.

Ryleigh and I have been planning a mommy/Ryleigh day for a few weeks now and with Kindergarten just around the corner, I decided that we would spend the day shopping for clothes and supplies. We took off for Sugar Land this morning. And yes, I know next weekend is the tax free weekend, but yes, I will spend an extra $40 to avoid mass hysteria in the malls. And, with all the sales we hit today, I'm not sure that I didn't come out ahead....so there.

We hit Target first and loaded up on school supplies. And let me just say, I am so sick of hearing parents complain about how all the supplies get mixed up and redistributed to the kids. Knowing that Ryleigh would not necessarily get to keep the supplies I buy her made it so much easier to not buy the expensive stuff. And, what a great lesson in sharing I got to explain to her today and that she will get to learn when school starts. Good stuff if you ask me.

After Target we hit the mall, but it wasn't quite open yet so we grabbed some lunch and then set off for Gymboree where she got some adorable outfits. After Gymboree we started walking down the mall when I saw a store called Justice which seemed to carry girl's clothes, but maybe a little bit older girl's clothes. I asked a sales associate what size they started at and she said 6, exactly Ryleigh's size right now. We now have multiple "rock star" outfits and even daddy approved when we got home!

After some post-shopping gelatto we headed home where we picked up Daddy and Avery and drove on down to the Children's Museum followed by Star Pizza. All in all, a really awesome day. And, a nice break from all the craziness that has been the last two weeks.

Craziness which has included finding a cell phone, a house and a vehicle. The cell phone was easy, the house took a few days to hunt down, but we did find "the one" and it's everything that we wanted it to be. The vehicle took a little work and a lot of hunting, but we did finally find a deal we couldn't walk away from. Tomorrow I go get my new (to me) 06 Yukon. We're taking Dave Ramsey's advice and buying used after only buying new since college. And, I've never felt so good about closing a deal on a vehicle. We got my Yukon for over a thousand dollars under the trade-in value with a 12 month/12K mile warranty. Go us! Screw a bunch of new car smell and huge monthly paments. Gimme something paid for! (or really close to it)

This week we get to officially register Ryleigh for school and Jeramy leaves for the rig tomorrow evening for four days. It should be a pretty calm week for us, just hanging out and getting to know our new area. Katy isn't very far from Sugar Land, but it is a new city to learn.

I said that I'm starting to slowly feel at home. It's kind of weird to see my friends back in St. John's talking on Facebook and planning get togethers and playdates and not being able to be a part of it all. It's also kind of weird planning playdates and time together with my friends here. I kind of feel like I'm forcing my way back into a world I intentially backed out of...like a bad ex. I missed my friends here and it's so awesome being back close to all of them, but I still can't help feeling like I'm crashing back into their world which was probably just fine and dandy while I was gone. Okay, enough whining.

Time to iron some clothes and head to bed. I've gotta new (to me) car to go pick up tomorrow!