First Day of School

I cant believe how fast this summer has gone by. I dropped Nikolas off at school today. He did really well. I think he truly loves going there, although he was pretty tired. I don't know whats going on with him, but lately he gets up in the middle of the night and cant go back to sleep. He comes in to our bed for a little while and tosses and turns for over an hour. I usually take him back to his bed, but sometimes I'm too tired to keep doing that so I just let him stay there. Last night, he finally fell back asleep in his own bed around 5 am. My eyes are pretty puffy today too. I'm sure the fist day of school is tough for everyone out there too. Tonight we will all be exhausted and ready for bed early.


Today is Rich's first day working from home without a nanny. I think he is doing really well so far. I called him and he was taking the time to do some work while Lukas slept. I really think he will still be able to work on his business quite a bit in between naps and in the evenings when I get home around 5. Its a very flexible type of business (he's a yacht broker). When lukas starts school in January, he will have all morning to work and then go pick up the boys at noon.

Speaking of Lukas, he outgrew his soft slipper shoes, so we had to put on real ones. We found some really dorky white shoes that Nikolas never wore. Poor little guy. It was really funny to see him try to walk in them for the first time. Check it out:

First Real Trails

Yesterday, my husband and I went for a bike ride in the afternoon. The goal? To get me on my first real mountain bike trails. We live a few blocks away from some great beginner/intermediate trails that border a paved trail by the lake (one thing I love about our neighborhood).

I was a little nervous and I was having trouble getting my shoes to clip in (they got full of mudd on my first little fall). I managed to get up some little rocky hills, although going down them was scary. I got off my bike ALOT and walked when I felt uncomfortable. Some of the trails where really steep and you were supposed to go over a 1 foot plank over a creek. I don't think so! I could just see myself eating dirt and falling in the creek. I wasn't out to get hurt on my first time.
At the end of our 1.5 hour ride, we found a much easier trail which was so much fun. I think I will try that one a few more times to get more comfortable. This sport is addictive. I couldn't stop thinking about it last night and I cant wait to get back on my bike this evening!

On the scrapbooking front, I have some new layouts I need to scan. Am I the only one who hates scanning layouts? Its such a pain to have to stitch the images together, but i don't want to spend the money on a larger scanner just because i'm being lazy.

Tomorrow is Norma's last day. A whole new world starts on Monday. Nikolas is back at school that day and Rich will be taking Lukas with him everywhere he goes while I am at work. Getting a little nervous about this, but i know it will work itself out. I'm excited about the new school year. Its fun to chat with the other parents and participating in school events. Rich is the Communications Lead on the Board of Trustees this year. He's done a great job with the school's web site and is helping enrollment go up. I'm so proud of him.

Meet my new Baby

Isn't she pretty? We went on at 13 mile ride on Friday and 10 mile ride today. She is just awesome. I am having so much fun getting in to this new sport. I haven't done any actually "mountain biking" yet (just paved trails), as I am just trying to get comfortable on the bike first. The main thing I am trying to get used to is the clip on shoes. Its a really creepy to think you could fall over and your feet could stay attached to the bike! They are made to come off really easily though, so I am feeling better about it. Very soon I will venture on to a real trail and off the pavement. So exciting!

i'm back baby

thanks to the sweetest care package from Chrissy with adorable papers from Daiso, I created someting that I am actually proud of. I feel a renewed sense of creativity and I am ready to get back to playing again. Its still difficult to find balance between work, kids, and creating. Now I know why Ali always struggles with this and she too goes through creative slumps. It must be pretty normal. Promise to update my blog more soon. Thanks for hanging in there.

Breath

The Norma thing went really well. I was so nervous, my hands were shaking. I told her that I was nervous and needed to talk to her. She ended up telling ME it was ok and that these things happen. I know she will be ok. She's a survivor. I feel a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders. Thank you for all the sweet encouraging comments.

As for the weekend getaway in Austin, it was awesome. We got a great deal at the Austin Downtown Hilton through priceline.com. Friday we arrived around 3pm then hung around 6th street listening to music and acting like college kids. Saturday we rented mountain bikes and went on a two hour ride around the beautiful river (Town Lake train). This was my first time on a mountain bike and i was a little nervous at first. After the first 20 minutes I got comfortable and had an amazing time. It helped that I have been taking spinning classes at the gym, so I was not that out of shape. However, I was feeling pain in places I never expected, like my wrists and elbows. All in all the views were beautiful and the workout was awesome. I am ready to get my own bike soon!

After that we headed to Barton Springs Pool which is a chilly 68 degrees year round. I dipped my feet in and that was enough to cool off. Rich actually jumped in! We hung around for a little while then found a little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant for lunch before heading to the hotel to relax. Delicious fish tacos!

That evening we decided to go to a nice restaurant for dinner. We walked to Malagas tapas bar, which is a great place with little Spanish dishes. We drank wine, laughed, and remembered why we have so much fun together.

Knowing that the kids were with our parents allowed us to relax and really have fun. We were almost shocked at how good we felt and how we didn't "miss" them tremendously. All in all it was an amazing little getaway that helped put a spark back in to our marriage. I guess my parents were insisting on this becuase after 39 years of marriage, they know what it takes to make it last. Thank you Mom and Dad!

Bye Bye Norma

After 2.5 years we have decided it is time to let our live in nanny go. It was a difficult decision that we have been mulling over for months. Nikolas is in Pre-School from 8am -12 then he comes home to sleep for 2-3 hours and soon (in January) Lukas will be doing the same. It just does not make sense to keep paying her to do a little house cleaning then hang around watching TV all day. Rich has stepped up and decided to take care of Lukas for the next few months until he starts school. I am also able to help out in the afternoons and other occasions because of my job flexibility.

This is going to be so hard. IWe have gotten so spoiled having her around. I have never had to fire someone and on top of that I have to do it all in Spanish, which I am not nearly as comfortable speaking as English. We decided to tell her this afternoon and it was so tough to see and talk to her this morning knowing that she had no idea what was coming.

We are going to give her 2 more weeks pay and if she cant find a job by then we aren't going to kick her out if she has no place to live. We will let her stay a little while longer until she finds a place to live.

On ha HAPPY note, my parents are coming in to town this evening and Rich and I are going to Austin for the weekend for a little getaway with out the kids. I'll post more about that later.

taking a blog break

need to regroup. gather my thoughts. get reinspired to post. thanks for checking in.

I Did it!

On the last day of class, after our final presentation where we had to prove we could teach this stuff to new hires, I made it. Only 6 of us out 16 got officially "endorsed" as trainers. This experience was incredibly rewarding. I learned so much about myself and how I appear to others. I have a renewed interest in public speaking and THE company I work for as a whole. I am so proud of being able to succeed after being so tired and mentally drained.

I took the "red eye" flight which left at midnight and arrived at 6am my time. now i know why its called the red eye. I have never been so tired in my life. Luckily I was able to take yesterday off to recover.

I miss scrapbooking. I miss painting. I miss collaging. I haven't had time to do anything creative in weeks. Must make time soon.