Bye Bye Summer, Hello School!

Before I write about what I was really going to write about, I would like to take a moment to brag.  Not on myself, but on my baby girl!  She has been working so hard this summer on reading, and I am happy to say that she has succeeded in learning it! (she still has a lot to learn of course, but she is doing great!)  She reads EVERYTHING!  Signs at the grocery store, labels on food and other items, titles of movies and tv shows, and of course some books!  I signed her up for the summer reading program at the library this summer, and mostly I read her American Girl books and what not, but I think that really helped to spark her interest!  She then started carrying this little book around called "I Am Skippyjon Jones" and would read it over and over and over again!  After that, she would teach herself how to read other books and then come down from her room all excited and read them to us!  She is such a smarty!  We also did some math review this past week to see if she remember anything we taught her in the Spring, and she is doing even better now than she was then!  I think she is going to be pretty bored this year in school...which means only one thing!  She is going to get in lots of trouble for talking....we sort of expected this anyway.  Hopefully though, she will prove us wrong and be very well behaved! 

My little bug starts Kindergarten on Wednesday!  She is so excited, she's had a count down going since around day 8, and every morning it's the first thing she mentions!  Tomorrow we go to meet her teacher, who I have heard is amazing.  Jaidyn's best friend Charis is going to be in her class, which I hope doesn't end up getting them into trouble (they are both social butterflies!).  But I am excited, because hopefully that means our two families will grow closer together!  I can't wait to post some first day of school pictures!

Now, to kill the excitement, mommy also starts school soon.  Don't get me wrong, part of me is excited, because this is my last semester of biology classes, then I will only have two more random classes and an internship and then I graduate!!  But, the fact that I have to suffer through genetics is the bummer part of it.  I like genetics, but there are two professors to choose from, and they are both a gamble.  The most exciting part is that I will be back in the research lab again!!  I can't wait!  And, I will be working on a new biofuels project, while hopefully helping Paul out with the old project.  I pray that this year will be awesome, rather than overwhelming.  But, it will require a lot of effort.  With Kyle working two jobs, and Jaidyn in school, and a home to keep clean and tidy, and meals to cook, and studying and lab time...it will be crazy.  I will have to push myself to study a little every night, instead of waiting until close to exam time.  The best part though, is that I will have my husband home with me every night!  No more second shift, at least for now!  Today marks his first day of day shift!  Yay!
     
Things at the new church are going swimmingly!  We are making some new friends, and having a blast with the youth!  We had a Soul Surfer movie night last night, and saw lots of new faces.  We had around 17 kids show up, which is awesome!

Just a quick update on the 17 Day Diet.  It has been nearly 17 days, and Kyle and I have decided that this diet isn't really for us.  I think it works better for people who have a lot of weight to lose.  On the facebook support group, people are like "I lost 15 pounds in 3 days!"  Well, we have been following the diet and we haven't gotten those results at all.  Kyle lost a lot the first couple of days but none since then.  It does mention in this book that the lower the amount you have to lose, the longer it will take.  Anyways, we aren't giving up totally though.  We have learned a lot about eating healthy, and honestly, when we think about bad for you food now, it isn't even appetizing to us.  I had a diet soda the other day, for the first time in like 2 weeks, and it made me sick to my stomach.  I will probably still occasionally get a soda, like at the movies and stuff, but it's nice to know that our bodies are getting used to not having bad stuff in it.  So, we are skipping to the 4th cycle of the diet, where you follow the cycles and eat healthy all week long, then from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening, you eat what you want, in moderation of course.  And of course, exercise!  I have been doing Pilate's this summer, but I have just gotten really into kickboxing lately.  Hopefully I can get Kyle to do it with me :)  I would just like to add that Kyle and I have more control than we ever imagined.  We went to a church pool party Friday where there was guacamole, the most delicious looking chocolate cake, and sprinkle covered cupcakes...and we only had water!  We rock!