First Day of Kindergarten

 You guys knew it was coming....biggest news in the Dale household since Emma was born, Addison's first day of Kindergarten.


What a day! And, what a big girl. This was a much bigger deal for Mommy and Daddy than Addison. She acted like she had been going to Kindergarten for months! So proud of our confident little girl....and proud of Mommy for holding it together (until we got back to the car).


Without further delay...

Addison's First Day of Kindergarten in pictures.

Backpack? CHECK! Lunch? Check! 

Silver shoes I wish they had in mommy's size? CHECK!! She is one stylin' little lady.

And....she's off!

                                                                                                    

 Daddy, wait! I have to fix my hair! Poor guy, in this house he is ALWAYS waiting on a girl fixing their hair. Okay, she's ready. CHEESE!

                                         

This is it....

I really wanted to take more pictures inside the classroom, but I showed some real mommy-restraint by not. They were all so happy and calm, I decided to let them be without blinding them with a thousand flashes. 

While Addison was at school, Emma caught up on her emails and texted a couple friends....

The Functional 5

So....I am not sure what happened here. Last month I was strolling along with my blog and the next thing I know I haven't updated in weeks. I guess life gets in the way sometimes but I thank you for reading and I'M BACK! My welcome back gift to you...five things in my life that make everyday things just a little bit easier:


Harris Teeter EXPRESS LANE

I use this service frequently....every week. One afternoon I go online, order my groceries then a couple hours later I pull up to the store push the little buzzer and out come my groceries. The whole process including online ordering and pickup probably takes me 30 minutes. The best thing is that it saves my sanity from shopping with my girls. Love them, but do not love shopping with them. In fact, I am not sure Emma will never see the inside of a grocery store and I can avoid those annoying balloon situations we encountered with Addison. I understand it seems like a good idea to give the kids a sugar cookie in the front of the store so they can be hopped up on sugar and bouncing off the salad dressing aisle. And sure...give the kiddos something that is sure to fly into the sky as soon as you hit the parking lot and they will cry like they had that balloon since they day they were born. I understand this sounds like great customer service for parents....but please Harris Teeter, spare us the torment of the sugar high and agony of the loss of the piece of rubber in the parking lot.
Back to the point...
This is a pretty widely known service now (since I have made it my mission to tell all mom's about it) but I thought I would share. One other little fun fact, every purchase you have ever made with your VIC card will show up in your cart once you link your card online. So, if you are like me and buy the same stuff every week, you can just pull up your list and start checking away. OR, Harris Teeter will actually email you "last weeks list" and you can just order that with push of a button. All for $4.95 ($1.95 during the summer). Honestly HT, I would pay a heck of a lot more for this amazing service.


Keurig Coffee Maker


I never understood how some people love electronics, until now.
That amazing piece of equipment is my BFF in the mornings. It is simple to use and makes a darn good cup of coffee.



DVR


I don't watch anything in "real time" anymore. I have no idea what days/times any of the shows (see CSI above) I watch are on but I do know they happen during the week and are waiting for me when I have a spare minute to catch up on my crime scene drama, or really anything other than the Disney Channel or HUB. It's also great for kids. When it's time to turn off the TV and Addison is so upset that she won't see the end of her show and vows she will never forget and won't recover from this injustice, we record it for her to watch later. She then forgets almost immediately and I delete it but it saves us a lot of drama and whining for sure.
Pause, rewind and fast forward are a perk too.



Remote start and push button close on rear hatch


When you are in the market for a new car, these are a must. I use the remote start more in the summer than the winter due to our BRUTALLY hot weather. I start the car and by the time the kids hit their seats it's a cool 70 degrees in there.
I have a larger SUV and god bless the engineer at GMC that thought of adding a button to close the rear door on your key fob remote. Not like the old days (2 years ago) you used to have to use your muscle (and a little hop if you are 5'2 like me) to get that door down. It looked like I was spinning the big money wheel Price is Right. 



I constantly have my hands full and have no time for spinning the wheel anymore. I can push a button on my remote and it closes for me. Very handy.




My IPHONE...


Oh wait, I don't have one (take this as a hint, Chris). But, my hubby does and boy does he love to tell me about all the AMAZING features on it.
Like KEY RING. You scan all those annoying customer discount key tags into your phone and save the info there and put the tags in the trash. BRILLIANT. I hate clutter and love to be efficient, so that is right up my alley.

Hope you enjoyed the Functional 5 and learned a little something. Next post is about VEGAS BABY...and what I learned there.