Happy Halloween!

TRICK 

 

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 TREAT!

SO excited!

Right now I am SO excited about a few things, big and little, and I have to share:

1. My Christmas cards are here and are ready to be sent (in December, of course).  They are quietly tucked away in a hall closet right now, just waiting for their time to shine.  It makes me happy that the holiday season is right around the corner.
2. We have a BIG surprise in store for the girls over Christmas.  Keeping the secret won't be easy, but I'm determined to do it.  Can't wait to see their faces!
3. My Grandma Lou is coming to town with my parents for Thanksgiving. I extended an invite, unsure of whether she'd accept, and she decided to make the trip.  I'm excited to have her here, in the midst of our craziness.
4. Our friends Isaac and Kari invited us to go to Estes Park with them for a long weekend in June.  The last vacation Steve and I took together was to NY in 2008, when I was pregnant with Sara.  We are so looking forward to a fun weekend in a beautiful place with some of our favorite friends.  
5. Steve is at the Cowboys game tonight, which means I get some time alone with the DVR.  I'm enjoying the final season of "Parenthood."  As I've said before about other shows that I've followed until the bitter end, I'll be glad when it's over but I'm enjoying it now. 

It's fun to find things to be excited about, especially on a Monday ... life is good! 

Weekending

We've had a good weekend, starting Friday afternoon with Sara's Jog-a-Thon at school.  She was so excited to participate, and did a great job.  She ran (and sometimes walked) for twenty minutes.  Afterwards the girls played at the park for a while and then came home exhausted.

 Sara had two speeds: walk and sprint. We were so proud of her, and I know Steve sees father/daughter races in the future.

 Yesterday afternoon we went to Mamas and Papa's neighborhood for the "Monster Mile".  The girls wore their costumes, got tons of candy, and met some of their favorite characters. 

 

 

Today we are playing catch-up around the house.  Steve had to work for a bit this morning, and Sara went with him, so I used that time to give the floors a good once-over (although you already can't tell).  When they got home, we pulled some weeds and put the girls to work picking up leaves from the back porch.  It's not really a worthwhile task since more will fall to replace the ones we picked up, but they were eager to do the work ... and I would have been foolish to deny them.  Now if I could trick them into cleaning the bathrooms, I'd be in great shape!

Wordless Wednesday

another meatless month

Since our first meatless month in June, I hadn't gone back to eating as much meat as I once did.  However, a couple of weeks ago I ate meat every day for four or five days in a row, and I just didn't feel great.  I felt heavy and bulky.  It wasn't greasy meat, or even red meat, but it was too much after having had very little for quite some time.  The way I was feeling last Thursday prompted me to start another meatless month+ (it'll will run until Thanksgiving - which will definitely NOT be meatless).  I'm a week into my second meatless month challenge, and I'm feeling good. 

Remember last June when I also said I was going to start drinking less Diet Coke?  I've actually done a good job with that goal, although recently I've been caving more and more often.  I still don't keep any in the fridge, but I've started buying a single bottle here and there more frequently when I'm at Target, etc.  After drinking a DC that I decided really didn't taste that great (even though I wanted it to), I finally feel like enough is enough.  The thing is, during the summer I drank tea instead of DC - it provided flavor and some caffeine.  This week I haven't had tea in my fridge, so I've been going straight up water ... all day, every day (well, except for my evening adult bev, mind you).  So I'm off DC and off caffeine, and as of this moment, it's terrible.  I've had a lingering headache the past couple of days, and also some definite caffeine cravings (which I think is way more psychological than physical).  We'll see how the weekend goes; but by Monday, I think the worst should be behind me.

I don't actually know why I'm doing these things.  The only explanation I can offer is that I know I'm getting older and my body doesn't respond to what I put into it the way it once did (oh, why didn't I appreciate those days?).  The meatless part is helping me explore some new foods, and the caffeine part is mostly to prove to myself that I am not as dependent on it as I think (and more water can't ever be a bad thing).  This might all be just a little phase ... time will tell.  But between now and Thanksgiving, I'm back on (off?) the wagon.

Wordless Wednesday: School Project Edition

A Saturday Surprise!

When we are in MN, my girls love to play the piano in my parents' house.  For quite some time, Sara has been saying that she wants a piano, so I'd been toying with the idea of trying to find a used one at a decent price.  I did some asking around, looked a lot on Craig's List (even though I'm totally scared of any interaction that would have had to take place that way), and finally put a bug in the ear of the music teacher at my school.  She e-mailed all the elementary music teachers in the district which ended up providing a number of good leads.  When all was said and done, though, I couldn't pass up the offer from one teacher for a FREE upright piano.  I arranged with a piano moving company to move it from her house to ours, and it arrived today.  

The girls knew that a surprise was coming, and could hardly wait to see what would come out of the big truck.

 Once it was in, the girls immediately sat down to play.  My mom brought down a few books when they were here last weekend, and the previous owner of the piano sent some along in the bench, too.  I won't pretend we didn't have a momentary squabble over who got to play first.

 But eventually they were able to compromise ...

 ... and then they got so into it that the only action shot I could get turned out blurry!

The piano does have its share wear and tear, and it desperately needs to be tuned, but we can handle those things.  For now, I'm just thrilled to have a piano in our home that I hope my girls enjoy for many, many years.  What a fun Saturday Surprise!

whirlwind

The past couple of weeks have been ka-ray-zee.  I spent a night at 5th grade camp, Ebola came to Dallas, we had a *little* PR debacle at my school, Sara rocked her first standardized math test, G&G came to visit, I've come full circle with social media, we've had some crazy rain storms, and now we're in the midst of a very full moon (which takes on a whole new meaning when you work in a school).

Let me quickly address the social media bit: I joined Twitter, primarily for work-related reasons.  I also got back on Facebook, but with an extremely limited list of friends.  It's mostly family and college friends with whom I'd missed being able to keep up on a frequent basis. 

My parents came to town for a long weekend, and after being diverted to Oklahoma City because of bad storms, finally made it to DFW Thursday night, only a few hours behind schedule.  

Sara was thrilled to have special visitors on Friday for lunch ...

 ... and getting to be a "walker" after school was a true highlight.

 Our weekend was mostly low-key; we watched some football, enjoyed the beautiful weather outside, and introduced the girls to making homemade applesauce.  Sara did a great job grinding the apples that had been cooked down, and Emma's favorite part was the spray that came from the apples when we cut them.  The best part was that our applesauce turned out perfectly delicious, and I have jars of it stocked in the freezer!  This activity was a staple for me growing up, and I was so glad to start the tradition with my girls. A trip to Ojeda's for margaritas and spinach enchiladas and a viewing of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" made our weekend complete!

Last night we headed to the park for an HOA gathering for National Night Out.  Sara quickly spotted a friend from school and spent most of her time on the playground.  

Emma worked her way through a hot dog and a couple bags of chips, and then also did her fair share of running around. 

 

We left when our allergies started going haywire and the girls were covered in a thick layer of sweat and grime.  

Although last weekend's temps were October-beautiful (we had windows open for most of it), we've hit the 90s again this week.  There's a little promise of fall in the wind, though, which does feel different than the summer breeze.  I got my flu shot today, and the girls will get theirs Friday ... so, if nothing else, that lets me know that winter - in some form or another - is around the corner.  For now, I'm especially looking forward to Saturday.  I have a BIG surprise in store for the girls, and I can't wait for them to see it.  Because it's only fair, I'm not going to tell you before Saturday, either.  Stay tuned (pun intended; there's a hint in there ...)!

Wordless Wednesday