School's Out!

Friday was the last day of school!  I am so proud of Sara - she sailed through 1st grade, excelling in the top math and reading groups.  She's a hard worker!  Friday was a 1/2 day, so after school she went to her friend Summer's house for swimming and snow cones.  

On Saturday we had a great time at the DFW Cyclones family picnic.  It was potluck style, and we lucked out with a gorgeous day.  The girls enjoyed walking down by the lake and playing games.

 Not my best shot, but everyone else looks cute so I'll take one for the team here.

 There were some top-notch face painters at the picnic so the girls had to have Cy on their faces!

 We played bags, ladder ball, and gigantic Jenga.  We enjoyed chatting with alumni young and old, winning a couple door prizes, and hanging out with fellow Cyclones without the stress of a game-watch!  Our DFW Cyclones club does a lot of great work, including raising money for scholarships for local kids heading to ISU.  Maybe one day one of my girls will receive one ...

Since Sara is done with school, we also decided to take Emma out for the summer.  A co-worker's college-aged daughter is coming to the house during the day, and the girls just love her.  I was so wanting them to just have a "kid" summer, full of sleeping in, swimming, trips to the park, doing some day camps, etc.  Having Molly come to the house allows for all of that.  Plus ... Steve and I can get up and out the door in the morning after taking care of just ourselves.  That's what I call summer break!

Daisies

Sara has enjoyed being a Daisy this year.  It took her troop a while to get up and running, so they missed cookie sales, but she's loved the other activities.  Her troop is made up mostly of other 1st graders from her school, as well as a few girls who attend private schools in the area.

 Last weekend the troop planted a tree at a Habitat for Humanity home.  By "planted" I mean they threw some dirt around the tree once it was in the ground.  Still, it was an important experience for the girls. 

 Another important event included bringing frames they made to an assisted living/memory care center.  I told my mom that I realized upon our arrival that Sara wasn't really prepared for the condition of the residents.  I think she was expecting grandmas and grandpas like the ones she knows ... she did tell me she was a little scared at first.  I can understand that.  She warmed up to the residents, though, and I think the experience was impactful.

Last week the girls had their bridging ceremony to Brownies.  Sara was so excited about her new vest!  I'm thankful for the moms who volunteer their time to lead the troop, and I'm excited to see what other opportunities present themselves to Sara and her friends through Girl Scouts.

A Great Weekend

Although this weekend brought its share of rain, it also brought plenty of sunshine and lots of quality family time.  We didn't have any big Memorial Day Weekend plans, but instead just enjoyed a quiet weekend together.  I went to the gym and cleaned around the house, and Steve ran and went to the grocery store because he knows how much I loathe that activity.  We also took plenty of time to kick back and relax.

 Reading break.  They jumped in to cool off after finishing a chapter.  We still haven't really figured out what to do with our "grass" area, but we are loving the space.

 Last night we grilled burgers and dogs, and today we made some delicious ribs with corn on the cob.  I think it was our grill's last hurrah ... it's 11-years-old and pretty rusted out.  It won't make it through the summer, but it got us through this weekend!  We enjoyed eating outside, party lights on, singing along to 90's country tunes on Garth Brooks Pandora station.  We got all of the inflatables out and blown up, so pool season is official.

On weekends like this, I find myself looking at Steve wondering how the heck we got so lucky.  Who knew that two 19-year-old college kids whose worlds collided at a frat party one night would end up here?  Life isn't always easy, but it sure is good.  Very, very good.  Hope you had a great weekend, too! 

Stitch Fix

A couple of weeks ago I finally jumped on the bandwagon and ordered my first Stitch Fix box.  I didn't enroll for a subscription, and instead just ordered a one-time box to test it out.  I answered a series of questions on their site about my style preferences, paid a $20 fee, and before I knew it, a personal stylist was packing my box for me.  I was so excited when it arrived!

Here's how it works: once your box arrives, you look through the contents and decide what to keep and what to send back (for free).  For anything you decide to keep, the initial $20 investment is applied.  When I paid that to begin with, I thought certainly there would be at least one item worth keeping, therefore making my down payment worthwhile.  I knew that out of five fashionable items, there's no way I'd lose my $20.

My box arrived earlier than anticipated.  It sat on my counter through homework, dinner, lunch-making, etc.  Once the evening calmed down, I devoted some time to looking through the items.

 I wasn't specific in the initial survey about wanting clothes for certain settings or occasions, which I'm sure makes it a little difficult on the stylist.  But I was thrilled everything she picked (which is almost as bad as loving nothing).

 

 

 

In the small box there are two pairs of studs, one gold and one turquoise.  The only item I don't totally love (due to length) is the shorts.  But here's the catch ... if I keep all five items, I get 25% off the total price.  So by sending back the shorts, I lose the 25% off and will actually pay more for four items than I will for five.  So even though the shorts aren't my favorite, they fit well and look decent ... and for the price, are worth keeping.

I would definitely recommend the Stitch Fix experience.  It certainly beats going through rack after rack at the stores, because who has time for that?   I don't know that I would need to subscribe to a monthly shipment, but I can definitely see using it a few times a year and/or before a specific occasion.  Yeah for packages full of cute clothes and accessories!

Wordless Wednesday

Mother's Day

I'm not going to lie: I pouted for a while this morning.  Everything I had really wanted to do today involved being outside, so when we woke up to dark skies, strong winds, and rain in the forecast, I was disappointed and moped around for a bit.  But then I went to the gym and got over it.  The girls were excited to give me the gifts they'd made at school.

 We decided to try a new place for a late lunch: Rock & Brews.  The rain held off for a while, so we sat outside and enjoyed delicious food and fun music.  Steve taught the girls how to play foosball.

 And I took advantage of the $3 Bloody Mary deal.  I should have taken a picture before we ate all the garnishes because the presentation was pretty impressive.

 After eating, we swung by the mall to let the girls ride the merry-go-round.  Steve and Emma went to the Disney Store while Sara and I went to Justice.  She has been begging me to take her clothes shopping there, so I said we could go in an look around today.  It was fun to watch her look through the clothes and select a few stylish new tops.  She was pretty excited!

We came home and had some quiet time before the girls and I had an evening date for frozen yogurt.  Love these two crazy babes.

Wishing a Happy Mother's Day to the moms (especially mine!), and thinking of those who are waiting and hoping to be moms. xoxo

I'm back!

I took an unintended blogging hiatus over the last several weeks.  We have had a very busy spring, with a little slower pace today only because Sara was sent home sick from school.  The nurse called me this morning and said Sara was complaining of a stomachache and headache ... plus she had a high temp, so her school day was over about as quickly as it started.  We swung by Walgreen's for Saltines and Sprite, and now she's on the couch watching "The Parent Trap".  I asked her if she was just trying to get out of her spelling test.  She said no, but didn't act too upset to be missing it.  Sara has had more sick days this school year than she has ever, including while in daycare.  Hopefully whatever has her feeling lousy today will come and go quickly.

Our April consisted of lots of visitors!  My parents came through on their way back to MN for the summer.  We had a fun weekend with them, even though it rained most of Sunday.  They got to see Emma dominate at her soccer game and of course we ate at Ojeda's.  On Monday morning when they walked Sara to school before hitting the road, she asked them to stay just one more day.  They debated it that morning and then decided to stay.  Sara was surprised to see them show up at school for lunch, and she told her teacher, "My wish came true!"

 

The following weekend, Steve's sister and her daughters came down from Kansas.  Steve and Jody went to the Mavs playoff game, and even though they lost, Steve was excited that he caught one of the shirts that they shoot out of those cannon things.  It's huge and I think our whole family could fit inside of it, but still ... everyone like to win a free prize, right?!  Sara played in a soccer tournament that same weekend, and her team came in 3rd.  They had three games in one day, but fought through the exhaustion to enjoy a team pizza lunch!  Once the tournament was over, Sara and Emma enjoyed an afternoon of swimming with cousins Lyndsey and Lexey.

 

 

The last weekend of April was the event we'd had on the calendar for a long time ... Draft Weekend with college friends.  The guys have had a long standing tradition of watching the NFL draft together, and this year it became a family affair.  Friends from KC, Des Moines, and Omaha came to town Thursday evening.  The festivities began and didn't end until they left Sunday morning.  We did have some rain, but we had enough nice weather for everyone to get in the pool a couple of times and soak up some sun.  The kids had fun playing together, and so did the adults.  The whole crew went to Emma's soccer game on Saturday and then the moms were able to sneak away for a couple margaritas.  Emma went to bed in tears Sunday night saying, "I don't want our friends to leave."  Even though it was loud and messy and chaotic, we loved having a house full of our friends and their families.  The people we don't see very often are still some of the most important to us, and we treasure our time with them.

 

 

 

Emma's soccer season ended last weekend and the team celebrated with a pizza party one evening this past week.  They were SO excited to receive trophies!  It was fun for Emma's first soccer experience to be with friends and a coach from her school.  She is a very focused little player, and once we realized what to do with the ball in front of the net, there was no stopping her scoring!  

 

The summer soccer season for starts in just a couple of weeks.  They'll both play indoors in the summer, and we're looking forward to watching them both continue to improve.  Speaking of summer, OMG, it's almost here.  I did finally get our childcare squared away, and I'm still in the process of registering the girls for a few fun camps in the area.  I'm glad they will have the opportunity this summer to sleep in, be at home, play with friends, swim, etc. ... that's what summer break should be all about, right?  Until then, though, the next few weeks hold lots of activities, including Field Day, Daisies Bridging Ceremony, dentist appointments, and whatever else decides to come up.  It's exhausting but I've decided I kind of thrive on being on-the-go.  Still, I'm looking forward to our quiet weekend ahead!