Archive for August 2013

Friday, August 30, 2013

Friday 5: Celebrating Simplicity

5 noteworthy and toast worthy happenings from the week.

Here's to another safe return for my traveling husband.
(He always brings me tea.)

Here's to getting back into the gym.
(I took a summer long break but I'm so happy to be back.)

Here's to first projects.
(This is Vaughn's About Me project. The bun is my favorite.)

Here's to Happy Mail.
(Both on the same day too.)

Here's to old videos. 
(My heart melted over and over last night listening to the sweet voice of a 3 year old Vance calling baby Vaughn "Sweetie". So thankful to be able to go back in time with these.)


Cheers!
What are you celebrating tonight?
Have a wonderful holiday weekend!!!





Thursday, August 29, 2013

Vaughn Update

I have great ideas on what to write when I don't have time to write. Now that I have nothing but time I have nothing at all to say. 

Writing classes say when you don't know what to write just write anything. What you had for breakfast, the color of your socks, what you see out the window, etc. just to get in the habit of writing. The words will come. 

While I wait for that to happen here's a Vaughn update.



Vaughn loves school. She's a bear to wake up in the morning but as soon as she's up and moving she sings about being so excited for what's on the schedule that day. "I have ART today!" "I'm so excited! We get to go to the library today!" This, plus many more reasons, makes it clear that we made the right decision on switching her from half day kindergarten to full day. (There's a choice in our district. Half or full day. Half day kindergarten is free, full day you have to pay for. I first registered her for  half day. Months later, feeling that full day was the correct choice for her, we changed our minds and luckily they had spaces left.) 

At home all she wants to do is play with her Legos. There's not much time to play with them in the morning (Actually it's an incentive for her to get ready quickly.) and same goes after school. I've mentioned how busy we are lately after school so again, no time. However, yesterday we didn't have anything so it felt great to say, "Yes, Vaughn, you can go play with your Legos." 



She's still funny as ever. I was crying-laughing at her over the weekend watching her multi-task a sucker and scooping banana muffins.


 

Love her. 

Have a great day! 

Monday, August 26, 2013

No Time for Easing Into It.

I am a weenie. I just needed to lead off with that to make everything clear. 

School has started off like a cannonball into icy cold water when I would have preferred to stick my big toe in and take time to get used to it.

The kids love school and I'm very grateful for that. However, Vaughn in particular, is not used to a full day schedule and is A Mess when she gets home. Overly tired. Almost to tears. 

To make matters worse I have to quickly get the kids fed and push them out the door in order to get to whichever activity is going on that night. I'm walking on egg shells and being very patient with them but it's wearing on me. Plus dinners have been up in the air and bedtimes have been later because of everything. 

From Saturday to Saturday here's our breakdown.

6 soccer/baseball games
5 soccer/baseball practices
3 parties
1 gymnastics practice
5 homework sheets for Vance, 1 project
2 projects for Vaughn 

Cherry on top? Justin was out of town, in the UK, for the entire week.

Once we get where we're going Vaughn is usually pretty good. She's become a master of waiting and we always have her bag packed with plenty of things to do.




I know there are a ton of Superpeople out there and have been operating at these speeds for years. This is new to me and that's why I called myself a weenie. I'm complaining now but I know we'll get into our groove and this will be no big deal soon.  

If you need me I'll be scouring the web for quick dinner ideas cause this Mama is tired of tomato and avocado sandwiches. 

Question of the day: What's your favorite quickie dinner meal?  

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Dirty Hat? Clean it Up!


This dirty thing is my son's favorite hat. Do you have a hat in your family that looks familiar? It has seen many hot days and 2 weeks of baseball camp. Enough was enough. Time for a bath. 


The only thing holding me back was my inexperience in...hat washing. I hemmed and hawed then finally just went for it. (Disclaimer: I am in no way a hat washing professional. This is what I did and it worked for me.) Here goes.

I poured a 2 or 3 tablespoons of liquid detergent into the sink...


and filled it with warm water to soak for over an hour.


I took it out and admired all the dirt that had fallen to the bottom.  


Rinse it with cold water and try to gently squeeze water out.


I used a bunch of waded up plastic bags to act as a form while it dried.


My dryer has a rack feature so I stuck it in there on cool for 2 50 minute cycles. The bill was still wet but I let it air dry on the counter for the remainder of the time it needed. (Careful with those plastic bags in the dryer. A towel or a couple of t-shirts could also be used.) 


I was surprised that it turned out so well. I was scared that it would look a little wonky when done. It looks perfect and no, I didn't photoshop the picture to make the hat look darker. :) 


Now Vance can wear his favorite hat in public again! 

Sharing this week with:

Friday, August 16, 2013

Friday 5: Celebrating Simplicity

Here's to 5 noteworthy and toast worthy happenings from the week. 

 Here's to the start of school.


Here's to Vance's first game with his new team.

Here's to Lou Brock who signed Vance's baseball at the Cards game even though he was wearing a Pirates jersey and hat. 
Mr. Brock did spit on his hat which seemed fair.  

I know you guys can count and that's only 3 pictures this week. I'm thinking school counts for at least 2 more though as it's been a trying week. The kids are tired with their new school schedule and we've had activities every night meaning dinners have been up in the air and bedtimes have been a little later than preferred. Unfortunately this will be our new norm, but fortunately we survived! Hopefully we'll get into our groove over the next couple of weeks. 

Cheers! 
What are you toasting to tonight?

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Happy Thursday Everyone!

I wanted to share a new-to-me site called Knock Off Decor. It's a DIY site that features budget friendly versions of popular store's items. 



Yesterday my DIY Monogram Towel was featured. Go over, take a look, and find some other great projects too! 


Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Day One Down: A success!

Yesterday morning went smoothly. No bumps, no surprises, no tears. From anyone.

Our house faces the morning sun, which is horrible for Obligatory First Day Front Door Pictures (FDFDP) because the kids are always squinting. Vaughn demonstrates the double hand visor technique below:



I've been trying to be in more pictures, so here we are!

Vance has First Day posing down to a science.



Fun fact! My parents have seen each of their grandchildren off to school on their very first day of kindergarten. The kids love this extra special attention. Thanks for making the trek one last time, Mom and Dad! (Here's the link to Vance's first day of kindergarten.)

Vaughn was the first one to get on the bus. I heard her say goodbye to me as she climbed up but she never looked back again.    

Both Vance and Vaughn had a great first day of school. Here's to a great kindergarten and 3rd grade year! 


Monday, August 12, 2013

Back to School: The mid-day tea party had to end sometime.

Since my youngest associate will be leaving the office to explore new opportunities, Tuesday marks the start of my new job. While my hours will be better, the pay will still stink.

I have over 8 years experience of having a child at home 
so the thought of not having one at home with me during the day is going to take some getting used to.    

Vaughn cannot wait to start kindergarten. Her excitement has been contagious and we're all excited for the start of school around here. However, last week it hit me that her starting school meant that she would be...leaving me. I guess the mid-day tea parties had to end sometime. 

I'll still have groceries to buy, errands to run, and cleaning to do but it's all that leftover time that I'm worried about. I know I'll find ways to fill it - house projects, gym time, helping out in the kid's classrooms, that sort of stuff. Yet, I feel I was good at staying home with the kids, like it's what I was meant to do. I treated it like any other job and put everything I had into  it. I loved doing projects with them, library and park trips, helping them learn through play. I focused all my time and energy on them because moving from place to place we didn't have a lot friends. There were no other Moms to call to meet for playdates or anyone to watch the kids while I ran and did something for myself. Just me and the kids until Daddy got home from work. So, now what do I do with myself that it's over? 


Napoleon Dynamite: I don't even have any skills.
Pedro: What do you mean?
Napoleon Dynamite: You know, like nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills.

No I don't want another baby, I'm just sad that this chapter of my life is over because I enjoyed it so much. Of course, I know it's not totally over, it's not like they're moving out but hopefully I'm making my point clear. I'm trying to be positive and am excited for this new "job" opportunity of mine. I'm looking forward to getting to know myself a little more and finding what my new skills will be. (Hopefully it will be nunchuck skills because wouldn't that be awesome?!?)

How are you guys handling the kids going back to school? Boo hoo'ing or yahoo'ing?

Friday, August 09, 2013

Friday 5: Celebrating Everyday

5 noteworthy and toast worthy happenings from the week.

Here's to Vance making the team.
He wanted to play more competitive baseball so he tried out and made the team. Excited that this new team shares the same name as the high school where we went, Justin dug through boxes to find his old jersey and to relive some glory days.     

Here's to the start of a new school year.
Both kids received welcome postcards from their new teachers this week and tonight is the teacher meet and greet at their school. 

Here's to playing Legos and not cleaning bathrooms. 
Realizing that they'll soon spend all day at school and not with me, we've been upping our playtime together. 

Here's to painting pottery and not vacuuming.
(See above description)

Here's to them. 

Cheers!
What are you celebrating tonight?



Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Stuff

Getting new carpet means you have to shuffle your stuff. I talked about this last week but since we spent part of the weekend moving our stuff back in to the finished rooms stuff has been on my mind. 

"Who put that stuff there?"

The only reason the above pot is there is because someone unpacked it from a moving box and set it there. There it lives because it's gone unnoticed for the past year and a half. Looking around, this principal can be used for the majority of the stuff placed around our house.  

I just realized my decorating style is sheer laziness. Fantastic! I guess acknowledgement is the first step to recovery.

Moving all the little stuff back into our rooms was a hard task just because I don't like a lot of stuff everywhere. Horizontal spaces full of knick knacks drives me crazy. Counters lined with stuff makes me nuts. Seeing my closet with absolutely nothing on the floor? Perfect. Breath of fresh air. Hauling back in the shoe racks, laundry baskets, etc. was painful. Stuff everywhere again.

...............


It was a new carpet miracle that I somehow was able to shuffle Vaughn's stuff so that I could fit the Barbie Dream House into her closet and out from the open in her room. She still has plenty of room to play and now there's space in her room for a cute chair or something like that. 

...............


All this talk about stuff has reminded me of George Carlin's bit about stuff. (NSFW)



So, how do you feel about stuff? Are you like me and don't like a lot of stuff or are you the 'more the merrier' type? 

Happy Tuesday!

Friday, August 02, 2013

Friday 5: Celebrating Everyday

Here's to 5 note worthy and toast worthy happenings from the week.

Here's to the carpet not being mauve.  

Here's to the kids being so good while having to be house bound for the past 3+ days while the carpet guys were here. 

Here's to having a fishing pond in our neighborhood.
When we needed a break from the house we would sneak down to the pond. Love how the bobbers match my shorts!

Here's to even more friendship bracelets. 
We were cooped up one rainy day in the basement while the carpet guys were here. I made bracelets while the kids had unlimited time to watch movies and play Wii. 

Once again, here's to the carpet not being mauve like I had nightmares about!!!

It's been a long week over here. I had no idea that the carpet process would be so messy and such a pain. 

Cheers to never having to re-carpet this house again! 

What are you toasting to tonight?

 

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