Five on Friday

ONE

Hamilton soundtrack - 

I've been listening in preparation for TUESDAY.

Guys, it is phenomenal! It has made me SO excited.

Like I've teared up numerous times. AMAZING.

TWO

The cuteness that is Drew continues...

After LITERALLY years of refusing to wear denim,

feast your eyes on this ADORABLENESS - OVERALLS!

AND...we have a massively big day Sunday!

Her first lost tooth! And she pulled it out herself!!

THREE

I got Patriotic outfits this year and am dying.

Eleanor Rose came through again for the girls!

Drew suckered me into 2 dresses. {grin}

FIVE

Brent's cookie cake ~ 

Brent and his brother grew up getting cookie cakes for their birthdays.

I waited until the week after Brent's birthday to get his - 

I brought it to dinner with friends.

Have to rub it in since he's 2.5 months older!

Brent ended up having to work SUPER late the night we had dinner.

The kids were all DYING to get at the cake!

FIVE

My little fish! Our first swim video - 

not really swimming yet but we're getting there!

Movie Review: Booksmart

Is anyone surprised that Allison and I went to see a movie titled Booksmart? Nope!

Plot: On the eve of their high school graduation, two academic superstars and best friends realize they should have worked less and played more. Determined not to fall short of their peers, the girls try to cram four years of fun into one night.

Review: Guys, almost a week later, and I'm still not sure what I think about this movie! For about the first third, it just seemed SO ridiculous. Then Allison and I decided we needed to separate ourselves from reality because this film wasn't set in reality. {grin} Once we did that, we enjoyed it a lot more. It was just so over-the-top, which we weren't expecting, so I think it kept me from enjoying it for what it was. The 2 lead girls are so great, I loved their dynamic and how they interacted, and there are several of the secondary characters that are so funny, and a lot of the scenes are really witty, but just don't go into thinking it's going to be a 'real' movie, if that makes any sense!

Swim Lessons: The Second Time Around

*Did anybody start singing the Step By Step theme after reading that title? 

I started singing it as I wrote it, ha.*

We survived Day 1 of Swim Nazi swim class for the second time! After having done this with Trent and Drew, 'surviving' was about all I hoped for. {grin}

I've been so nervous about how this was going to go - on one hand, Paige LOVES to be in the pool - like jumps to me with hardly any fear, splashes like crazy, doesn't mind going under water, but on the other hand, she's not even 2.5 and this class is pretty intense. The last couple of days I've been sick to my stomach thinking about it and just praying all would go well.

We swam both Sunday and Monday which I was hoping would help her feel confident because I kept putting her under water. Well, she had a blast playing but then started saying 'I don't want to get my face wet.' Uhhhhh... So that didn't help my anxiety, but I just kept talking about what a big girl she is and how she was going to learn to swim like a fish...

Patriotic swimming

So on the way to lessons yesterday, she kept saying she didn't want to get her face wet, and I told her how important swim lessons were and it was my job to keep her safe, and she seemed okay - not great but okay. I also told her we could get a cake pop, she could have gum, she could watch Play-doh - yes, I went overboard!

During the actual lesson, she did better than I thought she would which was SO awesome...but she did scream her head off about half the class which was super sad. The first couple of times she 'swam' she didn't cry at all and would give me a high 5 when she came out of the water, but you could tell she was more in shock than actually okay with what was going on. Then she told me she needed to potty and I kept delaying her {she had gone before class started}, and that's when the wheels fell off. She was CRYING SO HARD - it was really difficult for me to stay positive and keep encouraging her when I just wanted to cry with her. But I kept telling her how awesome she was and how brave and strong she was, and she kept on taking her turn!!

She was so proud of herself when class was over and said 'I did good in my swim lessons' and seems to be okay with knowing we are going back today... With Trent and Drew the second day was at least 50% better and by the 3rd day they were both done crying. Fingers crossed for Paigey! You know I'll share video as soon as I can! {grin}

She survived! And gets to ride home in Drew's seat!

Currently: End of School Hangover

Current Book

I don't think I'm going to finish before the due date,

but I'm trying!!

Current Song

Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes, I love him!

Current TV Show

I am in a Game of Thrones hangover!

I want to check out I'm Sorry based on Emily's recommendation.

I'm also a season and a half behind on Law & Order: SVU,

which is shocking given how much I love that show!

Current Drink

Nespresso!

I think I've perfected my way of drinking it - 

I add some brown sugar, nut pods, and water - 

this means I can't drink it inside my fasting window but so worth it!

Current Shame-Inducing Pleasure

Can't stop reading Game of Thrones articles!

Or listening to podcasts.

Current Outfit

I was laughing as I took this - 

this is the same shirt I was wearing last time I did Currently.

Different jeans though. {grin}

Current Celebrity Crush

Maybe this should be my current shame?

Current Mood

Head. Explode. All.the.things. Work. School. Summer. AHHHHH!

Current Anticipation

I am really so excited for summer.

Even if it's a little overwhelming gearing up for it,

I am really ready for pool time, hanging out with friends, 

late nights in the yard, sleeping in, suntans, snow cones...all of it!

Bring it on, summer!!!

Current Wishlist

I'm bathing suit and summer clothes shopping for all the kids!

I love shopping for the kids - such cute stuff.

Drew in her new suit, LOVE!

Current Film

Going with my book worm soul sister to see this tomorrow!

Current Picture

Deep thoughts over Chick-Fil-A

May Celebrations!

The end of school can be kind of exhausting, but it can also be a lot of fun. 

We had Paige's end of year party on Saturday, and it was so weird - she got crazy shy and wouldn't look at anyone and had her head buried into my shoulder. This is the girl who gets upset on holidays that she doesn't get to go to 'cool. [Sidebar: In the car yesterday, she told me she had a substitute, Ms. Donna, who has been subbing at her school for years. I asked her 'Do you like Ms. Donna?' She replied very quickly with 'No.' When I asked her why, she said 'I just like Ms. Krystin and Ms. Crystal better.' How cute is that?!]

We also celebrated Brent's birthday over the weekend! Because his birthday was Saturday, I didn't do a cheesy blog post dedicated to him, but everything I said last year still holds true. {grin} We didn't plan anything so ended up going to dinner with some friends, Karin and Kelby.

We then went back to their house after {we can see their front yard from our front yard - love our neighborhood gang} for a celebratory glass of scotch {Karin and I both had to add a TON of water and choke it down}.

When your neighbors know you really well!

When you spill your really expensive scotch. Get it, Karin! {grin}

I went on a field trip with Trent's class Tuesday - they got 2 days of field trips this week as rewards for all their hard work on the STAAR test. We went to Inner Space Cavern where I took the kids over the summer. I enjoy getting to spend time with T during the day - he is actually affectionate with me in these settings and I love that!

Then yesterday we had Drew's Bridging Ceremony! It was a very quick ceremony but was so special as our little Kindergarten princess gears up for elementary! She was so excited and has been counting down the days for at least a week.

Moving on Up!

She wouldn't put on the cap & gown another mom brought. Sigh.

But still so adorable!

Paige is done with school on Friday, and the big kids go until Thursday next week. Paige also starts her swim lessons Tuesday for 2 weeks so the end of May/early June are going to continue with the craziness!

Last 3

I thought it could be kind of fun to share the 'last 3' of random things in life. Not a deep post by any means, but I thought it could be kind of fun. {grin}

Last 3 TV Shows I Watched
Parks & Rec (rewatch)
Game of Thrones - HOLY SNARKIES!!!!!
Grimm (rewatch)

Last 3 Songs I Bought
Sucker by Jonas Brothers {I KNOW, don't start on me}
Girls Like Me by Maroon 5
The Greatest by Sia

Last 3 Books I Finished
99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne
Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
The Whistler by John Grisham
*also currently reading another book and have 3 more checked out eek*

Last 3 Essential Oils Used
Tea Tree Oil - fighting some scalp buildup
Lavender/Citronella - Paige had a bug bite
Lemon - on my dryer balls instead of dryer sheets

Last 3 People I Texted
Brent
Kelly
Kristen

Last 3 Drinks Drank Other Than Water
Margarita
Nespresso
Scotch on the rocks {it was terrible but 4 of us drank some for Brent's birthday}

Last 3 Workouts
Jazzercise Strike - a kickboxing style class
Lifted weights at home
Jazzercise Interval - a mix of traditional cardio and weights

Last 3 Amazon Purchases
Art supplies for Drew's class
Trent's MTHFR cream
Nespresso pods

Last 3 Meals I Ate
Fajitas at a friend's house where we had our first swim of the season!
Applegate breaded chicken patty and a sweet potato hash brown
Appetizers at a local restaurant - calamari and potato skins plus dessert - Yum!

Last 3 Websites I Was On
Pinterest - cruising for new recipe ideas and found 2 to try this week!
HEB - grocery order complete
The Ringer - reading articles before the GoT finale!

Last 3 Phone Calls
Drew's pediatrician - getting a referral to cauterize her nose, womp womp
Brent
A partner I work with, Jason - so fun when he calls while I have kids in the car, ha

So what did you think? Fun or stupid? {grin}

Mother's Day Fun

I'm not going to to recap my Mother's Day but wanted to share a few tidbits.

First, when I picked Paige up from school on Friday, she had a little Mother's Day present for me - a macaroni necklace she painted and made in class! BUT she decided to keep it for herself. The bag said 'To: Mom From: Paige' but she told me it said 'To: Paige From: Paige' and that it was a birthday present for herself. 

I teased her all weekend as she wore the necklace and refused to give it to me, but she stuck with her 'birthday present' story. She also told me Monday night that it WAS a Mother's Day necklace that she made...for herself. #ouch 

Then, Friday afternoon I took all 3 kids to Target alone. Also known as hell on earth. Why on MY weekend did I do this to myself? I don't know honestly, they suckered me into it.

Saturday, Brent had a work event. Normally that would be really annoying but not so when he works with 2 of his best friends whose wives I happen to love and have been friends with for a LONG time. [We also had book club Friday night so I saw my girls Friday too!]

Work wives!

I left earlier than everyone else from the work after-party {because I stayed up way too late on Friday night}, so I was in much better shape Sunday morning than Brent.

Isn't this just SO typical of a husband? {grin}

We had a very nice day - church, nap, flowers and treats from my family, evening spent with my mom and sister.

This picture...love this girl, her sass, and her fashion sense!

Biggest news of the weekend though...I had my LAST nursing session with Paige Mother's Day night! I decided that would be a fitting ending day. And last night, I was able to put her to bed with ZERO fussing. I kept reminding her that milk was gone and if she got upset, Daddy would finish her bedtime. And it went perfectly! Woot, woot!

Lining Up Our Summer Plans

I can't wrap my brain around the fact that the kids are out of school in a matter of WEEKS. Paige has 12 days left, and the big 2 kids have 15 days left. DAYS. Did you see that? We are down to DAYS. 

The summer is equal parts awesome and stressful, and I need to do quite a few things to prep for it!

First, the summer is awesome because it means no morning routine. I work from home {have I ever mentioned that before? haha}, so I love that all summer the kids can sleep in! 

Second, no rushing to prepare breakfast or pack lunches, hollering over and over 'Get dressed!' 'Brush your teeth!' 'What are you doing?', not driving to-and-from school. None of that!

Me EVERY school day morning

It's really nice being able to have a relaxed morning, and I can't lie - I enjoy sleeping in too!!! Could I get up and work out? Could I get up and clean? Could I get up and get some work done early? The answer to all of these questions is NO. I couldn't. I refuse to. {grin}

The cons to the kids being home are:

• They are noisy - it can be challenging to have a conference call with 3 children playing/screaming in the next room.
• They get bored very easily - for kids who complain about school and even have an entire playroom of toys, they sure do whine about boredom a lot. 
• They like me - even with a nanny, they bug me a lot - it's nice to feel the love but also can be annoying/stressful while...you know...trying to DO MY JOB.

By the end of the summer, I'm ready for school to start again, but right now I'm really excited! But I also need to do a lot to get ready to have all 3 of them home.

I need to get the playroom organized - I try to do it twice a year and it takes me SEVERAL hours. We just lined up our summer nanny - it's Brent's cousin's daughter and I'm so excited, she is the sweetest - so I'm hoping she can come over soon to spend some time with the kids {see them in their own environment versus Brent's grandma's at holidays ha} and I can clean, purge, and organize!

I also need to get supplies! I always go to Hobby Lobby and stock up on new art supplies and outdoor games and just new 'stuff' to spread throughout the summer to hopefully stave off boredom. 

I've also been looking at summer camps and activities to combat the boredom. For activities so far, Paige is going to do a dance class at Drew's dance studio and her swim lessons, Trent is signed up for a summer basketball league, and Drew will do swim lessons in the neighborhood pool. There are also activities at the library and movie theater, and I'm also looking at art camps, VBS, etc. but so far the kids aren't interested ha.

So yeah...a lot to do and prepare for {a lot of it mental preparation ha}

Ramblings

I have so many random things to blog about - none are enough to blog about individually, but there are a lot of thoughts running around in my head!

1) I am finally making progress on weaning Paige! I have really made zero effort to this point because I felt like I needed Brent to step in and do all her naps and bedtimes until we got her to break the nursing/sleep association because I thought she was going to lose her mind if I tried to put her to sleep without nursing. I decided to just try this weekend and told her my milk was gone for naps but she could still have it at bedtime. She listened and seemed to understand, so we read books, and she got in my lap and immediately said 'Milk'. I reminded her that it was gone until bedtime, and she fussed for maybe 15 seconds and THEN PUT HER THUMB IN HER MOUTH AND LET ME SING! Couldn't have gone better! We've now had 2 naps without nursing, a smidge of fussing, but no nursing!!!!!!! Obviously we have to tackle bedtime still but baby steps and we are making progress!!!!

2) Speaking of Paige, I had her end-of-year Parent-Teacher Conference, and I talked to her teacher about when Paige will transition next year. She's been in her current class since 14 months, and Paige will move up around 3 to the Children's House environment. Her teacher told me the plan is for her to move in the fall to Trent's old teacher {who we love} and said 'Basically any teacher who gets her will be getting a gift-wrapped present.' SWOON. And I feel like after all the trouble Trent caused his old teacher, I'm thankful we can end our career at CMS with her having Paige, HA!

3) Meeting Erika on Friday! Guys! We had so much fun! I got teased a little bit about meeting someone off the internet, but it was totally worth all the teasing. {grin} I got us coffee from a local coffee shop and we just sat and talked about...amongst other things...you guessed it...BOOKS!

4) Trent is going to cause me to have a nervous breakdown. He's not even 10, and the sass and back-talking I'm getting from that kid is going to drive me CRAZY. I sent him to bed last night at 7:30 and when he said he wasn't tired I told him he could close his eyes and think about all the ways that he could be nice to me. His response? 'Why would I want to do that?' UGGGGHHHHH.

I'm terrible at ending blog posts. So how about a cute picture of my girls from Paige's end of year party at school?? {And yes, Paige's pants - which aren't hers - are inside out. Toddlers are FUN!}

Five on Friday

ONE

Guess who is going to see Hamilton?

THIS GIRL!!!!!

Broadway Across America will be bringing this to Austin this summer,

and me and 7 other lovely ladies will be going. SO EXCITED!!

TWO

I read this article on benefits of outside time for children

and the impact into adulthood.

It was posted in the big kids' school's parent FB page.

I love reading things like this as it motivates me to keep up

with our increased outside time!!

THREE

We got new neighbors last week.

It's a sad story because our neighbor's husband died 2 years ago,

and the wife didn't want to stay in the home they built together for their retirement years alone.

Our new neighbors are amazing for a couple of reasons:

1) they are co-owners of a whiskey bar about to open on our town square

2) they have 3 teenage daughters who like to babysit - 

I'm hoping one (two? three?) of them will be our summer nanny - eek!

How great would that be to just walk next door for your job?

FOUR

I briefly mentioned that we signed Paige up for swim lessons.

These are the same ones we did with Trent and Drew.

Where you throw the kids in the pool if they won't jump in.

At the first class, all FOURTEEN kids were crying and screaming.

And Trent kept running away.

BUT by the end of it Trent was AMAZING, 

and Drew could make it across the pool for the most part.

I know Paige is a year younger than Drew when she did this,

but that child will jump in the pool whether you are watching her or not.

I'm nervous about how the experience will go -

I think she'll be happy to be swimming 

but I could see her freaking out once the other kids are crying.

I was watching videos from the big 2s lessons...took me back ha!

FIVE

Something exciting is supposed to be happening today.

I'm hopefully meeting Erika!

I've been reading her blog for years, and she's in Austin.

And I basically begged her to meet up.

It'll be my first time to meet a blog friend IRL!!

April 2019 Reads

Guys, this was an insanely strong month of reading for me. I have so many great recommendations!

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel - I started the month off with a bang that came from a recommendation from Emily. This story follows a family whose youngest son {of 5 boys} is transgender and how the family deals with that. I loved this book and family so much and loved how the family seemed so REAL in what the true issues are {the author has a transgender child} or at least what the real issues are in our world. It wasn't that the family struggled with accepting their daughter - it was figuring out how to help her survive in today's world - it sucks that this is our reality, but I do see our world evolving and books like this help! I think the author has an amazing writing style and I got sucked into it. There were some sections of her dialogue that felt a little long, and there is a fairy-tale story the dad tells throughout the book that I know was off-putting to some people, but it was such a short part of the story and was actually a really important plot point by the end that it was worth it to me. Overall I was so moved by this book and this family.

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness - Finished my re-read of the Discovery of Witches trilogy and am so glad I re-read it. I remembered SO little of the books initially and loved getting back into this world. Deborah is a very talented author, and I look forward to more books by her, and hopefully more in this world!

Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal - This was the 2nd book in a series I started a few months ago about a female code breaker, Maggie, who starts out in Churchill's pool of secretaries but due to her brilliance at math ends up turning into a spy. This story followed her being a personal spy for Princess Elizabeth when there was a potential kidnapping plot. These books don't set the world on fire, but I really like Emma and the adventures she has. This one also ended with a little bit of a love cliffhanger, and I'm excited to see how it is resolved.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - When I finished this book, I was emotionally demolished. I could have sobbed and sobbed! This book was beautiful and bittersweet. Kya grows up in the marsh, abandoned by her family. Over the years, she is considered to be a weird recluse and few in her town see her heart. The plotline jumps from Kya's youth to when she is an adult and we're trying to understand how her story fits with the All-American hero of her town's murder. Bottom line: I loved every minute of this book.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - The female version of Ove is the perfect description of Eleanor Oliphant. She is weird, she has no friends, but why? As Eleanor's story comes to light, it is so heartbreaking that you almost don't understand how she could survive, but you sure want her to! I loved the secondary character, Ray, and all the other people who interact with Eleanor and help her become whole. Another amazing book.

The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman - I read The Wartime Sisters last month and followed it up with this story which is about 2 brothers and their families who share a duplex during the 1950s. The sister-in-laws end up having their youngest babies on the same night during a blizzard and something happened that night that slowly tears their families apart. I pretty quickly guessed what that something was, and I don't think the author was necessarily trying to have it be a secret, but she danced around it until the very end. I liked how the author slowly evolved the characters {similar to The Wartime Sisters}, and it was easy to get invested in their stories - it was a relatively quick, enjoyable read.

The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester - Geez, another book that bruised my heart but was oh so good! A similar set-up to a lot of my WW2 books - we follow 2 connected storylines, the first character is Estella who escapes France for New York during the start of WW2 when her mother tells her she has American papers because SURPRISE her father was American and she was born in America, and the second character is Fabienne, Estella's granddaughter. We unravel Estella's story {who is her father? is just one of the many questions we have about Estella} in the past as she becomes a great fashion designer and Fabienne's story in the present is a sweet tale that overlaps nicely with discoveries of Estella's past. Another book that made me teary-eyed and had me feeling all the feels!

See? A GREAT month of reading! And I'm already killing it with May...see what I got to borrow from my neighbor?!?! Whoo-hoo!