Currently: The Dog Days of Summer

Current Book

Current Song

AJR 'Way Less Sad' - I really like AJR!

Current TV Show

Brent's cousin told me about this...and I'm really curious! Anyone else watched it?

Current Podcast/Audiobook

Really enjoying the Sharon Says So podcast - she is so fun and I learn so much.

I am 75% through with An Echo in the Bone - these take FOREVER, ha.

Current Drink

I am really working on increasing my water intake, sigh.

I know it's important but certainly isn't fun!

Current Food

Brent made chicken fried steak this weekend,

and I've been snacking on the leftovers, YUM!

Current Shame-Inducing Pleasure

I don't often buy books and really don't like to buy from Amazon.

But I love having Lisa Kleypas books on my Kindle, 

so I gave into temptation and bought this yesterday!

Current Outfit

A matching set! 

I have finally decided that even though I don't like my legs,

I'm tired of hiding them all the time. They work and they are strong!

[If you can't tell, I'm wearing shorts ha]

Current Celebrity Crush

Not a traditional celebrity, but our neighbor's baby is a fan favorite in our house!

We prayed hard for this little boy and can't get enough of him. {grin}

Current Mood

Work is super busy right now, so I'm feeling a little stressed.

Nothing unmanageable, but there is a lot to do, so it's consuming a lot of brain space!

Current Anticipation

I am taking a full week off work next week!

I haven't done that besides getting married and having babies.

I CANNOT WAIT!

Current Wishlist

We really need new bedding but Brent doesn't like the quilt that is my favorite, sigh.

My birthday is coming up, and I've had my eye on a leather band for my Apple watch!

Current Movie

Trent wants to go see this. I'll be honest that I'm not super thrilled about it.

BUT if my boy wants to do something with me, I am going to make it happen!

Current Picture

Look at my girls!

Five on Friday

I haven't done a Five on Friday post in a few months, and it felt like it was due as I have several random things I wanted to share!

ONE

New Fun Apps

I just downloaded the Storygraph app and it is really neat.

The app can connect to your Goodreads account and analyzes what you read.

This is one of the graphs from the app, 

I love all the ways it analyzes your reading.

Anyone surprised at how many 'emotional' books I read? {grin}

I also decided to pay for a membership to Cinemark and download their app.

If you never go to the movies, skip to #2, 

but this is so worth it if you like going to the movies.

It costs $10/month but EVERY month you get a free ticket and they roll over!

Every month it pays for itself just with that 1 free ticket.

Plus you get 20% off other tickets and concession purchases.

I've had it 3 months and have used my free ticket and discounts every month!

TWO

Back to School Outfits

How is it already time for me to start thinking about outfits for school?!

We have just over 3 weeks left of summer vacation!

{don't ask about my summer bucket list}

BUT the girls have picked really cute outfits for the first day of school, and I can't wait to share!! I'm sure Trent will wear a t-shirt and basketball shorts, ha.

First day 2019!

THREE

Sharon Says So Podcast

I have another new podcast to share! I love @sharonsaysso on IG,

and she started a podcast this week. It's really fun and I'm enjoying it so far.

FOUR

Squats

How much do you love the new tank I got for Body Pump?

FIVE

Williamson Group VIP

When your BFF owns her own real estate company and makes custom Yetis...

you get one because you are a VIP {grin}

Movie Review: Spirit Untamed

My girls LOVE the Netflix series, Spirit. When I saw they made a movie, I knew I NEEDED to take them to see it. The summer is going by too fast, and we almost missed it before it left theaters, but I'm so happy we got to see it this past weekend!

Plot: Lucky Prescott's life is changed forever when she moves from her home in the city to a small frontier town and befriends a wild mustang named Spirit.

Review: Very cute! Fans of the TV series will really enjoy the movie - my girls both did! It's a little unrealistic with the big adventure Lucky and her friends have, but it was really a cute movie. I'm sure my girls will watch it on repeat in the coming months.

TWELVE is A LOT! All About Trent's 12th Year

I have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks thinking about what I was doing this time 12 years ago. Spoiler alert: crying, hurting a lot, breastfeeding, not sleeping, and completely being in love with baby Trent. And now that baby is 12. Time is wild, y'all.

So how has Trent's twelfth year gone? Really great! He's probably gotten a little too big for me to keep tracking his stats, etc. but bear with me for a little longer. {grin}

The only picture he let me take on his birthday, ha!

Stats:
Height: 4'10" {45-50%}
Weight: 70 pounds {10-15%}
BMI: 14.6 {3%}
Clothes size: 10/L
Shoe size: 5.5 {bigger than me!}

In a shocking twist, expected by no one, he had a really excellent school year. I thought the constant back-and-forth with virtual school and in person school {they spent the first 5 weeks virtual and then had 2 separate quarantine periods} plus 3 different teachers would cause him to lose it. But nope, he did great! There was some concern early in the spring semester that he was potentially regressing a little but we got his STAAR test results {Texas' standardized test} and he passed everything, whoop!

He continues to enjoy reading more than anything - which definitely shows in his schoolwork. They used a certain app all year for Math and English and he completed everything through high school for English ha. He continues to be good at math and easily grasps the concepts...but also continues to not like it.

Trent LOVES Manga {Japanese Anime}. He will checkout easily 30+ books at a time from the library and loves it. He's been trying to teach himself some of the theme songs on Drew's keyboard and is actually good at it! I might get him in piano lessons after all!

He is still Mr. Comedian. He loves to make people laugh and is really quick witted and funny. He has a sarcastic/dry sense of humor {like both of his parents} and this CAN get him in trouble sometimes.

He got braces in January and has been super responsible about doing everything the orthodontist assigns. He does a great job brushing and flossing and gets excited when we can see visible progress.

Trent has a good little group of friends. He's excited to go back to school to see his school friends, he continues to play with Jaxon {our neighbor's grandson and his BFF} whenever he can, and he and Miles are still really close.

One thing we talked about with his doctor at his well-check a few weeks ago was our continued struggles with getting him to eat a better variety of foods. I 100% understand this because I am FOR SURE a texture person who doesn't have the greatest palate - especially for vegetables! He has gotten a little smaller in his percentiles, so his doctor has recommended we try food therapy again. We did it when he was 3.5 and had some successes there, so hoping to see some more now!

He got braces this year and has handled it really well. It hurt a lot at the beginning, but he is great about brushing, flossing and taking care of them.

He still loves to play video games on his iPad - especially Roblox. He has played football a few seasons now, but the love seems to be wearing off a little. I'm going to see if he would be interested in trying lacrosse this fall to mix it up. I just want him staying active!

He spends a lot of time with Brent's parents and some time with mine. He basically asks to spend the night somewhere ALL THE TIME. Anything besides being at home with his lame parents I guess.

This spring he started helping Brent with yardwork. It's so nice seeing our investment paying off around the house. {grin}

He absolutely loves animals and is always begging for a pet - a frog, a lizard, a dog. I think in the next couple of years we'll get a dog but we've got some other items higher on the agenda. He is always so sweet to animals and has such a tender heart for them. I love seeing how sweet he is with animals!

I can't believe he's entering his last phase of Montessori school {7th and 8th grade together are called the Adolescent program}, he's almost a teenager - it all just blows my mind. He is a great big brother, an awesome friend, and all around spectacular kid. I don't want time to go any faster, but I'm really excited to see what this guy does!

I Spy Week 27

I've been sporadic with my participation in Lysha's weekly link-up, but I really like participating - her prompts are always fun for me to think about! So with that, I present Week 27!

{loud}

He's been figuring out a Manga song on Drew's keyboard.

{cup}

My most favorite cup - a Starbucks chai cup!

{floating}

I told Brent we most definitely did NOT need a TV in the office.

Now that we have it, I LOVE it! He's back in his real office about 60% of the time, and I love being in our home office for the first time EVER.

{open}

Say 'ahhhhhh' with your snowcone tongue!

{your choice}

I know I'm biased, but sheesh she's cute!

2021 Goals - Halfway Point Check-in

Friends, I'm going to be totally honest with y'all. I haven't looked at my goals in ages and just glanced at them as I started to write this post...and it ain't pretty, ha! I'm glad I'm taking this opportunity to refresh myself on what my goals WERE at the start of the year and deciding if these still make sense. If you want to read the whole original post, it's HERE.

Health Goals

Get ready as we dive into this group - it's largely been where I've been failing the most.

1) Develop a better relationship with food - NOPE. BIG FAT HUGE NOPE. I really think I'm going to need professional help here.

2) Hit goal weight - Hahahahaha. I hit a low at the end of January and now just keep bouncing around in the same 5-10 pound window. Sigh. The upside is I'm still working out like crazy, had an excellent physical this year, and haven't completely fallen apart, but I do still want to lose another 15+ pounds.

3) Keep running - Ever since my running buddy moved out of the neighborhood my running has taken a big hit which was what my fear was. I really don't enjoy it by myself much at all. So this one may be dead...we'll have to see.

4) Increase my flexibility - This is definitely happening! I can tell over time that I can do more and I love it. Still not to the mermaid pose, but I've been practicing.

5) Eat more vegetables - Zilch. More bad days than good here by a long shot.

Family Goals

1) Create a chore list for the kids - While I haven't made an official list, I have definitely started making the kids help with more things around the house. For example, they are always responsible for emptying the dishwasher, Trent is mowing the yard with Brent now, they help with the laundry, etc. I do want to continue to give them more and make it more 'formal'.

2) Get an evening schedule going - I would say we did better in the first few months of 2021 but not where I want to be, and of course, summer throws it all off. Need to keep this one on the radar!

3) Kid dates - Brent has actually been more successful at this than I have. Need to do better!

4) Travel as a family - Well, we just got back from a weekend away and have already booked a trip for the winter, so I think this is going well!

Personal Goals

1) Read the Bible - Another nope. I still have half a year so hopefully I can get started and make some progress...with the Bible that's been sitting on my nightstand all year. {grin}

2) Close all monthly challenges - I'm 6 for 6 here, but dang they are starting to get super hard. I'm not sure it's realistic if the continue to get harder, but I'll keep trying as long as I can.

3) Book goals - You guys probably know I'm nailing this!

-Read 100 books - I'm ahead of where I need to be to hit this goal.

-Continue to reduce the pile of physical books in my room - I've definitely read from my physical pile but I keep getting more too ha. I'm struggling to get rid of the ones I've had for a long time because I keep thinking 'Someday I might read it...' so I need to just be mean with myself here.

-Educational books - Doing good here!

-Books by/about people of color - Doing good here!

-Classics - Eek, haven't read any yet, but I have 1 on reserve now!

Sigh. This was worse than I thought ha. I'm really glad I revisited to see where I need to pick it up. How are your goals going?

A Long Weekend of 4th Fun

I had 6 days off from work last week, and it was so glorious. We packed in a lot of fun, and I told Brent on Monday night that I wanted to rewind and do it all again!

July 1 was one of our RBC bestie's birthdays, so we went out on the town and celebrated Karin. All of us got way drunker than we realized {don't worry, we were responsible} and woke up feeling bad on Friday, but we had a great time.

Riley loves us, ha!

 

July 3, we had a fun event at the studio - my first time to teach at an 'event'! 13 instructors participated, and I loved it!

My instructor family

Our neighborhood does a little parade in the morning on July 4. It was canceled last year, and I was so bummed {but obviously understood}. There was a big chance of rain and I was worried we wouldn't be able to have it this year, but the weather held, yay!

Our decorated cart!

My adorable babies in their festive outfits {you know I love a good theme!}

Felt cute {grin}

Heading to the parade, look at my cute earrings!

Trent mad because he has to ride on the back, ha!

The line of carts

Festive AF!

On the route

Normally we stay in our neighborhood for all of the 4th, but one of my besties was having a party at her new house {she lived in our neighborhood for 9 months, so I've been so bummed that she moved}, and we went for a little while. They rented a giant slide, and the girls had a blast!

Friends for 25 years!

Someone couldn't hang on the way back to the neighborhood!

We usually swim, but the weather was just bad enough that we couldn't find a break in the clouds to go, but we still enjoyed amazing food, got to see great fireworks from our neighborhood, excellent time with friends and family, and celebrated our beautiful {if flawed} country.

Happy birthday, America!

June 2021 Book Review

My company gave us a 5-day weekend for 4th of July, and I majorly enjoyed myself. I've got some pictures to share but first need to share my June reading! 

I have 10 books to share this month, 9 that I read and 1 audiobook. My total for the year is up to 62, well ahead of my goal. Yay! 4 were written by BIPOC, 2 were non-fiction, and they were all a mix of genres, it was a great month of reading.

The Lost Queen by Signe Pike - This was a lush historical fiction story about the daughter of a ruler in ancient Ireland. It took me a minute to get into it, but once I did, wow-ee. It was very, very good. You can tell the author did a lot of research about this time period and is a talented author. There's a second book, and I'm definitely going to read it ASAP.

It's In His Kiss/On the Way to the Wedding/The Other Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn - I am definitely having a love affair with Julia Quinn books. I finished the last 2 Bridgerton series books and enjoyed them both. It's in His Kiss was one of my favorite of the whole series, so I love that they didn't lose steam as the series went on. I also started a Bridgerton 'prequel' series, the Rokesbys, and accidentally read the 3rd one instead of the 1st. Didn't matter, thoroughly enjoyed! Very typical Victorian romance novels but super well written and a lot of fun!

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson - YA book that covers so many topics are my jam, and this one definitely fit the bill! Liz has her college plan in place...until she doesn't get the scholarship she needs to afford her dream school. BUT in her town, winning prom queen means winning a scholarship. So Liz decides to go for it - all while dealing with being one of the few Black students at her school, having a brother who is sick, being gay but not ready to share that with the world, fights with friends, and everything else that is hard in H.S. I thought this could have very easily veered into a super cheesy story, but it didn't! This covered some tough topics but was thoroughly enjoyable and the ending made me cheer!

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult - Woof. I'm going to struggle to put my thoughts for this one into words. As a *basic* story, this was super engaging. A black nurse is not allowed to help take care of a white supremacist's baby. When the baby dies, the nurse is charged with murder. BUT I mega struggled with this book. This hit on so many tropes - white savior complex being a big one. I also didn't like that the white author wrote a big chunk of the book in the voice of the black woman. I also felt like she took every little stereotypical racial story she'd ever heard or read about it and put it in this book - I could probably list 10 off the top of my head. The author did have a note at the end explaining her thought process for writing this book which helped me understand her POV better, but it still didn't sit super well with me. As a fiction story, it was captivating. But I felt icky reading it.

So Close to Being the Sh*t Y'all Don't Even Know by Retta [audiobook] - I love Retta from Parks & Rec. She is just someone who makes me smile and laugh. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her audiobook {I love hearing celebs read their own books!} and liked that she shared behind the scenes stories from Parks & Rec and general Hollywood stories but also loved the whole book - she touched on body image, her obsession with Hamilton - which I feel so so so deeply - and tons of other stories. Very enjoyable!

The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton - Holy cow, this was amazing. I was sobbing by the end. Ray was wrongfully convicted of murder in Alabama in the 80s and spent 30 years on Death Row. Bryan Stephenson {of Just Mercy fame and founder of EJI} was the lawyer who helped get his conviction overturned. Ray's story hit every emotion - the injustice of our justice system infuriates me, the way prisoners are treated disgusts me, the hope Ray kept throughout his experience moved me...this book is a MUST READ. At the end Ray lists every person currently {as of the writing of the book} on Death Row and encourages the reader to read every name. I did and it took quite a while and was extremely emotional about it when I finished. Our system is broken and Ray's story highlights that, but he also seems to be an amazing person, and I feel lucky to have been able to read his words.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - As delightful as everyone says! Nora is hovering between life and death and ends up in a library with infinite possibilities to see how her life would have been different if she had made different choices. I've always wondered about this - one tiny decision made differently and your whole life could be changed. I was engaged the whole time reading this and especially loved the ending. My co-worker has said all of this author's books are great, so I'm excited to pick-up more!

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - I picked this for the June session of the BFBC. Emily described it as 'meh'. While I feel a little bit better about it, it wasn't my favorite. I struggle with dark books, and this was definitely dark. But at the same time, while the main character isn't particularly likeable, he's very engaging as he tells his story of rising from extreme poverty in India to becoming a driver for a rich family to an entrepreneur. My boss recommended this movie as almost half of our group is in India, and I do want to watch the movie. If you like dark comedies, I think this would be a good one to pick up.

So what do you think of my reads? Anything sound like you'd enjoy it?