1st grade celebration

Good morning!  Yesterday we celebrated big in 1st grade.  It was a fun morning until the rain started and ruined the outside fun. His teacher made the sweetest memory slide show and kept all their prized artwork.  After looking through the huge portfolio of artwork, Xander was presented the Hershey Bar Award for always being so kind and caring.  It represents him pretty well!

Because of the rain, we had our "picnic" lunch in the classroom.  Xander ate a lot!  I think someones growing again.  He's been going through phases for a few months now of eating a lot and then not so much.

His very best friend.  He's going to miss him when we move, but he's still really excited to move.  They've been best buddies since Kindergarten.

Here they are at the end of Kindergarten

After the celebration you're allowed to bring your child home, if you'd like.  Xander debated and debated, but he decided to come home.  I let him play his game since it was "his" day.  He hasn't played it for almost a month now.  So he was excited!

I worked on some packing and then 45 minutes before going back to the school to get Sterling, I played against him and I won.  Three times!  Ha!  Sad thing is I have no clue what I'm doing.  Just pushing buttons spending time with my boy 😂

And that was our fun day of celebrating surviving 1st grade.

Today is Sterling's day and it's going to be a good one!  Come back tomorrow to hear about her day.

Have a great day!

Weekend fun

Good morning!  We had a busy weekend in our house.  It started with my birthday and pulling the kids out of school to have a family day.  With Nick leaving for a year, we need to spend as much time together as we can.  Since he was off on Friday, we decided to make my birthday a family fun day.  And that it was!  It was my best birthday yet!  I didn't make my day all about me, it included everyone.  I also unplugged from social media all day.  It was a nice, and much needed break.

The morning started with homemade waffles, scrambled eggs and sausage.  This was Sterling's request.

The next stop in our morning was to the mall.  I didn't tell the kids where we were going, but I wanted to take them to the Disney store.  They could pick me out a gift there, plus pick themselves out something.  We have a lot of Disney gift cards 🙂

Sterling picked me out a coffee mug and herself a backpack and lunchbox.

Xander picked me out a travel coffee mug and a wizard Mickey.  He was so cute.  He said, I thought this was your birthday mommy.  Why do we get to pick out something.  That's so nice.  😂

After our quick trip to the mall, we headed to Subway so we could have a picnic lunch on the trampoline.  I did this with Sterling over a year ago, and it's something she still talks about.  So, I thought it'd be fun to have everyone.  And it was!

Me and my boy

My girl and I

We enjoyed our lunch and conversation about what the rest of the day would look like

We jumped on the trampoline for 30 minutes, then went in and watched Bridge to Terabithia.  After the movie, we went back out to jump for 30 more minutes.  I came in to get dinner started and the kids stayed out to play for another hour.

After dinner we enjoyed a mini cake.  Xander picked it out and it was perfect.

On Saturday, we headed to NC and the kids swam at the hotel pool.  We found our appliances for the new house and called it an early night.

Sunday morning we headed over to the new house so I could get measurements to get the appliances ordered.  We also went over the inspection report to ensure the items that needed fixed were complete.  All but two small things looked great.  We're (all except Sterling) very excited to get moved in!

On the way home, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts and I tried their Frozen Strawberry Lemonade.  It was so-so-so good!

After getting home, the kids were busy building a city.  They also played outside for a couple hours to burn off some energy from sitting in the car all morning.

Yesterday, we headed to the horse stable for our last riding lessons in VA.  Sterling has made so much progression and is excited to get started in NC.

Xander's also excited to continue riding.  He fell off his horse today.  He didn't get hurt, but he was scared.  It was the best kind of fall off you could have.  If that's possible.  It was as if he was falling off in slow motion.  He slide down the horse holding the reigns the entire time.  So, at least he kept control of the fall and didn't fall hard or get injured.  All great riders fall.

Xander made a quiz for Sterling.  Who is Arthur Ashe?  Then there were three true/false questions she had to answer.  She got them all right (they're all true).  Then he gave her a spelling test and she did great at that too!

Sterling helped me finish shredding this weekend.  We put the last piece in yesterday.

What a fun weekend we had.  Busy, but fun.  The kids have another fun week this week.  I'm so excited for them and can't wait to share!

Have a great day!

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Friday Favorites: Birthday Facts

It's Friday and it's my 🎉 birthday 🎉 and that means it's time to party.  Who am I kidding?   I'm a mom.  I don't get to party.  The only party I get will be a cleaning and packing party 😂.

Since I'm turning 38 today, I thought I'd share 3 + 8 fun facts about me.

1.  My favorite color is sky blue

2.  My favorite foods are Mexican and anything pasta

3.  I love to travel

4.  Of the 14 countries I've visited, Italy was my favorite

5.  I hate walking into a disorganized closet

6.  I don't love cooking, but I do enjoy baking

7.  I'm terrified of snakes and seagulls

8.  I use the F word more than I use the L word

9.  I love yoga pants, t-shirts, and hoodies

10.  Give me all the Sour Patch Kids, but keep the M & M's

11.  It took me way too long to come up with those 10 things 🤣

On to my favorites from the week.  I'm linking up with Andrea and her girls again.

Favorite #1...Getting the basement all packed and sorted

Favorite #2...the kids playing outside for hours each night.  Thank goodness the rain has stopped and the yard has dried up.  Fresh air is always good for the soul.

 Favorite #3...the kids and I made our summer bucket list and I can't wait to start tackling some fun things on it.

Favorite #4...I finished packing the office.  I have one bin left to shred and then it's completely done.  Woohoo!  I'm moving right along.

I'm really enjoying my time packing up our stuff.  I get to see everything that's going in a box going to our new home.  In our previous moves, I'd try to purge things out, but I never have done this awesome of a job clearing things out.  I'm amazed at how much stuff we've accumulated over the years.  So now when I come across things, I can quickly toss it in the trash pile or donate pile.  It's helping me set up the new house clutter free.

If you're traveling this weekend, be safe!

Have a great weekend!

Running around

Good morning!  I was at the car dealership yesterday and while I was waiting I resisted the urge to buy a new van 🤗 and instead watched Jordan Page in her latest videos.  She's so inspiring, I just love watching her.  Who's your favorite YouTuber?  I was also able to get an updated to-do list created.

I also started tackling the office.  What a chore this is!

The kids played outside for two hours

Sterling is working hard on her cartwheels.  Day by day, she's getting better.

Today, I'll be helping Sterling's teacher put together the end of year portfolio's.  A couple of mom's are going in to help, so it's always a fun time chatting more than working.  Kidding, kidding.  We actually get a lot done because we tag team the work.

I'll continue in the office too.  Probably just shredding today though.

Have a great day!

Summer Bucket List

Good morning!  Summer break is almost here and we are ready.  We are slower in the mornings.  More tired.  Getting lax on chores.  Meals have become a mix of hodge-podge.  I did make a real meal last night, BBQ Ranch Pork Chops.  Monday night I made the best ever sandwiches.  How can a sandwich be so good?!  That turkey, bacon, avocado ciabatta roll was the best damn sandwich I'd ever eaten.  It's already on the menu for next week.

The kids have 10.5 more days of school.  The next day is when things get busy and we'll be on the go a lot in June.  We decided to make our bucket list yesterday and it's a good one.  A few highlights include the beach (at least) three times, Carowinds, Washington Memorial, kindle day, coffee date, fly to Auntie's, and watch the sunset.  We have a lot of good ones this year and I'm hopeful that we'll check off many of them.

Did you make a bucket list for summer?  What's a highlight on yours?

I'm A 'No' Mom

Hello, hello!  First, I want to say Happy Birthday, Grandma Omi!

Yesterday as I was mowing the yard, I found a copperhead snake skin.  Cue...freak out!  I only had about 10 passes left when I came across it and those last 10 passes I was Nervous Nelly.  If I had my phone, I would have taken a picture.  One month left here and hopefully we won't have to worry about copperheads in our new yard 🙏

Xander is always wanting to use my phone to make slo-mo videos.  I would rather him not be on my phone because kids are careless and I don't want a broken phone.  So, I usually say 'no' when he asks. After some whining and complaining, he brought me this note.

This note was funny to me because he told me I could use the money to buy our new house.  If only, if only a house would cost $13 😂  I haven't agreed to his terms, just because I'm nervous what the next request would be and I'd have to say 'yes' to.  I try to have a random 'yes' day, but it hasn't been this year yet.  They loved it last year!  Maybe after we move I'll surprise them by saying 'yes' more often.

Nick has been in language training and he's been getting home around 5 (2-4 hours earlier than in the past).  I've been loving it, but I haven't been loving eating dinner so early.  He likes to eat right when he gets home because he's starving from a full day.  It's an adjustment, but it's worth having him home so early.

Have a great day!

A Royally Good Time

What a good weekend it was.  It started with the royal wedding and then I got busy and worked in the basement all weekend.  I actually had no plans to watch the Royal Wedding, but was suckered in at 6:30 when I woke up and that's all that was basically on.

My sidekicks joined me

Let's just talk about how beautiful Meghan was.  She had such a natural look to her.  I loved that she didn't have an overpowering amount of makeup on.

 

Her mom.  She was beautiful too, such a proud mom moment.  I imagine.

Well hey there, George and Amal

Princess Charlotte was sure to steal the spotlight sooner or later.

The beautiful family

It was a beautiful wedding and I'm glad I ended up watching it.  Did you watch the wedding?

Later that night, Nick asked what we were having for supper.  I forgot to skip the week for our Hello Fresh subscription, so they sent 3 random meals.  One was chicken apricot with beans and it just wasn't calling our names all week.  We kept putting it off so I told him that I would make that.  Pretty much how we felt about it, below...ha!

Sunday night I had the basement finished and ready for the movers to tag our stuff.

The kids had a good time with the couches pushed together while I worked.  Sterling's face is crazy because she was complaining of being hungry.  Always, ugh!

I'm so glad I was able to get everything in boxes from the basement.  Just two floors left and three weeks to finish. 

Here's the plan to finish:

Week 1:  Finish packing 1st floor

Week 2:  Work on tedious cleaning...windows, baseboards, ceiling fans, blinds, caulking, and misc.

Week 3: Pack bedrooms and bathrooms

I've got this!  

Have a great day 😀

Friday Favorites

TGIF, friends!  It's been a full and productive week.  I'm still selling things on Facebook, so each day I've been working those items.  It's keeping me busier than I thought.  But, it's still going well and I only have a few larger items to get rid of.  I'm hoping next Friday everything will be gone!  But, the rain has been holding things up this week.

Let's get to my favorites from the week.  I'm linking up with Andrea and her girls again this week.

This is one item that I've been wanting to sell for 6 years.  SIX years!  Nick finally let me for this move.  He used it, however, I don't want a room dedicated to workout stuff.  It's a waste of space.  Especially when our new community has a ginormous fitness center.  We have to pay for membership anyways, so we might as well use theirs.  This sold on Wednesday and watching it get loaded was my favorite sight to see.  The elliptical went last night too.  All the praise hands!!  Now just the treadmill and couches and I'll feel good.

Sterling's favorite from the week was going to her friends birthday party at gymnastics.  She is so excited to start gymnastics in the fall and this month has had all the practice with two friends having parties at gymnastics places.

This pineapple slicer is a new favorite.  It is quick and easy.  It was less than a minute and I had it cored and sliced.  I love it!

This happened this week.  All the packing.  I'm basically just doing everything that's not needed for the next few weeks.  Which is the first floor and basement.

Flowers can brighten up a rainy dreary day.  Such a wet and muddy week.

I had homework to finish Xander's 1st grade portfolio cover.  It was a favorite moment looking back at all the fun things he did during first grade.

You guys.  Let's talk about this.  Sterling is the pickiest eater on the planet and she refused to eat pizza for the last five years.  On Wednesday night I bribed her with $20 if she'd eat a slice of pizza.  I didn't think she would because I've bribed her before.  Well she did.  And now she wants it for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner!  Definitely a favorite to see!

I help Sterling's teacher each week and getting to see my favorite girl always makes my day brighter.  

My two favorite people.

I was behind this truck the other day and it gave me a good laugh.  The sign on the back of it says; Don't like stuff?  Stop buying stuff.  Problem Solved!  

#truth

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day!