Thursday, June 20, 2013

Cool Guys

We've been busy enjoying the routine of a no-routine summer :) 

Love it!

We are getting ready for our family trip to the Outer Banks - doing laundry, shopping, packing...you, know...all the fun stuff before vacation that becomes a chore when you have to do it in reverse when you come home. 

The boys all got to pick out sunglasses today.  

$ 2.99 (are you out of your mind?) at The Children's Place outlet.



They actually all picked the same pair, just in different colors. I love when they do brotherly things like that :)

And they look much better in these than they did in mine earlier this week...








Definitely...


Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Saturday, June 15, 2013

How I Became The Best End of School Year Mom Ever

Don't let my post title throw you off.

I definitely rival the infamous Jen Hatmaker in her now famous, posted and reposted on Facebook a billion times, blogpost titled "The Worst End of School Year Mom Ever."  

Have you read this post?  If not, you need to click on it right now and go read it.  Go ahead...I'll wait. You might want to grab a tissue because you'll laugh so hard, you'll cry.  

Every. Single. Mom. that I know who has read her post can totally relate to the end of school year, dragging-our-butts-across-the-finish-line feeling.

And I'm pretty sure it's compounded when you are both a mom AND a teacher...  

My kids' sneakers have holes in them.  

Their reading logs most certainly have not been signed on a nightly basis. We've got baseball, people.

Ryan's backpack zipper bit the dust last week.  We safety pinned it and told him not to unzipper it past that point.  Yeah, that worked for like a day.  Then, we resorted to having him carry a reusable shopping bag to tote his things back and forth.  

Any other time during the school year, I insist on the kids eating a good breakfast [read: a bowl of cereal]  They revolted.  And instead of fighting that battle, I let them eat what they wanted.  There were many days in those last weeks that Nathan went to school with only an apple or a banana in his belly.  Evan's breakfast of choice was usually a cheese stick.  I'm sure he was starving by lunch, but I told him that was his choice.  And Ryan...well...Ryan would complain about all the choices and then end up eating a bowl of cereal that "he hated."


And I almost forgot that I needed to [as all super moms do] send in a class birthday treat for Ryan's summer birthday.  I probably could have let it go and Ryan wouldn't have noticed, but with him being the middle child and all, I didn't want to give him more to work out with his therapist later ;)

So, on Thursday night, I emailed his teacher to see if it would be alright to send in a treat on Friday.  Mind you, Friday was the last possible day to send in said treat because it was their last full day of school and I waited until the last possible minute to email his teacher, too.  

Thank goodness for technology!  She responded almost immediately 'That'd be great!'

And then I had to drag my butt off the couch and rummage through the cabinet to see what I could whip up.  I'm such a good planner...

Our school district has adopted a 'Healthy Birthday Treat' policy. Sugary sweet cupcakes and candy are not permitted - you know, because kids are obese and all.  However, snacks such as low fat Jello pudding and low fat ice cream are allowed.  Really?!?  They do realize that more sugar is added to low fat products to make them taste better, right?!?

Anyway, all I had was a banana cake mix and some left over cream cheese icing.  

I decided to throw caution to the wind and break the rules.  Can you hear Beavis and Butthead chanting 'Breaking the law, breaking the law'?  Ha-ha!

I baked those cupcakes, iced them, and even gave them a good dose of rainbow sprinkles. 

Take THAT healthy snack nazis!

Ryan woke up the next morning and was thrilled with his treat.  When he came home [without a single cupcake, I might add], he said his class LOVED them and said they were the best treat ever!

And THAT is how I became the Best End of School Year Mom Ever!



Monday, June 10, 2013

Goodbye, Hello


Today marked the end of the boys' school year.  I feel like every year goes faster and faster.  Other moms tried to warn me back when I was a harried mom of three children ages 3 and under that these boys would start growing and that I'd miss those little people pulling at my legs and throwing fits in stores.  I don't know that I miss all that fun stuff, but I sure do agree that life is flying by and my boys need to stop growing up so quickly.  

We celebrated with our 2nd Annual Jumping Off The Couches 'School's Out For Summer' Dance Party when the boys came home.  

Don't tell anyone, but I think I look forward to this tradition more than they do-hee-hee!  


Goodbye Kindergarten, Hello 1st Grade!


Goodbye 2nd Grade, Hello 3rd!



Goodbye 4th Grade, Hello 5th!




Thursday, June 6, 2013

Fonts R Us

Ryan brought his sketch book to Nathan's teeball game the other night.  Mark and I were cracking up when we saw what he was working on. 

Fonts.

Yes, fonts.


That's what every 7, almost 8 year old boy does in his notebook, right?  

Love this kid!  


Note the EESF-extra extra small font and the EEESF-extra extra extra small font.  Haha! :)

Girls on the Run

Last Saturday, my sisters, Evan, and I were my niece's running buddies for her Girls on the Run 5K.  More like Abby was our running buddy because she could have run circles around us.  Evan was pushing me along and actually had to loop back for me quite a few times.  Love him!


It was a beautiful sunny day that turned hot very quickly.  I made our running headgear so we looked super cute as we sweated our butts off.

Believe it or not, this was my second 5K!  When my mom passed away last year, my sisters, Megan and Jill, and I decided we needed to take better care of ourselves.  We all used a 'couch to 5K' ap on our phones to get us up to speed - literally.  I have never seen myself as a runner in any sense of the word.  I avoided running to train for field hockey back in high school and college and I sure as heck wasn't going to just run for the sake of running!  Well that all changed last year when we all decided this was something we could do.  And unbelievably, I have found that I actually enjoy running and feel so much better about myself when I am regularly running.  

Megan said on Saturday she was wondering what our mom might say about all of us running.  It would either be 'You're all crazy!' Or 'Good for you! I'm proud that you are doing this to take care of yourselves.'  

I like to think it would be a combination of  both reactions. 

My mom would be proud of us but she would definitely think we are crazy! :)