InstaFriday {Vol. 8}

Hey there y'all! 

Welcome to another edition of InstaFriday where I share a few iPhone photos taken throughout the week (usually with the Instagram or Hipstamatic app.)

Doesn't that sound like fun?

(And the crowd goes wild.)

Since Scott has been clearing out his cubicle, now that the Space Shuttle Program has come to an end, he's been bringing lots of different things home lately. This week he brought three large rolls of white butcher paper, which Annelise immediately claimed as hers.

Which was kind of the plan anyway, but don't tell her.

I loved watching her scrounge up all her markers and a handful of crayons (not sure where her regular stash is) and settle herself down on the floor in a fit of creativity.

We also used it to make our better late than never summer list.

Annelise had tennis camp this week so I used part of that time to do my bible study in the air-conditioned comfort of the car.

With coffee of course.

Sadie, our beloved but high-strung Golden Retriever, will play ball until the cows come home and then ask them if they'd like to play too.

See how she's staring intently at her ball? She means business.

Here's my girl, in the waiting room of the doctor's office (why don't they hand out bubble suits for everyone to wear? I hate the waiting room), with an earache, but still smiling. Mostly.

Later that same day we stopped by our happy place, otherwise known as the library, before we got snow cones (now the snow cone shack is our happy place).

This time she chose several Nancy Drew & the Clue Crew (which I guess is a precursor to the longer Nancy Drew books) and a few Scooby Doo chapter books and was happy as a clam.

(Are clams really happy? How can you tell?)

And that, my friends, are a few snippets from our week.

Be sure to visit Life Rearranged for more InstaFriday fun!

With a Slurp and a Smile

Earache (of epic proportions to hear her tell of it).

Missed tennis camp.

Doctor appointment.

1.5 hours later: swimmer's ear diagnosis.

HEB trip for groceries.

Leftover lunch. Late.

Legos.

Library.

Then, and then...snow cones.

(!!!)

Half price during happy hour.

(!!!)

Grape for her, pink lemonade for me.

Hers came with a gumball on top.

(???)

Wednesday was suddenly looking up.

(that last one is her don't-you-dare-take-one-more-picture-mom stink eye)

(which she has down pat)

She declared we should do this every. single. day. until summer is over.

I declared once a week would be plenty.

She countered with twice a week.

I just smiled and slurped a spoonful of my snow cone.

It's tough negotiating with a 7 3/4 year old.

What flavors should we try next?

Three Things

1. Hmm...what do you think Sadie was thinking about this afternoon? I wish she could tell me.

2. Was she wondering why Annelise suddenly decided to wash her (my) rusty (and crusty) old red wagon? And feeling a little left out of the water fun? Maybe.

Is that ol' wagon really any cleaner? Possibly. Minimally. Okay, look, she had fifteen giddy minutes of bubbly water fun and I am A-OK with that.

3. And finally, in totally unrelated news, laundry is actually kind of fun again.

Even Scott agrees.

What's new in your neck of the woods?

Our Summer List {Better Late Than Never}

It seems we have approximately four weeks of summer left.

Did y'all just feel the ooomph in your gut too?

Ouch.

Waaaaay back at the beginning of summer I saw Meg's summer to-do list and after I picked my jaw up off the floor over the sheer awesomeness of her family's tradition, I thought my people and I should make one too.

And then, of course, I did nothing further about it.

That is until this weekend, with only four weeks of summer bliss remaining.

Because I am nothing if not timely.

Okay, maybe that's a stretch.

I didn't have a cute chalkboard wall but I managed to scrounge up some markers and paper and told my people to hit me with their last ditch summer wanna-dos. I also decided to add in some activities we've already done (and things that repeat) because I'd hate for y'all to think we've been totally lame and boring all summer.

And after putting our collective heads together and scribbling for a few minutes* this is what we came up with (cue drumroll please):

Someone in the 7 3/4 age bracket looks highly excited dontcha think?

Here's a closer look of our list taped to a closet door (because we're fancy like that):

We tried to come up with a mix of activities ranging from cheap (or even free) to those that cost a little more money, activities where there is a strong likelihood we'll actually attempt to do them and plenty of activities that are air conditioned (that's a deal breaker folks).

So, how'd we do?

*I was going to let Annelise help me write the list, you know to spark excitement and ownership and all, but in the end I just could not relinquish the markers, my control freak tendencies took over. She didn't mind though since she already had her roller skates on and skated around the house as we brainstormed.

Did y'all make a summer list?

Anything we should try and squeeze in over the next four weeks?

Insta-Friday {Vol. 7}

Hey there y'all!

I was a bit of an iPhone photo flunkie this week so today's edition of Insta-Friday will be short and sweet*.

After being derailed by a nasty stomach virus for two days, with the main goal of moving as little as possible and, you know, not dying, I returned to the land of the vertical Wednesday. I attempted to appease some of my mom guilt (Annelise had pretty much fended for herself most of Monday and spent Tuesday at her grandparents house) by having a Game-A-Thon Wednesday afternoon with Annelise. We played Pentago, Banana Grams, and then move on to Sorry.

We hit a bit of a stumbling block when we realized the only directions included in the box were in Spanish.

Yo hable espanol un pequeno. Ole.

However thanks to the wonder of the internets we were able to proceed.

Muy bueno.

I can never play Sorry without thinking of Eunice from the Mama's Family skits on The Carol Burnet Show and being sorely tempted to wave my pawn in my opponent's face while drawl-yelling  SOooo-rrRR-YYYY across 42 syllables. Don't worry, I restrained myself.

Do y'all remember that skit?

After 10 years (or is it 11?) our trusty washing machine gave up the ghost.

For the past two evenings Scott and I have been shopping for a new one and trying to make heads or tails of front loading machines vs. energy efficient top loading vs. old school washers.

All while our dirty laundry accumulates.

I think we're just this side of close to making our decision.

Since Annelise is now a shoe-tying superstar I had to snap a photo of her in action. She's even been known to untie her shoes on purpose just to show off her mad new tying skills, which is funny, but I bet that novelty wears off soon.

So, why did Scott get up waayyy before the crack of early yesterday morning?

To go watch the final landing of the space shuttle Atlantis on the Jumbo Tron screen (Buddy Garrity would be proud) set up in front of Building 1 at NASA/JSC along with a few thousand other space shuttle employees and their families.

I watched it much later, with coffee, thanks to the miracle known as DVR.

It was bittersweet. Sigh.

Be sure to pop over to Life Rearranged for more Insta-Friday fun.

Happy weekending my friends!

*Hmm...maybe this post wasn't so short and sweet after all. Lo siento.

Shoelace Boot Camp

I feel it my duty to inform y'all I earned a new badge on my mean mom vest last week when I  forced  strongly encouraged Annelise to tie her own shoes.

It was time to say good-bye to velcro and fully embrace the shoelace. (Actually it was past time. We've attempted this before but always caved and gone back to velcro for speed and lack of tears. Yeah, we're wimps.)

This ultimatum was met with much resistance from the tie-r in training, as you might imagine.

Two days, countless attempts, tears, frustration (from all three of us), countless exclamations of "I'll never be able to do this!" (her) followed by "Try again" (me) were minimally productive.

Imagine our surprise the night of Day 2 when we heard her announce from her room, "I just tied my shoes!", followed by, "I just tied them 5 times in a row!", followed by "I just tied them with my eyes closed!" followed by her running downstairs to show us her newly mastered skill, followed by our hugs, praises and high fives.

She was beyond proud of herself.

And so were we.

And maybe, just maybe, she didn't think I was such a mean mom after all.

Girls' Night Out: The Melting Pot

Few things are more fun than getting dressed up (a little), bidding your loved ones (you know, the ones you live with and pick up after) adieu (for a few hours at least) and hitting-the-road-Jack for supper out with your bestest girlfriends.
And to get to dip bites of food into gooey cheese and various other dee-lish sauces for 2+ hours is a bonus.

Of course one of the first things we did, maybe even before perusing the menu, was to pose for pictures. Here are Heather and Kim (sorry for the blur but I'd almost rather have blur than flash),
and then Heather popped over to sit with me so I wouldn't be all by my lonesome (again, sorry for the blur).
Heather and I had never been to The Melting Pot before so Kim gave us the scoop on how things worked and which sauces she had tried.

First up was a cheese and appetizer course. We decided to try the Wisconsin Trio which was a yummy cheese blend (with the added tang of bleu cheese) and dipped chunks of bread, tart green apple wedges and veggies to our hearts (and tummies') content.
Who knew it was so much fun to dip food in cheese? Oh it is, it is.

Fondue?

I am now a fan.

After a small salad (topped with more bleu cheese, yum) we moved on to the main course.

We tried not to be grossed out by having a plate of raw meat placed before each of us, which truth be told was a little unsettling.

On the left we had beef, pork, chicken and shrimp, in the middle was the most delicious corn and black bean stuffed ravioli ever, followed by vegetables on the right. We decided on something called the Mojo sauce, because really, how can you resist something that promises you good mojo?

We followed a pattern of 1.) stab meat with skewer 2.) dip in sauce to cook for 1-2 minutes 3.) occasionally toss in some vegetables 4.) eat and 5.) repeat until plate was empty.
The main course took the longest since you had to wait for your food to cook (the nerve!) but we didn't mind because it gave us plenty of time to chat and laugh and chat some more. We realized, much later, that since we each had three skewers we could have each cooked more than one piece of meat at a time and then possibly felt like we were actually eating a real meal instead of piece meal. Get it--piece meal? BWAHH haha.

It was a totally different meal experience to cook your food at your table, cut up a piece of meat into the most bites you could to make it last longer, dip it into the delicious sauces, finish the last bite and really want another right stinkin' now and quickly realize you had to cook your next bite all over again.

Bummer.

But a very tasty bummer.

Our fondue extravaganza ended on a high note, dessert fondue.

As in dipping assorted sweets into melted (only briefly flaming) turtle chocolate.
Scrumptious, is what it was.

There were rice krispie bars, cocoa covered marshmallows, brownies, bananas, strawberries, pound cake and even cheesecake.

And yes, we ate every last morsel and would have even licked the fondue pot if it hadn't been so hot (but we scraped it as thoroughly as we could).

Good thing I wore my maxi dress.

Good friends + hours of chatting + giggling + a three course fondue adventure = a perfect girls' night out!

When can we go again? Call me.

Insta-Friday {Vol. 6}

It's that time of the week again, my friends.

That's right, it's time for another edition of Insta-Friday where I share a few random iPhone photos that document snippets of my week.

It's riveting stuff y'all.

Mother daughter Chucks.

Love.

Happy, happy mail for mama this week!

Our house smells yummilicious now. So far I've tried Citrus Sun Tea (hubby was not a fan, what's up with that?) and Mochadoodle (love).

Drinking applesauce through a straw is the coolest thing ever.

If you are 7 and 3/4s, that is.Is there anything better than breakfast for supper?

I don't think so.

Especially if it's at IHOP and I don't have to cook it.

Oh, and don't forget the pancakes.

Mama & sweet daughter after church and lunch Sunday.

Did the skies really just open up and rain down cats and dogs on us 15 minutes prior to this photo?

Yes.

That's just summer weather in Texas.

Annelise (on the left) has had a blast at VBS this week.

Even though she kind of looks like a bandit.

We've screeched into the parking lot on two smokin' wheels at 8:59-ish (heavy on the ish) and made a mad dash for the door almost every morning, as mornings are not our strong suit.

In five weeks we'll be screeching into school 45 minutes earlier.

Ay yi yi.

Be sure to visit Life Rearranged for more Insta-Friday fun!

Happy Friday y'all!

*Have y'all tried Scentsy? What's your favorite scent?*

*Do y'all like breakfast for supper too?*

*Are you a morning person? It's okay, you can tell me if you are, we can still be friends.*

What I Wore Wednesday

Hello sweet WIWW friends!

Are y'all ready to take a look at what i wore last week?

(cue crickets chirping)

Even though now that i think about it, i realize that might sound strange if you're never read a what i wore Wednesday post before. In a nutshell it's an attempt to get myself together most days in something resembling an outfit, snapping a picture to document this feat and then linking up with Lindsey's blog, The Pleated Poppy (WIWW is her fashion accountability brainchild and she hosts a weekly carnival).

Okay, let's get started shall we...

flowered-y nightgown maxi dress: forever 21

white tank & cardi: target

mustard rosette necklace: allora handmade

(no, there was no mustard yellow in the dress, but i was trying to think outside of the matchy-matchy box--did it work? Or maybe i just need a turquoise rosette necklace--wink, wink)

red raggy flower flats: target

white t & tank: target

cuffed jeans: ann taylor loft

zebra flats: target

fuchsia rosette necklace (attempt to add some bling to a blah outfit): allora handmade

dress: kohl's

bling-y flips: yellow box, local shop

and yes, i seriously needed some accessories but sweet daughter and i were scooting off to see a movie (monte carlo btw)

purple dress, grey tank & white cardi: target

mustard peek-a-boo flats: target

oh look, i wore it again, i must be obsessed with my mustard rosette necklace: allora handmade

mustard flower ring: funky vintage lovely

nail polish: commander in chic, sally hansen complete salon manicure

so to recap:

* i'm obsessed with rosette necklaces and dream of having a few or ten more colors. please.

* i'm obviously stuck in a rut of posing in the same place and pretty much the same way every week. yawn.

* mustard (the color, not the condiment so much) is my bff lately.

* it really goes against my grammar nerd nature to not capitalize I. and the beginning of sentences. how do people do this all the time?

* wearing dresses is fun.

* don't fret, i still wore my cuffed denim shorts a lot too, i just didn't bore y'all with them again this week (you're welcome).

Be sure to pop over to The Pleated Poppy for more WIWW fashion fun!