A mini vacation and another week at school!

Since Mia had 4 days off from school over Easter we packed up and went to the Dallas area.  It was a lovely trip complete with amazing food, LegoLand, Sea Life Aquarium, Grapevine Mills Mall (for my Bama friends - it's much like Opry Mills Mall!), Fort Worth Zoo, Perot Science Museum and a visit to Ben's Uncle and Aunt in Mesquite.

April 22, 2014

April 23, 2014 

(Day after her first Tball game of the season so she absolutely had to wear her jersey to school!)

April 24, 2014

Field Trip Day!!!!!

The entire kindergarten went to Cameron Park Zoo for their field trip.  

Thankfully our class had 7 moms volunteer to chaperon so we only had 2-3 kids each!

April 25, 2014

In other news - our little bird friends from last spring are back and built a nest while we were in Dallas!!!  

We figured out they are Barn Swallows and Mia named them Theodore and Callie!

First Play date

At the t-ball game on Monday I worked up the nerve and invited a couple of the moms over for a swim play date Wednesday.  Of course an hour or so later when I got back to the apartment I was like "what in the world was I thinking"?!  Tuesday I made my list, figured out a menu and dusted every inch of the apartment - twice.  I ran to H.E.B. and got some of their yummy croissants, made the buffalo chicken salad (because it tastes better if it's sat in the fridge over night), put together pool friendly containers of pineapple, apples, mandarin oranges and grapes and packed 3 bags full of stuff we *might* need.  Wednesday morning I got up - dusted and vacuumed again (just in case) - the whole time this article was going thru my head:  http://www.unexpected.org/2013/04/dating-for-moms/
It's a fabulous, light hearted but informative article about "dating for moms" aka making mom friends.   I had a couple friends in Huntsville that always threw super fun and relaxing play dates so I was also thinking "What Would H or C Do"?

Time came - moms arrived and it just happened.  It wasn't stressful or awkward (much) - the kids played together fantastically.  One hiccup was that the little kid pool was closed but we regrouped pulled out as many floaties as we had (I was prepared!) and let the kiddos play on the steps of the main pool.  Then we came back to the apartment for lunch (both mom's wanted my recipe *squee* - never doubt the awesome powers of good chicken salad served on croissants, oh and peanut butter and honey) and the kids played for a little longer in Mia's room.

I never imagined it would be so easy - now I can't wait to do it again.

T-ball pictures, Last day of swimming, Company picnics and a visit

Last week/weekend were super busy with the last day of swimming, t-ball pictures, Ben's company picnic and a visit from Mom and Tettie.

As you can imagine, I'm sure, t-ball pictures were absolutely dripping with cuteness.  All the tiny kids in uniforms way too big for them - oh my goodness - adorable overload.

Ben's company picnic was at a local water park (and by local I mean like 15 miles away LOL).  It was interesting.  I got to meet some of his co-workers and their wives.  It was more of a free for all event tho so there wasn't much interaction other than Hi, This is, Nice to meet you and so on and so forth.

Mom and Tettie's visit was a lot of fun!  We took them to Cameron Park Zoo and a couple of our favorite restaurants.  It was a nice low key visit.

We took Mia to the pool last night and realized just how many little friends she has made ... actual friends - not just a child she has seen before.  It was so cute to watch her, 2 little girls (S and T) and one little boy (J) sitting on the steps of the pool all playing together.  Even better when we were walking thru the gate J's dad recognized us and was like "J! Look who's coming thru the gate" and J got all excited to see Mia.  Now if we can just learn the parent's names.  LOL

Ben and I are working a lot on our eating habits and working out every day right now.  I'm personally stretching my skills and attempting to learn how to cook all types of vegetables in interesting ways so we don't get bored with them.  Last night I made what I'll kindly call beef and mush...  It started out beautiful with fresh squash, purple onion, eggplant, jalapenos, banana peppers, and bell peppers (all from the farmer's market) and ended up looking like ... well, beef and mush.  Needless to say one of my projects for the week is to scour the cookbooks and educate myself on proper vegetable preparation and cooking.

Museums, swimming and family time

Due to the threat of thunderstorms we skipped the farmer's market and visited the Mayborn Museum at Baylor University instead.  It is a really cool museum full of the history of Waco and Texas and then 2 stories of hands on kid stuff with everything from a tea party room to a prairie style house to a kid's weather station to a room dedicated to the inside of the human body.  As usual the weather didn't turn out as threatening as expected (in fact not a drop of rain fell) so we ended the day at the swimming pool.  I think my child is a fish. :)

Just an ordinary day

June 14, 2013

Today was the first day all week that we didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time so Mia and I took full advantage of it and did nothing.  We cleaned the apartment, made some food ahead for the weekend and played at the pool.  It was lovely.

Recipes gone wrong, Nail polish on the carpet and T-ball

Add swimming in there and it all makes for quite the day...

Nothing new in swimming today but tonight at t-ball was the first time the kids simulated game play and it was definitely cute to watch.  However, the late practices on Thursdays are just late enough that it makes for an unruly bunch of kiddos.  This is pretty much everyone's first year so hopefully the kids will get used to the strange schedule soon.

I'm pretty sure that we will be continuing Mia's swimming education on our own time at the apartment pool once this class is over next Thursday rather than signing her up for another class like originally planned.  Swimming and T-ball at the same time are proving to be way too much - for both parents and child.  

Lizards, Swimming and Sanding

The little guy above decided to come pay a visit to our balcony the other night ... it was a stroke of good luck that I had the telephoto lens on the camera because he's actually only about 2 inches long - 3 inches at the most.

Today was day 3 of swimming and then after running errands Mia and I spent the afternoon sanding and painting a butterfly that her Papa cut out on his cnc machine for her.  Once it all dries and we put it together I'll post a picture.

Swimming - Day 1

Gammy and Papa come to visit!

We had an awesome visit with Ben's parents this past weekend.  We painted, swam, went to the Dallas World Aquarium, visited with Ben's Uncle and Aunt in Dallas and ate tons of amazing food.

Richland Mall

A few days ago Mia found out from a catalog we received in the mail that Build-A-Bear now carries both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony (which happens to be her absolute favorite cartoon).  As soon as she saw this she knew exactly where her money was going.  After counting her coins and being told that yes, she had enough for the doll but not for all of the accessories shown in the pictures she decided that she did indeed have to have her very own.  So off we went to Richland Mall today to get a Rainbow Dash.  After building said pony (who was named "Lily Rainbow Dash Dyer") we walked around for a bit and then she played in the play area and by play I mostly mean she chased a little boy around while growling at him.  Yes - growling - she was the monster and he was the scared little boy.  LOL

Obviously we didn't get to go to Dallas after all.  The weather didn't end up being bad but I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to possible storms - especially with a 2 hour drive.  Hopefully the forecast will settle down and we'll make it up there soon.

T-Ball starts Tuesday and swimming the week after.  We are getting really excited about that!  Not only will Mia be around other kids and Ben and I around other adults but it will also be great to get back into a weekly routine!  Yippee!

Pool, flowers and Arrested Development

More herbs have sprouted and our flowers are still alive (I'm pretty sure this is some kind of record for me - LOL)!  We spent the majority of the day at the pool and Mia got to have quality play time with several kiddos her own age.  Today was the release of Season 4 of Arrested Development which we have been waiting on forever!!!  Needless to say that's what Ben and I will be watching once Mia heads to bed.

Unforeseen Changes

Several unforeseen huge changes have taken place since our move.  The first (and biggest and greatest!) is that Mia has started sleeping all night in her own bed consistently... like 5 out of 7 nights a week.  Which is insane since before it was a big deal if she did it 2 nights in a row.  :)  We are all enjoying that and adjusting.  The downside is that my personal sleep patterns have gotten way off - with her sleeping for 11-12 hours a night I've been doing the same - which for her is great - me not so much.  It leaves me feeling ridiculously groggy in the morning so I've started this week working on going to bed later (10pm - don't laugh too hard now) and getting up at 6 (that's still dark here).

The other change is in me.  It's crazy how moving to a new town where you don't know anyone can be so freeing.  I've worn more dresses in the last 4 weeks than I have in the last 4 years.  It's been so much fun being myself without concern for what others think.  I have also enjoyed decorating the apartment - it definitely screams our artistic sides.  We have our photography hanging everywhere, our cameras displayed and various other things we have created over the years.  There is definitely no mistaking who lives here.  :) (and there's no painters tape anywhere! LOL)

Today was an awesome mommy/mia day.  We had lunch with Ben and then she and I went out for yogurt at our favorite yogurt shop (they carry a non-dairy flavor that changes each week).  After a short rest time we headed to the pool and stayed for the rest of the afternoon.  We are both loving all the sunshine and fresh air.  The downside of an apartment is definitely the tiny space - the upside is the pool, the basketball court, the playground and a worry free area for walking/running/riding bikes.  I am so blessed with this little girl.