Early 4th of July festivities

Our local fireworks were tonight, so we had our “F It Friday” group together for a “Suck It Saturday” instead! After some delicious drinks (and refills!) and dinner…

…the kids played in the water while we watched and tried to stay out of the spray zone. One dad (Eric) joined in the fray…

Then it was off on a caravan to the equestrian center (where we watched from last year, too). The kids ran around and played and did sparklers…and eventually watched some of the fireworks. I think Owen sat with me and Katie for about five minutes and then he was off with his friends.

Both kids had fun and were happy and I got to spend another night with our great friends…and that’s just about all I can ask for. (Well, if Tom would have been there it would have been even better!) 🙂

Dual Birthday Pool Party

After watching the forecasts and worrying about the weather all week (the forecast varied from thunderstorms to 60% chance of rain to light rain all day)…we decided to go ahead with the party and it ended up absolutely perfect!! It was overcast at the start and gradually got sunnier and warmer throughout the party—enough so that I had Tom grab my suit when he went back to get the cake!

We had 60 guests (kids and adults!!) and the pool was probably the busiest it will be all season (aside from the days they have cookouts with free food or night swims with free ice cream). But it all went smoothly, everyone had a blast, and there was plenty of pizza and cake for multiple helpings (once I started cutting the serves 48 cake and realized my small pieces were still not small enough to get me close to 60 pieces, I started halving those…and then ended up having half the cake left so kids got seconds and thirds).

The gaggle of dads. They didn’t move from this spot the whole time. 😂

Us moms:

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The kids were fairly patient about opening gifts once we got home…and they LOVED everything. They got Bop It (thank heavens I found the volume control!) and Owen picked up on it right away, Katie dug right into the glitter glue and construction paper, Owen picked out his favorite baseball cards from a new pack, Katie put together her Disney Lego, we’ve been shot multiple times by Owen’s new nerf gun, and both kids were OVER THE MOON about all the gift cards and getting to go shopping once we move! They both said it was a great birthday!

The final 2017 Angels baseball game!

Father and son before Owen’s last at-bat (where he got a slamming base hit—watch in the video below)!! We joked that we should have taken him to a big league game earlier because it obviously affected his game play!

Sidenote: just look at his face! OMG, I didn’t even see it when I took it because their faces were in shadow. I finally saw it when I edited the photo! He is such a hoot!

During the game, the kids signed frames for all four coaches:

The coach got each player a holder for their game ball:

 

Swarming the food table like ants!

Tom getting his thank you:

And we got the team and player photos:

Of course we had to pick a position early in the season…had it been later, we would definitely have picked first base. 

Our last bingo night—and we won two baskets!

Headed off to our last PTO Bingo Night! 🙁

We actually donated a big snack basket this year (I’ve been wanting to donate one for awhile now) and I debated buying raffle tickets because we don’t need anything… But it was to benefit the school so why not?! I bought 20 and gave each of the kids five tickets to put in whatever they wanted. Katie put all hers in the Emoji Basket and Owen put his in an Art Basket. I spread the rest out between some Chocolate Baskets and the Art Basket.

Owen wanted to sit with his friends…

So the first bingo game starts and Katie literally had every single number called and we were sure she was going to win…but she didn’t. But imagine our surprise when they brought up the first basket—one of the chocolate baskets—and we won!! Woohoo!!

Soon the Emoji Basket came up and I happened to record it just in case…

All night Katie kept saying “I can’t believe we won TWO baskets!” 🙂 This makes up for three years of winning nothing!

This was the kindergarten chocolate basket. We really really lucked out—everything from M&Ms to s’more fixins to brownie mix to sandwich cookies to truffles to camel milk chocolates!!!

And enough emoji stuff to choke a horse!!

My launch party was a success!

So, I just had my first in-home party (my business launch!)…and while I thought it was a total hot mess, they told me everything was fine and they had fun. (There were only six ladies and they are all good friends so I could be honest with them and ask for their honest opinions.) I dislike selling and feel like I stink at it so really just felt like I was pretty much out of control the whole time and consequently I felt totally off my game and I felt like I looked like an idiot (I know we are always hardest on ourselves). But they all seemed happy and bought stuff so it’s all good. And I know it will get easier with practice…

We didn’t take any official selfies but I did snap a few quick shots so I could remember who bought what (I was still figuring out how to use my credit card system!)

 

Why do I have to leave these people? Stupid military.

Another awesome Friday night gathering where all the kids get along (tonight there were 15!), the adults get along and have an amazingly fun time (tonight included shots of fireball whiskey, cigars, and stories about tattoos and piercings), and reluctantly leaving just before 11pm. I can cry just thinking about leaving…

 

My shirt said so.

A bunch of baseball parents went out tonight for Cinco de Mayo. This is our obligatory date night selfie:

And my obligatory lipstick photo (these are how I post them in my Facebook group):

And the obligatory margarita photo with my Mommy needs a margarita shirt in the background. (This was the most appropriately-themed piece of clothing I had for the holiday.)

 

What was funny is that as we were sitting down, all the girls gravitated towards one end so the table was split into boys and girls.

F-It Friday #4

It was our turn to host tonight and we had a small group as two families couldn’t make it… But we made up for it in craziness.  

The group selfie…

And then we had Katie take a picture!

And then one of the kids mentioned Pie Face and we had whipped cream for the dessert, so… There was lots of this. 

     

   

The birth of F-It Fridays!

Friends invited us over for dinner tonight along with four other families we’re close to (for a total of 10 adults and 13 kids). There was lots of good food, wine, and stories (and all the kids get along) and it was all so much fun that one friend suggested we do this once a month at different houses (they’re also helping me get my friend fixes in before we leave this summer). So, we all decided then and there to do every third Friday…but we needed a fun name. They were suggesting tame things like FUN FRIDAYS or FUN FRIENDS FRIDAYS but I just went straight for F%@# IT FRIDAYS and they all loved it. (It also kind of fit our mood for the upcoming inauguration.)

 

I do not want to leave these people. 🙁

Painting snowmen at art night

I missed out on art night since I was in Michigan, so Tom had photo duty!! I had been looking forward to more ceramic ornaments, but this year they decided to do paintings!

Sitting with friends!

Owen’s on the left, Tom’s/Katie’s on the right.

And a photo from Heather:

And the finished projects:

Family Costume Party!

Friends (the Brownes) invited us to a costume party and we hadn’t been to one in ages—and I’ve never been this thin—so I eagerly bought myself an awesome costume! I mean, I figured why not?!

So, you saw the sneak peek:

And Tom had a few costume options from previous years…but I had seen a friend do Cousin Eddie (from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) and thought it was brilliant…so I picked up the pieces for that. And of course we had the two Pokémon kidlets.

On our way…

Ta da! Thankfully we had an unseasonably warm day and we were actually comfortable in these.

Who wore it better?! 🙂 The consensus was Tom, though Randy showed more nipple. 😀

I loved all our costumes but I really want to have a theme one year. We briefly tossed around being Team Rocket or Ash and Misty from Pókemon but the costumes were too expensive for what they were and I didn’t feel like creating them myself. Maybe next year will be the themed year.

Our themed hosts:

Even Squirtles need to eat.

And Pikachus need to potty. 🙂

I really lit up well in the black light…but I don’t think it even looks like me.

The kids had a blast—we barely saw them the whole time. They were playing in the yard and going on a treasure hunt with 20 other kids.

Black light paint!

The funny thing was that we were all thinking it was like 9-9:30 (it was dark and we were tired) and we looked at the time…and it was only like 6:45! Are we old or what? 🙂

Once the sun went down it quickly got chilly so they started a fire and we hung out there for a bit but then we called it a night and were home by 7:30. ARE WE OLD OR WHAT?! 🙂

Soccer game day!

Today was photo day! I honestly didn’t want to pay the outrageous prices for photos, so I planned to sneak some of Owen and his team and Tom snagged one of Katie’s session (it was at 8am and me and Owen didn’t make it for that). Also, I knew Katie would have half her team missing (due to pics being an hour before the game) and we never really got to know any of the kids (like we did with T-ball and baseball) outside the two kids we already knew.

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Dancing across the field…

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It really wasn’t until after the game when I was looking at all the pics I took that I realized Owen was really handling the ball well. He has improved SO much it’s unbelievable!

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Boosterthon Fun Run Success!

Owen did AMAZING! They had two tracks running at the same time—Kindergarten and 1st grades on one and 2nd and 3rd on the other. The VIPs (parents, family, etc.) were in the center of each ring to cheer them on. Of course, Owen was on the outside of the track almost every time (which also meant that other kids were blocking my view) so I didn’t get many good pictures of him. I had been wondering how they were going to keep track of laps run, but the kids all had Boosterthon T-shirts with boxes on the back so every time they crossed the starting line, they had teachers and volunteers marking off boxes. Owen completed…ALL 35 POSSIBLE LAPS!! For a total pledge donation amount of…$390!! We are SOOOOO proud of him!! (The only slightly disappointing thing [for me] was at the end of the event—the kids got to take a “victory lap” with family and friends so Katie and I rushed out to walk with Owen…and he didn’t want anything to do with it and just went off on his own. I swear he’s 7-going-on-14.) If the amounts on the website can be trusted, the school hit 99% of their goal…which means the kids get the technology updates AND the playground equipment!!!

Tom wasn’t able to make it to the fun run, but Katie and I were there! Of course, she was pouting about something (I can’t even remember what since it happens so often).

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Owen’s class coming onto the field.

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National anthem.

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Can you see Owen? (Hint in next pic.)

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They had theme laps like clapping, walk with a friend, and slow-motion. This was the kangaroo lap (his favorite). 🙂

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He started with the headband on, then it came off pretty quickly, and here it’s back again.

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It came off again soon after.

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Katie was an awesome cheerleader for Owen and all our other friends!

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Westin, a kindergarten friend (we ate at their house for Thanksgiving).

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Our across-the-street neighbors.

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Owen and Colton (he was in his class last year and is on his baseball team this year) running together.

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Owen and Colton running collage
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They had music playing the entire time so Katie did a lot of dancing!

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Hazel, our kindergarten neighbor.

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More dancing!

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Katie helping clean up!

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And the attempted class picture afterwards:

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Since it was the end of the day, we went back to Owen’s classroom to take him home. This was the class goal sheet. I love to see the order of importance. 🙂

  

Another successful birthday sleepover!

Owen wanted another summer birthday pool party, so like last year, we had a sleepover with two friends for his birthday. I’m not sure who was more excited—Owen or Katie. She did pretty good overall but didn’t understand why the boys didn’t want to go play with her instead of playing with Owen. (That said, she did get to play with them most of the time.)

We had pizza for dinner, then they all played downstairs (including Katie), and then it was time for Pie face! 

Ice cream! Poor Colton (in black) doesn’t like chocolate so didn’t want the ice cream or brownie…so had an ice pop.

Attempting to play a new video game. It wasn’t quite working, so…

We watched a movie. Awwwww. 

Of course, Katie was right in there, too.

Owen: “My bros!”

iPad time

Spying on them. 

We put them to bed at 9:30 and they wanted to read a book so we told them lights out at 10. I happened to be watching on the monitor when they turned the lights out at 9:45. We thought it was too easy…and we were right. They were gabbing LOUDLY for the next hour. The last 20 minutes or so, Tom and I took turns going in to tell them to quiet down and go to bed. The last time Tom went in he warned them that they would not get donuts in the morning if he had to come in again. Then they were finally quiet. 🙂

Tom said they were all up at Owen’s usual time (6:30!) so they were back at Xbox and Tom went to get donuts.

The kids left by 10:30. Owen had a great time and we were glad to have our relatively quiet house back.  

Bouncy Birthday Party

Owen was invited to a birthday party of the twins in his class (the same family that gave Katie her black ballerina outfit a ways back). It was at a bouncy place that had glow-in-the-dark lights. Tom took him because (long story short) I was told Katie couldn’t participate. Tom said when he got there, Owen turned super shy…but quickly got into it and had a BLAST.

And here’s Owen racing up the slide! I made sure he wore a neon shirt so he’d really stand out! And action video!

Here’s the group:

And some of the boys from his class (Xander, Colton, and Manuel).

And then after the party, they stopped at Wendy’s for dinner!