I had to borrow Grannie’s car to take Owen to his Lego class before school and their car is packed to the hilt for Florida so he had to sit in the front. Frankly he’s as big as some adults so I wasn’t worried bit it did feel odd. He liked it of course.
Boy scouts tonight was Halloween-themed and one of the games involved rolling Tom in toilet paper. I’m ever thankful for our friend Jamie for sending these pics. Oh, and he won!!!
Looking at the Shutterfly books from when she was born…
Today was a busy day–I’ve been up since 5am!—but I did it in style in my tiara!! 😛
I had a vendor event (the same one I did two years ago) so I wore a little more makeup than normal… But what once might have taken me an hour only took me about 20 minutes!! 🙌🏻 And oh my gawd I forgot how amazing Brick is!! 💕‼️
Here’s everything I used in my look:
I didn’t have my tiara on for the first round of pics…so I had to take more! (By the way, lots of people loved it and commented on it. So get yourselves a tiara, ladies! It’s fun!)
The event was fun and I couldn’t have done it without help from my friend (and customer!) Heidi—we really make a great team! I also met some great ladies (they like margaritas, too so there may be some parties happening in the near future).
Before we knew it the event was over and time to pack up! Tom picked me up and we went to grab a drink to celebrate!
Fast forward to getting ready for bed at 11:30pm…
‼️ I’m not kidding when I say this stuff lasts all day.
I’m finally ready for bed so it’s time to check my before and after comparison pics. I really gave my makeup a workout today—17 hours. The only thing really bad are my lips, but I did spend most of the day proving they were smudge-proof (rubbing them and applying gloss like a boss) and I stopped glossing about 4pm. 🙌🏻 If I had done a quick color fix then, it would still be going strong. But still, not too bad for 17 freaking hours!
Getting their jump on with good friends on a day off of school! Bonus points for matching Pokémon shirts.
Katie being a monkey.
The funny thing is both these cards have come up at the same time before with the same players.
Earlier this year:
This was from 1977. 😂
Once the kids finished cleaning the basement I was going to put on a movie for them and make lunch. Then a friend texted to invite us to Jump America—they had an all-day special and NO ONE WAS THERE. So I made quick sandwiches and we were off! Owen made me happy by wearing the shirt I made. Katie refused.
Katie and her friend apparently got tired of jumping and did this.
I got to snuggle this precious little thing at MOPs today and sent these pics to Tom.
His response? PUT THAT DOWN!!! 😂
We were headed to the park to meet a friend of Owen’s so he had to bring enough guns.
Being silly…
And then more normal…
Owen’s team won the fall championship in a 19-17 nail biter today! They were up a few and then down by 10 (and we thought the game might get called by the slaughter rule), then we caught up, then they caught up, and then we were ahead by two and held them off!! Owen did his thing on 1st and caught the ball for the final out of the game! We are so proud of all the boys!!
Here’s a few pics from the game. Owen on second.
A typical sight: tying shoelaces.
Attempting to steal home. I can’t remember if he did or not.
Katie was being punished for earlier transgressions at home and had to sit by me the entire game, so I got these.
The game was stressful to watch because the score was so back-and-forth. But once we came back from being 10 runs down, the entire mood changed and it was a real game!! We were ahead by two going into the top of the seventh inning so we expected they’d score and we’d have to rally in the bottom of the seventh (and last) inning but the boys held them off!
I was taking pics of the last plays and got these. They aren’t great because the fence was in the way, but I love the progression of the excitement, then the boys coming in from the field, then throwing hats in the air! I wished I had gotten a shot of Owen actually catching the ball but it is what it is.
Award ceremony!
TEAM PHOTO!
Funny team photo!
Running the bases (Owen led the way)!
Friends. 💕
Coaches Tom, Ken, Jamie (Head Coach), Mark
Happy boy!
Happy daddy!
Fun with Coach Jamie!
And then it was off to Culver’s to celebrate!
So we’re all friends here. Which means I can safely admit that while we love our family with every ounce of our soul, we all wish for a break now and again, right? Since we don’t have family close by, we rarely get those breaks (other than a date night) so when I lucked into one this past weekend while my husband took both kids on a boy scout camping weekend…I took advantage.
So what did my weekend look like?
Was I glad to have them home? Well, I enjoyed seeing their faces, but I missed the silence and clean house immediately. 😂
So long story short… Owen has kind of joined scouts. A few of his baseball friends (and dads) are involved and of course they talk about how fun it is and of course Owen wants to do fun things with them…so Tom and I talked and I basically told him I don’t want to be involved so if HE wants to do it with Owen, be my guest. 😄 So they went to a few meetings and then it was time for the big weekend camping trip to Starved Rock, a local State Park campground. The whole family was invited but I opted to stay home for some alone time and Tom was looking forward to taking both kids.
DAY 1
So come Friday afternoon they were all packed and ready to go! I even got Owen out of school a bit early since they had a 2.5-hour drive to get there.
I’m not sure they have enough stuff for 1.5 days (Friday night, Saturday, leaving really early Sunday). We borrowed a tent and then had to take sleeping bags, air mattresses (because how can they sleep on the ground like animals), pillows, backpacks, rain gear, etc.
Fast forward to later that evening when I asked for proof of life and got a text that they (and some friends) were at a local bar because by the time they got there and got set up the camp kitchen was closed. But as it would happen, a marine was having his retirement party so they all got invited to a free buffet!
And then later they did actually sit around a fire for a bit.
DAY 2
Tom taught the boys how to fold flags.
Getting ready to go on a hike by themselves! (The parents followed behind enough to be unseen but still keep an eye on them.) They also took pack lunches.
And then I got this from Tom about noon…and he said he was contemplating packing up and coming home.
I told him to suck it up—he wanted to go camping. 😜
So this is what things looked like later when everyone was gathered under our awning while it rained cats and dogs.
And everyone ended up back at the bar again for dinner—and to get out of the storm. I may have gotten a few THIS REALLY SUCKS texts.
DAY 3
They were up and on the road by 7 Sunday morning so they could get home in time for the last baseball playoffs game. (Our team was so awesome that they won the first game of the playoffs without the coach, two assistant coaches, and three players who were all camping!!) They pulled in shortly before 9:30 and I immediately proceeded to do laundry because everything was wet and muddy.
Tom’s overall feeling on the weekend was it totally sucked because of the bad weather but the kids had fun and he wants to do it again…though maybe in a pop-up or something bigger. The kids did have a blast and can’t wait to go again.
In my rush to get out of the house early this morning to take Owen to his Lego robotics class at school, my normal makeup routine was rushed. So if you see me within the next hour or so, I don’t have weird white eyelashes for any reason other than I only got primer on before it was time to leave and I forgot my mascara on the steps where I sat down to put my shoes on. 😂
P.S. It was another retail shopping day as I was meeting a friend in the Target parking lot to borrow her tent…and ended up going in with her.
So Anna and I decided today called for retail therapy so we met at Marshall’s and just had the best time. We’d talk each other into or out of things and spent most of the time laughing.
I wish I had a fun pic of us to share but I didn’t take one because I was SO entrenched in this display of beverage containers.
I literally parked myself here for a good 10 minutes while I debated quantity vs price vs brand vs expectations vs color vs what we already had vs what I know we needed to throw in the garbage and replace. 😂 There might also have been a steady stream of texts and a phone call to Tom to make some final decisions.
What kind of therapy do you like? I love retail therapy but I wish I liked exercise because one is soooo much better for you. 😜
When it’s your birthday and you can’t decide what color lipstick to wear.
First was too light. Second was too dark.
Also? Yes. You can bet your ass I’m wearing my tiara all over hell today!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻 Happy damn birthday to me! 😂
Tiara out to lunch, getting my nails done, and leaving my kid at a neighbor’s after school. Tiara on the go!!
Then, I got birthday calls from my mom and David (as well as a handful of friends who were all in Maine together!) and dad and Linda (who, when I saw they were calling, wondered why).
Then, what better way to end my birthday than a margarita with a new friend (we met at the Paint & Sip a few months ago).
No, wait. THIS is the best way to end my birthday. 💕
So I’d been having a party all month long in my business group and it culminated with a live sale. My bestie Heidi came to help and we started things off right with a margarita.
I had planned for about an hour but it ended up to be almost two!! And I’m so glad she was there to help because they’re is no way I could have done it alone. The only bad thing about doing it at night is that I had about four hours of work to do after!
This was at 9:53.
This was at 12:10.
I finally called it a night at 2am.
The whole team was invited to Richardson’s Adventure Farm to celebrate a great fall season of baseball. Not too many showed up, but we all had a great time! We rented a site with a fire pit and the kids enjoyed the Jumping Pillow, a 100′ slide, and the World’s Largest and Most Intricate Corn Maze (lots of cool details here). Lest you think I’m kidding about the maze, here it is:
We brought plain hot chocolate but Jess brought this… You can see why we’re friends.
Mom fun!
Yes I went down this!
It was actually really fun and not scary at all!
This place was huge!
I might have eaten something delicious.
Then once the moms were back at the fire, the dads took a group of kids through the corn maze.
And within five minutes of being in the car on the way home…
This was our third year doing the Woodland PTO ROAR Run fundraiser! We thought it might not happen as major storms rolled through a few hours before, but it cleared up in time! I didn’t get as many good pics this year…
Practicing football sprints.
She’s still good with the hula hoop!
Guess who pinned his own number?
This is the only pic I took with my phone. I just thought it was cute…but Anna said they look like cell phone reception bars!! I love it!!
Her face is how I envision everyone feels after running. 🙂
And our friend Evan…
RESULTS!
I volunteered to do Owen’s teacher’s door for fall! I hadn’t thought that I’d get to choose what I wanted, so of course I started overthinking. I like Pinterest but it’s just so overwhelming. I ended up asking Anna to help me since she did a door for the same teacher last year…
It’s not perfect but it’s not bad for my first time! It was great having an extra set of hands, otherwise I’d have been there twice as long! Owen helped a little bit but honestly he wasn’t that much help (tape circles proved to be a huge challenge).
This week I’m thankful for friends. That seems really generic, I know, but let me explain.
Being military and moving every three years, there is a certain cycle that we go through each move–it generally takes about two full years before we finally have a good set of friends. You know…the ones you can call last-minute to watch your kids, the ones you can call to take your kids to sportsball practice when you can’t make it, the ones you invite over for dinner because your kids get along so well. It’s also a time when friends are around regularly enough that it seems very commonplace–like we’ve been here our whole lives.
So we’re at that two-year mark.
This week I went for a walk around the neighborhood with a friend, I ran into a friend shopping at Michael’s, a friend came over to shop for make-up, a friend and I vented to each other about life, I helped a friend decide what artwork to hang in her house, a friend came over and picked me up because she wanted to talk and I had been drinking and couldn’t drive, and a friend offered her assistance in designing a T-shirt for our upcoming family vacation.
Friends are amazing and I don’t take any of them for granted.
I love when friends refer friends and then I get to hang out with both of them and play with makeup
And yes, I feel naked without lipstick on… and what other thing do you notice?!
Yeah…I only did one eye! I was going to do the other one as a demo and then ended up not doing it. 😂
So today the boys’ baseball game was cancelled due to flooded fields but we took a few of the kids for some pitching and batting practice.
At the end I decided to pick up a bat and try hitting some pitches from Tom. I haven’t tried batting in probably 25+ years so I thought it would be a complete shitshow. Needless to say I surprised everyone there when I hit most of them!! They were underhand pitches but still…
I will need Aleve and margaritas later today but I have to admit it was fun!!
Drinks going down. Dinner done. Kids playing. Time for baseball planning…
I’m not sure exactly what this is going to turn into, but I know it’s going to be delicious. How can you go wrong roasting red onions, garlic, and garden fresh tomatoes, banana peppers, and serrano peppers? (The serrano peppers were from our friend’s garden.)
After roasting I decided to just grind it all up into a paste. I think maybe bruschetta or on pizza? It has a little kick to it!
And then I just sliced and froze some jalapenos because we can’t use all these before they go bad!
Katie was invited to a birthday party for a friend from first grade. I dropped her off since it was at the same time as Owen’s baseball game…and because I didn’t know the mom at all and staying at a four-hour party where I don’t know a single person is one of my personal hells. That said, the mom seemed super cool and I did promise to come back after the game and hang out because it was also a party for the adults if you catch my drift. I can get behind that kind of party for sure.
Fast forward to post-game and I really didn’t want to go because, you know, personal hell. But I went. Walked up to a garage of strangers. Made funny small talk, they laughed, okay maybe this won’t be hell. First room of strangers… Second room of strangers. Ugh. Deck full of strangers. I wanted to grab Katie and run out. I head into the tent to get Katie and leave early and she’s having an absolute blast making an unholy mess with paint, glitter, glue, and assorted craft paraphernalia. (They had already done paintings and were on to photo frames.)
There was so. much. glitter. Another personal hell to be honest.
So I talked to Katie for a minute, she obviously wanted to stay, so I just kind of hung around until I ran into a mom that I’d met before and chatted with briefly…and we did the somewhat uncomfortable chit chat for a bit (she’s PERFECTLY lovely, it just felt a bit weird). Then I finally found the host and we started talking and…y’all?? I found a new friend. We really hit it off, literally chatted for almost two hours straight, and planned a morning hangout in a few days!
This is the kind of party it was and the people they are. Can you see why we might have hit it off? SIX FLAVORS OF MARGARITAS Y’ALL. SIX.
Kafie decided to combine her two projects into one. It’s pretty cute but there’s so much glitter…
#nbcsports #sundaynightfootball #liammchugh
We had birthday dinner with friends then went back to their house. We had brought a game in a bag and after we started playing we noticed this.
We went to our friends house after the pool…and this is what happened. We then made them put the devices away and go to the park.
When you show up at your friend’s house and realize that your wires got crossed so you have some time to waste so you make yourself comfortable in her house, take a selfie in the best natural lighting ever, and enjoy a view of the lake.
