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Category Archives: Kids

Our cruise shirts are done!

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As soon as I knew we were going on a cruise, I knew I wanted to make personalized T-shirts for all of us…thus begin the search on Amazon and Etsy and eBay… betsy was the winner with the best choices but I knew that I wanted to create my own with our names or initials (or something) and not just buy a generic one. So then I managed to find a friend with a cutting machine who volunteered her machine and her services…

It was actually quite a long drawn out process because she had really not done many T-shirts before and I had never done T-shirts before and it was literally just a comedy of errors but we had a great time working on them together.

So without further ado…

They are all the same on the front but the kids have a warning on the back of theirs and Tom and I have a similar warning on the back of ours. (My dad and stepmom escaped warnings on their shirts.) I figured we are literally only going to be wearing the shirts for a few hours on debarkation day so it really didn’t matter what we put on them…and we thought it was hilarious.

The sidenote to this whole story is that Tom and I are now the proud owners of a Cricut Maker and a crap ton of accessories. I had thought about getting one of these machines in the past but knew I would literally go down a huge rabbit hole of projects and expenses so I always passed. So when this came up Tom asked me again if I wanted to get one because he wouldn’t mind having one in the future for some of his projects…so many hours of research later (and YouTube videos and reviews watched and debating the merits of the different machines and getting input from friends)… we decided on one. So stay tuned for many projects!!

I didn’t expect this conversation this morning.

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Well I certainly didn’t expect my morning with Owen to include the reveal that Santa is not real. 😳😢💔

I’ve known it’s been coming for a while and I’ve managed to keep pushing it off…and although you know the day will come and you can kind of prepare yourself for it…you are never really ready and I’m sure I didn’t handle it as well as I could have.

I did go over some major points that I had ready (Santa is the spirit of Christmas, he can be a Santa now, etc.) but he wasn’t having ANY of it and he was PISSED. 😭 There were a few tears and throwing things…and saying we lied to him for 10 years and he’s a stupid kid for believing us and that he was disappointed in us. 😭 (P.S. The Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy were included in this bargain of a conversation as well.)

I then had to talk him down from wanting to tell everyone (including Katie) and thankfully 45 minutes later by the time he left for school he was laughing about it and excited about being a Santa this year.

(The best news is that after school he seemed to be really okay and was even shopping for secret Santa gifts for Katie when we were out running errands that night (without her).)

But still, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be over here crying in my margarita because my kid is really growing up and I hate to think about it. And I’ll also be silently cursing the mean kids who ruined it for Owen (apparently) last year. 🤬

Last-minute jumping afternoon

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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.

Owen learned how to vacuum.

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The kids had the day off school so they were cleaning the basement and I was supervising and organizing my own stuff but I had to have him do it since my back really hurt (for no good reason). I swear he’s done it before but he said he hadn’t. He had so much fun—and was gobsmacked when I pulled the extender handle out (and then he instantly turned it into a gun).

Answer: How do you get burrs out of human hair?

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Question: Things I didn’t expect to have to Google tonight?

Katie came home from playing in the woods with neighbor kids with a bunch of burrs in her hair. Of course I immediately saw the work involved and she was basically like “Oh what? This is a problem?”

Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared at first glance, but it wasn’t fun with the olive oil picking bits of prickly Burr off her head and then showering to wash her hair at bedtime.

That said, I do hope I put the fear of the devil in her about it happening again.

All around Halloween costume fail.

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When you know you have a costume for your kid in the closet (that you bought at a resale shop last year) so you don’t worry about a costume this year and then you get it out and realize it’s a kid’s medium and you thought it was a men’s medium (because the picture on the package showed an adult plus the cardboard insert was folded so you couldn’t see the checked size box) and the tag just says Medium so now you have to buy or find a costume at the last minute (yes, this is last minute for me).

So you search Amazon and there really are no good kids costumes in the size he needs and men’s costumes are hella expensive so you end up spending $30 on a costume for him that is passable. Stay tuned.

Red Hots win! Congrats to the GYB fall champs!

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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!

Scout camping weekend

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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.

Baseball Wrap Party

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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:

Richardson Farm 2019 Corn Maze

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…

ROAR Run 2019

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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!