Memorial Day Weekend

We celebrated our Memorial Day Weekend with a quick trip to the JW Marriott in the Hill Country.  We had such a great time.  This was the 2nd year that we went to the resort and we hope to continue the tradition.  

There was lots of swimming. Matthew and I went on the waterside together.  We went in the lazy river together, including Marky.  Marky loved it!  He was so clam in the water and was smiling and splashing around in his little raft. 

The boys loved the watersides.

We relaxed by the pool.

Played poolside games

Played ping-pong and football with other kids

Helped in a magic show

And had a wonderful family vacation

Giving Up on Good: Being a PTO Mom

*I linked up today with Hayley (The Tiny Twig) and Jessi (Naptime Diaries) for their weekly series called Giving Up On Good.

I’m going to come out and say it – I’m not cut out to be a PTO mom. There are several reasons, but the biggest one is that I don’t have the time. I don’t have time to be at the school every day and make copies. I don’t have time to volunteer for every committee or organize the annual fundraisers. I wish I did, but I don’t and I have to come to grips with it.


I am just thankful for moms who do have the time and enjoy running the school PTO like a Fortune 500 company because the results benefit my children.

I tried to be a PTO mom this school year, and I think I was pretty successful. I volunteered to be the party co-coordinator and organized the several parties throughout the school year. I volunteered to bring food for the monthly teacher appreciation luncheon. I volunteered to chaperone field trips. Whenever there’s an event, I arrange my work schedule to be able to make it there to help out.

But boy, was it STRESSFUL! I’d like to think that I’m smart enough to know when enough is enough, but looking at my record of over-commitment, it doesn’t look like I’m very smart.

Maybe having it in writing will help?

1. I will not volunteer to be on any committees – yes I will help out if needed but I will not volunteer to coordinate or organize anything.

2. I will only go to events to enjoy, and will not volunteer to organize or help organize

3. I do not need to be at every assembly the school puts one

This doesn’t mean that I have to give up everything. I just need to pick a few things that I think are important and stick to it.

Party, Party, Party!

I’m in the process of planning Matthew’s SEVENTH birthday party! My Middle Baby is going to turn 7 years old in less than 5 weeks. We gave him a few options - bounce house place, trampoline place, and pool party, and he chose the POOL PARTY. The great thing is that we will have lots of fun picking out the theme, food and decorations. The bad thing is we’ll have to pick out the theme, food and decorations. It’ll be a lot more work that I’ve done in party planning in awhile, but I also think it’ll be fun.

I already found a few inspiration on Pinterest.

I'm not sure which to go with yet, but I want it to be bright, bold and beautiful!

Fast Track - The Polish

I’ve been obsessed with nail polish. I literally change my polish 3 times a week because I love it so much. I would probably change it every day if I had the time.


I love this color. This is from the Hunger Games collection by China Glaze (my new fave brand).

Fast Track – it’s so sparkly.

 Close-up is a little fuzzy.

TGI Friday!

TGIF, everyone! I am so happy for the weekend. This week has gone by pretty quickly because work has just been crazy. Towards the end of our fiscal year, it usually gets quiet but that has not been the case. Oh well. It makes the days go by faster.

This week was Teachers’ Appreciation week and I am NOT sad to report that I did not volunteer to do anything. I love my children’s teachers. They are terrific, and I appreciate them A LOT. They spend more time with my children then most people do and I’m sure they put up with lots of nonsense.

I just did not have the energy and I told myself that I would not over-commit. And nothing happened. The world did not come to an end because I didn’t send flowers and cards to them. I was worried that my kids would be the only kids who didn’t bring anything and they would feel left out. They didn’t care one bit. I think donating money at the beginning of the year for gift cards and such made up for it. I’m sure teachers appreciate gift cards more than flowers. I know I would.

We've discovered that Mark loves playing with plastic measuring cups. In fact he prefers that to his fancy little toys that are suppose to engage him in learning about the world.

Yesterday, I asked Matthew to keep an eye on him so I can start cooking dinner. He came up to me and said, “Mom, where’s the flour cup?” I had no idea what he was talking about. “You know, the flour cup?” I thought he said “Flower cup.” I finally realized he meant the measuring cup. He needed it for Marky to calm him down.

He cracks me up. He’ll go around saying things that adults would say. I’ve heard him say “Mark, I’m very disappointed at you.” For what, I don’t know.

Most recently, he’s been telling Michael, “It’s my DS, my rules.” Or “I’m the boss of my DS.” His biggest tattletale line is “Mom, Michael is threat-ta-ning meee…”

Waiting for Bo-Bos at the bus stop with the trusty "Flour Cup"

My little funny-man with his friend Will

I headed over to Nordstrom Rack to return a dress yesterday and found these cute flats. They are half a size too small, but I got them anyway because I think I can make it work.  Aren't they so darn cute?!



Lemonade - The Musical

Matthew had his first class musical called "Lemonade" last Thursday.  He was so cute up there doing his little moves.  I asked him to give me a preview of the songs that he was singing before the play, but he insisted that I be surprised.  He didn’t have a solo and I can tell that he forgot some lines of the songs, but it was so much fun watching him!

Midweek Randoms

My baby started to hold his own bottle last night! He looks so cute lounging on the sofa, drinking his bottle and watching TV.

Michael colored his nail with a black marker yesterday. I asked him about it and he said he got in trouble for it with his Dad. I don’t think it was a big deal. I told him I wanted to paint my nails black and he said, “If you do, you’ll look like a bad girl. You should also line your eyes black.” Cracked me up. I love that kid!

Sunday Funday!

Saturday was hot and steamy - I mean weather. And Sunday was another perfect Spring day to enjoy outside.

Love that expression on Marky's face!


We finished out Michael’s soccer tournament. It was actually a pretty exciting game. His team tied 2-2 and Michael played really well. This affirms my feeling that he plays better without Paddy at the games and makes me feel really good about our decision to pull him out of Odyssey.

After the game, we went to the End of Season party for his Star Jets team. It was a perfect day for a nice outdoor barbeque party. The kids had so much fun playing kickball, football, and of course, water gun fight. It was great to for them to just get together and play around. It’s funny that that see each other 2-3 times a week, but never really get the play. It was wonderful to see them chase each other around and just goofing off without an agenda or schedule.

At this point, we don’t know if we’ll sign Michael up for the next season. I don’t even know if Coach will keep the team together. This team has been together for 4 seasons so I will be sad to see it break up. I’ll definitely miss the families that we’ve gotten to know and become friends with.











This has nothing to do with this post, but he's adorable so who cares?