February Pin-spired - Seeing Red

In honor of Valentines Day, this month's Pin-spired with Shay @ Mix and Match Mama is all about finding inspiration for my red cords that I got last winter from Ann Taylor.  And it's also very appropriate because Today is Chinese New year! Happy Year of the Horse!!!

OK- back to Pin-spired. I haven't really worn them much and when I do, I usually pair it with a cream blouse. So, I turned to Pinterest for some more ideas and found a few that I really like.

Look number one is so simple and comfortable - who's not for that?

For my version, I wore a camel cowl-neck sweater and beige flats.  The sweater is from Ann Taylor from about 2 years ago and the shoes are Tory Burch.

Inspiration 2 is red and stripes.

And here's my version with brown heels. The striped T is from Gap and the shoes are Nine West.

Now red with black.  Duh! I can't believe I didn't think of this combo.

I wore a black button down shirt with my version with black ankle boots. The shirt is from Express from when I was in college ( a VERY long time ago) and the shoes are Guess.



Let's Band Together

Let me start off by saying that Pinterest is totally awesome! For the past few years, I've been making Valentine's Day gift bags filled with little goodies for Michael's and Matthew's classmates. Typically it's erasers, pencils and a little candy thrown in.  I didn't want to do that again so I went on Pinterest for some inspiration.

And this was my inspiration!  Matthew loves making these bracelets so we made them for his classmates.  Luckily, there are only 16 kiddos in his class so it didn't take long.  I found the free printable card on Pinterest of course.  I'm also happy to discover this Paper and Pigtails.  It's a beautiful website with all sorts of paper crafting ideas and printables.

I think I'm more excited for Matthew to pass these out than he is. Haha.  Aren't they pretty? M thinks they are cheesy, but isn't that what Valentine's Day is all about?

What We Did - Week 4

Day 22 - Wed.
Doing some Math homework on the computer.

Day 23 - Thur. 
Mark helped load the dishwasher with his little backpack on.  Jiffy hitched a ride.

Day 24 - Friday

In Aggieland!

Day 25 - Sat.
Meeting up with the team for dinner.

Day 26 - Sun.
We made a quick lunch stop on our way home from College Station.

Day 27 - Mon.
Mark played with Daddy before he had to leave for a trip. Love these guys.

Day 28 - Tue.
Matthew stayed after school to help make Valentine's Day placemats for Meals on Wheel.

Then we went over to Starbucks for Matty and Mommy time.

Aggieland Tournament

I'm exhausted.  This was one of the busier weekends we've had for a while. Michael had a soccer tournament in College Station this weekend, and we had so much fun.  But it definitely took a toll, especially with my cold that hit it's peak on Friday. Fortunately, by Sunday, I was feeling healthy again.

On Friday, I spent the whole morning making sure I had all the different uniforms and warm-ups Michael would need for the weekend, packing for the other two boys to go to their grandparents', and packing for me and M.  Once that was done, we packed everything into the car and went to lunch at Truefire.  Mark did so well at lunch! M kept him busy with a game of tic-tac-toe, before our food arrived.

After lunch, we picked up Matthew and dropped both boys off at G-pa's for the weekend.  Then we drove over to pick up Karen, Michael and Daniel.  Then we were off to College Station!

It was a 3-hour drive and it was much more fun when you have guests in the car. Daniel and Michael played on their iPad and iPhone for most of the ride. We got to the hotel at about 6. Yes, there is snow in this picture.  College Station got some snow in the morning and when we arrived, there was still some left on the ground.  And yes, it was very cold!

After we checked in and dropped our stuff off, M and I took Michael to dinner at a teppanyaki restaurant.  It was very nice to have dinner with just one kid. This kid ate A LOT!

On Saturday, Michael had 2 games - one at noon and the other at 5pm. In the morning, we met up with his teammates and coach and they went off to breakfast in the hotel.  M and I went to Panera.  The Michael hung out with his teammates until it was time to head off to the fields.

They won the first game 4-0, so I was optimistic about getting to the Championship game. But then they lost the 2nd game so the 3rd game on Sunday morning was a must win to get to the final game.

They layer really well Sunday morning, but only managed to tie 0-0, which knocked them out of the Championship game.  They gave it all they got and I'm so proud of them.  Oh, and they played up, so the other teams were at least a year older than our boys.  Walking away with 1 win, 1 tie and 1 loss was not bad at all.

We headed home after the game and got home at about 1.  Then I took a 2 hour nap while Matthew and Mark went to a birthday party with their grandparents. Now, it's time to catch up on some errands and chores!

Michael and some of his teammates before the team dinner on Saturday night.

We had a joint dinner with the 01 girls.  The boys had a blast!  It was so fun to watch them interact with the girls. These are horrible pictures, but I didn't get many so I don't have many choices.

Sever's Disease - Yikes!

We had a busy day yesterday.  Michael started complaining about pain in the heel of both of his feet a few months ago. We finally had him looked at yesterday morning and got it diagnosed.  He has a condition where his heel plates are growing faster than his ligaments and tendons called Sever's Disease. This puts pressure on the ligaments and tendons they become swollen and gets very painful.  Since he is very active, it makes it worse.

The morning visit also includes some therapy. Dr. Smith had to start stretching and pushing on Michael's heel and muscle.  I felt so bad for him - I'm sure it was painful.  We have a recovery plan that includes ice baths, foam exercises, and stretches. I also had to pick up some heels cups and indoor shoes for him because he's not allowed to go barefoot.

Because he had such a tough morning, I brought him lunch at school today.  His special request was Mongolian Beef with no mushrooms and scallions, white rice on the side from Pei Wei.  I'm glad to be able to brighten his day a little.

Today, we are dropping Matthew and Mark at G-pa's for the weekend. M and I are driving to College Station with Michael to a soccer tournament.  It should be a fun weekend with just Michael, but I will miss my other two little monkeys.

What We Did - Week 3

Day 15 - Wed.
Soccer practice!

Day 16 - Thur.
We went and got my car washed at the dealership and while we waited, we played in the play room.

Day 17 - Fri
We went to the mall and had some lunch at the food court.  Mark did not want me to help him because there were big kids around. In fact, he wanted me to sit at a separate table.

Day 18 - Sat.
Played some video game with Daddy

Day 19 - Sun.
We went to Tristan's birthday party.

Day 20 - Mon.
No school! The boys had friends over for a sleepover Sunday night. And because the day was too beautiful to stay in, Mark and I went for a walk and fed some ducks.

Day 21 - Tue.
We went to story time at the Southlake Library today.  I was too busy talking to a neighbor and forgot to take pictures. Sad face.

Monday

It was another beautiful weekend, although it could have been better.  Mark got sick and threw up all over me Thursday night and he threw up again a couple of times Friday.  Poor baby was sick, but he was so good about it.  After he threw up Thursday night and we were cleaning up in the bathroom, and told him we had to clean him up because he had yuckies all over him.  He looked at me apologetically and said, "Mommy, you have yuckies on you too." He was so good.  He only cried while he was sick and did exactly what I told him too.  We had to have a quick shower and put on new jammies and he was a good sport through it all.

Friday, he got sick again in the morning and was really tired.  All he wanted to do all day was cuddle on the couch and watch his shows, but later in the afternoon, he was feeling a lot better so we went to the mall.  I got roped into buying some new eyeliner at Nordstrom and found a couple of things at the Gap.

We had lunch at the food court.  There was a bunch of school age kids there.  It must have been a field trip - although I don't know what could be educational about a mall. Anyway, Mark saw all these big kids and wanted no help with anything.  In fact, he wanted me to sit at a different table.  WTH?!

Friday morning cuddle session with my monkey.

Having lunch at the mall. He did not want to make eye contact with me because he wanted me to sit at a different table while he ate like a big boy.

All smiles going to pick up Daddy from the airport Friday night.

I thought he was better on Saturday because he did so well on Friday and he seemed to be back to his old self in the morning, but he threw up in the car after we dropped Michael off for his playdate. It was all over him and the carseat. He had to sit in there like that until we got home, which was a good 10 minutes.  I felt so bad for my little guy.

After we got home and cleaned up, he wanted to play video game with Daddy.

Fortunately on Sunday, he was well again and we were able to make it to a friend's birthday party at the bounce house. And he had so much fun sliding down the bounce houses.  He was nervous at first, but once he went down a few times, he was a pro and wanted none of my help.

The boys played with their buddies all weekend and Michael had a playdate with Daniel on Saturday.  He got angry with me for arranging the playdate without consulting with him even though he had a good time.

Since they don't have school today, they had a couple of friends over for a sleepover.  They were disappointed that they had to go to bed at 10:30, but I'm sure they were up later than that talking and sneaking their iPads.

Waffle-eating machine this morning!

What We Did - Week Two

I missed a couple of days this week, but here's what I have.

Day 8 - Wed.
Mark gave Michael some love before he heads off to school.

Then it was off to story time and some play time at the Grapevine Library

Day 9 - Thu.
No pictures today.  I went to the gym for a yoga class for the first time in months.

Day 10 - Fri.
Dragon Pride Day

Day 11 - Sat.
Sad face, no pictures.  We spent the day watching football and then we had the Kovachs over for dinner.  I should have snapped at least a couple of pictures.

Day 12 - Sun.
Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.

Day 13 - Mon.
We went and had lunch with Matthew. Then dropped off lunch for Michael.

Day 14 - Tue.
We waited for Matthew to come home from school with Jiffy at the bus stop.