Happy Mother's Day!

Wanted to wish a Happy Mother's Day to my Mom, Mother in Law, GiGi, Sisters in Law and Aunt!  

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Mom & I - 1969

 Mom, brother Eric & I - 1972?

Mom, Grandma Harmon and I - 1990's

Mom & Little Man - 2009

My Mother-in-Law Denise holding Renee

with my husband John in the back

Jay front left and Justin front right

Friendships

Making friends in your 40's is a lot trickier than I remember.  "Back in the day", aka my 20's and 30's, my friends and I always met up for weekend breakfast, hitting happy hour, crashing at each others house, etc.  We were pretty much on each others speed dial!

Now that my 48th Birthday is looming, and my bestie Karen and her family are moving back to California, I find myself in a friendship funk.  Not my first go around with this.  2 years ago my best friend Susan and her family moved out of state.  Hubs jokes, "Why do you keep running them off?!"  Not so funny to me.

I asked my mom once, "Did you have a lot of friends when we were little?" She said she had friends in PTA, the bowling league and the cycling club, but that her time with her kids/family was her priority. 

I get it.  Life gets crazy busy when you have a family!  

When Little Man was born, I had my "New Mommy" friends.  

Then we moved.  Pre-K and Kinder, I found myself in a community where all of the moms worked...which made it hard to get together with the kids or schedule play-dates.  So I went back to school!

Then we moved.  Kinder to Present Day, we live in a community where there are stay at home moms but WOW are they busy!  PTA, charity groups, clubs, boot camp exercise group, etc.  
Not to mention, the "Girl Moms" don't really hang with the "Boy Moms" unless there is a sibling of the opposite sex involved or they have been "besties" forever.  Or the moms who have so many kids that they don't want to schedule play-dates...unless you're taking their kid to your house...every time. :D

I'm also one of the "Older Moms" and I can also be socially awkward / shy ...so there's that. 

I joined PTA, signed up to be Room Parent, tried to schedule play-dates, etc.  But so many kids have their "Go To" friend that they have known since Pre-School so its hard to get scheduled into the rotation.  You REALLY have to be almost aggressive with it!

I was successful in making friends with a couple of Boy Moms.  One of which works full-time (she's wicked smart and funny), the other part-time (the Wild Card mom...never know what she might say, so funny).  We get together for "Girls Night" and also get together with kids in tow.  

Then Karen and her family moved in across the street.  We won the Lottery!  Her 2 girls (2nd Grade and Kinder) are like sisters to LM and Karen is probably the best friend I've had in years.  So nice that we can run across the street to each others home and hang out.  "Having a rough day?  Run over here for a class of wine!  Need a break?  Send the kids over!"  Sucks that they're moving.

So I find myself wondering, "Why does it have to be so hard?!"  Or maybe I'm being boo-hooey because I'm going to be another year OLDER (I have issues...don't get me started), its the anniversary of my cat Katie passing (again...don't get me started) and I know LM will miss having his "sisters" across the street.

Here is a snippet of an article I found while "Googling".  I like the "quality over quantity" paragraph.  

Meeting and Keeping Friends in Your 40s

Courtesy of www.scarymommy.com

Remember the days when your friends were the center of your universe?

Well, thanks to the chaos of work, family, kids, aging parents and grocery shopping, those days are long gone. But the importance of friendship remains the same. Who else can you call in a panic because you don’t have the right shoes to wear to a funeral? Who else will you cry to when one of your children tells you they hate you? Who else will send you condolences when your favorite celebrity from the ’80s dies?

As our kids mature, our relationships do too. We need less drama and more fortitude, and we have less time, and, perhaps, more angst.

Avoid the perfect moms: The one mom who has it all together: She dresses like a model, and her kids eat the healthiest meals and are athletic and academic superstars. She is the one dispensing advice in the schoolyard and has a line of subtle humble brags about her busy schedule and incredible gluten-free baking. Avoid her at all costs. She is the craziest one out there.

Be honest: It was much easier to talk about toddler milestones than it is to really express your fears about your kids as they get older. It’s not easy to admit when your teens are difficult to handle, or your tween seems to be heading off the rails. But if you share the difficult and dark days of parenting older kids with your friends, you will be rewarded when you learn that you are not alone.

Quality over quantity: Sure it’s great to know everyone in the schoolyard, but it’s not enough. Your closest friends in your 40s are probably the ones who are going to be by your side when your parents get sick, when your kids move out, and when you decide to grow out all your grey. These people matter—choose wisely.

Don’t be afraid to make new friends: And I don’t mean “friends” on Facebook. It’s never too late to meet your bosom buddy and be friends for life. You never know when a kindred spirit could walk in—it may be at the hockey rink, the coffee shop or an art class. Embrace it. Friends are the color and texture of life…and you need someone who will tell you when you need your roots done.

**My goal is to nurture the friendships I have and not be afraid to put myself out there to meet new ones.  I'm already making Little Man a list of potential "hang out" friends (we don't say play-date anymore) whose moms I'd like to get to know better.  We have all summer!

MAJOR Catch up!

I haven't posted anything since Christmas! Super busy with fun outings, Spring Break, Crossfit, school projects, talent show and a Birthday.  So here is a quick run through of recent events!

The Texas Rangers baseball team had a Fan Day.  
Running the bases, touring the locker room, dugout and waiting in line for autographs!

Little Man and his friend P as Sports News guys!

Locker room

Dugout

Spring Break 2017

We traveled up to Oklahoma for the tail end of our Spring Break.

Watched cousin J's riding lesson

While LM and his other cousin J played with the dogs.

Little J gets a turn!

And of course I had to take a pic of other animals at the farm.

The 3 Amigos!

The Amigos with Uncle Jay

On our way home and a selfie with Henry!

2017 Creek Dogs Campout

4th Grade Creek Dogs campout with the Dads!

P, LM and H

This is the only pic I have...I think the rest are on Dads phone.

4th Grade Famous Texans Wax Museum
The 4th Graders at LM's school have a project for Open House night.  4th Grade Wax Museum!  The pick a famous Texan and do a presentation (to be read in the first person) during open house night.  LM picked J. J. Watt from the Houston Texans football team.  Although he wasn't born and raised in TX, J.J. is a Texas favorite! ;)

Mini J.J.

His script

Ladies love J.J. ;D

You can see a Dallas Cowboy in the background.

A lot of the boys chose football players!

Crossfit Kids

LM is still crushing it at Crossfit Kids!  

Knees ups and pull ups

LM on the left

Rings

LM pushing the Exo-Sled

Laps with weighted plates overhead

Fun with friends!

The last day of March was warm enough for swimming and playing outside in your swimsuit!  While the Moms visited and relaxed...ahhhh.

Post swim fun!

And because I thought this was funny....LM, not so much!

Geez Mom!

Biking!

LM has been moaning about the fact that he can't run around the neighborhood and go to his friends houses by himself.  We explained that if he learned how to ride his bike, he would have much more freedom to get where he wanted to go!  And a new bike for his Birthday.  

It finally sunk in!

We called the local bike shop for pointers and LM agreed to try again.  The local guy said to take the pedals off his current bike, have him push with his feet and lift them up to coast.  Once he gets gets used to balancing, put the pedals back on.  

I couldn't get the videos to load!!!

Day 1 - Using his feet to get his speed up and then lifting them up to coast around!  Got it in no time!

Day 2 - Put the pedals back on and he was off!  Riding around the parking lot and up and down the sidewalk.

Birthday!!!

10 Years Old!

We have a double digit Birthday Boy!

Since he learned how to ride his bike, we pooled his Birthday money from the Grandparents, covered the difference and bought him his first big guy mountain bike.

He was so excited!  The bike has shocks, a water bottle cage and gears!  Such a big deal. :D

LM and his new Trek

Birthday lunch at school with Mom

Party at Altitude Trampoline Park with his crew

Bottle flipping.  Sigh

And of course, the tradition of The Birthday Hat!

   

LM in The Hat! 

                            

    Henry wanted in the pic!

And the traditional walk down memory lane...

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday - Couldn't find The Hat

3rd Birthday

4th Birthday

5th Birthday

6th Birthday

7th Birthday

8th Birthday

9th Birthday

Have a wonderful day!

Sk8er Boy!

Little Man wanted a skateboard for Christmas!  

Hes been watching a lot of YouTube videos of some kid named Tanner Fox who does scooter trick videos and other people doing skateboard videos.

LM already had a scooter that he rides on occasion so he asked for a skateboard so he could do "cool tricks".

I did the research, "what is the best beginner skateboard?", where is the local skate shop, etc.  His Dad and I told him that if Santa felt he needed one, he would get it for him. ;)

Santa came through!

Santa knew which board he wanted!  Wow!

Thank goodness we bought the protective gear in

case Santa came through!

The next step was signing him up for lessons.  The Point Skate Shop in TX is the best!  The guys are really patient with kids and the customer service in the store is the best!

Learning how to drop in!

Doing a turn!

He really enjoys it and looks forward to learning new tricks!

We've been very impressed with him.  Hes taken a few rough tumbles but he gets right back on the board and doesn't get discouraged.  

I'll record more lessons to share!

Ch ch ch changes...

Ch ch ch changes....  

Ahh...I miss David Bowie.

Lots of changes going on at the Casa!  As our family and friends know, we have been working on our house one project and one room at a time for the last 3 years.  Slow and steady!

I'll have more pics to post when the weather clears up (we don't have professional lighting!) but here's one project completed that was WAY overdue.

Recently we've been trying to lighten up our decor.  Get rid of the yellows, tans and off-whites and incorporate grays and whites and more "cottage" accents.  Blame it on the HGTV show Fixer Upper craze.

7 years ago, we had our dining chairs professionally recovered.  Can't tell you what they looked like before (probably white) but I remember how expensive it was, so I decided to recover them myself.  I'm getting pretty good at this DIY stuff!  ;) 

I couldn't find fabric that I liked.  Let me rephrase that.  I couldn't find fabric that I liked at a price I loved. :/  So I started checking out tablecloths, curtains and fabric shower curtains at Target.  Depending on how much fabric you need, this can be a great alternative.  I found a large rectangle tablecloth in chambray and loved it!  The blue looks good with the wood tone I think!

Before on the left = bleh 

Ta Da! New seat on the right = So pretty!

1 tablecloth, a new staple gun and 3 days later, we have new chairs!  Its funny, the Hubs is very protective of keeping them stain-free after seeing the labor involved. :D

Will post before and after shots of other projects soon!

Mr. and Mrs. Fix-it!

I drive a 2002 Ford Escape.  It is the first new car I've ever bought, its been paid off for a while now and I love it!

I've enjoyed learning how to do basic repairs...Change a tire, air up the tires and check / refill fluids. Oil, coolant, window washer fluid. 

Recently my coolant light had been lighting up, so I check my level, its low, I fill it up and call it good.

A couple of days later I go in for an oil change (coolant light is on again).  I ask them to check it and it seems that my coolant overflow tank has a crack and is leaking.  They want $200 to fix it.  The Hubs says, "No Way!  We will do it!" so I bring it home.

We watched a how to YouTube video on how to change one out, found the tank at Auto Zone for $70, and half an hour later I had a brand new tank!  Yay us!

New tank.

How pretty is that?!

Much easier than you think!

If you ever want to know how to do something...watch a how to YouTube video!

Family Fall Carnival

Yesterday was Thanksgiving but I have several posts that I'm behind on!

The week after Halloween found me in the garage building a Nerf Shooting Range for our school's Family Fall Carnival.  Each Classroom Rep (that would be me) was responsible for choosing a theme, putting it together and staffing it during the carnival.

I chose Nerf Shooting Range...cause you know, I'm a Boy Mom, and I knew that Little Man would dig it, and we already had an arsenal of Nerf guns and ammo, and shooting targets is super fun!  Easy peasy, right?!  Not so much.

I googled and did Pinterest research for Nerf shooting galleries and carnival games in general and came up a general idea of what I wanted to build.  Run to Home Depot, PVC pipe, a tarp, spray paint, adhesive spray, zip ties, Nerf gun, ammo, a dry erase board, three days of building and tweaking! All good!

Think again.  I build the thing on site and quickly realized that I did not account for wind resistance. Gah!  After blowing over on me within 5 minutes, I started slashing my tarp to allow the breeze to go through instead of pushing it over.  It worked!  Crisis avoided!

We bought a back up gun...just in case and of course, Little Man's gun kept jamming the day of the carnival so we used the new one.  Whew!

We used the dry erase board as a "leader board" for the top shooters per grade.  The kids loved it and it got very competitive!  Kudos to the girls who out shot the boys! hee hee

We handed out prize tickets based on targets hit / points and the kids in turn visited the prize booth for cool stuff like emoji pillows, candy and other misc items.   

And Bonus!  Our booth won the "Most Creative Booth" award!  So Little Man's class gets an Ice Cream Party!  Woot!

Thank goodness The Hubs helped out because it was a 2 person job!  One person taking tickets to play and chasing down overshot darts and the other loading the gun and watching the targets.  

Little Man ran amuck for 4 hours.  Eek!  But he did check in with us every hour, so not too bad.

Halloween Mission Accomplished!

I said I needed to take more pics this year and I did!  :D

After a week of scraping and repainting the hall bathroom sink cabinets and pocket doors, a quick trip up to Oklahoma to visit family over the weekend, putting up party decor, cleaning the house, a super fast shower, slapped on some polish on my naked toes...we had our Halloween Party.  

And I am freaking exhausted!

Heres the pics!

Went with a "less is more" decorating scheme this year

Group pic!

Back row: Ninja, Zombie, Basketball Player and Pug

Front row:  The Ravens

Me, Deirdre, Karen and Cincy

Had to get a pic without the pug head on.  :D

Loved their black wings!

Now its time to take down Halloween and put up Thanksgiving!  But first...COFFEE!