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!

Halloween is near!

Here is a look at Halloween costumes past...

Little Man's first Halloween!

"Tigger"

2007 - 6 months old

"Dr. J"

2008 - 18 mos old

"Little Sheriff"

2009 - 2 yrs old

"Obi Wan Kenobi"

2010 - 3 yrs old

"Cyndi Lauper & 80's Rapper"

2010

"Han Solo, Princess Leia & 

Darth Vader-4yrs old"

2011

"Batman"

2012 - 5yrs old

 "Catwoman, The Scarecrow & Batman"

2012

"The G.I. Joes and Snake Eyes-6yrs old"

2013

"Star Lord"

2014 - 7yrs old

This is the only picture I took last year. :(

2015

Little Man - front row, right end

He was the commander from the Halo video game.

Will take more pics this year!

Catch Up!

Playing picture catch up!  I've been super busy since school started.

This year I volunteered to be our son's 4th Grade class Room Rep.  My responsibilities are helping his teacher with special events, creating online sign ups for parent volunteer opportunities (Friday Folders, Teachers Helper of the Month, Holiday Party sign ups, etc), organizing events for Teacher Appreciation Week and other classroom events.  

On to the pics!

We recently had some tree trouble in the front yard.  A tree trimming crew was on our street and asked if we needed some trimming done.  I went outside to take a look around with them when we noticed a big crack in one of the tree limbs which caused the limb to sag and rest on our other tree.  Scary!  If the other tree hadn't caught it, it could have crushed someone!  So emergency branch removal was needed.

Big crack!

Once that section hit the ground, it split open!

------

Labor Day saw us heading to Tulsa to visit family!  Grandparents, Aunt, Uncles and cousins!

Henry using Tigger as a pillow

The three Amigos!

-------

Just because its September, doesn't mean its too early to shop for Halloween costumes!

Little Man thought the donut with sprinkles was pretty funny!

I thought it was much cuter than the hotdog.

He decided on the Ninja

I think it was more about the swords and 

the light up dragon design than anything else!

-----

LM's school had their Boosterthon - Panther Prowl Fun Run Fundraiser! 

Thank you Aunt Kathi, Uncle Justin and Aunt Kim for your pledges!  The school had a goal of $10,000 and I think we  raised close to $20,000!  Yay!

LM in the middle...in black

-----

LM's friend had his 10th Birthday party at Obstacle Warrior Kids (formerly Lil' Ninjas).  Let me just say how much we LOVE  the American Ninja Warrior show.  This place has all the same obstacles...for kids!  They also had a grown ups only section that a few of the parents tried out.

LM on the Warp Wall!

Almost there!

And he is up!

Rope Climb

"Rock Wall"

Jumping Spider 

-----

And a picture of two snails hanging out by the pool with their pretty shells! :)

Hope everyone is having a great school year so far!  

Looking forward to cooler weather and the Holidays!

4th Grader!

 Today is the first day of school here in TX!  Woo Hoo!

Last night our neighbor and I enjoyed a glass of wine while the kids played in the yard....ahhh.  Enjoying the last night of summer vacation.

This morning, Little Man wanted his hair "fixed" to his specifications, supervised the packing of the lunch and was actually fine with getting his annual Back to School picture taken in front of the house.

Cutest boy ever!

Getting so tall!

PCE!

LM and his buddy O

Enjoying the common area in the new wing before class starts

LM and his locker

He was so excited about being in the new wing

New lockers and the water fountains have sensors that turn the water on for you! Oooooooh!

Summer Recap!

School starts on Monday, Aug. 22nd!  

Can I get a "Halleluja!"  or a "Woop Woop!"?

The Hubs and I are ready for school to start...Little Man has mixed feelings.  He has had a fun summer but is ready to see all his friends!  #onlychildlonliness.

We have a Back to School event tomorrow afternoon with a 4th Grade Boys Swim Party later that evening then more home DIY stuff this weekend so I wanted to sneak in a quick post before Monday.

Water park with "H"

Cool little dudes!

Baseball Camp with "P"

"Ballers!"

4th of July Parade with "R" and "A"

Quick visit in Tulsa to visit family

LM, C, J, J and C

Lunch at Truck Yard!

Pine Cove Camp with "R" and "L"

LM front and center

Home Depot Kids Build!

Skateboard Pencil Box

L, L, L, LM, P and H 

Dallas World Aquarium

R, A and LM

Dads and sons visit the water park

L, LM and P 

Trying out the surfing tank at AquaShop

LM and P

LM catching a wave! 

Foosball!

LM, P and L 

Lunch at Rock & Brews

LM, P and L with the ladies

Pete's Dragon movie

L, LM and L

New cut, style and lime green hairspray 

Main Street Magic Store

They offer Magic Summer Camps!

Will be doing this next summer!

Hope everyone has had a great summer!  

Looking forward to meeting Little Man's 4th Grade Teacher, seeing who his classmates are, sports season starting back up and the Fall Season!