Another Girl Day

Two Words...Mission Accomplished! I made another last minute decision this morning (after my tennis was cancelled) that I would go ahead and make today Anna's school supply shopping day. Like I said yesterday, I had already scoped everything out, so her trips were a much quicker (and fewer). And, even better, she opted for Wal-Mart instead of Target - you think that says anything as to what she will be like as an adult - I mean I've already designated her as the best money saver between the two girls! And, since I had already checked out the school supply section at Target, I agreed that we would do her shopping at Wal-Mart, especially considering most of her "supplies" were things like paper towels, plates, utensils, tissues, etc. and you can definitely get those much cheaper at Wal-Mart! We then ventured on to buy her 2 new outifts - it was a really tough choice for her though since she loves clothes. She was so funny and kept pulling out stuff and saying, "Oh, Mommy, isn't this so cute?" And, yes, she was right, but I had a limit of only 2 new outifts (not to mention she has more hand-me-downs than we can fit in her closet)!!! After her day (or half day) of shopping, we met Gran at Ruby Tuesday (that's a little more along the lines of what I consider a "nice big girls lunch" than a deli) and she had her favorite, fried cheese sticks! YUMMY! Not very healthy, but then again, it was "her" day! It was another GREAT girl day with my youngest! I do have to admit that it is soooo nice that I can finally do things that like for both girls (separately and together) and actually enjoy our time together!

So, as I said in the first line...mission accomplished! All of our supplies are bought and ready for the first days of school!

Man, though, I really wish these years would SLOW down! I feel like I'm on a treadmill of life watching my girls lives fly by me as I'm just casually jogging along, all the while, huffing and puffing to keep up with them!!!! I really have to remind myself to just STOP and take it all in because it all goes soooo fast! I cannot really grasp that my first-born baby is starting kindergarten. In a weepy sort of way, I feel like our "fun times" are over because once real school starts, it's just another rat race to help her get to her ultimate dream, whatever that may be, even though she is only 5! Sorry for the sappy-ness, but it's just the plain and honest truth!

Mid Summer Fun

While the summer is totally flying by, I realize that I have not really been keeping with up with the girls are doing this summer (aside from the BIG stuff). As many of you know, I decided to keep the girls home this summer in hopes of creating some really great memories of her last summer before starting kindergarten (maybe that was a pipe-dream on my part). I had arranged for several activities and camps and trips for June and then we have 2 incredibly sweet college-age girls (twins actually) that babysit for us and agreed to keep them everyday during July (which, by now, I'm sure they are rethinking this decision) so that I can work. I know this probably makes little sense, but MY thinking was that at least the twins could take them to the pool, movies, playground, etc. and not have to be contained in a classroom! At the end of June, I realized that maybe I had been daydreaming about how "wonderful" this time would be and that I AM DEFINITELY NOT MADE TO STAY HOME!!! And some of those feelings could stem from the fact that while I was not at the office everyday, I still had to get some work done somehow someway - which usually meant taking the girls with me to the office - UGH! I guess I shouldn't complain b/c at least I do have that option. At one point, I looked at Sam and said, "So who's bright idea was this to keep the girls home for the summer?" ~ Well that would be me!

With all that said, July could not come fast enough...and the girls have had a ball with the twins so far this summer! They have gone swimming (a lot), gone to the playground (in this scorching heat), gone to the movies, gone to the bookstore, played on the Slip N Slide DAILY (no joke), and who knows what else! And, their favorite part of the week is Friday b/c the twins take them to get a "treat" (i.e. toys) if they've been good all week.

Even with all of the fun things the girls have done, they are both getting on each other's nerves and are craving their friends. They can drive us all crazy with copying each other (yep, I remember doing that as a kid and I now realize how annoying it is), making loud noises just to annoy the other sibling, sit in each other's desginated chairs - you name it, they have fought over it! But, I guess that's what being a sibling is all about and, in fact, that's a lot of what I remember as a kid during the summer - getting on my brother's nerves ALL.THE.TIME!

But as the summer is quickly drawing near, I decided that I wanted to do our school supply shopping done BEFORE the mass crowds. And, since the girls are craving alone time with Mommy, I decided I would take them both separately and have their own "day"! So today was Mary Mac's day and she was sooooo excited - so much so that she was up at 6:30 am and ready to get dressed (in "cute" clothes which was our deal - she did not fight it this time)! So we made our way to Starbucks (because all "girl days" MUST begin with a coffee/chocolate milk trip) and then to Target, where I allowed her (against my inner dialogue) to pick out all of her supplies, including her lunchbox which, of course, she chose iCarly (ugh!). We also visited a local clothing store and she picked out 2 "cute" outfits that she wanted for school. Luckily, since we live in the deep south, it is still so hot during the beginning of school that we can wear summer stuff and this particular store was having a 50% summer clothes sale - so we got 2 for the price of 1! I had already ordered her backback (horse-themed of course) from a catalog so we didn't have to look for that AND I have to confess that once I got back to the office, I did order a "regular" lunchbox in hopes of her changing her mind on the iCarly one. Fingers crossed on that one!!!! The funniest part was that I promised her a Big Girls Lunch whereever she wanted (thinking DePalmas or somewhere kind of nice), but she insisted on Momma Goldberg's Deli - yep, sandwiches! But it was well worth it - while we ate, she looked at me with this silly grin and exclaimed that this had been the best girl day EVER!!! AHHHH - now that's what I want to remember about this summer!

Now, Anna's day is next! This should be interesting! Although, again I must confess, that while out today shopping with Mary Mac, I was scoping the stores out for the items that I think we need to purchase and I can "gently encourage" her - fingers crossed again! She definitely has her OWN IDEA about EVERYTHING! I now know what stores to visit and which ones we will not!

I do admit (and you can ask my mom), there is something about school supply shopping that I LOVE!!!! I always have and I always will and now I'm creating little school supply shopping lovers in the girls too! So fun!!!

Happy 4th of July 2010

This year, Sam's entire immediate family decided to spend the 4th weekend at the lake and between our new lake house and his parent's lake house...well, let's just say we had a "full house!" Lots of cooking, lots of eating, lots of laughs, lots of swimming (interpretation: too much sun and TIRED kids), lots of boat rides and tube rides, but it was a great weekend all in all! And since we were all going to be together (which is rare these days), we decided to put my new camera (and my beginner photography skills) to the test and take family pictures. Surprisingly, we got a lot of good ones (and a lot of out-takes which are funny) considering we had 8 kids under the age of 9 and 8 adults. Obviously, we coordinated and all wore white shirts. I have to admit, I was impressed with myself! I am experimenting with a trial of Aperture and editing, but here are a few that did not really need much editing.