Weekending

Our first June weekend came and went without a lot going on. The rest of June is busy, so that's perfectly fine by me.

The kids have been in swimming lessons for the past two weeks, which just piled on to the already busy end-of-school. They were tired. It was overcast all day long, and I think all of our moods matched it, so we ordered in pizza and read another chapter of Charlotte's Web, our current bedtime story. I haven't read it or watched the movie in a long, long time, so I was slightly horrified when the goose's thoughts turned to fattening Wilbur up for the Zuckerman's Christmas dinner. This led to a nice little discussion about what's going on when we eat ham for Sunday lunch at Grannie's house. Good times.

Saturday was a routine day of regular life: housework and parenting. We met our supper club friends in Burleson that evening for tacos and snow cones. I've posted several times about this group, but we had a good laugh off of how well rested and fresh we looked in this post. We only occasionally get sitters to meet up, so we have to be creative about where we eat. There are 18 of us including children--hence the tacos and snow cones.

This Sunday was a unique day for us because it was our first day serving in the children's department at our church! Mr. G is teaching 6th grade guys Sunday school, and I'm just doing whatever I'm told. I had a lunch meeting for adults going to student camp as sponsors, followed by another meeting later that afternoon for the strategic advisory group I've been serving with. I've loved being part of it as I get to bring some of my work experience out of retirement to serve God! Requirements documents, anyone?

So that was a long day for me. While I was there, Mr. G held down the fort at home. When I got home, we played in the sprinklers.

Now we're back here to Monday. Time to get started on laundry and finish the sprint up to VBS this week!

FFF: Friday Fave Five

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This the first time in a lonnnnnng time I've done a link up! It sounded fun to bring back the FFF, so here are my Friday Fave Fives for this week.

::ONE:: Braids by drybar

drybar opened in Fort Worth a few weeks ago. It's super close to TCU, and right across the street from University Park Village, the best shopping center in town. (Think Kendra Scott, Anthropologie, Apple Store. You know--THAT kind of shopping.) Last week, they stopped by Pure Barre to do braids to help celebrate PB's 3rd birthday in Cowtown. (More of my PB obsession here, here, and here.) I found out that you can stop in for a braid at drybar for only $10, or add one to your blowout service. They do little girls' braids for even cheaper, I think. Since I cannot braid little girl hair for the life of me, this is an excellent development.

My drybar braid. I loved it and wore it for 2 days.
I was not driving when I snapped this pic, Mom.
::TWO:: drybar Detox Dry Shampoo

I should be embarrassed by how many days this has allowed me to go without washing my hair. Spreading the drybar love during the braid bar, they left a sample at Pure Barre for post-workout hair. This might be the best dry shampoo I've tried. Found here.

::THREE:: Old Navy Swing Dresses

If you see me this summer, I'll probably be wearing this dress somewhere. In multiple colors, but in particular navy and white is on sale now. Inexpensive and breezy. Found here.

::FOUR:: MPix economy photo books

Back in the dinosaur ages, we would print out a whole roll of film and have all those pictures to flip through. After our trip to Disney, I wanted easy access to all our pictures, but obviously I'm not going to frame all of them. I looked through multiple photo book vendors and thought MPix software was the easiest to work with and least system intensive (think amount of time it takes your webpages to load). I also wanted plain pages with no clipart or journaling, so this fit the bill. Our Disney book turned out great, and now I'm trying to decide if I want to make books of our last several years of pics.

I chose the charcoal art cloth cover--a nice darker gray that won't show dirt from the little hands that love reliving our trip. I sprung for the gold imprint on the front bottom corner. Found here.

::FIVE:: Fightin' Texas Aggie Baseball

If you need me, I'll be watching the NCAA baseball tournament this weekend.

Here's your @ncaacws College Station Regional field #12thMan

A photo posted by Aggie Athletics (@12thman) on May 30, 2016 at 8:04pm PDT

Book Review: Playing the Part by Jen Turano

Through the Bethany House blogger review program, I received a copy of Jen Turano's latest book, Playing the Part, in exchange for a review. This is the third book in her A Class of Their Own series, which I have now read in its entirety! I reviewed the first book here.

The series revolves around the lives of three women who have been roommates in 1880s New York City. This volume picks up on the final lady to be covered, actress Lucetta Plum. Lucetta has an interesting past which led her to the stage. Apparently, being a "lady of the boards" in this time period (boards = stage) gives her a reputation that is in direct opposition to her actual character for her friends that know her well. She has faith and attempts to live a life of righteousness.

Throughout the book, she is running from a crazed stalker-fan who is intent on making her his mistress. Her benefactress Abigail Hart (who throughout the series has been bound and determined to play matchmaker for each of the ladies) intervenes to move Lucetta to safety in a rather gothic and creepy location, all the while crafting a new plan to hook Lucetta up with her grandson. Her young, wealth, and handsome grandson has some secrets of his own which kept me reading late into the night. I had to know what the deal was!

As the story unfolds, we find mysteries in each character's past that link them all together in some form or fashion. Lucetta herself is portrayed as a strong and steadfast person, and I couldn't help but root for her.

This was an easy, entertaining read, and so perfect as the summer begins. If you're looking for some clean poolside stories, make sure to grab this series! You can find them here on Amazon.

Preschooler No More

Like everyone else on this side of the world, last week was super hectic as we wrapped up school for the year. Who would have thought that preschoolers would have such busy ends of the year? But they do. Especially when you have one graduating pre-K.

Do I really have a child old enough for kindergarten?

Yes, yes I do.

His graduation fell on my husband's birthday, which is part of the reason we celebrated it through the weekend. For us, "graduating" preschool seemed like a bigger milestone than finishing kindergarten will be, but who knows, we may do it all over again next year! I bought a cookie cake with "Kindergarten, Here He Comes!" on it, and we went out for supper at Joe T's with grandparents.

It seems only months since I made the decision to stay home with this guy, and now he's leaving me for big kid school. I'm excited for all of us, but especially for him. We've already seen how it has enlarged our community, and it's not even the first day yet! He is a learner, and he's going to love school.

If you're going to be a new kindergarten mom like me, I ran across this post from Dallas Moms Blog. I love how she mentions making new friends for all. I think school has a way of carving a tight knit community out of a big city.

Kindergarten, here we come!

Memorial Day Weekending

Thursday was Mr. G's birthday, so we extended the celebration into the weekend. Friday night started with a little road trip to Stephenville for supper at the original Hard 8 BBQ. The way to Mr. G's heart is definitely Texas BBQ.

It truly was the perfect Texas evening. The weather was in its late May sweet spot (not too hot, definitely not cold). A gentleman was covering all sorts of great old country on the patio, and the food was excellent. I think it checked all of the favorite things on the birthday boy's list. The only thing missing was golf, maybe?

Saturday was a day spent enjoying Fort Worth. It rained like crazy overnight, but cleared up to a beautiful day. We only got out for a little bit, preferring to stay at home and Lego build and bike ride. Saturday for lunch we checked out a pizza place that has opened up on Camp Bowie called Olivella's. The pizza is Neapolitan style, which is great, but the patio is AMAZING. It's climate controlled and has a retractable roof, along with just straight up being pretty. Its location makes it a hidden gem. If you live in Cowtown, definitely go try it. We also visited the new REI. Yep, we have an REI now! If we could only get a Nordstrom...

Sunday afternoon was church, then the guys went to Colonial while the girls went shopping. Little sister was not pleased to be stuck with me, until we ran into a random dance party in Dillards. Nothing cheers her up like a good beat, and apparently, a photo booth!

Monday we spent the day mostly at home. I picked up filets from Roy Pope's earlier in the weekend, and we grilled corn and roasted broccoli to go alongside it. This roasted broccoli I found on Pinterest is one of my favorite veggie recipes. I've parked in on my "Food Wins" Pinterest page here, which has every successful Pinterest recipe I've tried.

I even set a patriotic table to observe Memorial Day. I found some super cute "charming check" placemats by the Pioneer Woman at Walmart (found here) and couldn't help myself. Asking "why" the table was red, white, and blue opened up a good discussion with our oldest on freedoms and the sacrifice others have made protecting those freedoms. We are grateful for our men and women who serve and have served our country.

It was a great weekend of downtime, good food, and reflection before heading into the summer!

Why Weekending Is Coming Back to This Space

On Friday night, Mr. G and I were taking a little walk down memory lane and had varying recollections about a now-defunct restaurant in Fort Worth, and it hit me, "Maybe I blogged about that?" I searched the blog right then, and we spent the next 30 minutes laughing about what our life was like as DINKs back in 2007 through 2010 on a trip through this website.

All of that to say, I realized how much I have come to love this space as a diary of what's been going on with us. GROUNDBREAKING, I know.

So here's what I've been up to for the past many months that may or may not have landed here:

Raising two precious preschoolers and all of the fun playing, singing, and boo boo kissing that comes with it.

Serving on a strategic advisory team at my church.

Teaching a lot of Pure Barre, as well as growing my skills through additional training.

Taking a lot of Pure Barre, because I still enjoy it as a primary exercise.

Potty training a child.

Mentoring an awesome young lady at TCU regarding our mutual faith in Christ.

Reflecting on life with a child in kindergarten next year.

Laundering everything we own on Mondays and Fridays.

Leading a Ladies' gathering on Wednesday nights at church.

Writing for Fort Worth Moms Blog.

Currently finalizing the craft list and supplies for VBS 2016.

Reading a lot!

Taking time off from leading a Sunday school department, we've been part of a young adult Sunday school class since August.

Over the next several weeks, maybe I will find it in myself to break these down into separate blog posts, because a bullet does no credit to the amount of time I've actually dedicated to them. Especially those first and second items. When people ask how I've been, I usually say, "Busy." It feels good to list it out and see that I'm not making that up.

{Because you can't have a blog post without a picture.}

Am I the only one with photos like this on my roll?
I bought this shirt a while back and love it,
but not with a sports bra and tights. Found here.
I had a friend comment to me about how easy it is to be a stay at home mom. Yes, it's very easy to be a stay at home mother if you have no commitments to anything except your kids and the occasional playdate. I find it harder to balance when I'm volunteering at a high capacity with a child on my hip and the other pulling at my leg. I don't have a nanny, and the children always come first. However, it's absolutely my choice to take on those commitments, and my husband and I both find it good stewardship of my time to give back so much to the Lord through service to our church. One of the nice things about staying home is choosing how to spend the available time.

My heart--and my schedule--is full!

Weekending

Ahh, weekending. So nice to meet you again.

We kicked off Friday with an earlier than usual start to run my car to a body shop before they got too busy. Sadly, I was rear-ended on Thursday, but thankfully was by myself and am fine. My car needs body shop therapy, so I'm ankle deep in insurance dealings. It could be worse. The rest of the morning was spent with donuts, laundry, and legos. The house was in ship shape by the time Mr. G made it home from work. I grabbed a late afternoon PB class and headed home to get ready for...

Date night! This past weekend was Parents' Night Out at our church, which means awesomely inexpensive childcare. Such a great ministry to parents! It was also the last one before a break for the summer, so tons of kids were at the church. A good thing, I think. We ended up at Rio Mambo (very random), then shopped for socks for the kids (very wild). We picked up the munchkins a little early to head home for an early start the next day for a...

Road trip! Friday afternoon we were pining for Aggieland, so we grabbed up baseball tickets and headed that way Saturday morning. There was a 30% chance of rain, which I noted was a 70% chance that nothing would happen at all. I would make a poor meteorologist. The heavens opened up, and it rained like crazy. It made for fun to watch the grounds crew batten down the hatches. After we realized it would be a more than 2 hour rain delay, we dashed to Wings and More for a late lunch.

We toured the campus a little, then as we debated whether to head back to Olsen Field, the kids both fell asleep in the backseat. It was a sign to let it go. So we did. With a stop at the Czech Stop in West on our way back home with sleepy kids.

Sunday was an early start to church for me. We are no longer serving as directors in the 12th grade department, but I offered to help them with breakfast for Senior Sunday as I remember always feeling like I could've used another set of hands when I was leading it! I laid out everyone's clothes, and Mr. G did an awesome job getting them together on his own. After church we lunched with our Sunday school class, celebrating two families who completed their time at seminary and are departing to go out into the world beyond Cowtown to preach the Gospel.

We ended the day with a trip to the park and snow cones. Bring on the last week of school!