weekend recap...

i love the slower pace of summer. ava's out of school and my work load is pretty light, so we can afford to take long weekends and do fun stuff with some of our favorite people. this weekend, we did just that :) ava & i headed down to mansfield on thursday night for a sleepover with preston & sarah. we ran errands on friday morning, and after lunch and naps, we packed our cooler and bags and headed to a super fun pool for the afternoon! the kids had so.much.fun. sarah bought them goggles before we went, and I think they look so funny on the kids!

preston called them his "gobbles" and would correct me if i said "goggles" ;)

ava wore hers upside down :)

We attempted to get a photo of all four of us, but settled for this one...

so i snapped one of P by himself :)

both kids and mommas had a blast!  preston braved the frog slide...

and ava braved the big slide!

it really was so!much!fun, and i can't wait to do it again :)

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on saturday night, the kids headed so sissy and gpa's house, and brad and sarah took us out for my birthday!  we went to Four Day Weekend in ft. worth and it was really good! 

afterwards, we headed to Uno's for dinner.  i am so lucky to have such an amazing SIL & BIL who wanted to help me ring in my 27th year :)  Thanks s & b :)

i'm looking forward to many more great memories this summer with my people!

chicago 2012...

i had a trip to chicago for work last weekend, and was able to meet up with my mom and dad :)  it was great spending some QT time with them exploring chicago.  from their first taxi ride, to north shore beach, to fireworks at the pier and everything in between...we had a great weekend making memories.

30 day challenge [i just might die...]

about a month ago, one of my favorite bloggers, Shannon, posted that she was participating in the 30 day / 300 Ab challenge. fifteen day's into the challenge, she gave us a pretty awesome update .  and of course, she gave us the final results.  and i was inspired.  so much so, that i am on day 3 of this horrible gruelling i-think-i-might-die 30 day challenge.  and today, i'm in pain.  shannon warned that day 1-4 would be the worst, and as far as i can tell, she wasn't kidding.  while my abs are sore, what is even more surprising to me is the pain in the top of my legs.  apparently, i haven't used those muscles in years.  the scissors nearly killed me last night.  like, i had to will my legs off the floor.  no pain/no gain was my prayer the entire time.  ha! i'm also hoping that it will get easier! i've taken the before pictures as motivation...but i'm not ready to show those until i have the comparisons, so stay tuned!

Shannon is hosting a link up today for those who are/have/want to join the challenge and share their thoughts!  head on over and check it out!



that's a wrap...

we have come to the end of ava's first grade year.  yesterday we celebrated at school with her end-of-year class party. 

ava's teacher this year, mrs. adams, was amazing.  she made school so fun and enjoyable for ava!  we are definitely sad to be leaving her behind!

ava and a few of her buddies...

today was a half day, and i made her pose for a few photos so i could do a comparison for the first and last day of school this year!

i can tell she's taller, and her face looks so much older!  i cannot believe i have a second grader!

ava,

we are so proud of all you have accomplished this year!  you love reading, and i think its pretty fantastic!  you are such a kind, bright, funny girl, and we think you are pretty awesome. 

xoxo,

mom