And this is why...

"Mom, why did the penguin cross the road?"
"No idea- why?"
"To get to the igloo!......Um actually I know I made that up but that makes no sense to me..."

And that is why, my friends, after 7.5 years of hearing her tell the worst jokes in the world "Santa" put a Knock Knock Joke book in her stocking. Here's hoping....

The List

Georgia's Christmas List this year:

1. X Box with Minecraft, Disney Infinity and Skylanders
2. A Real Live Horse (never saw that one coming....)
3. A Real Live Cheetah Bodyguard.

Hmmm.... Going to be hard to produce this year.

Catching Up

Once again....This month has been BUSY! Buuut SO much fun!

A while back while planning out fall/ winter schedules we decided to plan a trip to SeaWorld to celebrate Hudson's birthday mid month. Lucky for me I had Georgia for basically all of October. We booked the trip back in June and have waited forever to surprise a very excited Birthday Boy. I had slipped and told Georgia what we were doing and I have to give her credit for not saying a word. Although she could barely contain herself as soon as we got into the car and on our way from blurting it out immediately. ;)

To re-cap the past couple of months.... We celebrated Lee's 1/2 bday, the LSU game (as seen in previous post), Georgia cheered at the football game, went to a Texan's game, celebrated MY half birthday ;), hit up the Greek Festival & Dewberry Farm, Decorated for Halloween, Baked Cookies, I went to a few events around town, had Hudson's birthday weekend which started off with Lee's parent's coming in town, bowling, soccer games, a "Skylander's" birthday party at the house with everyone and the trip to SeaWorld. (Oh and TONS of presents...)

Georgia helped ice...her portion "LSU"

Texan's Game!

Georgia Cheers at Stratford Homecoming....

Dewberry Farm with my girl :)

Greek Fest- the kids were around somewhere...

Culture Map's 5 Year Birthday Party!

Hudson's Skylander Birthday Party!

Seaworld!!!!!

Georgia and I picking pumpkins....so many to choose from!

Pumpkin Carving Party

 

Halloween montage for Georgia- Lucky me to celebrate all these year with her :)

This year's costume- "Black Widow"

 

She talked EVERYONE into being Avenger's characters.

Trick or Treating in the 'hood

 

Had to pop over to Trick or Treat at Memaw & Papa's at the end of the night.

Costume Class at Dance for Georgia!

SBISD Legacies Gala

SBISD Making A Difference

So much to catch up on... We'll take this piece by piece. 

Last weekend Lee and I attended the Spring Branch Education Foundation Gala for Georgia's school. It was a fun evening and we were able to catch up with some of Georgia's friends parents which is always nice to do.

See- I'm so sweet I even let him check football scores while we were there.

You are welcome...

Wine & Chocolate..... Need I say more???

Perfect Halloween Candy Wine Pairings

This. Is Amazing.

16 Times Scott Disick Totally Owned the Kardashians

It's October?!?

Fall is here.

Temps are dropping.

Georgia is BEGGING to wear boots and long sleeves. Kidding- that's me.

Second grade is flying along (oh yeah- besides that math stuff that's driven me bonkers) Not gonna lie- tonight we did math homework.....ummmm I actually cried when she "got it". huh? Who am I? She looks at me and says "Mom? Are you about to cry?"- she saw tears in my eyes. Pretty much G. Sorry. whoa. Too much? Regardless....she "got it" and is an avid 3 digit adder now. Let's all give a round of applause. Don't even want to think about what is going to happen when she learns how to multiply. I'm realizing now more than ever I am a complete bucket of emotions. I'm gonna write that down in things I NEVER thought I would do- CRY over math homework....not in frustration (surely I've done that before...) but out of complete pride. Over 3 digit addition. Um yeah- moving on.

So to give a brief catch up on the times I'm NOT crying.... weekends have gone by fast. Two weekends ago we surprised Georgia, Hudson & Davis with a trip to Baton Rouge to see the LSU Tigers play. I may have not recalled Georgia has NEVER been to a football game. Ever. So we all get in the car to being our voyage and the kids all begin to ask "Where are we going?", "What is the surprise?" I played along with them for awhile, making them guess, etc. When I finally told them you would have thought Hudson's dream in life had just came true. Davis, naturally, is smiling from ear to ear.....not convinced he understood it all- but I like his style.... he is always happy to just be along for the ride ;).

Thennnnn you have Georgia. She slaps her hand to her forehead and closes her eyes, "Oh man! You have GOT to be kidding me! THAT'S the surprise? I don't even LIKE football. You have me all excited over going to a FOOTBALL GAME??" uh yeah. Sure did.

There was some damage control done fairly quickly (by moi) and she rallied. Luckily we ordered & had overnighted her a LSU Cheerleading outfit (along with a slew of LSU rain gear, ponchos, umbrellas, etc. since the chance of rain was 30% but had gone down to 10%- we were prepped for sure) that we changed her into upon arriving to the game and that smoothed things over even more. By the end of it all...

"Georgia did you have fun at your FIRST EVER football game?"
"Yes, I had SO much fun!"
"Do you want to come back?"
"No."

There you have it. Just another Louisiana Saturday Night.

Feeling Like Fall

One of my most favorite traditions that has started is "Spoil Melanie Monday". Seriously should have thought of this myself long ago. Lucky for me someone else had the thought AND put into action. Pure brilliance. Today this arrived....

And I couldn't be happier. It's the last day of #HalfBirthdayMonth and a Monday. This gorgeous bouquet couldn't have been timed any better. Makes me think of  what's to come... :) Cannot wait. Xoxo

Kamen Wine Tasting

Par for the course on our usual hectic schedule I ended up last Thursday with several events to attend. I've been keeping it low key lately due to school starting and an insane schedule anyway but the very first event that popped up was a RCE 2nd Grade Mom's Mixer annnd one of my favorite "Mommy Friends" (um who are we kidding this gal and I would be friends regardless) homes. So I scheduled my mom (aka best grandma ever) to come over and watch Miss G + spend the night. She often comes over after work, but the drive down to good ole P-ville is a little much after 8pm so she stays and we have "girls night" and I wake up early and take advantage of another adult being in my home and go for a run.

After the Mixer was on the schedule seemed like the entire week filled up. The night before even had several things going on and I just couldn't swing them all but I did make the Dress for Success Marathon Kick off party (more on this later) and started my own team this year for the run!

Back to Thursday.... ;)
Mom Mixer, Wine Dinner, WOW Football Party & Veuve Event all landed in the same evening. I ended up being able to do 2 out of 4. Not bad odds. I ran by the Mom Mixer and caught up a bit with some of the ladies then I spun over to Tony's for the wine tasting.

Many times I agree to go to something and have no idea what I'm going to. This event was one of those- had a call from a friend that extended the invite to a wine dinner at Tony's. Um Sure- why not? I arrive (late...as per usual) and the owner of the winery is in mid story. I sneak over to my table (ha- there were mayyyybe 30 people in the room- not much "sneaking" done.) and I begin to listen. Turns out this guy is not just an owner of a winery. He is Robert Kamen. He wrote and directed "Taken", "Karate Kid", "The Transporter" just to name a few. Took the money from his very first screen play and bought the acreage that is now Kamen Wines. Pretty interesting.

Kamen Wine Dinner

"Norfolk based ships..."

Not the most comforting article I've read....

Two days post Michael's 26th Birthday he is engaged in this:
"Norfolk-based ships among U.S. forces striking ISIS, Khorasan Group in Syria"

Miss you, stay safe and come home soon.

Favorite Things....((again))

It has become a normal occurrence at the office these days for someone (me) to receive a giant vase of flowers on a fairly regular basis. My father has even wrote notes "This is really getting out of control" and taped them to the vase. All in good fun of course.. ;)

Today things were changed up a bit... Two packages arrived with my name from Amazon. They brought them into me and the comment was made, "Are you receiving boxed flowers now?"I was pretty confused as I opened the boxes thinking, "Umm I know I just ordered some things...but did I order everything? Is some stuff still in my cart? I swear I just got the shipping update it would be delivered on Saturday..."

Of course... My flowers have been "upgraded" to amazon.com deliveries. Can't say I wasn't warned earlier in the day when I was asked, "What day is it today?" no idea. "It's Spoil Melanie Monday!"

I mean...If that's a "thing" I could get use to it.

We are just going to go ahead and make that a weekly holiday. We are 11 days out from my half birthday after all....

Wait....has life slowed?

So I have to say. I think I FINALLY have it "together"....

Life isn't so crazy this year- so far. Second grade for Georgia is awesome so far and lucky me....I have my old schedule back and I am able to pick Georgia up from school every day again. :) Therefore we are able to get her homework done, dinner, some work out time for moi and we are wrapped and ready to go by bedtime. All the stars have aligned.

This year Georgia is taking ballet & tap classes, theater and gymnastics. We've nixed soccer for the fall. So far- she's in love with all activities. We decided to table the Houston Ballet Academy (although she did advance place...mommy brag here.... for the next level of classes) for a more laid back venue for her to attend with her gal pals. She wasn't really feeling it and I'd rather her enjoy her activities rather than push her into something that she just isn't into. We've given it our best shot and if she chooses next year to re-enroll then we will just audition again.

Although this fall is feeling way more comfortable than last year it is already speeding by. It continually blows my mind that we basically have every weekend planned from now until the end of the year. Cheer camps, trips, Thanksgiving & Christmas schedules/ plans are all ironed out and I completely shocked myself that I just ordered Georgia her first batch of Christmas presents. (who am I??) The fall decorations are up and the only thing remaining is that first sip of my Pumpkin Spice Latte that I'm holding out on. Soon.... (as soon as I'm able to immediately run 6 miles post consumption)

That, for now, wraps our current events. A fantastic adjustment from Summer to Fall thus far and much excitement for the rest of the year. I have a feeling ((Did I say this before)) it just may be the best yet.... Here. We. Go.

Well...Naturally.

Let's just get use to it.... There are a few "annual" posts here....

- Georgia's First Day of School
- Georgia's Last Day of School
- Birthday Month

Here we go....

Dear Georgia,
Welcome to 2nd Grade. I have to say- it's strange. Last year, honestly, was tough. I said I was
"ready" to be "The MOM" from birth to age 5 then I was lost....boy was I. At least I felt that way. First Grade was  a total transition for us (me) from baby to "child". I wasn't sure how to adjust. (I will tell you a little secret that I am still winging it.....just a tiny bit.) We closed out first grade and we had a fantastic summer filled with trips, friends & fun. It was the perfect "reset" button for you and I....and it brought us to the monumental FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. Which is clearly celebrated every year with signs, an amazing breakfast and a fun walk into school (that you despise). Let's recap...shall we??

I woke you up Monday morning (ummm since when did school start on a Monday by the way...??) and you were tired. Of course. I was as well. BUT we were EXCITED about the FIRST day! Right?!?! OMG- SO MUCH TO DO!!! We had been shopping the weeks prior to school beginning- each and every trip left me with an armful of ugly clothing thinking "I'm just buying this to buy something..." and asking you, "Georgia, see anything you like?" "Uhhhh. This shirt?". yeah. no. So I relegated myself to online shopping and paid for rush delivery for your fall wardrobe. Funny trick they played was NOT DELIVERING UNTIL TUESDAY. Which is clearly your SECOND DAY OF SCHOOL. I didn't get the shipping update until the Friday prior...which meant, my dear, that we were in a rush. I found a couple throw down dresses for day one and day two but I will tell you right now- they WERE NOT "First Day Appropriate"...but they worked. (Thanks Janie & Jack for still having adorable and appropriate clothing even though she is seven)

Regardless...I woke you up, dressed you in a cute dress and we went to the vanity for hair. Ha! You decided not only was today the first day of second grade but also the day to break your mother's heart. "Not a bow today Mom." Huh?? Wait, What? "No, Mom, No Bows." Geeze were you adamant. Fine, G, no bows, whatever. It's YOUR day after all.

Look- I will tell you now (because you don't read this and hopefully by the time you do you understand) BUT you are a little girl and my daughter.....please don't ever give me the double whammy again. Georgia, I'm going to be honest- First day of school (at least from 7am until 8am) is not your day...it's mine. I hope you realize what I gave you that day. ;)

(to clear up anything- I'm totally kidding with my last statement above...)

You have grown. Your friend way back from preschool is in your class this year which takes me back to when to when you were that little. It makes me sad we are at the point of really not keeping in touch with those friends anymore simply because we have all grown in separate ways.

You are really insistent these days to me- for instance...for the longest time I have impressed upon you "pink" and "girly" items. You are absolutely amendment you like blue now. I let you pick out your own back pack & lunch kit this year and did not sway you in any way. (it's BLUE by the way). Certain things though (being called "Princess" for example...) you pretend you hate but I know you adore it deep down.

Regardless, my Georgia, I love you. I pride myself in recalling every important moment of your life.  Much a reason why I keep track of your life (our life) together. Lucky me that no one else has these moments with you. Is that selfish? Maybe... but sometimes as your Mom I get to be selfish.

We packed up that morning and headed to school. You are at a temporary campus this year since they are re-building your elementary this year so things are different. The school wants all the kids to ride the bus (uhhhh negative.) I will still drive you every morning and pick you up every afternoon. I walked you in and you were slightly mortified I was standing there still taking pictures while you found your desk and settled in. Not sure why you aren't use to this by now. I kissed you goodbye and was off. As I left your classroom it hit me this was the third year in a row I had dropped you off at elementary school. The tears I thought would not come this year began to fill my eyes as I felt so sad about you growing up so much. Don't get me wrong- I do love to see you grow and mature...it is truly amazing. I think I will just always miss the little girl that you once were at every moment of your life.

I made it to the car- Then I cried.
Maybe next year.
Maybe not.
Maybe it's just part of being your Mom and I'm absolutely okay with that.

I have a feeling this is going to be your best year yet and I can't wait to see what second grade holds!
Love you more,
Mommy

PS- Your clothes finally came in and naturally they nailed it. I'll make sure to get it together next year ;)

The Lust List

Thus far Summer 2014 has been filled with "Georgia"- Now Mommy's vacation is quickly approaching...wheels up on Friday and I cannot wait to get a break from Houston. What happened to my "Once a Month" rule of leaving this place?

In preparation of any vacation I always begin slowly as I did with this one:
"Hmmm, I think I have almost everything I need. Maybe one new dress for Friday night..."

Sure enough a manic need takes over and an entire new wardrobe and then some has appeared in my (*cough, *cough) new luggage that was also deemed appropriate to purchase for this particular get-away. It was time to replace the old stuff anyway- Don't judge.
In my haste of ordering, shipping, shopping, etc. I've put together a new "Lust List" of items (old and new) that I want, need or recently purchased for said get- away....

1. Luli Fama Bikini- I've had a few of their cover-ups (the romper style) for a few years now and always receive tons of compliments on it anywhere I go. I just purchased a couple bikinis for this weekend and I'm drooling over them. Can't spoil my picks but peruse the website here and choose for yourself:
www.lulifama.com
I will say- I have looked at these online and was not impressed. It is definitely worth it to go into the store to try them on- the fit, etc. is amazing. I'm sold (x2)!

2. Sephora- "Gimme Brow"- This stuff is amazing. A friend of mine did a write up on her blog about Benefit's "Gimme Brow" at the perfect time for me to stumble upon and read up. She raved so I ran out as fast as I could and picked up a tube. LOVE at first swipe.

3. Lululemon Speed Shorts- The most comfortable running shorts EVER. I think I picked up my first pair last summer in the midst of marathon training and I pretty much made the decision then to not wear anything else. They don't move. No riding up, no falling down. You can actually just run and not worry about your shorts riding up into places you don't want them to go. What a novel idea!

4. NARS Blush/ Bronzer Duo @ Sephora- Speaking of things I can't live without (like shorts that don't ride up) NARS's Blush/ Bronzer duo in Sin/ Casino is on that list. Just another one to share :)

5. Ruthie Davis Emilie Studded Sandals- Every so often one accidentally wears out a pair of her favorite gold shoes and then must hunt down a similar pair to replace. This can be a grueling process because most of the time the particular shoe you were so in love with had something to it that just *went* with everything. I think I've found my gold shoe replacement.
To be put on the "Lust List" for now and added to the collection post vacation ;)

6. YSL Tribute Two Pumps- Another to add to the list. Clearly I need an entire new shoe upgrade across the board.

7. Chanel Shopping Bag- Do I really need to give an explanation on this?

8. Gucci Shades- Time to be an adult and trust myself again with sunglasses that don't come from Target. Georgia isn't into smashing them anymore so the only person I have to worry about is myself...These are so pretty I think I can manage to keep them intact.

9.  Cartier Love Bracelet- A repeat offender on the "list". One day....

10. Watch Mania- So many to choose from:
Cartier Ballon
Michael Kors Bailey
Burberry
Michael Kors Darcy

Now off to the mall again to make sure I have everything I need. Next up Georgia's fall clothing spree...I almost look forward to this every year more than mine ;) Can't wait for her to come back from her vacation and she and I to get down to business!

xoxo

Summa Summa Summertime!

It's one of my favorite times of the year...Summer!

The schedule changes, life doesn't feel so hectic anymore and although it's still tough to break away from the office I can sometimes do just that. In reality Summer doesn't really slow us down (much)... We still are going along at our fast pace and I'm still wondering why there are not more hours in the day to accomplish everything.

I wish I had time to do a run down of everything that has been going on... Here's a list of the highlights that I have yet to catch up on:

- Georgia's Dance Recital
- Georgia's 7th Birthday Party & Festivities Galore
- Birthday Trip to the Lake House
- Summer 2014 thus far

I'll come back and re-cap the other events later on- for now I'm skipping right into summer (naturally). This will actually encompass two of the above events! School ended and one of Georgia's gifts from Mommy was a trip:

"Anywhere you want to go Georgia! What about a trip to Chicago? The Original American Girl Doll store is there!!! SO much fun!"
"Anywhere?!?"
"Yes- anywhere!"
"LET'S GO TO ARKANSAS!!!!!"
"huh?"

And there you have it. There was no changing her mind- we were set on a birthday trip to Grandaddy's Lake House in Arkansas. Okay. Actually- not such a bad idea Georgia. School let out on a Wednesday and we popped in the car for our 9 hour trek to the lake. We ate, swam, explored, went out on the boat, saw some of the neighboring towns and dined on the river. Then we packed up and headed on back to Texas that Sunday.

Pretty much as soon as we arrived back home it was time for Georgia to begin her summer rotation between her Dad and I. While this isn't my favorite time of year in any way I suppose it is nice to be able to plan for more extended trips, etc. during our two week periods. We both normally schedule a barrage of summer camps for Georgia to attend to assist our work schedules. This year kicked off with a theater camp at Wildfish Theater. She attended for 2 weeks total (Monday - Friday) from 9 until 12pm. At the end of the two weeks (Thursday and Friday) the kids performed their production for family and friends to come see. If you break it down these kids only had 9 practices together prior to putting on a a fabulous production. I can't say enough about this theater. Georgia auditioned and scored a fairly big speaking role. When she took the stage and said her lines I was BLOWN away. I've always said she's a little dramatic, but really, this is the first activity she has participated in that just comes natural to her. It was amazing. Check out the video!

She had three performances total and right after her last performance Friday night we headed out to Galveston for a mini- getaway....Stay tuned for more :)

So Adorable....

Cutest Thing Ever

Click the above link to watch one of the cutest things you will ever see. ;)

Michael

USS George H.W. Bush Arrives in Persian Gulf

Just heard this morning that my little brother's air craft carrier has been sent to the Persian Gulf.

Please keep him and the situation in your thoughts and prayers.

First Grade is OVER

Honestly. That's all I have to say about this year.
It's over. Thank God.




Kidding- Did you really think there wasn't another "Dear Georgia" coming?!

Dear Georgia,
My dear. Here we are at the end of your 1st Grade year of school. "Wow" is all I have to say. I think I say this all the time but my goodness have you changed this year. I continually look back on my own life and try to compare at times- I recall certain things from Kindergarten, but I know, without a doubt, I recall most everything from my life from 1st grade on. This year I have really thought about that with you as your Mom. You have the potential to remember every move I make from here on out. Not saying that's a bad thing but it really put things in perspective for me.

Things that happened this year:

1. Your teeth fell out like no other. Seriously. I couldn't stand it (as you know) luckily all but one came out at school. The one that fell out at home- well, sorry about that. I think you knew me "loosing it" was coming.
2. You are completely self sufficient (you know what I mean...) It's official- you bathe yourself, yes you could do this last year but I wasn't ready to let go... you basically have everything covered. I've said it before and I'll say it again- I was NOT prepared for this. I was prepped and ready to go age 1-5. Now that you are SEVEN (really?!!?!?!?!?) I just feel a little lost. You sure don't. :) That's what I love about this age- it's all coming together and I love watching you as a person.
3. I'm going to spill that into #3- you are YOUR OWN person. You have such an amazing personality I cannot stand it. ((again)) I've said this before- YOU are and are going to be an unstoppable force. The one thing that I hope for you in all of life is that you never doubt yourself. You should always know you are amazing and a force to be reckoned with. You, my dear, are going places and no one can stop you,
4. Half way through this year I had to start working full time. I couldn't pick you up at 3pm anymore and I miss that. We've constructed a fairly good schedule but I still miss hanging with you for the afternoon. I know I get super busy with work (especially this past year) But I hope you know- in my mind it's a crazy trade off of providing you (us) with an amazing life vs. the other. Don't ever doubt that I don't look at the clock every day about 3pm and wonder what you are doing. I miss you every moment. We've made it though- and I think it will just be better from here on out.
5. Guilt- I'm going to be honest here (realistically because you aren't going to ever read this until you are waaaaaaaay older. ;) I have felt so guilty about "leaving" you this year- well half of this year. I cannot tell you how much I miss our afternoons together and how I have felt as though you have missed out on a LOT because I had to work. While you adored 1st Grade....honestly I kinda hated it because the way the year went seemed to take you away from me even more.
6. You love: Horses, Winston, Skiing (which we did for the 1st time in February- you were awesome by the way.....) Frozen (you sing "Let it Go" every single chance you get). Playing hand slap games, Mind Craft (really....?) You want to live on a LOT of land like Aunt Laura when you grow up AND have a mini-van, just like Aunt Laura, when you can drive. uhhhh are you SURE you are MY child? You have even blatantly said while car shopping recently..."Mom, PLEASE just buy a mini-van" sorry doll- not happening....
7. You decided to call yourself a "tomboy" this year. I think it was a little fad going on with the girls in first grade. Boy you are serious about it too. Although....there really isn't anything "tomboy" about you. It's kinda cute how you insist on saying that occasionally. You have made it clear you do not like pink anymore (hahaha- good luck with that) and you say blue is your favorite color.
8. Reading- WOW! I am shocked at how well you are reading now- it still blows my mind when you do this. It might be one of the most amazing things I've witnessed as your mom. I love it. :)

I still look at you and feel like the luckiest mommy in the world.

Love you more,
Mommy

Lucky Lady

I found these on my desk when I returned today from my meeting... Nothing like a fresh flower delivery on Monday to start my week off perfectly. ;)

A few of my favorite things...

Raindrops on Roses...

Flower deliveries at work on dreary, rainy days like yesterday. Love.

Houston Ballet Academy Parent Observation Night!

Hysterical

Georgia's rendition of Mom and Dad...

It appears I am a butterfly or magical fairy of sorts.. And her dad? A $100 bill. Bhahahaha! This makes me laugh. 

A Fairy Tale...

Once upon a time....

I dreamed of being a "Mommy". I wanted that one day. Almost 7 years ago I was blessed with the most precious gift ever. Not only had I become a "mommy" but I was a mommy to the sweetest girl in the world. Yes. A GIRL. I still say I willed this child into existence because along with those dreams of having a child there were fears of never having a daughter. I knew I HAD to have a daughter- there just wasn't another option. Fortunately God is good and knows what I can deal with. (Clearly we will all chat again when Miss Georgia is about 15) For now she is (and always has been) the best.

I feel TOO lucky sometimes. I had a beautiful baby- one that people would stop us randomly to tell me how gorgeous my child was (at times making our way through the produce department at Central Market was a time consuming event because of the attention she would receive...yes I am totally brag gin on her) She was amazing- slept through the night at 5 weeks old, napped well, was always happy. My girl was golden.

As we have moved through life I have realized just how important my job as a mother is. I have to give her credit though. This girl makes me happy to come home every day. I adore playing dress up- you all know I have all my old prom gowns saved.... and naturally Georgia gets the biggest kick out of our dress up nights. My favorite (hers too) is our dance parities. Invite only. :)

Being her mom is the one thing I've never questioned. Why? Because I had the best example in the world set for me. I can't "explain" my mom because it's too all encompassing but at the end of the day if there is ever a person in this world that I can go to- it's her. I know how to be a mom because my own mother was so great. It makes being Georgia's mom easy. This comes natural... My mom was (and is) more than you can imagine. How lucky am I? How many people have THAT person? I do. I hope I'm that person to my own daughter.

Happy Mother's Day Mom, Thanks for teaching me how to be a mom and for being there for me throughout it all. The ups and the downs. ;)

SBISD Running for the Arts!

Georgia's school district hosted a 5k run last weekend with a 1K Kid's Fun Run. I wanted to do this last year but wasn't able to. I think we were probably out of town. This year when it came up the run ended up being on Doug's weekend so I asked if I could have her that morning and we signed up and were off!

Well- not quite. I didn't really tell Georgia about the race until about 2 days before. This is how the convo went down:

"Mom, what is going on this weekend? What is my schedule like?" <----- yes I get questions like this.
"Well Friday night we are hanging out after school and then I'll drop you off at your dad's house around bedtime. Oh and I forgot to tell you- Saturday I am picking you up super early and we are going to run a race together for your school! Isn't that exciting? Your very first race!!!"
"Wait a minute. I did NOT tell ANYONE to sign me up for THAT. You can go ahead and "x" my name off of that one. Not doing it."
"Huh?! What are you talking about?"
"I didn't tell ANYONE to sign me up for that. "x" my name off Mom, just "x" my name off. I can't run. You know that white mark on the track at school? I get tired and have to walk every time when I get to that mark so you can just "x" my name off."
(At this point I'm dying laughing on the inside but trying to keep it together for her sake)
"Well Georgia all your friends are running in the race and it's going to be super fun. It's too late to cancel anyway. If you have to walk it that's okay- lots of people walk during races."
"I don't know about this....I am not good at running but I guess I just go for the Bronze medal."

So I picked her up bright and early Saturday and we headed out to the race. I was signed up for the competitive 5k and she was set to run the 1K Fun Run. We ran into some of her sweet friends and one of the girls was going to run the full 5k with her mom. When Georgia heard this she asked to run with them. I told her how long it was, that it would be like running all the way around Memorial. She said she wanted to do it.

The race began and I ran ahead while Georgia ran with her friend and her mom. I ended up with 2nd in my age division (20-29) ughhhhhh :( last year to be in that division... Miss Georgia finished up her 5k in under 48 minutes! AWESOME! Then we both ran the 1k with her other group of friends that had arrived.

All in all a super fun event and I was/ am sooooo super proud of my little runner.

(and a little secret Georgia- I'm not good at running either. There have been points in life where I absolutely despised it, but you'll come to realize in a way it becomes a release and there isn't a better feeling that accomplishing something you never thought you would do.)

Oh Disney... What Have You Done?

I swear Georgia thinks she lives in an Disney movie. EVERYTHING is said in a song song voice. It's cute and all until you are rushing out the door at 7:50am with a gazillions bags and you hear 🎶"Did you get my lunch kit?"🎶

🎶"Mom can you put toothpaste on my tooth brush?"🎶

At this rate I fully expect the woodland animals to pop out and start sewing us clothing or cleaning my house.

Convo's with Georgia

"Mom what do you believe in?"
"God"
"No, like unicorns, fairies... that kind of thing"
"Oh, ummm I guess unicorns. What about you?"
"No, I don't believe in any of that stuff. I just believe in Gold."

Can't stop laughing!
Well done child. I too believe in Gold. Where does she get this stuff?!

"Let It Go" The Never Ending Montage

I'm sure by now we have all heard the catchy little tune spurred from the movie "Frozen" that every child has been singing on repeat. At first I excitedly downloaded it onto my phone and we sang it repeatedly in the car. After a few months The song started getting "lost" on the phone occasionally. No matter to my Georgia! She knew it by heart! It didn't matter if I turned on another song- she would belt out "Let it Go" above and beyond whatever was playing in the car.  In fact she would sing it day and night (still does) in the tub, brushing her teeth, eating breakfast, walking around. All. The. Time.

Here's a little taste of life lately....Will it EVER end?!

Oh... Okay.

"Mom, if you notice I didn't eat the green fruit loops this morning. I thought they might be poison or something."

The countdown is on!

We are just about a month out from the end of the school year. Thank goodness! I'm so over it this year.

We just had a big Easter weekend together and now we are rolling into the last weekend in April. How is that even possible? As I put together Georgia's Easter basket Saturday night I was chatting with friends how I felt as though Christmas Eve was just the other day....Surreal. Why is life moving so fast?

Over the weekend we had our regular schedule of Easter Egg dying at my moms and dinner Saturday. Afterward I had booked a suite at Reliant for Disney on Ice and we met a bunch of friends up there to see the show! So much fun!! It's always a blast to see the kids playing together and their antics are hilarious.

Sunday we woke up bright and early to see what the Easter Bunny brought Georgia in her basket. He's always so good to her ;) I cooked breakfast (Nailed those bunny shaped pancakes again- #winning) and then we were off to church! Hands down best part of my weekend happened here. At the end of the service the pastor began to talk about asking Jesus to be your savior. Then came the "repeat after me" prayer if you are ready. As we are sitting there Easter Sunday I hear the tiniest voice next to me begin to pray the prayer (out loud) asking Jesus to be her savior. Needless to say, I got a little teary. At the end she opened her eyes with a big smile and said "Mom, when can I be baptized?" Best Easter Ever.

We then headed out to the country (aka Laura's house) for Easter Day egg hunts and dinner. My sister and brother in law took great pleasure in making me hold all the farm animals they have accumulated out there. I suppose holding a chicken wasn't as frightening as I imagined. When Noah came up with a duck though and I wasn't expecting a reptilish foot to be placed on my arm and then it was I did scream like a maniac. I recovered quickly and moved on....The usual run down occurred- egg hunting, eating, trampoline jumping and kite flying with the kids. Then time to go!

We wrapped up with a trip to the theatre to see "Rio 2". I think I napped during the show but Georgia liked it!

This past week was another pretty busy one with dance practices (The big recital is coming up!) we had dress rehearsal last week. Sooo cute! We also went to the Skeeter's opening night last night. What a great stadium- it was the first time I had been and I want to go back. It's so family friendly and has a fun little kid area with a carousel that Georgia adored.

Another packed weekend is about to begin- we are going to end 1st grade with a bang. ;)