Weekend Wrap-Up

Summer is almost over. Tenley will be starting school soon. This is her last year of preschool before she's off to the elementary school! I plan to savor each moment of this school year. Next year things get real.

 This past week Mike was gone in Pennsylvania for work. So this weekend we laid low around the house. We had a dance party in our pajamas as you can see from the picture below:

 We had a playdate one evening. We watched movies. We waited for daddy's return! And when he came through that door- these two were so excited!

 I made sure to send daddy pictures of the girls frequently. Of course they rarely could take any serious ones.

After being gone two weekends ago at a family wedding, it was nice to have some time with the girls this weekend. Speaking of that wedding- we had SO much fun. It was a great time for us to get away, relax, and be kid-less for an evening.

My hubby looked pretty handsome didn't he! I wanted to post this picture to document where I am in this weight loss journey. I'm down about 46 lbs. I've had some set backs along the way. I've made some mistakes, but what makes this different is that I'm still going. I'm not quitting. Don't let me :)

Life Lately.

I'll be honest. Life Lately has been busy. But as I was grabbing pictures for this post I realized how much fun we have had too!

Our neighbors and us started a kid swap night once a month. Last month we watched their boys so that they could have a date night, and this month the girls went to their house so we could have one. It's been so much fun for the kids and us! This month since it was our turn we went to the Channel Marker with some friends. It was a rainy/muggy day, but it turned into a really nice night on the lake. We love going there!

While we were there, I got this picture of the kids. Ashley always does super fun things with her kids. She's a pinterest mom.  And I'm jealous most of the time. Since the rain washed out their "drive in movie" in the back yard, they decided to make milkshakes. This is all four of them lined up drinking them.

They are making some great memories with these cute boys and we are so thankful to have them two doors down!

I'm grateful for our date night that weekend, because the next week things got BUSY. It was family camp week at Prairie Camp, so I worked out there every day/evening and I felt like our family was basically passing by each other in the evenings. The weekend that camp ended Mike and I said that the girls were such troopers that they deserved to do something fun. So Friday night we took them to the Splash pad. I don't have any pictures of that - mostly because while Tenley played in the water, Paisley clung to me. She is not a fan of it yet - which is ok - Tenley wasn't at that age either and this year she loved it. So I know we'll get there. Paisley is a bit more reserved around water in general than Tenley has been. Saturday night when I got off work, we headed to Mike's aunts house to swim. The girls love going there and on that night we were able to swim with Mike's cousins and their kids.

Tenley and Madison loved jumping off the side together! Tenley has really gotten a lot better in the pool this summer and is able to stay in the shallow end without floaties. She tends to get a little brave sometimes, so we have to watch her closely, but she has gotten good at knowing when she's tired or needs her floaties back on.

This cute little fishy took awhile to warm up to the pool. She is perfectly content sitting on the steps and playing there while watching the big kids jump around. That's ok. She'll be jumping in soon enough.

Speaking of that cute little girl - we did her first ponytail the other day! Oh my goodness was it cute.

On Sunday after church we had a special surprise for Tenley! (Due to the heat, we decided that Paisley should go with grandma and grandpa for the day- so she had a special day too!) She got to be in the Elkhart County 4H Parade! This is a huge parade, and we knew she would love being a part of it. Pam Shaw called and asked if she would ride on the Apple Festival Float and invite some friends too. So Ella and Jayda joined us and the girls had so much fun sitting with the Queen/Princesses of the Apple Festival!

These girls may be Future Apple Blossoms!  Me? A pageant mom?! haha! Tenley wasn't the only one who enjoyed the parade. Mike, Kayla and I were also in it. We walked beside the float throwing out candy. We had so much fun! It was about a 3.2 mile parade, so we got a good work out in too on a very hot day!

The parade kicked off the fair, so we have taken full advantage of enjoying it this week! Mike and I even got to enjoy some time at the fair alone on Tuesday night! Some very sweet friends gave us track seats for the Cole Swindell concert.

We had a great time and new more of his songs than what we realized! We haven't been to a concert in a long time, so it was really nice to enjoy that together. Last night we took the girls with us to the fair. They loved looking at the animals, the ice cream and the rides! We spent the evening with the Whickcar family and the kids had a blast!

Paisley wasn't a fan of this big slide. Mike enjoyed it though!

One of the random things that the girls have really enjoyed doing lately is going with me to the gym. I go to spinning class on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and during that time they have child care available. The girls have LOVED going with me and playing in there. I love that they are entertained, but also that they get to see me working out too and they will grow up knowing that my health is now a priority in my life. On Tuesday morning I decided we all needed to get out of the house for a bit (after lots of fighting between the girls) so I went to the gym early that day and I caught this picture while I was lifting.

They were great motivators as I could hear Tenley yelling through the window "Go Mommy! Go Mommy!" haha. It almost made me cry. What special times these are! The days are long but these moments will pass quickly. I'm thankful for all them!

Friday Favorites

It's time for Friday favorites! We haven't had a super busy week but I of course have some favorite moments!

Have you all heard of plopping!?  It's a completely terrible name for a trick to help curly haired girls wash their hair at night and wake to beautiful soft curls! I was the biggest skeptic I tell ya. But I tried it the other night and followed the directions. OH MY GOODNESS. I was amazed when I woke up to curls that looked like I just did my hair! This might just turn me into a night showerer! :) Here's the directions:

Tenley tried to ride her bike without training wheels this week! We're not quite ready for it yet, her fear definitely got the best of her. But she tried!! I'm not sure when she got so big.

Mike and I got to dress up last weekend and head to a friend's wedding. It's rare anymore that we get to BOTH dress up at the same time and go out somewhere. Since losing some weight, I was actually looking forward to dressing up too.

Here's my favorite picture from the week! They are starting to play well together more often and it's great to watch these moments happen!!

Friday Favorites

It's been a busy week filled with lots of Marshall Madness! I'm going to list some of my favorite moments from the week - my Friday Favorites!

We celebrated Mother's Day last Sunday with a trip to the zoo! It was a rainy day, but it cleared off in the afternoon so we decided to chance it. We grabbed Chipotle (it's Mother's Day..of course I wanted my favorite!) and headed to the zoo in South Bend. It's a small zoo, but the girls loved it regardless. We had a great time checking out the animals and learning new things about them!

 Tenley loved the map of all things. She stood in front of the big map forever looking at everything. Paisley loved the camel and the monkeys and said hi to everything!

Last weekend Paisley and I headed out to Lowe's to finish Tenley's teacher appreciation gifts. Paisley does so well one on one with us and I think she soaks up all of the attention. I always try and make a point of doing something with just her once in awhile because I know she's never got to experience being an only child like Tenley did! 

Paisley helped me pick out the flower pots and flowers for Tenley's teachers. We had a great time together!

When we got home Paisley took a nap and Tenley got her boots on and got ready to help me plant the flowers! She was SUPER excited to do this - but I think she mostly just wanted to play in the dirt!

Tenley's teacher gifts turned out great! She loved helping with them too.

I think this is my favorite picture from the week. These girls are so fun to watch their relationship grow. We have our days where fighting seems to be the norm, but we also have really loving moments that totally outweigh the bad.

Yesterday, Tenley had her last day of pre-school! She has had such a great year at school. She has learned so much and loves it. She already can't wait to go back next year. Next year she'll be going every day! She will learn so much.

 Look how much she has grown since the first day of school!  Mike and I both commented how much slimmer her face looks. She has lost some of that baby/toddler look!  (Insert tears here..) As sad as it makes me that she's growing up, I also have really enjoyed this age. Ohh trust me- you've heard me complain about this sassy, stubborn, independent girl. But she's also so compassionate and watching her turn into her own little lady has been so rewarding.

 Last night was her pre-school program. She didn't have a graduation since she'll be going back next year. But they did get to perform a few songs together. She was looking forward to this a lot. She posted for me before the program in her cute outfit.

 She did a great job performing with her classmates for all the parents and grandparents.

I can't thank her teachers enough for what an amazing year she had! She loved all of them and is looking forward to September!

One last picture for Friday favorites! Mike sent me this picture the other day when he took Paisley to the hardware store with him.

Paisley checked over his purchases to make sure everything came out right! Funny girl!  Always wanting to help!

Life around Here

It's Monday.  I could have used an extra day this weekend. But Monday showed up anyway. Life lately, has been a bit crazy, but a good kind of crazy! We are taking full advantage of the warmer temperature and have spent a lot of time outside! We saw a friend who lives on our street at church yesterday and he said "Well hello to the most active family on our street! We always see you guys doing something fun outside!" That made me feel good.  A year ago at this time I wasn't doing too many active things- or I was avoiding them. But today, I'm 30 lbs lighter- and I enjoy my time running around the yard with the girls!
Did you catch that?

 30 lbs down!  Next milestone- 40 lbs.

Here's a look at what we have been up to:

 Tenley had grandparents day at school! She was thrilled to have both sets of grandparents attending. We are grateful for the role they all play in our daughters' lives.

 Mike and I took a much needed weekend getaway to South Haven, Michigan. It's our favorite place to escape. One more morning we ran down to the pier from our condo and sat by the water and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

 GG and Great Grandpa are now home from Florida!!  The girls (and their mom) couldn't have been more thrilled!! Paisley asks on a daily basis when we will go to their house.

 The Maple Syrup Festival was last weekend, and in typical MSF fashion, we had to get out the packed away winter coats, hats and boots to watch the parade. It was a rainy cold morning but we watched from GG's porch and it worked out great. The girls were excited to use their new chairs.

 The girls are getting big. Paisley is developing her own personality and Tenley continues to surprise us with how much she's learning at school. She loves school so much and next year she'll go every morning.

 See that scrunchie that keeps making an appearance on Tenley's wrist? I'm reminded often how much my kids watch what I do. I always have a hair tie on my wrist and Tenley has really picked up on this and always wants to wear one now.

Life around here is busy and sometimes we whine and complain. But it's also sweet. The girls are changing and growing so fast that I'm soaking in all of these little moments!