Thoughts For Thursday

This week has flown and felt like forever all in three days. Here a few thoughts amid the silence of the blog:

I am so excited Halloween is almost over. My boys are scared of everything! Last year I had to drive every which way to avoid the "scary" houses. Hopefully they'll handle scary costumes better than last year. KC has no costume. I wouldn't settle for anything less that the PBK lamb or bunny so like a stubborn kid I've got nothing for her. She'll be wearing these pjs.

I'm thinking of doing a candy trade in for a toy. We have way too much sugar already so I'm wondering if they would go for it. Of course I'd take the fall and eat the candy for them. And then I could watch Fed Up without feeling guilty. 

I had a super cute craft that N helped me come up with and we never did it. There is still fishing line in my diaper bag to make it all happen. This school/sports/arts thing is hard to juggle (and don't mention laundry) - I am in constant awe of moms that work and do all the above as well. 

I had adorable little goals when N was T's age for this time of year and we've done none of those now that T is this age. As dorky as this all is, I even had the leaves fall off the tree as we completed them (always a teacher, my first graders would have loved this).

All our sports end this weekend (and it looks like it might rain). As part of the soccer coach's gift, I made a photo book of the past season. He has coached the same kids since last April and had everyone over to his house for parties so it seemed appropriate. I will be leaving it on his doorstep if weather ruins our game, but I hope I get to see him open it!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!! We are meeting up with some friends to trick or treat and then have a spider hunt (throw spider rings in grass, give kids bags and flashlights, and hunt those suckers down)!

Target Find and Hanna Love

I seriously love kids clothes. Everything looks so cute on them. It's like the opposite of shopping for myself where one out of ten items might look halfway decent. With that said, a few more finds recently:

I needed something other than sneakers for the boys to wear to church and other occasions. We don't necessarily dress up for church but sometimes sneakers just don't cut it. I'd spotted some Chukka boots in the Hanna Andersson catalogue (because I'm obsessed with HA), and some on the J.Crew website (but even at 30% off couldn't purchase them) and then asked a friend at church whose son was wearing a similar pair. They were from Target. So we headed there and picked them up. LOVE them. I don't know if they are playground worthy but they definitely fit the need and the price point.

Chukka Boots by playgroundprepster featuring chukka boots

But I still love Hanna (and Target) and the new catalog arrived yesterday and I love so so much (and it's on sale).

hanna Sale Favorites by playgroundprepster featuring a hooded top

Can you tell he was thrilled with this picture? Picture it with cords instead of these Tea shorts (which happen to be T's favorite).

Are you a seasonal store shopper? I think I lean towards Tea in the spring/summer, Hanna in the fall /winter. J.Crew and Gap are always dependable. 

Weekend Review: Broken Record

With the exception of last weekend's festivities, I'm sure I sound like a broken record for our weekends. This weekend was the same as our other fall weekends, soccer, baseball, church, park. 

Friday started off right with doughnuts and coffee. It quickly went downhill when T cried through pretty much an entire playdate. Later we tried to save the day with some pumpkin painting and glittering. With N I would have done ten different crafts by now, taken walks to look at decorations in surrounding neighborhoods and watched festive shows, but poor T even had to get his own paint for this project.



We ended the day with soccer practice and N's night game. The night game was very exciting with home runs and even a double play.

 



Saturday morning we met friends for breakfast. I found it humorous that there were 8 of us and that didn't count babies. It was only us and another family. When the babies get big it will be a whole other adventure, with 11!

 

T and his buddy have really gotten into soccer hair. 

 Sideline cheering (and chatting) while rangling babies.

The boys had games at the same time. Chris took baseball duty and sent me these photos.

N even received the game ball! 

 
We had lunch outside like every other person in the city because the weather was beautiful. KC hates the car so we stopped by the greenways for a walk on the way home.

 

 Sunday we headed to church, walked to the park (where T ran circles around N and me in soccer) and ended the day with a family dinner.
 Then Monday arrived with a nail in my tire. This is my second one in four months! Enough already.

I hope you had a great Monday (even with a unrepairable flat, mine still turned out pretty great).

Five on Friday

There was not enough coffee involved in this week. I hope you've had an easier one! I'm linking up with Five on Friday and thought I'd share five things from my week. 

1. First up, the big one. Our poor dog was super sick. She was sick for a bit while we were gone but improved Monday (I was worried about the boys missing me, I should have worried about the dog). Then Tuesday, she was sick enough for me to take her to the vet with all three kids (in the rain, with a tornado watch - which always, always, freaks N out). While at the vet, she stunk up the room with her sickness to which N said, "You know when you smell something and you feel like you are going to throw up." - Ugh yes, great. We were sent home with meds, but by 11:00 that night the poor dog was just leaking blood everywhere, and lots of it. So of course my loving husband said he would take her to the emergency vet so I didn't have to wake up KC who is exclusively nursed and not sleeping through the night so she needs access to me at all times I woke KC, strapped her in and drove the twenty minutes in the downpour (and tornado watch) to the vet. Two hours later, our sweet dog was getting an IV, I was signing a very large bill, kissing her furry head, and heading home with a very awake baby. After about two hours of sleep, it was time to get the boys up and to school before we stopped by the visit her. 

She was able to come home Wednesday night and we've been monitoring her closely ever since. 

2. Chris purchased a cup for N to wear for baseball. He needed one if he was going to play catcher. I cannot handle this. He is 7. 

3. KC had her four month check up. This girl is a chunk! I've never had a chunk before, but her thighs scream my genetics. She also has a deep smoker's laugh. It is all too much. 

4. Nordstrom wins for most awesome Star Wars shirt ever (but I still love the Hanna PJs too). He had to wear it out of the store.

5. I want this gap dress for KC. I almost purchased it Monday with the sale (and by me, I mean my mom because she took us shopping) but I didn't and now I can't stop thinking about it. Cute tights, booties or moccs, and a bow and she's set!

I hope you are looking forward to a great weekend! N has a night game tonight and then we have soccer and more baseball in the morning. I'm hoping for some sleep as well, just a little will do!

Linking up with Natasha, Christina, April and Darci for Five on Friday!

Weekend Review: Six Years in Two Days

I mentioned last Thursday that this weekend was my 15 year high school reunion. As nervous as I was to leave the boys, I was really excited to see my friends and high school again. We started off with doughnuts and coffee and headed straight to Durham. KC slept the whole time and was ready to socialize once we arrived.

My high school experience was a little different and it is always a blast to revisit. I attended the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (which was recently named the #1 public high school in NC, and #15 public high school in the nation). Students in North Carolina apply to NCSSM their sophomore year and then attend for their junior and senior years. I remember students coming to my elementary school and I had always dreamed of attending after meeting them.

The experience of attending Science and Math far exceeded my expectations. It was challenging academically but also completely accepting socially. There were no cliques and I learned a lot about other cultures and religions. Reunions are always special to me.

KC had a special name tag with her graduation year - 2032?!?! I am actually really bad with math so I had someone else figure it out.

Both years I lived on the this hall. Living here, there is a "on-hall" time from 8-8:30 for housekeeping and meetings and then an official curfew at 10pm. And up until the year after us, cell phones were not allowed (not that they were all that popular) so we all used the one pay phone on the hall. It is so funny to think about that now.

Each class has an official end of year slideshow that we all watch together each reunion. It's over thirty minutes long and recaps the two years we spent here. After our slideshow viewing we wanted to go on a tour, but there were a ton of people (all the reunions are here, so the 5 years, 10 years, us, 20 years, and 25 years) so instead we created our own tour. 

The physics floor is pretty special to me because I took my first astrophysics class here. I had aspirations of being an astrophysicist before I actually took advance physics classes in college (soo freakin' hard).

 Since the school is free, there is work service. Mine was sorting the mail. I loved it. And look how cute our mailboxes were.

We ended up just sitting around talking (Chris and I even missed lunch) before saying good bye to campus and heading to our hotel. 

Since we actually haven't been on vacation since March of 2012, we booked a nice room at the Washington Duke Inn. I was a little hesitant to stay on Duke's campus being a Carolina grad, but the hotel was amazing. We grabbed food in the bar and watched the end of the UNC game before heading to dinner with friends.

KC had plenty of attention. She was the perfect age to travel with as she pretty much just ate or slept and we carried her around the whole time. We stayed out until 11 and said goodbye to our friends who were heading to the rest of the reunion (roof top party).

Sunday we started off with breakfast at my favorite spot in both high school and college, Elmo's Diner. There's one in both Durham and Chapel Hill. Funny enough, two tables away was a friend from our church here in Charlotte. 

We made the 8 mile trek to Chapel Hill and stopped by A Southern Season to wait out some rain and grab a coffee (and sweets for the boys).

Once we arrived on campus, we took KC by the football stadium. KC's name is Kenan Caroline, so we joke that this is her stadium. We actually call her KC instead of Kenan since our initials are K and C. 

Of course after putting her in her Carolina blue for the pictures, she pooped all over every piece of this outfit. 

I had nothing with me, even though I'd brought at least five outfits for her (she poops a lot). Then I remember the day before I'd purchased a NCSSM onesie and shoved it in my bag. 

We made our way through campus, seeing all the sights on the way to Franklin Street.

Chris proposed at the bell tower.

 Chris requested lunch at Top of the Hill (it was a hard decision between this and Cosmic Cantina). They had a Kenan Lager on tap, which seemed like an appropriate beer order.

We made a stop at Student Stores and Johnny T-shirt for more goodies. I was excited to see the book Goodnight Carolina (written in a style similar to Goodnight Moon). 

We had parked near my old dorm, so we stop by for a quick picture.

We said goodbye to one of our favorite places, vowed to return soon and made the trek back home to our two boys who had been spoiled with sugar, Halloween costumes, legos, movies and way too much tablet time.