I {heart} this...

Anyone who knows me- knows that I love a good cold soda.  Coke and Dr. Pepper being my drinks of choice.  Well in the name of being a "good example" to my kids (ugh) I have officially given up soda.  Its been a month, the cravings are gone and Braden has stopped asking when we pull up to McDonalds if he can have a drink of my "medium coke" before i have even ordered. 

So in the name of health and being a good example out with the old...

 and in with the new......

Now for my second new passion....

Why did it take four years of living in the dirtiest place, with white carpet, two little kids and  a nonstop flow of house guests to realize that this would be the best purchase I would ever make?!

 I {heart} my new carpet cleaner.  The speckled white carpet- is now white again.  Let the cleaning begin!  

a yummy layover

Much Maholo to my cute Aunt Judy and Uncle Chuck for making time for us on their cruise layover!  We loved seeing you guys and had such a yummy dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp.  Always a favorite!

school school school

how do you pick what is best for you child?  Braden's preschool teacher who we adore is moving.  This year he only had preschool 2 days a week from 9-12. She did an amazing job of teaching them letters, writing, fun crafts all to do with the letter they were working on or color. She has done fabulous things with them....  

but now that she is leaving we are trying to decide where to send him.

i have found 2 places that he is on the waiting list.

*option one: school 8-2 and 5 days a week.  they will work  on writing in cursive by the end of the year and have them reading- what!!  (and of course will do plenty of art projects and fun things- playground, fieldtrips etc).  The school insists that he come all 5 days a week or he will really fall behind.  He will definitely learn a lot- but does he really need all this at 4?!

*option two:  just the opposite of number one! 5 days a week, 7:45-11:30.  but they won't really be working on writing their letters or learning to read. they will be doing a lot of art projects and fun play. the toys are all educational toys, number puzzles stacking blocks etc.  but they won't be sending home any homework or really working on anything in school,  Just educational play basically.  

So how do I decide where to send him?  Which is better- learning too much or too little?  And unfortunately these are the only places that I have found that aren't just all day daycare.  Any ideas mom to mom?

family pics

When our cute friend Karla was here she took family pictures for us.  We had a bit of a difficult time because the wind was crazy that day.  So we pulled our hair back as much as possible, especially Braden and Troy and fought the winds.  Worse than the wind was Camiron's personality- who was the biggest stinker ever.  With every picture she folded her arms and declared "no pictures of Camiron today" and then would take off full speed up the beach.  With all the upset- thanks to karla she still got some great shots.  Thank you again Karla!   

hair help... please!!!

I need a little hair help-

I have been growing my hair lately but it is in a terrible stage right now... which if you scroll down to the next 2 entries you can see for yourself.  So i am in the process of the grow out but can't decide if it is worth it. so i need a little help- here are a few flashbacks of some short and long hair.  let me know if i should keep up the growing, or chop now.

ladies night out

It is so great to escape the kids and duties for some great times with good friends.  We had a little birthday celebration for court this friday and had a fun dinner out.  

*Jane*Bonnie*Sarah*Courtnie

*Lynn*Joy*Trisha*Molly*

For bookclub this month we said congratulations to Lynn and baby Mason on the way.... and a sad goodbye to Ariel who is headed to Maryland.  Good luck to both of you! :)