Friday Favorites…August 14 Edition

I thought it would be fun to share a few of my recent favorite things here today. It’s totally random but I think a lot of fun.

It’s August, 99 degrees outside, and I just bought some Christmas fabric. Is that wrong?

I don’t know what came over me. I was purchasing some fabric for a DIY project in the boys room and all of a sudden I saw this fabric and knew it would be great for Christmas time. I love the modern colors – let’s face it, red and green are nice but sometimes something different is great too.

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So I guess the etsy shop where I found this fabric is one of my new favorite places too. Head on over to FRESH MODERN FABRIC for some sewing inspiration.

iusb_760x100.14678346_sg1wisla_280x280.15846855_rv4pf6p6Last summer our entire family got into watching America’s Got Talent on NBC. Yes, I admit with Howard Stern, Heidi Klum, Mel B, and Howie Mandel as judges things can get a little spicy but most of it goes over the little kids heads. We really enjoy sitting down all together and watching the talent – both good and bad. Right now they are in the final stages of the competition where we get to vote from home. The kids love it and can’t wait for the next episode. The way my 10 year old talks you would think he is running the actual show and personally knows half the cast. Since the show is long, two hours, we always record it and then watch it commercial free.

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The Goodwill Box a.k.a We are cleaning and discarding like crazy over here. Right now we are decorating the boys room, decorating another room, and cleaning out the garage. Because we have moved around multiple pieces of furniture I have gone through almost every nook and cranny in this house. I have a cardboard box in the garage and every time I come across something we don’t need I place it in there. When the box is full I drive it to Goodwill and start a new box. Love the feeling of getting organized – although that’s still a ways a way since not one of the rooms is done.

Sausage, Pepper, and Mushroom Hash – My husband made this meal last week and it was absolutely delicious – the only part we skipped was the egg at the end. I was so glad to finally have a wonderfully filling meal. We tried one of those home meal delivery services and disliked 2 out of 3 of the meals they sent. I signed us up for the vegetarian meal option (mistake with a capital M) and it was quite awful. The one meal we both enjoyed had orzo pasta, tomatoes, avocado, and chickpeas in it. Next time I would make it without the chickpeas because I really dislike anything made with chickpeas – do not offer me your special hummus recipe, it is like all the others out there – tasteless and gross. So I’ve gotten slightly off topic, sorry chickpeas will do that to you. Anyway, the sausage & pepper hash was wonderful. Actually every recipe we’ve tried from Iowa Girl Eats is great.

Elle King’s song Ex’s and Oh’s – Love this song! That’s a good thing since it’s on the radio practically every hour.

This LEGO clock: BEST PRESENT EVER from my sister. My boys have this in there room and get themselves up everyday for school. It is so much easier to get them up with the sound of “beep beep,” than my voice singing, “good morning my loves.” Imagine that. Seriously, they get up and start the day all on their own.

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I am loving these Tucker + Tate ‘Marin’ Canvas Slip-On Sneakers for little girls. During our tax free weekend I picked up a pair for Caroline to wear to school on non PE days. She picked out the green pair in the store even though I was campaigning for the pink.

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Okay those are some of my recent favorites.

I’d love to know what you are loving right now!

July 4th Recap

Our family had a great 4th of July long weekend.

First item on our weekend was a splash and dash race for my 10 year old.

The race consisted of a 100m swim and a 1 K run – short but lots of fun to watch. Plus the weather was ideal with clouds and misty rain.

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Next up on July 4th morning was a 5K race for my 13 year old. Alex wanted to run the race for fun, partly to keep in shape for soccer and just because he likes to race. For fun, I sat on the side lines and cheered 🙂 I can’t believe he’s smiling at the end of this race considering the second half of the race was uphill.

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His cheering section – we tried probably 15 times to take a family picture but someone always had their eyes closed or was looking the other way.

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In the afternoon we headed to the pool for a few hours of pool time which was lots of fun.

At night, my husband took the boys to a soccer game where their team won and the night ended with fireworks. My six year old and I opted to stay home and watch a movie. After a long day she feel asleep at 8 o’clock and then I had the whole house to myself for 3 hours! I had big plans to get some things accomplished but I ended up sitting in bed watching tv and eating ice cream – it was wonderful.

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Hope you had a terrific 4th! (Or wonderful July 1st if you are Canadian).

Skiing for Spring Break

Since we are just 2 days away from being done with school this year I thought that now would naturally be a good time to share some spring break photos. For their Christmas present this year, my sister and her boyfriend gave our kids a ski trip to Blue Mountain in Ontario, Canada. The kids and I had never been on skies and my husband had only been on once decades ago. We were excited but a little nervous.

We flew up to Toronto and then took about a two hour drive to Blue Mountain. Our hotel sat right on this skating pond and had little shops all around.

Here are Caroline and Andrew wearing their “Dallas Winter Wear.” We had to borrow real ski clothes from Derek’s sister and all her generous friends who let us borrow clothes.

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And yes…we did go swimming on this snow covered day.

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We signed up the kids for ski school which was from 10:00 – 3:00 everyday (with a 1 hour break for lunch). Caroline had just turned 6 ten days earlier so she qualified to go to all day school with the boys. She was a little reluctant on the first day but went along since “her boys” were with her.

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She’s the littlest one on the right.

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It was amazing to see the kids in ski school. The instructors had the kids going up the magic carpet (ride that you stand on to get you up the hill) almost immediately and even more impressive is that they were coming down almost as fast. Our kids enjoyed their first day but I know Caroline definitely got tired of falling down.

Once the kids were situated in their lessons, all of the adults took a beginning lesson where I promptly fell down. Did I fall while moving? No. I fell while standing still listening to the instructor. Once the beginning lessons were over the instructors sent us over to practice on the same little hill the kids were already practicing on. My first attempt at getting on the moving magic carpet? I fell. They had to stop the whole dang thing for me to get up. Complete fail.

Once we had gone through the various stations and practiced what we were supposed to practice my sister and I asked the instructor what was the next station. The guy pointed up at this enormous mountain and said practice on that. What? That can’t be. There must be more stations. After practicing on the baby hill a few more times my sister and I worked up the courage to try Mount Everest. Trust me. It seemed enormous from the bottom.

When  my sister and I attempted the chair lift for the first time we got on with two other people. For some reason they never pulled down the bar which is supposed to go in front of you so to say that my sister and I were panicked for about 4 minutes is a complete understatement. We held on for dear life and were never so glad to be at the top of a mountain.

Until we looked down to the bottom and sheer panic took over.

Somehow we each manged to get down. I’m pretty sure toward the end I was racing down the mountain at 40 miles an hour. After that experience we promptly went back to the baby hill and told the instructors that we needed some serious help. With some help and a private lesson the next day we did get a little better but it’s a safe bet to put your money on Lindsay Vonn this world cup racing season and not one of us.

After ski school ended at 3:00 we picked the kids up and headed back to the hill/mountain until 4:30 everyday. For us it was like when we go to Disney – up at the crack of dawn and at the park until the fireworks at night – we were committed all day.

The kids at the top of the practice hill

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Aunt Kelly & Caroline

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Andrew & Uncle Duke

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Alex, Dad, and Caroline (in her tuck) coming down the hill

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20150308_154423(0)At the end of day one the boys were begging to go up “Big Baby,” also known as Mount Everest to me. I kept saying no but their dad and uncle won out (caved) and took them up. Once Andrew got off the ski lift and looked down the mountain he threw himself down on the snow and said, “I can’t do it. Get me down.” He was completely heartbroken to find out that he had to ski down. It took a loooooong time for him to come down the mountain with my husband. He’d ski a tiny bit and then fall. Ski a tiny bit and then fall. And so on. For a long time. But…he finally made it down and promptly announced that he was done for the day.

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After spending 6+ hours on a cold mountain what treat do you naturally turn to?

Ice cream of course!

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Day 2 – Andrew & Alex take snow board lessons, Caroline continues with ski lessons

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Lots of falling on your bum is apparently par for the course when learning to snow board.

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Alex ended up loving snow boarding so much that he took lessons again on his 3rd day. He impressed everyone by even going down some blue trails on the 3rd day.

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Dad and Caroline going up the magic carpet like pros

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Snow board victory!

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Aunt Kelly

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Finally a picture of me coming down Mount Everest / Big Baby.

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Ski Lift Fun – Andrew and classmate below

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Mom (me) & Caroline

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Caroline &  Dad

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Day 3 – Last run of the trip – from the top down – Andrew, Alex, Derek (Dad), Caroline, & Uncle Duke – not pictured, me: I was too slow and still making my way down Mount Everest / Big Baby.

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Blue Mountain Photo Spot documenting the miracle of no broken bones!

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And finally a family photo at the top of the mountain…could it be we already have our Christmas card photo in March?

20150310_154211(0)Great trip…wonderful memories…thank you Aunt Kelly and Uncle Duke!

April Fools’ Day Jokes for Your Kids

I’m always leery of playing practical jokes because I’m always afraid of what will then be done to me in retaliation.

I hate surprises so I don’t do well with surprise parties, things jumping out at me, or anything of that nature.

On the other hand my kids are kids and would love some April Fools’ jokes.

So I looked around and found some ideas here.

I thinking about:

#6 – Baked pan of “Brown E’s”

#8 – Toilet paper in their shoes

#15 – Broccoli lollipops – okay this one could cause tears from my youngest

and #21 – Surprise in the mailbox

Any jokes you are planning on playing today?

Ruthless – Mom Observation

Inviting people over to dinner always seems like a good idea until you look around your house the day of the event….And once it’s under an hour before their expected arrival it’s amazing how unsentimental you can suddenly become toward your children’ school work which has sat on the countertop for the last two weeks.

Traced hands to make flowers…thrown out without another thought

a perfect 100 on a spelling test…straight to the recycle bin

Self portrait of daughter and her dad…saved thankfully by a moment of restraint

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SNOW DAYS

My kids have been waiting and waiting for some snow days this year. Unlike the north we just need some ice and SCHOOL IS CANCELLED! Yippee!

I’m not going to lie. When we got that call last week that the first day of school was cancelled due to the ice I was thrilled. And then to get another call the next night? Eureka!

What did we do? Cleaned out closets, baked, played games, watched tv, and stayed in our pajamas all day long.

And then 3 days later it started snowing! We got about 4 inches of snow and once again everything in Texas shut down. All our weekend plans (about 8 sporting events) were cancelled and we stayed in our pajamas. Just the best.

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Forecast is calling for more snow on Thursday….and possibly a delay in school start times….to dream the impossible dream.

Random Thoughts #1

Mindy over at Rindy Mae does “Random Thoughts and Tidbits” posts from time to time and they are some of my favorite to read so I thought it was time for my own such post.

*My 9 year old was looking at animals on the local animal shelter website, found one he liked, and called me over. I said the dog was cute. He then proceeded to run around the house and scream, “Mom said we could get another dog. We are bringing Bailee home!” I had to crush him by telling him, no, that is not what I said. There are no new dogs joining our family anytime soon. He has not given up yet though as he keeps talking and talking about getting another dog.

*Every night at 9 my husband and I watch an episode of Modern Family. Funniest show ever. We have never watched it before but we are loving it.

*I made these Individual Frozen Key Lime Pies and they are a big hit at our house. I don’t partake in any of the eating since I firmly believe the words fruit and dessert should never be joined together.

*My mom is sending us a king cake in a few weeks. To say we are all excited is an understatement.

*This is the model for the curvy jeans on the GAP website – umm….Houston I think we have a problem…the girl is gorgeous but curvy? Me thinks not. LOOK AT HER THIGHS!

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*This is a sweet post about being a “Mommy” that my sister-in-law sent me.

*Currently my 5 year old says she’s going to live in a house right next door to us when she grows up. My 9 year old, on the other hand, enjoys telling us that he’s going to move far away.  My 12 year old is sort of indifferent about the whole thing.

*I’ve been home all week with two kids who have taken turns being sick on various days, therefore, I haven’t been at work. On Saturday I get to teach Saturday school to 3rd graders for 4 hours. 4 hours of teaching math! So much fun for me and thankfully they are still young enough to be enthusiastic about measuring themselves with tape measures, creating fractions with skittles, and creating area problems out of cheez-its. I’m so looking forward to it.

*”Caroline it’s time to go run some errands.” She comes down from her room a few minutes later. “I’m ready.

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Shorts leggings on top of pants leggings with knee socks on top of those – Long sleeve shirt under short sleeve shirt which says, “I am made of awesome.”

Yes you are awesome sweet thing.

“Alright, get your shoes on.”

Have a great weekend everyone!

And please feel free to add your own random thoughts below 🙂

 

2015 Family Words

Last week I shared our 2014 family words and today I’m going to share with you our 2015 words.

For the canvases last year we used colorful magazine clippings but I decided to try and make it a little different (and easier) this year by just using paint for the undercoating.

I gathered all of the blue and green paints we had and explained that each person was going to choose several colors from this palette and cover their canvas with it.

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All five of us sat at the table on a cold and rainy morning in our pajamas and painted for an hour.

It was my version of heaven.

IMG_8648It was so interesting to just sit and listen to the kids talk about why they chose their word for the year.

After letting the paint dry, we picked through the stickers we had to create our words and names. I then spray painted the canvases with white paint. Once dry I peeled off the stickers.

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IMG_8661IMG_8684IMG_8662IMG_8680A few days after making our word canvases I said to Caroline would you like to try some cinnamon toast? She gave me this pitiful look and said, “Mooooooommmmmm, when  I said try for my word I didn’t mean to try new foods I meant to try new activities.”

Now keep in mind this kid has eaten cinnamon bread before and loved it.

“You don’t have to eat the whole thing, you could just try it.”

“Maybe later but I just can’t right now.”

She later ate 2 pieces of cinnamon bread and loved every bite. On her own time. When she was ready.

I’m thinking maybe her word for the year should have been “go with the flow,” or “don’t make trouble just for troubles sake, ”  or even, “every once in awhile just agree with your mother.”

But for now she’s sticking with “try” for 2015.

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Do you have a word or a family motto for the year? I’d love to know.

2014 Family Words of the Year & Our Wall of Pictures

Last year was the first year each member of our family came up with a “word” for the year.

The word each person chose was entirely up to them, although I did provide the 4 yr old with some choices.

The idea is that the word is supposed to be one of the things they want to focus on for the year. Kind of along the lines of a resolution.

Our words are hanging on a large corkboard which I found at the Habitat store for $4. I then glued on some left over fabric (burlap with gold circles) and placed our word canvases on there with push pins. I then took pictures we had printed out already and let the kids pin those up.

It’s literally my favorite thing in my house.

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Here’s a close up look at the canvases and how we made them. The idea is based off the same project I saw on Shannan’s blog. We’re not really friends. I just like to pretend we are so I call her by her first name 🙂

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The project starts off with scraps of magazines – the best in my opinion are the Boden catalogs because of the vibrant colors – I spent a couple of nights watching tv and cutting out different patterns and colors.

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Then we hodged podged the heck out of those scraps onto a 9 x 12 canvas.

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Once Caroline was done, I went back over hers with the hodge podge several times since she was rocking about 4 layers in some parts.

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Once the whole front was covered, we used old science fair sticky letters we already had and placed our words onto the canvas. I then spray painted the canvases (I initially painted my with white acrylic paint but liked the look of the spray paint better) and then peeled off the stickers.

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Can I just stop for one minute and say that this kid “DID” 2014.

KJMP_McEachern_20141013_0282Signed up for the Geography Bee all on his own, finished the school year with awesome grades, made the school band he wanted to, became a leader on his soccer team, made the state meet in summer swimming, made the region band, joined the school pentathlon team all on his own, ran for the cross country school team, and so much more!

Middle school really agrees with him. So proud.

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It’s funny how you start out the year thinking your word will mean one thing and it really ends up meaning something else. I thought my word would mean to find the courage to travel to Ethiopia but what it really meant was to find the courage to be around those who could add to their families. With each person who told me they were pregnant the pain of our loss really struck home again. While happy for them I found it just brought out sadness for me.

Courage for me this year was finally visiting my sister who had a new baby and experiencing that joy with her. I went back and forth and back and forth about making plane reservations but what I kept coming back to was my word for the year: courage.

I could do it. I needed to do it. So I did it. And it was wonderful.

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Next week I will share with you our 2015 words.

It should be interesting to see what path those words take us on.