Confession Friday!

hi guys!  so let's try to make this a fun upbeat maybe even a funny post.

eeek - seems those are few and far between lately - sorry......

first of let's talk real for a hot second.  i will be a home owner in LESS THAN A WEEK!!

eeeeeeeeeeee - i can't say that without smiling.

i just put in my PTO to take five days of vacation.  because lawd i deserve it.

and well because i haven't even started packing.

yes the ever so great procrastinator in me truly believes that next week when S&H go to daddy's on Tuesday and Wednesday i will be able to pack up three people in just two evenings.  baha.  i know....

on to the confessions....

i'm doing no soda and no fast food for the month of may.  and my god it's hard.  however, i have been really proud of myself, haven't given in once.  however getting a sweet tea from there is totally legit and ok to do.  there's always some kind of exception, right?  anyways, so on those we need a quick meal nights we have been going to Sub-Away a lot.  well, that's what stella calls it at least.

my kids do well there and eat good, however i truly believe they only want to go there so they can get in some serious people watching.  we sit in the same both right next to the window every.single.time.

ha - no idea where they get it from.....

ps - look at henry giving the thumbs up - too cute.

and that grin - gah, love that kid.

and see those "flowers" stella's holding.... i confess they are ripped straight out of nana's flower bed.  sorry nana.....  good thing she's so cute!

i confess that i'm pretty set on having one of those inground trampolines.  i mean they look amazing.  regardless one way or another we will have a trampoline!!

man i sure do have a lot of "projects" for this house, i better do something about that procrastination problem i have huh?  ha.  oh and i'm looking for a water table if anyone has one they want to get rid of!

i confess i have a pile of about 10 box tops on my desk at work.  saved from yes, pizza roll boxes.  a co-worker asked about them the other day.  i had to admit that i have an addiction to pizza rolls.

completely embarrassing..... 

i confess i didn't link up for the 30 miles post yesterday because i seriously can't remember when we walked.  my mind is just all over the place.  ayi.  sorry nikki!

alright, here's to a slow and easy weekend, time to just catch up on life!

have a good one - go and hug someone you love REAL tight :)

Swinging Fore Dreams

for the past seven years the company i work for has put on a charity golf outing.

all the money raised is donated to The Dream Factory of St. Louis.

this year was my fifth year on the committee.

over the past seven years we have raised $250,000 - pretty awesome!

it's honestly a day i look forward to every may.

around april we are told about our dream family.  and the story makes me cry every year.

and the second i read the story i get the urge to want to raise more and more money.

this year we had jack.  a kid who has had juvenile diabetes since he was born.  his mom spoke at the outing saying how one little cut on his finger can turn into a nightmare for them so he always has to be cautious.  can you imagine being a kid and your whole life having to be cautious?  jack's original dream was to go white water rafting with his dad.  plans were in the making for this great dream trip.  that was until one afternoon this past fall, jack's dad wasn't feeling well that day and asked jack to drive him to the hospital.  his dad died the next day.

so here's jack, with a disease he will have for the rest of his life, and now the man of the house at 17.  and whole new weight of the world on his shoulders.  trying his best to be strong for everyone.

jack couldn't fathom going on the trip without his dad.  he settled for his second love, hockey, and him and the rest of his family were flown to Detroit for a red wings game and to meet all the players.  needless to say it was bittersweet.

jack also has a love for golfing.  so we though - perfect, let's ask him to play!

so jack played on monday and it was an amazing day!

we presented jack's family and the dream factory a check for $25,000 on monday.

i mean look at this picture - you can't help but smile.  i love it!

so not only did we have an awesome family, an awesome day and we donated a lot of money; but someone got a hole-in-one that day too.  and not just ANY hole-in-one.  we have two sponsored holes for the day.  on one hole you can win a lexus and on one hole you can win $10,000.  hey, go big or go home, right?

so here's a guy who literally JUST started playing golfing.  took a few lessons and his first course experience was monday.  second hole, fourth swing, BOOM - hole-in-one and $10,000!  amazing!

so here i am sitting at my desk the next day and my phone rings.  it's the guy who won the $10k.

i answer, we chat for a bit about his big winnings and he says, "i want to donate it all back to the charity!"

i go numb.  speechless.  and i cry.  how awesome.  how truly amazing!  what a great guy.

next thing he says, the news has gotten wind of the story and they want to do a special on it.

how fun!  so he invites us out to the golf course and gives us the details.  he asks me to contact the lady at the dream factory because he wants to personally give her the check.  perfect, let's make this happen.

i get off the phone with him and call bene.  she's the sweetheart second to the right in the picture above.

she cries.  i cry some more.  she keeps saying "no way, no way!  i need to sit down!"

i mean seriously, just how awesome.  i couldn't be more proud of the winner, for the dream family and to be part of such an awesome outing!

here's the news clip.

the news anchor said that day: what a great shot, what a great day, what a great humanitarian.

spot on.

Mother's Day Weekend Catch Up

hi!!  so sorry for being MIA yesterday.

i am just behind on life.

you should see the duplex.  whew - it needs some love.  and it will get it.  next week once we move out!

ahhh - so let's catch up on life.

when we last left off my sister got engaged.  yay - she appreciates all the sweet words, so thank you!

no hot deets on when the big day will be yet though.

so friday i attended a wedding for a co-worker or mine.  becky has been an amazing mentor at work and i have learned SO much from her.  there was no way i was missing her special day.

they had a ceremony at the butterfly house (ps super cool) and then a reception at Orlando's.

and let me just say special doesn't even describe this wedding.

it was the most amazing celebration i have been to in a really long time.

the room was filled to the brim with nothing but LOVE and support - oh man it was just perfect.

i am SO happy for them and wish them nothing but the best.

let's talk about more special stuff.  this little gem was waiting in my mailbox when i got home.

holy tears - how sweet is this!  inside was a mommy mug.  ahhh!!

thank you, thank you, to this truly amazing person (who obviously reads my blog).  i cried - seriously!

saturday i slept in and it was awesome.  until the kid who cuts my grass came over at 9 AM......

i totally pulled a mom move and went outside to pay him - in my bath robe.  baha.

i literally didn't do anything productive that whole day until JH got off work and we went to dinner and bowling with some of his friends.  we bowled three rounds (is that what they're called?) and i only broke 100 one time.  yeah - it was bad.....

sunday morning i was up right away and headed to get S&H for mother's day!

they got me the cutest mommy mug!  so now i have two - YAY!!  one very happy mommy!!

we headed over to nana's house and sang a few songs.  bahahaha.

yep - singing with nana's book, just like we are in church.  all stella's idea.  it was hilarious.

there were no actual words sung though, just some humming.  even henry joined in.

after that we headed to ck for some breakfast and then to the magic house!!

seriously there were hardly any people there - it was awesome.  we all had SO much fun!

they loved playing outside the most.  stella had so much fun in the little water stream that she sat right down in it to play.  ha.  she literally road home in just her undies.  everyone zonked out before we even got to 270.

once we got home everyone was ready to go again!

we headed outside for some fun!

here's stella with her ipod (or ipad) as she calls it, getting our playlist ready.

it was so nice outside!!  henry and i decided to get out the little tee ball set and play.  stella was ready to catch the balls - however she needs a bigger glove i think....

yep - nice little wiffle ball mark on her head.  but she was pretty good about it.  poor thing.

after that we painted some pictures for gma steibel and then headed to her house for mother's day and for ice cream cake.  pretty sure any place that includes ice cream cake we will be there.  ok and any place that has tractors upon tractors upon tractors AND baby kittys.  yep, we will be there.

it was seriously a great mothers day - S&H were awesome all day.  everyone was in the best mood.

i'm one very lucky momma!

Maria's Getting Married!

shake your maracas.

grab your sombrero.

update your passport (that's for maria's birth family).

pour the margs...

MARIA'S GETTING MARRIED!!

that's right!! last night danielle got off the plane from being in florida for work all week only to be greeted by her boyfriend at the bottom of the escalator wearing a suit, holding a sign and asking her to marry him.

i know right - hate her.  how freaking cute.

her boyfriend totally got major points.  not just for what he did last night BUT because he asked dad and mom AND asked lacie and i.  good one tate!!

we are SO excited for them.

no joke tate told us when it was going to happen and i told him, she better call me, i don't care what time it is.  so of course i fell asleep at 9:00 like the total mom i am and when i woke up this morning i didn't have a missed call from danielle.  i immediately thought - oh shit, she said no!

good thing my phone started ringing around 6:30 and luckily she said YES!

so you know you wana see the ring, right?

BOOM - he did good!  this is totally danielle and totally gorgeous!

so yay for maria (danielle) and tate!  we are all super excited and now i can finally start actually pinning wedding stuff on pinterest and not just liking it.  whew!

i can only speak for myself and S&H but i know that everyone else would agree we are SO happy to welcome tate as part of our family.

tate steibel just sounds perfect!  ha.

happy friday!

ps - it's my half birthday, getting closer and closer to 30 every.damn.day.

Miles and Mom

happy thursday.

seriously, thursdays are just good - no complaining here.

so  yesterday was an unexpected half day.

stella has strep - boo no fun.

but nothing is better for strep than ice cream.

and sick days at home when it's super ice outside, we just HAD to go

let's talk about how henry can completely devour that cherry dilly bar.

like nothing else matters the second that's in his hand.

and clearly by his face he's not pumped he had to take his concentration off his ice cream for two seconds.

so let's see how i'm doing with the 30 miles in 30 days.

or maybe that personal challenge i gave myself of 50 miles this month, since it's the 5th month.

so saturday i froze my butt off and completed 5 miles at the battlegrounds mud run.

i kinda jacked up my knee a bit that day.  and i haven't actually ran since.

monday night we busted out 3 miles in the stroller

and yesterday we got in another 3.

so we are 9 days into the month and i have 11 miles in!

not too bad!!

oh yeah and my silly ass decided to sign up for ANOTHER mud run on june 1st.
silly silly lady i am.....  ayi.  however this one is only a 5k.  it can't be too bad, right?!  right?!

so my kid was pondering out in the driveway yesterday about what to get his momma for mother's day.

yep - straight up redneck style.
milk belly pushed out - check.
pants tucked into his boots - check.
no shirt - check.
hand in his butt - check.
i thought for a second about slapping a tattoo on his arm.  no joke - i did.
ayi yi yi yi yi..... i laugh.
anyways,  i have to admit i totally want a Mom coffee cup.
ha - not like a #1 Mom one, that's a little much.  i mean unless my kid picked it out for me - then i would love it and drink out of it every day.  and sit it right on top of the mom coaster i have at work :)
but keil's seriously has some of the CUTEST mugs right now.
cough aunt lacie and aunt danielle we totally got you aunt cups cough.
god i suck a secrets.
so yeah - judge me all you want - but i totally want a mom coffee cup.
and a nice little gift card for a pedicure or some tans tucked right inside.
please and thank you.
and miss stella i KNOW you can afford this.  the other day we turned in her piggy bank money and we straight up pulled out THREE fifty dollar bills out that pig.  holy smokes!
any other mom coffee cup lovers out there?!

Oh, How Pinteresting!

i have been pinning the heck out of stuff lately. house stuff. someone's soon to be second birthday stuff. and word on the street, shhh, even some possible engagement stuff. could it be maria or our little texan?! we will have to wait and see!! will be it a fiesta or a rodeo.  ha.  kidding. here's a glimpse into my thoughts via my pins....

yep yep pretty sure we are having a tractor 2nd birthday party. so just pretend that's a two and not a five.  thanks.

oh man - i want this.  and i know S&H would love it too. there's a full blown tutorial, cut sheets, price breakdown, everything. we need this!!

and our new front porch needs this cute little set up. i mean come on - adorable! only 15 more days!!

so i need some help.  i want a round table for my kitchen.  i think it will just work best. anyone have one they want to get rid of? and i kinda love this set up.  minus the chair on the left.  no my style. but the chair on the right, hey aunt rachel, don't you have some old school chairs like this? can we have two - pretty please!!  i'll let you baby sit!! and i'm kinda digging the little love seat/sofa thing against the wall. oh this would just be CUTE!!  i can see it now!

and again, hopefully soon i can put together one of these cute little baskets!! eeeeee!!  so excited!!
happy wednesday!