Mystery Reader!

This past Friday was "Mystery Reader" day at Trysten's school, and guess who the mysterious guest was...

My dad!

It means so much to me that my parents have made such a concerted effort to make Trysten feel just as important as all of the grandchildren in our family, as if he has always been part of us. It was never even a question. Ryan and Trysten were welcomed with open arms from the very beginning, and for that I am blessed.
Happy Monday!!!

Weekend Recap!

Despite the fact another couple beat us to the punch on a home that we absolutely fell in love with, it was a fantastic weekend.  Before I get to the scoop on our little getaway, here are a few pics from Thursday evening...for some reason, we always seem to start our weekends on Thursday!

Ryan cooked out pork tenderloin on the grill...yum

Carter devouring his salad...Love that my boys love salad!

These 2 are a handful together!

Our silly boys...so much fun!

Fast forward to Saturday...

We had our home inspection. All went well, and closing is set for May 18th. That's 23 days, people. Twenty-three days until we will be forced out of our home and on the streets. Well...not really, but as of this very moment, we have no house to move into.  As I mentioned earlier, we found an awesome house in McKinney but were too late in submitting an offer...so we're back to square one. 

Since we're leasing for a year to save up the rest of the down payment for our dream home, the inventory of homes to choose from is slim pickins...for real. With that being said, we're having to adjust our expectations of finding everything we want in a lease home so that we can successfully move in a few short weeks. It's only a year, so our main focus is on a good neighborhood and room for the kids to play. Our plan going into our home search had our sites on Prosper, but as we have spent hours driving some of the neighborhoods available further into McKinney, we are discovering so many established neighborhoods that we love with...wait....get this....TREES. Real live trees. Beautiful. Mature landscaping, pools already built and every house looks different from all the others in the neighborhood. We're scheduled to take a look at a few more houses on Tuesday, so I'll be back then with an update.

Moving on...our getaway was so much fun! We realized on the way home that we neglected our camera, so use your imagination. The concert was incredible. Darius Rucker played his new music and some of his old Hootie and the Blowfish favorites. Our seats were on the 3rd row, so our view was awesome. We gambled before and after the concert but managed to make it up to our room at a reasonable hour. Ryan arranged for room service in the morning, and surprised me with a couple's 80 minute massage at the hotel's spa on Sunday. Heaven. Seriously, the man continues to blow me away. When we walked into the spa and said our last name, the lady behind the counter said, "Oh, I remember Ryan. You are one lucky lady, Mrs. Soladay. I spoke with him over the phone on Thursday setting your appointment up, and his main concern was making you feel special." Really? Pinch me. Blessed, blessed, blessed. Just sayin.

Although we forgot to take pics, we did manage to record part of the concert. Enjoy!

Hope your weekend was just as fun!!!

Random Bits of Information

Nothing super enlightening, nothing life changing nor earth shattering...just a little self discovery and reflection over happenings as of late.  Random bits of information.  Here they are in random order...because I wouldn't have it any other way.

1. I don't like teenagers.  They are mutated children with a distorted sense of entitlement.  They believe they are knowledegable way beyond their years and lack the ability to comprehend that we too were once their age.  They are smartmouthed and cranky.

2. Five words: I.love.laser.hair.removal.

3. The woman buying our house requested all of the curtains I made as part of her offer, regardless of the fact that they were listed as "not included" in the seller's disclosure.  Not happy about this.

4. The Painted Lady caterpillars are getting REALLY big and starting to gross me out a little.

5. I am so over Ryan and I being the "mean, overprotective, strict parents" because we are the house with the rules and structure. (Hence random topic number 1) I'm sorry you have to do homework every night, go to bed at an accpetable hour, and not eat junk food 24/7. 
Over it. Talk to me in 15 years and see if you have changed your mind. Next topic.

6. A few weeks ago, I called Ryan in the car and casually emntioned that Darius Rucker (former lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish) was playing at WinStar Casino on April 24th. Twenty minutes later, I received an email with confirmation of 2 tickets to the concert. About 15 minutes after that, I received another email with confirmation for a room at the hotel and dinner reservations. Sweetest man ever.

7. I cannot believe lake season is just around the corner. That means bikini time. I need some will power because this is the time of year when there is ALWAYS something going on at school related to food. For example, yesterday...HUGE teacher luncheon with LOTS of desserts. Not good for bikini season.

8. Ryan picked up a piece of dog poop in the dark last night. Apparently one of our little doggies thought the dining room rug was the perfect spot to do her business while we were attending Preston's baseball game. Ryan's shoe grazed a piece while turing out the lights, causing it to roll onto the wood floor. All Ryan saw was something dark in the shape of a ball, and thinking it was just that, he reached down and picked it up. That's when I heard his discovery of what actually he had in his hand. Gross.

9. Monday night I dreamed I was at my parent's old house I grew up in, and as my mother and I were walking outside the front door, a woman pulled up in a maroon Lincoln and tossed out the body of a deceased female. Where in the world did my brain come up with that? Too much CSI?

10. We have to be out of our home in less than 30 days and have no clue where we're going yet. I keep looking at all the stuff we have to pack, pretending we don't really have to pack it.

The End

Happy Wednesday!!!

Weekend Recap!

Life just keeps getting better 

for our little family, and I cannot wait to share the news!  I am way too excited for concentrating long enough to bang out a quick-witted recap of the details, so I'm settling for...

We SOLD our house!!!

A total of 16 days on the market, and we are DONE!

Ryan and I are thrilled, as are the boys, so now the million dollar question is...Where are we going to live?  Good question.  Our first choice is Prosper.  Ryan's parents will be back there in about a year, the schools are FANTASTIC....which is a non negotiable for us...and it has a much smaller feel than where we are now. 

Ryan and I have a small getaway planned for the 2 of us this coming weekend, but we are planning to take the day off from work on Friday and act like bonafied house hunters!  How much fun is that!  On our MUST HAVE list is at least 4 bedrooms, about 1,000 square feet more than what we have now....we have 4 boys and 2 large dogs, people...we need space...a 3 car garage....for our cars and the 10,000 bikes, scooters, skateboards, sporting equipment, etc. that goes along with 4 boys, and a pool would be the icing on the cake! 

Can't wait.

Outside of the house hoopla, there were lots of good times had by all over the semana!

Ice cream from the ice cream truck on Friday was enjoyed outside at my in-law's home in Prosper.

I think Preston's was a little sour!

Sharing =)

Don't stop eating just to play basketball!

Yum

My men =)

My mother-in-law's roses.  Carol, look how great they look!

Family night on Saturday with one of the boy's favorites...steamed artichokes!

Sweet boys...although I am not sure about Carter's eyes...Reminds me of Ramona walking the runway on Real Housewives of New York.

Carter and Trysten spent the night entertaining us with costume changes...should I be worried about this one?

Last, but certainly not least, look what came in the mail on Saturday!

Painted Lady caterpillars!

Lots of greatness goin' on!

Hope you're weekend was just as fantastic!!

We Meet Again!

Hello, Friday! 

 We meet again!!

The weekend officially begins today at 3:00 PM central standard time in Soladayland.  We cheated and started a little early with another trip to our neighborhood park last night.  The weather has been too pleasant to be indoors.  Ryan played baseball with Austin, Preston and Carter while Trysten flexed his professional park player muscles.  The day came to an end with homework, haircuts, and burgers on the grill.  During dinner last night, we were doing the

Family Dinner Conversation questions, and the inquiry Trysten pulled out read, "If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do?"  Two out of 4 boys said they would rob a bank...Should we be worried?

Lots of  fun planned for our weekend! 
I heart this family...

Have a great one!!!

Finally

I finally did something I have wanted to do so many times before.

Drumroll please...........I ordered a live butterfly kit for the boys....I know....not what you expected to follow that build up, but I am so excited. 

Three out of 4 of our little guys are learning about the life cycle of something in school...butterflies and frogs just to name a few...so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to give them the chance to see first hand what they're reading about.  As a mother and a teacher, I've discovered that making a real world connection for kids is the key
to foster a love of learning....okay...off my box. 
I have seen these kits before and wanted to purchase one, but for some reason or another, I just never got around to it...until now.

(This pic is from the Nature Gift Shop website...dorky.)

The kit includes:

1. Five Painted Lady Butterfly Caterpillars

2. One foot tall see-through net cage with zippered entry for easy access for care and feeding. It can hang or set on a table-top. Collapses for easy storage till you are ready to raise more butterflies with butterfly refills.

3. Water mister, butterfly feeder, sugar and eye dropper

I found these print-outs for the boys, so we can keep track of what stage of the life cycle our little Painted Ladies are in:

Cool? I think so! 

I told Ryan last night, and he just laughed and smiled.  I think he's gotten used to my quirkiness.  Bets made...he'll be just as in to this experience as the boys!

One more thing.  This picture was on the same website:

Does this creep anyone out, or is it just me?

Takin' it to the Park

I.am.loving.the.spring.weather.

It makes me want to be outside...In fact, I almost took my students outside to work today, but we were finishing something that would have been difficult to complete in the windy conditions as of late.  Instead, I decided we needed a family picnic, and being the southern gal that I am, I couldn't help but immediately think of

fried chicken when I thought of a picnic. 

I emailed Coco and Casey...since they are the recipe queens...and asked for a good fried chicken recipe since I haven't fried ANYTHING in years...it's just not PC anymore, you know.  Coco said her hubby was the friyin' fool and suggested picking up KFC and making a wonderful pasta salad, and Casey...well, she told me to try some oven fried chicken...such a good mom.  With time NOT on my side, I was forced to forgo making the pasta salad (recipe stored for later use) since I didn't have the fresh ingredients on hand, and I opted for some homemade fried chicken instead.  I was forced to used my memory as the recipe:

The assembly line

Eggs and Tabasco sauce...good stuff

Don't forget to double dip!

Ya, baby!

Yum...

Takin' it to the park!

Slow down, dude!

Time for some fun!

Does it get any better?

I think not, my friends!!!

Selling Your Home

Chances are, if you're in my age bracket (mid to late 30s), you have sold a house or maybe even 2.  It isn't fun, people.  We've only been on the market approximately 1 and 1/2 weeks, and I am already over it. 

Realtors all over the country go through a company called

Centralized Showing Service (CCS) to schedule appointments to show homes, and when yours is requested, you receive a courtesy call to inform you that a potential buyer will be viewing your property later that same day.  In other words, clean up your casa, and put your doggies outside.  The newest addition to this service is the option for the realtor, after taking his/her clients through your home, to post any comments on CCS regarding your listing for you to read.  This can be helpful, yet confusing,  For example, yesterday, two couples came to see our home, and one response was "Didn't like floor plan"....okay, we can't fix that...where the very next response was "Loved the floor plan". 

Is there really a buyer for every home?  I sure hope so, because in order to keep our home smelling springtime-fresh...we were forced to pass on the boys' furry little guinea pig friends for the time being. 

Any words of advice out there?

Weekend Recap!

My extreme exhaustion this evening has led to my lapse in creativity, which has inturn resulted in the absence of my usual "Weekend Recap" poem.  Please forgive, as I know you all have been biting your nails in anticipation of reading another one of my random but clever expressions of rhythmic literary work. You follow?

Moving on...

Ryan and I had such.a.great.weekend.alone.togther.

We really did. I won't go into all the sappy details, but can I just say the man is the total package in the realm of good husbands.  I could go on...but I won't.

Another busy week is on the horizon in Soladayland...homework, sports, life, school...Did you know there are only 38 school days left? Greatness.

I am so ready for the relaxation of summer days and nights. Ready for spontaneous getaways and late nights with my hubby outside while the kids play.  I'm as ready for it to start as I am ready for life to go back to a normal routine at the end of the summer. 

I leave you all with a random little video of Carter and Trysten filmed last Thursday evening while Ryan was gone to a vendor event.  The boys got their paws on Ryan's guitar, so I whipped out the camera.  Carter and T took turns making up their own song, and while one sang, the other did a little background "dancing". 

By the way, Trysten mentions the name, Don, in his song.  That's my ex-husband, and whenever he brings my boys something like a snack, piece of candy, etc. to one of their games, he always brings a little something for Trysten as well. 
Enjoy!

Hope your weekend was fabulous too!!

The Soladay Family Caliventure!

I cannot begin to tell y'all how much fun I am having planning our big family summer vacation which I have now nicknamed

The Soladay Family Caliventure.

Why? Because it's our California adventure, and I like the way it sounds.

We have regretfully nixed the RV due to the costs adding up quickly and have decided to fly instead. This will cut our out of pocket expenses of $4,000 down to about half of that. That, my friends, is a chunk of change. 

Our daily itinerary is jammed packed with family greatness as seen below:

June 7th

Leave DFW for Orange County, California

June 8th

Disneyland

June 9th

Disney's California Adventureland

June 10th

Universal Studios

June 11th

Beach Day at Newport Beach

June 12th

Drive to San Diego/San Diego Zoo

June 13th

Beach Day in San Diego

June 14th

Sea World & Return to Orange County

June 15th

Beach Day

June 16th

Leave Orange County for DFW

Do you think the kids will be exhausted?!

I have been researching each park so that we have a game plan going each day. When you're traveling with a pack, you have to be prepared. I have put together a daily itinerary for each of the parks with meal plans,  a list of rides/attractions which are must dos for our family and in what order...allowing us to make the most of every day...the height requirements for each one, whether a Disney Fast Pass is applicable, and the location of the penny machines along the way so the boys can add to their passports.

Check out 2 of the day's agendas! You like? I do!

I have also been working on a travel bag for each of the boys complete with a kid-friendly itinerary, an activity book for the plane ride, brochures from each of the parks...which you can order online, a small disposable camera, change for the penny machines...Thank you, Casey for that idea, and a few other small goodies. 

Ryan and I cannot wait,

and the boys

are counting down the days!!!

Happy Thursday!!