Weekend Recap & Back to School!

We had a great weekend, friends.

It really was fun.

Nothing major was planned, but we spent Friday through

Sunday all together...minus Trysten,

who was with his mom...and being together...harmoniously together...was nice.

Friday was Carter and Preston's Meet the Teacher night at their new school.

They were so excited, and when they both saw me sign up to volunteer in their respective classrooms, you would have thought I had just bought and given them the most wonderful gift.

It made me so happy.

Carter is in 1st grade this year.

Sweet boy.

Preston is in 4th grade.

He was ecstatic to learn he will be switching classes this year between 2 teachers.

He's big time now, people.

"The Teenager" had a baseball scrimmage Friday night and loved every minute of it.

He hasn't played in a few seasons but was able to pick right back up where he left off.

 Look at my boy pitch and strike his opponent out!

Next at bat, Austin!

I took this pic during Austin's game.

Preston's looks are really changing.

Handsome boy.

Saturday was a big day at our house....and no, it had nothing to do with the THREE baseball practices Ryan and I carted our crew around to...it was special because it was Ryan's 35th birthday!

The boys and I bought him a really nice golf shirt from the

pro shop at the golf club Ryan's parents belong to in the neighborhood,

and we sang happy birthday to him with a candle in the steak he grilled Saturday night.

It was a fun night!

Happy birthday, baby!

Sunday was laid back too.

The boys rode bikes, we hit the pool for a bit, Austin rode a go kart with a neighbor friend,

I unloaded my fall decor from the attic.

It's now sitting in the dining room, waiting to makes its appearance.

Ryan thinks I'm crazy.

Can't wait.

I made LOTS of frames...by the way, if anyone else would like to order one, let me know!

I am going to have to slightly adjust my pricing a tad due to JoAnns increasing the cost of the frames...and I am adding glass to them since they don't come with, but other than that, if you have already ordered one, please know I am working on yours!

Thanks, ladies!

At the end of the day, it was time for dinner, laying out clothes for the first day of school, and bedtime!

Insert deep breath here....it feels so nice to get back into a routine.

I love it.

I woke the boys up early this morning for breakfast.

I reminded myself of my mother this morning.

Cooking eggs.

Cinnamon rolls in the oven.

Milk poured with napkins next to their plates.

Thank you, Ryan for working so hard so that I can experience this!

Before heading out the door, I caught this little man putting on cologne.

You know...gotta smell good for the ladies.

Time to go!

That's it!

It feels very strange sitting in my house alone this morning.

Here's to a new adventure!

Happy Monday, friends!!

What's Up?

Here's what's up at our casa:

Look at "The Teenager"!!!

Austin is officially in braces!

He looks so much older with metal in his mouth.

Who would've thought?

He chose blue and green bands.

When I was little, we didn't have colored bands.

Plain gray was the color of the day.

Can you see the baby opossum we saw today at Target?

See...EVERYONE loves Target.

I am a frame making fool right now.

My fingers actually became Modge Podged together at one point.

The owner of :

in Marble Falls ordered 5.

The one below is one of hers that she gave to a friend as a baby shower gift last weekend.

I have been working on building my drapery business this summer.
I currently have 2 clients I am working with,
and a few neighbors have expressed interest in me doing some work for them.
Since I am not working full time, I actually have the time now to grow my business.
It's kinda exciting.

I am dreaming of cooler weather...
Fall weather to be precise.
I bought these 2 little guys for the porch in hopes that it might encourage some milder temps.
If you remember last year, I put out our fall decor September 1st
and will be doing the same this year starting with these 2 wooden characters.
Love it.

This is also "what's up" at our house:

That's it!

Happy, Tuesday, my friends!!

Weekend Recap!

What a fun weekend!

Coco and I laughed, we cried...we really did a few times, we almost died, ate yummy food including pad Thai and poached salmon, relaxed, goofed off, lost our train of thought mid sentence...multiple times...shocker.

It was awesome.

I had the pleasure of spending time with these little nuggets:

And snuggled with this precious ball of fur...who peed every single time I touched her.

I was once again impressed with Coco's mad mothering skillz.

She has the uncanny ability to be mauled by her children while parenting at the same time.

Observe, my dear friends:

Impressive....I know.

Speaking of impressive, check out Coco's little chalupas and their off the hook dancing abilities...wonder where they got it from?

In the background you could probably hear...if you weren't too engrossed in the dance off taking place to notice...Coco's mother. Love her. She is a doll, and quick witted like her daughter.

I fell in love with the little town home to the Coco crew.

Lots of precious locally owned shops and restaurants

great schools and friendly people.

As with any small town, there are inhabitants of all levels of education.

Hence this sign:

Love it, and can't wait to go back some day!

Thanks for the laughs, Coco...oh, and for almost killing us in the parking lot of

Z Tejas

in downtown Austin.

It was real!
P.S.
Ryan and I survived a weekend apart. Miracle...I know.
Lots of "I miss you", "Thinking about you", and other texts too hot for blogland.
Love that man.

It's Kinda a Big Deal

So I'm leaving this morning to drive several hours away to visit Coco.

I am totally psyched for a girl's weekend!

Totally psyched.

We are going to laugh, discuss the meaning of life, drink wine, have facials,
laugh some more, eat, drink some more wine, repeat.

Now, here I must add a little revelation Ryan and I realized the other night...

This is only the 2nd weekend we have spent apart since we have been married...or even dating.

It's kinda a big deal.
He just walked out the door for the office...insert ridiculously corny line here...
I miss that man already.
I am sure he will survive without me....It's called 18 holes on the golf course.

Have a fantastic weekend,
my friends,
and stay tuned for the recap
of all the fun
on Monday!

Miscellaneous Nonsense

Here's my post

on all the

miscellaneous nonsense

going on at

Casa de Soladay.

Enjoy.

1. The boys are all registered for school! Have you ever run around collecting immunization records, replacing lost social security cards, filling out paper work, making copies of important documents, purchasing school supplies, helping your child choose his elective courses all while toting around 4 boys? I have. It was not fun. Not any small part of it was enjoyable. BUT, it's done, and we all survived.

2. Went to the dentist/orthodontist with the boys today. Again. Trysten had his teeth cleaned, while "The Teenager" and Preston had more prep work done for the big day next week. Pardon me as I digress here and say that Trysten has the best teeth ever. Really. They are perfectly straight like his daddy's. No braces will be needed for that kiddo.

3. Since we don't know for sure whether we're going to purchase the house we're in when our lease is up, I haven't wanted to spend a lot of money on things like fabric and trim for curtains, but the bare windows have been driving me crazy...so I was at Target and found some premade curtains in a fabric I liked, purchased 3, took them apart and sewed them back together to fit our windows. They're not perfect, but I love how cozy they make the room feel.

I've also added a few things to the mantle.

A little closer up:

I love the monkey.

There's a story behind the monkey.

Ryan's dad had a pet monkey in college, and he and Carol have always collected monkey trinkets.

I guess Ryan and I are continuing the tradition.

4. I took the boys to get haircuts yesterday, and while in the waiting area of Sports Clips, Carter whipped a tampon out of my purse in the most testosterone infested establishment ever and asked VERY loudly, "Mom, why do you still have this bathroom thing, and what do you do with it?" Nice. I wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

5. Do you have an iPhone? I do now. Yes, I finally joined the club and discovered the MOST addicting app that you must purchase and play with me. It's called Words With Friends and was actually created by 2 local guys.

It's basically Scrabble, and you can play with anyone who has an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. The great part is that you can have multiple games going on simultaneously since you might only add 1 or 2 words a day. I am a word game freak, so this is right up my alley. Ryan and I finished our first game together yesterday after playing for about 4 days. It's fun because you can leave messages to each other which your opponent sees when it's his/her move. If you are already privy to this addiction, create a game with me! My username is Asoladay!!!

That's it, my friends!

Happy Tuesday!!

Weekend Recap!

It was a family weekend!

I wish I could say it was a fantastic family weekend from
beginning to end,

not that it wasn't great, but Ryan and I definitely experienced some challenges....

with "The Teenager".

He is majorly testing the boundaries, forcing rifts between his father and I, and causing Ryan and I to have to come up with different means of handling his behavior. It is absolutely breaking my heart to be where we are regarding Austin. He is such a great kid, but I am afraid some alien being came in the middle of the night sometime this past year and captured my son, leaving us with a fraction of the child I remember cuddling with, reading to, playing legos with. It is hands down one of the most difficult situations I have dealt with

in my almost 14 years of being a mother.

I pray every.single.day. to get through this with him, and come out happy and proud on the other side.

Moving on...

Ryan cooked out on Friday night...Yum!

Do you have any idea how much chicken it takes to feed 4 boys!?

A lot.

Ryan spent a lot of time working on the boys' bikes for one thing or another.
Such a sweet man.

Our garage has been overtaken by bikes, scooters, sports paraphernalia and...

BOYS!

Ryan's toy had its official unveiling this weekend!

What do you think!?

BEFORE

AFTER!

The Hog Mobile!

We took several cruises on the Hog this weekend.

A little peak into the fun...
Listen to the question Trysten asks me.
Silly Boy. =)

Good times!

Another busy week ahead preparing for back to school starting with taking Austin to his new school tomorrow to register for his classes.

We have 3 baseball practices this week and had 2 this past weekend.

It was hot, my friends.

Really hot.

I have some sewing to do, frames to make, and then Mama is heading to Marble Falls to partaay with Coco this weekend!

Hope your weekend

was just as fun!!

Randomness

1. Am I the only one who is looking forward to the normalcy of the school year to start? Don't get me wrong. Mama loves me some summer, but I am ready to get back into a routine. I can only do "no schedule" living for so long.

2. I was at Hobby Lobby the other day, and Christmas decor is up in full force. WTH?! Really? Could we get through fall first? Seeing all the pumpkins, scarecrows, and little bundles of hay did get me excited though. I can't wait to decorate for fall this year with our front porch.

3. I have been to the dentist office so much lately that when I walk in, the whole front office says, "Hey, you again." Stage 1 of braces began Tuesday. Preston and Austin had the spacers put in, and "The Teenager" proceeded to take one out after being home for an hour or so because "It hurt so bad." Uh...hello. It's supposed to hurt. IT'S MOVING YOUR TEETH TO MAKE WAY FOR BRACES. Can you tell I am a little irritated with him at the moment?

4. Speaking of irritated, "The Teenager" had a friend spend the night on Monday and Tuesday, and he is no longer allowed to come back. I spent a few minutes standing outside Austin's door late Tuesday night listening to them talk while they were playing a video game, and I was shocked at some of the things being said. Wow. That kid had some choice words to say. I opened up the door, gave Austin "the look", and closed it leaving Austin to stew over what the consequences would be in the morning. He was already in trouble for running down the stairs and yelling while I was trying to have a phone conversation. Needless to say, it's going to be a long, lonely weekend for my child in his room.

5. My boys are at their dad's until tomorrow, so it's just Trysten and I hanging out today. He has already requested a meatball sub for lunch, so meatballs it is. Sweet boy. He's also going with me to run errands...which he hates....and to an appointment with a new customer who has a pool...which will make up for the errands he will have to endure.

6. It feels so weird not having to attend staff developments and prepping a classroom for 26 new students. Weird, but good.

7. The golf cart is being painted and seats changed to black as we speak, and should be home by late tomorrow. Stay tuned for pics. The boys...which includes Ryan...are so excited!

Happy Thursday, my friends!!

Weekend Recap!

The weekend was fabulous!

We sipped on liquid greatness at the winery and

listened to some good ol' Louisiana blues...

Could he be a little more handsome?

Enjoyed our patio...

Can you spot our new house guest?

Did a little shopping for the puppies...

A little something for ourselves. Isn't he cute!

A new mirror over the fireplace.

Still needs a little something more. A work in progress for sure.

A few nighttime golf cart rides.

Ryan just bought these humongous tires for family ride.

They are huge. And shiny.

Next up...having it painted Razorback Red, changing out the seats,

diamond plating...you name it.

Ryan is doing it.

Hope your weekend was just as great!

Happy Monday, friends!