Tuesday Favorites

Last week was crazy at work. I ended up skipping both Thursday and Friday blog posts just to save my sanity. I tend to be a procrastinator and work best under pressure, and that's exactly what my last few days at work are boiling down too. Plus, I've been working like a mad woman to finish up orders before we move in the next few weeks. I also took on 10 shirt orders for my daughter's preschool class and we went out of town for the weekend! To say I was stressed was a major understatement. Thankfully, my husband was a champ and totally helped me through it and supported my crazy. 

I skipped my Friday Favorites post, which is a typical wrap up of the week, so I'm updating that today, hence the title "Tuesday Favorites."

I have loved having this girl at school with me next year. I cannot believe that 1st grade is coming to an end. It's been so much fun seeing her every day at school and having her in my office at the end of each day. 

I totally forgot what Addy Pearl got into one evening, but it was obviously very good!

Gretchen reads like a mad woman. She's able to finish a chapter book in a day or two. She reads every night before bed and often gets in trouble for staying up too late!

I let her have crazy hair again for school last week. All inspired by my #yesmom post. This time we did one big braid, and then pinned it on top of her head. 

I am loving my new bracelets! The pearl bracelet, I got for mother's day to represent each of the girls (their names mean pearl) from HM Willow. The sparkle bracelet came from Accessory Lane, and I recently purchased the green bracelet from Rustic Cuff. I tend to wear my arrow bracelet from Stella & Dot daily (I've had this one since February.)

Addy is becoming a little more independent as of late. She insists on having a snack as soon as she got home the other day, so she went to the kitchen, pulled out a bowl, found a snack in the pantry, and helped herself. 

That's it for last week! We'll be having lots of fun on the blog this week, as I recap our weekend, preschool graduation, and a few of my new favorite shops!!!

Y'all have a great one! 

Silver Dollar City

 This past weekend, DJ and I loaded up the girls and we headed to Branson! We met my brother, sister in law, and niece for a weekend of fun! 

My mom had bought them family memberships and this past weekend was one of the weekends, that guests could tag along for free! I'm so glad they asked us to go!

The girls were up bright and early Saturday morning, which means that we got to the park as soon as it opened!

We parked, and rode the tram into the park. 

Then we snapped a few pictures. 

It's a tradition to have your picture made here at the big SDC sign!

These girls were ready for some rides!

When we got into the park, we headed left. I had read that everyone heads toward the right in Disney World, so I figured that everyone heads to the right at SDC too. It worked out perfectly, because we were the first people to ride Fire in the Hole, and then DJ and my brother rode another roller coaster.

Afterwards, we headed off to the kiddie area. 

SDC has a brand new kid area devoted to firemen. Our first stop was the hot air balloon ride. 

Then G and I rode the "fire truck".

Addy Pearl loved hanging out with her Uncle Matt.

It started to rain, so we headed to an indoor play area and had tons of fun playing with the balls. 

Once you go in, you grab a bag and fill it with these balls, then you can head up or stay downstairs to shoot them through the guns. Balls were flying everywhere!

Once Megan went upstairs, she was a big girl shooting the guns herself. She loaded them and shot them and when another girl came over to try to take over, she got all defensive! It was quite funny!

Addy Pearl loved playing too!

Once the rain subsided, we went back outside for more rides!

First, they hit up the dalmatian puppy ride. 

Then the girls rode the swings. 

I'm quite surprised that Megan wanted to ride these by herself! She did great!

Finally, the girls did the ladder climb. 

It went way up in the sky! Megan was terrified! I wish you could've seen the look on her face- she started biting the bar in front of her and kept looking at the lady riding with them like what is going on with this thing!

It was finally lunch time, so we settled in with some BBQ. Afterwards, we found a new Huckleberry Finn ride and saw everyone walking off soaking wet! We figured that they only got wet because they shot themselves with their own water guns on their boat, and told ourselves that we wouldn't get that wet, because we wouldn't shoot each other. Well, we had NO idea that there would be people standing along the course of the ride with their own water guns and they would be taking aim right at us! We were drenched by the time we got off that ride!

Thankfully, we dried rather quickly and checked out Grandfather's Mansion and then rode the train. I absolutely love that most of SDC is just like I remember from when I was growing up!

After the train, we rode through the sunken mine and then grabbed ice cream!

We headed over to the World's Fair Exhibit and rode a roller coaster, their "dumbo" ride, and the pirate ship. I had not remembered that the pirate ship, made my stomach turn so much, and poor Megan was freaked the entire time! She screamed, and turned toward me, tried to bite me, and I was getting more and more nauseous! I finally told her to bite the bar in front of her, and we made it through the ride without throwing up or teeth marks.

By that point, I was done with the rides, so I sat with Megan and Adalyn while everyone went through the rapids and came out soaked, so we thought it was the perfect time to head to the splash pad!

DJ and my brother left and rode one more roller coaster, and my sister in law and I hung out with the girls. 

They were soaked and having a blast!

These girls started striking the best poses!

Adalyn LOVED the splash pad! I can't wait to take her more this summer!

DJ and I went and rode a roller coaster and then we went on the rapids again and finally called it a day! We were there from when the park opened to when it closed and had the best time! 

It was the perfect little weekend getaway!

Momfessional Moments: #yesmom!

Today is Show & Tell Tuesdays with Momfessionals! I've been reading Andrea's blog for over a year now (maybe it's been two) and I've always admired how much she's a "Yes, Mom".  From letting her boys play outside all day, to lots of arts and crafts (even though she works full time and I have no idea how she gets it all done!), to letting her middle wear mismatched shoes because that's what he likes. 

Today's Show & Tell Tuesdays is all about your "Momfessional Moments". To me, I took this as a "Yes Mom" approach. I'm confessing all the times that I said yes to my kids, even though my better judgement or inner voice, made me want to stop the moment and have my kids do it "my way."

I am slowly, very slowly, learning to let things go. It's really hard as a Type A to really let my kids go free and establish their own likes when I want things perfect and orderly. Which, let's face it, does NOT happen when you have three kids and you're on the go, go, go. Every once in a while, I let go, let my kids be kids, and have some control. 

These are my Momfessional "Yes Mom" moments:

That time when Megan wanted to wear her pink shoes with orange socks with her MJ outfit, even though it has light pink and not a touch of orange. #yesmom

(This girl insists on wearing socks with shoes, and it drives me crazy!)

That time when Megan wore my belt. 

#yesmom

That time when Megan wore her jacket in Disney World even though it was a sweltering 80 degrees. 

#yesmom

That time when Adalyn ate only her dessert for dinner and made a huge mess. 

#yesmom

That time when I let Gretchen choose blonde hair rather than brown when getting her hair done at Bippiti Boppiti Boutique. And, even though I thought it looked a little skunk like, she loved it because it was "Elsa" hair.

#yesmom

That time Adalyn played in my bathroom cabinets just so I could get dress and she could stay happy.

#yesmom

The time that Adalyn ate a doughnut at football right before lunch. 

#yesmom

The time we had ice cream for dinner.

#yesmom

The time the girls wanted to take their picture in front of the newly erected statue at church, and I wasn't sure if it was against the rules.

#yesmom

The time I let the girls use bathtub "paint".

#yesmom

The time Gretchen wore her hair like this to school.

#yesmom

And the time I let Meggie play with wet sidewalk chalk in her pj's after bedtime.

#yesmom

Thank you Andrea for making me more of a "yes mom" and realizing that these little things won't hurt them or me in the grand scheme of life. In fact, it will probably make these girls love life a little more! 

And if you want to join along next time. Here's the schedule!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO

#yesmom

Weekend Wrap Up: Branson Edition

This weekend was a blast! After DJ being gone all last week, we definitely needed some time away! 

Our weekend started EARLY! I left work Thursday around lunch because I had to run over to another elementary to visit the SLP there. I figured I would grab lunch, visit the SLP and then get back to my school to finish out the afternoon. About 10 minutes after I left school, the little girls daycare called to let me know that Adalyn threw up. I was stuck in a jam since DJ was out of town, and I knew that the other two people that I might be able to ask, were both working on Thursday. So I called my principal, figured out how we would work the afternoon meeting that I had, and then I picked up Adalyn and Megan from school. We ran over to the other school to visit the SLP quickly, and then went to pick up Gretchen and a file that I needed for my afternoon meeting. The girls and I headed home and I put Adalyn down for a nap. 

While she was sleeping, the big girls played upstairs and I cleaned out my closet. This is all that's left! I swear I got rid of half of my clothes! Our upcoming move is making me purge, and I'm tired of seeing clothes in my closet that I NEVER wear! So, out they went. 

Adalyn woke up from her nap and was all smiles. I gave her a snack, we cuddled, and then I had my conference call since I had to come home from work. 

At some point, between my conference call, cleaning out Megan's drawers and packing for our weekend trip, Adalyn did this:

Not only was it on her belly, but it was on her hand too, and later that evening, I found out that it was on my couch.

Friday morning, I got the girls up and ready to take Gretchen to school. I had to keep Adalyn home, since she had thrown up at school the day before (they have to be well for 24 hours before they can return) and I figured that I might as well keep Megan home with me too.

DJ's flight landed around 3, and he picked Gretchen up from school. 

The little girls helped me pack and work on laundry on our day off. 

Addy's shirt says, "I'm not allowed to date EVER!" I found it from Mudpies & Pearls and had to have it! I really wanted the shirt for Gretchen, since she has a "boyfriend" but it didn't come big enough. 

Once DJ and Gretchen got home, we hit the road to Branson!

My plan was to do this most of the way. After a week of being a "single" parent, I thought I deserved a nap! (Especially because I had stayed up until close to midnight working on orders the night before!)

We arrived at the condo, and I went to the grocery store (alone!) and then my brother, his wife, and my niece arrived. They gave Megan her birthday present (I cannot believe she is turning 4 on Sunday!)

She loved her Doc book and toys! 

We let the girls stay up and play (it was after 10 at this point!) and I found them on the patio watching the ipad. 

Saturday morning, the girls were up bright and EARLY and we headed out to Silver Dollar City!

It was so much fun hanging out with my brother!

We had the BEST day! I'll be posting more about our SDC day later on this week.

After we spent the entire day at SDC, we went to Falls Creek for dinner. The girls were cranky and tired and were a hot mess, and I was terrified for the older couples that were seated next to us. Thankfully, one of the men was a great sport! He talked to Adalyn and gave her $5.00 and told her that I could buy her candy with it if she ate all of her dinner. It was so sweet of him and I was so thankful for these angels who put up with our craziness. 

We put the girls to bed EARLY and on Sunday, we got up and ready to leave. We had to clean up the condo, and then we went down to Branson Landing.

Again, Addy was a hot mess at lunch, so we got up and walked around a bit, and then my sister in law took her so I could eat and then once her food arrived, she was much better! Home girl was tired, but was all smiles after she ate!

This weekend was the best! We definitely needed a quick trip away!

Hope yours was great too!!!