End of Summer Break

On July 10th I had my last final of the Summer semester and it’s been over two weeks of absolute bliss! No homework, no project, no textbook readings, no exams. Instead, I’m having plenty of time to spend with family, go for runs, go to the gym, clean my house, watch TV, and read. I am doing the absolute best that I can to just relish and enjoy this brief summer break. So, let me take this time to catch you up on what we’ve been up to and what we have planned!

The weekend before the fourth of July we had some family down for a visit. They stayed in a town close by and we went over to visit. There was a lot of food, some pretty wonderful conversations, plenty of time with my niece and nephew, and a few hours of kayaking on the lake.

Then, on the 4th, we made a trip down to Port A for a friend’s wedding. I wish I had some good pictures of everyone, but for the most part, my phone was not used. We swam in the ocean, watched the 4th of July fireworks, ate some delicious food, and were able to visit with friends.

The local running club that I’m a part of had their July social the day after we got back from our mini vacation. There was a photographer there that took many great shots of everyone. The food was delicious, and it was nice meeting some new people. I’ll write a bit more about the running club at a later date, but for now, here’s a snap from that day.

My abuelita is turning ninety in a few days, and we had her birthday celebration over the weekend! It was so great getting to see so many relatives! We miss my aunt Linda, but I hope she was able to see us all gathered together - not only celebrating my grandmother but also thinking of her. 

This week Emery and I will be heading out to California for a quick visit. Corey will be heading out on a boy’s deep sea fishing trip the day we fly back. This will be in celebration of his dad’s 60th birthday. We wanted to make both trips but there was a scheduling conflict so we opted to take separate trips in order to get this time in with our loved ones. While I’m bummed Corey won’t be able to come with us, I’m still excited to see our family in California - some that I haven’t seen in person since 2012. And I’m really happy that Corey gets to spend time with his dad and brothers doing what he loves - fishing. 

Once we get back we’ll have a handful of days to get everything ready for Emery’s upcoming school year. And my Fall semester will begin shortly after. I’m hoping to post a few more times between now and then too. I’ve had this sudden urge to write and there’s a lot of word vomit headed your way. Just letting you know in advance. Until the next post…✌

Through Photographs - Summer 2020

I recently went through my camera roll, and there’s a lot on there. Way too much, actually. So, I started the tedious task of transferring them onto my computer, into folders, and off my phone. Unfortunately, I’m nowhere near done with sifting through them all. Our recent move put a pause on the project too. Anywho, I wanted to go ahead and post a few photographs for everyone. Y’all can see some of what we enjoyed over the past few months. Enjoy. 

4th of July Freedom Ride

Pool time in Tomball

More pool time with the boys

Finally got my LTC

A new skateboard and serving some teenage angst

Lunch with the ladies

A litter of mini Aussies

It's Hot, Summer is Almost Over, & I'm Tired

Hey everyone! I’m not exactly sure where you’re at, location wise, at the moment but let me just say that Texas is getting hot y’all. Today was the first day in over a week that we had the temperature dip below 100 degrees. But only barely. Our heat index was over 110 the past five days. So naturally, this called for back -to- back pool days. A shit ton of ice cream/popsicles. And a lot of time spent indoors in front of the A/C. Not sure what we would have done without Netflix or Hulu either. Anyway, I thought I’d pop in to say hello!

Can you believe we’re already at the end of July? I feel like that went by pretty fast. Though, I’m kind of ready for the school year to start. No more, “Mooooom, I’m so bored.” or “Mom, why can’t we go out every single day to go do something with other people?” Once the school year starts back up then they become the teacher’s problem, am I right?! Ha! I kid. Kind of. But no, seriously, I need someone to keep my kid mentally engaged while also keeping her physically active for a good eight hours of the day. That way once she comes home she’s doesn’t want to spend an hour arguing over why she thinks she doesn’t need to bathe regularly. Or challenging her bedtime. Or crying over her limited screen time because she refused to put on her bottoms. Or complaining about not having anything to do. You see, when school time rolls around I feel like kids are a bit more agreeable at the end of the day. At least the younger ones anyway. When they’re finished with all of the after-school activities and homework they’re usually pretty cool with doing nothing.  Watching TV. Eating some grub. You know, the usual. So, when we got the "school supply list" email for this upcoming school year you can bet your sweet cheeks I was ready. “Yaaaassss! Summer is almost over!!” I’m already planning on going “back to school” supply shopping next week. This momma is going to put in as much overtime as she can this week in order to get all of the supplies in one trip! Woohoo!

Okay, okay. All kidding aside. I love summer. I love the time spent with my family. And I know that there will come a time when I’m begging for these years back. Wishing I could have just one more summer like this. So, even though I’m ready for the school year to start...I’m also wishing for slower days. Just a little more sunshine. Just one more night of living room dance sessions. A few extra hours of snuggling on the couch while watching movies. And one more “ice cream for breakfast” day. I’m constantly talking about needing a “pause” button because sometimes I feel like it’s all going by too fast. So, in reality, I’m grateful for all of the time I get. Even when my anxiety is kicked into overdrive. Even on the days when I’m exasperated by the attitude my kid is dishing out. I still feel pretty blessed to have any of this at all.

And wow did that get all serious real fast, huh? My bad guys! I honestly didn’t plan to write much today. So, I’ll start winding this post down now. I originally came on here to say "Hello!" To let you know that it’s really hot here. To talk about how tired I am. And to say that I started to carve out a schedule for writing/posting which I hope to implement next month. I’ve also started a workout routine, and I hope to write about that part of my life a bit more on here as well. Lately, I’ve been really trying to increase the number of days I work out, and really look at what foods I’m consuming. I’m not sure if something has “clicked”, or if I’m just entering into another "half-ass" phase. I guess we’ll see after a few weeks, huh? Okay, well that's about it for now. I better get going. The Hallmark Channel is calling my name, and I’ve got a load of laundry to finish as well. Joy. 

📷: credit

Summer So Far…

I’ve kind of been stuck in this rut lately. And I don’t know what it is about this past month, but boy have I felt lazy. Normally when this happens I turn to writing, and books. Usually I feel like I have a lot of things I’d love to write about, or discuss. Word vomit is a regular occurrence for me. However, there are times when I either don’t have the words, or I get writers block. It’s like all of the creativity gets sucked right out of me too. My words are a jumbled mess, and my thoughts are scattered. So today, I’m just going to give you a few little updates in regards to our summer so far.

The little had “camps” during the whole month of June. She tried out volleyball camp, swimming lessons, and then dance camp. One of the many things I completely enjoy about being a parent is watching my daughter discover who she is, and what she likes. Or doesn’t like. I was lucky enough to find a sport that I loved very early on when I was a kid. I ate, slept, and breathed basketball. So, after Emery started to run around I remember wondering about what she might like as she got older. Would she follow in my footsteps? Would she venture out towards softball, soccer, or volleyball instead? Well, so far, she ain’t digging any of it. Which has led me to think that my kid may not be a “team sport” kind of girl. She enjoys dancing, creating art, climbing, and making music. And instead of trying out some other sports camps she’s now asking to be put back into gymnastics because she says this is what she really wants to do again. So, it looks like Hip Hop dance lessons, and sparkly leotards are in our future rather than cleats or gloves. It’s definitely different from anything I ever did as a kid, but I’m pretty excited about it. I’m excited to see the path that she paves on her own.

The next bit of news is that on June 29th my brother came home! Y’all, I won’t lie, I totally cried. I showed up at my parent’s house that Saturday expecting to see my sister-in-law and nephew as they had already planned to come visit. When I walked into the house it was quiet. Emery came up to me and said “Mom, you need to come see something we have for you in the back.” Thinking it was just a craft project, or some clothes I followed her to the back room. And there they all were! You don’t realize how much you miss someone’s physical presence in your life until they’ve been gone for awhile. And man did I miss getting to see my brother. Of course I bombarded him with questions, and he told us many more stories of his time at boot camp. For now he has to walk with a cane until his leg is back to 100%, but other than that he’s doing great! He’ll be back to hiking, biking, and climbing in no time. Lucky for me, the carnival was in town that weekend. And if you don’t know by now: I love carnivals, and roller-coasters. So, in the spirit of “tradition" I had him ride the Kamikaze ride with me before they left the next day. (read: he was double dog dared)

For the 4th of July we went to see the town’s parade. Afterwards they had a little festival, and we were able to meet up with a friend of mine and her kids. It was a really hot day, but the water slides got plenty of use from all three of them. Once the kids were all tuckered out we made our way over to Gigi’s house for lunch. And there’s something to be said about spending time with family, catching up with how everyone is doing, and eating some delicious food. We left with full bellies, and promises to visit again soon. Then we headed back to the house in order to shower the day off, and take a nap. Since there’s been a burn ban in our town, the only way we would be able to see fireworks is at the town’s yearly firework show later that night. So, once 7:30 rolled around we all loaded up into the car to head into town for dinner followed by the fireworks.

We don't have a lot of plans for the rest of the summer. A few camps might come up in August. Some afternoons you can find us at the local pool, and others we spend inside watching TV in front of the A/C. It's been a hot one here in Texas, and we've been told it will get hotter. I've decided that this is the month to take things slow, enjoy some rest, and be lazy. I actually look forward to not doing much once I get off from work. The weekends we spend visiting with my grandparents who are here from Mexico. We eat ice cream, and popsicles. Emery runs around in the sprinklers and we all just sit watching the sun start to go down. For now, life is good. Life is calm. And I'm doing my best to enjoy it. 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Swimming Summer Away

 

As you all know motherhood, and parenting are a major part of who I am. And I don't mean it in the obvious: having a kid = being a mom. I know of several women that are absent moms, or sadly some that are just bored of having that responsibility. But me? For the longest time, "MOM" was the title that I defined myself by. Even though I know that's not all that I'm capable of being or doing, it's the most important job to me. And that little light of sunshine up there was the main inspiration for me to start this blog. It's named after her. So recently I've thought a lot about doing updates, or maybe a feature of how she's growing. I want to include milestones, current things she likes, and a few other tidbits. I spend a lot of time worrying about her privacy, so I don't want it to be too extensive. Just a glimpse. So, I've thought about doing a little interview with her and then posting her answers. I think that would be fun for her, and me. She's such a cool kid, and has taught me so much about unconditional love. I'd like to bring some of that out onto these "pages". I'm hoping to get that all figured out, and do about 3- 4 installments a year. My way of rounding things out on here. I use this blog a lot for my own personal things. My thoughts, feelings, and what I'm going through. I can imagine it can get kind of old to just hear about me. So, I want to figure out a way to incorporate my main reason for writing back into this space. Currently, it's just an idea. As we all know life can get busy, and once school starts things jump into overdrive for us. So, we'll see how it goes.

This summer didn't really go as planned. The little was not allowed to do a lot of physical activities at the beginning due to her hernia so that ruled out several camps. By the time she was given the green light to resume there were none open that she found interesting enough to sign up for. Now we're in the August, and it looks like there won't be much change. Or time. So, instead we've opted for pool time. We tried a lake in a nearby town, but it was horrible and disgusting. Then there's the issue of being a one income family, and everything deciding to breakdown all at once which has left me with very little to offer up for her. Thankfully our local pool only charges a dollar to get in, and she enjoys going. Her grandparents also bought a small pool to keep at their house for the times she wants to swim while over there as well. I can't say enough just how much my parents have helped out. Which is somewhat of a sore subject for me. But, I'm grateful. Really grateful. Next up on our calendar is back to school shopping which will take place next weekend; fingers crossed. And first day of classes start on the 23rd of this month. That's just in two weeks time, and I don't think either one of us is ready. But until that day gets here you'll find us at the pool. Swimming the last of summer away.

Carnival Love

On Monday as I was driving home from work I saw three carnival vehicles parked at a shopping center. It's been almost four years since the carnival has been to our town so I assumed these guys were grabbing some food; passing through. On Tuesday as I was driving home from work there were more trucks, a few vendor booths, and the Ferris Wheel had been set up. Now why is this important you ask? Well, it's not really that important. We just really love carnivals! The music that's played, the food you get to try out, and most importantly the rides. It all makes for a pretty good time in a very small town. So that's how we spent our Wednesday afternoon. 

Tomorrow the little will go in for her first surgery. On Wednesday night when we were snuggled up on the couch after all of the excitement from the day had worn off she turned to me, and asked what would happen if she didn't wake up after surgery? Apparently someone has told her that she'll be "put to sleep" and then "be cut open". I tried to reassure her that everything would be okay. I let her know that she wasn't being cut open the way that she thought, and that she wouldn't even feel a thing because she'd be asleep the whole time. I told her that once it was all over I'd be there when she woke up, and soon afterwards we'd come home. However, even with that reassurance she still ended up crying. And I won't say that I haven't been stressed over this myself. I've been extremely nervous about it since we scheduled the procedure. I know she's in good hands, and it's a great hospital. It will be a minimally invasive surgery since they'll be going in through her belly button. It shouldn't take more than an hour, and she'll be released to go home that evening. It's still nerve wracking to me because I can't be there with her the entire time. I can't hold her hand through it. I've also never had to be put under before so I have no idea what's in store for her. I've been told this is pretty normal for parents to freak out a bit before their child's surgery. Regardless of how small it is so that's comforting in a way. We've been letting her do as much running around as she wants this week because we were told she probably wouldn't feel like doing much for about five days post surgery. 

The only hiccups we've had are in regards to financial assistance for this surgery. This is my first time ever having to do this, but since our employer stopped providing/offering family insurance we've had to do without. I've paid for everything out of pocket, and my parents have helped with medicine here and there. The truth of the matter is that we/I can't afford to get insurance. And we don't qualify for CHIPS or Medicaid. So this will all be self paid, and if you've ever seen these bills you know it can be daunting. Other than that everything has been business as usual in regards to her. She's enjoying vacation bible school, her grandpa bought her a pool which she's been living in pretty much the past week. We've taken the dogs out a lot recently, and snubbed that flea issue. Once Emery gets back to feeling better she has a few camps she's expressed interest in for the month of July. So, Summer has actually been really good to us. I hope everyone else is having a wonderful time as well. Until the next post! 

Kindergarten Graduation 2016

On Tuesday, our little graduated Kindergarten. She still has one more week of school left, but they had a ceremony this week for the parents to attend. There were a lot of emotions. I know it might seem silly to some of you, but it was as if I were getting a glimpse into the future. She walked across the stage, shook hands with the principle, and received her "diploma" with a huge smile as she looked out into the seats for us. And I cried. 

I blinked y'all. I blinked, and now she's six years old. I'm both excited, and saddened by this. I really do mourn the baby cheeks, and diaper changes. However, I'm excited to see what interests she'll pick up next. What will 1st grade hold for her? She keeps telling me that she's unsure of going to a bigger school, but she's excited to be going to 1st grade. She's asked us several questions about what it will be like, and if she'll still get to see her friends. When I told her that it would probably be fun and exciting, but I wasn't sure if she'd have the same classmates her response was: "It's okay mom, I'll still rock it." Yes, my dear. You will. :)

I can't believe how fast this has all flown by. Our little is growing up. Our little is becoming her own person. Our little is thriving. And I am so proud of her! Getting to see her walk across that stage made my heart so happy. I can only imagine what her high school, and college graduations will be like. Oh gees. It's been a bumpy year for all of us, and yet that all faded away into background noise when we saw her walk out. Now it's on to summer camps, and swimming pool days. To ice cream for dinner and 10 o'clock bedtimes. Saying yes to one more episode of her favorite show before sending her off to bed. It's time for some summer fun.

Summertime And The Livin's Easy

This song has nothing to do with this post, I just like it because it reminds me of sunny California and it has "summertime" in the lyrics. Enjoy.

Summer is finally here, and with it comes summer school for me. Surprisingly, it's been a pretty manageable schedule. Not having such a huge course load eases things up a bit, but that doesn't mean it's been easy. I have homework every night of the week, and discussion boards for at least four of those nights. I'm actually enjoying the subject though. I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. Almost. I have two and a half more years of studying and school in order to finally graduate with a Bachelor's degree. Thinking of that number, and those years being spent on that rather than doing normal things is a bit saddening. Still, I'm really excited to be going to a school that's close to home in the fall. 

Emery graduated preschool back at the end of May. When we didn't immediately take her to her new elementary school (which she will be attending in the fall) the day after Pre-K graduation she was pretty bummed out. Not getting to see her friends as often as she was before only added to her sadness that first week. However, we've come up with some pool time compromises. And I'm hoping that we'll be able to enroll her in some gymnastic classes as well. Now, since she's out for summer my sister-in-law has been staying with us. And if I forgot to mention before my brother-in-law is also living with us at the moment. So, we have a full house. I'm always worried about money, and how this makes more mouths to feed. It also causes our bills to go up, and of course means bigger messes to clean up after. Thankfully, both my sister-in-law and brother-in-law have helped out a lot when it comes to work around the house, cooking, and cleaning. I'm truly grateful for that. 

So far our summer has consisted of lounging, pools, a wedding, some dancing, lake trips, and TV binge watching. Last week was so hectic that my anxiety hit an all time high I think. Combine that with my lack of gym time, and I felt so on edge. Still we survived. Everything turned out great, but I now have no nails. None. This week I spent a lot of time catching up on homework, and of course the papers/questions are getting longer as we get further into the course. So again, I've gone with very little gym time which has been really difficult for me. I'm almost at the point of considering 4 am wake up calls just to fit them in. Almost. In other news, my husband will be headed out to California for one of his best friends wedding next week. He'll be out there for four days and I'm a little jealous. Unfortunately, after all of the unexpected expenses that came up we could only afford to have him go out. Not that he's completely broken up over having to spend an entire weekend alone with his boys who he hasn't seen in over 4 years. :-P He was able to get a preview a few weekends ago, but this time it'll be the three amigos reunited again. And even though I'm a little jealous I'm also really happy that he gets to do this. He'll get to see some of his family out there and visit with his cousins. This trip is going to be good for him, and he's also excited about it. 

Next month we also have some things planned. I mainly want to go out hiking, and maybe take a camping trip. I know that the aquarium is on our list as well as, possibly, the zoo again. If Emery requests it otherwise I will definitely skip out on that. I also want to head up to see some showings at the Omni Theater if we can because it's such a cool and educational place to visit. I haven't been in a really long time, but I've heard it's only gotten better. Obviously this all depends on funds and time, but I'm hoping that at least half of our list gets accomplished this summer. As soon as we get some pictures I'll post about the wedding this past weekend. I'll also post about the bachelorette party that led to a spontaneous Pure Romance party, as well as some more stuff about kayaking. Until then, that's all I've got for you folks! Hope everyone is having a pretty rad summer so far!

The End of Summer

This past weekend we had enough of the heat. We could feel it coming off the windows in waves. It was so bright outside that sunglasses weren’t helping us. And everything was melting. So what did we do? We went off to the pool. Last Friday Emery and my husband went to our local swimming pool with my brother. I was a little sad that I missed out on her first swimming trip (just like I missed out on her first boat ride), but I had to work. So on Saturday, my husband suggested we go again.

Unfortunately they don’t open till 1 pm, SO we suffered through the first part of our day doing laundry. Meh. Once it was time to head on over to the pool, I did something I haven’t done in four years. I bought a bikini. BUT, I also wore a black long tank to cover everything up. Ha! Like I'd actually go out in public in a two piece. Once we were there, Emery wasted no time in jumping in. She doesn't know how to swim just yet, but the kiddie area wasn't very deep. Let me just say that this was fun. Getting a break from the heat, and the pool not being too packed was awesome. We all enjoyed the 3 hours we we spent there. And for a total of $12 spent, I say we scored. I’m kind of bummed we didn't do this more often. Turns out they have movie nights and twilight swimming (which is MUCH cheaper). Had I known all of this I’m sure I would have enjoyed a few “date nights” there too.

When Sunday finally rolled around, all we wanted to do was lay around. It was another hot day, so we enjoyed popsicles, ice cream, and movies. Emery made us go outside once before finally coming to her senses and realizing that it was flippin’ hot out there. Can't blame the girl for wanting to be outside though. Sometimes it gets tiring being cooped up all day.

Now it’s a new week. And I’m not a fan of how close we are to the end of summer. Despite the heat, I’ve actually become fond of lazy evenings. But alas the 27th will be here in no time, and back to school I go. Back to studying, headaches, 5 Hour shots, and exams. Lovely. Until then, I plan on reading as many books as I can. Spending as much time with Emery as I can. And finally getting my ass back into training. Ice cream has been very unkind to me. So here’s to the final weeks of summer. Lets enjoy them while we still can!

Uneventful

Our weekend was rather uneventful. As it usually is. On Friday I was able to Skype with my friend Karci, who is currently living in Switzerland, during my lunch break! I haven’t seen Karci since I moved from California, but we’ve always managed to keep in touch. He recently bought a laptop, since his girlfriend is now stateside, and I demanded suggested he get Skype. Your welcome, Karci’s lady friend. Now, with such a crazy time difference we were hardly ever online at the same time. Then on Friday, we were finally able to video-chat! I could barely contain my excitement. Seriously, we need to invent teleportation devices already because I really wanted to give him a GREAT BIG hug. He was the first friend I ever made while I was in California. Like, on my own. Without having to be introduced by my boyfriend. Still to this day, I can talk to him about pretty much anything under the sun. And that’s what I love about him. He’s one of the few people that I have ever instantly clicked with, and the fact that still to this day we are friends tells me a lot about our friendship. Then, that afternoon when I got home the hubs and I decided on having a mini-date night. My mother offered to babysit, and we finally were able to go see The Avengers in 3D. I was super excited about it! I've been waiting for this movie to come out for months! And I was not at all disappointed! I really really loved it! I've even decided that as soon as it comes out on BluRay it will become part of our collection.

On Saturday, we headed into town to run a few errands. Once we were back home, I was able to work in the garden. Once I was finished with that, I dove right back into Pride and Prejudice. I’ve seen the most recent movie with Keira Knightley, and I absolutely fell in love with it. It’s one of my favorite films, and Matthew Macfadyen is Mr. Darcy for me. But even though it’s a great film, my cousin recently informed me that it leaves a huge chunk of the book out. So I made it my mission to read the novel. It took me four days to read it, because of the different style of writing it’s in. But, once I got passed that, I really enjoyed it! And my cousin was right, the movie was good but did no justice to the book. That night I went to my friend Sabrina’s graduation party. She graduated from West Texas A & M two weeks ago, and she’s finally back home and settled. She’s my bosses daughter, and will be working with me for the summer. It’s going to be really nice to have another girl in the office. There’s only so much racecar talk a girl can get into.

Sunday was slow, and boring. We had lunch in town, and I bought some lavender along with more gardening supplies. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around. Reading, watching TV, and hanging around outside. It was a nice relaxing day. I started reading Jane Eyre too! It's been on my shelf for two years and I figured since I'm on this British Literature kick, why not? Today, I can say that I did feel guilty for not spending a lot of time outdoors though. Emery really loves it, but it was so hot. All I wanted to do was sit inside by the A/C. I have promised to get myself into the summer mood though. It’s time for outdoor adventures, kiddie pools, and long afternoon walks. I mentioned before that sometimes you need a weekend filled with nothing, but enough is enough. It’s time to get back out there.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Monday!  

Ready For Fall!!

Our Texas summer has been brutal! When I was driving home at 9 pm on Tuesday night, the temperature was 95°. Yea, at 9 PM! I don’t know about you, but for me, this heat has got to go! We haven’t been able to enjoy as many bike rides or afternoons on the porch like we've had in the past. And it’s effected a lot of farmers, ranchers, and livestock owner around here in a really bad way. Some ranchers have had to move, some have had to sell their livestock, and we've had a lot of fires. This has not been a good summer for any of us. Usually our summer's are scattered with a few storms here and there, but this year we had maybe 3 storms total?

So, I’m hoping that this Fall is a wet one. We need the rain, and some relief from these really hot 118° days. I'm ready to get back on my bike at a decent hour to go for a ride with my baby girl (we attempted one yesterday but we had to make several stops for water). I'm ready to go for runs outside. And I'm so ready for jeans, boots, and sweaters! Which also means a new wardrobe for Emery! Ahh, the joys of having a girl, LOL! 

Come on Fall, hurry up already!!