The Sleepover

We had our second sleepover of the year the evening of April 21 (her first sleepover was with her friend Meredith over spring break). Bri's friend/bestie Mary Lin came over for a night of pizza, playing and fun.

We took the girls to Stevie B's for dinner and video games...

Vampire teeth won with tickets...

It was a beautiful night, so we stopped at the playground on the way home...

The girls wanted to get into the "baby" swings. They can still stick their tushes in there ~ impressive...

My friend Amy (Mary's mom) pointed out that this is how they looked 8 years ago together...

There was a boy birthday party going on at the playground, and Bri actually knew 5 or 6 of the boys at the party from school. It was a bit loud, but it didn't deter the girls!

We got home and the girls played and watched a movie.

This was the sleeping setup (Bri's bed on the left and an air mattress on the right)...

The girls got a few hours of sleep and were all smiles in the morning for breakfast...

Even after all those hours together, the girls didn't want the sleepover to end. That means they had a good time! :)

We actually have one more sleepover on our calendar that will happen in June. Bri's friend Chani is coming to spend the night. Bri is so excited about that.

Chani's mom is my friend Kathy. Here we are together at Starbucks the other day...

Kathy and I get together for coffee every so often to catch up with each other's lives. We can literally talk for hours. I asked her to take a picture with me because we don't take enough pictures together!

Kathy was the first "adoption" friend I made and I am so grateful that we are still so close.

End Of Milestones Testing

For two weeks in April, kids all over Georgia are required to take the GA Milestones test. It sucks. I hate that Briana has to do this every year. Since she has taken it the past two years, she knew what to expect this year and wasn't as stressed (thank goodness). Parents can have their kids "opt out", but Bri has done well enough each year for me to feel ok enough for her to take it. 

Let me tell you - she was happy on the last day of testing!

She started doing a little dance and it reminded me of a promo from OITNB (Hallelujah!!!)...

I don't know if any of you reading this are familiar with a show called "iCarly." Bri has watched a bunch of episodes, and I asked her why the characters always eat "spaghetti tacos" (it's a running joke on the show).

Bri then asked me if she could try some for dinner on of her last day of testing. I obliged. She absolutely loved them. I knew I would not and did not partake. It seemed super gross to me - LOL! 

Here's the proof she liked them...

She announced that she would only eat spaghetti this way from that moment forward. Good grief!

Now that Milestones is over, the kids are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of 5th grade. May is going to be crazy ~ field trips, field day, parties, graduation, etc. They are going to be a bit scatterbrained for the next few weeks.

Bri's teachers asked the parents to provide fun baskets for a "good behavior" raffle. The kids earn tickets for good behavior and can "bid" on the basket they hope to win. Hopefully, this will keep them all in line through May. ;)

I turned in a "girly" basket...

Easter 2017 Recap

Ok - I need to blog about Easter before May comes along. ;) 

Briana still enjoys dyeing Easter eggs...

Here they are all pretty and plain before Bri starts decorating them...

Finished masterpieces...

The weekend of Easter (Saturday evening), my family got together to celebrate Passover and Easter and also my mom's birthday.

My dad breaking the matzah for Passover...

After dinner was my mom's family birthday party...

This is one of the picture frames we got my mom of the grandkids together...

And finally, my lovely girl waiting for the Easter egg hunt with the cousins...

Ready to run outside Gramma's house looking for eggs...

The kids ran all around the yard looking for plastic eggs...

They found them all...

Some Easter goodies were handed out...

Easter morning arrived, and Bri found her big Easter basket...

Some fun gifts from Gramma...

Love when Bri is all smiles.

She Seems So Grown Up (What Is Happening?)

There are only 6 weeks left of school until summer vacation. 6 weeks left of elementary school. B starts middle school on August 1. What the heck is happening?

My sister and I had professional pictures taken of our kids together (the cousins/three musketeers) for my mom's very special birthday. The pictures turned out amazing! My mom was so surprised and thrilled with her gift!

The photographer took a few pics of Briana on her own ~ and here they are (see above and below)...

I cannot get how grown up Briana looks in these photos. I know I am a totally biased mom, but gosh isn't she beautiful?

And then a couple of weeks after we got the professional pictures done, Bri came home with this photo from school...

Yep - this her 5th grade graduation photo. What in the world? Again - looks super grown up. I have a love/hate relationship with Lifetouch, and luckily in this case, I love this picture. They owed me this great photo after several photo hiccups!

As with any kid that is growing up, we are experiencing growing pains in this house - physically and emotionally. My girl is exhibiting some tween-like behavior (eye-rolling, pouting, etc.) - and I guess that is to be expected. She's a really good girl, but she has her moments for sure.

I often think about when she came to me looking like this...

 What a journey she has been on. She is really one amazing kid.

I waited such a long time for her. She's everything I wished for - and more.

Spring Break Staycation Recap

Since Doug, Bri and I took a trip to Asheville in February and have another trip planned for the summer, we decided to just stay home for our spring break last week. It was so nice being at home, getting to sleep in a bit and having time to catch up with a lot of our friends who we don't get to see as often as we would like to due to busy schedules.

Friday after school (the official start of spring break), my friend/neighbor Jennifer asked if Doug, Bri and I would like to join her and her family for dinner. Swimming was offered as well. Bri was all over that idea!

Bri and Caitlin had the best time swimming for hours and eating pizza in by the pool. It was actually quite chilly that evening (thank goodness for heated pools!), so dining in the pool was the warmest plan...

Saturday morning, Bri and I joined friends Imerie and Valerie at the Kroger Chef Junior activity - the girls learned how to make Pad Thai...

The girls looked adorable as chefs...

Pad Thai...

Unfortunately, the experience was a bit underwhelming for the girls. I think the Kroger activities are geared more toward younger kids, even though our girls were supposedly in the age parameter. The items were already cut up and it was just a matter of the girls adding, pouring and stirring the ingredients together. It was tasty, but a bit cold. We are glad we did it, but we probably won't attempt it again.

Getting together for the activity gave us a great excuse to also have lunch together! Panera was a unanimous decision...

Val and I got to catch up on all sorts of things and the girls enjoyed each other's company. I had to get a cute selfie of us...

Sunday was a quiet day and finally Monday rolled around. Briana, me and my mom went to see "Beauty and the Beast"...

We were so excited for it to start...

The movie was phenomenal. There is no doubt that I will go to see it again.

Unfortunately, there was a group of very rude moms with kids all under the age of 4 that sat directly in front of us. The kids got bored and moved around and talked throughout the movie and the moms did pretty much nothing about it (even though I said something several times). So, just know this movie is not for small kids. It moves way too slowly for them.

The reason my mom, Bri and I got together and saw the movie was because we were celebrating a very special birthday for my mom (a couple of days early).

Three ladies...

I made my mom a small cake and gave her some gifts...

Despite the hiccup at the theater, we still had a great day!

Tuesday was another "down" day (just did some house cleaning), but Wednesday, friends Lisa and Maisie came over. The Minecraft besties were so excited to see each other in person instead of over Facetime (Lisa and Maisie drove to my house through a thunderstorm - now that is friendship! LOL!)...

After hours of Minecraft play (and me and Lisa catching up), we had dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant. These girls just make me smile...

Thursday was scheduled to be a quiet day, but we got an invite we couldn't turn down. Cousin N1 was having a play/musical at his school, and Bri really wanted to see it. So off to the school we went...

The musical was so good and entertaining! It was a patriotic theme - so fun!

Finally, Friday was sleepover day! Bri's friend Meredith came over in the afternoon and spent the night. Bri was so excited all day. She was so happy when Meredith finally arrived...

Stevie B's for dinner and video gaming...

A stop at the neighborhood playground to burn off some energy...

Bri looks so grown up in this pic...

Bri spinning until she was dizzy. Doesn't look fun...

The sleeping setup...

The girls played, watched movies, played Minecraft, giggled and had several snack runs. ;) Sleeping didn't really happen until 4 or so I believe.

They were a bit tired in the morning, but it was totally worth the fun they had...

After Meredith left on Saturday, I crashed. I didn't do much the rest of the weekend...

I thought we would have a quieter, more relaxing "staycation," but it actually ended up being quite busy. It's ok though - Bri and I got a lot of mom/daughter time and we got to hang out with a lot of our friends.

It really was a fun spring break!