Fun with Friends

In June school got out, so at the beginning of the month families were busy trying to wrap up projects for the end of the school year. And at the end of the month, other families were busy with going on vacations at the beginning of their summer break. So we tried to capitalize on when people would be around and get to play with them. I think that overall we did a pretty good job of getting together with different friends!

At the beginning of the month,  I taught Piano lessons, but Kim Henderson was crazy busy - so she loaded the kids into the car and they were able to have a play date with Molly and Claire while Kim had to run kids to band practice.

We were all a little sad to see the end of Piano until school starts again, but we made sure to get plenty of hugs in to last the whole summer. 

In the meantime, the Browns moved away for a year. So to say "Good-Bye" Tye Brown decided to give away "awards" to his favorite friends. It was mainly things that people left at his home that accumulated at his home over the years. Some example of awards included:

Stacie Gifford: All of her old mail back.

Marcia/Cristian Parano-Stevens and Kim/Duane Henderson: Granny panties made for two.

Michal: a graduation cap and gown

(I can't remember) an oversized leg (seen in the background pictures).

We made a good effort to take kids to the park at least twice a week because we wanted to make sure that kids got their energy out before bedtime... and before the humidity struck with a hellish vengeance. 

When days were unbearably humid and hot, we took a break and went to the local library to play. It was a special treat when we made new friends to play with.

But it's always more fun when we have current friends to play with! Lily loves when I get to watch Lucy and Tanner Dunn when their Mommy has an appointment she needs to be to.

We were invited to the pool several times in June. But... out of all the times we were invited - this was my absolute favorite! Leila decided to be such a good "big sister" to Lily and really help her swim on her own. She was encouraging, stayed with her, and helped her if she was struggling. It made me feel like I didn't have to watch her because Leila would have told me if something was wrong. Don't get me wrong - I still watched her - but it was with a warm smile instead of a worried heart.

We loved the pool so much with the Maki girls, that we decided our month wouldn't have been complete unless we had them over for dinner and got to play dress up. They rocked Lily's costumes! Even though they were a couple of sizes too small, they still managed to fit into them and look adorable!

The last friends we met up with were the Tuckers. Allie invited us to meet her for Ice Cream one afternoon. It made the kids more hyper from all the sugar - but we didn't care - because air conditioning. 

We love playing with friends! We love having friends over! We just love friends!

My favorite quote (that I came up with) is: "I like to collect friends." And I'm so grateful I've been able to collect all the ones that give a bright warm smile to my kids faces!

National Donut Day

June 3, 2016

I must have seen some post on social media informing me of today being "National Donut Day." I didn't think anything of it until I noticed that because of the significance of the day, Krispie Kreme was handing out a free donut to everyone who stopped by. 

So even though I didn't realize that it was "National Donut Day" until about 5:00 pm, and we hadn't had dinner yet, we piled the whole family in the car and drove to Krispie Kreme and had donuts for dinner. Twice in a month's time frame have I given my kids donuts for dinner - and I should feel ashamed - but instead I'm glad that they got enough to eat and were happy during dinner time (and that I didn't have to clean up a mess afterwards).

Lily chose a pink sprinkle donut, while we picked out a regular glazed donut for Marco.

Both children thoroughly enjoyed their donuts and each ate them in the most unusual way!

Thanks Krispie Kreme for the free donuts, and free dinner! We can't wait until it's "Talk Like a Pirate Day" (September 19) and we can each score a free dozen!

Euro Cup

In the Trenerowski's home, we Michal takes the Euro Cup pretty seriously. 

He got his mother to send him some outfits so that everyone would clearly know who we were cheering for!

Last time the Euro Cup was played, we were living in the host country: Poland. It was such an experience that neither of us will ever forget. We Michal wanted to recreate that feeling for the kids, so he tried to take a billion pictures of them in their cheerleading paraphernalia to get them excited for when Poland played!

Babcia even sent balloons! Which were awesome - until they got popped - because little boy thought they were balls he could sit and bounce on.

Every time there was a game and we went to the store, strangers were sure to notice my children dressed up in their Polish wear. A few commented on how cute they looked, but no one made the connection of Poland playing that day and thus the reason we were dressed up, cheering for them to win!

It was too bad that Poland got out as early as they did, and especially on a technicality: Penalty kicks. 

It was a good run, and they did a lot better than I expected, and I hope we continue this tradition for each Euro Cup to come

May Favorites

No matter how hard I try, I just can't categorize every photo into it's nice own little story. Some of my pictures are extremely random, but have a unique story that I always want to remember.

Like this one...

The month of May I introduced my kids to a few new things, including lollipops. Lily's had her share of these treats, so to combat her sweet tooth, Michal creatively came up with vegetables-on-a-stick and called them lollipops. And it worked! A little girl who once wouldn't ever eat tomatoes or radishes, now enjoys them - but they have to be on a stick - and they have to be called "lollipops."

Popcorn was another food that I introduced to Marco. I had never before thought of giving him popcorn (to keep them contained in one room for longer than five minutes), but he loved it and they sat still (and shared!) whenever Mommy brought out a bowl of popcorn!

And lastly, this was the very first time that I caved and bought the kids donuts for the first time. And to make matters worse... I bought it so that it could be their dinner! I don't remember what happened that day... but I do remember it being a hard day and when I didn't want to deal with dinner we drove down to the neighborhood market Wal-Mart and made our sole purchase of a bag of donuts. And of course, I was the meanest mom ever for making Lily take a picture (so I could remember this) instead of opening up the donuts immediately upon returning home!

 Whenever it's wet outside, the kids find a way to get away from me to splash and jump in the puddles. Marco takes it a step further and sits down in the water, ensuring a fun mess for Mommy to clean up. (Notice how curly Lily's hair is).

It never gets old, spying on Lily in nursery. I love watching her learn. This particular day they were learning the song, "In the Leafy Treetops." I learned the song:

1. In the leafy treetops the birds sing good-morning,

2. "How do you do?" they say, "How do you do today?"

3. In the pretty garden the flowers are nodding,

4. They're first to see the sun, they must tell everyone.

But apparently, that's backwards - or - it's been changed to become backwards since I was in primary. Now, the second and fourth lines are switched.

But on this particular day, I heard them singing MY version and it made me love her nursery leader even more!

Walks are our favorite outing... even when we have to share a stroller because Daddy is too lazy to pump the tires on the double stroller. (In his defense, it was a super short walk to the end of the road and back - about a half a mile).

Marco and Lily are starting to play together better. And I'm starting to catch glimpses of them loving each other. And it makes me so, so, so grateful and happy that I decided to have more than one child.

Marco has started cuddling more. This boy is not, and has never been, a "cuddler" - until recently. It's rare, and it's short, but I'll take any snuggles or hugs I can get from him!

Babcia Ania told, and showed, Lily a dress that she was sending to her in the mail. We all thought it would make her excited and she would be a good girl in anticipation of the dress arriving. We were wrong. She was a good girl - that part didn't change, but she wanted the dress immediately. She called Babcia about a dozen times over the next hour so she could see the dress - and once she was done FaceTiming her, Lily wanted to go to the Post Office to pick up the dress. So we went to a closed Post Office to explain to Lily that we had to wait a couple of days for the Post Office to reopen - but Lily was determined and decided we needed to go pick up the dress from the airport, before it actually made it's way to the Post Office. So off to the airport we went. We explained the situation to several workers at the ticket counter and they "played along" in telling Lily that her dress didn't come on any of the airplanes today, but that instead some crayons did. They all gave her hugs, treats, and toys (crayons + coloring books). And Lily felt pretty dang special. I'm glad that I took the 40 minute trip out to the airport so that she could feel important instead of frustrated that her dress hadn't come yet.

We were invited to a pool party with a soccer club that we deliberately didn't join for the Spring. (I had a lot on my plate, and just couldn't muster this extra outing during Marco's nap time once a week). But I did justify joining them for their final "practice" of the "season" which so-happened to be a pool party. It was such a success because Lily learned to swim on her own at this party. And I was able to leave Marco with someone so that I could attend and spend all of my attention on making sure Lily was learning how to swim properly.

Daddy and I made an effort to take the kids on the swings a few times a week. We have a dinky little swing set in our neighborhood that is about 2,000 FitBit steps away. But, it gets the kids energy out before bedtime and they are in love with the swings. Sometimes the struggle is real when trying to pry them away from the swings to go home, but most of the time they are good kids when they realize we get to come back the next day... if they are good!

We purchased sand to go in our sandbox we got for free. Marco loved it! Even when he got sand in his eyes, he wasn't complaining!

And we put together a see-saw that someone gave us. The kids love it, especially Lily - until she realizes that she's doing all the work and then she gives up. But that usually takes a while.

We were invited over for dinner at the Maki's home. And Lily thought it would be cute to not only use all their stickers, but place them all over her body, looking like she just got tattooed by an amateur artist!

We were also invited over for dinner at the Acosta's home, and instead of Lily getting into things - Marco made such a mess by playing in the dirt and forcing us to strip him down so that he was clean enough to eat dinner with the rest of us!

On our daily walks we run into the craziest things - like massive turtles trying to cross the road (he was actually fast - don't let those fable stories trick you!) and garbage trucks!

And on one of our walks, we happened to find a scooter with a sign on it saying "free" in addition to a few other things that we picked up (including an electric smoker BBQ grill, and a hammock (which we got rid of because it was gross)).

And last, but not least, we had an enjoyable, "cool" time chilling at the pool with Titus and Case! So good of a time, that I came home and went through boxes until I found a kiddie pool that Uncle Sam had gotten for Lily two years ago for Christmas. I came home and blew it up right away and vowed to myself that going into the kiddie pool was now a new daily requirement that was going to become as sacred as walks. (Let's see if I can keep my commitments!)

Overall, May was a great, great month! I had lots of fun seeing others, going places, and getting the kids to try new things! I loved May - but hopefully the rest of the summer will be just as great!