Trader Joe's Tuesday!

My sister has been dreaming of a day where we can load up, truck into Fort Worth, find parking, and check out the new Trader Joe's!

Today that day came!



We loaded in my Mom's car and away we went!  Can I just tell you that with all the hype surrounding this grocery you should have seen the small plot of Earth the store is on.  Seriously the doctor's office has a bigger parking lot.  Fortunately for us, not many people rushing the doors at 1:30pm on a Tuesday afternoon!!!

The grocery is small but cool!  The employees are super friendly and walk around begging to get you samples.  Um, yes please!  One employee found me and said she had been looking for me around the store to try some chocolate covered super fruit she saw me eye balling!  Nicest lady ever!!

Sara did some pre-planning and read up on some must haves.

Here is what I ended up buying today of the must haves with a few other things thrown in due to great samples...

1.  Cinnamon raisin bread that Sara actually bought.  She was willing to share a few pieces for some serious French Toast action in the morning!

2.  White Cheddar corn puffs:  very much like Pirate's Booty but cheaper and less calories per serving=Double Win!

3.   Hummus Dip:  haven't tried it but have never eaten a Hummus dip I didn't like!

4.  The HOLY GRAIL:  Cookie Butter!!!!!!!OMG!  Yes, Cookie Butter!  I swear this must be what is served in heaven all day long!  So delish that tonight Luke and I ate it on really old hot dog buns that may have had a few moldy flecks!  We didn't even care!!!!

5.  Vanilla Chai Spice Coffee:  Mom, Sara, and I tried some on this pleasant 140+ degree day and it was good.  Will be better in the Winter time though!

6.  Gummy Bears:  cause Luke doesn't think shopping on a Tuesday afternoon is fun! 

Have you been to TJ's??? If so, what are some must haves??!!!!

Katy Cats!

I have always loved Pop music.  I remember being a bit obsessive about Pop stars growing up.  There were many video shoots in my bedroom and countless hours of decorating with New Kids on the Block posters and memorabilia!

Fast forward to adulthood.  I still love Pop music!  Luke and I can rock out a good KISS FM song anyday.  I am a little guarded when it comes to whom I let in on my Pop star obsession.

Enter my best friends daughter, Bella.  Bella is a 5 year old spit fire.  She is exactly why God did not give me a girl! 

This sweet girl loves her some Katy Perry, and when I say love I may mean obsessed with!  She is me all over again!

When Katy Perry's movie came out I knew this was my chance to channel my child again and asked Bella's mom if I could take her.  Not only was it time to bond, but she would make a good cover up for the way too old lady going alone to a Katy Perry movie!

Here is my date before the movie started.  Can you tell she was a little excited!

You never know what to expect with this type of behind the scenes movie.  I worried that it would be WAY inappropriate and there would be lots of foul language.

To my surprise it was AWESOME and pretty wholesome!  There was one song that had some inappropriate content but it was lost on Bella!

By the end of the movie there had been some crying, singing out loud, and rockin' in the movie theatre chair.  The details of who would do that get kinda foggy in my old lady brain!

The ride home was the icing on the cake.  We reminisced about our favorite parts of the movie and found a Pandora Katy Perry station to rock with on the way home!

While I was driving Bella applied some of her personal make up she brought along.  She told me it was from California like Katy Perry and to please not tell her Mom she put on make up in the car. 

There was makeup from scalp to chin when she hopped out of the car!  I don't think her Mom would have ever guessed:)

Thanks Melissa for letting me enjoy your little Katy Cat for the day!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

...even if it's 1,000 degrees!

We had a blast watching the Rangers beat the White Sox!

Goodreads according to me!

I have always loved to read.  English/Language Arts was my favorite subject in school by far.  I would spend countless hours with my nose in The Sweet Valley High/Sweet Valley Twins series or The Babysitter's Club series.  But leave it to school, when they started assigning books to read over the Summer, to ruin my love for reading.  Hello, my summers were for suntanning with un-approved fake bake lotions and getting serious about which boyfriends would be the mostly likely to earn me some major grounding opportunities-not READING pre-assigned books.

After I had a baby I re-found that I L.O.V.E. reading books, not magazines or order catalogs.  When you spend a good majority of your summer time off watching Doc McStuffins or waiting to wipe a dirty bootie you loathe some alone time with a good book. It also has a lot to do with the quality of summer programming! 

Seriously, can we get some good TV shows to watch over the summer please!(I'm not talking about Big Brother, its my saving grace!) 

Bravo, are you kidding me that you will devote most of your daytime programming to Olympic Tennis-KILL ME!

 This summer here are my favorites. 

Yep, Mom PORN!  I am not ashamed to say I loved getting my paws on this series.  When I heard this was contraband type reading, like hide the cover while you read it on your lunch break goodness, I was all in.

I do not believe in buying books, nope no Kindles or Barnes and Noble spending for this girl.  I am a firm go to the library and get a free book kinda girl.  When I realized that all the other mom's on planet Earth also wanted to uncover the Holy Grail and I was something like number 584 in line for this gem, I broke down and bought all 3 on Amazon.  Hey, I could justify my purchase under the heading of I needed some Clarisonic cleanser and  a smidgen of Mom PORN, right!??

I was head over heels for the first 2 books in the series, but by book 3 I was a little beat down.  I mean the girl gets it all!  Gag!

Here's what I hate about all the hoopla surrounding this book.  Comments like this one...

“ The books are not well written, incredibly repetitive, there is little character development, and the sex scenes are, well, vanilla. ”

Come on ladies, no one who has half a brain cell working, picks this book for its stellar literary writing.  She must not have to spend her summers watching countless hours of Cartoon Network or reading H is for Halloween  1, 000 times!

Next up was this fun read!  My two loves are blog stalking and finding out about celebrities personal lives.  This pacified both needs.  Hysterical!  Like I found myself laughing so loud that I would wake up the sleeping bear next to me, who would then ask what I was laughing about, so I would tell him and he would sorta grunt and roll back over into his bear den!

For the next one, I took the recommendation from a school counselor friend.  Wow!  First of all true story and secondly it takes place not too far from where I live.  An amazing story of forgiveness and God's love!  Super quick read and my Dad equally loved it!  Kinda embarrassed that this one is in the same list as Fifty Shades though!

I am currently in the beginning stages of this one, but already hooked!  It effectively allows me to block out Wipeout  and Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 games on the Wii, which seems to be on a continuous loop at our house!

You might ask if I have seen the sun this summer and yes, I have tan lines to prove it, but here's what happens during the Dog Days of Summer in Texas.  Every mother and brother in Texas takes their family to the community pool and somewhere between the organic banana mush and the bag of Cheetos some small tyke has a blow out in the pool.  So we go to Code Brown and no one can re-enter the pool for 24 hours.  Well, then I'm super freaked out that maybe its still a little contaminated so we end up holed up indoors in our 'roos until about 5, when Dad comes home!  Then we quick rush around and clean up breakfast dishes and splash cold water on our faces from such a BUSY day!

Plus, West Nile is NO Joke around here right now!

Happy Summer reading!

A Boy and his Bike(s)!

If you notice the title of this blog I didn't make a typo.  It does in fact say bike(s) as a plural noun.

Our dear son loves pretty much everything he lays his eyes on.  He loves even more to act like a grown up and desires to do grown up things.  Last year I scored my precious boy a bike on Black Friday for $12.00 at Walmart.  No, the bike was not Huffy quality, but as a new bike lover it did the trick.  Anyways, he rode it all of maybe 3 times.

So this year, as he grew like 4 inches, we talked about riding bikes more with him and decided he was in much need of a bigger bike.  And watching the X games helped him decide he was all in to be a "real" bike rider.  So at Christmas my parents got him this cool "old school" looking bike!

This picture may be the only time this bike has been sat upon or rode.

So again we talked more around his birthday in March about getting a larger bike that he may be more inclined to riding. A bike that looks like it belongs at the X games. I also think Mike was a little embarrassed about the $12.00 Walmart bike.  Mike likes pricey toys!!

So for his birthday we took a trip to Toys R Us, where they were having a Bike Trade In sale.  Cool idea~you trade the old for a discount off the new.  Lucas tried out tons of new bikes and decided on this rad one!

This time he did try it out more.  He even took a bike ride around the block with Dad!

Until...he was asked to ride his bike up the driveway and toppled over due to lack of speed.  There in the corner of the garage it has sat collecting spider webs and dust for about 2 months!

Along comes 4th of July.  A normal evening of events occurs.  The local church where we are watching the fireworks show has a bounce house and is having a bike drawing in 10 minutes.  Well, our kid never misses an opportunity to bounce his brain around in a sweat box, so Mike takes him over to bounce and sign him up for the drawing.  As I watch them walk away I told some friends that they would be back with a bike.  That's just our kinda luck! 

Low and behold, and I wish I had a picture of this, a man and his overly happy son coming at us in the parking lot.  The Dad holding onto the back of a brand new set of wheels and the son, arms raised high to the sky making the hang ten sign with his hands!

GUESS WHO!

Yep, Lucas won the bike!!!!

As they got closer something about the bike seemed off.  Not sure if it was the look on Mike's face or this...

Lucas had won himself a bike!  An awesome pink and purple trick bike with "Ride Like A Girl" on the side of it!

He could not be any happier!

Now the 3rd bike sits in our garage and all Lucas can talk about is riding his new bike! 

Luckily, the bike came with a gift receipt, but last night I took a spin on "Ride Like A Girl" around the block  and even though the neighbor gave me a weird stare, like I stole it from a kid, and my lady parts were sore this morning, I think Mom may have herself a new ride!

So if your in the neighborhood don't be surprised to see "Ride Like a Girl" busting an wheely around the corner, while my kid cries at the end of they driveway on his boy bike!

Red, White, and Blue to you!

4th of July in Texas is one of those holidays you know, as an American, you must celebrate but the heat is almost unbearable!

We met the "usual's" at the Quad City Fireworks for our annual tradition!

Here is our 4th in pictures...I will save the bike photo details for another post!  It deserves one all to itself!

Happy 4th from the Woods family!

 

Sink or Swim

Swim lessons 2012

Every year for Lucas' birthday Keko and Dodi give Lucas swim lessons.  My sister, being a former swim teacher, knows the importance of being a confident swimmer.  So for 3 years we have made the plunge!  This was our first year to take lessons at the Y.  I loved how the lessons were every day for 2 weeks and not spread out a couple times per week for a month.  Consistency is key in a 5 year olds world!

Lucas may look like a clone of his Dad, but has my mannerisms to a tee.  He is cautious and not much of a risk taker.  He is the quiet onlooker when it comes to something new or challenging.  The past 2 years of swim we have felt accomplished if he would blow bubbles in the water.  He could scoop and kick with the best of 'em as long as he DID NOT have to put so much as a chin in the water!

This year, we thought a good 'ol bribe may help our frightened little fish.  He is dependent, to say the least, on using a water noodle.  He is also DYING to go to The Great Wolf Lodge.  So...we married the 2 together!  Kids who go to The Great Wolf Lodge cannot swim AT ALL with a noodle and parents CANNOT plan  a trip there if there kid uses a noodle in the water.  Would this work???  He's a pretty smart boy who can see through a line of BS pretty quick style...

Week 1



First Day Jitters



It helps to have a swim buddy!  Thanks Sydney!!



The first week swimming crew!



Happy to report that after the first week Lucas was putting his face all the way under and even "swimming" alone holding onto a kick board!  I heard several mentions to his teacher about going to The Great Wolf Lodge!  The next BIG goal was to put the face under and swim all at the same time.   

Week 2

Jumping in the water without Mom pushing him in! 

The "not-so-scared" swimmer going down the slide ALONE!!!!!!

Fist pump for swimming!

Not only was the slide a hit, but this dude went back for 2nds!



Miracle Worker:  Miss Rachel



Graduates!



Week 2 was even better than week 1. Lucas successfully dove under the water to retrieve rings everyday and started to learn about different strokes, like the Breast Stroke! He feels much more confident in the water. By no means is he a full blown "swimmer" but I think his parents could book a trip to The Great Wolf Lodge and not have to pack a noodle!