Through the Years...

This one;s from Ty's senior prom, May 2002. Yep, you all knew Tyler was younger than me, right? One year younger, but two grades behind. I know, I know. It was fun to go back and do prom again 2 years after graduating. I thought mine was more fun, though! ♥

Through the Years...

This picture was taken outside Joe's Crabshack {nee Moe's Crabshack, nee Joe's Crabshack... HA!} in Illinois to celebrate my cousin Kelli's departure for Western University. It's so weird, the memories that can be conjured by a single photograph. That's one of the reasons I cherish them so. Look at all Ty's hair!

Through the Years...

Shortly after prom, we were "officially" dating. This picture was taken at Chili's during dinner with friends shortly before I headed off to school in Ames and left Tyler behind. But, not for long. Oh, now that's a long story. Maybe I'll get into the details some time. I so ♥ this quote, though. It's one of my favorites. Holds true for all my friends, too. The value of laughter... well, I just don't think you can put a value on something like that.

Through the Years...

I thought it would be fun, as Tyler and I are off sailing the high seas in celebration of our anniversary, to take a look back at our relationship. I was planning to dig back through some old photos, and came across a little scrapbook that I made Ty for Valentine's Day, 2006. It made me laugh, looking back, at how rudimentary my scrapbooking skills were then, and how "cheesy" the whole thing was with the quotes and all. Ah, well... here are some highlights...



This picture was taken at my senior prom, May 2000. Tyler and I weren't "officially" dating yet, but had been spending time together for months and months without calling it so. HA! He was so cute in his tux, even if I did practically have to break his arm to agree to go with me. He was pretty painfully shy back then, and still is in many ways.

Since Then...

One final catch-up post as we head off on our big trip...

So, after trivia weekend, things started to calm down just a smidgen.

I had a pretty busy work week.

Sassy's been having T-ball practices Tuesday and Thursday evenings. She's on the blue team for T-ball, too. The Cubs!! GREAT team name! I haven't had the opportunity to get out there and take any pictures yet. That time will come soon.

Last Friday was Tyler's birthday. My parents agreed to watch the kids so we could go out Friday night. We grabbed sushi and went and saw Water for Elephants... Ty's choice. I know, right? I had visions of being stuck at Thor, so I was pleasantly surprised by his selection. We both read and loved the book, so there's the background info.

As an aside, let me tell you this... I'm a Twilight fan and I've seen all the movies. I've never been gaga for Robert Pattinson like the rest of the crazies. {Sorry, Rob, if you're reading this...} OK, so back to Water for Elephants. O.M.G. He was hot. Like HOT hot. I mean, I would never fantasize about another man whilst sitting next to my husband in a movie theater or anything. But, seriously... mmmm mmm mmm. Yeah. Hot.

Saturday, Ty finished some side work for a friend and I took the girls to a birthday party for their friend, Miss M. She requested a robot themed party, and her Mama did a fantastic job!!

Here are a couple of pictures from before we left the house. It was gorgeous weather outside!



I was super happy that this shirt still fit Sassy this year- I love it on her!



Isn't Tink starting to look so grown up?



Like I said before, the party was adorable! Such cute decorations!



Miss M enjoyed opening her gifts...



The kids hit the mother load with treats- cake, cookies, AND ice cream!



Then, they went at the homemade robot pinata- SO cute!



Later Saturday night, we had a few family friends over for a BBQ to celebrate Ty's birthday. The kids had an absolute blast in the backyard!



We made s'mores like professionals...



We ate them like professionals, too...



We hope to have many, many more backyard BBQ's this summer!

In other news... I am pretty much a BLONDE!!!

No, really.



I almost always lighten up for the summer, but I figured I'd go BIG and BOLD this time for our trip. It's a pretty drastic change, my peeps. Let me remind you by way of a side-by-side... one from the BBQ Saturday and one with my new 'do.



Hmm... what else?

Sassy had her last day of preschool Tuesday.

Be.still.my.heart.

She is a preschooler no longer.

*sigh*

Here are a couple of pictures from her last day of preschool:



She's grown up a lot this year...



So concludes my final post before D-Day tomorrow. Please send us prayers and good wishes for a safe trip and a smooth transition resulting in two happy little girls at home enjoying time with their Nana and Graycop. I have a little entertainment in store for you all while I'm gone, and I'll fill you all in on our trip in June! ♥

Trivia Weekend.

I have a new addiction.

It's called live trivia.

It's the most fun thing.

EVER.

I am such a nerd!

Lynzee and I have been playing pretty regularly since February. Thursday night, baby... at Heroe's Sports Bar and Grill.

The premise is simple- you can have as many people on your team as you want. You turn in one answer per team. There are 9 first half questions, a halftime question, 9 second half questions, and a final question. Topics range from sports, movies, music, and TV to science, literature, history and geography.

Sometimes Lynzee and I play by ourselves. Sometimes friends or husbands join us. Lately, my parents have enjoyed filling out our team. It's super fun.

Anyway, we qualified (along with another team) to compete for Wichita in the Kansas Trivia League Finals in Lawrence a couple weekends ago. We went, of course. There was a $2000 cash prize up for grabs, along with many other smaller prizes. You can check out our awesome team here- Tom, Lynzee's Mom, and Lynzee's brother filled in for our team on the road.

It was fun. We kind of sucked. We finished about mid-pack, around 25/52. Made some silly mistakes. Lacked knowledge in plenty of areas. You know...

Did I mention it was a lot of fun?

Anyone in the ICT should think about challenging us one Thursday evening. We walk away often with at least $20 in gift cards towards our next visit. We're totally up for the challenge. Learn more about it here.

Saying Goodbye to Soccer Season...

Soccer drew to a close rather quickly, it seemed. We all really enjoyed Sassy's practices and games, and we can't wait for soccer season next year! Thanks, Optimists, for running such a great program in our community!

The weather was chilly Friday night for our team BBQ and trophy ceremony, but we had fun anyway!



It's amazing how excited little kids get about receiving a trophy. For reals.



Saturday morning was unbelievably cold for our last game of the spring season, but we trucked on (in sweats...)



Sassy is such a goof! As you can see, she continued to request crazy soccer hair week after week...



The girls played a great game, despite the cold.



Way to go, Smurfettes! You girls ROCK!

Ten on Ten: May 2011

Oh, what a slacker I've been. Skipped Forgot April all together. Now, May... 14 days later. Ah, well... enjoy May 10th from my perspective:












Here's to a more timely June Ten on Ten! HA!

No Bees for Miles...

But, the hives...

Monday after Mother's Day was pretty typical around the SPH. It was off to school for Sassy, and I had an Oral Health Workshop up in Wichita all day.

Later in the evening, we enjoyed our first dance-free Monday for a long while by attending a Thirty-One Gifts party at my friend Sarah's house. Sarah's husband Dustin was kind enough to keep the girls entertained in the backyard while I listened to the demonstration.

When we got home that evening, Tyler began to gave the girls a bath, and he called me upstairs almost immediately. Sassy's back was covered in a rash, from shoulder blade to shoulder blade, neck to bottom.



After a quick chat with the on-call nurse at our pediatrician, as well as a late, late phone call to Sarah to check if we could find a plausible cause from their backyard, it was a dose of Benadryl and some hydrocortisone cream for Sassy before bed.

We took her into the Dr. Tuesday to make sure everything was OK. She is already allergic to Penicillin, and I'm a hyper vigilant worrier about her immune response to the daily Bactrim for her VUR.

Long story short, her doctor thinks it was likely a photosensitive reaction between the sun (obviously) and the Bactrim. It's something we will have to closely monitor this summer, and should she experience more of these types of reactions, we will have to rethink the current drug regimen she's on.

Joy.

Makes sense, though. She did play with a bikini on in the backyard most of Sunday afternoon...

Poor girl was miserable for a couple of days, but she pulled through, thanks to lots of Benadryl and HC cream!

Are You My Mother?

For Mother's Day this year, we decided to invite my parents to visit Tanganyika Wildlife Park with us. Knowing they had an admission special in honor of Mother's Day, we made sure to arrive just before the park opened, and we are sure glad we did! The first hour or so of our visit was perfect, and by the time we left, there were more people there than I had ever seen before!

We decided to get up close & personal with the giraffes first, as we have observed that they get pretty sick of interacting after a while, and we hoped to catch them while they were still interested in engaging.



The girls loved feeding the giraffes. They are such beautiful animals!



I had to attempt the obligatory Mother's Day pictures with Mom & Nana before it was too late to catch my little ones in a willing mood. I came to the realization that Tink is mostly at that age where she is never in a willing mood. Ah, well...



We checked out the rhinos...



... the Colobus monkeys...



... and made our way into the Lorakeet Lair...



Sassy about freaked out when a bird landed on her head. She let out an ungodly scream and I was pretty much rattled from that point on through the rest of the day! HA!



She was stylin' with her shades. She insisted, before we left the house, that I remove the straps from her Gap shirt to make it strapless. Probably not the best idea ever. We were pulling up that darn shirt all.day.long, and I am sure there are some indecent pictures in the mix somewhere!



We went in and checked out the kangaroos. I thought this picture was kind of cool because you can see right into her pouch. Up close, you could see a little pink-ish joey wriggling around inside, and we think there was an older one, too!



The girls fed some farm animals...



..and we headed to the rabbit/tortoise feeding area. This is probably the girls' favorite part of Tanganyika. They love to spend time in the pits and feed the animals.



I ♥, ♥, ♥ this picture of the girls!



The tortoises are so neat to look at. I have no idea how old these actually are, but they are such old souls!



After that, we fed some more farm animals, and headed over to the playground area to play and enjoy the picnic lunch Tyler packed for us all.



We finished up by checking out the penguins...



... and the albino alligator that we almost named {they had a naming contest last spring, and our name was chosen as a finalist. They ultimately chose Luna over Pearl {{our name}} but we did win 2 free admissions!}



The park was getting really crowded, and we decided not to wait in line to feed and visit the lemurs. On the way out, several Tanganyika employees were standing with animals, doing live chats. We saw several, and the girls just LOVED this little Sugar Glider. Don't you want to just take him home?



Tink napped at my parents house while my Dad and Sassy played in our backyard. I took Tyler shopping for new clothes for the cruise. We also did some grocery shopping, and my parents and the girls met us back at our house, where we grilled beer-can chickens and had a nice Mother's day dinner.

Now, all I have to do is think of a way to make Father's Day even better!