It's been awhile

September is here and it feels like the summer blew by.  Not because we were any busier than usual, it was one of our more relaxing summers but I guess everything goes faster as you get older.  

We didn't take our normal big family vacation this summer.  Since we went to London & Paris earlier in the year, we decided to just do a Colorado trip to visit Josh's family and then go up to Estes Park.  The trip ended early due to a horrible hotel experience, an episode of car sickness, and rainy weather.  The highlight for me was the day we spent in Boulder doing some shopping and taking a tour of the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory.  Celestial Seasonings isn't my favorite but I still love all tea.  And who can resist the cute bear mascot?

It also was the summer of weddings.  I do love a good wedding and one of them was a friend's Star Wars themed wedding.  Josh was in heaven and planned months in advance for his costume.  He now also has something to wear to the opening of the next Star Wars wedding.  It really was a neat wedding.  The other was more traditional style wedding and both Josh and Tori got plenty of dancing in that night (see first pic).

Penny celebrated her 10th birthday in August.  Grandma hosted a Unicorn Trampoline Park party. This was the first year that Penny has actually been able to be in touch with friends over the summer so we were able to have a "friend" party and it seems she had a great birthday.  She also managed to top off her Nintendo Switch savings and have enough to go buy herself a Nintendo Switch.  We have 3 in my house now...sigh.

We did spend some time swimming this summer both at my sister's pool in KC and at the YMCA. While in KC we also hit a up cookie dough stand to try out the cookie dough craze... it was really good and I cheated for it. The girls did the Girls Who Rock Camp for a week and they both loved it.  They played a rock concert at Central Standard Brewing.  I really love how empowering this program is for young girls.

Speaking of music now not only do I have a guitar player I now have a drummer.  Penny finally decided on playing the drums and started lessons a few weeks ago.  We new she was naturally inclined to play the drums because she has always had such a good sense of rhythm.  Tori also upgraded her acoustic guitar to a new electric guitar.  She played bass guitar during rock camp and although she had fun, she decided that she would rather stay with lead guitar on electric.  We ended up keeping her acoustic which now hangs on her bedroom wall. 

Also to celebrate Josh's birthday this year we all got tickets to see Sir Paul McCartney.  The girls are as big of Beatles fans as we are.  The concert was awesome and there was plenty of singing by all of us. 

We redid Penny's room.  She has wanted a cupcake wall for awhile and I figured how to make that happen.  Also she desperately needed a better desk space that she could use for all her arts & crafts as well as working on the computer.  I sought out an Ikea hack that worked out great.  Here is the sneak peak but I plan to do a more involved post about her room later.

I have been working from home almost 100% these days which has been nice.  I get so much more done and life is just more balanced.  I am getting ready to go into a period of travel for work over the next month.  I will be spending a week in Minneapolis, a week in San Francisco, and a week in Bangalore, India.  The India trip is a big one that will take two weekends up in order to travel the 20 hours each way.  My connection is through London... who would have thought I would be in London twice in one year?  My only hope is that I have time to hit up M&S Food in my short layover!

I did take a break from keto the month of July but have been back since the first of August.  I feel like my body isn't adapting as easily as it has in the past.  Unfortunately it is gong to be difficult to stay keto with all the travel.  I'm not worried about Minneapolis or San Francisco but India just isn't going to happen. I love Indian food so I want to eat the carbs but also, it would be difficult to seek out foods that are't made with rice or potatoes.  I am looking forward to the chai though. I can only imagine how yummy it is in India.

Josh & I have also started on our goal to get tattoos that we have been wanting.  He went first.  We spent 5 hours a couple of weeks ago and he has about 2-3 hours left to go to complete his.  It is rather large and includes a silhouette of the girls faces with scenes in each one that are special to each daughter.

Kansas City Comic Con

We hit up Kansas City Comic Con a couple of weeks ago for Penny's birthday.  Since our discovery of MegaCon over the summer, Penny was really wanting to check out Kansas City Comic Con (and so was her sister and their dad).  So we made an overnight trip up to KC with my mom and the girl's cousin to swim and check it out. 

After learning about Cosplay, both girls HAD to dress up.  We found Dr. Who costumes online so Tori wore a Tardis dress and Penny wore a Dalek dress.  They loved being a part of the crowd and getting attention from people who wanted to take pictures with them.

We went on a Saturday morning and were happily surprised that the crowds weren't nearly as big as MeganCon nor was the walking distance to get inside.  The event took up a large space at Bartle Hall in the KC Convention Center.  There were definitely some interesting comic book artists including one of Penny's favorites, Ian McGinty, who does Bravest Warriors (her favorite) and Adventure Time comics.  He signed a comic for her with a special note and drawing that said Happy Birthday.  She was super excited and now that comic has been put in a protective case to keep.

The girls were probably most excited about the vendors.  These girls love all the toys, jewelry, clothing, and art that the vendors have.  Tori got some Dr. Who earrings that are made from recycled comic books.  Penny was a bit spoiled by Grandma and she got some Totoro earrings and matching necklace. She also got a Dr. Who Adipose necklace.  Their cousin, Regina, was into all the Kawaii stuff (my kind of kid) and got herself a new fancy phone case for her iPhone.

The husband was able to geek out a little bit as the Dukes of Hazzard guys were there as well as Nichelle Nichols from Star Trek.

I really liked MegaCon but it felt overwhelming and crazy.  Kansas City Comic Con was definitely more relaxed and enjoyable.  We spent about 3 hours there and definitely saw everything.

First Day Back to School

The last two days have had us learning new routines and settling into how life will be now that both girls are back in school and at different schools this year.  Tori started 6th grade at a new middle school and Penny started 4th grade at her old school.

Tori started with a half day of only 6th graders to get comfortable with walking class to class and using a locker before going a full day with 7th and 8th graders.  She did well but would really like to have the locker combination nailed by now.  She's definitely making that move into wanting to dress a certain way and caring more about her appearance with less help from mom.

Penny was back to the same routine meeting up with her besties from last year before the bell rang.  I'm sure they were deep in discussion over Totoro and Pokémon before the teacher started class.

It has been a loaded summer of fun and staying active.  The girls managed to travel to: Orlando, FL; Guanacaste, Costa Rica; and Denver, CO.  Tori did a week at Lego Robotics Camp and they both did a week at Horseback Riding Camp.  They also made two trips up to KC to hangout with my sister's family and swim which included going to KC Comic Con which I will post on separately.

I also managed to work from home a few days to allow the girls to spend time just vegging out with electronics.  I'm not a big fan of the amount of overuse of electronics with kids but I indulged them in a few days of just doing nothing.

We definitely made the most of the summer and took advantage of mom's increased energy and desire to get out and live life more.

9 Years Old

My youngest, Penny, is turning 9 tomorrow and I'm in so much denial that the baby of family is growing up. While looking at family photos from our recent vacation I really started to notice, she's now a big girl...sniff, sniff. 


I am also realizing now that it has been over 8 years since I met this independent toddler who lived life on her own terms.  I met Penny for the first time when she just under a year old.  She didn't know what to think of me and kept her distance, all in her own time and on her own terms.  The next time I met her, she walked for the very first time!  I was so excited to see this spunky and fearless little girl take off and she literally did take off!  No fear, just excitement.  Thankfully she accepted me and loved to have me hold and love on her.

Now at 9 years old, she's even more set in her ways.  She is my kid who has all the interests and desire to create just like me.  She loves drawing with me while we sit and watch shows and movies like Adventure Time, Labyrinth, Studio Ghibli stuff, and everything kawaii!  She loves Dr. Who as well but shares that one with her dad.

She still loves her toys and I think if she could stay at the age she is for life, it wouldn't bother her a bit. She's a collector of all things small and has boxes and cases of blind bag prizes that she cherishes. She LOVES her stuffed animals and carries her Piggy or Totoro most places she goes. She has really started to get into reading more these days, going so far as to ask for a Kindle for her birthday.  She loves the Hobbit and Harry Potter most recently.

She's my articulate and strong willed kid who is the center of attention at school and always lets people know what is on her mind.  I love her spunk and sensitivity towards others, especially her protectiveness and love for her grandmother. She always makes sure she apologizes for her bad behaviors and goes to bed with a clear head.

She's a little mini-me and if I were to have had a baby from my body, I would guess he or she would turn out about much like Penny.  People often tell me how obvious it is that she is MY daughter.

We will be celebrating her birthday with a Shopkins themed pool party next weekend and expect to have loads and loads of fun.

Springtime Flowers

I have been wanting to get out to a local treasure in Wichita, Botanica, for a few weeks now. It's part of being bitten by the flower and plant bug lately.   Last Sunday, my family headed out for breakfast and for a walk among the gardens. I did lots and lots of picture taking.  The peonies and roses were gorgeous and it was a perfect day for a leisurely stroll. I think we may end up getting a membership because it was just such a nice time.  I can see myself going a lot on my own as well.  (It is also so much nicer to walk around and carry 80 pounds less on my body).

I had been wanting to play around with a new camera lense that I received as a gift from my husband for Christmas. And also wanted to just practice using the camera more.

I got some shots that I am pretty happy with.  I've saved back my favorites for posts in the future and look forward to sharing those with you soon. 

Tropical Tea Party

I belong to a family of tea lovers.  It may have started with my grandfather who had a love for his iced tea year round but generation by generation the love has spread.  My niece, in particular, loves her a tea party.  Over the last couple of years she has thrown tea parties at grandma's house while visiting. My girls and I always join and have as she would say, "a jolly good time."

The theme this last weekend was a Tropical Tea Party complete with grass skirts, leis and tropical décor.  The dogs (well at least Kofi) even tolerated the tea party for awhile.

We had Coral Pies (mini-strawberry pies), Seafoam cakes (mini-keto-friendly cheesecakes), fruit salsa and cinnamon-sugar chips, and white chocolate meringues to go the with tea.

The tea was the highlight for sure.  We had Pina Colada Carmen Miranda from Chelmsford Tea and it was so nice.  It steeps to a vibrant pinky red color and tastes so summery. You could easily drink it without any sweetener.  We all loved it.

The End of Another School Year

This year flew by fast.  I'll admit not quite as fast as prior years due to the fact that I was present this year and able to participate more in activities with the girls.  The entire last week of school felt like one big party for the girls, not that they minded.

The end of the school year was celebrated with the 5th grade trip to Rock Springs, 3rd grade Shark Dissection, Field Day for both girls, and 5th Grade Graduation for Tori.  I feels like not so long ago she was headed out to her first day of Kindergarten and now Elementary school is behind her.  I am excited for next year and all the activities she will be able to participate in at Middle School.  She's definitely excited about the technology classes and while she would like to join the music program, they don't offer anything for guitar which is what she has been playing through private lessons for well over a year now.   I'll just leave you with these photos of the our last couple of weeks closing out the school year.

5th grade and 3rd grade, in the books.