Quick Takes

1. Dress Ups and Lego Duplos are hot items around here. I'd be lost without them. They are by far the most loved toys in our house. 

2. Last Friday I had a lunch date with these two cuties. They each earned a free kids meal at Hardee's via our library's summer reading program. They were pretty happy about the whole ordeal.

I forgot how much I love curly fries. Yummy deep fried goodness.

3. Almost two weeks ago we had our semi-annual dentist check up and Reido was a super star. He did not make a peep. They completed an entire cleaning and check up without any help from mom or dad (just puppy). He told me his favorite part was the X-ray. He also told me they practiced what was going to happen to his teeth on his fingers, I thought that was pretty clever.

4. He also had his last day at Tot Time. I wanted him to give something nice to his sweet teachers, three el ed college girls, but I didn't know any of their names (how horrible am I) so making a card was out of the question. Instead I grabbed three of my small size L'BRI lotions and had him give each of them one while looking them in the eyes and saying "Thank you for being my teacher." We rehearsed it a few times at home, and he was so excited and nervous "should I do it right when I get there, or at the end?"  We decided it'd be a good goodbye at the end of class, so when he saw my car pull up he ran over asking "where's my lotions?" Then I watched him walk back over to each of them and repeat "Thank you for being my teacher" three times, even though they were all standing right by each other as he did it. They "ooohhhed" and "aaahhhed" each time he did so. It really was quite adorable. He's been missing Tot Time this week and I think the whole experience has him really excited for preschool. Mission accomplished!

The tie-dye shirt was a Tot Time craft. Oh, and he did not pee his pants, just a leaky water bottle on the car ride over. 

5. A few weeks ago I was strolling through Toys R Us when my eyes found pure gold. PURE GOLD, I tell ya! This sweet baby was my first love. And I have proof. 

6. The weather has been absolutely amazing the last couple of weeks. We've spent lots of time enjoying ourselves in our back yard. 

7. On Monday the kids and I drove through the country to meet an old childhood love of mine (not the above Cabbage Patch doll, but the little girl with a similar one clutched to her chest in the above photo). We had lots of fun catching up. I was able to go to lunch with both Heidi and her big sister Annie. When we were little, little tykes our parents (and one other family) would have game nights and BBQs together and all us kids would run wild. Annie and my older brother Jon and Heidi and I always remained close friends. They just happened to be in Wisconsin for a quick weekend, and I was thrilled to go see them.

We did spend quite a bit of time chatting about old friends (both from our childhood and college years, since we were both Aggies). We talked about our current stages in life, and I probably came off as less than thrilled over motherhood and marriage. I was just kind of in one of those "motherhood is work" and "marriage is work" funks. Hard work. And while that is true (so much work), marriage and motherhood are also marvelous and beautiful and rewarding and joyful. 

Anyway, I don't have anything grand to say about my lunch date with Heidi, but it's a special little memory I want to keep tucked away here on my blog. As a mother I can only hope and pray my kids have a friend as dear and as sweet as she. I was truly blessed with a magical childhood, filled with wonderful playmates. I'm grateful the years and the distance don't keep us apart. I truly believe the relationships we forge on this Earth are Eternal and Divine.