Memorial Day Weekend

We did a staycation with our friends this Memorial Day weekend. We spent the long weekend at the Westin Kierland Villas. We pretty much spent the long weekend outside at the pool enjoying the beautiful weather and the fun activities the resort had. Every hour the resort had activities to get people engaged and provide fun for the kids. Last year Max did not participate in one event, but he did watch his friends participate. One year later and he participated in quite a few events. I was even shocked at some of them.

Cannon ball contest.


Watermelon eating contest.


Belly Flop contest.

Water balloon toss.


Biggest splash.




Fastest swimmer.

For all the contests he entered he "won" a snow cone for his age group of 4 and younger. He received a lot of sno cone coupons. He was the most excited when he and his friends all won the belly flop contest.


The kids got to watch a movie out by the pool one night.


Get ice cream cones.




Hang with daddy.


Swim.


Go out to dinner.




With all of that activity we had one VERY TIRED boy at the end of the long weekend. This mommy just wanted a family photo together, but somebody wasn't having it.


It was a fantastic Memorial Day weekend staycation and the kids had a blast. We look forward to it again next year.

Last Day of School

Last week was Max's last week of school (it gets out early in Arizona). I did my last volunteer day for this school year too. On Wednesday I went in for an hour and a half and helped the kids make flip flops for their art project. Again, Max was super excited for it to be my turn.

The kids start the day with the Pledge of Allegiance.



On Thursday they had the last day of school pizza party. I showed up for lunch and watched the kids give Mrs. Lisa a thank you gift. It was adorable.






Max absolutely LOVED school and he will miss his teacher and friends over the summer break, but before we know it the school year will begin again.

We will be back at Wee Blessings again next year. Andy and I decided that since Max doesn't turn 5 until the end of June, and school starts less than a month later that it is best if we do another year of Pre-K. This was not an easy decision, but based on discussions with his teacher and the anxiety that he has it's recommended that he has another year to "mature" before he enters kindergarten. He's currently the only four year old in his class and it's very obvious. This was not an easy decision, and still isn't for this momma, but it's the best decision for Max in the long run. He's excited to go back to Wee Blessings next year. He will have a new teacher and he will make some new friends.

Portland

Last week I was in Portland for my annual marketing accounting conference and I had a great trip. I had never spent time in Portland before and I absolutely fell in love with it. Honestly, the EXTREME liberal beliefs of the Portland community are completely far from what I believe in, but once I put that aside I absolutely LOVED it!  And, when they say "Keep Portland Weird" boy do they mean it. I definitely witnessed some weird stuff there, but it's what makes the City. Instead of being weirded out by it, I embraced it and found it very unique and fun.

One of my favorite things about arriving in Portland was that my good friend, Pam, picked me up at the airport and we went to a Cider House where I got to experience my first cider flight. This was on my to-do list for the week and Pam checked it off my list first thing.


Even though I only saw Pam for a few hours it was GREAT to see her. I wish I could have spent more time with her. It just means that I need to make another trip to the PNW for a visit!

Then onto my conference where I brought home another Accounting Marketing Award for my firm. My department did a social media campaign around the Elf on the Shelf back in December and we won an award for it. The comments the judges said where that "it's very creative for the accounting industry; we spent no money on a unique idea; and we had a nice ROI." I am more than proud of my team for another award!


Besides the award I have made some really good marketing friends over the past 12 years. Even though I only see these friends once a year, we are all pretty close and it's nice to call these ladies my friends.


It was time to head home and see my two favorite people in the whole wide world. Of course I had a great time, but it's always nice to head home and get greeted at the door (or in the garage before I got out of my car) by a very excited little boy.

Happy Mother’s Day

My Mother’s Day weekend was great. It was kicked off early at Max’s school last Thursday when they had a Muffins with Mommy for the last 30 minutes of school.

Andy went back to Wisconsin for the weekend so I spend a lot of quality time with Max. On Friday I took him to Uptown Jungle and we had a blast. 

Then we had a lunch date.

Made some chalkboard slime.

On Saturday Max had a basketball game and his cousin Stephanie drove down for it. He was so excited to have her at his game. 

We also had a birthday party on Saturday at a trampoline park. 

We have been reading a book called Green Dinosaur Pancakes for the past year and Max really likes the book. I started off Sunday morning making green dinosaur pancakes with Max.

I also set up an obstacle course in our backyard for Max and I to race to see who could win.

What a Mother’s Day weekend I had. I am so blessed to be Max’s mommy and I had a great Mother’s Day. It was topped off when Max said that every day is mommy’s day cuz there is not just one day for love.  So sweet!

Basketball, Swimming & Painting

This past weekend was pretty low key. We had Max's basketball game on Saturday. He's starting to get better at the game, but he still prefers soccer and swimming over basketball.


We swam a lot in the pool since it has hit triple digits. Max was just lounging on the sliced watermelon raft I recently picked up.


On Sunday morning we did another Pinterest project...painting with squirt guns. Again, the dollar store is great for stuff like this. I filled six squirt guns with paint, covered up his easel with a dollar store plastic table cloth and he painted away.

Soccer and Painting

Last weekend was Max's last soccer game for the spring season and he scored a goal. Max was so proud that he turned around with the biggest smile on his face. This mommy was very proud of him. He played really hard to get that goal.




He really enjoys soccer and will probably play again in the Fall. We are hoping to stay with Coach Bryan again since he's really good with the kids. Max really likes him and likes the kids on his team.


After the game the coach handed out the medals for the season. Max loves his medal so much that he took it to school for show and tell.


We got the professional shots they took for the soccer season. He is adorable!

On Sunday I put together a painting project for Max. We have not done a project in a while since our weekends have been so busy, but we didn't have anything going on for Sunday so it was time for a project. We painted with dollar store cars. Max had a blast with this and it took up almost two hours of the day. I got cars with different kinds of wheels so that he could make different tracks. His favorite was the car he could wind up and then let go and watch the paint splatter all over the board. Dollar stores are great for projects like this.