East Coast Crew

The Moreheads - Phil and Brenda, hosted a pizza party for us on Saturday afternoon to celebrate our moving to Dallas.  It was a great gathering of all the East Coast Crew - The Martin family, The Swan Family and the Moreheads!  with the addition of the Fatzenetz family - including 7-year old daughter, Catherine!  A great new pal for Ellie - they grew so close they hugged good-bye at the end of the night!

Phil made this amazing variety of pizzas! There was a Shrimp and Veggie pizza, BBQ Chicken, Cheeseburger and even a Thai variety!  The kids played outside while the grown-ups told stories and ate the feast~!

Kristin, Laura and me

The Two Bills - Bill Martin and Bill Fricano

Phil making all those awesome pizza for the party!

Ellie played more football, basketball and tag then we can remember!

Group of girls that played all afternoon together!

Soccer Saturday

Although it's the beginning of April, it felt like March as the sun shone but the temperatures were in the 30's!  This didn't stop the girls from running up and down the soccer field in the cold.  They wore many layers under their 'gold shirt', and leggings under their shorts, but they played hard and emerged  flushed and thirsty!

Lily and Ellie in line for the run and kick drill!

Look Mom - no feet on the ground!

That's some big kick!

Ellie, Sydnee and Marissa warming up!

Opening Day 2014

As tradition has it, every year we sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame at dinner as we eat our hot dogs, enjoy our Cracker Jacks while wearing our new Yankee t-shirts!

All this after our first soccer practice of the Spring season ... great day all around!

Wearing our new shirts - holding our Cracker Jacks!

We had fun along the way ...

Ellie is almost used to the house hunting trip by now.  She says she recalls the one we made to Bloomington from Charlottesville nearly three years ago.  This one she'll remember for sure.  She was a  real trouper allowing us to combine her birthday celebration with all the events of our trip!

She is eager to get back to the new house.  Can't wait to go to her new school, Whitt Elementary, where she'll happily tell you she'll be one of the Whitt Wolves!  She met the attendance person, counselor and the principal already.  And we know how she is with all those authority figures at Grove!

She's also thrilled to be a part of the summer program at Children's Lighthouse!  She will begin at the Wylie location and move to the Sachse location as soon as the building is complete in June.  Imagine having a brand new school to look forward to for summer program!  They'll be field trips to museums, a petting zoo, to go bowling and to the movies!  She can't wait to meet new friends!

Playing basketball at the hotel

A new companion to remind her of Texas.  Riley was happy to return to IL for a few weeks!

Her first Texas treat - a waffle in the shape of Texas!

We Bought a House, not a Zoo!

Our new house in Sachse, TX

Ellie was happy to be the one to put the SOLD sign in the ground!

In her kitchen, with this very long island!  She can't wait to begin to cook here!

Happy 8th Birthday Ellie!

Catching up on blog postings this weekend .. with the pictures from our trip to Dallas.

Here's the birthday girl the day before her birthday.  She wore this special shirt to school with a special lunch, knowing that we were picking her up at school to get on the road for our trip!

Ellie celebrating her 8th birthday at Main Event - bowling, arcade games and prizes!

Birthday Dessert!

It's coming ...

The big trip to Dallas, buying a new house, AND Ellie's 8th birthday … all happening at the same time.  It's no wonder she's exhausted.  She's curled up with her golden puppy, Kingston.  He's nearly the length of her - good practice for the real thing she tells me.  Because of course, when/if there's a dog in our family he'll sleep with her.

She said the other night at bedtime, "Mommy, I don't think Daddy is on the same page with us about getting a dog."  I explained that right now we had some big stuff ahead of us to get through and after that we'd talk about it again.  And I also shared that if we decided it was something really important to Mommy and Ellie, somehow Daddy would come around …. and she smiled.

"Let's get through our trip and our move to Dallas, and THEN we talk about it again," I told her.  She seemed to be happy enough with that.

Ellie and Kingston sleeping soundly!

Hurry up, Opening Day!

Can't wait for Opening Day this year!  Seems like the winter has been doubly-long and we are SO ready for baseball!  This just may be the year that Ellie gets to visit the new Yankee Stadium.  Only time will tell ….

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Although the luck of the Irish isn't with us so far for the sale of the house .. we did celebrate St. Patrick's Day today!

Ellie wore her green and pinched Bill for not wearing his - somehow she learned that's what your supposed to do when someone doesn't wear theirs!  And we used her Kids' Club coupon from Barnes and Noble on the way home for her birthday cupcake too!

It was quite a day - and it's only Monday!

"I make my own good luck!"

Ellie and her Chocolate/Chocolate cupcake - happy to dive in!

Grove Family Fun Day

Ellie and her principal, Mrs. Fogal.  Can you just feel the love between the two of them?
Mrs. Fogal told us she will truly miss having Ellie at school, and can't wait to get updates on all her  achievements!

With all the excitement of preparing for our move, I haven't posted much about our adventures.  Not to worry - lots of adventures to come for us!  It has been a week filled with finding realtors in Bloomington, contacting appraisers, contacting the realtor in Dallas, and most of all preparing our home to go on the market!

Saturday morning, our friend Lisa Lockenvitz was here to take pictures and prepare the listing!  The sign for the front yard appeared in the afternoon and we are officially on the market.  In the meantime we had Ellie's annual school fundraiser to attend - Grove Family Fun Day.

You may recall its an afternoon of games, prizes, noise and excitement for K-5 and their families!  She played tons of games, saw lots of friends and unhappily didn't win ANY of the prizes.  Although I explained that I understood her disappointment - she did have a birthday coming at the end of the week so there were prizes headed her way!

Waiting patiently for the tattoo to be applied.

Glitter tattoo of a lion on her arm made Ellie smile!

Action shot of Ellie playing one of the many games

So we're off to Dallas...

Yes, you heard it right.  We're moving to Dallas.

I'm not sure which one of us is more excited…. Ellie couldn't wait to share with her friends and teachers today - since today was the day of the formal announcement at work.

I've been selected as a Manager in the Dallas Customer Care Center - and I start on May 12th.  Plans are still being made and dates being defined, but at this point we're pretty sure Bill and Ellie will stay in Bloomington until the end of May in order for Ellie to finish the school year.

And we'll forego our vacation during Ellie's Spring Break this year in order to house hunt in Dallas instead.  We figured how would we possibly relax for a week at Gulf Shores with all this in the works.  We'd rather postpone a vacation and take it at a better time so we can use her time off accordingly!

Bill's job will transition to Dallas - so he'll be doing exactly the same thing from the new location.  Great news that he won't have to look for a different job - just continue his current one!

We're happy to already know people in Dallas.  We have Aunt Di and Uncle Bruce four hours away in Houston … and most of all Ellie cannot wait to move!  She's so excited for her new adventure!

More to come .. just wanted to make it official!

Report Card time!

Ellie's second trimester has just ended, and Friday was report card day!  She is doing so well.  Her grades for Art, Music, Language, Reading, Social Studies, Science, PE and Writing are all 3 out of 3!  Only the subject Math is at a 2 as she works on instant recall of addition and subtraction.  And, boy, have we used those flash cards a lot!

Here's the best part .. the comments from her teacher, Mrs. Kimmel:
" Ellie continues to show growth each day in her leaning!  I am proud of her progress.  She comes to school with a smile on her face and an enthusiasm for learning!  She interacts positively with her peers and is very respectful.  Good job, Ellie!"

We are so proud of her being such a kind and positive girl!  We've assured her that with hard work the Math will come - and how much it means to us that Mrs. Kimmel recognizes all the wonderful things that we love about her too!

The ordinary days ..

Using her magnetic Goobi construction set to create ...

Someone said to me yesterday, "are you writing down all those things that Ellie says?"  And of course, I said … "sometimes …" but that didn't feel good enough.  She sure is a witty, insightful and amazing person as she is finding her place in this big world.

She reminded me the other night, "Mommy, nobody's perfect.  It's okay, you can try again." As a comment to something that didn't go as planned.

And to the prediction of 8-10 inches of snow over the weekend she said, 'that's okay, I like the snow!"  So I guess I've done my job - to allow her to enjoy what she has, when she has it, for however long she has it …

And then yesterday when I picked her up from Bright Horizons yesterday she told me her day started off great, but didn't end well because of an incident on the bus from school.  We talked about how sometimes that happens.  She said, "I wish this day was over!"  So I said to her, "Let's not wish it away.  Let's use the rest of the day to do things that make us happy so we have good parts to remember."  She understood, but wasn't convinced.

When we got home it was homework, dinner, card games … and she still wasn't happy.  So I told her about an article I read the other day about how to get out of a funk.  And ironically, she knew exactly what a funk was ….. I told her there were two activities suggested in the article.

1)  Exercise, stretch, just move!
2)  Be creative - draw, color, paint, write

And she understood.  So we went into the living room and did our stretches together.  For a long time.  Not just a warm up.  But a good 15 minutes.  Within two minutes she was smiling and laughing.

Sometimes we all need to be reminded what's good for us.  Not told, not scolded, not harassed.  Just reminded what we already know.  Even as adults.  So I'll remember this activity the next time I need to get out of a funk .. and how well it worked with Ellie!

Happy Birthday Bill!

This has been a crazy week so far with no school and work closing early on Monday, School off for Teacher something-or-other on Tuesday and now Wednesday is swim lessons and Bill's birthday … whew … it's already been a week.

So tonight we celebrated with pasta and shrimp for dinner and a red velvet/cream cheese frosting birthday cake for Bill's 47th!  complete with presents of course!  Ellie always has the most fun -

The happy birthday celebration!

Ellie singing Happy Birthday!

Seriously, more snow ...

Today is President's Day.  No school, no mail, no banks and no Bright Horizons.  For us this means that Ellie is home for the day…. Bill and I agreed to split the day, each of us working from home part of the day and the other part going into the office.

Bill had the morning in the office, and I took the afternoon.  And somehow both of us missed that we had 4-7 inches of snow on the way .. with a wonderful wintery mix of sleet thrown in for good measure.  So now we're both working from home in the afternoon.  And that leaves Ellie to entertain herself for a bit while we both jump onto conference calls at the same time… Hello Rainbow Loom!

Here's a shot of her dressed and ready to help clear!

Bundled up to face the winter cold and snow!

USA Hockey

Ellie joined me for our 6:30am puck drop for the USA v Russia Olympic Hockey game this morning.  She honestly seemed as happy to be watching I was.  She asked terrific questions like, "Is the goalie always your favorite player?" and "Why is that guy missing so many teeth?"

She cheered loudly every time the US scored a goal.  And was extremely excited for the OT and then Shootout part.  And we were jumping up and down when our new favorite player, TJ Oshie scored yet another goal in the six round of shootout to claim the WIN for Team USA!

Pancakes with USA spelled out in chocolate chips!

Saturday .. celebration continues!

Valentine's Day is a celebration, and in our house those usually last for several days.  Take this year.  Valentine's Day was on a Friday .. which turns into the weekend.  So we made the best of Friday with Ellie's party, presents and dinner on Friday night .. and partied into the night.  Yea, right!

Here's a few shows from the weekend so far….

Here's the candy take-away from Ellie's and Bill's presents!

And the tribute to Pitchers and Catchers reporting yesterday!  My kind of bouquet ...

2nd Grade Valentine Party

Ellie asked if I would be a parent helper at her class' Valentine Party today.  When I agreed, they assigned me ice cream for 30 students and sprinkles!  Who would have known that we would get four inches of snow and make the travel to and from school quite a challenge, but in the end it worked out wonderfully!

She was thrilled to have her mom there as I was the parent in charge of the Valentine card opening station and filling in the Mad Libs.  It sure did make those kids laugh when reading back their crazy combination of words!

Then there was the additional treat of being parent pickup at the end of the day too.  Why should she ride the Bright Horizons bus into town when I was already working from home in the afternoon.  So we trekked through the snow together!

Here's a few great shots from the party today:

Ellie and Mommy at Valentine's Party

Ellie, Reese and Owan at the snack making station

Eating her snack

Game table - stacking conversation hearts!

Throwback Thursday

Here's another throwback Thursday picture.  Seemed appropriate with my recent trip home, and reconnecting with so many that are important to me to find a throwback picture that captures some of that fun!

This one was a great trip with the girls to NYC.  It was one of the first ones I took with my friends at Rosenbluth Travel.  We took the train into the city, stayed at the Marriott Marquis and laughed more than I could ever remember laughing back then.  It was awesome!

And based on my memory its from just about 20 years ago - January 1994!

South Street Seaport with the girls from Rosenbluth Travel - 1994-ish
Marianne, Jenni, Maggie, me and Patty!
Those were the days!!

Whirlwind trip

What an amazing few days I had traveling to New York on a 'girl time' adventure.  I decided several weeks ago to make a trip to back to Saratoga to catch up with old friends.  When Bill said, "you should take the camera," I envisioned returning with a load of The Hangover-worthy pictures.  Which is exactly why I don't have any pictures of people to share.

This trip was about catching up and making time, much overdue time with old friends.  It was an amazing trip.  I loved seeing so many people I don't always see on trips back home.  And as this trip was solo, I also renewed faith in myself that I can still do this … master the flights, connections, car rental, directions, etc.  It was a great trip.

And here's some photos to prove it!

Coffee Planet is the go-to place when meeting Alicia for coffee!  What a wonderful morning we had catching up!

The Whistling Kettle's selection of loose tea is unrivaled!  I brought lots of sample bags home to share before we decide upon our favorite!

Northshire BookStore!  My very first visit to the Saratoga store.  It was a real treat!

Oh Delta!  Got off the flight in Albany and ran into a long-time Delta employee, Carolyn who greeted me with open arms.  We go way back to my travel agency days.  What a way to start my trip!

Dreaming

I couldn't resist snapping this irresistible shot of Ellie as I tucked her in and shut off her light.  She sure does love her dogs, and this picture says it all.

Three stuffed dogs surrounding her - Digger, Goldie and Kingston.  She's made a hobby of collecting them since she doesn't have a real one.  How many parents have explained how hard having a dog is to a child?  The daily care and maintenance of one - not to mention the fact that we every time we travel it would make things so much harder to either board or travel with … but how does a 7 year old comprehend that?

She doesn't.

But I don't blame her.  She just loves her dogs …

Sleeping angel surrounding by her posse of dogs!

Sunday should be a day of rest

In our house Sunday is another day we're able to get our weekend chores done!  And today we preparing for watching the Super Bowl … an hour earlier here in Illinois!  So Ellie will almost make it to halftime … which is good, since she wants to see Bruno Mars perform!

After clearing the snow yesterday and a big breakfast of filled pancakes we were able to enjoy a late lunch at Joe's Station House .. all three of us getting burgers!  And they were great!

This other picture is a project Ellie and I each made last Saturday night when Laura and Hannah came for dinner.  They are called Calm Down Jars … filled with warm water, glitter glue, food coloring and even more sparkles.  The glue suspends the glitter and creates a cool effect when turned upside-down.  Its mesmerizing like a snow storm .. and used to 'calm-down' kids.  Each one turned out different from the others .. and we all have our own to use!

Joe's Station House burger for lunch on Saturday

Calm Down Jar with all those cool sparkles!

Wouldn't be Saturday unless there was fresh snow!

So today is more of the same.  At least Bill made it home safely from Lincoln .. which is wonderful since we needed to be snowblowed and shoveled out this morning! The snow is turning to freezing rain so it's putting a bit of a hitch in our plans .. but we'll get things done inside today instead!

Shoveling the newly fallen snow!

Breakfast of filled pancakes!