10 Things to Smile About in May

Summer is officially here for us!! School was out last Friday and we had wedding festivities all weekend, so we took the kids out to the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines for a few days to kick off summer with a bang.  And that we did.  I'll be telling y'all all about it next week on R We There Yet Mom?.

But today? Today is the day my kids HATE.  It's "Summer Clean-OUT Day!!"  Clean out those closets, shelves, under your bed, etc. and let's purge!!! YAY!!!!!!  

No, their not buying it either. 

Needless to say, I'm going to post this real quick and get this party started!

Here is my Top 10 Things that Made Me Smile in the month of May.  There were a lot, so it was really hard to narrow it down.

 1. Finishing Bubba's first year of "school".  He attended a sweet little pre-school two days a week and LOVED it. He woke up each morning asking, "I go school today??".  He loved his class, his teachers, and even stayed on his mat quietly during his nap time.  He loved it so much (and so did this momma) that we decided to put him in 3 days a week next year!  Here we are at his Mother's Day Tea.

 2. Of course, this fantastic trip!!!  Filled with friends, food, drink, and laughter, I will be grinning from ear-to-ear each time I think of this trip.  Can't wait til next year! #tulsa7

 3. Both kiddos won the opportunity to ride their bikes to school with their Vice Principal, Mr. Baker, in the Spring Carnival Silent Auction  It's memories like this that they will remember from Elementary School!

 4.  The family took a trip to a fun little German town, Walburg, and had a great evening at the Walburg  Biergarten, where we ate fun food and danced all night - we had great "date night" with the kiddos and this picture shows how much fun we were having! You can read about Walburg here.

 5.  Matt ended his soccer coaching career this Spring.  After 16 seasons coaching Miss Sis, he is reading to be a parent sitting on the sidelines.  His U11G team gave him this Liverpool jersey as a thank you!  I have  feeling his coaching isn't quite over, as he has been kicking the ball around the backyard with little Bubba.

 6. Brody transformed into George Washington the last week of school for the Living Museum project. He did an awesome job and told everyone, "Want to know how I got on the $1 bill???"

 7.  We had a spectacular 3rd Birthday Party for my little man.

 8.  The very next day, Brody became a Webelo Scout.  In 2 years, he will become a Boy Scout!!

 9.  And we spent Bubba's actual birthday at the Quarry Splash Pad - love this place - and I love this picture!!!

 10.  Lastly - 2 photos for this one - Both kids had an EXCELLENT school year - both getting all A's all year and perfect attendance (yes, I think I can brag about this!).  Definitely makes this momma SMILE.

Sissy had a graduation, which I will tell you all about very soon....

I feel like I have so much to catch up on the blog here, so I will be attempting to keep it up this summer - it gets hard maintaining 2 blogs and trying to promote the other one, but this one captures all that happens in my family, so it is just as important as the other.

Thanks for sticking with me and all the support y'all give!  Have an excellent day.

And thanks to EmmyMom (who I had the pleasure of meeting in California) for hosting this fun topic each month!  I love to look back on all that I have to smile about!

Ten Things to Smile About: February

February 29 - Leap Day!  Are you doing anything fun to celebrate with your family???  We are going to have brinner for dinner (breakfast for dinner) and make a Leap Year Time Capsule! (check out what that is here)  I'm so excited - remember?  I like to make a big deal out of everything ....drives my family bananas. 

And because it is the last day of the month, I like to join Emmy Mom's recap of "Ten Things to Smile About this Month."  Here we go:

The one thing that has made me smile all month long is becoming a "Quirky Momma!!" Quirky Momma is a Kids Activity Blog that recently added new writers and I was picked to be one of them.  I post every Monday at 4 pm CST - my first one was about planning a Spring Break Staycation.  Check out this amazing blog!  I write alongside some amazing moms who come up with the most creative ideas of fun activities to do with your kiddos!

 This guy had his first Valentine's Day party!!  These are the treats we took in for his classmates.  Thank you Pinterest.

 I also was able to go tot Sissy's & Brody's classroom Valentine's Day Parties.  This is Brody's desk at school - no hearts, kisses, or LOVE for this boy!! Check out his Valentine's Day box that we made last year out of cammo duct tape - we are hoping it makes it another 2 years! :))

 I came out of a ONE hour PTA meeting and was greeted with 30 text messages - all from my Cali girls - seems a group text conversation can go on with out me (huh?).  Try catching up with 30 texts- it's hard! I don't want to hear any of you make a crack about my App Store updates...I'm lazy.....

 I am blessed to live in a city that has so much to do!!  I smiled all day long on President's Day as we toured Austin.  Starting with the Cathedral of Junk.  Read all about our visit over on R We There Yet Mom.

 Another thing we did on our tour of Keeping Austin Weird was to take pics in front of all these great murals peppered all over Austin.  Anyone who is a fan of my blog knows this is my favorite!!  But what makes me smile at this pic?  Brody.  I took over 25 of the same pic and he is doing the same thing in every single one of them.

 But then he perks up and smiles at our favorite pizza joint.  Anyone will smile at our favorite pizza place in Austin, HomeSlice!

 Last week, Bubba and I had a mom & me excursion to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  He ran all the paths, we sat on every bench there was and had a wonderful time.  And I was able to capture this sweet moment....

 This past weekend, I had the privilege of making homemade Petit Fours for my cousin's wedding shower with my 85 year old grandmother.  She made them for my mother's wedding shower umpteen years ago.  They were hard!!  We both agreed this would be the first (mine) and last (both) time we would make them homemade!  But what a wonderful memory I have now!!

And on Sunday, the entire McBeth Clan featuring 4 generations all got together for brunch.  Sweet memories!

10 Things to Smile About in January

I have really loved taking a quick minute to reflect back on some of the things that made me smile this past month.  I really am blessed, as every month I have a hard time narrowing it down to only 10 things. But I did and with the help of Instagram, my really fun iPhone app that makes me smile, here they are:

My new Erin Condren iPhone cover - makes me smile every time I pick up my phone!

 My girlie saving up enough money to buy her very own iPad makes e smile every time I see her using it.

 I was completely spoiled for my birthday this year with gifts mailed to me all December.  And then a few trickled in in January and it totally made me smile!!!

 Bubba got a trophy for Best Craftsmanship at his annual Pinewood Derby!  Smile!!

 This little guy started potty training last week. No potty training doesn't make me smile, but the fact that he gets it and is so excited to get a "mnnnnm" does!

 Last weekend, we geocached with my parents - and at one point, we were using an iPhone, an iPad, and a Garmin to find our way.  Smile!

 Sis went to a birthday party at an exotic animals shop.  This adorable hedgehog made me smile.  The 8 foot pregnant boa constrictor did not.

 It's been a sunny-filled month with afternoons to make me smile!

 I recieved this sweet angel in the middle of the month from my hubby's sweet cousin.  I had spoken for her at Matt's Grandmother's Funeral and she sent me this as a reminder that we have an angel up in heaven looking down on us.  smile.

 Lastly, when the Christmas came down, the Love came out.  And my candy jars are full of Valentine's Candy....that I have eaten. I'm NOT smiling about the jar full of candy hearts I have eaten these past 2 weeks, but I am smiling that I pulled this particular one out. See?  Even with the 1200 calories of candy hearts, I'm still hot! 

Happy January!!  One more thing that makes me smile?  Linking this post with THREE fun friends for their memes.  That means hopefully you are visiting from there, will leave me a comment, and come back again soon!!

Ten Things to Smile About: November

I have really loved looking back over the month for the 10 Things to Smile about Post hosted by EmmyMom....  Such a fun way to re-cap some of the little things that you did that month that didn't ever make it into a blog post, but definitely need to be remembered. Love these posts!!!

November is always  a weird month, with a holiday right in the middle of it .  Nonetheless, it was a busy one!

 1. At the beginning of the month, my brother got married and it was a fun, quick weekend with the whole family.  Having Uncle Chris around to have fun with made it a blast!

 2. And that was the weekend of the infamous 5 1/2 hour trip to get to the zoo!  We loved the zoo, and the trip will make us laugh someday, but the picture we took at the end of the day at our "rescuer's truck" makes me smile all day!

 3. At the local grocery store, there is a wonderful cheese counter that Bubba loves to go to. We try samples of gouda, cheddar, goat cheese.  And there is a lovely lady who always loves to comment on how my 2 year old "loves" cheese.  (No lady, he's just hungry, it's almost lunch time.....)  Each week she talks me into trying a new cheese.  My favorite by far has been this expresso-infused gouda.  It's amazing. Smile.

 4. Remember the "Earthquake Candy" cake and the craziness to make that cake?  Well, that night, Brody was selected to carry the flag in.  It was fitting to see his pride after the crazy 3 hours that had lead up to that moment.  Breathe.....

 5. Sweet little Bubba had his first Thanksgiving Day feast at his precious preschool.  He didn't eat.  He played under the table with his buddy the whole time.  Smile.

 6. Sis enter the PTA Reflections Art Contest with a photography collage and won!!  She will be going on to the district now with her "Diversity in Nature".  She took pictures of letters spelled out in nature to spell "Diversity"...see the V?  So proud!

 7. Christmas season kicked off early this year with a fun evening with girlfriends at the Austin Junior League's Christmas Affair.  We had a fun evening with dinner & drinks & shopping!! Love!

 8. On a whim (and thanks to some fun posts I had seen), I took Bubba to the Ceramic Studio to make this fun turkey plate out of his hands and feet.  I was so very thankful to have the owners help me make this plate, as this very un-crafty momma could visualize what I wanted but had no idea how to make it.  Good thing Bubba LOVED to paint his hands and we had a blast making it!

 9. On the Ranch over Thanksgiving, Matt took the kids to the shooting range and taught Sis how to shoot a gun (or 2....maybe 3), gun safety, hunting, etc.  She loved it.  I'm totally not into the gun thing, but I love the bonding that took place while they were at it.  Brody & Matt have so much in common with this love of hunting (huh?).  It was a wonderful time for them to spend with their Dad.

10.  How can I not continue to smile about our wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend???  It was a restful time filled with laughter, jokes, and tons of smiles!!

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On another note......

A message from my sister blog, R We There Yet Mom.  Come on my friends, I KNOW you have some old posts we can feature this month!!!  See below:

Wow!  December 1st already? I know it is a cliche' but it seems to come around so quickly these days....

Here in the Texas Darling house, we love Christmas. This year, we have taken our time to get all our decorations up, and it has been a fun week seeing the whole house transformed in Christmas Magic.

I am pretty much a homebody for Christmas - there is nothing I would rather do than be in my own home, snuggled by the fireplace this time of year.

However, this is a fantastic time to travel too!  It is a great way to see areas of the country (and world) all dressed up for the Holidays!!  And we would like to hear about YOUR past Holiday travels!!  We would love to hear about your trip to Disney World at Christmas.  We want to hear about your ski trip with 25 other family members.  Or maybe you snuck away for a cruise...just the 2 of you?? Maybe you have a funny "Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" travel story you'd like to share!

Didn't travel but have some really awesome traditions that you do in your town??  Tell us about those!!  We want to know about that amazing Holiday parade that has become a family tradition?  Tour of lights?  Breakfast with Santa?

Tell us about it!!  If you have a past post, all the better (no extra writing!!).  What a cool way to relive your Holiday fun AND get featured on this really cool website......

Email us at rebecca@rwethereyetmom.com - let's get you set up to be featured here this month!!

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On another note, thank you to all the support you have given us at Friday Daydreaming!  We will be continuing throughout the month of December.  Post your pictures of your favorite vacation that you are daydreaming about and link up!  Post a picture of your favorite Holiday moment that you are daydreaming about and link up! Post a picture about that yummy Holiday goodie you are daydreaming about and link up!  You get the picture!!

There is nothing I love more that sitting down on a cold Friday morning with a cup of coffee, reading all your wonderful daydreams!  The post will go up at 9:30 pm tonight!  Be ready!!

Ten Things to Smile About: October

I am loving taking a few minutes at the end of each month to reflect on what made me happy.  I have so much fun just trolling through my iPhoto and coming across fun pics of things we have done, such as...

Inviting a Strange Man to Live in Our House

Or enjoying evenings sitting on our new backyard patio....

Coming across the most amazing coffee bar at the Honda Dealership....

Might be finding new problems with the car to visit this more often!

And what am I smiling about with 7 crazy & loud boys for Brody's sleepover?

Cause I don't have to do it again for another year!

Sis has amazing determination when she plays soccer - this was a tough game and she was upset when they lost.  Makes me smile to know how passionate she is about it.....

And this?  How can you NOT smile at this??

My Uncle dancing with my 85 year old Grandma at her birthday party.

so sweet.

Potato Sac Races at Field Day.

So fun.

I love pumpkin guts - so slimy and cool.

not - but the result makes me smile!

And this guy - ugh - makes my heart melt.

Happy October - it was a busy month - full of soccer practices, PTA meetings, and life - but as you can see from teh above pictures, we know how to make life fun!

Linking up with Emmy Mom's 10 Things to Smile About




And Seriously Shawn & Impulsive Addict's Talk To Us Tuesday: