Weekend Highlights and a Lost Tooth

Since I started my new job in April, I noticed that I look forward to each weekend and I appreciate the time spent at home much more. So after that last busy week, we all needed a fairly quiet weekend at home. While it rained most of Thursday and Friday due to Tropical Storm Cindy, we still made sure to get out of the house. This is how we spent a rainy afternoon in Tennessee:

 The biker gang:

On the weekend, Derrick and I like to spend one-on-one time with a child. So this Saturday I took Amelia with me to run some errands while the boys were biking in the park and stopping by at the home improvement store. In between stores, we girls grabbed a milkshake before heading to the Farmer's Market. There was a health fair expo with some raffle prices to win, a funny balloon artist and a bouncy house for the kids. Plus, delicious, fresh vegetables from local farmers. 

I also promised Amelia to stop by the pet store to look at the cats but instead we discovered that they offer every Saturday a Zoo Expedition, where they introduce a couple of animals to the customers. That day, Amelia touched a gerbil and held a turtle:

Cooling off in the pool with their new water guns in the afternoon:

The next morning, we headed to the park while the temperature was still comfortable. I ran 3.5 miles and Derrick hung out with the kids at the playground. We definitely deserved this little treat afterwards before I pushed the lawn mower up and down our front yard for another hour. 

Give a man a chainsaw and he will be happy! We are working on updating the front yard and removing overgrown bushes around the house. The front entrance looks now so much more open:

Before                                   After (There is still more to trim though)

By the afternoon, I was exhausted but getting the star treatment from my styling crew lifted me right back up:

But the highlight of the weekend was that my little girl lost her first tooth. Her bottom front tooth has been loose for weeks now and the new tooth is already visible behind her baby teeth. She just didn't wanted to pull it out and avoided biting food with that tooth. However, while eating watermelon on the patio, it fell out and we had to search for it on the lower deck as it fell thru from the top deck. Luckily, we found it and were able to put it under the pillow for the tooth fairy. 

She is growing up so fast lately and all I want to do is to hold on to my little, precious girl. I can't believe she is turning six years old in a few weeks and going to first grade in August. Time is definitely not a mother' s friend. 

Amelia was so excited about the fact that she lost her first tooth and couldn't wait for the tooth fairy to come by at night. She even made a little card for her: 

And when she woke up the next morning, her tooth and card were gone and in return the tooth fairy has left her a book, a couple of Dollar gold coins and a letter under the pillow. Now, she can't wait for her next baby tooth to fall out.

The weekend was over way too quickly but only one more week until we are on vacation. This week, the kids are going to VBS (Vacation bible School) at night, which means they will be tired by the weekend but oh so full of new experiences and to feel the love of God and share that with others.

June Updates

Happy Friday everyone!

My week has been very busy and I feel worn out so I'm especially happy that the weekend is about to start. For the past 4 days, I attended a lubrication seminar from my company where I learned about maintenance, lubrication standards and oil analysis for machinery. It was very intense as I am new to this industry and the seminar was very technical and included lots of new terminology for me (kinematic viscosity, chemical and physical properties of lubrication oil and grease anyone?). Today, my co-workers and I took a 2 hours, 100 question test and I pray that after 3 days of sitting all day in a seminar plus many hours of studying at night that I passed this test and achieved the certification as a Level I Machinery Lubrication Technician. I will know if I passed or failed in about two weeks.

Because there was not much else happening this past week, I take you back a couple of weeks when Amelia and I and a friend with her daughter went to a free symphony concert in the park. Before the concert began, the children were able to test out some music instruments. Amelia liked the violin the best (she has asked before to play one) and even made a sound on the flute.

It was super hot that evening but look how gorgeous the setting was:

Everyone brought their lawn chairs and blankets, a picnic cooler and some beverages and then we enjoyed the night listening to music from Bizet, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and many more performed by the Nashville Symphony.

Last weekend, Derrick built me a raised garden box and the kids were excited to plant some strawberries and cucumbers plants as well as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and lettuce seeds. We did started harvesting quite a few tomatoes and strawberries from our potted plants on the deck but I hope to expand the vegetable garden some more so that we have a bigger harvest next year. First the work, then the fun:

We also stopped by the arts-and-craft store for their slime making event. It was quite messy:

While the boys were having a sword fight...

...the girls read together:

Have a great weekend!

Father's Day 2017

Dear Derrick,

Happy Father's Day to the man who makes our family complete. He goes by the name of Daddy and his children adore him. Amelia has her daddy wrapped around the finger and Elliot is his steady sidekick and trusty helper.

I'm so proud to be your wife and I'm so grateful to be sharing life, love and parenthood with a wonderful man like you.

On a daily basis, you show us how much you love us, you provide for us, protect us, help out wherever you can and without you, we wouldn't be the same. Thank you for setting a great example as a father. WE LOVE YOU!

The children woke up their daddy this morning with a song:

Amelia wrote this letter about her daddy:

And because we wanted to make Daddy feel special, we got him some of his favorites: homemade chocolate chip cookies, beer, beef jerky and pancakes with a side of bacon for breakfast.

Even though we didn't go anywhere or didn't do anything special (projects on the house occupied us) we made sure to spend quality time with each other. These three are true popsicle lovers: 

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there, especially to my dad and my father-in-law. 

Evening at the Zoo

Our family spent yesterday evening at the Nashville Zoo for it's annual member appreciation day. The zoo reopened at 6pm for all its member (wasn't that crowded at all) and remained open till 8pm. They had free carousel rides, train rides, face painting and bounce houses and of course most of the animal exhibits were open to visit. 

Before we enjoyed our picnic dinner, the kids and Daddy rode the carousel:

We saw giraffes, flamingos, gibbons, zebras, turtles, frogs, lots of fish, and also petted goats, kangaroos, a snake, and goats.

 

My favorite was, once again, the kangaroo exhibit, where you are allowed to pet the kangaroos that jump onto the walkway. Amelia even assisted the zoo staff  to have the kangaroo perform a trick.  

 And me and this handsome fella took a selfie:

But the best selfie of the day was from this goat in the petting area. She couldn't get enough of me or the phone and when I put the phone away, she tried to eat my shirt.

Elliot for sure liked touching this Honduran Milk Snake. He was mesmerized by it and I just hope he never asks me for a pet snake. 

Our princess is riding in style: 

The kids burned the last of their energy by jumping in the bounce house, a quick visit to the jungle gym playground and catching some fireflies on the way to the car.  

It was a perfect family outing and even though it has been very hot lately, yesterday evening it was not too bad and we all had a great time. Luckily today we were able to sleep a bit longer as we were all pretty tired after such fun evening at the zoo.