Dallas Arboretum August Dollar Days

Another adventure! I've been looking around for cheap things for us to do with Ivy or for me to do with Ivy while Daddy is at work - these will also be known as "field trips."

The Dallas Arboretum is a beautiful, floral place. There are a variety of gardens and a recently re-designed and relocated children's garden and learning area. During the month of August, a cable company sponsors Dollar Days, all admissions are one dollar! What a morning!

She was very hipster with her hat here!

I don't think she liked this little fountain area very much.

There are a large amount of areas for kids to get messy and wet! I was told to bring a bathing suit.

Of all the things she did, she said playing in the water was the most fun. Oh if I could have joined her!

Over-sized turtle egg shells.

Over-sized robin's eggs/nest

A gigantic ant!

She is always active. I cannot see how she doesn't take a nap anymore. She was running all over the place!

Well, it was bright!

We were laying on a net from a "tree" that suspended about 20 feet up. I was called "A Walk in the Clouds."

This area was a learning area - water and wind energy. Science!

Hitting the targets was supposed to make things happen!

As was pulling the levers. Even Mommy got splashed around this area! Bliss!

This was the last of our tour here, we were both very hot and very thirsty. 

We picked up lunch and then went to Sprinkles where we got some yummy cupcakes and she got their ice cream.

MPM 8/24-30

School starts this week.
Ivy starts dance this week.
I start teaching Ivy this week.

Sun - White Chicken Enchilada
Mon- Pizza
Tues - Blackened Tilapia
Weds - Fish tacos?
Thurs - Spaghetti
Fri - LO's
Sat - Outside-in burgers

Head over to OrgJunkie.com for more menu plans!

Stay-At-Home Mom Internship

So I've mentioned that I'm not working this year.
I have always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. This is my dream come true*! This is only a temporary situation.

I do have goals that I am going to be working on.

• Educating Ivy - So far, she is doing a great job. She has even asked to do schoolwork nearly every day. I hadn't planned on starting until next week but she has asked and she is receiving. 
• Have fun - I've been looking into a variety of cheap or free "field trip" type activities. We've gone to a children's area of the Dallas Arboretum. We have gone letterboxing (which she want's to do again!). I have a lot of other plans!
• Take care of the house - Clean, clean, clean! Errands, menu plan, save money, coupon.

I would love to say that everything is perfect. But it isn't. Ivy has put up a few fights and fits. I'm trying to keep my calm. It isn't easy all the time. Of course, most of the time, she is easygoing and very loving. Kisses, hugs, and "I love you"s all the time.

If you have any ideas for things to do, let me know!

*There's some sarcasm in that one.

Nash Farm Outing

I've been looking around for cheap things for us to do with Ivy. 

This is Nash Farm. They have weekly educational programs going on at this small working farm in Grapevine. When we attended, it was all about cotton! I was completely into it because of my textiles knowledge. Ivy? Not so much. 

This cat was what caught 95% of her attention. 

Weighing cotton. Everyone took a guess. It ended up being about 15 pounds. 

The sheepish sheep that caught the other 5% of Ivy's attention. 

It took a good five minutes to get her interested in pumping the water. At least I walked away with a handful of cotton with seeds still in it. 

Afterward, we stopped at a nearby playground and park. 

I believe she imagined herself as Arial. She was just chattering away!

Frio River part 5

I recently realized I never posted about the cabin/house we were staying in. I didn't think to take pictures once we arrived. However, Ryan thought about if just before we left.

Upon entering, you see to your left a large dining table and then the entertainment area. To the right, you see the kitchen (below). To the right of the TV in the above photo, is the door and the stairs leading to the second story.

This photo shows the full kitchen and a hallway leading to two more bedrooms, a bathroom and a large laundry/utility room. The upstairs has an open loft area, one bedroom and another bathroom. Ryan, Ivy and I stayed in the room upstairs (everyone else has troubles with stairs).

We were all very comfortable and this lodge/house/cabin was very accommodating.

Frioman Lodging

Photo A Day August part 3

Day 10: Art

Day 11: Mirror

Day 12: Gather{ing my thoughts}

Day 13: Inside

Day 14: Give {I've nothing left to give}

Day 15: Clouds

Day 16: Clean

MPM 8/17-23

Summer is unofficially over and it seemed like a whirlwind! Ryan goes to work for in-service this week. I plan to use this time with Ivy as a fun week before we start school together. I'm also using this week to organize Ivy's schoolwork, clean the house, get couponing in order, and get Ivy ready for dance. I am a control-freak and am over-planning a lot of things. But I know that MPM just makes sense for my family! Here goes another round of Menu Plan Monday's!

Sun - Nachos

Mon - BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Tues - Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops with Rice Pilaf

Weds - Salisbury Steak with leftover rice pilaf

Thurs - Texas Ranch Chicken Casserole

Fri - Leftovers

Sat - Three Cheese Chicken Alfredo Bake

Head over to OrgJunkie.com for more menu plans!

August Photo A Day part 2

I forgot to post my week's photos on Saturday!

Day 3: "S" is for {Silence, snuggles, silly faces, surprise smiles, superheroes and shopping}

 

 

Day 4: In the Middle {of the day and the sky}

Day 5: Pile

Day 6: Grateful for...

Day 7: Spot {on the iguana's cheek} (Added bonus: Throwback Thursday to circa 2002)

Day 8: Pet Peeve {she takes things off while walking around and just leaves it where it's dropped.}

Day 9: Mix {a new-to-us local donut shop has wonderful varieties}

End of Summer Update

I have been avoiding writing about this because I had no idea how things would end up. I've been in limbo for the summer.

My contract with the school district was not going to be renewed this year so I resigned. I put applications out and I was interviewed but due to circumstances, I was not hired. My family and I made the decision to apply for unemployment. This means that I will be staying home with Ivy and teaching her and taking care of things at home. Things will be tight this year but I've lived like this before and I know I can make it work.

I am really excited to teach Ivy. I have a lot of plans and if you follow me on Pinterest, you've seen a lot of my pins about preschool education. I have so many ideas and plans and we are both pretty excited.

This will also mean I am going to be really ramping up my menu planning and home organization. Get ready for more recipes, couponing, and cleaning tips and just fun stuff in general.

August Photo Challenge

I participated in a photo-a-day on Instagram in December. I thought I'd do it again. It seems as though this person does this every month. 

I will post my week's worth of photos on Saturday every week. 

1. Landscape

This was from grapevine heritage park. We too Ivy on a small adventure yesterday to a local learning farm. The park was just down the street. She enjoyed the scenery. 

2. Lunch

This is just tragic. I'm feeding myself like Ivy should be eating. Technically we are trying to eat what we have at home. Milk, banana and strawberry coins, fish nuggets, and a string cheese. 

I hope you enjoy my August photo challenge! If you're on Instagram, hop on board!

The Frio River part 4

If I were to write about my week, it would be an entirely too long post. I'm breaking this vacation down into a few posts.

Alternate Title: Jump from a Rock

Day 4

I really wanted to be in touch with everything we did this day. I left the phones at the cabin (or kept it in my purse) and planned to just enjoy myself. The photos contained in this post are from Google.

We spent the early part of the day driving around Concan taking in the few shops picking up goodies. We were able to stop by Concan Pies to pick up an extremely delicious chocolate cream pie.

After we got back from our driving around, we ate lunch and it was back to the Frio for some swimming!

I was in the river watching the kids, and some adults, jump off the large boulders. I sat there telling myself, "You know, this could be one of your 40 Before 40's." Ivy wanted to see what the big deal was. She started swimming to it and by the time I reached the rock to Mommy the situation, she was already climbing up and following her older cousin, "W." He was going to jump and she was going to watch. After he jumped, I walked her back down to the waiting arms of her other cousin, "L," while I found myself safely in the water too. 

"It's not that high." I thought to myself. "I can do it. I can show Ivy how brave Mommy is. I can show her that being afraid can be overcome. Her daddy won't believe it. It looks like fun. Yeah! Let's jump!" As an act of solidarity L jumped off, never having done it before either. And she kept jumping. 

I climbed. I looked over the edge. W jumped again. Got myself psyched up to jump. Made sure Ivy could see. A few more kids jumped. Ivy cheered me on. W peer-pressured and teased me. I looked over again at the water below. The soft cushion would catch my fall from a two-second drop. W promised to hold my hand, or just push me - whatever I wanted. Ivy cheered again. I looked over again, my hands shaking. I remembered the last time I fell from a similar height 20 years ago and broke a limb. All these other kids are jumping. 

I looked over the edge again and made my way down. The same way I came up. Later, Ivy had found a significantly smaller version of rocks and did her own jumping. 

It's okay to look your fear in the eye and say "Another day. We will meet again." I am okay with still being afraid and not ready to jump yet.

The following day, we woke up, cleaned up, packed up, and said goodbye to the Frio. 

Read More! Frio River Fun Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4