DZ Reunion

Many people don't know this (oh wait, if you knew me in college you totally knew this!) that I was a Delta Zeta at William Jewell College.  Joining the sorority was the BEST decision I made in college and I have lifelong best friends because of it.   People have mixed emotions about sororities and my personal opinion is that they are NOT for everyone, but they sure are fun!!  I stay in contact with all most of my sorority sisters via facebook, instagram and email, and we get together occasionally as well to catch up.  Last night was one of those get together's and it was a blast!

One of my sorority sisters is moving to San Francisco this week to start her new job as a doctor.  She graduated last week with her MD in internal medicine and is off to start her career in SF....so jealous!  On their way to SF they stopped home in MO to visit family, so we planned a little impromptu get together to send her off!  We met at one of our favorite college pizza spots and it was great to see everyone!  We brought kiddos and spouses along too so it was fun to see everyone's family.  Sean couldn't make it as he was finishing up painting a house, but I brought the girls with me.  They did awesome! It was great night of catching up and it reminded me of the good ole' college days that I miss so much!  With all the kids and craziness I wasn't able to snap any pictures from last night, but I did include some fun oldies from college!

 Before "Campus Sing" Homecoming Event

 My Pledge Class at a beginning of the year kick off--senior year of college--Sept. 2005

 At a recruitment event

 Sorority pictures

 At "Shin Dig" my senior year.  Basically, a drunken barn dance...

At the DZ "Smartie Party" for maintaining good grades...even while going to drunken barn dances  :)

More recently at our roommates' wedding, love these girls!

A Very Long Weekend

Warning:  This is an extremely long post due to an extremely long weekend!

This weekend was crazy busy for us!  Most of it was consumed with Ella's dance recital. (Thank God that's over!)   She had a blast, though, and was so darn cute, it made all of the practices worth it to watch her up on stage! :)

Friday was my last official day at school.  We had to "check out", but I did most of my checking out on Thursday so I brought the kids up to play around in my classroom for a bit.  They love to play with tape and markers and pound on the keyboards in my room.  Plus, all of my teacher friends like to see them too!!  On Friday night we headed to Lawrence for Ella's recital rehearsal.  I was totally dreading this, but I must admit it could have been worse.  We were in and out in about an hour!  After rehearsal, we headed to dinner with some friends and then to Scooters to get FroYo!  My all time favorite!!  When we got home I threw the girls in the bath tub and put them to bed...we had some exceptionally late nights this weekend and the girls are feeling it this morning!

Last day of school with our 3rd hour aides!

Lunch at Olive Garden on Friday!  She plowed some bread sticks.  This kid can eat!

On Saturday morning, I had every intention to get up and go for a run, but I had to run a few errands before the recital and I didn't get it in.  Boo!  The recital took most of the afternoon, and after the recital we headed to dinner with my in laws and then home. I decided that I should probably get that run in, so while everyone else in my neighborhood was out Barbecuing and having parties (I'm a little jealous, can you tell?) I went for a run.  It was not a particularly good run, but I got 4 miles in and I am content with that on a not so good day.

On Sunday  we headed to the Royals game with some friends and the kids had a blast!  We played in the outfield more than we actually watched the game.  When we got home the girls slept until 7 pm, which put a damper on bedtime on Sunday night! Sean and I rented "Parental Guidance" On Demand and it wasn't that great.  Some funny parts, but overall not my fave movie.

We finally had a relaxing day on Monday.  We stayed home for most of the day and headed to Sean's parents house for steaks on the grill for dinner.  Sean's dad (Grandpa Race) got a new grill and I must admit he did really well for the first time using it!  The steaks were delicious!  I made a strawberry jello cake for dessert--my signature summer dessert!  The girls played in the yard at my in laws and had a blast.

 Mia's first experience with sand...she only tried to eat it once

 Nice photo bomb, honey

 It was a great way to end the crazy weekend!

Random Phone Dump

I've had these pictures for the last couple of weeks and need to post!

Talk soon,

Brit

New Signature

My new signature looks pretty cool!  Thanks to Hubby Jack's tutorial on how to add a custom signature...  It's not my best work and I will most definitely tweak it a bit here and there, but overall I think I like it!

Ella's Last Day of School

I took Ella to school today.  It was her last day of preschool for the year.  I was surprisingly composed today.  No tears were shed...this is huge for me!  I am a little sad that my baby is growing up so fast, but also excited for the summer and what is to come for her!  Here a few comparison pictures -first day of preschool vs. last day of preschool.  She hasn't changed too much I don't think! :)

 Ella's first day of preschool--September 2012

Ella's last day of preschool--May 2013

Ella's teacher's this year were fantastic.  She learned so much beyond what I could have ever taught her and they did it with patience and love.  I feel truly blessed that Ella was fortunate enough to be in their class!  They made school fun every single day. They were creative and energetic and they truly instilled a love of learning in her.  As an educator, I understand the importance of having fun while learning and making learning meaningful for students, and they accomplished this with three year olds...amazing! I am so grateful for this.  I know Ella will always have fond memories of her time spent in the purple room.

Mrs. Dalbey and Ella-Last day of school 2013

Mrs. Schnell and Ella-Last day of school 2013

I did something Pinterest inspired and bought a copy of Dr. Seuss'  "Oh, the Places You'll Go" for Ella's teachers to sign for her.  It is my hope to do this every year, at least through elementary school, and then maybe have her favorite middle and high school teachers sign it as well. I plan to give it to her as a high school graduation present.  I think this is something she will really enjoy looking back on.  :)  Hopefully I can remember to do this every year!

 Ella's teacher's made a memory book for each student with pictures and artwork from the year.  It is awesome!  What a great memory she will have!

  

We made it through another school year successfully for all!  We cherish our time off in the summer and are ready to have some fun this summer traveling and swimming!  Lot's of pictures to come!

Talk soon,

Brit

College Days--Oh how I long for thee--And a 5K PR!

Happy Monday!  This is my last Monday of the school year, so it's especially happy for me! :)

On Friday night I met up with two of my BEST college girlfriends for dinner and drinks!  Kylie and Angie are the best ever and it was so nice to have a little girls time with them.  Kylie is getting married in August and Angie just had a baby 7 weeks ago, so there was always something to talk about!  Kylie's wedding drama was hilarious.  If any of you know Kylie you understand her craziness.  I didn't get a a chance to snap a picture of the three of us, I'm really terrible at this, but I'm going to make an effort to get better, but I was able to snap a picture of myself before I met up with them.  My mom bought me the top I'm wearing, so I initially took the picture to send to her to show her how cute it is, but since it's the only picture of the night I'll post it here as well! :)  The night and drinks flew by and I was sad to leave these girls, but it was so great to catch up and we decided to make it monthly date so I'm looking forward to next month!

On Saturday morning I ran my 2nd 5K of the year (4th race total).  I ran the Go Girl Run in Olathe around the medical center and it was the best course I've ever run.  

It was so flat!  There were no hills...not one single hill.  The best part of the race is that I PR'ed big time.  I started the race in 2nd place, but that only lasted about a minute before people started passing me.:)  My goal was to keep the leader in my site, and I was able to do that for most of the race until close to the end when she took off to the finish line.  After the race was over I saw that the overall female winner ran a 20 something minute 5K so to be able to stay with her for a bit was a big accomplishment for me.  (Plus she had a college team cross country shirt on!) Paired with the fact that I was up way too late the night before and had one too many drinks I was incredibly impressed with my time!  I woke up and had peanut butter toast, coffee and a banana like I always do before a race, but my stomach wasn't quite right until I really got going.  The Go Girl Run was a fun one and one I will definitely do in the future!  I, once again, forgot to take any pictures of myself or the two friends that I ran with, so a picture of my watch (which was off because I forgot to stop it when I crossed the finish line) is all you get!  :)

According to the race website my official race time was 23:55 which was an average of a 7:44 mile pace.  I finished 1st in my age group (25-29), 6th for females and 10th overall!  We didn't stay for the medal ceremony, so I missed out on getting my medal!  Oh well, those things don't really matter anyway! Right at the finish line a volunteer was there waiting to clip off my shoe timer thingy, so I totally forgot to stop my watch which added a few seconds of idle standing time to my average pace.  Either way though, not a bad race for me.  I'm already looking for another one to see if I can beat my time again! :)  I ran a 5K with the Hubs in March and ran a 27:15 race, so this was a significant improvement for me.  I guess all of the half marathon training has really improved my 5K time!  Whatever it is, I'll take it! 

The rest of the day was spent taking a family nap...this never happens and it was glorious!  Around 4:30, Sean headed to Manhattan for boys night with some friends and the girls and I ate pizza and strawberry shortcakes!  I rented "Silver Linings Playbook" from On Demand and watched that after the girls went to bed.  Not a bad movie, but a little slow for my taste!  In this case, I'll take slow any day to see Bradley Cooper! :)

On Sunday after Sean got home from boys night we hung out--he napped with the girls while I worked out a bit.  I did a HIIT Cardio and Abs Tabatha style workout from Fitness Blender and I am feeling it today!  It was a pretty tough workout, and one that I'll definitely try again soon!  We headed to an early dinner after my shower as I was supposed to go to graduation for the high school I teach at, but it was cancelled because of bad weather!  First time ever they've had to postpone graduation!  Crazy stuff, but we're back on for tonight, which will make this Monday a long one...a lot like this post!  

Hope you have a happy Monday!

Talk soon,

Brit

My Mother's Day

This week has been cray-cray, as I am only sitting down to blog about Mother's Day three day post Mother's Day!  The end of the school year is kicking my butt, and it is safe to say that I haven't come up for air in the last few days!  But I did have a fantastic Mother's Day and am so thankful to my wonderful family for making me feel special.  Here are some pictures of the day!

 My mom with her new Kindle Fire!  She loves it--best gift ever!

 The best we could get at the time.  Mia needed a nap and Ella wouldn't look up because the sun was in her eyes!

 We missed you, Blair!

My new kicks...love them, but they are a little small so I had to exchange....

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Presents from my girls! 

Love that face! 

 Mia-Moo!

 Grandma Fontana opening her presents! She's so cute!

Ella and daddy swinging at Aunt Phyllis' house. 

Family shot and we're all looking! :) 

 Mommy looks tired...but we got one!

 

 Mia chowed on this bread our entire dinner. It literally kept her occupied for like an hour. Which was a good thing because it took FOREVER to get our food!

Grandma loved her jewelry box that Ella made for her.

Even though, it was a hectic day running around everywhere, it was a great day and I'm so blessed to have the family that I do.  

Talk soon,

Brit