100th day of school

Today was the 100th day of school....which has become quite a day for celebration in schools. I don't recall any type of celebration for the 100th day when I was at Campus school other than the 180th day which was the LAST day of school. Lots of cheers heard on that day. The younger kids have more fun with it than the older kids we are finding out.  Caroline's class made hats, each brought in 100 of something to show the class, brought in fun foods/snacks to create a mix of 100 things for their snack and did graphing and other math related games. They even paraded up and down the kindergarten area with their hats on as they counted to 100. When asking Anna what her class did for the 100th day, she simply replied "took a math test and did nothing special". You can tell she was fully into the celebration!

caroline with her 100th day of school crown

showing off counting to 100 with fun snacks

My own pinkalicious

When I came home from work today, this is how I found Caroline, my very own Pinkalicious......

Magic School Bus

We love the Family Series hosted by the Orpheum Theatre each year. They bring family friendly, 1-hour long shows to the theatre for families to enjoy. It exposes the kids to live theatre in a beautiful environment and it is a relatively inexpensive way to get some culture in them as well. The latest show was The Magic School Bus. Anna enjoys the books, even though she mostly read them in first and second grade. The books have the premise of the crazy science teacher Mrs. Frizzle taking the students on her Magic School Bus, that often turns into another form of transportation, to teach the kids about science. The show we saw was on the climate and global warming. It was a musical and the girls really enjoyed it. They even both learned a little bit along the way. Aftewards we went to Cafe Eclectic in midtown for dinner and dessert. The girls were eyeing the soda fountain desserts when we walked in! They did not disappoint!

Next up is Eric Carle's stories including The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear Brown Bear.

The Magic School Bus on stage!

The recycle "pledge" wall the girls signed to commit to recycling at home and school

craft before the show to make a sun

daddy and caroline are ready for the show

anna and mommy excited for the story

girls enjoying an ice cream sundae afterwards at cafe eclectic

Welcome to the Jungle

Welcome to the Jungle was the title of the third grade musical program this winter at Harding. Anna and her classmates had been practicing since before Christmas and they were ready for the show. The program's story was based on Aesop's fable of The Lion and the Mouse. Anna was one of the mice. She wanted to be one of the lions, but as Caroline would say "you get what you get". We can bring that back up with her when she one day does not get the part she would like to have. Turns out the mice and the lions are the main parts and she did a great job. I was impressed with how many songs they had to memorize and how well they did in front of the crowd. Luckily the costume accessories were provided by the school. Anna was instructed to wear khaki pants and either a white or pink shirt. We had agreed on a white shirt, since we already owned one and then the night before she just had to have a pink shirt. We went to Target and I told her that if they did not have it there, then we were back to the white shirt. Luckily, we found one for $2.48 on the sale rack at Target. It was the next size up but it worked. Of course, she was the only one in the group that chose pink but she was fine. Overall, good program. Caroline got to see it twice since the Jr K students attended the dress rehearsal and she came with us as well. Next year is the 4th grade talent show. What in the world will we come up with for that??? Start thinking now!!!

welcome to the jungle!

most of the group aftewards; so hard to take pictures during the program!

the mice!

walking out aftewards! she was so proud!

caroline and jamie

anna with gramma and grampa

anna with mimi and papa

anna with the proud parents

anna and kennedy, one of the lions

38 and counting.....

Happy Birthday to me....of course, I have zero pictures of myself from my birthday because I am always the one behind the camera. It was a great day, even few days of celebrating. We started back several weeks ago in Dallas with a birthday cake and fun with my brothers and sisters and Dad and stepmom. That was great as I never get to celebrate with the out of town family. Gary and I went out with our friends Zack and Lauren to the Grizzlies game on Saturday night to celebrate and enjoyed Muddy's cupcakes after the game. That place cracks me up. We got there at 10pm on Saturday night, and there were tons of people in line to get a cupcake!!! Monday night after Caroline's cheerleading game we headed to dinner with my mom and stepdad. Yummy food at Huey's always hits the spot! They brought over Gigi's cupcakes on Tuesday as a surprise. Those things are huge and filling!!

Tuesday morning brought a tough running workout so I got up at 4:45 as usual for a morning workout and headed to the gym. Wish it was a sleep in day for sure!! Got my workout done and when I got home, the kitchen was all decorated with balloons, flowers, cards and gifts from Gary and the girls. So fun!! I loved it. Nothing like a little celebration at 6am!!

My friend Megan made me a cake at work and we celebrated with our department that afternoon. In our finance division there were 9 birthdays in January! We have had a LOT of cake and cupcakes this month and glad for the calendar to turn to February where we just have one!

Gary had a sesion meeting at church that night so we just met up at Moe's after that for a simple, kid-friendly and approved b-day meal. Overall, great day. Lots of love on FB and from phone calls, texts and e-mails throughout the day. Caroline says I am now "the next number" as she got so used to saying I was 37! Here's to 38 and beyond!!

fun decorations by gary and the girls

yummy cake at work!

Gary, the Ruling Elder

Gary was installed and ordained as an elder in our church on Sunday. The process has not been a short one, that's for sure. He was nominated back in the late fall. Had questionnaires to complete, interviews to share his faith journey and then he was placed on the slate for a vote by the congregation. Jokingly, people indicated they were glad it was a slate and not an individual ballot as they just were not sure about Gary. We are so proud of Gary and what a huge honor this is for him to be a part of the governing body for our church and sit on the session board for Hope, which is the largest church in the state of Tennessee.  He has learned so much through his training and even taught me a few things, even though I grew up Presbyterian! Gary is humbled by the process and enjoyed having my parents, the girls and some friends in attendance as he was ordained in front of the congregation. Congrats Gary!

the family in attendance to support Gary

awesome friend zack who joined us with his wife lauren

Bumbletees sewing class

Anna has been interested in a sewing class for a while. We gave her a gift certificate to Bumbletees to a beginning kids sewing class for Christmas. She and a friend Emily attended the pillowcase class on Saturday morning and I was so impressed with the finished product. My mom can sew and did sew for us growing up and still helps with sewing repairs for us these days (Caroline says you don't know how mommy but Mimi does) so I think the sewing skills must have skipped a generation!! Emily has a mom that is the craftiest mom I know and even has a huge dedicated space upstairs in her home for all of her craft projects. She is serious! The girls were dropped off at 9am and chose their own 3 fabrics for the project. Anna was into the florals and Emily chose polka dota. By 12:15 when I returned both had created their pillowcases on their own and as Anna added, "we even learned how to iron them". Hmmm, a skill to be used at home for sure one day :). Both girls want to go back and I think it is a great skill to learn.  Here is the website if anyone is interested in a class in the future for adults or kids! http://bumbletees.net/ and then visit the sewing studio page for calendars of the classes offered.

they have picked out their fabric and are ready to go!

great job girls!! i was very impressed!!

        

MLK weekend in Dallas

We have not been to Dallas in almost a year and a half! Shame on the Zyrieks because I do have a brother and sister there and the girls have 5 cousins anxiously awaiting their visit to catch up. We finally found a good weekend to go and it was great. We drove down on Friday afternoon after the girls got out of school. While the drive took the exact time it always does, roughly 7 hours, we were all tired after a day at work and school and were ready to be there!

We stayed with James and Lydia in their great new home and really enjoyed being there. Of course this home is over a year old to them, and that further shows how long it has been since we have visited!! Have not even seen the "new" home!! Anna and Caroline instantly had fun with Blake and Drew. They played around the house on Saturday morning while James took Gary and I to the gym. I'm training for the St. Jude Country Music Half Marathon that is at the end of April and needed to get in a good run on Saturday and Sunday. We ran indoors on Saturday and then we were off to the zoo with the kids. James, Gary, my dad and my brother-in-law Matt headed to Waco, TX to watch the undefeated Baylor Bears take on Oklahoma State in basketball. We enjoyed the zoo with the kids. That evening we enjoyed a great dinner, a surprise birthday cake and gifts for me and more fun with the family.

My favorite part of our trip to the zoo would NOT have been when Caroline deposited her water bottle in my purse without closing the top! Love having to dump out the many ounces of water from my soaked purse. One mom at the zoo offered me wipes because she thought I was cleaning out vomit. Hilarious. Another not so fun moment was when the birds in the bird feeding area (similar to what we have had in Memphis before) pooped on Caroline's head. Gross indeed, but she took it in stride!

My brother was being ordained as a deacon on Sunday at his church, so there was actually more family in town than usual. My dad and stepmother came down and my sister Elizabeth, currently in Austin getting her PhD in nursing drove up as well. We had a full crew. We missed Blair and Kim and their kids or it would have been a full family reunion!

The Zyrieks went to the 8am service on Sunday and the Pittmans and my parents went to the 11am service. We really enjoyed being there to support my brother in this special ceremony. Great church and it reminded me of my Kirby Woods Baptist days since this they attend a Baptist church in Dallas.

The afternoon was relaxing. Nowhere really to be except Gary and I needed to get in a good 1 hour run. We decided to run at White Rock Lake so we could be outdoors. It was warmer but we had no idea how windy it was going to be. Gary paced me and we ended up getting in over 6 miles. So proud of how far I have come in just a few weeks with my coach's help!

The kids played and were worn out, we watched some NFL football and had another yummy dinner together. We had the drive home on Monday and did not want to be too worn out.

Overall, great fellowship with family, got my runs in, the kids had a blast and we celebrated my brother's special time at church and my birthday. Great weekend!

before heading out to the zoo

zookeeper chat

she looks happy now, but this is the bird that pooped on caroline's head!

quick trip to american girl after church on sunday

the pittmans and the zyrieks

after church, looking good :)

kids table at dinner

all the cousins together



the kids made an obstacle course for the adults...turned into more of a carnival but they had so much fun making it and it took over an hour which kept them occupied for a while 



evening entertainment included the kids "reporting" news stories and creating a newspaper to share with the adults

Harlem Globetrotters

Ever since the girls first saw Big Easy and Flight Time on Amazing Race they have been wanting to see the Harlem Globetrotters in action. We were excited to surprise them with tickets to see the Globetrotters on Saturday. They really had no idea what to expect and we kept telling them it was going to be funny. I think they had U of M games or Grizzlies games in their heads and could not imagine how a basketball game was going to be funny. They had such a great time. They enjoyed the game, seeing some friends and even getting pictures and autographs with some of the players after the game. Great time and even Gary was laughing....he had never seen them before either. I was having flashbacks to the Mid South Coliseum where we saw the Globetrotters once or twice growing up. So much fun!

as you can see we arrived early...all ready for the fun!

pre-game introductions...a production in itself

ava and caroline at halftime!

flight time signing autogrpaphs...so funny and great to see him in person as we saw him twice on amazing race

caroline posing after the game

the girls loved the players and getting their autographs

this is "tiny" who is over 7 ft 9 inches tall!! look at the girls looking up at him!!

Incredible Pizza Rookies

Where have the Zyrieks been that we have NEVER been to Incredible Pizza and it is less than 1 mile from our house? Thanks to the DeSouzas for the invite we joined them for a fun filled afternoon.  We all had $10 game cards from various giveaways so that was nice to walk in with $50 for our family. We even had Gary's mom along for the fun!! The girls had a great time playing the games, racking up tickets and redeeming them for the junk in the redemption room. Love that you could redeem 100,000 tickets for some big item like a quesadilla maker. Hilarious. The food (that you have to buy to enter the place) was not bad as there were even some healthful options on the buffet including soup, salad and baked potatoes!  We managed to escape with only a few junky toys when we left but had a great time. We will definitely go back again another day, especially since it is so close!

new version of "whack-a-mole" intruiged caroline

anna and mckayla enjoying the fun

a little family air hockey competition

laurie and cyp in a serious hoops showdown

gary was addicted to achieving the high score, which of course he did before we left

more air hockey fun

cyp with his prize, the big ripper whoopee cushion!!

New Years Vitals

Happy New Year 2012!!

Quick update on the girls as we enter a new year!!

Anna

8 1/2 years old

3rd grade @ Harding Academy

Height: 4 ft 8 inches
Weight: 62 lbs
Clothing size: 8 on top/10 on bottom to cover those long legs!
Favorite subject: Spelling & Science
Favorite food: Pizza
Favorite TV show: Wizards of Waverly Place
Favorite gadget: iPod
Favorite sport: Basketball
Favorite trip from 2011: Chicago at Fall Break

Caroline

5 years old

Junior Kindergarten @ Harding Academy

Height: 45 inches
Weight: 45 lbs
Clothing size: 5
Favorite subject: Writing letters
Favorite food: Chips & Dip
Favorite TV show: Phineas and Ferb
Favorite toy/gadget: Ipod
Favorite sport: Soccer
Favorite trip from 2011: St. Louis at Memorial Day