FIRST. DAY. OF. SCHOOL!!!

I'm not ashamed to brag on myself today: I did not cry.
That doesn't sound like a huge feat to most people, but this mama fully expected to shed some tears watching her baby board the school bus for the very. first. time today.

& i love you to the moon & back! ♥♥

Nope. :D I held it together. Barely. But I did it.

Bottom line: This little girl is a kindergartener. My heart.. is happy. I am so proud of the beautiful soul she is becoming.

So here they are: DAY 1 - KINDERGARTEN!

first day! 

my beautiful girl ♥

and this is my world. 

hangin' at the bus stop with mallory

The time finally came.. 

it's here! 

It was time for hugs from Mindi. This was special for me, since Sydni has been in Mindi's daytime care since she was 6 months old. Aside from the time we lived out of state, Mindi has always been there for Sydni, and for me as well. What a sweet moment! 

thank you, miss mindi! 

sweet mallory [mindi's daughter] being a watchful friend for day 1! 

After the extensive 8 minute journey to school... ;) 

:D 

day 1 in class.. meeting new friends & finding a rhythm.. 

There ya have it. My baby girl is a school kid, as she calls it.
I am one.. proud.. mama. ♥♥♥

The day must go on, of course. Off to work it was, to finish out the Tuesday. As a reward for holding my composure for the day, Rob and I took advantage of the evening and made a second attempt to see the new TMNT. Fortunately, bad luck didn't strike twice, and we made it through the entire movie with no theater power outages. (:

tmnt!

P.S. - Tuesdays -- at least this Tuesday -- are discount days at the theater in Oakley. NOTED.

*Whew! That's a wrap, kids.

xo | cmd

All Things Pre-Kindergarten.....

My daughter goes to kindergarten tomorrow.

TOMORROW.

I think I'm ok. Actually, yes, I know I am; what I think the issue is is my believing that she's old enough to be going. Elementary school is the easy part; I'm excited for her and can't wait to see her off on first day. 

For today, that meant the big 5-year doctor visit, wellness check, etc.
This chick's a trooper. 

hearing test

blood pressure

lots of waiting around ... ;) 

And when it was all said & done: 

"it's a school kid giraffe!" - syd

You're killin' me, mini. 

Back at work, I made it a point to have an extra healthy day myself, which made me happy just based on the colors alone! 

and yes, i'm apparently learning my containers today, too ;)
booowlllll... 

After work, I found myself back in Milford at Sydni's school for the orientation night. We toted her school supplies and did everything from meeting her teacher, seeing her classroom and gathering all that first-timer parent info in preparation for her big day tomorrow. 

Now it's only a matter of hours before we're up and at it to see her off on her first day. 

Yay, kindergarten! 

xo | cmd 

Shark Week!

We had tentative plans to head north to King's Island today, but those were dashed when Shayne and Cassie opted out.

Instead, we parked ourselves on the couch for a couple hours and soaked in some good old fashioned SHARK WEEK!

I love... shark week.
So does Sydni.

Appropriately so, we decided to take a trip south to Newport, to the aquarium, to see some of this week's celebrities up close and personal.

but first... a turtle shell! 

creature of the hour
[sorry about the photo quality; the real camera stayed @ home]

shark ray

my little half shark ♥

For the most part, there can only be so many different pictures from the same aquarium, so we didn't spend an exorbitant amount of time today hovering around each exhibit... just some of our favorites.

jellies' tank

sydni named this one "brain jelly" 

My personal favorite from the afternoon:

a puffer and my favorite hands? yes, please! 

syd's favorite

And lastly, on to the baddest boy in the wetlands: Mighty Mike! 

awh. jussa wittle guyyyy... 

or maybe a bit bigger than that. 

ok, maybe a lot bigger.
.. sizing up to mighty mike! 

albino alligator on the way out ;) 

We followed the aquarium with dinner [& of course breadsticks] at the Olive Garden before coming back home. These no-agenda Sundays are my favorites, and to spend them with my favorites -- including Shark Week -- is more than I could ask for.

See ya on the work side tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Dad's Birthday Bash

Loaded post, heeeere we go!

Today was Dad's birthday celebration! I'll cut to the chase, since it's been a long day and I want to make sure I get everything in here ;)


First things first. Yoga.
There is something I can't translate into words about how... perfect it is here in the mornings.

#yogaeverydamnday

Once the rest of the family was up and at it, we started in on breakfast preparation. Dad wanted birthday pancakes, so he led the way alongside the best little helper in the house.

Soon Nana came and scooted him from kitchen to patio table setup, and consequently picked up where he left off in the pancake mixing. After all, she made the stuff...

This was Sydni's reaction when I told her that the entire family was coming, and that we'd voted her responsible for making a "bajiiiiiiillion" pancakes:

"uhhhh.. no way, mom"

^My adorable little mad scientist!

Moving on.. Did I tell you Sydni and my parents have formed a band? It's uhhh.. a joyous sound - we'll just put it that way, haha. Just kidding. They love every second of the ruckus..

Nana & Pappy even purchased water balloons to add to the fun. We never actually got around to the water part, but Sydni showed us how to properly inflate and flash-deflate them.

moments before she let go & sent it flying!

It wasn't long before my sister, nephew, niece & great nieces [whaaaat?!.. yeah] arrived. From there on out until the time they left, it was picture time, badminton time and celebration time.

emmie & sydni
model & photographer in training!

ya gotta start somewhere... ;)

my sister heidi & her granddaughters, along with my mini-me

joyful hanny!
precious little great-niece of mine ♥

sweet moment between heidi & hanny

silly sister candid moments

the big girls emmie & sydni chasing bubbles around the yard

mom & rob

sweet little hanny

my compassionate little girl & spanky, the 21-year-old cat
we adopted as a kitten, when i was a child ♥

lady cornhuskers [minus the other two big girls]

my better half ♥♥

♥ sisters.

no makeup, no fuss, no worries.
♥

Last but certainly not least [& disappointingly sans Sydni, who insisted that she wanted no more pictures. In her defense, she was a trooper for the rest of the day!] - the celebration of my dad. Happy birthday, to you! We LOVE you! 

happy birthday, dad!

I love this family of mine. I'm still not over the fact that Sydni wasn't in that last picture, but she sure made Pappy's weekend by being there for his birthday party.

We're en route back to Cincinnati now and looking to take it easy for the rest of the night. It feels like a Sunday but I'm thankful we still have one more day. Here's to the rest of the weekend!

xo | cmd

Headin' To The Dren Lodge

It was definitely a feel-good Friday:


feel good colors!

It was one of those rare Fridays in which everything seems to fall into place as though you purposefully put it there. Including lunch:

nom!

Yessss.
It was also one of those Fridays that included a post-work road trip. This time it was north to good old Mt. Vernon. We're home.

We made better time on the road than we'd expected, so Mom & Dad, aka Nana & Pappy, set up a little bonfire and some treats for our hungry bellies.

pretty little glow

We roasted some hot dogs, ate our vegetable sticks [duh; we're at my mom's house now...] and then broke out the s'mores sticks and all the fixins.

pappy getting her started

love my little campfire bug!

telling nana secret ghost stories

*Yawn. We're HOME.
Tomorrow we'll celebrate Dad's birthday. See you then!

xo | cmd

Because... Meditate. That's Why.

See this?

wax cord bracelets...

I'm obsessed. I figured out how to essentially replicate PuraVida chords and now I'm considerably obsessed with new color combinations, etc. Needless to say, I've got Bengals & Reds seasons covered, along with just about any other special event or regular.. day. :)

Today is Day 2 of the Yoga challenge, and that meant some meditation.

center yourself.

^ Yeah, that's poor form, I know. I am working on stabilizing myself to sit deeper into these things, and of course find the time to do that while at work. Thank goodness for lunch breaks around here.

much better

This one makes me want to fall asleep. I didn't, but I'm just sayin'. This is a perfect way to unwind for even a few short minutes, although I wouldn't recommend curling into this one for more than a few minutes at a time.

Anyway, not much else to report today. It's in the back of my mind that Sydni starts school on TUESDAY next week, but other than that, my nerves have so far sustained and all is well. ;)

xo | cmd