Memorial Day Weekend!

So, a few weeks ago my best friend from high school's husband called me and asked what my plans were for Memorial Day weekend. I told him nothing, and the next thing I knew he was surprising my friend with an amazing Mother's Day Gift ever… a plane ticket to spend the entire weekend with us!

This girl is my rock. There are people in your life that come and go, and friendships that last a while and then fizzle out, but she is 100% a forever friend. We can go several weeks without talking and pickup right where we left off. When I'm with her it feels like no time has passed since we were 15 and fighting with our parents, and it's pretty amazing.

She got in on Friday afternoon and we had a low key night with pizza, some beer and a fire in the fire pit. Mostly we just caught up and reminisced!

(When your best friend comes to town you give her a manicure!)

On Saturday her husband has another Mother's Day present… and it was a present for me too! He booked us a full day at a local spa and it was amazing!!!

We had massages, body scrubs, foot scrubs, and facials. We also got lunch on the patio and time to hang out at the pool. My amazing husband also dropped off two bottles of champagne for us to enjoy while we got pampered!

It was amazing, by far one of the best experiences I've ever had. There is definitely nothing like getting completely pampered for an entire day!

After the spa day we headed home and got ready to go for the night. In hindsight, heading out for a night on the town after a day of massages and scrubs (which can really dehydrate you) and considering we were already in two bottles of champagne, probably wasn't the best idea.

But we got ready, got pretty, and had S drop us off at the Cardinals Stadium complex, which has a ton of restaurants of bars. We got a drink at a new place, and then decided to go get some sushi for dinner. (again, probably not a great idea)

We ended up at one of the bars, and we hung out for a few hours before heading home for the night.

And, as you can see by the picture below, when you've had a few too many drinks and your best friend is in town, sometimes you don't make the best life choices. I think this pretty much sums up the night.

Anyway, the next day we both felt pretty awful (so embarrassing!) but we had plans with other friends to go to our amazing spot in Sedona for the day, and we didn't want to wimp out. It was a beautiful day, and even though I had a college style hangover, I'm glad we went and I'm glad Ash got to see the beauty of Sedona!

And the kids had an absolute blast. it's nice that they are getting old enough, at least the older ones, that we can give them a bit more freedom!

Sunday night was super low key as we continued to recover form the night before. Ash was leaving in the afternoon on Monday so we decide a nice day at the pool would be the perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

Ash even got L2 in the pool, which he usually takes a lot more time to warm up to!

I'm so happy she came, and I'm so grateful that she has an awesome husband that realized we needed this time together!

Kinder Graduation Party!

So, I think I've told you guys before, but I was homeroom mom for L's kindergarten class this year. And as homeroom mom, I had this idea a few months ago: to have a graduation party for all the kiddos at the end of the school year. I recruited a few of my "mom tribe" friends from the class and we all agreed it would be a blast! And easy, right? It's just Kindergarten graduation!

OMG… the amount of time and stress that went into this party! We had people offer/promise us stuff that never came through. We had rental companies fall through. We struggled with getting people to RSVP. We had late night group texts and one very productive "meeting" that involved 99 cent margaritas.

But in the end, it was 100% worth it. The party was amazing, and the kids had a blast.

We held the party at one of our local parks, and it was perfect. We had the cover of the ramadas for food, and so the parents didn't melt in the heat! The kids had the park area, and we also rented a big bounce house and set up an area with sprinklers and water balloons. There was something for everyone, and I think everyone had an amazing time!

Another mom from the class brought these adorable "photo prop" signs, which were perfect! I think by the end of the day the kids were probably all sick of posing for pictures, but I know the parents are going to treasure them forever!

We also got a big cake, because what's a party without cake? I was genuinely sad when the party was over and everyone went their separate ways. I know we will see our group of friends a ton over the summer, but this has been such a great year and we had such a great group of kids!

And most importantly, meet "the tribe!" These ladies are amazing. I love them and I love their kiddos, and I can't wait to go through this journey with them by my side!

L graduates Kindergarten!

L "graduated" Kindergarten yesterday. I've had a fair amount of people (my husband included!) roll their eyes at the idea of a graduation for kindergarteners. I probably would have been one of those people a few years ago. But not anymore. I totally get it. They deserve a graduation, because they have changed and grown so much in the past year. We dropped of these shy and timid little boys to classrooms last August. We wiped away tears (theirs and ours) and packed little lunches for the first time and assured them that they would make friends and would like their teachers. We tried to oh-so-cooly let the teachers know how special our little ones were. It was terrifying. And now, at the end of May, we are bringing home these self assured little people. They have friends and opinions. They have learned so much, they have picked up funny habits from other kids and they are completely comfortable spending entire days away from us. They deserve to be celebrated, because it's been a milestone year.

(Daddy tying L's tie for him!)

S took the day off of work, and we made L his specially requested breakfast (blueberry muffins). The kids were instructed to wear "Sunday Best", and let me tell you, there is nothing cuter than a little boy in a button up shirt and a tie. I wish I could dress him like this everyday, but I think I would be met with  some objection!

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After getting ready we headed to L's best friends house to get pictures of the boys and take some family photos together. This boys mama and me have know each other since we were both pregnant with L and J, and she is one of my closest friends now. 

Then it was off to school. I will admit that I was pretty much in tears from this point on. We managed to grab a couple of cute photos with the brothers and some more friends before we had to go in.

(Brothers! My boys, I love them!)

The graduation itself was wonderful. The teachers did an amazing job and the kids sang some of the sweetest songs that brought the audience (well, at least all the moms!) to tears! And they totally kept it a secret, we hadn't heard L practice a single one, so it was a total surprise!

I took video of most of the graduation, so I don't have a lot of pictures. But they announced each child, read what they wanted to be when they grew up (L said a baseball player!) and gave them their diplomas!

I just can't believe my little L is done with Kindergarten. I am so amazingly proud of him. He is funny and smart and handsome, and I know he is going to take this world by storm!