eclectic group of friends

This past weekend I had the pleasure of getting away to visit some of my best friends from college. It had been over a year since we were all together, and that was long overdue. even though we were young'uns in college when we met, our deep friendship and open hearts kept us together after all of these years. It seems as though we always pick right up where we left off - and that says alot. When my dad passed away those who could drove up immediately, and others flew to Wichita Falls to attend his services. Those who couldn't called me and checked up on me. Every single day. You can't say that about a lot of your friends that you met 15 years ago. We are friends thick and thin. And we fondly call each other "the mamas". So Friday when I got off work I drove to North Richland Hills and spent the night with my first college roommate (outside of the dorms) Meredith. Meredith (aka Poodie) and I stayed up visiting and I got to hang out with her precious daughter Lila Paige. (Yes she named her after the Lila on Friday Night Lights).

Lila Paige, me, Poodie, Stacy Girl

Saturday morning Meredith and I drove to Bliss Spa at the W Hotel in Dallas and met up with the Mamas for some RELAXATION. If you haven't been there then you need to go. It's amazing! and I LOVE the SHOWERS there!

After a few relaxing hours at Bliss we headed over to Chuy's to enjoy so great laughs and conversation on the patio. After a brief visit with Stacy's parents at their new home ( not new to them but new to me!) we joined the girls and got ready to hit Big D. Before we left though, Patti unveiled a cake that she made for Mama Carrie. Carrie is going through a divorce right now, and Patti expressed her anger at Carrie's estranged husband through a cake. It was the funniest cake that I have ever seen in my life, and the rest of the group seemed to agree.

Patti tried to reflect Seans facial features on the cake, and she did a mighty fine job! I also think she needs to go into business with divorce cakes. All though the reason of the cake is sad and unfortunate, she would probably make a killing!

UPDATE: In an effort to protect my friend Carrie, I took down the cake pictures. Once things are finalized I will repost them. It's a must see!

Getting ready to paint the town red!

Molly Brewer, Stacy Allen, Johanna Nuding, Lesha Park, Shanda Thompson, Delyssa Casey, moi & Carrie Stacey.

Johanna's rockin' hot sister Buffy met us out after she chaperoned Prom at the school where she is a guidance counselor.

Stacy and I giving Carrie some love!

JoJo & Stacy Girl
Someone told Johanna the other day that she has a face of an angel but a mouth like a trucker. That may be true, but she has one the biggest hearts of gold I have ever seen.

Shan being Shan.

"Dave" & Jo

Lesha & I

Thoreau once said, "My Friend takes me for what I am."
Thank you ladies for taking me for what I am. I love you all immensely. Each one of you have touched my life in way that words can not adequately express.
I love you all and I can't WAIT until Lilith Fair!

Skechers Shoe Shopping Extravaganza

I don't know if Extravaganza is the right word to use. How about Skechers-Shoe-Shopping-Beat Down? Yeah - that is more like it. When I picked up the girls on Monday I decided that we needed to get more tennis shoes for the girls to wear to school. PLUS, the school doesn't like the kids to wear sandals or flip flops because they aren't the safest to run and play in - especially in the gravel park! So, it was off to the store! Apparently 90% of the girls at SLP wear Skechers and I was completely unaware of this. I didn't think brands really mattered to pre-k kids. Boy was I wrong. When I told Kate and Mary Clare where we were going Kate got REALLY excited and asked if I would let her pick out Skechers. Sure........I thought it was going to be a one stop shop. think again Mrs. Foley.

Well, store #1 didn't sell Skechers. When I asked the cashier if they had any she looked at me like I was an idiot. I am an idiot. Don't ask me why I thought Ross would have Skechers. Nevertheless, I made my yearly quick trip into Ross. See ya in 2011! The girls and I walked next door to Shoe Carnival and BOY did they have some Skechers! They had so many Skechers that we were in there for 40 minutes looking at them. JUST LOOKING! Yes, they were just confined to one aisle, but Kate went and studied each shoe. Seriously.

I got really excited when I saw the shoe below. Me - "Wow Kate- these are so girly and pink, and sparkly and don't have any skulls or crossbones! Want to try these on?" After a second hand glance Kate said no. Desperate to get home to my roast in the crock pot I begged her to look at them again. "Please sweet heart, Mommy loves these and I know Grammy will too." (Yes - I pulled the Grammy card.) K - "No thank you." ME - "You know what Kate? I bet you your cousins Hannah and Georgia would think these are super duper cool!!!" I guess at this point she figured out what I was doing, and her reply was, "No mother. Kateri, Amy, and so&so (I forgot the girl's name) have those already and I don't want them." Me - "Is there a new girl named Amy in your class?" K-"No - Amy is Mary Clare's best friend. I see a pair I like mommy but can we go to another Skechers store?" My first thought was "No" because of the pot roast, but she showed me the pair she wanted and without hesitation I told her we could go look at another store. MC needed a new pair of shoes as well, and Shoe Carnival didn't have anything in her size. SSSOO....off to Kohl's. By this time Tim had already met us and he graciously took Mary Clare home & he said he would take care of on my roast. YEAH!

I never go to Kohl's. But I have gone twice this week now and it is starting to grow on me! The Skechers selection at Kohl's was not appealing to Kate, but I did get a FABULOUS deal on some Adidas shoes for Mary Clare. This also meant though that we were going back to the Shoe Carnival to get the Skechers Kate wanted. Should I attempt to persuade her into the other shoes? No - because by this time it was already 7:00 and I was READY to get to the casa. SO the shoes below are the ones she picked out. They were not my first choice. Not my last choice, but close to it.

They are white, and thick, bulky, and white. I like colored shoes on my girls just because they stay, or at least look like, they are in better shape than white ones that get dirty you wear them. I don't think I own a white pair of shoes besides the white heels I wore on my wedding day. BUT - One hour and forty minutes later, I have one elated precious little girl who is ecstatic about her new shoes, and that precious little girl has one exhausted mommy. My mind started drifting off years ahead and she is a tween. Over a hour and a half for a pair of shoes when she is four? What is going to be when she is 10? 13? 16?

When we got home and she was proudly showing her shoes to her sissy and daddy I asked her why she picked those. Her reply was: "Mommy - That is why I had to look at each Skecher to see if anyone at my school had them. No one else at my school wears these." Ay-Yi-Yi.

New Beginnings

Where do I begin? It seems that though I am always in denial on how fast time is going. I mean - where did this weekend go? Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?

It was a wild and crazy week at the office this week so that could have made the weekend fly by faster that I would have liked for it to. One of my co-workers turned in her notice and her last day was Friday. We worked side by side for 9 1/2 years, and it's been one wild ride. Sure - we have had our ups and downs working so closely together, however in the end I couldn't imagine riding that roller coaster with anyone but her. She is one of my dearest friends that I can go to with anything. Thank you Debbie. I wish you the best of luck!

To celebrate Debbie's almost ten years at MyStaf, Debbie, Sandy and I went to How Great Thou Art for another Art & Soul Ladies Night Art Class. The theme was a contemporary city skyline. Here are our creations:

One of my fave gal pals Jaclyn went to art class as well. Here is her work of art.

Mine.

Sandy's.

Debbie's

I love to wake up and hear rain outside, and that is exactly how my Saturday morning started. It rained and rained and rained, but it didn't dampen my spirits! The girls were begging to play outside in the rain with their rain boots and umbrellas, and it was so heartwarming to see them have so much fun splish-splashing in the puddles. I went to Spin class late Saturday morning. My first full hour spin class in about a year. My legs were screaming for mercy, but they will be thanking me later. :) Kate and I enjoyed getting out together for some mommy/Kate time. I took her to Mardel and let her pick out her own responsibility chart, and then we went to get pedicures.

I spent the majority of my day today at church helping with the Christ Renews His Parish weekend. It's so beautiful to see the Holy Spirit move through so many unsuspecting people, and especially beautiful to see our brother and sisters in Christ come together to sing our Lord's praises. So all in all it was a great weekend. Wet, but great.
So - here is to new beginnings. Debbie's new beginning at a new career that will give her a new leash on life with her husband Phil. A renewed &/or strengthened relationship with God for the thirty six women that went through the Christ Renews His Parish retreat this weekend. And a new jump onto the weight loss band wagon again. I jumped off and enjoyed a junk food journey after my first 19 pound loss, and now I am jumping back on again with a vengeance to get off another 19. Kate has her last Anniversary Celebration at School for Little People this week, so be on the look out for pics later on this week!

Blessings,
SF xoxo

Close to perfect weekend

Wow. I can't believe it is close to the end of the day on Tuesday! I am still thinking about what a great weekend we had! After a rough few days at the office last week, I was more than ready to help host a wedding shower for one of my good friends from high school Kristin and her fiance Burke. Late night - but worth it.

I was ready to start my Saturday routine by going to my classes at the gym followed by Subway with the girls - but it didn't happen that way! I started my class at the gym, but was interrupted by the front desk guy after about 25 minutes because MC had a mess in her diaper, and there weren't any diapers in her bag. How did I miss that? There had to be an extra diaper flowing around we could "borrow", right? WRONGOLA. I had to run across the street to Wal-Mart to buy some instead of taking the girls home. Knowing how much food I consumed the day before and what was in store for me later on that night, I was BOUND and DETERMINED to get my workouts in! Needless to say, Wal-Mart was a freaking zoo, and it reinforced my rule of why I don't shop there on Saturdays! 30 minutes later (yes - it took me 25 minutes to check out and get in my car after buying a small package of diapers and an extra travel pack of wipes), I am in my car heading back across the street to the gym. The dreadful on-call phone rings and neither one of the temps that was supposed to start work that morning showed up. AND to make matters worse - the customer wanted replacements STAT. After a diaper change and a quick trip to the "donut office" (what Kate calls Southern Maid donuts for all of you locals), the girls and I were hard at it at MyStaf trying to refill the positions. Luckily daddy came to the rescue and picked up the girls about 15 minutes after we made it to the office. he took them to the park, and I stayed and got the job done. Since my morning had already gone down the drain, I knew what I needed to make it back on track. Back to the gym?!?!? Heck no - I needed a good old fashioned burger that I have deprived myself of these past few weeks because of my attempt at a healthier lifestyle. Nothing like Gene's Tasty Burger on a Saturday afternoon.

Here is Kate patiently waiting on her Gene's grilled cheese.

After Gene's, Kate and I picked up my good ol' pal Lauren, and we headed off to do some retail therapy at the Cadillac Cowgirl in Henrietta. We needed some bling for the Cattle Baron's ball later that evening. When Kate and I got home, Daddy was putting up his hammock. The girls enjoyed some leisurely time on the hammock with Daddy.

Tim and I ended our day by going to the Cattle Baron's Saturday with some great friends of ours and had the BEST time! Can't wait to go again in 2012!

Sunday was a typical church & lunch with the Foleys kind of day, but we got to end the day celebrating cousin Sarah Jane Bindel's 1st birthday at the park by her house. We stayed at the park for over two hours and had a ball!

Mary Clare enjoying her cupcake!

One of my favorite pics - three Bindel girls holding hands as we were leaving the park.
so sweet........

When we got back to Marc & Carlye's house Kate was taking pictures with my phone while I was still visiting with them.

Sarah Jane attempting to make a dash into my car. I think she wanted to go home with us!

this isn't the best pic, but I LOVE it! Uncle Coach hammed it up for Kate.

Even though the weekend started out a little rocky, it couldn't have ended any better.

Nothing beats spending time with family!

Easter Weekend

What an amazing Easter Weekend! It started off by me taking the morning off so the girls and I could run errands for the weekend - bows for their dresses from Moraths, hair cut for Kate, etc...

I ended Friday by going to Good Friday Mass and then dinner with Sarah & Matt afterwards - what a great way to end the day! Saturday didn't start out the way I wanted it to, but it sure did have a fantastic ending. Saturday after lunch Kate went to the Knights of Columbus Easter Egg Hunt at the park across from Sacred Heart, and then we went over the the Mengs for an impromptu egg hunt/get together with some other SLP families. Marc & Carlye and their girls joined us as well!

Dashing off for the eggs!

Mary Clare trying to decide on whether or not to get the orange egg. Her daddy told her that orange was a "bad" color.

Kate scoping out the scene.........

All of the kids having an Easter Eve feast!

Kate and her long time buddy Parker Allen playing pirates. Kate and Parker have been SLP friends since they were in the Infant room together. I have grown to love Parker and his family over the years. His mom is one of the sweetest, hard-working, non-judgmental woman with such a strong Christian foundation and I truly admire her and her husband! It is going to be so hard to leave Kate's friends and the parents Tim and I have come to know when she leaves to go to a new school in a few months. AT least I'll still be able to keep up with the Allen family because Parker's little brother and Mary Clare are in the same class.

Anytime Bear is around Mary Clare is bound to have a good time. Here she is waiting at the bottom of the slide for her true love..........

.....and here they are after he slid down to her! Can't you feel the love these two have for each other?!?! This is the future Coach & Mrs. Bryant J. Meng right here folks!

After we got home & bathed, Kate and I sat out carrots and spinach on the front porch for the Easter Bunny. He came, and I think the girls woke up everyone in the neighborhood as they were squealing with delight running around from egg to egg Sunday morning! It was so sweet. After Kate and I made Resurrection Rolls together for breakfast, we all got ready for Sunday morning Mass. Father Hoa delivered an amazing homily, and I walked out of church feeling spiritually and emotionally renewed!

My precious pretties after Mass.

Mc showing off her flashy pink fingernails while she is waiting for brunch.

My amazing family & in-laws! God truly blessed me when I met Tim (thanks to a little cupid named Sarah!) and I became a member of their family. I don't feel like I deserve their overwhelming generosity and unconditional love, but they are constantly gracing me with it. Thank you God for allowing me to become a part of this amazing family, and most importantly thank you for doing the unimaginable and ultimate sacrifice by giving up your Son and watching him die for our sins. Hallelujah!! Our Savior has Risen!

"We have Seen His Glory Full of Grace and Truth"
John 1:14

Happy Easter!!!