Getting points taken away

If you read my below post - How to become the 'Coolest Mom Ever' - you'd know some tricks. But, I forgot to mention that you can have points taken away too. Mine were at the beginning of the concert, but I'm pretty sure that I made up for it!

I was upstairs, listening to the first band, minding my own business. Two guys (they looked young to me, but were able to get drinks) came upstairs and stood next to me. They had on black hoodies, black skinny jeans and had their underwear/asses hanging out. I sent Makena a text because she knows that irks me.

'hahaaaaa' she replied.

Two bands later, Mayday Parade comes on stage. They were the band that Makena mostly wanted to see. The lead singer was the guy standing next to me upstairs.

Ooopssss. I guess the back stage pass attached to his skinny jeans would have tipped me off.

Love you Pook - Coolest Mom Ever

How to become the 'Coolest Mom Ever'

1. You buy tickets to one of your daughter's favorite bands - one for her, one for a friend and one for you (because someone has to go with them at age 13).

2. SURPRISE - they are playing with 4 other great bands! They were: Stereo Skyline, There for Tomorrow, A Rocket to the Moon, Mayday Parade and We The Kings.

3. Don't dress too old or too young - as per your daughter. Makena told me to just wear 'skinny jeans and a tshirt' - I told her 'I don't do skinny jeans and a tshirt.' I did find normal jeans and a tshirt - that was apparently good enough.

4. Run (yes, run - in the rain) back to the car to get the camera because they "supposedly" weren't letting people bring them in. But...everyone had one...ours was in the car...Makena & Madison weren't leaving the concert to go get it...so the Coolest Mom Ever has to do it.

5. Sit upstairs with all the other parents. There were parents downstairs with their kids, but that's just not cool. There was also a Dad with ear plugs in - OMG did U C him?!?

6. Know some of the words to the songs, but don't sing along. You can sometimes break this one if you and your daughter are in the car; alone - but don't sing at the concert.

Pictures Makena took...

(I liked this one) I think they're laying on the floor (where it's dirty)

7. Be sure to bring extra cash - the $20 tshirts are great, but the $40 hoodie is even better.

(The videos sounds kind of bad, but all of the bands were actually good.
The speakers on my poor little camera were probably blown because Makena was so close to the stage.)

A Rocket to the Moon

Mayday Parade

8. Leave the concert before the band that you actually wanted to hear comes on because your daughter and friend are exhausted and sweaty from jumping around the last two hours.

9. Hit Burgerville just before they close so that your daughter and friend can have some water, food and a chocolate shake.

Makena giving Madison an hug - in her new hoodie

Side note: I did actually enjoy the concert. The smaller venue (Wonder Ballroom) was a great place for these 5 up-and-coming bands. They donated proceeds to Bone Marrow testing/treatments. The upstairs - "parent area" - was actually the 21 & Over part. You could hear the music AND the lyrics. The tickets were only $16 each. The girls had a great time.

Side-side note: It may help my Coolest Mom Ever status that I went to these types of concerts 'back in the day'. And yes, Makena, I jumped around for hours too, getting close and sweaty with everyone else there.

500 WHAT?!?

I just went to post some pictures and noticed that I have 500 posts already! Wow...how time flies...when I'm filling you in about our life.

Thanks for checking in!

Spending the day downtown

It was another beautiful day, so we decided to go downtown. (Okay, I asked Jamie to take me downtown so I could take some pictures.) We walked Waterfront Park with all of the other people out enjoying the sunshine.

When Moxie has to be on a leash, she likes to hold it in her mouth.Then we walked around and found a restaurant with outside tables so we could have lunch.

I know I am...

Then we headed over to the St. Johns Bridge and to a local park.

And a smile to end our day.

The many shades of Makena Jade

Makena wanted her hair colored...again. She apparently gets bored with her hair easily. : )

First she had pink streaks with blue tips.

Then she had purple streaks throughout.

Now she has blond bangs with more purple streaks in them.

She says that this is her favorite so far!

Love Muffins

Last Saturday was the day before Valentine's Day - because we had plans for Valentine's Day, I made Jamie & Makena one of their favorite things for dinner. And, I made what I called "Love Muffins" for dessert.

They were chocolate goodness!

There is even a little heart in the syrup...see it?

Damn I'm good!

OH - I forgot about a picture that was taken of us at the restaurant (The Venetian) on Valentine's Day. They had it framed for us and everything.

Good Things #20 - a REALLY good one

Chemical exposure is increasingly linked to chronic childhood illnesses that include asthma, allergies, and obesity.

Yet, most of the roughly 80,000 chemicals in everyday products like cosmetics and food packaging have slipped through the regulatory system almost entirely unchecked for potential health impacts.

A new video from Healthy Child Healthy World shows parents why they need to be aware. Click here to watch

A Wake Up Story.

This is a short video with big meaning...I hope you take a minute to watch it and then share it with your family and friends.

Loving them

For Valentine's Day, Jamie and Makena made reservations for us at my new favorite restaurant The Venetian. Before dinner we watched the performance of The Taming of the Shrew and Women's Prize - two in one! Another funny, fun show at The Venetian - love it there.

(one of many pictures I tried to get of them)

We had a wonderful dinner - marinated mushrooms (all to myself), artichoke dip, bread, Caesar salad, pasta Alfredo, stuffed tortellini, lasagna. I didn't think I could take another bite until...

... the chocolate cake with chocolate filling and frosting showed up. Oh.My.God. it was delicious. And, it had our name on it.

what was left of the cake

Me & Makena

Thank you for a wonderful Valentine's Day - I love you both!

Good Things #19

I have used Catalog Choice for more than a year now and think it's great! There are a few magazines that don't work with Catalog Choice, but you can usually go directly to their website and ask to be removed from mailings.

Good Things #18

Did you know Hershey’s Kisses are wrapped with actual aluminum foil? It’s true!

Another thing you may not realize is that all of that aluminum is recyclable! Producing aluminum, which is mined from bauxite ore, takes a lot of energy, but aluminum can be recycled over and over again without losing quality (unlike plastic). Recycled aluminum uses 95% less energy to produce.

What does this mean to you? It means that each of those little kisses you eat on and around Valentine’s Day this year is a chance for you to do the right thing — by recycling the wrapper. You may not think that those tiny wads of shiny foil mean much in the grand scheme of things, but when you consider that an estimated 80,000,000 Hershey’s Kisses are wrapped each day, using enough aluminum foil to cover over 50 acres of space (that’s almost 40 football fields) it might make you want to kiss the recycling bin instead of the trash this Valentine’s Day.

An afternoon with Roses

Ivie Rose came to spend some time with me on Wednesday afternoon. When she arrived, she got out of the car and ran through the yard - getting the back of her white pants all muddy.

While we waited for them to wash & dry, we did puzzles, read books and ate yummy snacks.

Then we went for a walk. Ivie ran after Moxie, fell in the yard and got the front of her white pants all muddy. Loves me some "Roses".

A day of sunshine and grey clouds

Kylah and Kallie came over to play with us on Sunday. Hailee was here too, so we all decided to take a walk up to the park while it was sunny out.

Makena had her camera with her, I had mine and Kylah wanted one too - she used the small camera. I think she only took 4 pictures tho before running to play.

Kallie-Bug had gotten up that morning with a slight cough and runny nose, so we were sure to bundle her up for the wagon ride to the park.

Hailee was trying to hide from me & my camera. Makena told her to just 'give it up'. Hailee decided to make faces with Makena instead.

And then I caught her!
Yes, we were a bit worried about that giant.grey.cloud. We were lucky that it was traveling the other direction! It did turn out to be a beautiful day.

Moxie loves the park too.

The slide is fun...no matter how old you are.

Yes, they did this for me. Aren't they sweet?

C'mon Auntie!