Lily's Bike

Lily has been wanting a bicycle since last summer.  When we visited friends, it was always the first thing she ran to when she saw it.  It wasn't until the fall she was actually coordinated enough to use the petals so Mike and I thought since we were heading into winter, we could get a kid's bike on sale - not so much.  As the fall mom-to-mom sales started trickling by, I wasn't fast enough to get my hands on a used bike.  And it seemed like every garage sale we came across, we came home empty handed.

When I swung through Goodwill at the first sign of warm weather, the lady working actually chuckled when I asked her if they had any kids bikes in stock.  I was out running errands last week and thought I'd stop in at Salvation Army.  My mom had just picked up a Big Wheel there for her so I thought my chances were pretty slim.  But in between a $25 scooter and a kids chair was a Cars tricycle for $8.99.  Lily loves the movie Cars so I figured she'd be thrilled to have a themed bike.

The next stop on my list of errands was Home Depot.  As I was searching for spray paint for our patio table, I came across pink sparkle spray paint.  WHO KNEW they made such a fabulous product??  Of course there was no way Mike would let me paint our patio table hot pink sparkles but he couldn't argue with a hot pink tricycle for Lily.  

I set to work peeling off the stickers and removing as many parts as I could.  Bonus points since Mike couldn't believe I figured out how to get the nuts and bolts on the seat off.  Clearly I'm more handy than he gives me credit for some times.

Boat + Car

I've been informed that due to my fuzzy brain on Thursday, I forgot a few very important details about our current life's happenings.  We bought a boat!

And a new car!

If you've talked to us recently, we've been in the market for an all sports boat and a vehicle that will tow it.  Instead we purchased a pontoon boat only for it's floating capabilities and a sporty car that's fun to drive.

Post 4/15 Detox

It's been awhile friends!  Happy 4/16!  The last few weeks of busy season hit me hard - I'm not quite as young as I once used to be - in terms of working late nights as well as celebrating.  Detox for me today was supposed to be getting a jump start on my list of unfinished house projects.  Instead it included a lot of gatorade and greasy food - and a notable attempt at painting a couple of doors - 3 down, 12 to go.  So I apologize if I forget to include an update on something that's happened in the last three weeks.

Lily is as spunky as ever.  In an effort not to completely squash her personality, I've been allowing her to dress herself.  I'm sure you can imagine how hard this for me.  We've also been trying to instill some chores and life lessons.  It's amazing how much she soaks in each and every day.  Aside from picking up her toys, she's in charge of feeding the dog.  We used to supervise the nightly feeding but she's now tall and strong enough to open the closet and drag out Diesel's food bin.  Diesel never goes hungry.  We also took Lily to the bank for the first time.  She loves to feed her piggy bank and historically when it's been full, Mike or I run into the bank with her rolls of change.  We both had to go in on a Saturday together so we decided to have Lily help roll up her change and pack her purse.  She got to deposit all of her money as well as pick out a prize from the bank's treasure chest.

We got to visit with our good friends the Stuevers one weekend when the weather had just started to warm up.  We grilled out and let the kiddos run wild in the fresh air.  It's always so good to see them but each time we part ways I wish for the days we could run across the lawn home instead of the 30 minute drive that now separates us.

When Easter falls during busy season, it makes me crazy.  For whatever reason, Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  I decorate my house for Easter almost as much as I decorate my house for Christmas.  If Mike would let me, I would string eggs lights on our house.  So as a thank you to my gaggle of interns, Lily and Mike helped me stuff almost 300 eggs and my co-workers helped me hide them in the courtyard outside of our office.

Conveniently this year for Easter, my mother hosted our family late in the afternoon so we were able to do lunch with Mike's parents and Grandma.  It was so good to see her - she was in a great mood - even fist bumping with Lily.

And just because Easter was amidst one of the busiest times of year for me, I didn't let that stop me from trying out new things I'd pinned - does anyone remember my Pinterest failed bunny rolls??  I'm so thankful we were able to spend some quality time with family.  I love seeing Lily play with her cousins.

I'll end this post with the reason I'm detoxing today.  I have a love-hate relationship with my job.  Fortunately the love outweighs the hate most days.  After an extremely challenging week for me, I couldn't have been more ready for yesterday to arrive.  So when my girlfriend was complaining to me and another manager in the lunch line that her former firm was handing out mimosas to celebrate the end of busy season, I was pretty easily convinced to drop everything and make a trip to Meijer.  To see the looks on our staff's faces as we delivered a variety of mimosas flight attendant style was priceless.  Even more rewarding was the reaction from our regional and office managing partners as we barged into their meeting offering up drinks.  It reinforced why I'm still where I am today.  Well.  That and the dance party that happened after the shots.  YIKES.