Yes or No on Monograms?

Now that school is in full swing,

August is nearly over and

cooler temps will be here soon (hope),

we're in the hunt for long sleeve t-shirts.

Long sleeves work great for M to wear

with jeans or whatever and she can wear under 

her school uniform polo shirt for extra warmth!

Because, you know, high schoolers don't

wear coats! 

We LOVE Monograms and all of these items can be personalized

with a monogram -- who doesn't love a monogram?

We've bought these long sleeve t's

in the past and they are good quality.

I always wait for a sale and they have sales often.

In case you would think I'm becoming an "influencer blogger"

[I wish!]

who gets paid for posts -- nope -- we just like these and so 

I wanted to share!

Here are a few favorites!

This one is so Maddie -- she LOVES the Hallmark

movies and has me addicted as well!

This sweatshirt and sweat shorts look perfect too.

I kind of want this myself!

The curlicue monograms are adorable, are they not???

Miss M was thrilled that PSL is back at Star*bucks and

this t-shirt would get worn a lot, I'm sure!

Maddie has this t-shirt and actually  needs a new one as it has been 

worn so many times.  Star*bucks and Chick-fil-A* are her 

favorite places!

In case you or someone you know needs a monogrammed

t-shirt, here's the website for United Monograms! 

Fall sale going on currently!

Have a wonderful long weekend.

Happy Labor Day!

Summer Wrap-Up

Since summer activities are winding down 

with the opening of school books, 

here's some of what Maddie did during the summer.

She completed all of her senior service hours!

Pius X (Maddie's school) requires seniors to perform 36 hours of

volunteer service work at school and/or in the community.

While 36 hours may not sound like a lot, when you're 

only getting a couple hours here and there, it takes a while to get to 36!

Maddie did all of her hours working in the Pius uniform shop!

It takes a lot of unpacking and organization to sort and have polos, shorts,

shirts, pants and sweatshirts ready to sell and package up for over 1,200 students!

After working mornings Mondays through Thursdays at the

uniform store, she spent Friday mornings playing and reading

with the Littles!  They had so much fun together and

it was great for her to spend time with them

and to give Philip and Catherine an extra pair 

of hands!

She also got some fabulous photos of the kids!

They are growing up fast!

Jane - 9 years old (4th grade)

Walt - 8 years old (3rd grade)

Harry - 6 years old (kindergarten)

Dorothy - 3 years old (preschool)

and

Gloria - 5 months old 

Aren't they just adorable! 

 Maddie had so 

much fun with them during the summer!

First Day of School - Senior Year!

Maddie enjoyed two First Days of School

this year for her senior year!

Pius X First Day - In Uniform

She started her senior year at Pius X High School

where she has attended all years of high school.

Their first day was a little later than her other first day!

TCA First Day - civilian clothes

She's also attending our local public school 

dual enrollment program with Southeast Community College - called

The Career Academy (TCA) program.

Maddie is taking two college-credit business classes and one

high school English class through TCA.

She takes her other high school classes at Pius.

Basically, she's at Pius every morning (in uniform)

and then off to TCA for the afternoon (no uniform).

It's a busy schedule and

she's enjoying it so far!

How can she possibly be a senior in high school?!!?

Well, Hello August!

Oh dear -- it's August already?

Yikes!

I'm not really prepared for August, are you?

Miss M starts her SENIOR YEAR of high school on Monday!

EEEEK!

So, since I am in denial about all things related to the "S" [school]

word, here are some random photos to distract myself.

National Lighthouse Day -

here's my favorite lighthouse from the Happiest Place on Earth,

of course!  Wishing we had another trip planned!

At Hollywood studios!

I forgot to finish my vacation update,

here are a few more photos!

As you may or may not be able to tell,

it was super hot -- 98 degrees every day

plus humid so heat index was 108!
I was melting!
On this particular day - we started at dawn
and went to all 4 of the parks!

On Seven Dwarf Mine Train - LOVE that ride!

At Epcot -- do you see the Eiffel Tower in the background?

Such a fun trip - even with the extreme heat.

Can't wait for the next one!

Five on Friday!

Since I've been so neglectful of the blog,

 I thought I better get a quick "5 on Friday" post!

1.   Garden Shoes.   I LOVE these so-called garden shoes -- I also wear them when it's rainy as I don't want my shoes to get soaked.  From Target in the garden area on discount shelves!

2.  Trader Joe's Serum.  I'm not into a lot of face creams, anti-aging lotions (although I probably should be), but I found this serum from Trader Joe's that is reportedly the exact same as a $75+ serum!  I'll take the $10 Trader Joe's stuff.  It does make your face feel amazing! 

 But sadly, the wrinkles are still there! 

3.  Panera's Strawberry Poppyseed Salad with Chicken.   Just YUM!  I'm not a salad eater, but this salad is divine!  I would eat it every day if Panera was closer!

Getting my daily dose of fruit and vegetables - go me!

4.  Instax Camera.   These little Instax cameras are so fun and remind me of the good old days when Polaroid cameras were around.  Did you know Polaroids are back??  We love having one of these little bitty cameras to get a photo of the littles sometimes!

5.  Pink Lemonade.  Miss M couldn't believe that I could actually make some pink lemonade from a can of  frozen pulp and water!  Who knew???  Of course I knew.  We used to always make lemonade and orange juice from the frozen cans and then I'd use the cleaned out cans as 

rollers to attempt to straighten my hair!  :) 

Dual purpose back in the day!  

Would love to hear about your favorite 5!

  Please share!

Happy Birthday Mr. Tennis!

Last week we went out for a birthday dinner for

Mr. Tennis . . . also known as

The Rickster

Ricardo

Ricky!
How does he do it???
He gets better looking every year!

My sweet Dad and he had special names for each other!

Rickster called Al  -- Alberto and in return
Al called him Ricardo!
Perfecto names for those two!

Besides playing tennis (hence the name Mr. Tennis),

he likes to ride his horse and do a bit of

golfing too.

Somewhere he fits in working! :)

We had a fabulous meal and shared

a delicious birthday dessert

Chocolate Excess!

What is Chocolate Excess you ask???
We have it every chance we get!
It's a triple fudge brownie covered in walnuts and
shards of chocolate.  It's served warm
with the finest French vanilla ice cream,
ribbons of hot fudge and a splash of Kahlua!
It is divine!

A Friend at Disney!

One of the many fun things about our

trip to Disney was that Maddie was

able to meet up with a friend

from school who was there at the

same time!

We had so much fun seeing Danielle and her Mom

there at Magic Kingdom one day!

The girls went on one of their favorite rides - 

Splash Mountain -

hoping to get wet!

Somehow, they were in the seat that did not get

wet at all.

That never happens to me and you know how

that goes . . . 

my hair suffers the entire day!