Lets train

**Edited on April 15th at 11:15 pm to add 2 more pictures. Scroll Down to the end**

Last year, my friend Wendy had a contest on her blog for the Dirtiest Mini Van.

While, I don't have a Mini Van (I refuse to drive one)
I do have a Dirty Chevy Tahoe.

Guess who WON last year's contest?
That's right, your truly.
Here was my winning entry last year.

The DMV contest has arrived for 2010. I have a title to defend this year!

This year is no different. My car is still filthy.
Same dirty Tahoe, same usual suspects.

You must watch this funny video that I posted last year...
It will help you get in the Dirty Car Spirit:


Here we go with my 2010 DMV submission!
Let's start with the door on Claire's side...splattered with milk from her sippy cup:

She loves flinging her sippy cup around.

Claire's side of the car:
Close up of her carseat area:

Kate's side of the car:

More back seat:

Front Seat Console:

More front seat mess:

Here is what I got for winning last year:

Trunk Area
(note the pink sippy cup that is tucked into the high chair, it had been there since Easter. I took these pictures 6 days after Easter. ewww!!!)

Want to see the "science experiment" that was in the sippy cup?

Totally nasty chunky milk! *gags*

***Edited on April 15th at 11:15 pm to add:
Kevin left this morning for his guy's weekend in Tahoe.
Tahoe might get snow this weekend, so he had to bring my car because it has 4 wheel drive.
So, at 7:45 am before school, I had to rapidly clean out my car.
I may or may not have filled up 3 garbage bags of crap.
Kevin took out the girls carseats because he had to pick up 2 of his friends at the airport on their way to Lake Tahoe.
He took pictures of what he saw when he took out the carseats:

Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
What can I say? I give my girls lots & lots of crackers while we are in the car. I now know where they end up.

Kevin said in the name of integrity, then I need to add these pictures to this post.
And, I think he is a little bitter that he spent 30 minutes vacuming & wiping down my car.

I'm just excited to have a semi-clean car when Kevin gets back from his guys weekend!
Hopefully, the girls (and I) won't trash his car too much in the next 3 days....

Now, go to Wendy's blog & check out the other entries!
{Click the logo to see the other contestants}

And, it's not too late to participate, you have until midnight on April 15th to enter!
If you are too embarrassed to enter.....that means you should enter!
Go take pictures of your dirty car!
Voting begins April 16th!
I don't think I am going to win again this year, the competition is fierce!
Can't wait to find out who is going to de-throne me!
And, I can't wait to pass on that annoying rubber chicken!

I am in serious denial that Summer is over and that School has started.

I am pretty sure that was the fastest Summer of my life.

It is always bittersweet when Summer ends.

On one hand, I am so sad that our lazy days of sleeping in, lounging around in our pj's, swimming, no schedule & staying up late are over.

But on the other hand, I do crave routine and structure, so part of me is like, "Bring it on School Year!" 

Plus, I love the beginning of school anticipation.....finding out your teacher, shopping for new school supplies & outfits and getting back into a nice routine. 

Speaking of anticipation about finding out teachers, I was SO anxious about finding out who my girls teachers were going to be.

I found out at the end of last school year that the teacher who Kate had for Kindergarten 2 years ago was going to be teaching 2nd grade this year. Kate absolutely ADORED her in Kindergarten and we loved her! As soon as I heard she was going to be a 2nd grade teacher I immediately started praying that is who Kate would get this year. I didn't know anything about the other 2nd grade teachers, but I knew we wanted Mrs. W again! 

We didn't find out teachers until last Friday, so all Friday morning I was at meetings at my school and I was counting down the minutes until the Elementary School posted the teachers.

I may or may not have screamed with excitement when I saw that Kate got Mrs. W again.

I also may or may not have gotten a little teary eyed because I was so happy & relived!

Then I checked Claire's teacher and it wasn't the one that she was hoping to get, so I knew she was going to be dissapointed.

Sure enough when I got home and told the girls who their teachers were, Kate was screaming, jumping on the couch and just so excited.

Claire on the other hand was pretty bummed out. She had tears of sadness and it made it worse that Kate was so excited. Ack. So hard. I gave Claire a little pep talk and told her 2 of her best buddies were in her class and that made her cheer up a bit.

Monday morning rolled around and both girls were so excited about the 1st Day of School.

 Kate was just beyond excited. She also has 2 of her best friends in her class and she told me that this was going to be the best school year EVER! I can't believe she is going to be in 2nd grade. That is total big kid status...and a long day at school...8:30 until 3:00! Her class has 18 boys and 7 girls (last year it had 17 boys and 7 girls) I have a feeling they put Kate in the boy heavy classes because she is a really good listener and can stay on task. Her teacher is a Saint for having to deal with all those boys!

And, did you notice?!?!?!
KATE IS WEARING JEANS!!!!
This is life changing. Seriously.
Both my girls have refused to wear jeans for the past 3 years.
They have said they aren't comfortable & they will only wear "soft" pants like leggings.
This meant they would only wear skirts, dresses & leggings.
It made buying clothes for them so hard.
But, when we went Back to School shopping,  Kate wanted to try on these crop jeans, and she loved them.  We got these ones. We bought her white, light denim and dark denim.
Claire also decided that she wanted some. So I bought her 3 pair also!
I can't tell you how happy this makes me!
 #it'sthelittlethings

And, here is Claire Bear....our Kindergartner.

 It's so crazy to me that I was SOOOOO emotional about Kate going to Kindergarten.

I remember crying the night before she started Kinder and crying that morning

Of course, I was only 2 weeks post partum when Kate went to Kindergarten, so my emotions were on overload.

With Claire going to Kindergarten, it has felt totally different.

I think that is because she was in Transitional Kindergarten last year....at the same school and they did a lot of the same things that Kindergarten did. 

So this year, it doesn't feel like such a big deal...she is at the same school for the same amount of time.

Also, I think it isn't as emotional when it isn't your first kid you are sending off to Kinder.

I was so scared with Kate, but now I know that Kinder isn't a scary thing. 

It is an awesome thing.

The school is amazing and so are the teachers.

I didn't even give it a 2nd thought that Claire was going to Kindergarten.

At our school, the parents stay for the first hour on the first day. Since I also had my first day of school, Kevin went with Claire. I had a little "working mom" guilt that I was missing it, but Claire is such a Daddy's Girl that I knew she would rather have him there.

I didn't think Claire would be nervous at all for Kindergarten.

Let's just say I was WRONG.

She had tears on the first day when the parents had to leave.

She had some tears yesterday as well.

It puts a pit in my stomach that she isn't so thrilled about school.

She didn't have tears today, so I am praying that continues.

I was not anticipating this from her AT ALL. 

#momfail

Despite the tears, I still hope & pray it will be a great school year for both my girls!

It's that time of year again....

these cupcakes were absolutely amazing!  I ordered three dozen for less than $30 and added my own sprinkles I found online.  those baking cups and glitter flamingo picks make the entire thing come to life!  I love it.

don't mind the "A".. it popped as I was blowing it up just one hour before the party (my worst nightmare..) so my mom ended up fixing it just enough to keep it inflated a bit.

owell- no one noticed:)

 birthday girl wasn't a huge fan and we could only get her to go down a couple times.

 after lunch the biggest surprise pulled around the front of the house.. KONA ICE!  there is nothing better on a steamy day than sno cones!  we're big fans and it was a hit among the party guests! the kiddos kept eating the "cones" off the top of their cups and then requesting more to be shaved to make the cone again.. and the sweet gal in the truck was very gracious to accommodate our requests! 

 ..in true texas fashion the cake was totally melting.