Oh Pinterest

Several years ago, I pinned a tutorial for a DIY screen printing that I thought looked relatively easy and kind of fun.  Well, when Grace's 5K was rolling around, and we decided to wear matching shirts, I thought it was the PERFECT time to put this idea into action.  Of course, it wouldn't be true to my life if everything went smoothly and fell perfectly into place, so here is how I managed to hodge podge our shirts together a couple days before the race.

 #SoleSisters -- shoe design by Grace, lettering by moi. 

First off, we needed matching shirts.  And since Grace REALLY wanted a dri-fit material type shirt in hot pink (to go with her brand new Nike Pros I bought for the race), I was on the hunt to find something in both of our sizes.  {This is where I would sarcastically like to thank Target for not having a matching pink active wear shirt in the adult section to go with the one in the kid section. As a result, I spent the entire week leading up to the race trying store after store to find something that was close enough to the color Grace would be wearing.  I ended up finding one at Kohl's, but the material proved difficult to work with since it had a ridged surface.}  

The next obstacle came in the form of not being able to find ANY of the embroidery hoops lying around the house that I know I've bought at some point or another.  Or at least not any large enough to fit the design that Grace created for our shirts.  I ended up using my quilting frame -- which was plenty large enough for the design, but too large for the pair of nylon stockings I bought to stretch across the surface.  Since I was running out of time {I was seriously cutting it close}, I MacGyvered with the best of them by having Grace trace the pattern on a super thin/threadbare old t-shirt that I found at the bottom of Scott's drawer, rather than run out to a craft store and buy new supplies late that night.  Hahaha.  I then Mod Podged the negative space in the image, stuck it in a 200 degree oven to speed up the drying process, and sponge painted the image through the screen onto the shirts before heading to bed on the Thursday night before the race.

The initial result?  Eh.  I used fabric paint and I actually think it didn't work very well.  The white wasn't saturated enough, and since I was using cotton t-shirt material rather than nylon stocking material, the transfer wasn't as clean as I would have liked it.  My attempts to go over mine by hand with a paint brush proved even more disastrous, and I went to bed that night thinking I had ruined our prospects and we'd have to scrap the idea altogether.

 Grace's shirt after the initial printing.

 My shirt after the initial printing.

 My shirt after my attempts to paint over it.  

When Grace saw hers the next morning, she was pretty stoked and insisted SHE could just paint over hers by hand and it would be fine.  Which it started to be.  The white still wasn't opaque enough for me, so after she went to school, I whipped out my acrylic paints {like for painting real paintings} and went over it once more.  The final result was a success!  I managed to salvage my shirt as well (even though the material made it aggravating to work with, and Grace's still came out better) and Friday night I put our names on the back with iron-on letters for the final touch.

 Before

 After

My favorite part of the whole process, though, was when Grace came up to me as I was ironing on the letters and exclaimed she couldn't believe I actually made it happen, but then quickly back tracked and said she knew I'd figure out a way to get it done.  "Oh yeah?" I asked, "And how did you know that?"  "Because you're mom," she said.  Hahahaha.  So I guess my laser-beamed, single-minded, unwavering focus when I've got a project on my mind has become legendary in my own home.  :)

And that is the story of the shirts.   Grace must have talked about them to her running buddies, because when we got to the race that Saturday morning, her friends couldn't stop fawning over them.  And I can't say I blame them -- they did turn out pretty awesome...  :)

Mother Dear

Believe it or not, but it wasn't until I saw the above drawing {courtesy of Sophie}that I really stopped and thought -- Dang!  That's a lot of kids!!!  Hahahahahaha.  Seriously, though.  Something about seeing them all drawn out just makes it seem like a lot.  {Although, yes -- I am aware it IS a lot.}  Mother's Day was several weeks ago at this point, but it still needs some recapping, so here we go.

This year, my Mother's Day was...good?  I think.  Although it does beg the question -- if you can't even really remember what happened, is it a good thing or a bad thing?  Hahaha.  My Mother's Day weekend was kicked off with an attempt at a date night on Saturday night to belatedly celebrate our anniversary as well as my motherdom.  It was a bust.  We couldn't leave the house until the baby was asleep -- which was well after 7, we didn't even get our food until almost 9 o'clock in arguably our worst Cheesecake Factory experience of all time, Grace was babysitting because Ethan was at a birthday party, and Alex and Jane refused to go to bed for her.  So that was fun.  Not. Hahaha.  Once we got home, it took some time to get the younger ones to settle down and go to sleep and it was probably 10:30 or 11 before they were all out for the count.

{My favorite part is what Sophie's lists as my best saying: "You never know til you've tried it on."  Hahahahaha.  I totally say this a lot.  And it's because for one thing it's TRUE, and for another thing, it's something that MY mom used to say ALL the time.  :)  }

{Ethan's gift for me -- one which he told me he put A LOT of thought into in the 20 minutes Scott had them picking out gifts for me at Meijer the day before.  It actually made me cry because I could tell he really meant it.}

Sunday morning dawned nicely enough, and the kids were excited to wrap and give me my gifts they had picked out the day before.  Unfortunately, the SUPER late night from Saturday started to rear its ugly head around this point, with Alex having a meltdown that he wanted presents, too.  I let him help me open mine, but it wasn't enough.  There's nothing like the juxtaposition of Alex screaming "I HATE YOU, MOM!!!!" right on the heels of reading sweet little Mother's Day tributes from Sophie and Jane, to warm the cockles of your heart.  Hahahaha.

Thank goodness for elementary school teachers, because they certainly are the driving force behind MOST of the Mother's Day surprises that make their way into this home.  Sophie and Jane both came home with adorable little projects -- the drawing and press release on the World's Greatest Mom above and the acrostic poem and coupon-petal-daisy below.  Jane pretty much nailed it with the "Over the top" line in her attempts to describe me.  Hahahaha.  I don't even think she knew exactly what she meant when she wrote it, but I thought it was perfect.  :)

Mother's Day

Over the top

Terrific

Happy

Exercise

Runner

Love, Jane

{Be nice to siblings, movie night, mommy daughter date, clean my room without being told, mini salon, pj day, massage}

Things started to slide downhill after the gift opening, when Grace's late night the night before combined with being worn out from our 5K race earlier that Saturday to produce a perfect storm of emotion along with an absolute refusal to go to church.  Around the time that she switched from screaming and raging with crazy bloodshot eyes to dejectedly sitting and crying with her head in her hands, I decided it was probably best for her to take a mental health day and stay home with the other train wreck of emotions in the form of Alex.  And you know what?  It was the right call.  She was a bit of a mess.  And the last thing I wanted to deal with at church on Mother's Day was a tropical storm Grace with a side of hurricane Alex and Jane.  {Once at church, Ethan and Sophie managed to hold it together fine enough -- in case you were wondering -- and having Jane be the only challenge made things much easier all around.  Also, once church was over, I was super shocked and pleased to come home to a Mother's Day surprise from Grace in the form of a cleaned up Family Room -- which had been a DISASTER when we left.}

My attempt to get a shot with all the kids after church proved semi-successful, as Jane was cold and hiding behind Sophie the whole time and Ethan was NOT having it.  Everyone else was obliging enough, but there wasn't a decent group shot in the bunch.

And that was my day!  I'd like to add for the record's sake, that this was the first Mother's Day in my memory that Scott's allergies have not completely incapacitated him for the big day, so that alone made everything great!  Hahaha.  To close, I'm including a picture of MY mom with her 6 kids (Jacob hadn't been born yet) on a Mother's Day (?) many years ago.  I'm the delightfully scowling and fussing oldest child in the back row, trying to rip Freddie's bunny ears off of mom.  Hahahaha.  :)

Because May Wasn't Already Busy Enough

And since I'd rather be busy than bored -- I should be excited about adding this morning's hospital trip to our bank of stories.  But I'm not.  Mostly because I'm 100% aggravated that it was necessary in the first place, when the accident that caused the incident was 100% avoidable.  But let me back up.  Last night, as we were trying to get Alex, Jane, and Isaac in bed, Grace informed me that she and Sophie were going outside to jump on the trampoline and play "John Cena."  I informed her that NO, they were not.  But they didn't really want to listen.  When I came back down a few minutes later and informed Sophie that it was time for her to go up to bed, she decided not to listen some more, and then finally, while I was back upstairs trying to get Jane to lay down and go to sleep, Ethan decided it was his turn to join in the fray and John Cena it up as well.  In a never-should-have-happened move, Ethan then shoved Sophie during their "game" on the trampoline which caused her to go flying OFF the tramp, banging her shin on the metal frame on the way, before face-planting on the ground.

{This is how I was feeling as the evening unfolded.}

Well, of course it hurt.  And of course, she was crying and distraught.  But she can be a bit dramatic at times, and it wasn't until this morning when she was still crying about it and couldn't put any weight on her leg to walk on it, that I figured I should probably give the doctor a call.  They recommended we take her in to get an X-ray to check and see if it was actually a fracture, so I did.  Which required loading up 3 out of 6 children (during what should have been the baby's morning nap time) to drive all the way downtown to go to the Children's Hospital urgent care.  {Insert a couple more emoji faces like the one up above.}  And since we like to make a spectacle of ourselves, we really made a spectacle of ourselves as I carried Sophie piggy back style through the parking garage and hospital halls while Alex helped push the stroller with Isaac in it, all while wandering around trying to figure out where we were supposed to go.  Hahahahaha.  Fun times!

 I didn't notice Alex flashing a thumbs up until I uploaded the picture.  Hahaha.

Thankfully, once we found the right place, the ordeal wasn't too terrible or long-lasting, even if the final verdict of a contusion rather than a fracture was a bit anti-climactic.  {Contusion is just a fancy medical word for bruise, in case you were wondering.}  She still couldn't really put weight on her leg and walk on it, so I like to think it wasn't a complete waste of a trip down there for an X-ray, but after giving her some children's ibuprofen, outfitting her with some crutches, and instructing us to ice it throughout the day and ultimately continue to try and walk on it to help it heal, we were on our way.

And that was my morning!  Thankfully, my day was salvaged in the end, by the absolute highlight of the week so far, in the form of Ethan's Junior High choir concert this evening.  It was epic-ly amazing and I say that with equal parts seriousness and facetiousness.  Hahahaha.  I loved it so much and I so wish I could convince Ethan to take choir again next year.  Unfortunately, as much as he really does enjoy singing and really did enjoy this particular teacher, he doesn't have room in his schedule thanks to the other electives he wants to take.  Womp womp.  Perhaps I can still try and convince him to audition for the "select choir," which meets after school...  :)

And that was my day.  I'm SUPER exhausted but hopeful that tomorrow will be slightly less busy...

A Girl {and her mom} on the Run

Last Saturday, Grace and I participated in a Girls on the Run 5K.  For the couple months prior to that, I worked my way back into running with a "couch to 5K" training program, while Grace honed her skillz in the Girls' Running Club at her school.  Apparently, running is Grace's "thing."  Which is why it was such a shame that her "ankle problem" started acting up about a week before the race.  She still managed to come in 3rd during their practice 5K after school a few days before the real deal, but she claims she definitely would have been faster if that pesky ankle wasn't acting up.  ;)  (I think she said she finished in 29:39, or something like that.  She was narrowly beat for 2nd place by 7 seconds from one of her good buddies who she ran with almost all this year at running club.)  According to Grace, this same ankle has been giving her "problems" off and on since like the first grade.  I don't know what exactly the deal is -- because it certainly seems to come and go conveniently at times -- but I also do think it legitimately bothers her from time to time.

 A couple weeks before the race, I convinced Grace that it would be an awesome idea to make matching shirts to run in.  We jokingly tossed around hashtags to use for our logo, but when we came to "#solesisters," I knew we had a winner.  :)

The day of the race dawned awesomely, and after loading up all the girls (and Isaac) we headed downtown and got there just in time to check in.  I have to say, seeing Grace in her native habitat -- with her gaggle of girl friends -- was incredibly entertaining, enlightening, and interesting.  Hahahaha.  In all honesty, though, I am so grateful for such a good group of girls that she has fallen in with at school.

{Side note -- going with neon pink for our matching Sole Sister shirts was a genius move for spotting us in the crowd.}

 

{It was gratifying for both of us, I think, to see how much Grace's friends were digging her shirt.  Hahahaha.}

{I like how Grace is looking over at me.  :)  }

A big race atmosphere is really so much fun, and I think Sophie and Jane were loving it just as much as Grace was.  With music blaring and groups of girls everywhere, it was quite the experience all around.  It was fun for me to meet some of Grace's friends and their moms/dads who were running with them, and it was fun to have our own little cheering section come along in the form of Scott and the kids.

 It's the Von Trapp children!  Hahaha.

We really lucked out with pretty awesome weather for the day -- not too hot and not too cold, plus overcast so there was no sun blaring in our face and eyes -- and the course was pretty flat and easy, too.  And while Grace was probably disappointed that the combination of her ankle and my slower self held her back, we still finished in a faster time than I was expecting for myself.  We ended up stopping to walk three different times to rest Grace's ankle, but even with that, I still finished in 33:13.6 and Grace finished probably 10 or 15 seconds before me.  That crazy girl took off in a sprint once we saw the finish line, but didn't look at the clock when she passed it, so we have no idea what her time actually was.  

 {See what I mean?  The pink made us SUPER easy to find in the crowd.  Hahahaha.}

 Grace -- almost to the finish!

 Post race chow down.

And one last post race selfie.  :)

Hopefully by the time we run this race next year, Grace's ankle problems will be cleared up, I'll be a lot faster, and the two of us can run the world!  Hahahahaha.  ;)

 {I loved this!  Grace's keepsake from this year's running club was this sneaker filled with kind words written by the other girls in the club:

Bright*Kind*Fun*Joyful*Confident*Curious*Outstanding*Charming*Funny*FAST!

Too Funny*Pretty*FAST!*Kind*Daring

Positive*Kind*SuperFast!*Persistant*Hardworking*Fast!

Fun*Bright*Fit*Sweet*Thoughtful*Funny*Bright*Fast!*Fast!*Fast*Happy*Funny*Speedy

Funny*Pretty*Funny}

For Sale

Last Friday was the infamous 3rd grade sale, where the entire grade displays their wares and hawks their goods in hopes of making lots of "money."  Third grade money, that is.  All year long, they earn money {and sometimes have to pay it back} as part of the reward/discipline/classroom management strategy for the grade.  At the end of the school year, they will have an auction for various prizes and rewards, and the more money they have, the better.  {The big ticket item is a trip to Orange Leaf with their teacher.}  Sophie has something like $12,000 at this point, so I think she's good.  Hahaha.  Nevertheless, we couldn't NOT hit up the sale and help Sophie sell out of her Crazy Crayons.  ;)

It was fun to wander around and check out all the other items up for sale around the room -- and file ideas away for future use (you know -- for when Jane is in the 3rd grade).  It's always interesting to see A.) what the kids come up with and B.) what they're trying to sell it for.  Oh and C.) how much parental "help" was involved.  Hahaha.  I'm not sure if this project is supposed to be an economics lesson or not, but there are certainly some unrealistic prices out there for stuff that will ultimately end up in the garbage.

Alex was so excited to have his own little envelope of money -- and even more excited when he found and bought a batman wallet made out of duct tape.  :)

Scott was able to run over for a bit as well, and after spending all our bucks, we headed back home with Alex and Isaac.  Sophie was super excited to see us there, and very happy about selling all her crayons by the end of the morning.  Now if only she can win one of those trips to Orange Leaf with her teacher, she'll be on top of the world!  Hahaha.   :)