Halfway Done!

Today is June 30, which means the year is half over! I've only forgotten to blog one time. Yay me!! Now excuse me while I ponder where the hell this half of 2011 went.

YiaTube

Hahahahaa!!! You can make your own Yia Yia tirade videos at the Athenos website. I made this one today: http://www.youtube.com/athenos?x=486f28c4ec34021bb4e8c7dc0

Soccer Party!

Tonight Caitlin's soccer coach had the end of season party at her house. A great time was had by all. The girls played soccer, jumped on the trampoline and got in the hot tub! Pizza and ice cream were served. Afterward, the coach gave all the girls their end of season trophies and pictures of each of them playing soccer! The kids also got personalized water bottles for next season. Fun!! :)

Busy!

I have to attend a lot more meetings in my new role at AOL. So far I'm enjoying it but I'm still trying to get used to all of these meetings! It's a challenge to get your work done when you're in a conference room for half the day. :) Anyway... so far, so good!

One Lemonade, Coming Right Up!

The girls and I are having a lemonade stand to benefit the USO. 100% of the proceeds will be sent to the USO in support of our troops. The lemonade stand will be held at our pool house on 7/4 from 1-4 PM. We're getting excited!!

Ahhhhh... A Clean House!

Well, we spent a good portion of the day cleaning, cleaning and cleaning! We did not leave the house except to go to lunch at Panera to celebrate Nicole's straight A report card. Everything looks much better. Any guesses as to how long it will last? :)

House Cleaning.... Ugh

Tomorrow the whole family is going to go on a house cleaning spree! I feel like I am living in a trash dump! We will all feel so much better after this place is cleaned up...

Cox Family European Vacation

We were able to purchase tickets to the London Olympics in 2012! We were not awarded any of the tickets we requested in the first lottery, but we were able to get basketball and soccer tickets on the early pre-sale that took place today. Yay! Unfortunately, all the gymnastics tickets were gone, but I guess the IOC could release some more tickets later. We shall see!

Crickets!

I heard nothing but crickets after posting on Open Salon at 11:58 PM yesterday. Note to self: blog on OS earlier in the day!

Just In Time!!

Here it is....

OH NO!!!!

It was bound to happen sooner or later. I forgot to do my daily blog post yesterday!! I almost made 6 months straight... oh well. I was planning to write something on Open Salon and cross-post it here, but I feel asleep. :( Anyways - I am working on that piece now and I will cross-post it here when I'm done!!

Kidnapped...

...by a book! I've been taken hostage and I can't put it down. Must finish...

American Girl Fun!

Well, our adventure at the grand opening of American Girl Place in Tysons was not the nightmare that I expected. Sure, it was crowded, and everyone had to get timed-entry tickets into the building (seriously!) but it was actually very well run and not a debacle at all. Nicole brought her Lanie doll and Caitlin brought her Kanani doll. I funded ear-piercings for both dolls and allowed the girls to have $25 in spending money. Of course they went over their allotted amount, but they are reimbursing us. The worst line in the store was actually the line for the cashier! I don't know why it takes so long to ring people up in that place, but whatever. We had an awesome time and the girls have been playing with their dolls and their new accessories all day. What a great time! :)

Should We Be Camping Out?

The American Girl Store is having its grand opening in Tysons tomorrow at 9 AM! The girls and I are waking up early to drive out. I really hope there aren't too many crazy people creating a huge line by camping out overnight in front of the store. I was thinking that parents would have to be insane to set up a tent outside a mall with their young-ish daughters, but then it occurred to me that the mom or dad could stay overnight and the other parent could drop the kid(s) off in the morning. I don't know who would agree to such an arrangement, but people around here are nuts. I will report back tomorrow with full coverage!

School's Out!

The girls are done with school until August 29. Yay! I hope they are able to relax and chill out a bit over these next several weeks before starting 3rd and 6th grade. I can't believe I'm going to have a middle schooler and an SOL-taker! :)

Travel Soccer!

We just got a call from Nicole's current soccer coach who is starting up a travel team. He selected Nicole for this team and I am so excited for her! It's really hard to break into travel because most teams are already fully formed, but she did it. Yay Nicole!!!

Better Late Than Never!

I am using a footbath that I received 8.5 years ago but had never opened. I finally busted it out of the box to give Nicole a "pedicure" before her 5th grade promotion tomorrow. Now everyone is in bed and it's my turn to try it out. Pretty nice contraption, but a real pedicure is better :)

20 Years Ago Today....

I graduated high school! Just thought you'd like to know :)

Game Over For The Pumas....

The girls lost their semifinal match today. The score was tied 2-2 so it went to penalty kicks. Unfortunately, the other team scored more penalty kicks than us so they won the game. This wouldn't have been so irritating if the girls on the other team were not such poor sports about it. They laughed and jeered every time they made a goal, and when they scored on Nicole during the game one of them actually told her "YOU STINK." WTF?? Who allows girls to talk this way to each other? Someone needs to teach them about the wonders of karma. Maybe they will find out soon enough....

Great Soccer News!

Nicole's team, the Pumas, won both tournament games today and we have a good chance of actually winning the whole thing. That would be so awesome. The girls have never won a tournament before so this will be a great "first" to celebrate. Good luck Pumas!!

Oh No! I'm A Fish Killer!

Uh oh... I changed the water in the fish tank, but I think the water conditioner killed some of the fish. I think a couple of them ate it when I poured it in, and now two are dead :( Ah well, I am learning more about fish all the time! I hope the other two don't die. :(

A New Record!!

Our executive PTA meeting was over in under 2 hours. It's a world record! What am I going to do with the rest of my evening?? Maybe I'll go to bed early, or even WATCH TV!!! GASP!!! The possibilities are endless....

100 Degrees Is Not A Good Temperature For Soccer

Nicole had travel soccer tryouts today and the heat was ridiculous! I hope she did ok, they put her on this far away field and I couldn't see much of anything. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she makes the team!!

Three Days Left!

Next Monday I move over to the Internal Audit group at work! I'm excited about the change and I really hope I enjoy the work. I haven't done audit type stuff since 1996 and obviously things have changed since then, so I have a lot of catching up to do. I hope the learning curve is nice to me!

Here It Is!

My post on Open Salon: click here!

Open Salon!

I'm doing a post on Open Salon as we speak, but it won't be done by midnight. I'll post the link to it for tomorrow's post. Toodles!

One Science Fair, Two Soccer Games, One Community Festival...

...and a partridge in a pear tree! Time for bed! :)

Whirlwind Weekend Is Kicking Off!

No time to write, we are too busy! The girls and I just got home at 10 PM :)

Busy Weekend Ahead!

This weekend is going to be busy but fun. Tomorrow Caitlin and a friend are having a playdate at our pool. Saturday we have two soccer games, Stemmerday (a science fair type thing at the girls' school) and Celebrate South Riding (community festival). On Sunday we have church and 5th grade promotion dress shopping! Eek!

The Pool Is Awesome

After work/school, the girls and I headed over to the pool for a couple of hours. I took a nap while the girls played together in the water. This is shaping up to be an awesome Summer and it's still Spring! I hope we can have this much fun every day. :)