Grandparent's Day

Today Aurora's school celebrated Grandparent's Day with muffins and a very special art project. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but apparently it's our Family Tree:

I wanted to send a special shout out to Aurora's Grandparents - Mom and Dad, Nancy and Steve, and her Grandpa Chuck. I sure am missing my Grandpa Sandler - but sending all our love to Grandma Bernice. I also wanted to share another piece of art that Aurora brought home from school today:

Also not totally accurate, but so sweet. I sure do love my little artist and everybody on our Family Tree.

Haircuts

It's hard to believe, but this week marked 15 years since Chuck graduated from Marine Corp boot camp. That's just crazy... 15 years ago we were only 19 years old, living together and getting engaged, thinking he'd probably become a pilot. It was about that time when he came home with his first set of clippers and showed me how to give him a fade. If he had his way, I'd still be buzzing it that short today! Regardless, 15 years later I am still giving him haircuts.

Chuck was a Marine Corp Reserve for many years. On this day 10 years ago he was pretty certain he'd be called to active duty. We were living in Glendale, California and Chuck was just finishing his last year at Art Center. Not long after, he was diagnosed with cancer. Those were a few uncertain years, but here we are today - in good health, with jobs we love, and of course with one adorable little daughter.

Her hair has been getting a little out of control so I gave it a trim this weekend as well. You never know where life will take you - but all things considered, we're looking good at the Wadey house.

We're okay!

These past few days we've gotten a lot of calls and emails asking if we've been affected by the fires here in Central Texas. We are totally fine, but they certainly are close by. Austin is a small city, and the fires are pretty massive. It's just been too dry and hot - but so far our neighborhood is not in danger.

Even with the smell of smoke and ash in the air, we had a fine weekend. I caught up on house work while Chuck worked, and we all had a lazy Labor Day off. We desperately need rain, but I am so thankful that we're safe and the temperatures are finally cooling off enough to start having dinner on the balcony again. After months of temps over 100, the low 90's have never felt so good.

Dance

Last year I was a bit torn as to whether or not I should sign Aurora up for dance. They offer it through school and many of her friends were doing it, but she was just 2 years old and it seemed a bit much. Honestly, I'm really glad we waited - she was so little. Now she's a big 3 year old who can tell me what she wants, and yes - she wants to dance. I think visiting Lillie solidified it for both of us. Lillie's been dancing for 5 years and she loves it. So, I signed Aurora up and she starts next week!

Even with a registration fee, monthly fee, costume fee, and recital fee, we still had some shopping to do for her leotard, tights, ballet slippers and tap shoes. First we went to Target, hoping to find everything we needed. We only found leotards, and there were a lot of colors and styles to choose from. Here's her first pose in the new dance duds:

Today we went to Payless and found ballet shoes, tap shoes, and even a cute dance bag to keep them in. Amazingly, she chose turquoise and black over pink:

Why is this amazing? Because 30 years ago I took dance for a very short time, and my mom let me choose my outfit as well:

Everybody else wore red, white and pink - and I'm guessing Aurora's friends will as well. But, she clearly loves her choices and I think she looks adorable. Turns out, shopping for dance stuff was a lot more fun than I expected. Here's hoping dance class will be just as fun!

Seattle

We're back! Aurora and I had a great time visiting our Seattle Family. There were so many silly and cute moments that I can't possibly blog them all, though Julian was able to capture many of them here, here, and here. I just loved watching the cousins play together; running around without the need of constant adult supervision, introducing Aurora to Otter Pops, tushy jokes, fart noises, cooler weather, and more pink girly things than she could've ever dreamed of. Here are a few highlights:

We started the trip with a trip to Seahurst Beach. It was a gorgeous day and we had so much fun playing in the sand and watching Maren pick up rocks to find hermit crabs underneath.

Sunday we spent the afternoon at the community pool to BBQ, swim, and run around with more cousins, family and neighborhood friends.

Monday was spent downtown at the aquarium and Pike Place Market. I love this city!

Back at home, we painted the inside of the "Pink Palace," Lillie's recently pinkified tree house.

We joined Lillie and Hansen for a sneak peak at their new classrooms and got to spend some time on the playground. Their school is identical to the elementary school I went to, which made it even cooler.

Tuesday we had a BBQ at home complete with great food, lots of family, friends, neighborhood kids, and s'mores! The temps were in the 60's, but I have to say that felt pretty great.

Aurora slept well in Lillie's pink princess bed, with her pink crown and princess blanket. 

Thanks so much to Auntie Maren, Uncle JuJu, and Lillie for hosting, shopping, grilling, driving us around, letting us sleep in your room, taking us to Taco Time (twice), and sharing the last week of summer with us. Lillie, Hansen and Preston have grown into such sweet, wonderful big kids with lots of friends, kindness, and laughter in their lives. I wish we could visit more often!

Julian

In a few minutes, Aurora and I will be heading to the airport and taking off for Seattle! We'll be staying with my brother Julian and his family, and expect to spend most of our time hanging out and relaxing, perhaps doing a few fun touristy things, swimming and eating. Perfect.

As you know, Aurora is a Firefly now - and it turns out, there's a boy in her class named Julian! His cubby is right next to hers. Cool! Okay, time to go.

Three Days

Aurora's school closed Friday for a teacher workshop day, so once again I had a forced 3-day weekend. These things stress me out - especially when work is as busy as it is now - but with help from volunteers and co-workers (and a little working from home), I was able to get caught up and enjoy the time off.

We did go to school for a few minutes on Friday to meet Aurora's new teachers and see her new classroom, and were pleased to find that many of her good friends are moving up to the Fireflies with her. Afterwards, we headed to the library for a free showing of Toy Story 3 complete with popcorn, lemonade, animal pillows, and a few of Aurora's friends from the Fireflies class!

On Saturday we were off to the circus. A couple years ago we took Aurora to the Shrine Circus up in Cedar Park, but this time it was Barnum & Bailey's at the Frank Erwin Center, which was (in my opinion) a better show and a better venue. I just found out they were in town and ended up with cheap seats in the very back row - but we got to hang out on stage for a little while during the pre-show. 

I would've thought Aurora's favorite part was probably the elephants, or maybe the cool horse toy we bought at intermission, but - after the circus we went to a party where Aurora told Bailey and Laura that her favorite part was "going potty." Yup, that's my girl.

There are no pictures from today (what!?!?!) but it was a great day. I always say that I'd never make it as a stay-at-home mom, but after today I think it may be mostly because weekends are so short that I never have a chance to just relax when I'm at home. Today - day three - was relaxed. Chuck had to work all weekend but we went to breakfast together - then Aurora and I went to the gym, did a little food shopping, laundry, cleaning, put up Aurora's tent and just spent the afternoon playing and doing puzzles. No TV, no plans, just a day off - just what I needed. I'm not saying I want to stay home, but I am already planning more 3-day weekends (and short vacations) for the very near future.

Goodbyes

This week was full of goodbyes. My interns both had their last day on Friday and headed home; John to Nashville, TN and Emma to Corvallis, OR. This week has not been easy without them!

One of my long-time volunteers just had a going away party before venturing off to Northern California for a new business opportunity. She has a little girl as well, and they hired a magician for the party. It sounds cheesy, but honestly he was hilarious and it was such a nice way to say goodbye.

Today was Aurora's last day in the Zebra class, so she had to say goodbye to Miss Becky and Miss Kim. I know she'll still see them in the halls, but clearly she's going to miss them.

Of course, with every end comes a new beginning. Aurora's moving up into the Fireflies on Monday, and tomorrow afternoon we get to meet Miss Stephanie and see her new classroom for the first time. Monday is also intern orientation and I'm very much looking forward to welcoming our fall interns to the Team. Goodbye's aren't easy, but it's always exciting to start something new.

Tour of Texas

As promised, here are just a few of the many photos taken from this week's Tour of Texas. I chose to post mostly large group shots because I really want you to understand just how crazy this was. Imagine 90 energetic, young, hungry people venturing out on 2 buses for 3 days. I'm not going to go into ALL the details, but just to touch on a few highlights...

San Antonio is going Smoke-Free, and we were able to celebrate with a press conference and rally which included many local lawmakers and advocates. 

We visited prominent cancer centers in both San Antonio and Houston. Here we are learning about survivorship research and programmatic activities at MD Anderson. 

We had a lovely dinner at Tim Love's Lonesome Dove Bistro in Fort Worth, where we hosted local supporters and friends of the Foundation to celebrate the trip and other recent accomplishments. 

Then it was on to Dallas for a high-energy early morning stop at RadioShack's corporate HQ. They've been great partners, so we decided to thank them by serving breakfast to their 1200 employees. We seriously cheered and clapped for an hour and a half straight.

Next stop: the YMCA where we learned about LIVESTRONG at the Y and got a chance to workout. One more stop to visit a lawmaker and cancer survivor (group picture!) and it was back to Austin.

While those where the main activities we participated in, there were many other memorable parts of the journey. We heard stories from survivors and people who have been helped through our programs. We had lots of opportunities (planned and unplanned) for team building; competitions, activities, surviving a flat tire on one bus and loss of A/C on the other (it was only 107 degrees out). Most of our meals were boxed lunches, so while our agenda was packed, we were fed and had plenty of downtime to read, chat, and play games on the bus as we navigated our way through this great state. Yesterday and today have been a blur as we all frantically try to catch up on work... but it was totally worth it.

I'm Back!

I'm home after 3-days on a bus tour of Texas, visiting program partners and bonding with coworkers. We had an official photographer, so I'll post more and go into detail once those pictures are available. For now, let's just say that it was quite an adventure-or as Mona would say: it was EPIC!

Chuck had to leave a little early to pick Aurora up and handle dinner and bedtime alone Monday and Tuesday, but it wasn't terribly disruptive and it sounds like they had a good time. On Monday night I got to the hotel just before 8:30pm and was able to catch Aurora right at bedtime to sing her a goodnight song via FaceTime on our iPhones. It was so sweet to see her smile. Last night I called again, determined to take a screen shot this time - but it was a bit more hectic. I called at 6:30pm and she was in the play area at Chick-fil-A!

It was really great to have this break and change of pace, but of course, it's good to be home. My bed is calling me... think I'll call it an early night.

Ready

This was a crazy week and weekend. I spent all last week frantically trying to get ahead (or at least stay on track) at work, and this weekend did tons of laundry and chores in preparation for a 3-day all-staff bus tour of Texas which departs early tomorrow morning. I was trying to explain to Aurora that I'd be leaving for a few days, and she seemed pretty certain I'd be taking her with me. I've actually never left her for more than an evening - but I'm sure she and Chuck will enjoy their daddy-daughter time. 

We did have a nice weekend together; packing, shopping, and celebrating Larkin's 3rd Birthday.

I guess I'm ready to go... I'll post more about the bus tour as soon as we return!

But wait, there's more!

As regularly as I blog, I still end up with lots of extra photos from the many random things we do. I post some on facebook, but most simply go unseen. Today, I'm posting them. Enjoy!

Bouncing

'Circus Chicken Dog' at Ruta Maya

Alexandria's 3rd Birthday Party!

LIVESTRONG Weekend "Training" Event

When Aurora grows up, she wants to drive her own car