All About the Loring Ladies in this Post :-)...well, almost

Dancing Queen!!

  I am so excited that Brooklyn is already taking dance lessons.  I think the thing that makes me the most giddy about it is the fact that I took dance lessons for 10 years when I was a little girl.  Brooklyn started tap, ballet, and tumble last Tuesday at Marissa's Dancers.  I was thinking of not putting her in dance until next fall, but when her BFF came over for a play date a few weeks ago and her mommy was telling me how great the class she's in is I decided to go for it!  I went out and bought Brook a few simple leotards, one cutesy one, a tutu skirt, some opaque tights, tap shoes, and ballet shoes and loved every minute of it!!  I went even more over board for her first class and managed to clip all of her hair up in the front to try to form 1 ponytail at the top with a bow :-) I wasn't as zealous the next week as I was rushing to get her there coming straight from work.  Brook has always been a dancer so I knew she'd have no problem with it.  The only thing that really bothered her was not having her tap shoes that first week, so I hurried to Payless to get some on the spot before her 2nd week in class.  After that, no problem at all.  I also made the mistake of sitting in the dance room the first week which was really distracting to her. So, this week I sat behind the glass with the rest of the mommies all with our phones and video recorders out (looked like something off of a sitcom...lol)- thus some of these pics being taken behind glass.  As long as she could see that I was still behind the glass, she was fine. It also didn't hurt that Ms Marissa gives out stickers and candy at the end of each class :-) Check out some of the pics of my little dancer:

 

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Granny-Gran's Special Birthday Dinner

On last weekend, Kelvin's grandmother (Grandma Clark to me, Granny-Gran to Brook) celebrated her 81st birthday!   Wow!!!  I hope I'm blessed to see that age!  Anyhoo, we decided to take her out for a fancy-shmancy dinner at the Butcher Shop (which I will say really wasn't all that to any of us- Grandma Clark said she wants to go to Golden Corral next year instead...lol!).  We dressed up and dressed Brook up and she dressed up (even though she's always dressed beautifully like that) and hit the town.  We pondered on what sort of gift to get her since she seemingly has everything and my wonderful hubby requested that I make her some of my special sentimental gifts.  So, Brook and I headed out to Hobby Lobby for a shirt and some bedazzling jewels to make her a special "Granny-Gran" t-shirt.  I must say this is probably the project that has given me the most fits to this day!!  The crown on the shirt came out fast and easy, but those freakin' letters...arrrggghhhh!!!!  Some of the jewels refused to stick!  At one point, I was so frustrated I threw the t-shirt across the room and sent Kelvin out to find her a gift card instead...lol...really I did.  I managed to gather my sanity though and settle down a second and think of how I could make this work.  I ended up having to take single jewels and put them on individually and it finally came together.  I was so happy and so proud that I sent a pic of the shirt to Kelvin and told him to come on home because I had completed the project successfully.  ( I just hope the jewels stay on even after she washes the shirt).  She loves pictures of Brooklyn as well (rightfully so being that Brook is her only great grandchild)!  She's got them in frames all over her house, but she doesn't have any recent ones so I decided to fix that.  I put a few cute pics of Brook in a frame and also made her a new brag book that she can take to church with her.  She was so excited about all of her gifts!  Feel like you were there in the pics below:  Lol!

 

 

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Suzie Homemaker

On this edition of Suzie Homemaker I go from opposite ends of the spectrum with a healthy and not so healthy dessert baking.  First up, of course, the not-so healthy---homemade chocolate chip cookies.  A place that Kelvin and I frequent recently sent us a tin of freshly made chocolate chip cookies to our house.  They were the bomb!!! All 3 of us were all over them and I'm not usually a chocolate chip cookie kind of girl.  They were also nice enough to send the recipe which to me was super simple.  So, I tried it out and and they were SOOOOO good!!   See if you can smell the pic below:

I also found a recipe for some Power Breakfast Bars. I figured it would be a good way for me to get in some oatmeal, flaxseed, and grains as well as nuts and dried fruit.  It was suggested that I eat these babies with some yogurt to ensure a complete breakfast.  Well, I ate one on the day I made them and haven't eaten anymore since.  That's how we do with the healthy stuff, huh :-)

Last, but not least is the healthier option to regular bread for sandwiches.  I hardly ever buy bread because we might use 1/3 of the loaf and have to throw the rest away.  So, I decided to invest in these sandwich thins which come in a variety of healthy grain flavors.  It was insanely delicious!  This sandwich featured cajun chicken, tomato, red onion, green pepper, American cheese, and A-1 steakouse seasoned non-fat mayo.  I had already demolished half the sandwich before I remembered to take a picture...lol!  Definitely a winner!

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Natural Hair Journey

As promised in my last post, here are some pics of some things I've been doing with the twists.  I've had them in for 2 weeks almost now and will probably keep them 1 more.  I simply put a thin scarf around my edges so they'll stay fresh and put a satin cap on.  Every morning, I refresh them with some sort of oil (usally olive oil, Hot Six Oil or Jojoba Oil).  They are just so convenient!

Style 1- simple pin-up in back with a few left out in front:

Style 2- high ponytail bun with wavy bangs

 

Style 3- 2 side flat twists w/ low ponytail bun:

 

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Mommy/Daughter GNO

Mama Pat had to work late this week on our GNO night but I decided not to let that stop me from going out and having a good time with my little one.  So I changed her into some "weekend" clothes and kept on my good work clothes and we headed out to eat.  I decided on Red Lobster for Endless Shrimp since we didn't have Daddy with us (recently diagnosed with shrimp allergy although it's one of  his favorite foods :-(
It was soooooooo good!  Brooklyn held her own with the Endless Shrimp too.  The picture you'll see at the end pretty much sums up how full both of us felt...lol!

 

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Guess, I lied....I can't leave Kelvin off of this post :-)

Once I got to the end of this post and thought about the goings-on since my last one, I just couldn't let the biggie of this week go left unspoken about :-)

On Wednesday, August 22; Kelvin and I celebrated 7 years since we officially became a couple...ahhhh :-)  We celebrated by going out to Bonefish Grill and having dinner just the two of us (thanks to Granny-Gran)  I really wanted to be wrapped up into him that night so I don't have any pictures just know that I'm all smiles thinking about what a romantic evening I had with my hubby that night :-)  I love me some him!!!

So, to commemorate; I'll attach some pics of us "through the years"....man I can't believe I can say that...lol!

Wow!!! We were so young on this one!