High Five for Friday

We made it to Friday!  This has been an absolutely jam-packed crazy week, which has been perfectly fine with me because it made the week fly by!  I'm just going to hit the high points today because there's lots to talk about!

#1  

We have a new addition to our family and I am now officially an Aunt!  My BIL and SIL welcomed their sweet baby boy into the world on Wednesday afternoon.  He was 7lbs 13oz and 21 inches long...thankfully for my SIL not as big as they were expecting him to be! I am so excited for them and I cannot wait to meet their sweet little man this weekend!

#2 

An update on our Hawkey Dog...Our sweet puppy is STILL at the vet as of this morning.  I thought I was going to get to bring him home yesterday afternoon but when I called to arrange picking him up, I was told they wanted to keep him another night to give him one more round of an injectable antibiotic this morning.  The trade-off being that he won't be sent home with a drain in his neck like we were planning on.  To be honest, I would rather not have to deal with the drain and kenneling him so I reluctantly agreed. I told them they'd have to keep him all day and I would pick him up on my way home if that was going to be the case...they just better hope he's ready to go when I get there this afternoon, otherwise they're going to have to deal with an upset Mama.

#3 

I am really really hoping that fall is here for good! It has been nothing short of absolutely beautiful here this week.  I am really hoping that this means fall is here to stay. Because I am loving this weather right now, and not coaching means I actually get to enjoy my afternoons outside. =)  It's the little things, I tell ya!

#4 

Speaking of the little things, I know I say this every year but I really really love teaching dance classes.  It blows me away that these kids come in every week and really really want to improve and learn what I have to teach them.  And it's so rewarding to see them "get" a step that they've been trying so hard to perfect.  Last night I decided to attempt a couple of steps with one of my classes that I have tried to teach for the past 2 years, but have never had much luck with.  They try hard, but most end up super frustrated so I put it away for another day.  I guess something clicked this year (or it could be the fact that it was the 2nd or 3rd time most of them had attempted the step) because every single kid got it and a couple of them did the step perfectly.  I was so excited because they're some of my favorite steps to put together and I can actually put them in a dance this year!  Yep, definitely the little things.  =)

#5 

Samantha's Back  I realize this one is pretty up there on the random scale, but it's something near and dear to my heart.  I was a HUGE fan of the American Girl books and dolls when I was a kid.  I was reading them when it was just Samantha, Molly, Kirsten, and brand new Felicity. Samantha was my doll of choice, with Molly coming in a close second because she was a tap dancer of course.  I loved Samantha's stories and read them over and over again growing up.  I still remember getting my Samantha doll for Christmas one year and it was the best thing ever!  Of course my family indulged my love of Samantha. I am pretty sure I was the only kid I knew who had doll outfits and my size matching outfits that were made by my grandma.  We even had matching baskets from the Samantha Saves the Day book that my mom made.  Let's just say that Samantha and I dressed alike for many a book report circa 1992.  I promise this trip down memory lane has a point....a couple of years ago I discovered that Samantha had been retired and I was a little upset about this.  I realize they've introduced 9 more "historical" dolls as they're now called.  They've also introduced the annual "Girl of the Year" and the "My American Girl" dolls that you can get to look like you making the entire collection of dolls enormous, but I hated to see all of the original dolls I grew up with retired. I still get the annual catalog in the mail (due to a weak moment and free catalog offer) and I was delighted yesterday and I was flipping through it to see they are re-branding the historical doll collections and bringing back all of the classics!!!  They have changed up the outfits for whatever reason, but the most important things is that Samantha and Molly and Kirsten and Felicity are coming back for a new generation of girls to enjoy.  

That's all I've got for today.  Happy Friday to all and to all a good weekend!