Back In The Saddle

Hello! 

It's been almost 3 years since I've blogged.

I've missed it. 

I am learning that life is flying by me at a rapid pace.

The older the girls get, the faster it goes.

So here I am. 

I am jumping back in the saddle.

Or, sitting back down at the keyboard, or whatever,  but you get my drift. So yes, back in the saddle! 

I've been waking up in the night writing full blog posts in my head. 

I got a massage a couple of weeks ago, and do you know what I did the whole time? 

Relaxed and fell asleep?

Nope. No, I wrote 4 blog posts in my head so I wouldn't forget some of the stories I want to remember. 

If that's not a sign telling me to blog again I don't know what is. 

I am jumping in today with just a quick hello and I will be back to sharing Hass House happenings and other news on the regular so get excited! 

This last summer was fun and the older I get, the more I understand that the days are long but the years are short. Summer days felt longer than they do now during the school year, but either way, the years feel way too short. 

Mr. Hass turned 40 this summer and we celebrated in Big Bear with family and friends. We also celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary in July. We went to Temecula for some wine tasting and ate dinner at Ponte. 

These two seem to have grown and changed just since the start of the school year already. Hannah will be 12 in two weeks and Claire turns 10 a week after. They used to play with legos and spend hours playing outside. Now their days are filled with school, homework, and softball practice and games. The little one wants to make slime, watch YouTube videos and spend her chore money on anything with a unicorn/glitter on it while the older one wants to play Minecraft, redecorate her room and learn how to apply makeup. 

Each week it seems like we are stepping into new and uncharted territory as parents that we aren't completely sure how to navigate. It makes me want to write. It makes me want to share my experiences and hopefully be able to connect with others through them. So that's what I plan to do. Stick around, I hope you'll join me on the journey!

And before I go today, a few pics and random things from last weekend. You know I love to write about the randoms. 

Last weekend we packed up the Prius and drove to Mesa, Arizona to visit with Diane, my mother in law. She recently moved into a new place and we went to visit and help her hang some pictures on the walls and get settled in. 

On the way there and back we listened to multiple episodes of a new to me podcast by Lewis Howes. 

He interviews some of the world's most brilliant business minds, athletes and influential people to find out what makes them great and how you can apply their lessons to your life. We just bought his book and I can't wait to read it. If you are interested, check out his 5-minute Friday podcasts, they're short sweet and to the point. After a couple of those, I was hooked! Hannah really liked this one too. 

One of the episodes we listened to was an interview with Kobe Bryant. It was super inspiring and I had no idea about his passion for storytelling. I love to read and write and I love how powerful and inspiring stories can be. He wanted to tell stories that relay important messages that he wanted to teach his kids without sounding redundant and he was inspired to come up with the podcast called The Punies with a cast of unique characters to share his stories. Each short story teaches an important lesson in a fun and entertaining way.

So, of course, I immediately subscribed to the podcast and we listened to several during our road trip. They range from about 14 - 17 minutes and they're perfect for kids! 

After discovering how much we all liked The Punies, I googled the top 10 podcasts for kids and found the Dream Big podcast by Eva Karpman. This 9-year-old little girl is so well spoken and wise for her age. She has several episodes and they are all such great life lessons that inspired all of us. We listened to lessons on learning how to go with the flow, how to deal with haters, what to do when a friend lies to you, what to do when you get angry, and a good one about the famous Zig Ziglar quote: "You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." One of my favorites was the interview she does with Simon Sinek. Let me know if you check them out! 

This last weekend, I also learned something else that I am still in disbelief over. 

Are you ready to hear what it is?

Hannah's legs are longer than mine!

Yup.

You heard me.

My soon to be 12-year-old daughter's legs are longer than mine. 

I am 5'9 and Mr. H is 6'4, so it's no surprise that she is tall. 

I guess I just wasn't prepared for her to pass me up just yet. 

I've still got a couple inches on her, but not for long.

I just don't even know how to wrap my head around it. 

I guess I can always buy some new wedges. Haha. 

That's all I got!
Be back soon.
Xo,
Genn

Claire is 7, Winterball is Done & I Blogged Again!

Here I am blogging again!

Can you believe it?!!

Me neither!!

So, Claire's birthday fell on a Tuesday this year.  She wanted to open her gifts before school so here she is at 6am...

 She found my hiding spot and peeked at the majority of her gifts this year.  She randomly mentioned one night at dinner how she'd like some Frozen Legos.  I got her some Frozen Legos, but she hadn't mentioned she wanted any so I thought that would be a great surprise.  It was weird that she mentioned this, so we asked her if she had looked at her presents.  She promised she hadn't, but I knew she had.  Earlier in the week she was counting up some of the birthday money she has received and she pulled a crumpled up five dollar bill from her backpack.  I asked where she got that and she said, "Oh, Peyton gave it to me."  A friend from her class.  I told her that it was very nice but that she cannot accept that and to return it to Peyton the next day.  The next day I asked if she returned it and she said she had. But... a couple days later she was once again counting her money and I saw that same crumpled up five dollar bill!  So I asked her if that was the same bill she was supposed to return to Peyton?  The same bill that she said she did return to Peyton?  And she very shamefully lowered her head and muttered  a "Yessss".  I was so disappointed in her.  She went to her room and Mr. Hass and I both had a very serious talk with her about the importance of honesty and telling the truth.  It was the second time this week she was caught in a lie, and after talking to her I think we made her feel pretty bad and I don't think she will want to lie again anytime soon.  And if she does, Lord help me!  

Mr. H and I got Claire a set of Clementine books for her birthday and last night Mr. H was reading to her and there was a part in the story about how Clementine's friend was telling her how there is usually one easy child and one hard to handle child in each family and Claire said, "Yeah, like us huh Dad because that is Hannah, she's the hard one for you guys."    Ohhhhh Claire.  Insert all the laughing face emojiis right here.

 After presents and cinnamon rolls for breakfast I dropped the girls off at school and headed to work for a couple hours.  I finished work in time to swing home a few minutes before I had to pick them up and shove some lunch in my face.  Just as I sat down to eat, the girl's school was calling my phone.  The school nurse said that Claire had gotten hit in the nose and it was bleeding and there was blood in her hair and on her clothes and that she needed me to come down there.  I felt so bad and the first thing I said to the nurse was "Oh noooo, but it's her birthday!!!" I grabbed my keys and rushed down to school.  Good thing it's only 3 minutes away by car.  When I got there she was in the nurse's bathroom by herself, trying to stop crying, and with shaky hands attempting to wipe the blood off of her nose and face.  My poor baby.  I gave her a big hug and told her she was okay, and then I helped her wipe off the rest of the blood.  Poor girl had it in her hair and on her new shoes and all over her shirt.  When we got home she finally said that she was just walking fast on the playground and bonked into another boy's head.  He cried too but didn't have to go the the nurse.  She wanted ice when we got home but there was no bruising or swelling and she was fine, thank goodness.  

This happened right before the bell rang so the girls got to come home about ten minutes early.  Then it was homework, snacks, and time to change and bundle up for their first tournament game down at the softball fields.

Their last game was on Hannah's birthday and she has really started to connect the dots with her batting and she wanted to hit a homerun on her birthday so bad.  She never had a chance to in that game, and before this game she said,"I'm gonna hit a homerun today!"  And sure enough, her first at bat, the very first pitch,and she hit her very first homerun!!!!  It went straight to left center, and we were jumping and cheering so loud for her!!! The look on her face as she rounded those bases was absolutely priceless!!!  I'll never forget it.  

 She was the star of the game.  She had two more awesome hits after that homerun, and a total of 5 RBI's!  Way to go Hannah!!!

It was a fun game because, well, because we won, because Hannah hit a homerun, and because the girls had friends on the other team too.  Payton is the same age as Claire and they met last season when their big sisters were on the same team.  These two discovered they share a birthday so they call each other their twin.  Payton's parents brought doughnuts since it was her birthday for their team and Claire and Hannah were lucky enough to get one too.  The twins on their birthday...

 And Hannah had fun getting to play against her old teammate Jayden, Payton's older sister, just days apart from Hannah too.

 I just love the friendships and the memories that we are getting to watch these girls make on the softball field!

 After the big game Grandma and Geeps and Noah and Aunt E came over for In N Out and I made PW's chocolate sheet cake for dessert.

Another night that week the girls received a very special delivery package... on ice!!!...

 chocolate covered strawberries and brownie cake pop bites from Don & Kaylen!!!

 They made their night!!!! Thanks Don & Kaylen!  You guys are the best!

 On Friday Hannah received the Academic Excellence award for reading, so proud!

I've joked with Mr. H that at least our girls are playing softball because the softball fields seem to be the only place in town where it gets cold enough for me to wear some of my Fall layers.  The girls played Tuesday and Thursday night this week and it was chilly.

 They had an 8am game on Saturday for the end of the season tournament and they won, so they played again at 3pm for the Semi Finals and lost.  They had so much fun this year and had such wonderful coaches.  They wanted to stick around and watch some of the older girls Championship games so we didn't get home from the softball fields until 7pm that night!  It was a long day and a long week. 

We were supposed to have family pictures yesterday and Hannah came down with a fever.  I knew she had been fighting a cold and I'm sure after the busy week and three late nights on the softball field it just finally got to her.  So we laid around all day and rested.  And I got to watch like 8 episodes of Gilmore Girls which made me very happy.  ;) 

 Today Hannah's fever was gone and I was antsy to get out of the house so I took the girls to lunch at Panera.  This picture of Claire just cracks me up because it is so Claire. I posted it on instagram and wrote 
'Maybe it was the sunshine.  Maybe it was her new mermaid tulle dress.  Maybe it was the cookie... but I think it's safe to say her first day of Thanksgiving Break was pretty damn good.' 
I love how relaxed this kid always is.  And I love how she doesn't care what other people think in the slightest.  I hope she always hangs on to that.

After lunch in Target waiting for Hannah to try on some stuff.  I took them to spend some of their birthday money and they had a blast.  Looking at this photo it's crazy to see my dark hair and those two blondies next to me.  

After all our shopping I needed wine.  We came home and watched Rookie of the Year.  I had a few laughs remembering some lines from that one.

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving this week!  

I'm off to sneak in a little spa time.

Alright and maybe some more wine.  ;)

Shopping with those two wore me out!!!

 PS- Thanks so much to everyone for still reading this ole blog!  I was so excited to read your comments and to know that people really do still want to read my blog! Makes me want to try and keep up with it even more! :)

What's Up With Those Hasses...

Well hello there!

Looooong time no bloggy blog.

I've missed it.

And the idea of trying to pick up where I left off is a daunting task.

So how bout I just jump right in with recent random haps and we see how that goes huh?

First let me ask, is it Hass', as in What's Up With Those Hasses? Or is it Hass's?  Or is it Hasses?  That darn "s" at the end really throws me.  Be glad those of you whose last name does not end in "S"!

Okay, moving on.

 You do remember me right?
And Mr. Hass?  I know it's been a while so I'm just making sure. ;)
This picture was in the parking lot at Panera before an impromptu Wednesday lunch date.  I had a slow day at work and whaaaat, the opportunity for us to have lunch sans kids never happens so it had to be documented!

I'm not sure I even remember how to pull together a blog post so let's just go with random shall we?

 The winterball softball season is coming to a close for the girls.  This is Hannah's second season and Claire's very first!  We wound up having them both on the same team and it was so much fun to watch them play!  Claire was so timid at first, but I think she really enjoyed being on the same team as Hannah and she has learned so much!  They've had some awesome coaches this season and it's been a fun experience.

 This was on Halloween.  Their team is The Great Whites and the Coach dressed up like a shark (I think it was more his wife's idea but the girls loved it). 

 Later on Halloween night Noah came over to trick or treat with the girls.  

 Just waiting for go time.

 I love this picture of Mr. Hass.

 I was at work and he text me this picture one morning.  The poor guy has been dealing with some really awful bone spurs on his heels and has not been able to run for several weeks.  It was really getting him down but he's recently been able to ride his mountain bike a little bit after a cortisone injection to aid his recovery.  

 One week after Halloween Hannah turned 9.
Nine!
9?!?
Nine.

 I know all parents say it, but I simply can't believe it.  Nine just sounds so old, and so close to ten, which sounds SO old, and so close to teenage years!!!  And then of course that makes you ask yourself, "Have I really been a parent for Nine years now?!?!"  And then your parents laugh at you because they ask themselves the same thing, only their oldest is 35 now, so wow, yeah, I get it now. It really does go by that fast.

I started this book a couple days ago.  So far I think it's going to be a great read.  There's something about these next few years that makes me nervous.  Hoping to gain some insight in this book.  

On the Friday before her birthday Hannah came home with a card that each of her classmates had made.  They were all so sweet but this one in particular immediately brought tears to my eyes.  It was so sweet, and so spot on about Hannah.  She is always so happy and radiates such joy that I loved reading this from one of her peers. So so sweet.

I am helping out in the girls classrooms every other Friday and they just seem so grown up to me this year.  Claire has really grown since Kindergarten, and Hannah too.  They've both grown more than an inch in height since school started this year!!  Walking into the third grade classroom it is just so crazy to realize how old these kids are getting.  Hannah seems especially older to me this year.  That jump from second grade to third is a big one!!!

Hannah started the Harry Potter series this year.  I've never read them before so I told her I would read them with her, but she is reading them so darn fast that I cannot keep up!!!  She is halfway through the 5th book!  They are huge books too and she has been earning lots of AR (advanced reading) points for them in school.  Each 3rd grade students goal for AR points for the year is 40 and Hannah now has 97 after taking the comprehension test for the last Harry Potter book that she read.  She found out she will be receiving a special AR trophy and last Friday the principal took her picture in the library holding all of the HP books she's read so far and her picture will be going inside the school trophy case in the office.  She was thrilled.

A friend recently told me about Jen Hatmaker's fabulous book For The Love.

It was hilariously funny and so raw and honest about life and parenting and motherhood and fashion and finding grace.  A great read.

I've recently become obsessed with something that I feel the need to tell you about.
I'm usually not one to watch a ton of tv.  I mean, we have our shows but lots of times I would rather read than watch a show.
But this show... oh this show...

I'm obsessed.  I never watched it when it was on years ago.  I think I was in that in between age of having an interest, a little bit older than Rory, but not quite old enough to relate to Laureli.  But now I just want to move to Stars Hollow and become bff's with Laureli Gilmore and have Rory babysit and be a role model for my girls and drink coffee and hang out in Luke's diner... soooo yeah, I'm obsessed.  Good thing I'm only on season two and I've got hundreds of episodes left to watch!

I chopped my hair off sometime after my last blog post.  It was fun and I like change but now it's growing back out.  I'm happy to report that I can now sport a baby pony.  And now that I am going to try to make an effort to blog a bit more maybe I'll even bring back a What I Wore Wednesday post here and there...

I shared this photo on instagram today saying "Today has just been one of those days... woke up feeling rested, had time to braid both girls hair, yoga was awesome, dinner's in the crockpot, it's sunny and only 65 (hello Fall wardrobe!) birthday gifts are wrapped for the big 7 year old tomorrow, and I might even blog today!  I said might..."  

Well I did it!  I blogged!  What an accomplishment.

It was no small task let me tell you.  I started this post after dinner while Mr. H was helping girls finish up some homework, and if only you could have heard a soundtrack to this evening, or seen how many times I almost threw in the towel on this post, went upstairs to shower and called it a night!  When the girls were little it was so easy to blog when they were napping and I was home. Now when they are in school I am either running errands, trying to get a workout in and dinner planned and a shower done, or I'm at work, and once they get home from school it's a whirlwind. Everyday.  But I miss documenting the days and I miss having a place to share my thoughts so that one day my girls can look back at this blog and recall some of these memories, and to also have a glimpse as to what their mother was like when they were young.  

So I will try to be back.

Soon.

Or soon'ish. ;)

Big Bear, Recent Randoms, and Stepping Out of My Box

Two weeks ago our Labor Day was a 4 day weekend!!
Yahoo!!
Except Mr. H had to work on Monday, so only a 3 day weekend for him. 
But we made the most of it!
Friday morning we packed a few things in a bag and drove up to Big Bear.
The weather has been so hot and humid and gross here and we were so excited to get up to the fresh crisp mountain air!

This particular trip was a little bit sad though because my Grandma's cabin sold and this was our last time staying the night.  Womp womp womp. :(  
Mr. H and I sure would love to buy our own place up there some day.  
Regardless of that being a little sad, we still had a great time.
We took the girls to the Discovery Center, on the other side of the lake from where the cabin and my Dad's boat are.  It was fun to explore on that side a bit and the girls loved the Discovery Center.
We did a short little hike they have there, and picked up some information on some longer hikes that we want to check out our next trip up.

After that we scoped out a Mexican restaurant we thought we'd try for dinner.  BB isn't known for the best resaurants so I was a little nervous but it was pretty good.  We ate at Azteca, but first we went to Vons for a few grocery items, and also had our first pumpkin spice lattes of the season!!!  So very Fall.  

 I posted this picture on instagram with the quote "The bad news is time flies.  The good news is you're the pilot." -Michael Althsuler

The next day my parents were heading up to spend the weekend too.  While we waited for them to arrive, we went to Snow Summit and took the girls up to the top of the ski lifts.  What a view.  I've never done that in the Summer time and it was fun and the girls quickly got over their fear of the lift!

By the time we got back, my parents were at the cabin and we spent the rest of the day out on the lake with them.  Did a lil fishin', motorboatin' and might have even done some day drinkin'. ;)

 Clairey was the only one to catch a fish all day!

 We drove down the mountain that night because we had a lot of stuff we wanted to do around the house the next day.  Starting with our front porch.

 It needed some curb appeal.

 Big time.
The spot by the door has been empty since we ripped the bushes out that used to be there and I've been anxious to find something to plant there.

 We bought two jasmine plants but haven't put them in the ground yet because I'm not sure if they'll get enough sun in this spot.  So we are waiting it out to see.  Mr. H replaced our old dingy doorbell with a new bright shiny light up one.  Such a small little doorbell but what a difference.

 Hannah spotted the Welcome Fall flag at Lowe's so we got that, and a few hydrangeas to add to the front too.

Sundays I'm trying to get back into meal planning for the week.  The girls have homework that they can start over the weekend so it's nice to get a head start on that on Sundays too.

 Clairey and me waiting to pick up Hannah one day.  She recently earned 10 bengal paws and got to shop the teacher's treasure chest.  She was so proud of this bouncy ball and pink kazoo she picked out.

 Hannah's got such a great soccer coach this season.  Her practices are Mon and Wed, and since I'm at work every Wed evening, I am really glad I get to make it to her Mon night practices.  The girl above in the purple stripes is our neighbor and Hannah loves that they're on the same team.  

 Our first games were last Saturday.  Unfortunately Mr. H and I both work every other weekend.  So this day I was off to take the girls.  Although... both their games were at 10am!!! Bummer!  My parents helped me out big time and took Hannah to her game, and I took Claire to hers at a different field.  It was HOT HOT HOT but they were troopers and played their hearts out.  

Recently I stepped way out of my comfort zone to try something new.
I put together a resume and a cover letter, and I applied for a job to work from home as a part time stylist for Stitch Fix.  From the moment I heard about this company I was intrigued.  It is a women's online styling service and once a month you get a personal hand selected Fix with 5 items picked just for you by a stylist (the position I was interested in).  It's really fun and I've loved getting my first two Fixes so far.  

I sent in my resume the end of July and started to think I wouldn't hear back and that was ok because I already work part time in the salon, and plan to up my days very soon, and with school, soccer, and Girl Scouts, I thought maybe adding to my plate right now wouldn't be a good idea anyway.  

But the job sounded fun.  So fun that for me, if I got it, I think I'd like it so much that it wouldn't feel like "work".  Shoot I spend time daily pinning different outfit ideas for every season for myself on Pinterest anyway.  The idea of going over other women's Pinterest boards to see what they would like to receive in their Fix sounded like a blast.  

And last week I received an email asking me to do a video interview.
I was SO excited.
And SO nervous.
And SO unsure about what to wear!!!!!!!!
So I did what any girl would do,
after work one night I tried on just about every shirt in my closet...

 and then finally decided on the outfit in the bottom right.

 The interview was only three questions, and you had 1 minute to answer.  The good thing was you could re record your answers until you were satisfied with it.  I thought about my answers to each question, and I was satisfied with my responses given the limited time I had to reply.  Of course I could have gone on but I didn't want to talk too much.  

A few days later I got an email that I did not get the job.
Womp womp womp.
Big sigh.
I didn't realize how excited I would start to get about the possibility of the job, and I was more let down than I thought I would be.
Of course I spent days analyzing my responses, and wishing I had said something more so maybe they got a better idea of who I am.
I thought that I could do a really great job as a stylist.
But, C'est La Vie I guess.
All things happen for a reason and I'm still trying to remember that.

It's like Tina Fey says, "Do your thing.  And don't care if they like it."

It's been a long time since I applied for a job.  I've already been doing hair for 15 years!!!  That sounds crazy, but I was 18 when I started.  I learned a few things by doing this, and I was proud of myself for pushing my comfort limits and stepping outside of my introverted box I love so much.

And today I read Gina's blog at The Fitnessista, and her I Will What I Want video really struck a chord with me.  And so did ballerina Misty Copeland's.  I've watched Misty's several times. So inspiring.

Anyway, I better run.
We've got soccer practice tonight.
But first, have you guys heard of this nail polish yet???

 I got it at Target and it is Ahhhhhhh-MAZ-ing!  It's a fast drying top coat but I swear it makes your polish feel like gel polish!!! My polish stays for days with this stuff on!!!  I love it.  Already on my second bottle.

I've got a WIWW post in the works too so hopefully I'll have that up on Wednesday.

Go do your thang my friends.
And don't care if they like it.  ;)