Top Five Friday!

5. The Middle Place
I can't recommend this book highly enough, a tear-jerker for sure! I loved everything about it! It is a memoir about the author's life as she deals with her own breast cancer diagosis closely followed by a new cancer diagnosis for her beloved father. Elle wrote this review for The Middle Place that I saw on Amazon's listing for the book: "Bravely reveals the frightened daughter inside the grown-up wife and mother." I think that sentence sums up the book perfectly, and it's why I related to this book so well--I truly feel like I'm in "the middle place" of my life missing my parents & sister like crazy but acting like a grown-up with my own family in San Antonio. Go read this book now! :)

4. Blardigan

I know I've mentioned the Pinterest Told Me To blog before {link HERE}, but it bears repeating! Shopping for clothes is not fun or at all practical when you have two kids in tow, so I'm terrible at keeping up with fashion trends..but this blog keeps me in the loop! Pinterest Told Me To named the "blardigan" a must-have item at the end of 2013..and she hasn't stopped talking about them since! ;)  They're pretty pricey {found HERE at Nordstrom}, but they were included in Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale this summer & I was able to snag the berry colored blardigan then! I'm actually wearing it right now as I type. ;)  The girls adore this sweater b/c it is so amazingly soft, so they're constantly all over me when I wear it! ;)

3. Fall Weather
Even though both girls were in shorts on Wednesday, cooler temps have finally arrived in San Antonio..as evidenced by the blardigan above! ;)  It's so nice to finally ditch our shorts and sandals and put on our fall clothes! I'm sure we'll be ready for our warm weather again in about a week though, ha! ;)  Anything below about 65 degrees is considered "soooo cold" to our girls! :)

Waiting to pick up big sister from school in the car with Mommy for warmth today..it was in the 60s ;)

2. The Patience Song
So I don't know about you, but if I had to pinpoint my biggest struggle in mothering young children it would probably be patience. And if I had to pinpoint my kids' biggest struggles with behavior, it would probably boil down to patience, too. After I realized this one day, I started wishing there was a patience song that we could sing when we were on the verge of losing our cool to help us remember to be patient with one another. I was wanting something similar to the magical clean up song that makes cleaning up oh so fun, but for patience. Much to my delight, that existed!!! Below are two songs that we found on YouTube that we love and literally sing every single day in our house now. The first one is hands-down our favorite, but we only sing the chorus. :)  I thought I'd share the songs here in case anyone else is like us and needs a good reminder throughout the day! And seriously, these songs are just as much for me--if not more!--as they are for my kids. ;) 

1. Time with this guy

During residency and fellowship, Derek has attended national medical conferences in various cities across the county. At each of these conferences, there is an annual jeapordy style quiz bowl game for the residents & fellows to participate in. Each program that participates has a team of 2-3 people, and Derek has typically been on the team each year. Last year, he was the champion at the allergy conference in Atlanta & this year the conference just so happened to be in San Antonio...so I had the pleasure of attending with Derek while the girls stayed with a sitter. I am SO glad I got the opportunity to go!! It was so fun to get to see Derek in his element!! And to appreciate just how smart he really is ;)

Derek's fellowship program at Lackland AFB is truly amazing. They compete against teams from prestigious programs like Rutgers, Emory, & Mayo Clinic, but Wilford Hall at Lackland AFB is the reigning champion! Derek has won the title for the past two years, but Wilford Hall itself has won 13 out of the 24 years since the inception of this annual competition! Pretty impressive!!

After the competition, we got to eat dinner out and re-hash the night together. It was seriously so fun. After dinner, we still had a little time left before we had to relieve the sitter so we went to Target...where else?! It was fun to aimlessly roam the aisles with Derek without a list in hand. ;)  We ended up with some great stocking stuffer items for the girls! :)

Happy Friday to you!! :)