Thursday Thoughts - and GIVEAWAY ALERT!

Yaaay, I remembered this week!  Gotta love my link-up with Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!  Between the end of the school year and all the general craziness around here, I am lucky if I remember.... wait, what was I talking about again?

Oh, Thursday!  Hooray!  And Memorial Day weekend, so a 3-day weekend for the kids!  Thank goodness.  This Thursday I am thinking about....

- Summer vacation!  This will be our first summer in our new house, and I'm so excited that we have a big yard to play in, and a whole street full of kids to play with.  I'm thinking of heading out to pick up a whole slew of outdoor toys for the kids.  Previously, we've had to move a lot (thanks to the hubby's job), and we've lived in apartments with very limited storage space.  So we're lacking in things like frisbees, water guns, and sidewalk chalk that are necessary for a fun summer!

- One thing I will absolutely love this summer is not waking up so darn early!  Unlike most school districts, our elementary schools start first (7:30) and the high school starts later (8:30).  Which means that I'm up over an hour before that, packing lunches, assembling backpacks, and getting outfits together (someday I'll be organized enough to lay their outfits out for the whole week.  Just not today)

- I'm starting to wonder what I'd ever do without having a package to track in the mail.  I may not be getting a subscription in the mail every day (I wish!), but I do usually have at least one or two active tracking numbers at any given time.  I really enjoy that my current selection of boxes is very spread out over the month (I even got Ipsy and Birchbox on different days this time! Hooray!), and in fact, I'm still expecting Starlooks.  And then... the spoilers for June start!

- Guess who's been mastering new recipes lately?  That's right!  I've been using some of the food samples I've gotten lately to make some new and amazing dinners.  Pork chops with fennel pollen (Thanks Conscious Box!), meatloaf with Raspberry Chipotle BBQ sauce (Thanks, Goodies!), and my hubby is so happy to see some new food on the dinner table!

- Knight's first T-Ball practice is this afternoon!  I'm hoping the rain holds off long enough for it to take place.  I can't wait to see a bunch of 5 and 6-year olds running around the field, bumping into each other and generally causing chaos!  Should be fun!  And you know Dragon won't sit quietly on the sidelines, he'll want to be out there too.

- GIVEAWAY ALERT!  I won the vlog (video blog) contest for my unboxing video on Cravebox's Girls' Night In box!  And you know that means I want to pass the goodies on to you!  Bright and early tomorrow morning, I'll be launching a contest for a free Cravebox!  Which one?  I'll tell you... tomorrow!

So that's what's on my mind today!  The craziness of life, the anticipation of long summer days, the joy of watching my sons play sports and learn new skills.  And... oh crap, I forgot to switch the laundry over.

What's on your mind today?