A Rockin' Friday Night

According to my sister, this is what happens to you after nearly ten years of marriage.

Apparently we look goofy and "kinda old". Whatev. We were having fun so who cares! Last night we went out to eat, just the two of us, to talk about some stuff that we can never manage to talk about when we have two rugrats bugging us for favors. We ended up at Kickin Chicken, discussed some mundane things, and then headed to Target to walk around. Okay, so maybe we are old if a rockin' Friday night is walking around Target. But we saw all sorts of great things while we were there.

First, we headed to the kitchen appliance section where I tried to convince Wes that I needed one of these...

He remained skeptical because I so rarely bake or cook at all. I maintained that I would do more of those things if I had the proper tools. We went round and round for a bit. Finally we had the following conversation.

W: "Well, the white one is less expensive. Which one do you think you would want?"

K: "Probably the gray cause it matches all our stuff."

W: (rolling his eyes) "Well are you going to leave it sitting out or store it in a cabinet? Cause if you store it, there is really no reason to worry about matching."

K: "Oh I would have to leave it out. I think it makes me look more legit."

W: (after a short pause) "Yeah, everyone knows that's not true."

I love my husband for putting up with me! And I love him for the following picture as well....

He was the one who spotted the "Singing Wigglers" and insisted we stop and play with them. They play catchy pop tunes and dance at the same time. I was absolutely convinced we needed to get the monkey that played "Tick Tock" by Ke$ha. Wes almost gave in, but then realized that would be a waste of ten dollars so we waved good bye and headed to the checkout. And on the way I spotted one last gem...

Please excuse my face and focus on the fact that apparently you can wear a reflective "snap band" while working out at night so as to avoid getting run over by cars. Yeah, I had the same thing - in the same color - in 1990 and it was called a slap bracelet! I think I will abstain from wearing a slap bracelet while working out, thank you very much!

After that we headed home to do what all goofy, old people do on Friday night - go to bed.

It Was Just A Matter of Time....

....Before this happened.

Yes folks. That is what my phone looked like yesterday after I dropped it on the driveway. I should NOT be allowed to have expensive, electronic devices. And I should not be allowed to be married to someone who is too cheap to get insurance on said electronic devices. The good news is that Wes was eligible for an upgrade so they just gave the upgrade to me and I got.....the iPhone! I know, it doesn't really seem fair that I broke my phone and then got to get an even cooler one. In my defense I tried pretty hard to get Wes to take the new one and give me his old one but he wouldn't have it. I feel bad because I am sure that all the wonderful "techie" attributes of this phone will be lost on me. I just want to be able to check facebook, you know?

In other news, today on our afternoon bike ride Noah found three four leaf clovers! I am not kidding either. I have never found one in my whole life and my kid found 3 in ten minutes. 

Here is proof. We gave the third one to his friend Hannah.

And they must be very lucky because mere hours after finding them, Hannah's mom (my friend Lisa) went to the hospital to have their baby boy! 

The Warm Weather Found Us!

And we busted out the flip flops baby!

Seriously, I have been doing back-flips over the high 70's temperatures we have been having. And it could not have come at a more perfect time because Noah has a 4 day weekend off from school for President's Day. (How come we never celebrated that when I was growing up? I mean...I don't remember getting a day off school.) Anyway, we have spent the last two days outside soaking up the sun and here are some pictures to prove it.

Friday we had a play date at a local park with a bunch of friends. Liam really enjoyed hanging out with his girlfriend Elsa....

......and crawling through the dirt and mulch while exploring every inch of the playground.

Noah got to run around with all his buddies. My favorite was when I looked over and noticed that he had somehow managed to convince his friend Olivia to push him on the swings.

So much for my theory that if I refused to push him he would find the motivation to perfect his pump. Instead he just found the motivation to delegate work to others.

After the park we headed home and had nap/quiet time, and then at 4:00 we wandered down the street for another play date. This one fell during the cocktail hour so the mommies got to indulge in a little "Mommy Juice". (Wine, for those of you who've never spent much time with the housewives of Carolina Bay.)

This morning dawned just as beautiful. I left the boys with this fine lady....

....and joined my mother-in-law and sis-in-law for a 10 mile bike ride. Followed by yummy bagels. And when I came home I found Aunt J and the boys outside with all the toys pulled out of the garage and having a blast. Liam was of course playing with trash.

And it wouldn't be a day with my sister if hilarity did not ensue. For example, attempting to help my son steer his battery powered car and almost (almost Wes!) crashing into our real car.

Again, we took a time out for naps and then headed back out to join some friends for some tennis. Well, Wes played tennis. I played swing as hard as you can and miss. 

And next? Soon the boys will be asleep, the pizza will be here, and Wes and I will relax with this...

Does anyone else love the label on this wine as much as I do? No, just me? Oh well. It's the little things people! I hope everyone has a great weekend. Night!

Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentine's this year. The fun started on Saturday when Wes took me out for a romantic date. I should go ahead and tell you that the most romantic part of the date was that he planned everything - including child care - and surprised me with the announcement that we were going out. (He also got me flowers that were beautiful, but ruined a bit when Noah spilled the beans about their existence way before I was supposed to see them.) Ahh, kids..... anyway. Saturday night we went to dinner at 82 Queen. I had always heard that this was a great restaurant but had never been before. I was not disappointed. We got a great table right by a window overlooking the courtyard.

We ordered wine, had some she-crab soup appetizers and then our delicious meals appeared. I ordered lobster cakes with rice pilaf and roasted veggies.....

It was all very yummy and I really enjoyed getting to eat a meal with my husband where we could have uninterrupted conversation. After the dinner Wes surprised me with the second half of our date. He had gotten tickets to a play! We headed over to a local theatre and saw a production of A Raisin in the Sun. It was REALLY good. There is something so much fun about watching people give a live performance of something. So, the bottom line is that Wes got major points for planning a really fun Valentine's outing. (Especially when you compare it to our first Valentines Day together, 10 years ago. The roses, dinner and theatre tickets were much nicer than the stuffed bear and a night of watching Wes study!)  :)

On Sunday we continued the fun with some more Valentine activity. In between church and an afternoon birthday party Wes, Noah, and I got to work making homemade peppermint patties to give as teacher gifts, etc. I would like to state for the record that the idea was not mine. It came from Darby at Fly Through Our Window. (Yes, that is the blog I stalk. Make fun all you want, but I get some really good ideas from it!) Noah had a blast helping and the end result was pretty tasty if I do say so myself.

And this, of course, is what Liam did while we were playing Betty Crocker.

Ah, the plight of the second child. Ignored and only given a box to play with. 

As Noah would say, "Happy Valentime's Day everybody"!

Happy Baby!

This weekend I got to help throw a baby shower for my friend Lisa.

Not the best picture, but here we are!

Lisa and Jeff are having their second - a baby boy! I have told her that she should be super excited as I believe boys are totally awesome. (I am only slightly biased!) 

So, Saturday morning these ladies....

...(Katy and Jan) and I got together some yummy brunch foods and mimosas (of course!) and had a shower to celebrate the impending arrival of Baby Davis.

See, we really liked those mimosas!

Lisa, all your friends are so excited to meet the newest addition. And if he turns out to be anything like his big sis, you can consider yourself super successful!

Mealtime Shenanigans

               It's possible that lunchtime has gotten a little out of control at our house!

                                                 Between crawling on the table....

      ....and smearing peas in every direction (because someone is convinced he can use a spoon)....

                                                   I may be going slightly crazy!

Monday Randomness

It is raining. Again.

Do want to know what the only thing worse than a rainy Monday is? Having to go to the grocery store on a rainy Monday. Maybe I am weird - and maybe it's because I spend so much time there - but I HATE the grocery store. Especially the thought of unloading the groceries in the rain while dealing with Liam.

But today I did it with a smile on my face.

Don't laugh but my new reusable grocery bags make me smile. It might be the fun patterns or the fact that you can carry them like a purse or that they hold up to 50 pounds each, I don't know! But they definitely make grocery shopping feel more fun. 

As you can see, the brand is Baggu. I am too lazy to link to the sight but you can just google the name and find it pretty easily.

And when you are all done with them they fold up nicely and store in their very own little zippered case.  How cute - and I am being green. 

And if nothing else, this should prove to my husband that I am not as high maintenance as I seem. I mean, I am getting excited over a $6 nylon grocery bag!

How is that for some Monday randomness?!

Pajama Friday

This week, in Noah's class, it was "P" week. You know, that was their letter of the week. (It wasn't pee week, just to clear that up!) Anyway, Noah was very excited for two reasons. He has been waiting for the letter P to roll around so that he could bring his Parasauropholis (ahem, that's a dinosaur for those of you who don't have a 4 year old boy) for show and tell. Also, today was their PJ party where, you guessed it, everybody got to come to school in their pajamas and bring a stuffed animal or blanket that they sleep with. Noah brought his pillow pet that is also a penguin. We were covered for letter P!

I have to admit, I was kind of sad when I dropped him off because this is his last preschool pajama party. He was talking about how next year he wanted to wear his Thomas pj's to his pajama party and the whole time I was thinking,yeah you probably won't be having any more pajama parties when you're in real school. * Yikes. He is growing up sooooo fast.

After the pajama party at school we headed to Chick Fil A with a few friends. The kids had a blast eating and playing on the playground and the Moms laughed as we wondered how many people just assumed we were too lazy to dress our children in actual clothes!

Abby Grace, Clayton, and Noah ham it up in their PJs!

And for your entertainment.......

This morning as I was checking some email on my laptop I kept feeling Liam grab my feet. I assumed he was crawling around down there somewhere but when I finally looked down I did not see him. Then I heard a little giggle from directly underneath me. I found him here.....

He was way proud of himself. 

* An update regarding school next year. We found out a few weeks ago that Noah was lucky enough to get into one of the best elementary magnet schools in the area and, even better, several of his friends got in too and will be attending with him. We are so thankful and in awe of how the Lord takes care of us!

How To Survive An "Oh S**t" Moment

(FYI, I mean an actual oh s**t moment, involving real baby poop. You have been warned.)

Just as I finished cleaning up from lunch this afternoon, I noticed that Liam was over by the TV trying to pull all our DVDs off the shelf. (Again) As I made my way over to stop him I noticed a funny looking pile of something behind his butt. I leaned in closer and, yep, it was poop. It had seeped out the back of his diaper and up his back and then dripped onto the floor. The following is a synopsis of how I handle situations like this....

1. Curse a little....then, in the next breath, say (loudly and sincerely) "Thank you Jesus that this happened on the hardwood floor and not my new rug!"

2. Prepare for battle by promptly removing my trendy, drapey, cashmere cardigan (who was I kidding when I bought that?!) as I know that it could quickly become covered in baby poop.

3. Grab the camera to document this...

Because you either document to share with your husband (and blog land) and get a good laugh, or you might cry!

4. Carry the soiled child to the nearest tile floor and remove clothing CAREFULLY! Pat yourself on the back if you can remove his shirt without smearing poop in his hair. 

5. Do damage control with wipes and then haul ass to the nearest bathtub. 

Oh, and here is a tip. If you leave your camera out after documenting the poop incident, be aware that your oldest child may feel the need to take a few self portraits while you are cleaning up the youngest child. 

Yeah, that face pretty much says what I was thinking about this whole situation!

A Great Weekend

This past weekend was beautiful! The weather felt like springtime and we enjoyed it so much. We did the playground on Friday afternoon, a play date on Saturday where everyone got to run around outside, and on Sunday we went on a family bike ride. I cannot wait for the warm weather to become a permanent thing!