'Round Here

T- minus 3 days until the official start of Spring Break. I cannot wait!

Things have been pretty crazy around here - hence the no blogging - so I will try to catch you up on the happenings over the last several days.

So... The weather. Towards the end of last week all the pretty sunshine and warmness disappeared and the temperature went ape shit crazy cold. Since there could be no playing outside on Friday afternoon we took the opportunity to go check out a new restaurant here in West Ashley. Mex 1 Coastal Cantina was great! We grabbed Lisa and all the kids, and had a pretty chill dining experience. (Well, as chill as dining with 4 children can be!) The atmosphere was fun, the food was fresh and yummy, and the drinks were top notch. I had the jalapeno margarita - amazing!

Saturday Wes went to work while the boys and I spent the rainy morning lounging in our PJ's. It was just what we needed to recharge our batteries. And then, we were lucky that the rain let up just long enough for a Lowcountry Boil at our friends' house down the street. We had a great time hanging out with everybody. Maybe a bit too great of a time - ha! For some reason us girls had a hard time figuring out how to take a decent group picture. Here are several of the outtakes...

Not sure we ever really got a good shot that night. Oh well, what we did get gave me some good laughs!

Sunday was another low-key day that we spent hanging out at the house doing chores and relaxing. I was also very proud of the fact that I took advantage of the 2 hour rain free window to fit in my planned 5 mile run. I am not proud of the fact that while running I kept slipping in the slimy mud around the neighborhood and almost bit the dust several times. Good thing that there are very few occupied houses in that section of the neighborhood!

And now it is another Monday - but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Spring Break here we come!!

Thursday Thoughts

Thursday already huh? Our week has been jammed packed and is flying by fast. Here is a brief summary of what we have been up to...

~ Lots of time in the car (as usual) driving around to school pick-ups, soccer practice, and running errands.

~ We have also had some fun too! A couple of play dates already, one in particular that included warm temperatures AND some good friends who were in town to visit.

We have not seen the Brunson family since they moved to Birmingham last summer. It was very good to catch up, even if it was just for a short visit, and we hope we get to see them again sooner rather than later. (PS, I crack up at Caleb in this picture. He was not feeling the photo shoot!)

~ Liam had Grandparent's Day at his preschool. This involved me helping corral a whole stage of 2-4 year olds and trying not to laugh out loud as I watched Liam (very seriously) execute the hand motions to his class's song. We also enjoyed some time with Bebe, Grampy Marv, Nana and Pops who all came to see the special day. Here is the only pic I have - Liam and his cousin Gemma leaving the stage after the show.

Phew! I guess that's all.... For now. There are still 2 days left in the week. Am off to begin another busy day.

Oh, and while I don't like to "preach" on my blog, I found this quote the other day and I can't help but post it. Recent interactions with several people have made me want to scream out the following....

I know, I know... But seriously, it shouldn't. That is my little piece of wisdom for today :)

Bring On Spring

So I am going to jump straight into this weekend's happenings and completely gloss over the fact that I kind of suck at blogging. OK?

If the leprechauns had been watching they would have had a golden opportunity for some pinching here in the Shealy family. None of us managed to wear any green today - unless you count my nails. We DID manage to celebrate St. Paddy's day, we just started a wee bit early this year.

On Thursday, Wes and I joined our friend Lisa and headed over to the bridge to run the Catch The Leprechaun 5K. We did manage to catch him this year (if only because he stopped to taunt people) and had a good time doing it. The post race beer wasn't quite as enjoyable because as soon as the sun set the temperature dropped into the 40's. Boo. Cold and sweaty do not mix. So we snapped some pics and headed out to Kickin Chicken for some yummy fried treats.

And just to prove I don't take myself too seriously, here is a picture of my running get-up in all it's green glory.

Oh, and to Lisa, my sincere apologies. I am not sure why I made this face while talking to you. I hope I don't look like that all the time. (If I do, lie and say I don't.)

What else?? Oh yeah. We did a Friday park play date which was double the fun because the warm weather found us! AND it stayed all weekend. Wes and I took advantage of it on Saturday evening by dropping the boys off with Bebe, and heading over to Red's Ice House to enjoy the views of the sunshine and water. The boys stayed the night at Bebe's and had a blast playing at the park. Especially when Grampy Marv consented to race them.

Wes and I spent the rest of the weekend doing some chores around the house, and then braving the sales at the outlet mall to invest in some new spring clothing. Poor Noah had 2 pair of shorts that actually fit, and all Liam's short sleeves looked like crop tops. Of course, I couldn't manage to get out of Saks without finding something I loved.

I am taking the warmer weather as a sign that it is time to put away my gray sweaters and dark denim, and bust out the spring colors. These pants should do the trick :)

Very excited to get this week started - there are only 9 school days left until Spring Break. Wahoo!!

Weekend Happenings

Remember in my last post when I promised to be back with a "Fun Friday" post? Well, oops, hate to have disappointed you, but my Friday post would not have been very fun. Why? Well, it could be because I was stuck at home with two boys who had (wait for it)... Scarlet Fever. Seriously.

That sounds more dramatic than it actually was. All Scarlet Fever really is, is strep throat with an accompanying rash. I just like the sound of it - makes being sick seem a bit fancier :) Anyway, we have been housebound since about Thursday loading up on antibiotics and resting. After being cooped up with the sick twins, I was very excited on Friday evening when Wes game home bearing gifts for me.

I. Love. Weeds. Seriously one of my favorite shows. We watched several episodes that night while sipping a yummy glass of red.

 Wes and I did manage to get a TON of stuff done around the house on Saturday. We cleaned out/sorted/organized every toy upstairs, and ended up with 10 bags of stuff to either donate or trash. After that we spent the rest of the day rearranging some furniture to make the playroom more functional. Oh, and we finally dismantled the crib. Liam has only been out of it for a year now, no big deal. We are totally on top of things!

On Sunday we chilled at home - one last day to get those immune systems back up and running. The boys slept in a bit, and then we stayed in our PJ's while enjoying time in our newly organized upstairs. (It is a little ridiculous how happy an organized room makes me.) We played a few rounds of Skip-Bo with Noah and he kicked my tail. Liam was interested in the card game for about 5 minutes before he promptly wandered off to go do something else.... Which turned out to be grabbing random weapons and attacking us while we played. Nothing like 3 people concentrating on cards while the little guy furiously runs in circles growling and hurling swords and daggers at us. Good times - I had to stop and document his antics.

Also, I had a 6 mile run planned for yesterday afternoon and I was becoming a bit concerned because I had been eating a lot of this...

So I took some inspiration from Natalie at Designer Bags and Dirty Diapers and made this yummy lunch to fuel my run.

It was really delicious and it worked! A windy, cold 6-miler done and checked off the list!

And, now it's back to the grind. Even though this morning may have been the most freezing cold morning yet, Monday has still been going pretty well. I am grateful to have the boys back to feeling healthy, the sun is shining, and fun plans for this weekend are already in the works. Here's to a great week!