Why We Love Aunt J

One of the boys' favorite things to do is hang out with their Aunt J. (My sister, Jessie, for those of you who don't know.) She is all about being goofy and having fun and they love it!

Sunday was her birthday (yes, she is our April Fool), and so on Friday Liam and I spent the morning with her doing some fun stuff. First we made a stop to buy Liam a pair of Crocs. He has been wanting a pair like Noah's and I was finally able to find a pair in his size that was an acceptable color. He immediately wanted to wear them so J and I obliged, changing his shoes in the parking lot. Of course, he has a weird obsession with wearing socks - he hates to be barefoot - and so refused to wear his new crocs without his socks. I was adamantly opposed to him wearing socks with crocs, but Aunt J over ruled me and declared that if it kept him happy, she would allow him to keep his socks on. I told her she could pretend he was her child. So she did.

After that we headed to get frozen yogurt at the birthday girl's favorite place: Menchie's. Liam was very happy that it was Aunt J's birthday and he got to indulge in yogurt with candy on top.

And then later, during some more shopping, Liam was also very happy when he managed to con Aunt J into letting him ride on one the race car at the mall. I had lied and told him I had no quarters... So he turned on the charm and Aunt J was putty in his hands. She busted out her quarters, no questions asked.

It was a very fun morning and Liam was more than ready to sleep when nap time rolled around.

On Sunday, J and her boyfriend Brett, came over to celebrate with the whole family. We did lunch and then Liam helped her blow out the candles on her cake. (25, she is sooooo old.)

After lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the backyard. J and Brett entertained the boys for a long time playing tag, and kickball and racing.

That evening Liam was so tired, all we he could do was collapse in a chair and watch Thomas The Train on the iPad.

Can you tell why my boys love their Aunt so much?! I know they wish every weekend was Aunt J's birthday!

Friday Facts

1. My week has been so busy that I just realized my last blog post was 7 days ago. What is the deal with that?! (Well, I'll tell you what the deal with that is: kids, cleaning, groceries, homework, soccer, putting Liam in time out. All things that take up a huge chunk of my time.)

2. On Tuesday I got the chance to chaperon my first field trip with Noah's class. I joined all 4 kindergarten classes and rode the bus to Caw Caw Interpretive Center to explore nature. Noah's class is doing a unit on bugs and Caw Caw was the perfect place to experience bugs. (Seriously, we were attacked by gnats and mosquitoes all morning.) They also got to go on nature walks where they saw snakes, bugs, frogs, and even several alligators. Most of the alligators were babies but we did experience a rather big guy on one of our walks. We were strolling, and I was chatting with Noah's teacher, when all the sudden she gasped and pointed. The line of children stopped and we all stared in awe - and a little fear - at this guy.

And, just for giggles, here is a picture of Noah wearing his honey bee mask. Immediately after this the class did a "Bee dance" which turned into all the boys in the class running around like fools while the girls danced. Typical.

The field trip was such a fun experience for me! Noah was so excited that I came and held my hand everywhere we went. He was also really stoked to get to sit by me on the bus and even fell asleep in my lap on the drive back to school. I am soaking it all up now because I am sure that the day is coming when he will not want a thing to do with me in front of his friends.

Oh, and while I was with Noah, Liam got to go to school and then play with his buddy Harper until I got home. This meant he had no nap at all. Well, this is what happens at 5pm on a day when you've had no nap and played hard with friends.

3. Speaking of Liam. That child is lucky he made it all the way to Friday without me losing my mind. Even though his birthday is not until next month, I have gone ahead and diagnosed him as having a case of Early Onset Terrible Twos. The symptoms are as follows: Screaming, crying, fits of anger and rage, throwing random objects at people's heads, jumping off of furniture, ubiquitous use of the word No, refusing to do anything I ask, and generally being a royal pain in the ass. At this time, there are no known cures.

4. The weather here as been AMAZING! Highs in the 80's and sunshine. I am getting a serious taste in my mouth for summer. I am having visions of the pool and the beach and refreshing beverages and no schedule to follow. Can. Not.Wait.

5. Yesterday, I almost had a mental breakdown - for many reasons - and so I headed to yoga to de-stress myself. Instead of feeling all calm and focused though, I spent half the class trying not to crack up. I was standing next to this guy, and at first I though he was a super serious yogi. (Usually, the length of a man's shorts will tell you how serious he is about his practice, and this guy had on some seriously short shorts.) However, as soon as class started he was wobbling and fidgeting, and falling over, and chugging water in a serious way. (FYI, all things that are NOT the signs of a yoga master.) Then he just kept flopping on his mat in exhaustion and just laying there, through 2 or 3 postures at a time. He was almost like a Saturday Night Live character or something. I decided that God was trying to tell me that what I needed at the end of my stressful day was a good laugh. Well, mission accomplished.

6. Four words for you: The Hunger Games movie. Bam! Who else is going this weekend?

Spring Has Sprung - So We Chased A Leprechaun

I was in the car driving earlier this week (who knows where I was going - I drive a lot!) and I noticed that all of the sudden the world seemed very vivid. Like we had gone from regular TV to high definition. And then I realized why. The grass was green. The azaleas were blooming and the Bradford Pears were sprouting their white flowers. Overnight spring had sprung. And that can only mean one thing. Life is about to get crazy! This week was no exception.

You would think a Monday morning at the start of a busy week would feel daunting but it didn't. Want to know why? 'Cause of our new Monday morning play date thank you very much. My friends Lisa and Katy and I have been getting together with the little kids while the big ones are in school. We have coffee - and some sort of yummy breakfast treat - and chat while the kids play. It is the best way to begin the week!

Harper, Liam and Connor enjoy their very own yummy breakfast treat - Fruit Loops!

We rounded our Monday evening out with soccer practice and then I went to my ballet class. 

Tuesday was the usual stuff. I start my grocery store rounds on Tuesday - Trader Joe's and my CSA pick up - while Liam is in school. Then it's lunch, nap, school pick up, homework, dinner, and rush out the door to small group. Where Noah promptly discovered Cheese Puffs. He refused to try avocado at dinner that night, but hand him a bright orange puffy treat (that isn't really a food at all) and he is all about it. I give up with that child.

Wednesday was more of the same. More groceries - and more Liam demanding cookies while in said grocery store. Cleaning my house, more homework. And one very hard yoga class at 7:15 that night. For some reason doing 90 minutes of hot yoga that late at night just makes me want to roll over and die. 

I spent Thursday morning clothes shopping for Noah while Liam was at school. Poor Noah has had a growth spurt (Not in weight - just height. Don't worry, you can still count his ribs.) and none of his summer clothes fit. The weather has been so warm here that he was attempting to wear some short sleeve tops from last year, and was walking out the door looking like a street urchin every morning. Seriously, crop top anyone? (Oh, and he is also really into putting gel in his hair now. He likes to spike it up into a "faux-hawk". So he was basically rocking a faux hawk and a polo shirt that looked like a crop top. It was not a good look. At least I can do something about the ill-fitting shirts. I'm not sure there is anything to be done about the faux hawk.)

And then, last night, Wes and I chased a leprechaun. 

Well, we ran a 5K called "Catch The Leprechaun 5K". Noah informed us that we would have to be really speedy because Leprechauns are really fast and super tricky. He also seemed to think there was a lot we could do with that pot of gold, so we were sent to the race with one assignment. Catch the tricky bastard. 

We meant up with our friends Brandy and Joe and lined up behind the bagpipers and the "Leprechaun". When the guy dressed as the leprechaun took his head start pushing a jogging stroller and taunting the crowd I knew there was no way I would catch him. I informed Wes that getting the pot of gold was all up to him. Sadly, the stroller pushing leprechaun was faster than both of us so we did not get a pot of gold. But we did find some post race beer!

Oh, and I have to include this next picture so you can see how festive we were.

Check out our socks! And it's hard to see, but we were wearing little shamrock headbands. And just in case you were wondering, I was not responsible for any of this festive stuff. Brandy was the one who went to Party City and Target ahead of time and stocked up on green gear for the race. She is so organized! Had it been up to me, I would have spent 3 days thinking, I have no green running gear and then thirty minutes before the race, gone to my closet, opened it up and been very upset because no green running gear had magically appeared. I love having friends who take care of me!

And now it is Friday. The week has flown by and I am ready to relax with the fam over the weekend. But first, I must attend Noah's school for a kindergarten performance. Noah singing and dancing on stage - is there anything better? I think not!

A Grown Up Birthday Party

The weeks have been flying in our house. Soccer has started again, and it just feels as though we seem to have something going on almost every night. It's enough to make you want to stay home and hibernate when Friday rolls around.

Unless of course there is a surprise birthday party for your friend Denise. Then you put all thoughts of hibernating aside, hire a baby sitter and head over to the coolest place in town to hang with some awesome people and celebrate a sweet friend.

                                              Jan, Lisa, the Birthday Girl, me, and Katy

Denise's husband (Brian) and her brother (Derek) own D.D. Peckers on hwy 17. It is a wing place/bar and it was the perfect place to party for Denise's birthday. (A side note... Even I, the self affirmed vegetarian, eat the wings when I am there. So good!) Everyone had a blast eating, talking, and hanging out. Many thanks to Brian and Derek for hosting us all - and providing the great refreshments.

No, I was not totally hammered, even though I appear to be in this group shot.

Oh, and there may or may not have been some dancing.

Let's just say that even thought the live entertainment was of the combat boot wearing, guitar strumming variety - and refused to do "happy" songs - we made it work. You can do the electric slide to any song if you really put your mind to it! Our moves were even good enough to entice Jeff to join us on the dance floor.

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No, not Wes. He doesn't dance in public.

Happy Birthday Denise, we love ya! (Oh, and next time we will surprise you at High Cotton!)

Scenes From Yesterday

Yesterday went by in a blur. Actually the first half of the week did - how is it Wednesday already? Some weeks are just like that I guess.

I didn't do anything all that exciting yesterday but I did take advantage of the fact that The Diva (aka, Liam, the one who has recently decided to throw fits about everything, thus earning him the nickname Diva) was at MMO and I had the morning free to run errands all by myself. I love that kid more than I can say, but he makes any outing so difficult these days. Basking in the freedom to shop without random temper tantrums I hit up Trader Joe's first and loaded up on most of our groceries for the week. I am more and more impressed with that store every time I go. So many cool products at great prices. After that, I hit up Target for a few items - and of course I left with several things that were not on my list.

As you can see, my trunk contained more than one Target bag. I stocked up on really important things like a new hair straightener, new shorts for the boys, chap stick, art supplies to make Noah a costume for Dr. Seuss Day at school (don't ask what I am going to make, I am not sure yet. I am so not that crafty Mom.) Oh and one other completely unnecessary but wonderful item.

Season 7 of Weeds on DVD. I think I actually squealed with delight when I saw it.

After Target I headed over to pick up our weekly CSA vegetables. It made me smile to look at all the pretty colors in our bag this week.

Kale, beets, carrots, and rainbow chard. Not sure what I am going to make with the rainbow chard but whatever it is, I know it will be pretty!

I finally picked up Liam and we headed home for lunch and nap time. Then it was straight to the carpool line to get Noah from school. When we got home it was such a beautiful day that we couldn't resist walking down the street to see some of our friends who were outside playing. Hannah and Connor - or "Han-no and Conny" as Liam calls them, were nice enough to share their toys with us.

The above is a picture of The Diva throwing a fit because he is not good at skateboarding.

Finally, we finished off the night by going to our new small group for Bible study. I never like having to settle into a group with a ton of new people that I don't know, but this group is super friendly and welcoming so they made it easy. I also enjoyed discussing the topic of worship. The idea that worship is the act of presenting yourself to something. Humans are made to worship - we all do it. The question is, what are we presenting ourselves to. What are worshiping? More importantly, what am I worshipping in my life? I'd like to say it is always God but that would not be the truth. Sometimes it's my family or material possessions (read the above paragraph about the Target trip) that I worship. Sometimes I find myself worshipping a clean house and well behaved children or diet and exercise. There are so many things we can give ourselves over to that are not God. It's nice to read scripture and be reminded that I need to present myself to God in all aspects of my life. And that I have the ability to do that not because I am such a good person - I'm not - but because he has brought me from death to life through the grace of His son Jesus.

And I think the above lesson will be really applicable to me right now as I deal with my little Diva. Instead of the frustration and anger that come naturally to me when I experience his tantrums, I want to try and see my being a mother as an act of worship to God. I hope that I can show my children love and grace the way I am called to.

And it looks like I can start right now. The Diva is currently screaming while throwing trains across the room because he cannot get them hooked together to go across his track. Deep breath...Here goes!

Recent Happenings

1. Last weekend Noah had a 4 day holiday, so on Friday my sister and I took the boys to the Aquarium. The boys loved going on an outing with Aunt J and we got lots of cute pictures. And some not so cute ones. Liam makes posing for pictures very frustrating.

See that look on my face in that last picture? You try and take a picture with Liam and your face will look like that too.

2. The best part of the holiday weekend? Wes and the boys went to the lake to see my in-laws, which meant I was home BY MYSELF for 2 whole days!!! I got to do so many things: Clean my house, go shopping alone, drink wine with friends, do my long run, go to yoga, hang with my sister while eating delicious desserts, and drink more wine with more friends. I also got to stay up late reading in my bed and then sleep in the next morning. It was bliss!

3. This is my new favorite meal.

Roasted vegetables and chickpeas over quinoa with a little seasoning and olive oil. So good! And it is so simple to make. And it makes a ton so we have leftovers for lunches the next day. Yum!

4. Liam came home from the his weekend away with a case of Croup. He was up all Monday night barking like a seal. The doctor has given us a dose of steroids to help calm the inflammation in his throat and last night he already seemed a little better. (Good thing my new favorite meal includes a shit ton of veggies - maybe all the magical veggie nutrients will keep me from getting his virus!)

5. I got my hair cut yesterday.

I know that looks like a mug shot but I felt stupid smiling for it. Whatever. Anyway, want to know how I knew it was time for a haircut? On Super Bowl Sunday, at my friends' party, I kept accidentally dipping the ends of my hair into my margarita. Nothing says get a haircut quite like sticky, tequila soaked split ends.

6. Noah is the cutest. His new thing these days is that he likes to buy me flowers. (And by that I mean that he likes to pick them out and then have us pay for them of course.) Yesterday he picked out this bouquet.

The picture quality is terrible but you can see my main point - which is that he picked out the dyed daisies that include an electric blue color. He was so excited about them though, and he carried them around Publix while we shopped declaring how much I was going to love them. So, as any good mom would do, I put those electric blue flowers in a place of honor in my living room and told him I thought they were beautiful! And you know what? They totally are. I love that kid :)

A Tutorial

On how to eat a donut.... By Liam Shealy.