Another Great Weekend!

What a fabulous weekend!

 

Friday night I just played outside with the kids when I got home from work.  John was in Bristol and there was nothing pressing we needed to do.  The bad thing was that I was so tired and just didn’t have any energy.  We were going to order pizza, but I decided to make BLTs instead.  I went in and cooked dinner while my parents watched the kids play.
 

After dinner my dad volunteered to stay with Colton while he slept and Josh and ryan and I went on a bike ride (Kylie was at Rachel’s).  Ryan has been really into riding his bike lately (thank goodness because I thought the kid would never want to learn how), but he hadn’t been farther than our court.  We wanted to go and check out the next extension of our bike path, so I walked/jogged by Ryan while Josh rode ahead.  I was so proud of Ryan – he made it all the way up through the new phase of the neighborhood, down the new bike path, and then through the dirt where they haven’t paved yet (I was pushing him there).  It was a fun activity and I felt a lot better afterwards.  That night, Josh and Ryan laid in bed with me for a while watching TV, and then Ryan wanted to go up to his bed, so I took him up.  Josh fell asleep with me watching the Bears game :)
 

The next morning Colton let me sleep until 8:00, which was nice.  We got up and played around the house and I decided that I was going to be brave and take all of the kids to the pool.  Thankfully for me, my dad volunteered to stay back with Colton so he could nap.  So Josh, Ryan, my mom and I headed out to get Kylie and head to the pool.  The kids had a blast playing and it was good to be in the sun again!  We were there from 11:30 until about 3:45 (with Ryan going home during that time for a nap) – a great afternoon!

 

When we got home, I got ready and then got the kids ready and when my sister got there, we all (including my parents) headed over to Easton for dinner, shopping and playing in the fountains.  I was worried about Colton because he hadn’t napped all day!  My dad had laid him down a couple of times and I had tried right when we got home, but nothing!  He didn’t even fall asleep on the ½ hour drive over there (but the two older kids did!).

 

We had a great dinner at Abuelo’s and my sister was able to get the items she needed from the Container Store.  Colton was amazing!  He was in a great mood and ate a good amount of my enchiladas!  Then we walked through the mall area over to the fountains.  Josh, Ryan and Colton ran through them.  It was getting dark and I thought it was very chilly, but the boys didn’t mind :)  After they were done, we changed clothes and went to Barnes and Noble for some books.  The kids had a great time looking at books (Ky and Josh) and playing with the Thomas set up (Ryan and Colton), or “Thomas choo-choos” as Colton calls them :)  After that we went home (again, Colton did not fall asleep in the car!) and the kids crashed into bed at 10:00.

 

Sunday morning we got up and went to church.  It was weird being there without John.  After church we came home and three of us took a nap (Colton, Ryan and me :) ).  Then it was off to the grocery store and came home to John being back!  We only got a couple of hours with him because he had to go and start the move of his office :(  But we had a great dinner of burgers and corn on the cobb!  Then it was homework and bed time for kiddos!

 

A fun weekend and of course, it was great to get John back!

 

First Day of School 2012...



First day of school 2012 :)

Wednesday morning we woke up at our normal time and got ready just like we would on any other normal workday.  But instead of heading out the door for a day of meetings and clients, we whipped up pancake batter and fired up the griddles.

It was time for the third annual Cakes on the Court Pancake Breakfast!  So we headed outside, along with several neighbor families and had a great time of socializing and eating breakfast.  The weather was gorgeous and the kids had a blast, as usual.  Kylie continued her tradition of asking if it was time to leave about 30 minutes before it was time to leave :)

At around 8:45 AM all of the kids headed off with their parents following close behind.  We all went into the school and then branched off as each kid entered their classroom.

We dropped Josh off first…the big, bad second grader!  A quick hug and picture and he was done with us :)  Then it was over to the fourth grade hallway for Kylie.  Fourth graders get lockers :)  At open house a couple of days before she had brought all of her stuff in and decorated her locker with a purple theme.  Her decorations ranged from dry-erase boards to a locker rug :)  She also got to practice her combination a lot so she was very confident she’d be able to do on the first day of school.  A quick hug and a few pictures with her and she was ready to start her day.

John, my dad and I walked back to the house, cleaned up our breakfast stuff, and got ready for our day at home.  John went out to mow, I put Colton down for a nap, and Ryan and I played baseball in the basement.  After Colton woke up, two hours later, we all headed to the mall because Colton needed new shoes (it amazes me that after have two boys already, I didn’t have any shoes from size 6 to size 8).  Our parenting really shone through when he measured a size 7 and we had him in size 5 ½ shoes, so to compensate, we let him get extremely obnoxious Spiderman light-up shoes :)  She walks around, well, actually stomps around, saying “piaman.”

After the shoes we went to lunch (nothing like an outdoor lunch with two handsome little men and sharing two margaritas with one handsome big man!) and then let the kids play in the play area for a few minutes.  One more quick stop to get John some shoes and we were headed home.  I put the two boys down for a nap and then my dad and I headed out to pick Ky and Josh up from school.  When we got home, John and I sat on our front porch just enjoying the gorgeous weather!  We were joined by my parents, and then later, our neighbors.  It was a fabulous ending to a fabulous day!



 

Week/Weekend Recap...

Another crazy busy week/weekend!

Last week I was in Atlanta for part of the week again, so that made it go by fast.  While I was in Atlanta for the past 2 months, John had a habit of taking the kids to BW3s on Thursday nights to eat and play trivia.  So it was nice when I got back into town last Thursday night to be able to join them in their weekly activity.

Friday night was a wonderful night of playing outside and hanging out with the neighbors.  After everyone went in for dinner around 7:45, our crazy family headed out for dinner :)  Since I hadn’t been home all week, we didn’t have much dinner material in the house, and John didn’t feel like cleaning up.  So we headed down to Max and Erma’s.  Let me tell you, that was one of the best family dinner experiences that I have had with our whole family.  Colton was in a fabulous mood and the other kids were great!  And we had a great server, which of course makes all the difference.  We came home, put the kids to bed and crashed!

Saturday morning I got up and Ryan and I headed out with the two neighbors and their youngest kids that are Ryan’s age to Yutzy’s and Dings and Dents.  I can’t explain how good it felt to be shopping for food for the family knowing that I was going to be there!  We had a great morning out and even got to stop at a Farmer’s Market close by the house to get some fresh fruit and veggies.  It was fabulous!

When we got home I made lunch and then we sat outside for a while.  Suzie was coming into town to celebrate her birthday and when she got there, she, Kylie and I headed to the mall.  Kylie needed some clothes for school and also some shoes.  It was a great afternoon of shopping and girl time :)  After our shopping trip we rushed back and then headed out for a dinner out with everyone.

Dinner was good and the kids were good (Colton got bored fairly early but what’s new?).  After dinner we headed to Jeni’s ice cream and then walked over to the city playground/splash pad.  It was beautiful out and again, a lot of fun.  After dinner we headed home so that Suzie could open her presents and then hung out for a while.

Sunday we had church (we’re doing a series on parenting by Andy Stanley and I LOVE it!) and then came home.  We did some things around the house and then John and watched the movie Unstoppable which I hadn’t seen yet.  After that we played with the kiddos and then had dinner.  It felt so good to cook again!  To go that long without meal planning or cooking was killing me!  And to make it even better, during dinner John said “real food…it’s good to have you back!” :)  We finished the night off with some conditioning led by Kylie and then milkshakes.  The kids were in bed fairly early as we get ready for the start of school this week, so John and I had some time to watch tv and hang out.  That is the ONE thing I like about the kids being in school (not much else…I love summer :) ) – John and I get time together at night since they need to be in bed earlier.

Tonight we have open house at the school and then our third annual Cakes on the Court for the first day of school breakfast.  John and I have both taken off the first day of school, so I’m looking forward to a nice day with him and the little boys – last year was so much fun!  And the weather is supposed to gorgeous this week, so that will be awesome!  Only downside to this week is John leaves for his annual Bristol trip Thursday :(  Of course after 2 months of me being gone he totally deserves it, but we’re still going to miss him!

I'm Back!!!

Wow, where the heck have I been? It has been months since I’ve written here and I feel horrible about it. That’s months of our lives that I will forget in about…oh wait, I’ve already forgotten :(

So the biggest thing that has happened in our lives, and the thing that has caused me to be MIA for so long is that I got a new job. I had been happy and content with my old job, but someone from Wendy’s contacted me and the position offered more opportunities and more money, so I couldn’t turn it down. The one downside has been that I had to travel to Atlanta for a while because the accounting functions were being transitioned from there back up to here. So I was down there for four weeks and will be down there for a couple more days this week, and then the travel should be done!

Outside of the new job we have had Little League, swim lessons, joining a pool, Kylie switching to a new gym for gymnastics, my sister graduated her residency program, Kylie was in my cousin’s wedding, VBS, birthdays and anniversaries. It has been a busy summer for us! I am hoping now that I will somewhat be in a routine here in the office where I live that I’ll be able to get back into the habit of updating almost daily. I don’t want to forget these moments!