Weekending.

The theme of our weekend would have to be: LAZY. We slept more than we've slept in weeks...and then we slept some more. I guess that's what you do when it's your first weekend of summer? Or that's what parents do? Anyway...

We went out to eat with some friends on Friday. Mexican, of course! It was really good {which surprised us since Eddie and I aren't fans of this particular Mexican place} and we enjoyed visiting. We stayed out until after midnight and slept in until after 9 on Saturday morning. The boys spent the night with Grandmama and Granddaddy and after some fun with them on Saturday morning, they came home.

The only other excitement {or movement, since we spent the other parts of the weekend lounging!} was that we went to church and Sunday School. Wooohooo! It was my turn to do a lesson and we did Daniel {we're grasping at straws at this point in the year - we've finished our Sunday School books but haven't started the summer schedule so we're doing some fun things for a few weeks}. The kids got a kick out of it because we got to pretend and my boys and girls are BIG on doing "plays." They just like to have a part and that they get to move around. We also made lions {please don't pay attention to their pitiful faces...I am no artist} and did stickers. All a hit at this age!

{King Nebuchadnezzar, a lion, Daniel, and an angel.}

We've started our new summer schedule this morning. We HAVE to have a schedule or we'll all go crazy. We were up and at 'em before 7:30 so we ate breakfast and got in a quick slow run before 9. It is SO MUCH COOLER before 9! Will and I usually don't go until 9:15 or so since James gets dropped off at 9. This is going to make a HUGE difference!

We have our last t-ball game tonight and a banquet tomorrow night. One last church supper on Wednesday night. Everything is wrapping up this week. The week doesn't look all that busy and I'm SO glad!

Weekending.

We had another good weekend! We had NOTHING on the calendar for this weekend which is the last time that will happen for a WHILE.

Friday after his "nap" {he didn't take one}, James called Cacky to come and pick him up. She and Kayla came by to get him and they went to McDonald's. Here's an interesting thing about me - if I have to eat McDonald's meat, I'd rather not eat. I don't like their hamburgers or chicken. I'll eat their milkshakes/ice cream and french fries, but that is IT. Blech. But my boys like it, as does my mama, so off they went to get a Happy Meal snack. Why a Happy Meal at snacktime? Because they have SPIDERMAN toys right now and we're apparently trying to collect them all. So far, we have THREE. Thank goodness. {I can still remember collecting the Little Mermaid toys when I was in kindergarten. I can remember even back then ONLY liking their cheeseburgers - NEVER their McNuggets.} James wound up spending the night with Cacky and spent the whole day Saturday at her house so we were down to one child for half the weekend. The three of us grilled burgers on Friday night and watched a movie together. Eddie and I fell asleep and when I woke up at 11pm Will was still wide awake sitting with Eddie. Whoops!

Saturday morning Eddie and I went for a bike ride around the neighborhood. I think it was the first time Eddie has pulled the trailer {it's been a while since we've ridden, obviously} and I think he was surprised by how tough it was and it was just Will! We only went for a short ride - a little under 5 miles - but it was fun and we'll do it again soon! Will enjoyed it!

Sunday afternoon James and I went to the church's children's musical. James had asked to go {he loves singing!} and he sat still through the whole thing but was tired and hungry by the end for sure. It was such a cute musical! They did a great job and I cannot BELIEVE James will be in it next year.

Grandmama made JAMES a chocolate pie on Sunday. He was sweet to share with the rest of us.

This little stinker decided to reorganize my purse. Not sure why socks were in it, but there they are.

Our caterpillars have changed already! They are all {except the little unhealthy - but still living - one} chrysalides. {Listen, I always thought it was a cocoon or a chrysallis, but this is what it says on the information. Andplusalso I thought that they WRAPPED themselves in something and were inside the chrysalid...they're not - they TRANSFORM INTO a chrysalid. Clearly, science is not my best subject.}

Y'all have a great week!

The Doctor, House Projects, and Date Night.

Weekends fly by so quickly, don't they? I really feel like since I've had children the days just FLY by. Slow down the growing up!!!

Will was sick from Monday-Saturday. He was just pitiful. I took him to the doc-in-a-box here in town on Wednesday, but then just to be safe we saw our regular pediatrician on Friday. Will has had an enlarged lymph node behind his ear since at least June. I wasn't worried about it until this week when he started running fever. Dr. W. pricked Will's finger and they checked things out for us on Friday. His white blood cell count was low, but still in the normal range. Everything else looked FINE so we chalked it up to him having a viral infection. Poor buddy. Dr. W. told me to expect a rash and that he'd be well by the end of the weekend. Sure enough, rash on Saturday, feeling find on Sunday! Hallelujah! I'm so thankful he feels well, but I'm also thankful that this illness didn't come with a cough and runny nose - and only one instance of throwing up. Whew!

The following picture is not a true representation of our time at Dr. W.'s office:

It looked more like this. Yes, he is laying in the floor of the DOCTOR'S OFFICE. No, I was not embarrassed. Yes, he was mad because I wouldn't let him go into the hall and/or turn off the lights in the room and/or close the door. They were SO sad to see us go after our appointment.

But that little wild man started eating and drinking again on Friday afternoon (hallelujah!) so I didn't stay frustrated with him for long.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early so that some workers could come to our house. We're having a bunch of things done over the next week. Eddie and Mr. Tommy and two "handy men" got to work on Saturday. They pressure washed the whole house, painted the back of our house (we have three-sides brick), replaced all of the screens on the windows, replaced our backdoor, re-caulked the bathtub and shower in the master bathroom, mudded all the holes in our house from misplaced nails and dings from doors, etc., and got things looking in better shape. We're also having our roof replaced this week. They worked hard in the heat!

Will and I did what we do best - read and shopped. (James was off making snow cones and bowling with Grandmama. Rough life.)

Sunday we made plans for dinner with some of our best friends. It's been fun to have more friend-gatherings this summer. This time it was just one other couple. We met at Logan's (we choose this often when we're out alone because James can't eat there with us) and had the best time chatting and catching up on life.

We've been pretty busy this week already. Swimming (Will is a HUGE fan!), the zoo, and some travels. Summer is quickly coming to an end. Boohooo! The boys go back to school in two weeks. I am a little sad, but I'm also pretty excited to have a ROUTINE. This has been the wildest, craziest summer ever and I am ready to have a schedule, a routine, and a few weekends of just the four of us!

Books, Sweet Visits, and the Lake

We had the most fun weekend! I wish every weekend was like this past one, but if they were we'd never get anything accomplished. :)

Friday evening the boys and I picked Eddie up from work and headed to our town's annual Old Book Sale. We've been three years in a row and it's never disappointed. I always come away with a number of goodies and this year was no exception:

I've read Bridget Jones before but saw it and thought it'd be a fun summer re-read. I've never read any of the others but they'll all be in my summer stack. I'm assuming I'll have lots of reading time, huh? ;)

The boys were {generally} well-behaved. James lost interest about five minutes in but the iPhone kept him distracted for the most part. I wondered to myself what we did before iPhones but then I realized that back in the dark ages children actually HAD TO BEHAVE. I think we need a technology intervention at my house. *sigh*

Saturday morning we got up and showered and dressed and packed and headed to meet YaYa for lunch. James had big plans on Saturday and Sunday with YaYa and Papa. We had our Cinco de Mayo meal at lunch and it was delish. After we waved goodbye to James, Eddie, Will and I headed to run a few errands.

After our errand-running we stopped by my aunt's house to visit with Aunt Susie, Uncle George, and my cousins, Diane and Susana. Oh, I love to visit with them! It has been so much fun to live closer to them now than I ever have. We are able to get together with them for more than just our Christmas gatherings and I love it. Susana is a great babysitter and when we need one (which isn't often with three sets of grandparents), she's the one we usually call!

A Sam's trip was scheduled after our family visit. Eddie and I honestly love to browse around Sam's. We haven't taken James since he's been big enough to actually know where we are, but the two of us have always loved to go and look. Isn't that the strangest thing? Eddie's favorite thing is when they have all of the samples out but there weren't any to be had on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night we almost decided not to go out and do anything and then we realized that would be crazy because we could have a meal without saying, "Sit down. Stop touching that. Please don't throw your crayons. I don't know what that is. I'm not sure why that lady is wearing that. Please use your fork. Etc. Etc. Etc." So we went and had dinner at Mellow Mushroom and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Sunday morning we skipped church and headed to join Papa, YaYa, and James in the fun they were having. We were Lake Oconee bound! We had a great day being lazy inside and riding the boat. Although, if it's this darn hot at the beginning of May I'm scared for July and August. If we weren't cruising pretty swiftly in the boat it was scorching!

Does anyone else wind up with these kinds of pictures? I deleted 54 of them Sunday afternoon.

We did a LOT of this.

And a little standing in the corner for timeout. :) He wouldn't mind YaYa.

 We made it home last night a little before 8pm and we had the whiniest preschooler with us. Whew! He was exhausted (even though he slept the hour-and-a-half home) and just wanted his mama (which is a RARE occurrence in these parts!). We got fed, bathed, and in the bed a little after 10. Whew! (For the record, he was up by 7...and he's been a GROUCH today because he's still exhausted!)

6 minutes into our car ride home.

Apparently, the lake wore Will out, too. He slept from 6:40 when we left the lake until 11:30 when I woke him up to change and feed him. THEN he went right back to sleep and slept until 8:30 this morning. Whoa.

What a fun weekend! I like those kind! We're back to the norm this week even though it's not quite as busy as they have been recently. Hope y'all had great weekends, too!

 

Anna and Cacky visited for a bit today. That was fun!

And then, James read to me:

Happy week, y'all!

Cleaning and Christening!

Because I think he's SO handsome, a picture from Will's two month well-check on Thursday that I forgot to post...

Our weekend FLEW by. I just had to ask Eddie what we did on Friday because it seems so long ago! (We grilled hamburgers and stayed home...not exciting at all!)

Saturday the day was spent around the house. I had a mountain of laundry to be put away and floors to be mopped so I worked on that while someone *ahem* did NOT nap. Stinker. It's so hard to get things done with my helper awake but he hates napping on the weekends while Eddie is home. Eddie got some yardwork done. Poor fella doesn't have enough hours in the day to do more than mow our grass. I'm sure our neighbors love our landscaping.

Saturday evening YaYa came down from Atlanta to spend the night. She entertained James for a bit while we got ready and then we all went out to eat at Outback. Great meal, wild toddler. Ha!

James was done by the time we got home so he got a bath and went to bed. Eddie ironed...and ironed...and ironed for church on Sunday. Sunday was the BIG part of the weekend and Eddie ironed a shirt for himself, my dress, James' outfit, and three things for Will. Ha! Poor man! I'm so thankful for him!

Sunday we joined our church AND had Will Christened. We've been attending our church for three years now, so we thought it might be time to make it official! Ha! I requested that we do it all at once because I am NOT a fan of standing in front of a crowd. Thankfully, they complied.

This is Will's Christening gown...pre-iron. James wore it, too...as did Eddie's grandfather who would be 90 years old this year. I soaked it with OxiClean with James but after hanging in the closet for two years it was yellow again. I soaked it again for five hours and then washed it in a pillow case. There were a few spots on it and there's on tear, but it's in REALLY good shape for its age!

The whole family was in attendance but sadly I hardly got any decent photos. I think it would be in my best interest to purchase or ask Santa for a new point-and-shoot instead of having to rely on people to learn my big clunker of a camera on a whim. It's not easy to use and photos come out blurry. I'm depending on a few family members to send me good pictures for Will's photo album.

We had a wonderful day. We were accepted as new members, Will was "sprinkled," and we celebrated over lunch across the street at a great restaurant.

Anna wasn't grumpy...I think she just didn't realize I was taking her picture. But I liked it anyway.

There was a festival going on downtown when we finished lunch. James and YaYa paid $2 for 3 slides. Look at their faces! Ha!

Sunday afternoon was spent lounging and lounging and lounging. We all took pretty great naps and then the big boys went to Publix to buy groceries for the week. After breakfast for supper and catching up on a little television and reading, we're ready for another fun week!

Easter Weekend...Picture Overload!

We had another great, busy weekend! On Thursday afternoon, YaYa picked James up for a little two night spend-the-night party. We spent the morning getting him ready to go for that.

See if you can tell what I packed versus what James packed...

My plan was to leave and run errands as soon as James left and be home in time to go to our church's Maundy Thursday service. Well. Laura got stuck in traffic on her way down and wound up being a little late to pick James up so that pushed us back just a bit. Then, as soon as Will and I stepped into Target, the bottom fell out of the sky. We got what we needed and then wandered around (we could hear the rain and thunder through the roof at Target) for as long as I could make Will tolerate. I stood in the jewelry section for a while watching the rain through the doors with Will SCREAMING. Finally, I decided I had to make a run for it. Will hadn't eaten well and I didn't have a paci. And since it was raining we really couldn't go anywhere else. All that to say that with the bad weather and Will's eating schedule being off, we wound up NOT going to the church service. We were a little pushed for time and I would've had to get up halfway through to feed Will. :(

Instead, we went out to eat late and Will took his first trip to Lowe's! I'm a little amazed it took that long to get him there! Ha!

Friday Eddie was off work and we were BUSY. Eddie got up and left around 8 to take my car to have the brakes seen about. The place that changes my oil said they needed to be changed but Eddie was a little unsure about it. He took it to another man on Friday and, lo and behold, he says I have several thousand miles left on them. Hmmm.

I picked Eddie up from the car place and we went and had breakfast out. That was a fun treat! We spent a good bit of the rest of the day rearranging and organizing our office. We had (have) stuff just stuffed in there and it's out of control.

I also spent part of the day looking for an Easter dress. I'm not sure about your experiences with post-birth weight loss, but even if you lose all of your weight (and I lost it within a week or two), that does not mean that anything FITS. I was so discouraged this weekend when I was shopping. It is FRUSTRATING. So...a friend and I set a mileage goal for the week and I'll be walking/running that. :)

Friday we'd planned to go out but realized we had way too much to finish at our house. Instead, Eddie picked up from a restaurant we love but we can't eat there anymore because it's Asian and they have several cashew dishes. Since James is with us 99.9% of the time, we can't set foot in there with him! And then we stayed up until 2 working on cleaning the office. Fun times.

Saturday we continued the clean up around the house. I didn't even get to do any real cleaning because we were working so hard on other projects. James will be having another spend-the-night as soon as we have a break in weekend plans. Papa and YaYa brought him home around 2 on Saturday and I'm not sure he was thrilled to see us.

Here's what James was up to while he was in Roswell:

Saturday evening we went shoe shopping for James. That was a fun experience. I was so frustrated and worn out when we left that shoe store! But...he has two new pairs of shoes...one that fits now and one so that we don't have to go back when he outgrows these. :)

After we got home James and I dyed Easter eggs outside. This was the first time we'd done this and it was fun but I sort of rushed through it since we didn't even start until 8pm. :) It'll be more fun next year and we'll be able to be a little more creative.

Sunday morning we went to church and Sunday School. The Easter Bunny visited our house while we were gone to church. I sure wish he could continue that tradition every year, but something tells me that once James knows a little more about it, he'd be disappointed if he arrived at church and everyone else had already gotten their Easter baskets. James and Eddie both had a basket (although the Easter Bunny was supposed to put a new book in Eddie's basket and he{she} forgot to pick it up at the Post Office) and Will had things that wouldn't fit in an Easter basket so his were just wrapped. The Easter Bunny brought me a few fun things as well that he {she} picked up at Target on Thursday. :)

It wouldn't be Easter without some pictures like these, right?

2011

2010

We all took excellent naps after lunch and during the Masters. (How about THAT, by the way? Go Dawgs! Eddie was pulling for Bubba the whole time while I stuck with my typical, Phil. I was very pleased with the outcome, though! Another lefty!) James woke up from his nap in a GREAT mood. He even snuggled with me instead of kicking Will out of Eddie's chair like he normally does. (He got TWO spankings before church so we weren't sure WHAT his attitude would be like.) Then the Trains came over around five for the bigger babies to hunt Easter eggs. It was a pretty uneventful egg hunt (they were way more interested in playing with the Easter grass...) but it was so nice to sit outside and catch up with them since we hadn't seen them in so long. James and Anne Margaret played better together than they ever have before. I think they're finally figuring out how to play together.

I hope Lauren got some good pictures because I only got the tops of their heads as they reached for eggs. Apparently I was too busy talking to take decent pictures. Except this one (and decent is debateable...):

We have a few doctor's appointments this week, school is back in, and we have another BUSY weekend coming up. Looking forward to it all!