Week in Review

So, Jake has been with parents since Wednesday. Usually, after being away from us for a few days, he'll start saying he misses mommy & daddy and he needs to go check on us. I'm not sure if he is just getting older, more adjusted or has just realized Nana & Gran's house is way more fun then his. He has not asked to come home once. So needless to say, he has been having a great time. And I'm not going to lie. I miss my little buddy, but its been nice to take a conference call without Jake asking me who I'm talking to, or have to change out a movie 5 minutes after he started watching it. It was nice to go out this weekend and just spend some time Robbie & I. We started our weekend childless off by meeting some friends after work. Then we had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Birmingham, Five. If you live in Birmingham, you must check it out! Great food & great atmosphere.

I'm not one to take a picture of my food while sitting at the restaurant.
So this picture is of my to-go box.
But I got the crab meat stuffed bacon wrapped shrimp.
OH.MY.GOSH.
I'm pretty sure this is a dish they serve in Heaven. It was amazing!

 

On Saturday, we worked on the china cabinet. I cannot be simple & just buy a china cabinet. Or even find one & refinish. Nope. My heart is set on something that looks like this. Now, ours will not stretch the whole width of the wall, because our wall is too big & I think it would look too crowded. So ours will be a scaled down version. (Okay, I just re-read those 2 sentences & they make no sense. Our way is too big, so we must build a smaller china cabinet?? What I mean is our wall is too long. If we stretched a china cabinet to run from end to end, it would make the room feel too crowded. And I've already crammed enough stuff in there.) A few weekends ago, Robbie built the base. 

I had hoped to be able to paint the base on Saturday and then work on the bead board for the wall on Sunday. With football season starting this week, I know our weekends will be very limited that we can work on this. So basically, it will probably just sit like this until January. So I wanted to get as much done on it as possible. I used a gel stain on top & I did not count on it taking 8 hours to dry during coats. Grrrrrrrrr. So painting did not get all done Saturday. Oh well.

The top will be a dark stain that matches the dining room table
& the legs will be a distressed white that will coordinate with the buffet.

 Saturday night, we Robbie grilled an awesome dinner. Shrimp kabobs, blackened corn on the cob & crab meat stuff potatoes.

Yes, I had shrimp 2 nights in a row.
I do not care.
I LOVE seafood.

Finally the base is painted.
Just waiting on it to dry, then we can distressed it.

So, while Robbie & I were enjoying our weekend, what was Jake doing? 

Play fighting with his cousins

Poor Maddox trying to pull them

Playing in the mud & creek behind my parent's house

Swimming

More playing outside

 During the week, it has just been Jake at my parent's, so he's gotten some great one-on-one time with them.

Jumping

Blowing bubbles

Robbie & I have had a great week and I know that Jake has had an awesome time. But I'm ready for us to be back all together! I cannot thank my sweet parents enough for letting Jake stay with them for a whole week. I know the fun he has had and the memories made will last a lifetime. We can't wait to see him tomorrow!

Girls Weekend

Two years ago, my 2 best friends from college & I decided to forgo Christmas & Birthday gifts for each other & the kids, and instead use that money to plan a girls weekend getaway. It has been the best idea! Last year, we had a spa weekend at the Grand Hotel in Fairhope. This year, we booked a condo at The Village of Baytowne Wharf. The condo was perfect & it was so nice because we could just walk to dinner, the beach, shopping, etc...

 

We all got into town around lunch time on Friday & had a wonderful lunch on the water. We then checked into the condo, got some groceries and snuck in some shopping.

Dinner Friday night

We had planned on spending the day Saturday at the beach, but a tropical storm put a damper on that. It rained ALL.DAY.LONG. We had hoped that maybe it would just be scattered showers, but it was a heavy consistent downpour all day long. So we crossed the beach off our list. Instead we did some shopping, got manicures/pedicures and just hung out on the balcony catching up. We had such a great time and it was just nice to not have to plan anything around the little ones.

Dinner Saturday night

Saturday night, we had a fabulous dinner and then went out. We stayed out late, danced, laughed our heads off and basically just had a great time.

 

Amanda & Stephanie are like family to me. I love them so much and love that we can always pick up right where we left off. This weekend was great for my soul, I laughed my head off and was reminded (not that I had to be) why these girls are so special to me and how much they mean to me.  

As freshman Phi Mu pledges in the fall of 1997
...Marriages, 6 kids & 16 year later.....
Summer 2013
...Still the best of friends...

 

 

 

 

Last Day of Summer School

Friday was Jake's last day at Covenant Classical School. I cannot say enough great things about this school/daycare. If we ever need to go back to full time daycare, this is exactly where we would send Jake. The school has a Christian based theme and Jake has learned so much about the Bible this summer. I love hearing him talk about Moses, recite the 10 commandments and tell me Bible verses. And the teachers & staff are amazing. We were so impressed and pleased. And Jake had a great time. He never cried one time this summer. He made some great friends and I think made some truly good memories. Some of his favorite parts of school...

-On Wednesday's, Cha Cha Charlie (a snow cone mobile) stops by the school & the kids get to pick out a snow cone favor

-On Friday's, they have splash pad day & show and tell

-Each week they had a theme (one week was sports theme, one week was carnival theme, one week was weather theme, etc...)

Jake's Mother's Day Out program doesn't start until after Labor Day, but we wanted to give him a little break between schools. So he is out of school for 2 weeks. We've got some fun things planned & he is going to spend a week at my parents, which he is so excited about.

Last day of summer school
(The have splash pad first thing in the morning, so you have
to send them in their swimsuit & flip flops)

 Other random Jake updates & photo dump.....

Batman loves the park

This is how Batman rides to the park

We were checking out at Academy & Jake spotted some watches. He has been wanting a watch for a long time now. These were only $10 & they project a picture when you push a button. It was pretty neat, so I let Jake pick out one. He picked a Monster's University one. He has LOVED it. He insisted on wearing it every day to school.

 

We've run into a little sleeping problem. Every morning around 2:00, Jake gets up & wants to come get in our bed. He cries when we take him back to his bed and it is such a struggle. I can finally admit, he is too big for the toddler bed. We hope that moving him to a larger bed will feel more comfortable. His crib/toddler bed converts into a full size bed, but I really don't want to give up all that space in his room. Plus, after we buy the bed rails, full size mattress & bedding, I think we will come out cheaper just getting him a twin bed. So I've been on a twin bed looking mission.

 

I guess Jake is growing through a growth spurt? That child has been eating like a bottom-less pit. He is eating great at his meals, but he wants a thousand snacks throughout the day. Sometimes I don't know if he is truly hungry, or just likes snacking.

 

He has started telling me that he is not going to be my friend when I get on to him. I tell him fine, because my job is to be his mom, not his friend. That, of course goes over his head. One day, I got on to him for something & he said "well, if you tell me that again and I'm just getting out of here". So I opened the door & told him bye. He responded "that's not what you're supposed to say".  

Over the weekend

I went through the entire weekend & didn't take one picture. We actually had a pretty low key weekend. The Bush's asked if they could pick Jake up from school Friday afternoon & take him to a movie. Of course that was fine so they went to see the Planes movie. Jake wanted to spend the night with them, so they just took him back to their house afterwards. That gave Robbie & I a chance to go out to eat Friday night.

 

We spent all day Saturday working on the new china cabinet. By Sunday night, we had the base built!So excited!! And Robbie has been such a good sport about it. He is building this off of a picture I showed him. So a few parts have been trial & error. But we are almost halfway through & I love it!

 

This is Jake's last week at his summer school. We are taking a 2 week break between summer school & his fall school starting. He'll get to spend a week with my parents, so he is super excited. Robbie's traveling this week, and then on Friday I leave for a girls weekend at the beach. YAHOO!! 4 more days until I'm with my 2 best friends from college, at the beach with no plans, no kids, no responsibilities.

Happy Birthday Addie!

Saturday we headed up to Chattanooga for Addie's 4th birthday party. We loved getting to go celebrate such a special little girl and of course loved catching up with all of our old friends from Chattanooga. The party was held at a gymnastics gym. The foam pit was a big hit!

First just attempting a jump from the side

Then he hopped up on the platform to jump off

I never could get one that was not blurry

Jake had a great time playing with Jonathan. They kept calling each other Spiderman.
Jonathan's father Travis is one of Robbie's best friends from high school.
So cute to see their sons play together now!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDIE!

Flashback through the years at Addie's birthday parties.... 

1st Birthday - 2010

2nd Birthday - 2011

3rd Birthday - 2012

 In in true mom fail, I never got a picture of just Jake & Addie for this year. Oops.

 

We spent Saturday night with Zach & Kimberly. Loved getting to stay up late, hang out and catch up. They are such special friends to us!

August

August. It's the month if we had not miscarried, we'd be bringing home a baby. It's hard not to wonder, was it a boy or girl, who would they have looked like, what kind of personality would they have? In some ways its easier, because we've already gone through this once last year with the ectopic pregnancy. So I was prepared for the emotions. But in other ways it's harder, because we are almost 2 years in, and are no closer to bringing home a baby. But we have so much to be grateful for, so I try to stay focused on that.

Every morning after my devotional, I listen to this song. I love it. It brings so much peace & comfort to me. Sometimes I listen to it & smile, other times I listen to it & cry. But I always feel God's presence and His love. Hopefully if you are struggling with anything today, it will bring you a little peace as well.

Your Hands by J.J. Heller

Visit to the Aquarium

The weekend of Woody's party, my parents wanted to keep the grandkids Saturday night in Atlanta, so they could take them to the Georgia aquarium Sunday. Let me think about this..... Jake gets to spend the night in a hotel with his nana, gran & cousins, swim in an indoor pool, go visit an aquarium & basically have no rules.... Yea, I would say he was very excited. And of course the trip did not disappoint. He had so much fun & is still talking about it.

Watching the fish



Brooks, Lindsey & Woody met them at the aquarium Sunday for a little while.
I'm not sure how impressed Woody was.
Funny story - Brooks was not happy with Woody's outfit for the party.
(Which I by the way thought was absolutely precious.)
So Lindsey told him he could dress Woody for the aquarium.
So Woody got to wear a Braves jersey.





One rowdy group:)
PS - I love Marrell's facial expression. Ha!

The kids had so much fun and are so very, very lucky that they have such sweet grandparents that genuinely love spending time with them and making precious memories.