Heather & Kyle

My friend Heather got engaged last week!  I've known her since I was in middle school, and we finally got to meet her fiance Kyle.  They came over for dinner last night, and between sessions of ogling the stunning rock on her finger (see it HERE under her St. Patrick's Day blog), it was so wonderful to catch up and get to know Kyle.

Hayden's first little molar was breaking through yesterday, so she was quite the beast during dinner.  The other two were waaaay excited to have guests over.  Emerson started asking at around 1 p.m. to know when 'our guest-es' were going to get here.  Jax started asking around 2 p.m. 'what duh-thert' Miss Heather was bringing.  She didn't disappoint with cake pops and cookies!

The boys were still chatting when I got my camera out, so I only got Heather in a picture with the kids.  Emerson went upstairs after dinner and changed into this crazy ensemble... at one point she even had a Christmas doll scarf tied around her head Rambo-style.  Looked like Belle on crack.  

Congrats again, my friend!  You're gonna be one beautiful bride.  And Kyle has our official stamp of approval... good catch!

A good, sweet, emotional read

I just can't stop crying after reading Ashley's latest post.... the journey of adoption is just so emotional.  If you don't follow her blog, you need to.

http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2012/03/26/opposite-sides-of-the-world/

So Tired

Sometimes the end of a week seems to hit me like a ton of bricks, and tonight is no exception.  I am blasted tired.  Spring break ended up being one of the rainiest on record, and I think we had 6-7" inches of rain total.  So being cooped up inside was no fun.  We did get to escape for a few play dates, and on Wednesday I dropped all three off at GiGi and SueSue's for two hours while I ran errands.  Alone.

Today was non-stop from the moment we woke up.  It started with a meet-n-greet for our new gym.  Did I blog about switching gyms?  Can't remember.  Anyway, we are joining Lifetime Fitness, and I couldn't be more excited.  I have thoroughly enjoyed Sky, but having access to everything Lifetime offers is just too hard to turn down.  And because we don't have a neighborhood pool and aren't members of a golf club yet, having unlimited pool access was a huge plus.  I signed up the older two for swim lessons today.  

After that, it was a mad dash home for a quick lunch, then dropped Hayden off at Grandma & Pa-Pa's house to nap while we took Em & Jax to a birthday party for Miss Paisley at a gymnastics center.  Then we dropped them back off at Grandma & Pa-Pa's house to join Baby Hane while Jason and I went shopping for him for his birthday.  New golf shoes, golf shorts and shirts, new dress slacks and dress shirts were all purchased, and it was so much fun to shop with him.  

Finally, we headed to dinner at Charleston's.  A nice, quiet dinner, free from interruptions, questions, requests to go potty/wipe noses/get down.  We laughed as we pulled into the in-laws' driveway and realized we were both dreading going back to reality!  Sometimes you just need a break, and most of the time it isn't long enough.  I can't even tell you how excited I am to get away for six days for our 10-year this summer!

Quote of the Week

Seen on a random blog that I somehow came across a few days ago:

"In case you did not know, there is no smoother way to be accepted as part of the landscape of a neighborhood than pushing adorable, friendly toddlers around.  I have not received the glare of death from a single stranger.  Instead, I get big smiles, and from other moms, sympathetic commiseration on the weight of stroller.  Three-year-olds are the universal ambassador.  I suggest the UN find a way to use this." -veronimitch.blogspot.com

The Differences

I get such a kick out of the personalities of my three munchkins, especially how different they are at times.  Just today we were picking up Arby's roast beef sandwiches for lunch, and as we pulled away from the window, I laughed out loud.

Emerson had requested that I roll down her window so she could thank the elderly Arby's man "for the delicious food."

Jax said, "Mommy, I didn't say thank you because I was just re-yax-ing back here."

Hayden was yelling at the top of her lungs, trying to pull her bow out and take her shoes off at the same time.  Immediately thereafter, upon being unsuccessful, she started gritting her teeth and pulling her own hair.

February Pics

Just a few of my favorite snapshots from last month.

Baby Hane enjoys climbing on the play-doh bin and squeals with delight when she's on top.

Decorating the windows with Valentine clings.  Thank you, GiGi and SueSue!

On their way to preschool drop-off.  I love that Daddy takes them on Thursdays.  :)

Having fun in her birthday swing.

Houston, we have some piggies!

Her tongue is out more than it's in.

Emerson doing P90X yoga with Daddy on a Saturday morning.  And those are the same quads I fell for in college.  Holy smokes... I need to move on to the next pic before I say something completely inappropriate.  

These two really like playing together.  Jax is always so sweet and protective with her.

Raisins make her happy.

Monday Musings

This morning Jax walked into the bathroom to do his business, and as he was closing the door he said, "Mommy, I need a yittle practicey so I can go potty."

I joined the worship team at our church and sang alto on Sunday.  Can I just say that it was an incredible worship experience.  It's one thing to worship while in the audience... it's a whole 'nother thing to be on stage and watch everyone else worship with you.  So moving.  I had a hard time keeping myself composed, especially during "Beautiful Things" by Gungor.  If you haven't heard it, let me give you this gift...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR7VOKQ0xJY&feature=related

The gym has turned out to be the best thing I could've done.  I decided I don't really have time to 'ease' into shape, so I'm pushing myself every single time I'm there.  And it feels GOOD.  What I've discovered is that I can now face pain with a whole new perspective after having babies naturally.  It sounds cliche, but it's definitely true.  An extra set of push-ups or 10 more flights of stairs on the stair climber have nothing on Jax's 9.5-lb chubby self at birth.  And the rush of endorphins is worth it every time.

I made a really good pizza casserole last week for dinner that everyone liked except for Emerson.  She's going through a definite picky stage right now, but we're not making a big deal out of it, and she seems content to eat the required number of bites and then be finished.  I'm assuming it's just a phase, but we'll see.  Here's the recipe for the pizza dish:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pizza-casserole/detail.aspx

We haven't had TV for a week now.  A WHOLE WEEK!  We had two different cable guys out, and their conclusion is that our 10-yr-old TV is pumping too many volts (or whatever measurement it was) back through the circuit, and it keeps knocking the cable out.  Or something like that.  Can you tell I had no idea what either of them was talking about?  We were planning to get an updated TV & console table anyway, so yesterday I bought the TV and we're gonna have to start looking for a furniture console piece.  For now the TV will be sitting on a long, cheap, card-table-quality table from one of Jason's offices.  Nice!!!

And we have decided to nix our Costa Rican anniversary trip. Technically, I decided to nix the trip.  Jason was on board with anything.  But I was just not feeling good about spending $1800 on flights when we have so many home projects to do.  So I checked our Visa points, and we had two free domestic flights waiting on us!  So it's back to the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the place where we honeymooned and spent our 5th anniversary!  This time we're getting a suite, and Jason told me to book whatever spa treatments I wanted.  Music to my ears. We're gonna golf one day, lounge by the pool (which is absolutely gorgeous), and just do whatever the heck we wanna do.  With no kids to wake us up!!!