Funnies of the Week

I wanted to share 2 fun memories from last week.

Smores

Last week was "Camping" week at school.  As a special treat the kids got to enjoy smores!  Ms. Ashley told me that while the other kids were a little reluctant to try this treat, Paige dug on in without any hesitation.  After the other kids saw how much Paige was enjoying it, they too started to dig in and enjoy.

Errands

Brad had a conference Sunday afternoon in Point Clear.  That was one of the reasons we chose to relax around the pool for most of the weekend because we knew we wouldn't have Sunday afternoon.  I decided to put off the normal errands until meeting time.  Whew wee. Paige and I were both exhausted by the time it was all said and done.  Getting ready seemed like we were going to the beach again, but this time we were just going up the road trying to get things checked off. 

One of our stops was Target.  I found these cups that I thought might be fun for Paige to try.  I was right!  I normally let her hold on to something while we shop - just makes the trip so much smoother.  This time she got to hold on the cups.  By the time we got up to the check out register she had taken one of the cups out of the package and was trying to drink from it.  Instead of making a scene by taking it away from her, I did the unthinkable and let her hold on to it while she "drank" from it.  She didn't want to let go, thus leading to the pic above.  And yes, I took this while I was driving.  I tried at the stop light but the pic came out blurry so right after the light turned green I very carefully took this picture.  Don't worry, there weren't any other cars around and I was going like 2 mph.

How Sweet

Happy Father's Day!!  (well, a couple of days late!)

We made our Father's Day a weekend long celebration by the pool.  It involved swimming, realaxing, grilling out (DELISH!!) and just being together.

Paige is blessed with a fantabulous daddy and I don't know what either of us would do without him!!

Yes, another pool pic - where else would we be?!?

How sweet is this!

Our little artist in the making.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

To the Beach

When I was writing our weekend recap I forgot to include a couple of my thoughts on how a child changes everything.

I am amazed at how a simple task of going to the beach can turn into a 2 hour ordeal just to get half way down there only to realize you left some of the stuff in the car and the keys were in the room.  Yes, that is how both mornings started.  After chasing Paige around the room trying to persuade her to put on her swimsuit, telling her we were going to the beach to see Myles and Ella and that she had to wear a swimsuit if she wanted to go out.  Somewhere while getting ready you fit in putting on the sunscreen and making sure it is in the beach bag.

Then there is getting yourself ready - definitely the easiest task of the morning.

Then you have to fill up the bag with everything you could possibly need - sunscreen, snacks, camera, room key, phone, floatie thing, hat (Paige's least favorite accessory), and the swim coverup because she decided she didn't want to wear it and it wasn't worth the battle to make her wear it.  Then there is the cooler - we need our drinks, water for Paige, and Paige's cup, plus you have to fill it up with ice on your way to the elevator.

So, bag and cooler are packed.  Then you load yourself up with baby, overflowing bag, cooler, beach chair, and umbrella.  Next stop - towel station.  Add 3 towels to the mix and you are ready to head down to the beach.  Only then you get stopped both days by the security guard making sure you knew you couldn't have glass in your cooler (apparently Brad looks like he is  rule-breaker).

Whew!  We made it!

And it was all worth it just to see her sweet smile as she rode the waves, played in the sand or relaxed in the pool!!!

Sand, Sand, and more Sand

I think this is what we are going to be finding in our house over the next few days and maybe even weeks - ha!

This weekend we made our first beach trip of the season.  Jamie and Matt invited us to tag along for Ella's birthday party weekend.  I am not sure they really thought we would come when they invited us, but we are not ones to turn down an opportunity to go to the beach.

We headed to Destin and stayed at the Hilton SanDestin.  Some of you may remember last year we stayed at the SanDestin resort and did not have a good experience.  Well, the Hilton is in the SanDestin complex but on the beach side and run by Hilton.  It was so much better than we could have hoped for or expected.  The rooms were a good size, they had fridges and microwaves in the room, they provided beach towels so we didn't have to worry with our's, and there were so many other neat things the resort had to offer.

After last weekend I was apprehensive about Paige and the pool and the beach for that matter.  Boy was I wrong!!!  The girl absolutely loved all of it!  She even cried a little when Brad was taking her out of the ocean today.  It was a such relief that she loved it all.

Reading, "Happy Birthday, Pookie" so that we could practice saying Happy Birthday to Ella.

Friday night at Pompano Joe's  - SO GOOD!!!!!

Paige plopped herself down right on the sand, me on the other hand had to sit on a towel...to be a kid again

This pink thing is a "puddle jumper" and Paige did really well with it!

Can you tell she liked the water?

Sweet Myles and Jamie

Having fun in the pool

Sweet Grayson and Paige

The Birthday Girl, Ella, who turned 5.

Happy Birthday Ella!!

Now we are looking at our calendars trying to figure out when we can go back to the beach.  I don't think it will be soon enough!

Fun in the Sun

We finally had the normal weekend at home we had all been wanting for a long time!  No one was sick and we had no plans other than celebrating our special days.  So, what does a normal weekend include?  The pool!!!

Poor Paige didn't know what to think about the pool at first; she just wasn't the biggest fan.  I had all these high hopes that she would just love it and would be swimming/floating/
whatever around.  I bought all the gear that I thought she would need and we ended up using none of it.  Instead we pulled out the raft from last and eventually she was good to go.

I have a feeling that the more time we spend in the water the more she will like it - that is what I am hoping for at least!

Farmer Frye

You may be wondering who Farmer Frye is.  Well, she is the girl that sits next to me, Janet Frye.  The people at her husband's work gave her this name and I love it!  Not only does she grow a variety of veggies, but she shares!!!  She has also inspired me to want to start a garden.  I am not sure if this will really happen, but it sure sounds good.

Anyway, last week she brought be a big ol' bag of zucchini, squash, banana peppers, green peppers and cucumbers.  Paige and I enjoyed having nice fresh veggies at dinner (Brad is not too big into these).  I had a little bit of zucchini left and decided to make some yummy zucchini bread.  This was my first zucchini bread experience and I think it turned out pretty well.  You would be amazed at all the different recipes there are out there for zucchini bread.  I went with a pretty simple one this time and if Janet brings me more zucchini I am going to start trying these different recipes out!  I loved that the only thing I had to buy was sour cream (and that was by choice because of the recipe I chose) because of my stock piling from couponing.

Packed up and ready to be taken to work.

Then, on my birthday, Janet surprised me with my favorite - okra!!!  I absolutely LOVE fried okra - Brad too!!!  Needless to say, we were both excited and devoured every bit.

Summer can officially begin now that we have had fried okra!

Pirate Paige

When Paige moved up to her new class she got a new schedule.  This schedule is way more interactive and a little more structured than what she was used to in the infant room.  I don't know who is more excited about this, me or Paige.  I love that she is getting stimulated more and that she is learning and having fun at the same time.  I think she enjoys being a big girl with the other kids - she is very independent.

Each month we get a calendar of what is going on in the class.  The infant calender was pretty simple.  It told what they were "learning" about each week - transportation, dinosaurs, etc.  Well, the toddler room kicks it up a notch.  There is a theme each week and different activities that go along with this theme.  Along with that, every Wednesday is "bring a book" day and every Friday is "show and tell" (yes, my 1 year old is doing show and tell...the teacher says it helps with sharing - works for me!).

"Pirate Paige"

We all know that hat didn't stay on very long!

This week's theme was "Islands and Pirates".  Ms. Ashley arranged a sweet little treasure hunt for the kids out in the side yard.  Hats were made for each child, the kids made telescopes and they got to decorate their goodie bag.  Then it was off to the field in search of treasure.  We got to send a little something for her to find and Ms. Ashley took care of the rest.

Paige's hat, goodie bag, and all of the treasures she found including a stick (you have to look pretty close, but it is there with the silly bands).

Now week's theme is "Camping" and I know smores are on the agenda!

New Helper

Paige became my little helper over the weekend!  I got the steam mop out and all she wanted to do was push it around.  I needed to go ahead and get it done so I gave her the swifter and she went to town!

Imagine my surprise when I gave her the actual swifter cover/pad thing to see if she could actually do some cleaning and she took it off! 

Maybe cleaning will be a little bit more fun now that we have a little helper in the mix!

7 & 29

7 & 29 - 2 important numbers we celebrated this weekend.

7 - Brad and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary over the weekend!!!  Our actual anniversary was Sunday but we celebrated Saturday night.  One of Paige's teachers, Ms. Margie, graciously offered to keep Paige so we could enjoy and evening out just the 2 of us.  Brad treated me to a quaint restaurant in Point Clear, The Wash House.  Everything about it was wonderful!!!  We may just have to make up a special occasion to go back!  I love you honey!!  Thanks for a wonderful 7 years!

29 - Monday was my 29th birthday.  I don't know if I should really be admitting my age to everyone but there it is in all of its glory - ha!  I joked with my mom that this was an important year because you always hear every year after this as the xx anniversary of my 29th birthday or '29 and holding'.  I have reached the magical mark!  My gift to myself was taking the afternoon off and just relaxing.  I spent some time by the pool and some time piddling around the house (while it rained  - just gives me an excuse to take off another sunny afternoon for more pool time!).  Then Brad and Paige took me out to dinner.  We tried a new place, Rosie's Grill, in Daphne.  I had the hardest time deciding and finally decided that it would be fun to try something new.  We all really enjoyed it and think this will be a place we bring visitors so look out if you are coming our way (the menu is a mix between mexican and american - perfect for those not wanting mexican!).

Hmmm....what should I get?

Birthday Kisses!

Yay for a family picture!

Silly Goose

After riding in the car Monday, this chick was ready to get out and play!  I am glad I had my camera to capture some of her sillyness.

Anytime she finds a blanket or towel she puts it on the ground, says "night, night" and lays down.  It doesn't matter what time of day it is and it doesn't matter if she is tired or not.  So funny!

Can you see the love in her eye's?  So sweet!

Yes, we have a big exercise ball in our den that sometimes gets used.  Paige may play with it more than Brad and I use it for sit ups, but that is ok!  Seeing this picture reminds me of how much P likes balls - doesn't matter what size it is.

Crunchy Grass

Summer is here!  And our grass is dead!!  There has been little to no rain for months.  It cracked me up the other night as we went out to play and all you could hear is crunch, crunch, crunch on our grass.  Luckily, we are not alone with the crunchy grass - I think our whole neighborhood is this way.  Poor Brad though, he loves his yard.  I am the mean wife who won't let him water the grass.  During the month of April he watered it off and on and our water bill quadrupled (and I was out of town 2 of those weeks!).  When I say quadrupled, I mean it was like 4 times from the month before - not cool!!!  So, now we get to look like the rest of the neighborhood.  Ok, now that I am done rambling about nothing, I will leave you with the star of the show...

It is almost like she is in camo if it weren't for the pink shoes!

"Look, I can see myself in daddy's truck!"

I love it when kids "stop and smell the roses" - such a good reminder to all of us how we need to slow down in life and not take things for granted.

Race Day

Another one of the reasons we came to Huntsville for Memorial Day weekend was to run the Cotton Row race.  We are going on vacation this summer and needed some motivation to get in shape.  A few years ago I ran the 10k and I thought that I lost some weight and toned up as a result.  So, I thought why not do it again...I did it 3 years ago, how hard can it be, right?  Wrong!! 

Who knew that it could be so hard?!?  I trained 3 days week for 12 weeks by jogging and walking on the treadmill.  I was already going to the gym on a regular basis during lunch so this became part of my night routine.  I stuck to it even though I was out of town 2 of the weeks.  My main goal was to finish - just cross the finish line.  I knew my time wouldn't be as good as last time, I knew I could last and make it through.  With all of that being said, I finished in 1:12:14 - not great, but I finished!! 

Seconds from the end!

My cheerleaders!  Brad also ran the 5k.  Way to go Brad!!

Nana was there to cheer us on too and Papa Joe ran both the 10k and the 5k - wow!!

Brad and I both really enjoyed preparing for the races and hope to keep it up!

A family that runs together, stays together!

Memorial Day Weekend Fun

We enjoyed a long weekend up in Huntsville for Memorial Day.  Even though it was long weekend, it sure didn't feel like it and didn't seem long enough!

While up visiting we got to cook out with the Wright's...

Paige loved playing with Laney, Justin and Christina's dog.

Visit with Grandad and Dede...no pictures - sad!

And visit with sweet friends...

Sweet Rebecca and even sweeter Katie Lane

The girls were too cute playing together! 

This cracked me up - Paige plopped on down on the car and Katie Lane just started pushing. 

We were so lucky to get to see our friends Andrew and Lisa.  They are having their first baby, Ben, in August.  We can't wait for him to get here.  One of the highlights of the weekend was getting to go to a baby shower for Lisa and then we got to even eat dinner later on.  Ben is going to be one lucky boy with parents like Andrew and Lisa!

More to come on the rest of the weekend...