Week in Review: Easter, A Bottle, and A Birthday Party

Last week was good. We stayed home a lot, but I'm starting to accept the fact that spending more time at home is my life right now, and I'm becoming more content to be at home more often. I still love to get out and be on the go, but I am starting to enjoy our nice, peaceful days at home, too. Of course, they aren't all nice and peaceful -- there are days filled with tantrums and whining, and those are the days I'm just itching to bust out of here. Ha! I know we'll get to a point where I'm more comfortable getting all three kids out, but in the meantime, I'm going to try to just enjoy our time at home.

Sunday: We got up and got ready for church and were excited that it was Easter Sunday! I had spent FOREVER ironing Aubrey and Alaina's dresses the night before, and I didn't want that time to be wasted by getting their dresses all wrinkled in their carseats, so we got them dressed in the church parking lot. Ha! Yes, I freely admit that I'm crazy when it comes to wrinkles ;) We had a really good service, and Alaina made it through the whole thing. I had to leave Sunday School to go feed her, but I was able to go back in for most of it. After church, we went to my great aunt's house for lunch with my family. We didn't stay too long, and when we got home, David's sister, Sherri, came over to see our house. She lives out of town and had never been here before. I put Jude down for his nap after she got here, but we let Aubrey stay up. Aubrey and Sherri colored together, and Aubrey loved that :) While they were visiting, I went in my room and got Alaina to sleep. Sherri had to leave to go to the airport after a while, but we are glad she got to come over for a little while! David put Aubrey in her room for a short rest time before we had to get ready to go back to church. We went to church that evening, and then we were going to go to dinner at Newk's, but it was closed for Easter. So then we tried Corner Bakery, and it was closed too. We ended up at 5 Guys, and we had fun there, even though it wasn't our first (or second) choice. We sat outside and had a good dinner. By the time we finished eating, it was getting late and close to bedtime. We put the kids to bed when we got home, and I fed Alaina and held her until David and I went to bed.

Monday: Alaina had a not-so-great night, so I was especially glad David had the day off. I was able to sleep in that morning, which was much needed. David took the kids outside to play with sidewalk chalk in their pajamas ;) Oh, and Aubrey is wearing her church shoes. Whatever!
Peek-a-boo! Aubrey ripped a hole in these pants a while back, but she loves them for some unknown reason, so they've become pajama pants. Again, I have to just say whatever! She's got a mind of her own!We had a good, low-key day at home. We really didn't do a lot. David played with the kids, and I took care of Alaina. I also read a good bit of Mockingjay. We ate lunch and then put the kids down for naps. I took a shower while they were sleeping, and David and I just relaxed during naptime. When the children woke up, David took them outside to play, and I started cooking dinner. We ate together, and then it was bath time for the children. We watched Dancing with the Stars, and then the kids went to bed. I picked out clothes for the kids to wear to Bible Study the next morning, and David and I went to bed fairly early.

Tuesday: I got up and got breakfast for Aubrey and Jude. Then I put them in Aubrey's room to play while I took a shower before Alaina woke up. I then got us all ready, and we headed to Bible Study.I wish this picture wasn't so dark because I thought Aubrey looked so cute.

I dropped the Aubrey and Jude off in the nursery, and then Alaina and I went to the lady's house where we were having Circle. We had a good time! There were some yummy refreshments :) Alaina woke up and started fussing right at the beginning, but I held her and she was fine the rest of the time. I picked the kids up when it was over, and my dad had gotten them out of the nursery and they were playing. They weren't ready to leave :) When we got home, we ate lunch, and then it was naptime. The kids took good naps, and I got a few things done around the house, but I mostly just enjoyed the quiet :) When David got home that afternoon, he played with the kids and I fixed some dinner. Jude likes to play on our storm shelter (that I STILL need to post pictures of!).
Playing in the rain!

Then I fed Alaina, and Rebekkah picked me up for Bunco. This was my first time to leave Alaina for a period long enough for her to need to eat, so David was giving her her first bottle of pumped milk. I was hoping that would go well, but I was only 15 minutes away if it didn't. Thankfully, David said Alaina took the bottle just fine, and I was able to have a really fun night out :) We had a lot of fun at Bunco, and I even won a prize for least games (biggest loser -- haha). When I got home, I talked to David for a little while, fed Alaina as much as she would eat (she was still full from her bottle), and pumped. Then we went to bed.

Wednesday: We had an uneventful day. We stayed home and played and just hung out together all day. I took a shower that morning and then the kids and I played upstairs for a little while. Aubrey watched a movie, and then I gave the kids a bath. We ate lunch, and then the children napped, and I got myself ready and did some straightening up. Hanging out in her carseat on the counter while I did something for Aubrey and Jude. This is the only place she is safe! ;)

That afternoon, everyone woke up and David came home. He helped me get the kids ready, and then we went to church. We had a good time at church eating dinner and visiting. We came home and put Aubrey and Jude to bed, and then I got Alaina to sleep before going to bed too.

Thursday: That morning when we got up, I went ahead and got up and took a shower. I got myself ready, and then I got the children dressed. I needed to get my blood pressure medicine refilled, so we were going to brave Target. On our way there, we stopped by the Arant's house so I could drop a gift off that someone had given me at church the night before for Walker. Then we headed to Target. I put Aubrey and Jude in the buggy and Alaina in the Moby wrap. I would have just kept Alaina in her carseat -- that would have been quicker -- but she really doesn't like her carseat and was fussing. The kids did pretty well in Target. We were even there for a little while because we had to wait for my prescription to be filled. We enjoyed walking around and looking at everything. It got a little stressful right at the end because Alaina started to get fussy and Aubrey and Jude got restless. We survived, though ;) By the time we got home, it was lunch time, so I fed the kids and then it was time for naps. Hallelujah :) While they slept, I got on the internet for a while, and then I made up the bed and did some laundry. When they woke up, we played for a while, and then I started cooking dinner. Just having a little snack of dark chocolate peanut butter on graham crackers ;)Aubrey had some too. Haha!

We ate when David got home, and then we had a family devotion. We want to start doing those consistently. We know they won't happen every night with our schedule, so right now we're aiming for at least once a week. Baby steps :) David kept it simple and short, but it was nice to read the Bible and pray together as a family. I watched American Idol that night, and then we got the kids to bed. That was Alaina's first night in her room, so it was nice to put her down a little early. I got a little too excited about the freedom, though, and stayed up too late. Haha.

Friday: I was a little tired that morning since I had been up with Alaina a lot during the night, but I woke up after being up for a little while with Aubrey. Jude slept late, and I ended up having to wake him up. We ate breakfast and played. Alaina took a morning nap in her crib, which was nice. I was able to get a few things done while I had my hands free. We ate lunch, and then we all went outside to play for a little while before naps. Since Jude had gotten up late, it took him a while to go to sleep, and I had to make several trips to his room. He did finally go to sleep, thankfully. I got ready while they slept and cleaned up a bit. When David got home that afternoon, I finished getting ready. David and I (and Alaina) were going to a missions meeting that night, and my grandparents were coming over to keep Aubrey and Jude. We didn't have anything for the kids to eat for dinner, so I ran to Chick Fil A to get them some food before we left. When my grandparents got to our house, we left and went to our dinner. David is the chairman of our Mission's Team at church, and they were getting together to talk about our Mission's Conference that we recently had. I just got to tag along by default ;) We ate dinner, and then the Mission's Team talked about everything that went well with the Conference this year and what they want to do differently next year. Alaina was good -- she got a little fussy, but I walked around with her and she went to sleep. We were kind of late leaving, and Aubrey and Jude were asleep when we got home. My grandparents said they had had a fun night. I got Alaina to bed, and she had a good night in her crib!

Saturday: Alaina woke up at 6 to eat, and I just brought her downstairs and put her in her swing then so that she would sleep a little later for me ;) David got up at 7:30 with Aubrey and Jude, and Alaina and I got up at 9. David said the kids hadn't really eaten breakfast, so we decided to go get breakfast. I LOVE going out for breakfast! We all got dressed and went to Primos. It was SO good, and the kids were pretty well behaved. We had fun! When we got home, David bathed Aubrey and Jude, and then it was their naptime. I put Alaina down for a nap too, and I took a shower and got ready and made a grocery list. David got ready also, and then we got the kids up. We got them dressed and headed to Ann Peyton and Graves's birthday party! It was super cute and we had fun!We left when it was about time for Alaina to eat and came home. David and Aubrey and Jude just stayed outside in the car (Alaina is a fast eater! ;) while I ran in and fed her and got our grocery list. Then we grabbed dinner at Newk's and went to Kroger. Alaina was kind of having a meltdown by the time we were at Kroger, so David ended up taking the kids outside while I finished our shopping. When we got home, we unloaded the groceries and got all the kids to bed. I played around on the internet for a while, and then we went to bed.