Week in Review: July 4th, Memphis, and a Big Girl Bed!

We had a fun filled week! It started off with a holiday, and I had a fun girls' trip in the middle. The week ended with a big transition for us: We moved Aubrey to a big girl bed!! I will do a whole post on that later when we have more nights under our belts :)

Sunday: We got up and got ready for church. David had to usher, so we really had to be on time. We did manage to make it just in the nick of time :) We had communion that day, and just as I that was being served, I got paged. I assumed it was Jude, but I really NEVER get paged for him. I rushed over to the nursery hoping everything was ok, and it was Aubrey I had been paged for! She had had an accident in her clothes :( She was sitting in the corner and wouldn't let the teacher help her. Poor thing! I think she was just embarrassed. She has not had an accident in ages, so I didn't even have a change of clothes for her. We had a random skirt in the car, and our nursery coordinator found a shirt for us. It was a rather interesting outfit that Aubrey sported during Sunday School ;) At least she was dry, though! After all of that, we went to Sunday School. We had another joint class with all the other adult classes, and it was good again. After church, we came home and ate tacos for lunch. We took naps after lunch and went back to church that evening. After church, we went to dinner at Amerigo. Yum, my favorite! :) We came home and put the kids to bed that night.

Monday: Happy 4th of July! We actually had probably the most low-key Independence Day in history :) David got up with the kids that morning, and I slept in. When I got up, we just hung out until Jude's naptime. I put him in bed, and then David, Aubrey, and I went outside to play in the water.That was fun, and we stayed out until Jude woke up. Once we were back inside, we all ate leftovers for lunch. The kids played, and I took a shower and got dressed. We had been having water coming up out of the ground in our flower bed for a few days, so David called a plumber. We expected them to not be working on July 4th, but we were hoping someone would be able to come fix it the next day. Turns out, the guy offered to come right away. I got both of the kids down for an afternoon nap, and then I went to Target while David stayed at home with the kids and the plumber. We had a busted pipe, so it's good that we were able to go ahead and get it taken care of! I got some diapers and other staple items at Target and then came back home. I pounded out some chicken and made a marinade when I got home. I then started looking for my cell phone and couldn't find it anywhere. David called it, and I had left it at Target :( Thankfully, it was safe in customer service. I did have to go back to Target to pick it up, though. When I got home from round 2 of Target, David grilled the chicken and I cooked some broccolini and baked some potatoes. We ate a good dinner, and I then cooked an apple pie. I just felt like we HAD to have apple pie on the 4th in order to be proper Americans :) After dinner and dessert, we just hung out with the kids until bedtime. After they were asleep, I packed some stuff for my girls' trip the next day and went to bed fairly early.

Tuesday: David woke me up at 6:30 so that I could get ready. For some reason, Jude decided to get up super early, too. I got ready and fed him and finished getting my stuff together. Aubrey woke up before I left, too, and my mom came over to keep the kids. They weren't too sad to see me go, thankfully. (It would make me SO sad to leave them if they were really upset -- they're usually so excited about playing with someone "new" that they don't even notice. Haha.) I went and picked Sarah Denley and Graves up, and we got on the road about 8:30. The trip was SO easy. We didn't even stop, and Graves was perfect. SD and I had a good time talking (in peace and quiet! VERY rare these days ;), and the time passed quickly. We got a little lost when we got into Memphis, but Ashley was able to help us out :) We were so excited to meet up with Ashley as soon as we got to the hotel! We went ahead and unloaded all of our stuff, and we were able to check in early. We got to our room and got freshened up, and then we walked to lunch. We had fun talking and eating together... just like the old days! :) We walked back to our hotel after lunch and ended up just spending the day there talking and taking pictures.

SD had forgotten Graves's overnight bag, so we needed to make a Target run. We got ready to go and headed to Target. While we were out, we saw a Pottery Barn Outlet, and of course we just HAD to stop :) After getting the essentials at Target for Graves, we went to dinner. Then we made an ice cream run!Ashley and I both said that neither of us are really "ice cream people" in general, but for some reason, we both agreed that we HAVE to have ice cream when we're on "vacation." Funny! The ice cream was delicious! We went back to the hotel after that and stayed up talking until 3AM. Yes, we did.

Wednesday: Thankfully, we were able to sleep in until 10 after out late night. We got up and all got ready and packed all of our stuff up. We checked out a little before noon, and left to go to lunch. We went to a mall somewhere outside of Memphis and ate at this delicious crepe place. Seriously, it was SO GOOD.After lunch, we went to a few little boutique stores, and then we wanted to go to a thrift/antique place. We happened to run into someone that Ashley and Sarah Denley knew, and she was able to tell us about a GREAT antique mall nearby. It worked out SO perfectly, because I found a big girl bed for Aubrey!! I was so excited! The best part is that it's already been painted and distressed, and I got it for what I think is a great price! :) I had a moment of panic when we tried to load it into my car and it almost didn't fit, but we got it in there. By this time, it was late afternoon and time to say our goodbyes and head home. We were sad to say bye to Ashley, but we planned to see each other again soon! SD and I stopped at a McDonalds on our way out of town so that she could feed Graves. We got on the road around 4:30, and the trip home was very smooth, too. Graves was wonderful again and only cried toward the very end. I dropped SD off at home, and then I got home around 8. I was excited to see David, Aubrey, and Jude, and I think they were pretty happy to see me, too :) Especially Jude. I talked to them for a while, and then I put Jude to bed. David unloaded Aubrey's new bed, and she was super excited. It was cute! We just needed to get a mattress. David put Aubrey to bed, and then I talked to him about the trip for a while before going to bed. I was tired after pulling such a late night! ;)

Thursday: Jude woke up fussing at 5:30AM, but I managed to get him to go back to sleep. Sadly, he woke up again at 6:20, and then Aubrey was up at 6:30. Not exactly what I was hoping for :( We just hung out at home all day.

Aubrey has gotten really into puzzles.!

I enjoyed being with the kids after being away from them the previous two days. Jude was pretty fussy and clingy. I think it was partly from me being gone and partly because he's getting a tooth. He took a good morning nap, and then we ate lunch.
Sweet boy getting a bottle.

I bathed Aubrey after lunch, and then it was time for naps for everyone! The kids both went to sleep at the same time (thank God), so I took a nap, too. It was nice! When we were all up from our naps, I put makeup on and straightened up. Then David got home and we talked to him and went to dinner at Cheddar's. After dinner, we went to Target and I got a few things to try for Aubrey's new bed. When we got home, we put the kids to bed and then just had a low-key evening.

Friday: We were up bright and early again. Jude is on a get up at 6:30 kick :(
Aubrey loved listening to David's ipod for a little while before he went to work. Notice her bedhead! ;)

I decided that we were getting out of the house that day! When Jude went down for his nap, I got myself and Aubrey ready. We left to go run errands when Jude woke up. We went to Hobby Lobby to get stuff for Jude's birthday banner. I didn't find everything I need, but I got a few things. We went to lunch at Chick Fil A after that. I didn't know it was dress like a cow day at CFL, so I kind of felt dumb when we showed up in normal clothes. ;) It was a madhouse at CFL, of course. We managed to get in and get lunch, and then we went to Pier 1. I had a credit that was about to expire. I got a pillow for Aubrey's bed. When we got home, I put Jude down for a nap, and he went to sleep easily. Aubrey never went to sleep, but she stayed in her room for a long time talking and playing. I finally got her up, and she colored for a while until Jude got up.

She's been really into coloring lately, too.

"No more pictures, please!"

David came home and played with her for a while, and then I got ready to go to a birthday party. My mom and brothers came over to keep the kids, and David and I went out to eat for a friend's birthday from church with a lot of couples from our Sunday School class. We had fun, and Jude was asleep when we got home, but Aubrey was still awake. David got her to bed, we talked to my family for a while, and then they left. We went to bed not too long after that.

Saturday: David got up with the kids and let me sleep. When I got up, Jude was down for his nap, and I got ready to go run errands. David took Aubrey to go buy a mattress for her new bed, and when Jude woke up, the two of us went shopping to find a birthday outfit for him. We ran all over town, and I didn't find what I was looking for. It was SO HOT, and Jude wasn't real happy to be loaded and unloaded into his carseat multiple times. Poor baby! He had a major meltdown, so we stopped at Target and I fed him lunch. I got some sheets for Aubrey's bed while we were there, and then we went home. David was there, so I put Jude down for a nap, and then went back out. I went to a few more stores and finally found an outfit for Jude's birthday. I felt like I had run all over town all day! When I got back home, Jude had just gotten up. Aubrey was still napping, and when she woke up, we went to her room and set up her new bed. Unfortunately, the box springs we had gotten made the bed way too tall. I knew we were going to need to exchange it for the shorter one. It was already late in the day by this point, though. David had to go to my parents' house, get my dad's truck, come back home, load up the box springs, and then drive to the mattress store all before they closed in less than an hour. I took the kids to dinner while David did all that. Aubrey decided that she needed to go to the bathroom as soon as we got our food. Of course. David called me in the middle of dinner to let me know that he hadn't made it to the store before they closed. Ughhh, just a stressful night. The kids and I went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and TJ Maxx after dinner before going home. David was able to rig Aubrey's bed up without the box springs so that she could sleep in it that night. We had already told her she could, and she was really excited.

I put Jude to bed and then went to Kroger. By the time I got home, I got on the internet for a little while and then was ready for bed after our crazy day!

This is going to be a busy week! I'm going to be trying to get everything ready for Jude's birthday on Saturday. We're having a small, low-key party, but I want it to be special for my sweet baby. I am in denial that's he's almost ONE!

Girls' Trip!

I was able to have a super fun little mid-week get away to Tuesday and Wednesday. Sarah Denley and I met Ashley in Memphis for a mini girls' trip, and we really had a great time being together and catching up! Memphis is about half-way between where we live, and it's such an easy trip that we decided that we will definitely have to repeat this! :) We didn't do a ton while we were there, which was fine with all of us. The purpose of this trip was to catch up, and that's exactly what we did! We spent a ton of time just sitting in the hotel talking. We did venture out for meals and a little shopping, too ;) While we were there, Ashley gave us a few little photography "lessons." Really she just showed us how to use some of the settings on our cameras. I took TONS of pictures of random objects. Some of them are terrible...... and some of them turned out ok. We did have one adorable LIVE model to practice on, too!I just have to say that this little man was a trooper for our girls' trip! He really couldn't have been any better! Such a sweet baby :)

I'm so thankful to have these two sweet friends in my life. We can always pick right back up where we left off when we see each other, and we just fall right back into our old conversations. We stayed up until ALL HOURS of the night (and wouldn't you know that my kids got up at the CRACK of DAWN this morning to repay me for leaving them) talking about things that are really serious (parenting and discipline) and things that are completely funny and frivolous (what is the definition of a BEST friend and is it possible to have more than one?). Love them! As much fun as it was to get away, I was happy to come home where I belong with my three loves!

Staying Busy

You might have noticed (or maybe not) that I've been a bit MIA on the blog this week. The reason for that is that it's been VBS week at our church, and wow! It's been fun but so exhausting! I was literally at the church today from 8am to 7:45pm, and my poor sweet babies were there the whole day, too. With no naps. They've been troopers this week, but I know they are just beyond exhausted.

Rebekkah and I were in charge of kids snacks this week at VBS, and it was so fun! We didn't want to just give them pre-packaged stuff everyday, so we ended up creating a ton of work for ourselves and making a lot of the snacks. We also thought it would be super cute to stick with our "Summer Seaquest" theme and used cookie cutters to cut out fish shapes from rice krispie treats and other things. Well, it WAS cute, but it also took forever. We were in a race against time everyday trying to get all the snacks made, bagged up, and delivered to the rooms by 10:00. There were some stressful moments, but it really was fun, and we think we want to do it again next year with our newly acquired wisdom of what does and doesn't work for kids VBS snacks ;)

The two of us were also in charge of decorating for our little closing ceremony tonight. That was why I spent the whole day at church today. We kept it pretty simple and just did tons of bright balloons and bright table cloths, and it turned out really cute! It still took forever to get it all done, though. Rebekkah and I really work well together, and we enjoy doing that kind of thing. We were laughing today and saying that other people would probably hate to work with us because we kind of have our own little language when we're planning these kinds of things. I'm pretty sure we don't speak in complete sentences or finish all of our thoughts, but we get it. Ha! ;)

THEN, after being at the church all afternoon, we had a wedding rehearsal tonight. (Remember, Rebekkah is the wedding coordinator at our church, and I'm her assistant.) It went really well and was thankfully pretty simple and quick! We even made it back over to the fellowship hall in time for the VBS closing program. Tomorrow is the wedding, and then that should end all of the crazy busyness for a while. It always comes all at once, doesn't it?!

On top of all the busyness this week, Aubrey came down with a cold, and I think Jude might be working on one, too. Apparently a lot of the little kids in the nursery got colds this week. Because of the congestion, Aubrey and Jude haven't been sleeping well. So, we're all running on little sleep. We're praying that they will be able to get some good rest tonight. And on that note, I think I'm going to go to bed while all is quiet :) Have a good weekend!

Beach Vacation: Day 6 and Home Bound

Wednesday was probably the most stressful day of our vacation, so I guess it's good that stress was saved for the last day! It still turned out to be fun, and nothing bad happened, it just seemed like every time we made tentative plans for the day, they got changed. We had planned to just go to the beach and/or pool that morning and just spend the whole day playing since it was our last day. When we woke up that morning, though, it was pretty chilly outside. The wind was blowing, and it was just too cold for the beach or pool that morning. After some discussion, we decided to go to Seaside/Watercolor and just walk around and then go to the pool after lunch and the beach after naps. So, we headed off to Seaside. It was fun to walk around, but Aubrey was having some "potty issues" and she just wasn't in a great mood. We did eat a good lunch in Seaside and by then it had warmed up, so we decided to just head on back.We planned to put the kids down for naps and go to the pool. The kids had other ideas, though. Aubrey and Carver didn't sleep, and that got kind of stressful. It's hard when you are sharing a small space because you can't really let a child fuss or be loud when they're trying to go to sleep. Carver had finally gone to sleep, but Aubrey was loud when we put her down, and she ended up waking him up :( We gave up on her nap, and David told me to just go on to the pool and he would hang out at the condo with Aubrey and Jude while the Arants went to the beach. So, Laken and I went to the pool for a while and laid out.

We got back to the condo about the same time as the Arants. They said the beach was perfect that day, and they were planning to go back. We left Carver and Jude with Laken at the condo, and the rest of us hit the beach! It was just gorgeous that day. The water was SO calm! It almost felt like playing in a lake! The temperature was great, and it was just perfect.Aubrey didn't last as long as I thought she would that day. I think not napping consistently all week was just catching up with her, and she was ready to go in after an hour. I offered to take her in and let David stay longer, but he didn't want to. So, I stayed on the beach with the Arants for a while longer before going in. Laken brought Carver out for a while longer when David got back to the condo to stay with Jude.

When we were all finished at the beach we got ready for our last night out! We had planned to go into Destin for dinner and to eat at a family place that would be fun for the kids. However, by the time we all got ready to go, it was pushing 7. We knew the kids wouldn't last that long since Destin is a good 40 minutes from Rosemary. So we then had to try to come up with another plan, and we were all just hungry and out of ideas. We ended up going to a place in Rosemary that didn't have a great selection and was expensive. The kids were not at their best that night either after no naps. David A. ended up walking around with Carver, and David H. had to take Aubrey back to the condo in the middle of dinner for a diaper change (her "potty issues" were finally resolved - ha!). We finished that dinner as quickly as we could and went and put all the kids right to bed.After they were all down for the count, the adults went to the Tapas and Chocolate place for one more dessert! We had to continue with our dessert every night tradition :) We had another fun time and our desserts were all GOOD.We packed when we got back to the condo and tried to get to bed at a decent hour for the drive home the next day. The Arants had to be home at a certain time to pick up their dogs, so they ended up leaving town with Laken about an hour and a half earlier than us. We got on the road about 10:30, and we actually had a really good trip home. We stopped at Moe's (WHY did all THREE of our Moe's in town have to close??) for lunch in honor of Cinco de Mayo :) I fed Jude in a Dillard's dressing room after lunch, and that was our only stop the whole trip. The kids both did GREAT. Jude only cried about the last 30 minutes, and that was because he was hungry, but we were stuck in traffic SO close to home. Aubrey was awake almost the entire trip, but she fell asleep about 45 minutes from home.My mom and grandmother were here to greet us when we got home. My mom said she was having withdrawals form Aubrey and Jude. Haha! All in all, we were glad to be home but sad that our vacation was over! It was a fantastic vacation, and I can't wait until our next family vacay! :)

Beach Vacation: Day 5

**In case anyone noticed and was wondering why these vacation posts just abruptly stopped, the reason is that we came home yesterday. On Wednesday night, we were busy enjoying our last night and packing, and then last night I was tired and just went to bed after we made it home. But I have to finished them out day by day or it would drive me crazy ;) So, I'll just pick up where I left off!**

Tuesday was Day 5 of our vacation, and it was outlet mall day! We had planned to go to the outlet mall in Destin on Tuesday all along, and it ended up working out perfectly since I had gotten really burned the day before. I didn't want to be in the sun a lot the day after getting burned, so it was off to the mall! :)

I was taking Jude to the mall with me so that David and Aubrey could go play at the beach and have fun and stay as long as they wanted. So, that morning, I put Jude down for his nap, and Laken stayed at the condo with him while Rebekkah, Carver, and I walked around Rosemary and went in all the little shops around there. We went back to the condo and I fed Jude, and then Rebekkah, Laken, Jude, and I hit the road! I always love going to the outlet mall and making a day of shopping! We ate lunch at Panera first and then shopped till we dropped! Jude did great in his stroller and only got fussy towards the end when we he was tired. He fell asleep on the way home, thankfully.

Meanwhile, David and Aubrey were having a great time at the beach. David took the camera with him since pictures of Aubrey playing on the beach are much more interesting than pictures of me shopping. Haha!David took Aubrey back to the condo in time for a nap that afternoon, and we got back from shopping late afternoon. We all got ready after that because we were planning on taking pictures at the beach that evening. I had HIGH hopes of getting some cute pictures of the kids on the beach at sunset. I'll just let you guess how that went. Actually, I'll do better than that. I'll show you exactly how that went: Jude is eating sand....

.....Aubrey won't sit still......... so I decide to intervene.Things still aren't going as planned, so we take a little break, and Aubrey proceeds to go into the ocean and get herself soaked. Nevertheless, we press on and try again. I finally reign myself to the fact that it just isn't happening. Tears ensue. (I managed to hold mine in somehow.) We do get a couple of adorable pictures of Jude since he is slightly more cooperative than Aubrey ;) He does have a mouth full of sand in these pictures, mind you. At least the sky and the ocean were beautiful during all of this madness! :)I didn't get a single cute picture of Aubrey and Jude together. I was SO disappointed! We did get a couple of decent ones with all four of us, but I'll wait to post those just in case they might make an appearance as gifts (Sunday IS Mother's Day, afterall...... ;).

We did get some cute pictures of the Arants, too :) (Although I think Carver was about as thrilled to be having his picture made as Aubrey was.)And we got some other miscellaneous cute ones, so it wasn't a completely wasted endeavour!

After all the picture taking madness, it was well past dinner time! We were able to eat at The Red Bar, and there was no wait! We were excited, and it was SO good!! We wanted dessert after dinner (dessert was a nightly thing while on vacation -- I'm going to need to hit the gym big time next week!), so we drove to Seaside to get gelatto. Sadly, all the ice cream/gelatto places were closed :( We decided to just go back to the condo and bake cookies instead, and they were pretty darn tasty! ;) We finished off the night reading/blogging/watching TV, and that was the end of another super fun vacation day! :)