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!

Week in Review: Trying to Beat the Heat

We have had a fun week. Since Monday was a holiday, David had the day off, and that always makes the week go by faster. It's been SO HOT here, so that's made getting out of the house a little more draining, but it hasn't slowed us down so far! :)

Sunday: We got ready and went to church and Sunday School. We came home and ate roast sandwiches for lunch, and I baked some cookies for a fellowship time we were having after church that night. The kids and I then took naps. I had to get up earlier than usual because we were going to church early so that I could help set up for a reception we were having after church to honor our graduates. David watched the kids at church while I helped set up tables and put out punch bowls and flowers. We had a prayer service that night, and a missionary spoke. After church, we acknowledged all of the graduates and then had a little reception for them. The missionary who spoke during church that evening was spending the night with us, so David left with him to show him where we lived. I stayed and helped clean up after the reception, and then the kids and I went home. We talked to the missionary for a little while (Aubrey talked his ear OFF. Haha), and then I put both kids to bed while David kept visiting. After I got both kids down, I came back downstairs and talked to David and the missionary some more. We had never met him before that night, but he was really nice, and we enjoyed having him. We went to bed pretty early that night.

Monday: This was Memorial Day, so David had the day off. He got up with the kids, and I slept in. When I got up, I took a shower and got dressed, and then we just hung out at home. The missionary was going to a cookout at my parents' house with us that afternoon before leaving town, so he hung out at our house all morning, too. He did run a few errands. After a while, Jude and I went to Target, and David and Aubrey stayed home. When we got home, I fed Jude some lunch, and then we loaded up and went to my parents' house. They were having a lot of people over, and they cooked pulled pork and ribs. It was all really good, and the kids had a BLAST. Several of their little friends were there, and they played outside all day. I think Aubrey had just hurt herself on something and was getting some comfort from Daddy.
The adults sat around talking and watching the kids. By the time we left to go home, the kids were FILTHY and exhausted. We bathed both of them and put them straight to bed. I did my Bible Study homework that evening got got on the internet for a while before going to bed.

Tuesday: I was hoping that Aubrey would sleep later after missing her nap and playing so hard the day before, but she didn't. I got myself and the kids ready, and we went to church for Bible Study. At first, Rebekkah and I were the only ones there, and it looked like no one else was coming, but others eventually trickled in :) We ended up having a good discussion. After Bible Study, the kids and I went to the mall to get some shoes for Aubrey. They were both really good, and we ate lunch at the food court Chick Fil A after we got the shoes. When we got home, I fed Jude lunch and put both kids in bed for their naps. Jude took a little while to go to sleep, but he finally did. While they slept, I wasted time on the computer. I managed to get a few things done like cleaning up toys, but there wasn't a lot that needed to be done since we had just cleaned the house before we had our guest. That's the best part about having company :) When David got home, we talked and visited for a while, and then Rebekkah picked me up, and we went to Book Club. We met at a restaurant and ate dinner, and then we had our book discussion. We had read Water for Elephants and we also saw the movie together, so we discussed both. We all enjoyed the book and thought it was much better than the movie. We had a good discussion, and after it was over, Rebekkah and I went to Borders to get coffee and look at books. I talked to David for a little while when I got home, and then we went to bed.

Wednesday: We were up bright and early, as usual. We went ahead and started getting ready because we were meeting Sarah Denley and kids for lunch, and I wanted to be on time for once. Jude went down for a nap while I got ready, so that was convenient. I told Aubrey to pose for a picture before we left, and this is what I got. She isn't into smiling on demand, but she really does smile all the time, I promise. Haha!We met SD and her kids at McAlisters, and we had a good, but rather short, lunch. The kids just got a little restless and decided it wasn't a good day for a long chat ;) Aubrey and Jude and I went to Target to get a few things after lunch, and by the time we got home, it was naptime, and I was about to have a HEAT STROKE. I can't get over how sweltering it is already. After I got both kids down for their naps, I laid on the couch for a while and cooled off. Ha! When the kids woke up, I did some laundry and then David got home. We got everyone ready and loaded up in the car to go to church. This was our last Wednesday night to have church before we break for the summer. We ate dinner and stayed for a while, and then we came home. We got the kids to bed, and then I picked up Rebekkah and we went to the gym. When I got home, it was bedtime!

Thursday: We didn't have any big plans for the day other than going to the grocery store. We had a lazy morning, and then Jude went down for a nap. I took a shower and got ready while he slept, and I made a grocery list. I got Aubrey dressed, and then we left when Jude woke up. We went to Hobby Lobby first. I was looking for stuff for Jude's birthday party, but I didn't find anything. This is a cell phone picture, so excuse the quality.

We went to Kroger next. Aubrey had to go potty as soon as we got there, and holding Jude and trying to help Aubrey on and off the potty without touching anything was kind of tricky ;) We did our grocery shopping next, and the kids loved riding in the race car buggy together. Those things are a PAIN to steer, but they keep the kids happy. (Another cell pic.)

When we got home, I got everyone fed, and then it was naptime. Aubrey and Jude slept while I finished putting all of the groceries away and then prepped dinner. I straightened up the house while they slept, too. Look at that hair trying to curl! :)

When David got home, he took them outside while I worked on dinner. He then grilled some chicken while I cooked inside. We ate dinner together, and then cleaned up the kitchen. Then, we all loaded up and went to get a snow cone. Yum! It was Aubrey's first, and she insisted that it was pink ice cream. Haha! We came back home after our snow cones and played until bedtime. When both kids were asleep, I changed into workout clothes, and Rebekkah and I went to the gym again. David and I talked for a while when I got home and then went to sleep.

Friday: We had a good, uneventful morning. I bathed Jude and then put him down for a nap. I took a shower, and then put Aubrey in the bathtub while I put on my makeup. I ended up having to wake Jude up so that we could go to lunch. We met Rebekkah and Carver at a new place that neither of us had tried before, and it was REALLY good but pretty nice. It was a lot fancier than the places we usually go for lunch with the kids, but they did pretty well. We had fun and then just came home after lunch.
Aubrey got a balloon at the restaurant, and she LOVES balloons. She insisted on hugging it while I was taking her picture.

Right before naptime was when "The Strawberry Incident" took place :( And in case you're wondering, Aubrey DID eat the strawberries when she woke up! At first, she wasn't too keen on the idea of eating them, but then I had the idea to drizzle a little honey on them, and she gobbled them right up! Whew! I have never been so happy to see some strawberries disappear. Ha! Anyway, the kids both took good naps. Jude took an especially long nap, which was nice, because his afternoon naps aren't usually that long. Jude was still sleeping when David got home, but he woke up shortly afterwards. We got ready and met my family for dinner at Five Guys. It was good, and Aubrey was so excited to be eating with "The Uncles." My brothers wanted dessert after dinner, so we walked over to a yogurt place and we ate dessert. After we finished our yogurt, we let Aubrey play in the little splash pad at the yogurt place. We didn't have her bathing suit, so her clothes got drenched, but she had a blast!After lots of playing, we changed Aubrey into some dry clothes, and David and the kids and I went to Target. When we got home, we put the kids in bed, and then David and I watched the movie Twelve Monkeys. I had never seen it before, and it was WEIRD. It was pretty good, though. It was super late by the time it went off, and we just went to bed.

Saturday: We had a very lazy morning. We all just laid in our bed talking and playing for a long time. Then I put Jude down for a nap, and David, and Aubrey, and I laid around some more ;) Then I took a shower and got ready. I was going to meet my mom and grandmother for lunch and some shopping, but there was a miscommunication about the time, and it ended up not working out for me to go because of when Jude would need to eat again (I didn't have a bottle for him). So, I just ate lunch at home, and then we put the kids down for their afternoon naps. David and I worked on some projects around the house that we've been wanting to do, and I worked on this post. When the kids woke up, we got them dressed and David took a shower and got dressed. We all went to dinner at Olive Garden. There was a wait, so while we waited for our table, I walked over to Payless. I found a pair of shoes I wanted, but they didn't have my size. Bummer! When I got back to the restaurant, we had a table, and we ate and then went to Lowes and Kroger. We put the kids to bed when we got home, and then David watched TV and I got online, and we ended up staying up too late.

Motherhood

I consider it an honor and a privilege to be a Mother.More specifically, it's an honor and a privilege to be their Mother. Motherhood is such wild ride. It's hard and fun and exhausting and lonely and thrilling and frustrating and draining and oh so rewarding. It's beautiful. Happy Mother's Day!

Easter Weekend 2011

As I mentioned in my last post, we had our church Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning. It was so fun, and Aubrey really enjoyed it! The eggs didn't last long, but there were plenty of other fun things to do after the eggs had all been found. Oh, and since I'm pretty much the most unorganized person on the face of the planet, I realized on Friday night that I had never done anything about getting an Easter basket for Aubrey. David's mom gave me some cute little baskets, but they needed to be painted, and I just never had a chance to work on them. So, as I was running out the door for the egg hunt on Saturday morning (I had to be there early), I looked around the house and saw this plastic "basket" and called it a day. So, yeah, my child was basically walking around with a mini laundry basket collecting her eggs. Ha! We're pretty "laid back" over here. (That's a nice way of putting it ;) I like to think of myself as a "free spirit" and I'm ok with that.) I'm totally the mom who plans to get super cute monogrammed/painted/embellished baskets (or whatever), and then just never follows through. Oops!Jude just chilled in the stroller almost the whole time. We got him out for a little while, but he was just so sweet and perfectly content to sit and watch the action. Mommies and their sons :)

Aubrey and Carver had some fun jumping together. Those two are so funny. They pull each other's hair and play SO rough and just think it's hilarious. They act like they're brother and sister. And Aubrey is more rough than a little boy, I think! :)Silly girl! The next day was Easter Sunday! David and I had nursery duty during church, and I have to admit that I was a little disappointed to miss church. I love our Easter service. But it's a joy to serve by taking care of the sweet babies, and thankfully, we can worship our RISEN Lord anywhere and anytime! :) After church, we got my family to snap some pictures of us before we left. I'm glad we did, because these ended up being the only family pictures we got that day! Aubrey wasn't the most cooperative for the pictures, but what else is new? Haha. Aubrey decided that she wanted to sit in the monkey grass, so we just joined her down there :) Sweet Jude with Mommy and Daddy. I would have loved to have gotten a picture with my sweet girl, too, but she wouldn't hold still for half a second.
Jude and "The Uncles." :) Once we got over to David's parents' house where we were eating lunch, Jude was sacked out. Then it was lunchtime, and he promptly got green beans on his white outfit. And that was the end of picture time ;) We did get a few more of Aubrey, though. (Action shots, of course!)

She always has so much fun playing with the toys at Dee Dee's house. Notice her bracelet. She was SO proud of that bracelet. I wore a pearl bracelet, too, and she thought it was pretty cool that we had "matching " bracelets. She helped Dee Dee decorate this cute little lamb cake that we had for dessert.
We had a great Easter! As cute as Easter egg hunts, and new clothes, and white shoes are, I pray that we don't get caught up in that and always remember WHY we celebrate Easter Sunday.

"And as He stands in Victory,
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me!"

Christ has defeated death and sin and has the victory! Hallelujah to our RISEN Lord!