another one bites the dust

How is it already Monday?  Really.  I have no idea how the weekends can go by so quickly but they always manage somehow.  I spent a good chunk of time shuttling the kids around from place to place this past weekend.  After picking up the kids Friday afternoon we headed home and fixed a quick dinner.  Jonathan was recovering from surgery so we then headed to Target to pick up his prescription.  Josh and I were still struggling with a little cold and we all decided to head to bed early.

Saturday morning we got up early and headed to Fourth of July Park for the first Walk 4 Our Kids 5k.  The Foundation that this event raised money for helps local children who are battling cancer.  They provide meals for the families at Brenner's, help pay utility bills, and throw fun events for the kids in the ward.  My friend Vinny was there and his family is the one who began the foundation. It was extremely heart-warming to support a cause such as this and a good reminder of how fortunate my family has been ...not to mention that to have been pushing a 51 pound girl in the jogging stroller, I was pretty proud of myself for running almost the entire way.

After the walk we headed home for lunch and showers and then took off for Putt-Putt.  One of Julianna's friends from preschool was having her brithday party there and I have to admit, it was a lot fo fun.  When we got there everyone played one round of mini golf.  It's been a while since we've played and Julianna has improved a lot in her understanding of the game.  Even so, I was fully charmed by my child when, at the completion of the 18th hole she couldn't find her ball in the hole so she ran over to me and motioned for me to bend down to her level where she could whisper in my ear, "But Mama, where did that ball go?"

After the game of mini-golf we got to go inside and have cake and ice cream and watch the birthday girl open presents.  Even after that the kids got to play unlimited games in the arcade.  Jules had loads of fun and she says for her next birthday party she wants to go to Putt-Putt and then for the one after that and the one after that and ...

We went home to rest and relieve Jonathan from taking care of a whiney baby.  We skipped church so Josh wouldn't be arond other kids in the nursery and ordered pizza for dinner Saturday night.

Sunday was spent on another 7.5 mile bike ride with friends at my mom's house followed by a big salad bar lunch.  Then we attended another birthday party that included pizza and water guns in beautiful 87 degree weather that evening.  I am tired, but it really was a great weekend.


Questions of the Day:

-Do you know any children battling cancer?
-Where was your favorite place to have a birthday party when you were a kid?
-What is your favorite arcade game?

boring old summer

Outside in the yard:

Julianna: This is boring.

Me: Well, you better get used to it because this is what we'll be doing all summer.

Julianna: It's only this amount of fun (squishing her fingers together).

Me: ....?....

Julianna: If this is how much fun the summer is going to be here then I'm going to live with someone else.

Me: Who are you going to live with?

Julianna: Duh! At my grandma's!

praise God, tomorrow is Friday!

We've had EOGs this week in NC and every teacher across the state is breathing a sigh of relief that tomorrow is Friday and testing will be over (except for retests, make-ups, mis-administrations, well - over for the most part).  One day this week I didn't even get a break/lunch until 2:15. Ugh!

So far it's been a very hectic week. We've had something going on every night and now it seems some of us are coming down with little colds. Plus, we have the usual busy, busy weekend ahead.  Fun stuff!  Anyway, I'll be back to post more this weekend, but for now I wanted to share some excellent smoothie recipes that I've been enjoying lately.  Yum-o!  And if you're into healthy living blogs you should head over to Peanut Butter Fingers and subscribe to Julie's blog.  It's good stuff!

why do all of my posts center around food?

I couldn't have had a better Mother's Day.  Possibly because I was very pessimistic about the day being anything special and having to rush from here to there all day long made me sort of dread it and therefore I ended up being surprised when it turned out to be just the opposite.

We started off the day with breakfast at Midtown Cafe and Dessertery with my mom and dad.  After a short bout with Julianna and a couple of trips outside the restaurant with her for "behavior talks" we got to enjoy an absolutely scrumptious meal together while watching Josh play Talking Tom Cat on Pap's phone.

We came home and cleaned the house before my First Place meeting.

After Josh's nap and our First Place meeting was over we headed to a new frozen yogurt place in town called Yoforia.  They were giving out free cups of frozen yogurt to all mothers for Mother's Day.  This was my first frozen yogurt experience and I have to admit, I was completely smitten.  It was love at first bite!  I got pomegranate and dark chocolate yogurt topped with Reese's Cups and Butterfinger pieces. The cups were the size of Julianna's head and Oh. So. Good.  I will definitely be back for more.

We then went on a 7.4 mile bike ride with the whole family which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Julianna once again made it the whole way without getting tired or complaining.  We even got to go through this one small part of the path that passed through the water and she found that completely thrilling.  It was like our own little Spash Mountain! Hee.

After the bike ride we were supposed to meet Jonathan's mom for dinner, but we rescheduled that for another day and headed to McDonald's for a quick meal and then a quick trip to Lowe's to get garden soil before coming home to get ready for bed and another work week.

packing it all in

The day before Mother's Day, Jonathan had gone shooting again with some co-workers so I headed to the Y with the kids and then stopped by my mom's house.  She lives downtown, very close to the area in which they were holding the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure event again this year.

We walked in the race one year before and since I wasn't doing it this year, the kids and I waited at their house for my mom and dad to get back.  After they got there we got to spend a rare precious half hour with my dad out in the streets at the after race events.

There was the percussion department from the School of the Arts playing all sorts of drums.  Josh was mesmerized!  They let him join in but he was so transfixed on the people that he wouldn't actually beat the drum himself and Pap had to move his hand up and down to get him to play.

Then we went over to the giant bubble pool.  I signed a quick waiver and let Julianna jump right in.  She had a blast until she slipped and fell on her knees.

If anyone knows my dad, you know that he couldn't stay out of that pool for long so soon enough he and Josh had climbed in as well.

After our fun outside we went shopping with my mom and my dad headed to work.  Before he went, mom asked him if she could have some money for lunch so Julianna walked right up behind her and said, "Pap, can I have ten dollars too?"  Naturally, grandpa handed over the funds and we were on our way.

It was really nice to have some carefree time without any place to hurry off to.  I hadn't been just "shopping" for no specific purpose in a long time and it was realy good to spend that time with my mom and kids.  I got a new belt and a new pair of shorts which I am excited about.  I can't wait to wear shorts every day this summer.

Julianna purchased a tacky nice new set of fake fingernails with her money and she was so excited to put them on when we got back to my mom's house.  I got a couple of cute new tops for her as well.

We were able to make lunch off of the samples they were giving out at Sam's and Josh repeatedly asked for "more cheese."  It was adorable.

When we came home, Josh napped at Nanna's while Jules and I went back to the Y for a short swim.  I've been worrying about how I can handle both kids at the beach by myself this summer and while I still recognize that it's going to be difficult, this trip to the Y reassured me that Julianna really is pretty self-sufficient in the water.  We'll be fine.

After Josh woke up we rushed home to shower and head to church.  That evening Jonathan's sisters came over for dinner and the cousins all had a good time playing together.  We wrapped up the night around the fire pit.

I love days like this where you get to spend quality time with family and don't really have any plans you just kind of see what happens.  It ended up being a really good day and I'm looking forward to another one like it.

my booger's birthday

The weekend after Jonathan's birthday when we had gotten back from SciWorks and Jonathan had come home from shooting guns with Travis, Jonathan's mom came over so that we could have a night out.  I had booked a hotel room for us that night and we went out to dinner, to the movies, and spent the night out. 

First, we checked in and showered at the hotel.  We didn't have a lot of time before the movie started and since our hotel was near enough to walk we headed over to Firebird's.  We enjoyed a delicious meal at and the as silly as this sounds, the highlight of it all for me was watching the prom dates coming in and out of the place.  I wanted to take some pictures but didn't want to be a total creepster so I resisted.  There's definitely something to be said about enjoying a meal in peace and quiet when you're an overtired parent of two young kids, but still I loved the high school prom people-watching. 

Next we went to see Water for Elephants.  It wasn't a bad movie, but I am sad that I picked it for that night.  It was slow and Jonathan didn't enjoy it a whole lot.  I had read the book years ago and thought it was a decent read so I figured the movie would be pretty good.  As it turns out, the best things going for the movie were Robert Pattinson and the variety of beautiful costumes worn by Reese Witherspoon.  Anyway, I'm glad I saw it but wish we had saved that one for Netflix.  Oh well!  You win some, you lose some!

After the movie we stopped at Kernel Kustard and I got a buckeye sundae and Jonathan got a small bag of caramel corn.  Delicious!  I don't know why I didn't take a picture of this!

When we woke up Sunday morning we got ready and headed downstairs for the free breakfast at our hotel.  After we checked out we drove to Stone Mountain and hiked to the top.  It was only about a 4 mile hike there and back and it was a nice morning.

The whole weekend gave Jonathan and I a nice break and a chance to spend some quality time together.  The car ride to Stone Mountain and the hike itself especially gave us plenty of time to talk and unwind.  I'm so thankful for time with my Booger.

another fun weekend

A couple of weekends ago we went to see the last show of the season at the Children's Theater of Winston-Salem.  The show was Go, Dog Go! and I took both Jules and Josh.  We went to the Y right before and had a few extra minutes to kill before the show started so we stopped in to CVS and bought a few treats to eat during the show. 

It was great fun!  I was nervous about holding Josh on my lap for an entire hour or more but he did great.  He was riveted by all of the dogs on stage and he sat motionless for the first 45 minutes.  I am not even kidding.  I was thoroughly surprised. 

There was a moon and a sun that was part of the set and they kept raising it and lowering it for various parts of the story.  Towards the end, Josh finally pointed as they took away the moon and lowered the sun back down.  He enthusiastically said, "Moon!"  And then looked at me like, "What happened?"  Finally, it was, "Dog? Dog! Dog?" for the whole rest of the show.

Julianna sat there happily munching on her animal crackers, Sour Patch Kids, and Tic-Tacs.  This was the 3rd show she's been to this year and we have enjoyed them all.  I would highly recommend the Family Pack of tickets to anyone who's considering it.  Great little productions that let the kids have a fun afternoon and get a good taste of the theater.

But our afternoon wasn't finished yet!  After the show was over we raced out to get to SciWorks for their Spring Fest celebration that afternoon.  Julianna had a chance to ride a pony years ago when my mom's group visited Cash Lovell Stables and she has been asking about Mr. Buttons ever since.  When I heard that CSL was going to have free pony rides that day at SciWorks I knew we had to try to get there.

Unfortunately, Mr. Buttons is now retired, but she did get to ride another friendly horse named Turbo.  She was as happy as a lark on top of that horse and Josh was intrigued from his spot in the stroller.

Julianna also loves SciWorks and I recently got a one year family membership there through Groupon so we ventured inside after the pony ride and played for a while among the exhibits.

Here they are playing in one of their most favorite places, the fish pond in what we call "the animal room."  WHat toddler doesn't love to play in water?

Next we stopped in for some free workshops where we studied the life cycle of a plant from the beginning seed to the resulting plant and vegetable.  Julianna used rubber stamps to make a book about her plant in the various stages of growth and then both Julianna and Joshua planted two seeds each. 

Josh chose two lima beans and Julianna planted limas and sweet peas.  We rolled up newspaper and folded under the bottom to make a little cup.  We filled it halfway with dirt, put in the seed, and then filled it the rest of the way.  We took our seeds home and put them in the window sill and watered them for the last week or so and all four plants had come up with leaves and a stem.  Last night Jonathan helped the kids plant them in the garden.  I have a separate post coming about that, of course.

From there we headed to the "music room."  In this room the kids get to make all kinds of sounds using a variety of objects.  They love it.  I love the piano keys on the floor.

Finally, it was apparent we were really pushing nap time so we zipped through the rest of the exhibits, pausing for a quick climb in the extra large mouth before we headed home to rest.