The Story Of Us

What I Did On Wednesday

2012-02-08T13:44:00.000-08:00

So Liam has one of his epic diaper rashes. For real - this thing is scary. Bright red and swollen and extended all over his private area. And guess what that means? Oh yeah, it means that even with Tylenol and Motrin and a fresh diaper 4 times last night there was no sleeping in our house.

All of that to say that there is a reason why I find myself stuck on the couch with a sleeping boy laid out on my chest in the middle of the morning. And for the love of God, I refuse to move and wake him up so I have been goofing around online. Want to know what I learned? Good, cause I'm gonna tell ya anyway!

1. I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest and I am not even on it yet. I feel like I should love it - everyone else does. And, when I look at it there are all these really cool pictures and ideas....But then, when I spend too much time looking, I start to get an anxious feeling in my chest. How do all these people have time to make/cook/craft/photograph all this stuff?! Then I start to feel completely inadequate and ask myself questions like, Why don't I have time to hand paint a "Time Out" chair for my kids to sit in? One that is covered in cutesy pictures and messages to let them know that even though they are being disciplined they are still loved. Listen, there are enough things in my life that make me feel less than perfect - I probably don't need to hear it from my computer screen too. I don't think I will be jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon.

But I did see this and laugh. (And then I thought of you Lisa!)

2. Okay, what else? Oh, I have discovered that once I latch onto to something I am likely to beat the idea into the ground. Like my love for nautical stripes. I saw about a bazillion things I wanted online this morning and they all had nautical stripes.

source

source

Don't worry Wes, I didn't actually buy anything. (I couldn't move to get my wallet without waking up the 25 pounds of sleeping toddler on my chest.)

3. I took a People.com test about celebrities named 'Jennifer' and scored a perfect score. I felt awesome for about a half a second, and then stopped to think about the fact that I was celebrating a perfect score on a People.com quiz. (Higher standards Kelly, higher standards.)

And now I am laughing to myself because when Wes was trying to talk to me about politics the other day I got really mad and accused him of acting all condescending about me being uninformed. I believe I said something along the lines of, "I mean, I just don't have time to sit around and read politic blogs all day Wes! I am doing things!" But apparently I have plenty of time to take People.com quizzes. Hmm...

And that is all. (Well, not really. I did a lot of other stuff online during our random morning nap, but my laptop battery is dying so its time to wrap things up!)

Strawberry Picking

2012-02-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

So even though it is February and it should be freezing outside, it's not. Here in Charleston it has been unbelievably beautiful lately - like, sunny and 75 degrees beautiful. And, because of that, the local farm that we use for our CSA has already opened their u-pick strawberries for this season. Score!

Saturday afternoon we loaded up the boys and headed to the farm to collect as many berries as we could carry. Which turned out to be a lot.

Family outings like these are so fun for us, mostly because they give such good insight into the personalities of our children. Saturday was no exception. Wes and I got a huge kick out of watching how the boys had such different reactions to the same situation.

Noah enjoyed picking strawberries - that he refuses to eat by the way - BUT did not really enjoy how dirty it was. (I'm not sure what he thought happened on a farm, but this is the same kid who once saw a cow in a field and declared it to be a horse.) Anyway, he was very reluctant to bend down anywhere near the dirt and touch the strawberry plants. Any berry that ended up in his bucket was most likely pulled by me. I think the following picture was the only time that he even attempted to get one himself.

As soon as his bucket was about halfway full he declared it to be too heavy. "I can't carry it anymore guys. I have a 'crankle' in my hand!" (I'm assuming that means a hand cramp?) And then the fact that his shoes were dirty completely distracted him from anymore berry picking and he spent the rest of the time asking if we could just go to the mall and get a new pair of shoes.

Liam on the other hand could not get enough of the dirt and grime. He kept grabbing at berry after berry and trying to rip even the green ones off the stem to fill his bucket. Then he insisted on carrying not one but two buckets and when Wes tried to help him he clutched them tighter and yelled, "No! My cups!"

He also kept trying to sneak berries into his mouth. I would turn around and he would have one halfway to his mouth, and when he realized he was caught he would smile mischievously. And while Noah was in panic mode about his ruined shoes Liam was literally crouching in a ditch digging holes in the mud and throwing dirt in the air. And then rolling around in it. Seriously.

So to sum up: Next time, Noah will wear a Hazmat suit, we will bring a portable shower for Liam to use before entering our car, and.... Six pounds of strawberries is a lot for one family to eat!

What's New With Noah

2012-01-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

Confession. I am really bad at baby books. And scrap booking. And any kind of organizing when it comes to recording my children and their milestones. Except for here on this blog. It seems to be the only place where I am really able to record anything cute or interesting that my children do. At least one day I will have this to look back on and show them pictures and stories about when they were young. ('Cause if they believed life as it is presented in their baby books... Well, let's just say that Noah would assume he only made it to 6 months and Liam would be afraid that he never existed at all. Yikes.)

All of that to say that I have some cute Noah updates to share with you. (Or, more importantly, future me.) Noah is 5 going on 30 - seriously. The things that he says! I vacillate between laughing hysterically and being utterly horrified. For instance the other evening he and Liam were watching a DVD after dinner. Liam had randomly picked a Veggie Tales DVD that I wasn't even aware we owned. (I know, I know, its like, heresy, to call yourself a Christian and not have your children watch Veggie Tales, but what can I say? We were too busy having dance parties to Lady Gaga songs.) Anyway, they had been sitting through about 15 minutes of it, and I was putting laundry away in the bedroom, when I heard Noah say in a disgusted voice, "I mean... how can vegetables TALK?!" I died laughing - mostly 'cause I have always felt similarly disgusted with the same idea.

Then there was a two weekends ago when we were staying at my Mom's. He suddenly turned to us and blurted out, "Something is wrong with my tooth!" Yep, you guessed it. He has his first loose tooth. And though he was excited about it for a few seconds, the emotion quickly swung to anxiety and he made us promise - swear - that we would just wait for it to literally fall out of his mouth. He does not want it pulled. Shocker.

Also, a few nights ago we were reading before bed when something happened that reminded me what a little sponge he is. We usually read one or two chapters of either a Magic Tree House book, or Magic School Bus book. That night we were reading about children on a field trip to see sharks. I was reading a part about an octopus when he stopped me and very seriously informed me of the following:

"Mama, do you know what? Octopuses are very good at getting away from predators 'cause they have jet propulsion. (This is all punctuated by his emphatic hand gestures by the way.) That's like, when the shark chases them and they use jet propulsion to get away. And they have ink defense too. It's like, they see a predator, and Bam!, they let out their ink defense. That's why they are so good at getting away from sharks. And, anyway, they could always just 'stang' them with their...tenta...penta...what are those things called?..." (trailing off).

"Tentacles?"

"Yes! They could always just stang them with their tentacles."

Of course, I was very impressed that he knew all those things and I told him so. Then I asked if they were learning about sea life at school.

"No", he scoffed. "I heard it on Wild Kratts."

(That is a TV show about two brothers who study wild animals, for those of you who don't have a 5 year old boy.)

These are just some of the things that he has done lately that are worth mentioning. I could go on - and on. But I won't. All I will say, is that Noah constantly amazes me with how smart and funny and sweet he is. I love having the privilege of being his Mom and getting to watch him grow up!

Friday Facts

2012-01-20T06:36:00.000-08:00

Fact: I have sucked at blogging lately. I am trying to remedy that. We'll see how it goes.

Fact: We traveled to Atlanta last weekend. I was very worried about the 5 hour car trip but I must say, my boys did an awesome job traveling. We timed our trip - coming and going - to coincide with Liam's nap time, so both ways he spent almost half the time asleep. Noah played on the iPad quietly. Then, when Liam woke up, they both watched movies together on the portable DVD player. Throw in a couple of snacks and some funny faces to entertain in Atlanta traffic and you have a successful road trip.

(Sub-fact: My pictures these days are terrible. I vow to stop relying on my iPhone and start using my real camera. No really, I WILL do it!)

We did lots of fun things in the ATL. On Friday we got to see our good friends Jan, Clayton, and Abigail. That was a fun surprise for Noah - he had a ball playing with his buddies. We sure do miss them! On Saturday my Mom treated us to a visit to the Georgia Aquarium. The boys had a blast. We decided to brave it without the stroller and just let Liam wander around with Noah - it was the perfect decision. He hates to ride in the stroller and is finally old enough that I trust him to walk with us. We got there early and visited all the really popular exhibits before it got crowded. Everyone loved the underwater tunnel with the whale sharks and big sting rays.

(Aunt J, the above picture is for you. Mom must have been amazed by one of those Hammerhead sharks!)

As neat as it was to watch the fish swim around above us, Noah and Liam's favorite part was the moving sidewalk that went through the exhibit. Seriously.

We also really enjoyed the big tank. (I think I heard it is actually the biggest tank of any aquarium anywhere.) Noah, Bebe, and I staked out spots on the floor directly in front of the tank and spent a long time just checking out all the cool fish.

Shortly after that Noah turned to me and asked when we could go visit the "lunch exhibit". Oh, and maybe after that the "toy exhibit". Is that what they are calling gift shops these days?

Fact: Taking two little boys to a train museum will always be a good choice.

Again, I am aware that the picture sucks but it at least proves that we went there!

Fact: It is inadvisable to try to go shopping at the mall with a 21 month old. You will end up in the Nordstrom men's shoe department wrangling an umbrella stroller, several packages, a bored 5 year old, two balloons, and said 21 month old in full melt down while your husband tries on expensive shoes and pretends he doesn't know who the crazy stroller lady with the loud children belongs to. Just sayin'. And after that super stressful meltdown in the middle of your favorite department store, it will be essential to stuff your face with food from Chipotle while you cruise down GA 400.

Fact: After being spoiled by Bebe for 5 days, it is always a good idea to have an impromtu play date to distract Noah from the fact that we are back to life as usual.

Abby Grace is a pirate, Olivia is a cowgirl... And I am not sure what the hell Noah is. Mario, the super hero police officer??

Fact: I am ready for the weekend. Happy weekend friends!

Random Monday Thoughts

2012-01-09T05:42:00.000-08:00

1. I was seriously irritated with myself when I looked to the right hand side of my blog page and saw my post count for 2011. It says, 99. 99?! For some reason it bothers me that I didn't write just one more post and hit an even 100. I really like round numbers so much better. (I know, I know - I can file this under the heading of "White People Problems". On second thought, you can probably file all of what I'm about to say under that title.) Moving on...

2. Last night my friend Jessica and I tried to go to our usual Sunday afternoon yoga class, but as we pulled up we were astonished to find both the main parking lot and the overflow parking lot completely full. I have never seen so many scantily dressed hipsters carrying yoga mats, walking down one street before in my life! The only thing I can figure is that it is January and everyone is full of resolutions and good intentions about working out so they all flocked to yoga class to begin their physical transformation of 2012. Well, even though I go on and on about the benefits of working out and how everyone should do it, I guess what I really mean is this: By all means please work out as long as it does not affect me in any way shape or form, OK? We opted to skip our class instead of being crammed like cattle into a hot room. It is one thing to roll around in my own sweat but the thought of having to touch someone else's sweat while trying to hold triangle pose made me throw up in my mouth. Here's to hoping people give up on their new years resolutions quickly so that I can have my non-crowded yoga class back as soon as possible.

3. Never, I repeat never, make important life decisions on your 5th glass of wine. By this I mean, it is not advisable to go to Bunco Night, drink 3 glasses of prosecco and 2 of red and, while basking in the glow of your $10 cash payout, commit to running a half marathon! I am kidding a little.... I did have that much to drink at Bunco but I was fully with it enough to know what I was committing to. One of my friends here in the neighborhood was signed up to run the Divas Half Marathon in Myrtle Beach in May and when I found out I immediately committed to doing it with her. I have needed a kick in the pants for my running for a long time now and I figured I wouldn't find a better chance than this. Running a fun, near-by race with someone else instead of by myself. So, I signed up and now I have to get running. Officially I have no goals but to have a good time (They have feather boa and tiara stations along the course and firemen who hand you roses at the finish line so I think "fun" is a done deal!) Unofficially, I would love to run it under 2 hours. Even if that means 1:59:59.... Just sayin'.

4. Noah has a 3 day school week this week, and then he gets Thursday, Friday, and Monday off. Excuse me, but didn't we just have a 2 week holiday?! Oh well, we are using the super long weekend to head to Atlanta and see my Mom. Five hours in the car with Liam... I'll let you know how that goes.

5. Oh, and speaking of my Mom. She sent me this picture a few nights ago and I almost crapped my pants. I knew that Liam looked more like me than Wes, but I had no idea how much he looked like me.

I think my direct quote back to my Mom was, "Holy Crap, it's Liam in drag!" Wes is totally creeped out.

Happy New Year

2012-01-03T11:18:00.000-08:00

And we are finally back to the old routine.

After 2 weeks straight of holiday events and time with family and friends we are back to business as usual. Noah is back at school, Wes is back at work, the guest room is empty, and my house is quiet. Can't believe it is the beginning of a whole new year. Although, I will admit, it felt a little uneventful. We rang it in quietly, drinking wine on the couch and watching Ryan Seacrest on TV. Yes, we are getting old. Whatever.

While I am not a resolution kind of person, I DO like the feeling you get at the beginning of the year. Like everything is a blank slate, and you can write whatever you want on it.

Let's start with this. I need some wholesome food...pronto! I didn't completely go off the wagon over the holidays, but I know that I consumed way too many treats. And that is fine - there is definitely a time and place for treats so I won't beat myself up about it. However, you can imagine my joy when I checked my email and saw that my first CSA pick up was this morning.

Look at all that green! Kale, bok choy, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, squash, peppers, tomatoes... I have such grand plans. This should go a long way to helping me with my much needed holiday detox!

So, happy new year everybody. Whether you are starting it off with bok choy or a Big Mac - here's to hoping its a great one!

10 Things You Should Know About Our Christmas

2011-12-29T13:27:00.000-08:00

1. We started things off right by heading to church on Christmas Eve. Instead of going to the kids' room, Noah stayed with us during the whole service. He clapped to the music and listened so well during the sermon - it was very sweet. And then, in classic Noah fashion, almost had a panic attack when he realized he would have to hold a lit candle during the song Silent Night. I watched his face become awash with terror as Wes lit his candle and the wax started slowly dripping down the sides. Thankfully the song ended without any major mishaps and Noah breathed a sigh of relief.

2. Right before bed I let the boys open one present. It was their new PJ's. Blue with green Yoshi for Noah, and blue with red Lightening McQueen for Liam. That is kind of Christmas-y, right?

3. Christmas dawned bright and early - for the parents. We actually got up before the boys to finish making our Christmas breakfast.

That is my why the heck did I decide to make this stupid breakfast at 6 in the morning? face. It's pretty huh? And of course, we got up all early and that was the morning that both of my children slept until 7.

4. It was the usual excitement as the boys woke up and came down the stairs to see their gifts. It was really cute this year because now that Liam is older they came down together and Noah had someone to share all his glee with!

5. This year we did minimal Santa gifts - all the big things came from Mom and Dad - in an effort to focus more on what Christmas is really about. So, after Noah got his stuffed Yoshi and Liam got his Thomas bath toys, we headed to the kitchen to blow out the candles on Jesus' birthday cake. (Which was actually the monkey bread I made.) We even sang Happy Birthday to Him, and even though my sis was making fun of me the whole time, I am glad we did it.

6. Our tree was obnoxious. Seriously...did we need that many presents?!

Hey, don't get me wrong. I loved them all - my family was very good to me this year! (Wes got me a Kindle and tickets to see Wicked when it comes here in April!) And the boys got so many fun new toys that they are very excited about.

7. Noah's highlight? Anything having to do with Mario or Angry Birds. Liam's highlight? Hands down, it was the giant pop-up Thomas the Train tent from Aunt J.

He had already changed into his Thomas shirt - from me -and the minute that tent made its appearance the rest of his presents were irrelevant. The boys have been making good use of it ever since.

8. And do you want to know the highlight of my morning? Good, cause I'm going to tell you. It was when we unwrapped the a present to Liam from my mom. It was an Elmo shirt she had found for him at Old Navy, and she was very excited about it. He was too - enough that he immediately wanted to take off the Thomas shirt and put on Elmo. We obliged, but as soon as we slid it over his shoulders I realized something was wrong. Can you tell what it was?

Are you thinking that the shoulders of the shirt look weird? Well, that's because they do...on a boy! It was a little girl's shirt with puffiness at the shoulders. We all just died laughing, including my Mom who kept insisting she really had found it in the boy's section. The best part was that there was no way Liam was going to remove the shirt once it was on so he spent all morning wandering around in a girl's shirt! Classic.

9. When we invite people over for dinner they are required to pay for the food by entertaining my children.

Poor Jamie may want to fake a back injury the next time she heads our way.

10. And the last thing you should know about our Christmas. It was so fun...but it made us really tired.

Here's to getting lots of rest between now and the new year!

Breathe

2011-12-23T05:59:00.000-08:00

For the last 2 weeks I have felt like my life was spinning faster and faster out of control. Like I was on a ride at Disney World that was going way too fast and I didn't know how to get off. How in the world did we get so busy?!? I love the holidays, but the older my kids get the more we have going on, and the harder they are to get through.

Then, on Wednesday, my in laws took the boys to their house for 2 nights and I was able to sit down and breathe. And clean all my bathrooms, wrap the presents, organize my pantry, and drink wine with my husband. Oh, and thank you Lord, sleep until 9 in the morning one day. (When was the last time that happened?)

Now I feel like I have stepped off the crazy ride, calmed down a bit and am ready to enjoy Christmas. Here is what I am looking forward to,

~ Going to the Festival of Lights again.

~ Church on Christmas Eve. I don't know if the church we are going to now does it, but I love to sing Silent Night while everyone holds up their candle in the darkened room.

~ Reading the Christmas story with my boys and then waking up on Christmas and having Jesus' birthday cake. I am stealing this idea from some of my friends for this year. Hey, nothing says birthday to my 5 year old like a cake! And why not have one? It is a tangible reminder - especially to young children - of what we are actually celebrating.

~ The one present under the tree that I have been dying to unwrap. The one that Noah purchased and wrapped himself at his school's holiday store. The one that cost about $1.... Yes, if I had to only get one gift this Christmas, I would pick that one. For real.

~ Watching my boys get so excited. They are growing up very fast and I want to be intentional about enjoying every minute of special times like this.

I am throwing off all the things that were stressing me out - and there were a lot - and focusing on this truth....

"Long lay the world in sin and error pining. 'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth."

None of the rest of it matters. It's about God. Becoming man. Living a perfect life and dying as a sacrifice so that I - in all my UNperfectness - could be saved. It's about the wonderful grace of Jesus.

So. Merry Christmas friends. From our family to yours!

A Rant

2011-12-16T06:50:00.000-08:00

This may be one of those posts that only my friends who have young children can relate to, but I am going to write it anyway.

So, let me set the scene. It is 6:30pm - the end of a long, busy day - and I am trying to get the kids dinner. Wes is eating Mexican somewhere at his office Christmas party, and I am just trying to make it until bedtime. Of course right about this time is when I realize that the next morning is Noah's last day of school before break, and I have forgotten to get his teacher's their Christmas gifts to send in with him. So, at nearly 7pm when I should be loading them into the bathtub, I am unloading the kids from the car in the Target parking lot. I grab Liam in my right arm and hoist him onto my hip - all 26 pounds of him - and grab Noah's hand with my left hand, and try to get us into the store without being run over by crazy suburbanites doing their last minute Christmas shopping. I notice Noah's untied shoe and tell him to be careful, we will tie it when we get inside and Liam is in the cart. Then I hear a voice behind me say, "Excuse me, ma'am?"

I turned around and saw a women walking up behind us. She pointed to Noah's foot and said, "Do you realize that his shoe is untied?"

I am sure I stared at her like she was a crazy person. (She probably was.) Do I realize his shoe is untied? Is she kidding? Did she really stop me - while I am wrangling 2 kids in a parking lot - to bug me about my son's untied shoe?! I took a deep breathe and replied, "I do actually realize that, but I am just waiting until my hands are free to tie it." I sort of gesture with Liam and my left hand clutching Noah as if to say, Hey crazy lady, my hands are a little full, what would you like me to do about it?

"Well, I can tie it for you right now if you want." (This women clearly thought that his untied shoelace was the end of the world. I had a sneaking suspicion that she had never actually had any children.)

Oh sure. Please. Let's stop in the middle of this dark parking lot so that we can squat down and tie the kid's shoe. What do you think will run us over first? A Honda Odyssey or GMC Yukon?

So I gathered myself and calmly replied, "Thank you for the offer, but I'll take care of it in a minute."

She looked very displeased but walked away.

When Noah was about 7 months old a similar thing happened to me at Publix. He was sitting in the cart - strapped in - and I was putting our groceries in the trunk. I had my foot on the cart as I turned my back to put the bags in the car. A women actually had the nerve to come up to me and nag me because what I was doing was "very dangerous". She informed I should always put my baby in the car first because if I turn my back on him while he sits in the cart someone could walk right up and grab him. At that time in my life I was still very unsure about myself as a Mom. I kind of felt like I had been offered the job on a probationary basis and that at any minute they would tell me I wasn't cut our for it, and should look for employment elsewhere. So, instead of telling her to stick it like I should have, I actually apologized for leaving him in the cart and thanked her for her advice. It wasn't until I started driving home that I felt my cheeks get hot and the blood rush to my head as I got really angry. Who was she to just come up and criticize what I was doing with my own child?! I wasn't being dangerous at all, and any Mom raising young kids would probably do it just like I was doing. I realized that just because a person is older than me, it does NOT mean that they are always right. Or that they necessarily know more about kids than I do. A light bulb went off at that moment when I realized that I had enough Mom experience to be confident in my choices. I did not have to listen to "advice" from every person who wanted to offer it up. I vowed that I would never again let a stranger, posing as "helpful", berate my mothering skills. (If I am beating my child in the grocery store feel free to step in and stop me - otherwise keep your opinions to yourself. I am doing the best I can.)

So, this time, I was proud of the fact that I firmly, but not meanly, told this lady thanks but no thanks. I was thinking how patiently I had handled it, while still letting her know that she did not have the right to tell me what to do. Of course, that was all ruined by what I did next.

Because I am me, as soon as she walked away, I rolled my eyes, stuck out my tongue a little, and made an exasperated sound. And then Noah turned to me and said in his usual loud voice,

"Mama! Don't make that face at her. She was just trying to help."

Oh son. Your untied shoe is the least of your problems.

Holiday Lights

2011-12-16T05:20:00.000-08:00

This is the scene in our downstairs these days.

(Actually a more accurate scene would include trains scattered throughout the picture but whatever.)

Amazingly enough Liam has not messed with the Christmas tree or the presents at all. The only thing he does is run over as soon as we walk in the door and step on the little button to turn on the lights. He prefers it all lit up, all day long.

As fun as our lights are though, we were hankering to see some lights on a big scale. So, when my friend Lisa suggested we take the big kids to the county park's festival of lights I jumped on board. Usually we would have been at least a few times by now, and I was really excited to do something with just Noah. (I love Liam, but sometimes I feel like poor Noah gets the shaft when we go places because my attention is so focused on making sure Liam doesn't run off into the crowd or throw a train at some one's head.)

On Wednesday we picked up Lisa and Hannah and headed over to enjoy the lights. It was a lot of fun and Noah loved seeing all his usual favorites. We also got to ride the train - although it was very crowded and he pouted a little cause we didn't get to sit next to Hannah. I forced him to pose for a picture with me though.

Things were made better after that when Noah and Hannah got to ride the carousel together.

We did not ride again - despite the fact that Noah had somehow obtained an extra ticket from a random stranger.

Noah: "I have an extra ticket. He gave it to me!"

Me: (suspiciously) "Who gave it to you?"

Noah: "A man."

Me: "What man?!?"

Noah: (shrugging) "I don't know. Just a man."

Me: (to myself, in my head) Was his last name Sandusky?

Lisa and I exchanged glances and we meandered over to another area. Not to sound like a paranoid mother but... really?! For some reason it just sounded like textbook stranger danger.

Other than that, we had a fabulous time! On the way out I tried to get a picture of Noah and Hannah together.

This was the result and after careful examination, Lisa and I determined that it looked a bit like a mug shot, so we had them go pose again. "Smile this time!" we said.

Much better!

And, to prove how much fun was had, here is a picture of Noah on the way home.

The ride home became strangely quiet at one point and we turned around to discover that both kids were totally asleep. So cute!

What's Up With Liam

2011-12-14T04:56:00.000-08:00

Can I just take a minute to show you something?

Whenever I sit down to blog or answer emails this is what Liam does. Grabs his "computer" and screams "Up, up, UP!!" until I put him on the couch next to me. Then he furiously bangs the keys on his computer while I type. It is too cute.

He does lots of cute things these days. As of tomorrow he is 20 months, and I am having a hard time believing that we are now closer to 2 than 1. So, in random order, here are some fun facts about Liam.

~ His favorite food is a Kashi breakfast bar (preferably strawberry flavored). We eat at least 3 a day. He has one with breakfast, and then sometime around mid morning he runs to the pantry and starts screaming, "Bar, bar, BAR!!" (are you sensing a pattern here?). And then the same thing happens after nap.

~ He is OBSESSED with Thomas the Train. This came out of nowhere several weeks ago. One day he just latched onto Thomas and now it is all we play with. Good thing he has an older brother who managed to collect every Thomas train known to man. There are 3 giant buckets that Liam regularly visits to gather new (to him) trains. My living room floor is covered. And I find them hiding in all sorts of strange places - behind curtains, under the pillows on my bed, in the pantry. And he loves all our Thomas books. When he doesn't have a string of five trains hooked together, he is carrying at least 2 Thomas books that he will stop and "read". By this I mean turn the pages while babbling nonsense to himself and occasionally inserting a "Peep-Peep".

~ He is fabulous at entertaining himself. He will invent games with just about anything. Like the other day, when he decided the high chair made a perfect ride on toy.

Yes, he did hold on like that while I pushed him around the downstairs. He was cackling with glee the whole time.

~ He is mostly a really happy kid. Always ready with a smile and a belly laugh. Unless you see him during the 10% of the time when he is not happy. Then you might want to head for the hills 'cause when that child is pissed...look out! You will see all manner of kicking and screaming and flopping on the ground dramatically while turning red in the face.

~ He wants to do EVERYTHING his brother does. Most of the time this is cute but sometimes it presents a problem. Like, for instance, when you visit the zoo at night and there are tons of people and he wants to walk like his brother. Except he doesn't walk like his brother - he tends to dart off in the other direction when you are least expecting it - so he gets strapped into the stroller against his will and ends up looking like this:

Yes, life with Liam is interesting. But so fun too. And I can see a big difference in things as we approach 2. He is communicating better and understanding better and every day he is growing up a little more.

Another Weekend Gone

2011-12-12T05:15:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a bit of a whirlwind. We headed back up to see Wes' family for another holiday get together. This time it was pre Christmas fun with a lot of extended family. As usual, the boys had a great time at the lake and went non-stop the whole time. Here are some pics to show what went down.

We finished the trip off with a stop at Riverbanks Zoo to see the lights. This is what Liam thought of walking through the zoo in 30 degree weather while being strapped into a stroller...

But I tried to ignore that and focus on Noah who was having a blast. He was so into it! We bought him one of those obnoxious light up wands and he waved it around as we walked through the zoo pretending to make people disappear. (For a little while he had it set on the "strobe light" setting but I promptly nixed that as I was afraid I was headed for a stroke.) He danced to the music and talked to the light displays and sang made up Christmas songs. (Here's a star for the tree, It's Jesus' tree!) And then, we passed a snow machine and he stopped to dance in the snow.

I loved watching the joy on his face as he danced around under fake snow, waving his magic wand. He is growing up so fast and I find myself trying to hold onto little moments like these as tightly as I can. I am thankful for such fun times with him!

Art

2011-12-11T07:29:00.000-08:00

On Friday I went to Noah's school for his classroom's art auction. They were auctioning off pieces of their own art to raise money for a family in need this holiday season. Such a cute idea - and what parent won't shell out some cash for something like that?! Also, they were told they could price their paintings somewhere between $1 and $5. When I asked Noah how much his was he looked at me like I was an idiot before replying, "Uh, five dollars!"

Noah does not lack for confidence let's just say that.

When we got there, the class lined up and recited some facts about their art for us. Noah did very well speaking in front of all the parents.

And here he is holding up his masterpiece.

In case you are wondering that is a Santa on top of a sleigh delivering presents to a house in the snow.

PS... This weekend we were at my in laws' house again and I discovered where Noah's artistic talent came from. (Tee Hee... I am snickering sarcastically!) I am risking divorce putting this on here, but I think that it is totally worth it. Here is a picture of a piece of Wes' artwork that his Mom has sitting out in her house..............

I think he was in middle school when he did this (ha!) and he titled it "Good Day". I asked him why his good day involved a clown playing outside while crying. He informed me that it is NOT a clown, it is in fact him, and he is playing basketball, and those are not tears - it is sweat. By this point I was laughing hysterically and asking him why, if that is him, was his nose red?? And why was he dressed as a clown? He told me his nose was red cause he needed sunscreen or something like that - I don't know - by that point I wasn't really listening anymore, just pulling out my camera to document how awesome this painting was!

PPS.... Oh, and the only thing funnier than Wes' clown painting is this. A little peek at a drawing Noah did at school that came home in his folder a couple weeks ago.

Seriously? OK, you scan this picture and tell me what your first thought is. That blue "dinosaur".... does it look like anything else to you? Don't tell me I am the only one with a dirty mind folks!

Oh we are such good artists in my family!

Scenes From My Weekend

2011-12-05T05:14:00.000-08:00

Please keep in mind that these scenes will all be presented in "word pictures" as I did not bust out my camera once this weekend. Sorry.

1. Friday night I went to yoga. (Wes had reserves this whole weekend and I think I knew that I needed a little zen to keep get me through.) Of course, like every other time in my life, I was late getting there. My friend Jess and I were not sure at all if we would make it in time, and we were terrified of having to put our mats inside the "Circle of Death". (We have bestowed that name on the inner portion of the yoga room where, when it is 105 degrees with 65% humidity, you feel like you are going to just boil alive. The worst class I ever had was in the circle of death and I have vowed never to go back.) Lucky for us, we made it just in time to place our mats in a primo spot at the front of the room. It was good juju all around cause I had a fantastic class. We even got complemented by the instructor at one point for doing one of the postures "perfectly synchronized". I almost replied sarcastically with, "Yeah, we practice at home" but I wasn't sure how sarcasm would be received at yoga.

2. Saturday Wes went to the base (at an ungodly early hour) and I began my weekend with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb. Dumb has an ear infection and Dee has a cough so my plan was to lay low. Of course, that translated to a lot of TV. And video games. And then more TV. Well sorry, but I'm not sorry. We go hard all the time and if my boys spend one day completely vegging out I guess its not the end of the world. The only downside was that Noah discovered a really old school Super Mario Show on Netflix that he insists on watching all the time. It is terrible!!! So terrible I was actually begging them to watch Thomas the Train instead.

3. When Wes got home Saturday evening, we finally got around to putting up our outside lights. The boys and I helped Wes as he strung the lights. By "helped" I mean this: I watched Liam like a hawk to make sure he didn't run into the street and Noah pulled his pants all the way up his legs and ran around our front yard in circles screaming, "I have underwear pants, underwear pants!" My kids are so normal.

4. Sunday I went to a baby shower for my friend Joy. (Major shout out to our babysitter, Miss Kelly, who was at our house twice this weekend!) Of course, I was late getting all my stuff for the shower together and then almost late getting there, and once I finally stood still to relax I realized it was 2pm and I had forgotten to eat any lunch. So I had one of every cookie that was at the shower. That is a valid meal, right? It was a fun time with friends though and a I was glad I got to go!

5. Got home last night, was incredibly bothered that the bulb in one of our window candles had gone out, rendering our lighting scheme uneven, and couldn't wait a single second longer to fix that problem. (I am a little neurotic about things being symmetrical. Whatever, nobody's perfect.) I convinced Wes we had to go to Lowe's right away so we gathered Dee and Dumb and headed out. Then Noah suggested that because Lowe's rhymes with Moe's we should probably go eat at Moe's. And since my lunch was cookies, I didn't argue too hard.

6. Got bulbs at Lowe's and watched in horror as my night began to swiftly deteriorate. Liam stood in the cart and slammed the front part - the part with the seat that folds up - back and forth as hard as he could while screaming at the top of his lungs. Ten seconds later, Noah's fingers were in the wrong place at the wrong time and all hell broke loose. We paid as quickly as possible and ran to the car.

7. Picture this please.... Riding home in the car. It is dark. Noah is still whining about his finger. Liam is screaming at the top of his lungs in intervals. (SCREAM - breathe - SCREAM - breathe, etc.) Wes is trying to talk to me but I have no idea what he is saying even though he is a foot and a half away. Finally, I kind of lose my mind and turn around and SCREAM at the top of my lungs in Liam's face. He screams back. I scream again. Then him, then me. It is not productive I know, but I sure feel better. Then Noah starts wailing, "Stop it. Everybody stop, I can't take it anymore!" Then I hear the seat belt alarm go off and I look over to see that Wes has unbuckled and is making motions like he is going to open the door and jump out as we go down 17 south at 60mph.

8. Stuck in the house with my kids most of the weekend, plus that scene in the car, leads me to be very grateful that it is Sunday night and they are in bed and a new week is about to start. Oh, and for the bottle of Two Buck Chuck that my husband wisely opeded for me. Phew!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

2011-12-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

Well, kind of.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas anyway. A frozen windshield and 38 degree temperature this morning definitely felt more like the holidays than the 80 degree days we had been having. But as far as my house looking like Christmas? Well, I am on the way to an epic fail. We pulled all the decorations out last Sunday and my intention was to get them all up that day. Ha! Somewhere between my nervous break down about the state of my house, randomly deciding to clean out Liam's closet, and then escaping to 90 minutes of hot yoga, the decorations got pushed aside.

Over the course of this week I have made incremental progress. The stockings got hung. The wreath made it onto the door (no other outside lights are up yet - just the wreath. He looks kind of lonely.) And the fake tree we purchased last year remained in the giant box parked in front of my fireplace. Wes kept saying he was going to put it up - and in his defense he did give a few half-hearted offers one evening. But I didn't want him to have to spend all that time tediously unwrapping all the branches so I kept telling him not to worry about it. On Wednesday, I thought I would be super cool and surprise him by having it up when he got home from work. My sister was over, and said she would help. Of course, that was until she saw how heavy and awkward it was, and then she decided that a better use of her time would be to take embarrassing pictures of me wrestling the tree instead. Thanks Jess.

It took about a million years to put up. And Wes was not surprised at all, because he walked in right in the middle of me trying to secure the middle part and cursing the branches for not doing what I wanted them to do. I am proud to admit however, that about 2 hours after I started the tree was up. And lit.

But that was all I had in me that night. And alas, our tree is still lacking it's ornaments. Although, with Liam being the age that he is, I should probably just leave it like this anyway. I have a feeling that we may have lots of broken ornaments this year. But I will make Wes doing all the cleaning up - I did my part putting that mega-beeyatch of tree up all by myself!

And One More

2011-11-28T04:58:00.000-08:00

Part 3: All The Rest Of It

Okay, I am starting to lose interest in Thanksgiving. So lets make this quick, ok?

We stayed at the lake all day Friday and half of Saturday. While we were there we did lots of fun things including: a zoo trip, exploring by the water, a chilly boat ride, and more hanging out with the family. Here is a photo montage to sum it all up.

Phew! I think that is all. It was a fun and busy holiday weekend. Which is why it is no wonder that this is the company that Wes kept on his drive home.

More Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T07:21:00.000-08:00

Part 2: Lake Murray

Thursday afternoon we arrived at Wes' parents house on Lake Murray. They have just finished building a brand new house on their lake property and this was our first time seeing it.

It is a beautiful house with amazing views of the lake. Oh, and it has more than one bathroom and no creatures living in the floor. So it is definitely an upgrade from the old lake house!

We spent the afternoon finishing up all the food for thanksgiving and letting the kids play on the porch. Then everyone sat down for a delicious meal. Liam really loved Aunt Jean's sweet potato casserole (a child after my own heart - it is wonderful!) and gobbled it right up. along with some turkey and green beans. He did not, however, care for regular mashed potatoes. I think he was expecting them to taste like the sweet potatoes and when they didn't there was a lot of spitting and gagging and choking as he attempted to evict them from his mouth. Nice.

Oh, and Noah ate "chicken". (Psst! It was actually turkey but we told him it was chicken. Otherwise he would not have eaten it.) He did keep asking us, "Where is the turkey?" We kept pointing to the counter but he continued to look confused. Then a lightbulb went off in my head, and I realized he was looking for a live turkey. (Who knows why he thought Nana and Pops would have a live turkey wandering around their house.) I calmly said, "Noah, the turkey is on that plate over there. They cooked it." His eyes got as big as saucers and he gasped. Yep, not what he was expecting. Good thing we told him he was eating chicken.

After dinner it was a free-for-all. All three cousins and Pops and Uncle Mike had a grand time being crazy.

And we attempted to take a family picture but it didn't go so well. Carissa tried her hardest to get a good one of us, but Liam makes it next to impossible. This was the best we could do.

Do you like how we gave him a phone to play with to get him to sit still? Good parenting 101.....

After a piece (or 2) of pumpkin pie it was time for my food coma. All in all, a very fun day!

Thanksgiving Recap

2011-11-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

I like to pride myself on my ability to work a Friends quote into almost any situation. I have been waiting to use this one ever since I started eating vegetarian this past summer...

"Happy Needless Turkey Murder Day!"

Thanks Phoebe!

Okay, so now onto the actual blog post.

Part 1: The Turkey Trot

As has been our tradition for the past several years - except the year I was pregnant - we headed downtown to begin our Thanksgiving with the annual Turkey Day Run. My Mom and Marv joined us for this really fun 5k. Marv ran and Mom stayed with the boys during the race.

The morning was pretty cold and I will admit that I had a mini freak out about whether I should wear long sleeves or short sleeves. Wes and Marv opted for short sleeves but I just couldn't commit. And then, of course, I saw a super cute athletic chic wearing the exact same crop pants as me, and she was going with short sleeve. So then I started worrying not just about my shirt choice but also about the fact that her pants looked sooooo much better on her than they did on me. Then she turned around and I saw that she was a seeded runner (i.e., super fast) and I snapped myself out of it. Long sleeves it was, and of course she looks good in her pants - she was probably gonna run that thing 10 minutes faster than me!

The race was really fun. I have not been running much at all and expected to struggle to break 30 minutes. I didn't run with a watch but I told myself to expect pain and just push. It worked - I ended up finishing in 27:40! Very happy with that! And Wes did awesome too - 23:37 or something like that. Good job babe!

After our race we pinned Noah's number on him and headed over to the start of the kid's fun run.

While we waited Liam snacked on a muffin (or 3) and managed to spill an entire bottle of water down his shirt.

Then, right before the kids run began, Noah and I ran into our buddies Lisa and Hannah.

Wes took the kids to the start line and Lisa and I headed to the finish line. I was hoping to capture a great picture but I ended up with a terrible view of the race. In fact when the Noah's group came around the corner to the finish I could not even see him in the chaos. I held my phone up and started snapping away hoping to catch a picture of something. Turns out that even though I didn't see him, my camera did and I ended up with a great action shot.

That's him in the blue pants. Love it! Love his determined face and his perfect running form... I hope this is not the last race I watch him run!

Noah and Hannah after the race, sporting their hardware. (Don't you love that she is about a bajillion times taller than him?!)

After the race we headed home, where I promptly had another freak out session when I realized that we had an hour and half to shower, finish packing, load the car, and cook the rest of our casseroles before we headed out of town to see Wes' family. Thankfully, my Mom and Marv offered to pitch in, and helped get the boys a bath and got them dressed.

So, I am thankful for my health and the ability to run, and for family who helps me when I am freaking out!

And the rest of this post will have to wait because Liam is pointing upstairs and saying, "Go, go. Nigh', nigh'!" I guess it's bed time. You will have to stay tuned for part 2!

Random Happenings

2011-11-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

So this weekend kind of flew by. Jeez.

I had some pictures I wanted to share with you. Just a few little snippets of our life.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Wes has overdosed on electronic gadgets? You can't see it, but I can assure you that the iPhone was nearby... He is never far from it folks.

Noah and I one morning shortly after Wes issued our wake up call. Which means, he had been calling us both to get up for at least 5 minutes, we finally stumbled out of bed, but only made it as far as the couch. I am aware that Noah's hatred of waking up early comes honestly.

How much fun is he?! I know you are wondering what happened to create that happy face. Well, basically, our children revolted at bedtime the other night. We went up with every intention of a quick bath and story time but were somehow sucked into something else entirely.

There was chaos and jumping off the bed and attacks mounted with weapons. And there was laughter and shrieking and good times had by all. To anybody who insinuated that my boys would not be close because they are four years apart, I give you these pictures. They love each other so much and have such a blast playing together.

I did however, learn that it is best NOT to equip Liam with a hatchet or a night stick if you value your life. He came after me.

But no worries, I got him back.

And wrapping up this post of randomness.... This afternoon my sister and I went to go see The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1. As you can imagine, the line we waited in to get into the theatre was 90% female and probably most of those were under the age of 25. (I will admit, I felt kind of old.) We stood behind a group of girls who were all dressed exactly alike (skinny jeans with knee high boots) with the same shade of blond hair - they clearly shared a colorist - and I couldn't help but giggle at their valley girl conversations. At one point my sis turned to me and said, "Hey, scoot back and I'll take your picture with Puss in Boots." I immediately started cracking up as I thought she had come up with a clever nickname for the chick in front of us, but no.....

She was talking about the poster of the actual Puss in Boots. Oops. (I am a little concerned about the placement of her hand in this picture - just sayin')

Well, that's it. That is all the randomness I can muster for tonight. Adios!

My Soapbox For The Week

2011-11-16T05:38:00.000-08:00

When I was little I used to bring my lunch to school every day. I NEVER wanted cafeteria food; and did anyone ever really want mystery meat in gravy with a side of instant mashed potatoes? All that changed when I went to high school though. Suddenly there were more options than just the regular old hot lunch line. There were salads and sandwiches... and pizza and fried chicken... and FRENCH FRIES!!!

Guess what I ate for the entirety of my sophomore year? Seriously, guess. It wasn't salad. Every single day I got a giant slice of pepperoni pizza and then chased it down with a three - yes three, each about the size of a tea saucer - triple chocolate cookies. By the time my senior year rolled around I began to be concerned about all the extra fat I was consuming so I made some changes. That year I stuck to a basket of french fries, with extra salt, and no dessert.

Now, you're probably wondering why I wasn't three hundred pounds by graduation day. (That's what I am wondering by the way.) I guess you could say that between the good luck of having decent genes, and being fairly active I managed to avoid too many negative consequences of those school lunches. I think it probably had more to do with other factors. Like, the fact that my Mom cooked all my other meals. For breakfast and dinner I got healthy things. We ate lots of veggies in my house and never had too much junk food just lying around. But what about those kids who didn't have parents who tried to keep things healthy at home? What happened to the kids who ate the crap I was eating at every meal. Fast food was sold in schools - at least it was in mine - and kids would come early to have a chicken biscuit before school started. And we all know that lots of families rely on fast food for dinner.

Shouldn't our schools - where we send our children and entrust their safety - be places that are free of the kinds of food that lead to childhood obesity and heart disease and diabetes? I think they should be, but apparently our government does not. I read this article this morning and it made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. In a spending bill, that passed on Monday, congress has included a section that repeals some of the newer USDA guidelines that were attempting to make school lunches healthier. According to your congressmen, it is totally acceptable to count pizza as a vegetable. Yes, you heard that right. It is now legal for the tomato paste on a piece of pizza to count as a serving of vegetables for your children. And those french fries that I ate every day for a year? Well, supporters of the bill were pretty hacked off at the ol' USDA for trying to limit the amount that could be served in schools. Now, there are no limits on those "vegetables". Ignorant teenagers around the country can continue to stuff their faces with them every day thinking they are making a "healthy" choice.

Oh, and would you please take just a second to pause and think really hard about who lobbied the hardest for this bill to pass?...... You there yet? Yep, you guessed it - the frozen food companies who produce the pizzas, and the salt and potato industries. So, it is the bottom dollar that congress is really protecting. Not the health of our children. Sigh....

Every morning I wake up and the first thing I do is pack Noah's lunch. People always ask me if he buys his lunch and I always have to answer while trying not to laugh out loud. First of all, Noah's picky eating tendencies mean he wouldn't touch school food with a 10 foot pole (and his neurotic eating is whole 'nother post for another day). Second of all, I much prefer to include actual fruit and vegetables in his lunchbox.

But tomorrow when I pack his Mario lunch box I will be thinking this. What about those kids who are on the federal lunch program for free or reduced lunch in our public schools? The ones whose parents rely on that to help feed their kids in an economy where money and jobs are scarce. Are we, as a country, doing our best for those kids by allowing tomato paste to count as their vegetable? If this is the attitude of the adults in America, isn't it little wonder that this will be the first generation of children who are so sick that their life expectancy is shorter than that of their parents?

My children are not perfect in their eating habits - far from it actually - but I continue to try. To try and show them what they healthy choices are. And to lead by example so that they see that I not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I want my children to outlive me by many years. And have bodies that are strong and healthy and able to carry them on any adventure that they choose. I wish that the people who make the laws wanted that for all the children of this country.

A Quick Post

2011-11-14T14:15:00.000-08:00

It's another busy Monday here in our house. And by busy, I mean lots of organizing and reorganizing and making sure that Liam is not putting important things - like say, my phone - in my bags of toys to donate. Yes, I want to give our surplus toys to a good cause. No I do not want to donate my iPhone.

So, because I must make dinner soon this will be short and sweet. Can I just take a moment to tell you what a kick I get out of these two?!

Noah has a new catch phrase. Double drat! As in, "Oh man! We are out of gummy snacks - double drat!" Every time he says it I crack up.

And Liam. Well lets just say that last night I turned around and he was casually leaned up against the couch with one had in his pocket, watching football. I was like, Um, Abercrombie and Fitch called. They want their pose back!

That's really all for now. You just have to stop and write this kind of stuff down before you forget it!

Its A Beautiful Morning!

2011-11-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

Today has been the nicest day. It started off freezing cold - like, 32 degrees or something insane like that - but it warmed up very quickly. By the time we made it downtown to the Charleston Farmer's Market I was peeling off layers and wondering if we had over dressed. (One look at Liam confirmed that may have been true. Fleece pants? Check. Fleece vest? Check. Fleece jacket. Oh yeah, we had that too! Altogether too much fleece on one tiny body? Double check!)

We did a little Christmas shopping and then a little produce shopping and then the boys ran around while Wes waited in line for yummy crepes. Mmmm.

Aaannndddd, there may have been some donuts. I'm just saying.

Donuts aside, we got some yummy delicious, nutritious stuff for the week.

Arugula, grape tomatoes, butternut squash, bell peppers, garlic, apples, and new potatoes. That is (almost) all the produce I need for the week and it only totaled $21. For locally grown, chemical free produce. I love the Farmer's Market! I am sad that it will be closing soon, but that just means we are getting closer to another exciting food development. I signed us up for a CSA share that begins the first of January and I am SO excited about it. In case you don't know what that is - and I realize that most people do, but humor me - I will briefly explain. CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Basically, you pay a certain amount to a local farmer and you literally get a share of his harvest each week. What I paid for 12 weeks worth of produce from Ambrose Farms' CSA is such a deal I can hardly believe it! The only downside to CSAs (if you can call it a downside) is that you have no say over what comes in your bag each week. It is completely dependent upon what is in season and what the farmer harvests that particular week.

Now, last year even, that concept was enough to scare me away. I had no desire to cook a bunch of crazy vegetables that I had never tried before. But my mind has changed for 2 reasons. First, after having been vegetarian for a while now I am now used to cooking with formerly unfamiliar vegetables. Case in point....

Acorn squash stuffed with quinoa, Brussels sprouts, and chickpeas with a balsamic vinegar and maple syrup based dressing. Oh. My. Word. Delicious! Even Wes thinks so.

My second reason for not being afraid of the CSA is because of my new commitment to eating produce that is grown locally and in season. No more strawberries in the middle of winter for $6.99 a tub. No tomato sandwiches until next summer. Even though there are things that I miss when eating seasonally, it is still worth it. The taste of food that has not been frozen and shipped half way around the world is unbeatable. So this winter it will be a lot of root vegetables and dark leafy greens for us. And probably some other things I will have to be adventurous with. I say bring it on! We are on a veggie adventure.

And, for the rest of tonight, we are on the adventure of rearranging furniture in our living room. After leaving Wes with the boys - and 2 of their friends - while I went to see Footloose this afternoon, I am seriously testing the limits of his marital vows! Wish me luck!

Top Ten Ways To Enjoy A Weekend

2011-11-07T05:22:00.000-08:00

#10 - Start your weekend early. Like, on Thursday evening. By, say, visiting the Coastal Carolina Fair! (We met Wes after work and drove up the road to spend the evening at the fair. The weather was perfect - sunny and only slightly chilly - and so it was more crowded than when we went last year, but just as fun. Wes and I took turn riding the rides with Noah. The parent not riding was unfortunately stuck trying to entertain Liam. As usual, popcorn and other treats work well for that. Noah and I had a great time riding the Ferris Wheel.)

Find yourself being very grateful to be enjoying sitting next to that smiling face as you go 'round and 'round looking at the fair all lit up.

#9 - After a while at the fair realize that your youngest is going to absolutely FREAK OUT if you don't find him a ride to go on. (Unfortunately, they don't seem to think that rides that fold out of the back of a truck are safe for 18 month olds- weird- and there was exactly one ride that was made for his age group. And it was broken that night. We finally found the Carousel and realized he could go on that, so Wes climbed aboard with both boys. Liam loved it for the 30 seconds before the ride started.)

And the the ride started.... And every time they rode by Liam's face was a little more terrified until, near the end, he was leaning all the way off the horse with his arms wrapped around Wes' neck in a death grip. Oops.

#8 - As Friday evening approaches, get excited to celebrate a friends' birthday at the Children's Museum. Pack up all your crap, put coats on your children, exit your house, turn the lock on the knob, pull the door closed, hear it click, then scream in horror as you realize that your keys are not in your hand but rather inside on the kitchen counter.

#7 - Yell and curse - call your husband in a fury and tell him to get home NOW! Listen to your 5 year old cry cause you might miss the birthday party. Cry right along with him and inform him that you didn't exactly want to be stuck on your back porch with no keys. Then sit on the porch, in the cold, for half an hour waiting for your husband, and think about what a great mother you are.

#6 - Finally get to the party, realize you didn't miss any of the good stuff and eat a giant piece of cake to make yourself feel better.

#5 - Wake up on Saturday morning and be happy that you get to spend the day with these sleepy faces.

#4 - Make a trip to the Farmer's Market and be sure to include the following things:
~ Four boys under the age of 6
~ One fairly hard to steer umbrella stroller
~ One good friend to help you manage the previous two items.
~ Two grande soy lattes
~ 3 giant reusable shopping bags that you can fill to the brim with produce and other items and then carry them around downtown looking like a crazy bag lady.
~ A box of cupcakes for your Husband's birthday that you somehow manage to tip over so that all the icing smashes together in one giant glob in the middle of the box. Happy Birthday honey.
~ At least two items that you bring home with you that make you happy every time you see them.

I am obsessed with these candles we found. Rewind Candles are handmade with soy wax right here in Charleston. They all come in re purposed green wine bottles and each one has the aromas and notes of a specific wine. I bought the Champagne one and have been burning it constantly ever since.

#3 - Be very happy that your Mom is in town and offered to watch the boys while you and your husband go out to celebrate his 33rd Birthday. Let him pick what he wants to do and end up at a College of Charleston basketball game. Realize that sitting at a sporting event is made much better by the purchase of a giant salted pretzel. End up having a great time watching the game with your hubs. Afterwards head to Chai Lounge for drinks while you wait for your table at Basil to be ready. (And make a note to yourself that next time, Wes might not want to drink his bourbon quite so fast!) Finally head to dinner and enjoy an evening of good food and good laughs with your best friend. (Oh, and absolutely draw the line at him ordering a drink called a "Mingo Mango". Some things are just unacceptable if you want to keep your man card.)

#2 - Celebrate Wes' real birthday on Sunday when he gets home from work. Invite Aunt J over and have a low key evening with the boys and pizza and video games.

#1 - Realize that all special events aside, your life is still your life - there is no dressing it up. Have a hearty belly laugh as you end the weekend with the usual chaos at bath and bed time. While your boys sword fight with hangers, hear this quote from Aunt J:

"So, um, has anyone ever asked you guys to be in an abstinence commercial?"

Yep, this is our life. And we're loving every minute of it!

Halloween Night Recap

2011-11-02T05:05:00.000-07:00

I meant to post these yesterday but, oh well!

We had a very fun Halloween evening. I even feel like we "cheated" a little because we actually went trick-or-treating twice, once in our neighborhood and once in our friends' neighborhood. Noah had a giant bag of candy by the end of the night. Not that he has touched even one piece yet. I guess one of the (only) pros to having a picky eater is that he is picky about everything - even candy! Here is a picture of the kiddos in our 'hood before we got started.

This is the stillest that Liam stood all night. He, as always, was convinced that he was a big kid and took off running with them from minute one. Of course he was a little slower so we brought up the rear a lot. I also felt bad for all our friends as they had to hear the phrase, "No Liam! On the sidewalk!" about a million times that night. Even I was tired of hearing my voice yell it over and over again. When he wasn't running in the street, Liam was having a blast climbing the porch steps of every house and waving at the people who opened the door. He did not really understand about the candy so I followed along behind him and put a piece in his bag at each house.

Noah was in usual trick-or-treat mode... Race to each house as fast as you can! Mario was consistently 2 or 3 houses ahead of us.

Eventually we put Liam in the stroller so we could catch up with Noah. This was met with much resistance at first, until Wes opened up a Three Musketeers bar and handed it to Liam. My littlest guy was in heaven after that and we went through 3 candy bars during the rest of our trip around the neighborhood.

Right about the time it got dark we headed over to the other neighborhood to trick-or-treat with some other friends. There were some great houses over there that were done up right for Halloween! Noah got a big kick out the spooky scenes in many of the front yards. And, of course, he continued to run from house to house at top speed.

Liam walked for a bit with his buddy Caroline before settling back into the stroller with more candy.... Do not judge me. It was just one night.... And it kept him quiet. Sorry, but I am not sorry for bribing him with chocolate!

We finished up the night hanging out on the driveway. The adults talked and sipped their "refreshing beverages" and the boys did what they do best. Wrestling.

Crazy Busy

2011-10-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

For us, the holiday craziness always begins on Halloween weekend, and this year has been no exception. Our weekend has been so jam packed that I am sitting down to take a breather for the first time in 48 hours. I feel a bit like I need to being doing this...

But instead of snoozing, I am blogging. Got to document the crazy, right?

On Friday night we headed down to the aquarium for Fish or Treat. Despite the fact that it was insanely crowded we had a good time. Noah and Liam debuted their Halloween costumes - Mario and Woody from Toy Story, respectively - and had a blast running around the aquarium with all the other kids. I didn't take many pictures for a couple reasons. One, the lighting was bad and so most of them turned out like this...

And, two, keeping up with Liam in the hordes of people was no small feat and did not leave much time for picture taking. Although I do have this one.

Twice that night he threw full bodied temper tantrums, in which he flopped dramatically on the floor in the middle of the crowds. So we did what any good parents would do - we took pictures cause he looked so damn ridiculous!

Saturday morning Noah had his last soccer game of the season. The Gunners won - yay! - and finished the season with an awesome 7-1 record. Afterwards, we went over to the coaches house for a party with pizza, cake and trophies.

After a short nap time we headed out yesterday afternoon to our neighborhood's annual Halloween block party. All our friends were there and the kids had a blast with jump castles, balloon animals, and yummy treats. The weather was perfect and I have to admit that I didn't even take one picture because I was having way too much fun to stop and pull out the camera.

This morning we went to church and then out to eat at Moe's. (Noah declared he was dying to go "eat at a restaurant".) When we got home the cold morning air had morphed into a crisp, sunny fall day and I decided it would be fun to get a picture with the boys while they were still looking all handsome in their church clothes. Well, that is easier said than done. When Liam decides that he doesn't want to do something wrangling him becomes quite the chore.

After he jumped, screaming, from my arms and caused us both to go splat in the grass I gave up. For today, I settled for a picture with my more cooperative offspring.

And so, even though my couch beckons I am off to yoga in a bit. There is this one posture that they swear is as effective as 8 hours of sleep...

That one on the far left. Right... I will try my best to keep a straight face and not laugh out loud when they say that this afternoon! But who knows? I will try anything in an effort to have tons of energy for trick-or-treating tomorrow!

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-27T04:58:00.000-07:00

We figured since it is less than a week until Halloween we had better get our pumpkin carved. So last night, after dinner, we headed outside to get it done.

We got about five minutes in - the stem being successfully cut out - and realized that the millions of gnats would make this a much better inside project. We gathered our supplies and transferred everything to the house. Also, please note that in the above picture Noah is very intently reading the directions from the pumpkin carving kit. He managed to drive Wes half crazy because he kept freaking out that Wes was using a giant kitchen knife to carve the pumpkin.

He had found this symbol on the front of the package and declared that it meant "Do NOT use knives!" I tried to explain to him that Wes knew what he was doing - and that it is impossible to cut through the pumpkin with the miniature tools in the kit - but he is my little rule follower and remained quite distraught about the whole thing.

While the boys were carving the face of the pumpkin I was sifting through all the slimy innards to collect the seeds. I plan to roast them and enjoy yummy pumpkin spice seeds! (Noah told me I was gross for wanting to eat the seeds. Shocker.)

In no time at all Wes had finished our pumpkin, giving him a friendly smiling face that Noah had picked out.

I love how he turned out! The addition of the little plastic eyes is so fun. Plus, it was a much easier pattern than the ones we have attempted in past years. Yay for finally wising up and buying the carving kit that says "6 and under".

And last but not least, I love this picture. I love how Noah is showing Liam the final product and I LOVE the look on Liam's face as he stares down the pumpkin!

Pumpkin Patch, Round 2

2011-10-24T05:22:00.000-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch again. But this time we did it up right at Boone Hall Plantation. Complete with giant slides, a corn maze, jump castles, hayrides, and more. Oh, and plenty of family and friends to entertain us!

Sorry Wes, but you set yourself up for this one! I mean, who makes that face?! Not that we didn't all enjoy a cheesy photo op. If there is a giant chair to sit in you must take full advantage of it.

Marv looks really tall in that picture by the way! It's like he could actually sit in the giant chair for real.

The boys headed straight for the jump castles and the playground with the two-story tall slide. And Liam would have none of the whole wait on the ground while Noah does the slide business. No sir, and that meant Wes went up and down to slide with Liam. (Who did not understand waiting in line. I could see his face get red and angry every time they had to wait!)

I wish I had a picture of what happened when Aunt J took Liam down the slide... Let's just say it involved her getting stuck in the sand hole at the bottom, getting laughed at by complete strangers, and her needing a hand to get up.

Noah and his buddy Jack conquer the hay bale mountain.

Jack, Joey, Liam, and Noah play Corn Hole. Liam is shockingly good at getting the bean bag in the hole. He has some sweet throwing skills!

Waiting for the hayride to begin... Not that there was any actual hay involved on this one!

"Hi Mrs. Lighthart! If its alright with you I am going to sit as close to you as possible cause you are my favorite. I will do this even if it means crowding your own children out of your lap. Okay?"

"Hi, my name is Liam. And even though my Daddy bought this giant bag of kettle corn for himself, I have decided to commandeer it and carry it around with me. I need a little snack while I walk. Half a bag should do."

On the way out we let Noah pick out a pumpkin - since we hadn't gotten one to carve yet - and he took the opportunity to pose with Bebe on the antique tractor.

Good times were had by all!

Liam At 18 Months

2011-10-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

(Or, alternately titled, The Tornado That Lives In My House.)

Hi! My name is Liam.

I am officially 18 months old, and unofficially crazy. Here are some of my stats for those of you who are wondering:

~31 inches tall (20th percentile)

~24 pounds (48th percentile)

~ I can say the following things, Mama, Daddy, Hi, Bye-Bye, more, milk, (I really like to put those last two together in a sentence and scream them at the nearest adult) ruff- ruff, moo, no, and up. Also, today my Mommy taught be how to answer the question, "Liam, who made you?" The answer is God. So, I can add that to my list of things I can say.

My favorite activities include playing with anything that has wheels...

....I just recently discovered that the track on the train table is NOT for ripping apart as I previously thought. Did you know that you can put trains on the track and push them around?!

I also really enjoy tearing my Mommy's house apart. The best is when she cleans everything up and then I go behind her 5 minutes later and pull everything back out. That is my favorite game! (Some good things to pull out: kitchen utensils, the contents of the bathroom drawer including, but not limited to, nail polish remover, tampons, hairbrushes, make-up wipes, and toothpaste. Also books, magazines, remote controls, piles of folded laundry... All of that is great for leaving on the floor when you are done looking at it. And never underestimate the fun you can have dumping out buckets of matchbox cars. Especially on freshly swept floors. Good times!)

Really though, the best part of being 18 months old is getting to play more with my older brother. I just love him. I love running with him, throwing things at him, chasing him, coloring with him, taking a bath with him, and sitting on the couch watching Thomas the Train with him.

Yes sir, life as an 18 month old is pretty darn good!

Go Pink!

2011-10-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to the Lowcountry Race For the Cure for the last three years, but something has always gotten in the way of me actually getting to run. Three years ago I had a broken foot, two years ago I was pregnant, and last year we were out of town. I swore that this was the year. And then Wes reminded me it was his reserve weekend (which means he works from 6am-4pm, Saturday and Sunday) and my first thought was, Oh crap, epic fail! But my sister came to the rescue by being willing to get to my house at 7:30am on a Saturday to keep the boys - and take them to Noah's soccer game. Aunt J.... You rock!!!

So I found all my pink gear and met up with this lovely lady to run this morning.

My friend Jessica, also known as Mrs. Lighthart, Noah's beloved preschool teacher.

We headed to Daniel Island and, after much debate about short sleeves versus long sleeves, we lined up at the start in a sea of pink. (Short sleeves was absolutely the best choice, in case you were on the edge of your seat wondering!) The weather was perfect and the sky was blue and people were happy - it was a great day for a run. Of course, there was the usual 5K chaos at the start. For some reason people have a hard time understanding the phrase, "Walkers in the back, runners in the front." Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with walking, but it is so frustrating to have to hop curbs to avoid running into the walkers who started in the front! We spent the first mile bobbing and weaving around people and saying, "Oh no!" every other second.

After things thinned out it was all good. We ran at a comfortable pace and enjoyed the beautiful day. After we crossed the finish line - the real one, not the fake on they tricked us with 400 yards out - we grabbed some water and snacks and lounged in the sun for a while. It was great! I love doing races for a good cause, in beautiful weather, with good company!

'Surrounded' By Fun on the Farm

2011-10-12T05:29:00.000-07:00

Isn't it funny how the things that you plan and highly anticipate often end up being kind of mediocre experiences, but the things that are thrown together last minute end up being really fun? That was the case with our family last weekend when we made a random, spontaneous decision to take the boys to the pumpkin patch at Legare Farms.

We headed over last Saturday evening as a way to entertain the boys, but we ended up being the ones entertained.

We started with the hayride since it was late evening and we wanted to beat the dark.

The reason that last picture doesn't have all 4 of us in it is because Liam was in the middle of a small panic attack. He was not a huge fan of the hayride at all. Sitting on the hay in the wagon was fine, but as soon as the tractor roared to life and started pulling us he kind of freaked out. He was better when we stopped to feed the cows.

He seemed to enjoy the cows coming right up to us to beg for food - we even got a few giggles out of him, although he stayed firmly planted in Wes' arms. Noah enjoyed it too -"Oh, look at that cow! Ahh! There is a baby cow. Oh my gosh, look at all these cows!!" - but he was quite emphatic about the fact that he was NOT going to let the cows eat directly from his hand.

"I do not like their slobbery, slimy mouths!"

See, he sat from a safe distance and threw the treats over the side.

We managed to spot the bull in the herd. His massive size kind of gave him away. That, and the fact that he head-butted other cows out the way whenever he wanted to go somewhere. Everyone wanted to see him, and for some reason he spent a good deal of time over by us even after we ran out of cow treats. As I was petting him, I informed Wes it was probably because he sensed from me that I don't eat his kind. Wes kind of rolled his eyes at me and went back to trying to get Liam to release his death grip.

After the hayride, we took the boys over to where they keep some of the farm animals out for children to see/touch. I wish I had pictures of this experience but it was almost dark and my iPhone was not taking good pictures in the dusky light. This year, instead of having the goats in a pen, they were wandering around the area. Noah did not realize this until we were right up on them, and a small goat with horns came over to see if we had any food for him. Noah immediately froze with a panicked look on his face.

"That goat is coming at us!"

We tried to explain to him that the goats would not hurt him, but right about that time a little girl nearby started crying because the Mama pig had bitten at her through the fence, and Noah looked at us like we were trying to sell him oceanfront property in Arizona. (Meanwhile, Liam was walking in between Wes and I, clutching our hands for dear life.) We tried to take Noah around to see the other animals but the goats kept following us and he loudly cried, "I do not like goats!!"

Then poor Wes started lamenting about how his wife has an irrational fear of birds and now his son has an irrational fear of goats. Then we heard Noah scream, "Ahh! We're surrounded!!" Sure enough we were surrounded - by 3 goats.

"Noah they wont hurt you son."

"Yes, they will. They are going to charge us!"

"Noah, when have you ever been charged by a goat?!"

"In my dreams. I had a dream that a goat charged me."

At this point we gave up on the whole farm animal experience and ushered our two city boys back over to the playground. Wes and I could not stop laughing at how dramatically both of them reacted to the farm life experience. We spent the next 30 minutes looking at each other and saying We're surrounded! and then cracking up.

We finished the night by taking a spooky walk in the darkened pumpkin patch and then headed home. Both boys were tired, and almost asleep in the car, but caught a second wind when we got in the house. I captured the following series of pictures of Liam mounting an attack against his brother.

Yes he climbed up there all on his own, and yes, at this point Noah got a little upset and Wes had to peel Liam off his back.

Recent Snapshots

2011-10-05T05:12:00.000-07:00

The following are pictures from my iPhone. In the order they appear on my phone, they can tell you what we have been up to lately.

This is a picture of the ingredients for a soup I made, Lentil Stuffed Pepper Soup. I got it from one of my favorite food bloggers. So good! Too good apparently, as I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Needless to say, this easy to make soup - that yielded enough for several meals - made me excited that cooler weather was here so I could justify huge batches of soup on a weekly basis!

Cold beer in a frosted glass. Do you need any more explanation???

This is what my boys do while we shop at Publix. Unfortunately, those cookies don't last any longer than the produce section.

This picture is blurry because it is an action shot taken on my phone. Noah has been begging to go for a run with us, so the other night the whole family headed out. (After he had changed into his "running clothes" of course!)

He insisted on running warm-up laps around the stroller. He did it 10 times and pronounced himself officially warmed up and ready to stretch.

Liam went too, in the stroller of course. And he grabbed his most favorite thing to hold while riding in the stroller...

A fly swatter. My kids are SO weird!

What else? Oh, right. Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Balls. (Thanks Mama Pea, for your cookbook that I love so much!) While these are still cookies - and therefore not great for you - they are a vegan recipe that uses less sugar than most so you feel a little better about eating them. Or, at least Wes does, as he has eaten 9 in the last 2 days.

And lastly, this is what Liam looks like when we arrive home after a morning at preschool.

Anyone else think that child looks ready for a nap?!

It's Friday!

2011-09-30T04:58:00.000-07:00

This morning as Noah was getting in the car to go to school this is what he said to me,

"Mama, will you organize my room today?"

Huh?

"You know, will you organize it? Put everything in the right place and stuff like that!"

Not only does he think I am his personal maid, but he also assumes I am dumb enough to not know the definition of the word "organize". Wes, very wisely, threw the car in reverse and they hurried along to school before I could come running out to the car in my pajamas to inform Noah that I did indeed know the meaning of the word "organize".

Then I walked inside to find Liam on his hands and knees in front of the couch, pulling old Fruit Loops from underneath and eating them. I am thinking maybe I should be "organizing" my living room instead.

Oh boy am I glad it's Friday. We have had another busy week that flew by without me getting half the things done that I wanted to get done. I did manage to snap a few pictures of the boys doing homework the other day.

Noah gets all his homework at the beginning of the week and we have until Friday to get it done. I usually try to have him finished by Wednesday because by the last part of the week he is so tired and cranky that doing homework becomes quite the battle. This was Monday and he was feeling fresh and therefore was super excited about doing his homework. He had to write a sentence with the word "like" and then illustrate it.

(We do not have a fish by the way.) His drawings crack me up. That is a fish bowl with a an orange fish in the middle and green sea weed. When he first started it looked really good and I was very impressed by how recognizable it was. However, he has this odd compulsion to color in the background space of everything and so eventually the picture became a giant blob of color. But, I say nothing, as it is art and therefore completely up to him as to how it looks!

Speaking of art..... Here is more of an abstract piece for your viewing enjoyment. Liam has a strategy during homework time. Scream and throw things at us until I let him sit at the table and do what Noah is doing. Life is much simpler now that I have figured out to just give him his own box of crayons and piece of paper.

Needless to say I am glad the weekend has arrived. I am ready to relax and have no homework to worry about and nowhere to rush off to each morning. Oh, and to tell Noah he can organize his own damn room!

Sunday Fun

2011-09-25T17:10:00.000-07:00

Today we made a last minute decision to meet some friends downtown at the Charleston Green Fair in Marion Square. Despite the oppressive heat we ended up having a blast! There were activities for kids, booths with all sorts of environmentally sound products, yummy food, and refreshing (adult) beverages. Such fun to spend the afternoon outside just chillin'!

Noah gets ready to tackle the climbing wall. He was not going to do it at first, but when he saw his buddy Jack go all the way to the top he decided to give it a try.

Noah, Jack and Joey spent over an hour playing Frisbee together....

....And Wes and I spent over an hour chasing after Liam, who wanted to escape into the crowd! But, such is life with a 17 month old. My cold beer helped me feel better.

Needless to say, everyone was tired after playing hard all afternoon!

Why I Am A Plant Eater

2011-09-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

The other day Noah and I were playing restaurant. He was the waiter and I was the customer. He came for my order and I said the first thing that popped into my head.

Me: "I'll have a hot dog please sir!"

Noah: (breaking character, and rolling his eyes) "Mama! You can't order a hot dog. You are a plant eater!!"

So, even though I have tried not to make too big a deal about it, my son has picked up on an important fact. I have gone vegetarian. Or, in terms that a dinosaur loving five year old can understand, I am a plant eater.

I have hesitated to write a blog post about this fun new fact for several reasons. First of all, I really don't care much for labels. They tend to polarize. (Don't even get me started on the fact that at this point in my life I am neither Republican nor Democrat!) Also, I have not wanted to write some Veggie Manifesto that is going to make everyone think I will snub them for eternity because their favorite pastime includes kicking back with a plate of barbecue. So, here is a list of things that my being vegetarian does NOT mean.

~ I do not judge you if you eat meat. Seriously. Wes and the boys still eat meat on a very regular basis. (There is no way that I would attempt to get Noah to go veggie as he is already picky enough - I could not imagine taking that whole food group away from him.) However, we eat many dinners that are completely vegetarian and I am so thankful to my husband for being willing to try new things and for telling me how good my new recipes are.

~ I have not dreaded my hair and joined a radical group of animal rights's activists. (Not that there is anything wrong with those things.... I just haven't done that.) I think that there are always some cliches surrounding labels, and all I mean to say is that I am still me. I like animals okay, but I don't think they are man's equal or anything. And let's face it, I love shoes and purses way too much to ever shun leather or anything like that. ("Let's not get craaazzy here!")

~ I am not wasting away to nothing, and lacking in protein and iron or any other nutrient you would like to throw out at me. I have done a lot of reading and I make sure to include a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and, for now, cheese and a little dairy in my diet. I would also like to be clear that I do NOT eat this way to "lose weight" or "stay skinny". It's not about that at all.

Basically, I just feel better eating this way. I have never really craved meat anyway. (In fact I was a "vegetarian" for a while in high school but I am pretty sure I did it mainly as a convenient way to piss of my grandmother when she tried to serve me her overcooked salmon.) I feel like my body works very well when fueled by a plant based diet.

Now, if you want to hear the other reasons I went "veg", then read on. If not, skip to the end as I don't want to ruin your next meal for you!

I have read a ton of books since the beginning of the year. The ones that were kind of pivotal in my decision were: Diet For a New America by John Robbins and The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. Also, the documentaries Food Inc., Food Matters, and Knives Over Forks made a huge impact on me. After absorbing all the information from these sources, two things became clear. First, the health benefits of a plant based diet are extremely worth it. (And the health problems that arise from too much meat in the standard American diet are obvious - heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and yes even cancer.) The good news here is that even if you include meat in your diet, everyone can benefit from the extra vitamins and minerals that come from adding more veggies to your diet. The second thing that really affected my decision was that I decided that I am not okay with the environmental, political, and health impacts of the factory farming system. I will tell you here that I am not saying that eating meat is morally wrong. God created the earth and all that is on it for man to use and subdue, but I will say that when I buy meat for the "carnivores" in my family I try my best to buy locally grown, grass-fed, non-antibiotic filled meat so as to hopefully avoid animals that have made their way through the horrible system of factory farming. I won't go into too many details (you can read those books for yourself if you want details!) but I think the American public as a whole could stand to be more educated about what we are buying in our supermarkets and where it is coming from. There are many corporations and industries that benefit greatly from our general ignorance about how are food gets to our table.

There's a lot more I could say but I will stop here. The bottom line is this. I made a choice for me - that's all. I have my reasons and if you are tucking into a juicy burger as you read this, then you have your reasons. And that's fine! You have to do what works for you and I will do what works for me.

And when we play dinosaurs with Noah, just know that the joke is on me. Because I will never get to be the ferocious T-Rex. He knows I am a "plant eater" so I will be forever resigned to my role as brontosaurus.

10 Reasons I Suck At Blogging

2011-09-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

So I have been a little slack with the blog lately. Here are my excuses in random order....

#10 - Ever since school started we have been very busy BUT not very interesting. I just don't feel like anything I am doing is especially blog worthy. (Apparently that is not going to stop from boring you with it now. Sorry.) I mean, do any of you really want to hear me whine about how long carpool line takes in the afternoon or complain about the fact that my house in a constant state of mess? No? I didn't think so.

#9 - My house is in a constant state of MESS! Seriously, I will clean up something and 5 minutes later it has turned to a disaster all over again. I know the culprit - it is Hurricane Liam. Now I just have to figure out how to contain him so that my house doesn't look like a toy store threw up all over it.

#8 - Soccer season has begun! (I am way too excited about this by the way. I will, again, express fear of what will happen when Noah ever plays real competitive sports. I will be THAT mom, I just know it.) We have practice one night a week and a game on Saturdays, which isn't that bad except that Wes is working for half the Saturday games so I end up trying to cheer for Noah while also keeping an eye on my little hurricane. Not an easy feat, but strapping him in the stroller with an endless supply of gummy snacks seems to be working for me so far.

Here is a picture of Noah and his teammate Matthew on the playground after their last game. (A win and 3 goals from Noah by the way!) Noah is thrilled that his team gets to wear his absolute favorite color - "dark blue" - and he is loving running up and down the field, going after that ball and scoring goals!

#7 - I helped throw a baby shower for my friend Katy last week. It was pretty low key - cocktails and hors d'ourves - which is my kind of baby shower. I am quite proud of how my first attempt at making Cake Pops turned out.

And I was obsessed with the great napkins that Tamera found for the shower.

Why is it that alcohol kills brain cells but not fat cells? and Living the minivan dream respectively! Love it!

Here is a picture of the hostesses with the guest of honor.

#6 - Wes and I have a new nightly ritual. We have been watching through all the seasons of the show Weeds on Netflix.... Love. It. Throw in a glass of red wine and some dark chocolate with sea salt (my new favorite dessert) and I am in heaven. Of course, we are almost done with season 6 and don't have Showtime so we won't be able to watch season 7 so I am not too happy about that!

#5 - Carpool line. I wasn't going to go into it, but I will give you the condensed version. Take a school with lots of kids, add in the fact that about 80% of them are picked up by their minivan driving, stay at home mom, and you get a car line that lasts forever. Seriously, I get there about 2:40 and don't leave until about 3:30. Liam just loves sitting in the car for that long. (Thank goodness for those gummy snacks, huh?) I am very grateful for the fact that we have worked out a carpool system with some friends and we don't have to sit in the dreaded line every week.

#4 - I am trying to be better about cooking dinner. By this I mean, planning ahead of time so that it is actually ready at dinner time and Wes and I aren't stuck eating quesadillas at 9pm for the third night in a row. I do not naturally like to be in the kitchen so I am working on my culinary skills, but it is worth it to be eating healthy, fresh foods. ( I am working on composing a whole post on food but there is a lot of information in my head right now so I haven't gotten around to doing that yet.)

#3 - The eighty-five million classes I have signed up for. Not really - although Wes may feel like eighty-five million is an accurate number - it's more like 2 or 3 a week but that is still a bit of a time suck. Walking out your front door to go for a run is a lot more time efficient than having to drive to a fancy yoga studio downtown. (Another whole post on that soon as well because the people watching has been exceptional!)

#2 and #1 - Noah and Liam. Nuff said.

These two keep me on my toes that's for sure. Noah has homework (in Kindergarten!) and getting a 5 year old who has been sitting still all day to sit still for another 40 minutes for homework is quite the challenge. Especially when Liam is bored and doing all he can do to get my attention. Usually Wes walks in the door to dinner half cooked on the stove with me running frantically between the kitchen and dining room helping Noah write rows of capital T's and keeping Liam from pulling the wine bottles out of the wine rack.

This is the state that Liam is usually in at that time of day.... teetering on the edge of full on meltdown. Oh, and what is that he is wielding in that picture you ask?

Just the toy knife from the dress up bin, that's all. He loves toting that thing around - and stabbing people with it - and scares me at least 3 times a day, as it is a very realistic representation of a knife.

Welcome to my life folks!

I Remember

2011-09-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

I am not a terribly sentimental person, and even though I had realized that today would be the ten year anniversary of 9/11, I just hadn't given it too much thought. Until this morning. It is really hard to wrap my brain around the fact that it has been 10 years since those planes crashed into those towers and the world changed so much.

I remember that I was a sophomore at College of Charleston and I spent the morning getting ready to go downtown to class. Being a 19 year old girl whose biggest worry was what was on my social agenda for the night I was not getting ready with the TV on or anything. No news playing in the background and I was completely oblivious to what had happened to that first tower in NYC. I remember getting a phone call from my friend Julie while I was putting on make- up in my bathroom. She called about something else and as an afterthought, as we were hanging up, she told me she was pretty sure that some plane had crashed into the Pentagon. Now, I apologize ahead of time Julie, but this is what I thought... Right Julie. I think you are confused about what the Pentagon is. I mean a plane would not have done that. I literally laughed off her statement - chalking it up to another Julie is confused moment.

In the car I heard about the tower on the radio. Then I knew she was correct. And as I drove into my parking garage I think I heard about the second tower. The most powerful thing about that morning for me was this.... There was an incredibly unusual feeling in the air as I walked the streets of downtown. It was the kind of energy I hope I never experience again in my lifetime. The kind of energy that makes your hair stand on end because you know that something big is going down. Something that will affect everybody. My college campus was literally buzzing with the news and I remember how we were all pretty pissed off when my math teacher came into class, turned off the TV, and proceeded to teach math.

The rest is history. Days and days of watching the news coverage. Feeling the country basically shut down. Everybody's rage and sadness, and the one positive consequence of feeling a country united. And then, over the years, watching it all gradually fade into the background of my everyday life. It is crazy to me that I experienced such a thing. That one day Noah will probably come to me with a school assignment entitled "Where Were You on Sept. 11th?" One thing is for sure. I will be able to tell him because it is a thing you can never forget.

More Liam Tales

2011-09-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

And the plight of the second child continues....

Liam had his first day of Mother's Morning Out yesterday. We were all so chill about it that I almost forgot to even take a picture! Thankfully, as we were running in from the rain I remembered to stop for a photo op before we encountered the chaos of the classroom.

Please notice that he is standing next to his backpack instead of wearing it. I tried to get him to wear it, but it weighed so much that he kept stumbling over backwards. (I was a bit disappointed because his backpack is ADORABLE!) Please also notice that he is not all interested in looking at the camera. He was way more into trying to figure out how he could go play in the rain puddles.

Since he is very familiar with his school - Noah's old preschool - he wasn't at all upset about going to MMO. In fact he marched right up the stairs past other inconsolable children and walked right into the arms of his teacher, who took him right over to the slide. I took the opportunity to slip out while he was distracted and that was that! I returned three hours later and he causually waved at me, grabbed my hand, and we walked out!

In other news, Liam is really into doing everything that Noah does.

Of course, he has no idea that Noah keeps the game on one player and just lets him hold the other remote control. Liam presses all the buttons and waves the controller around and giggles like he is somebody!

Oh, and by the way..... Something I have learned lately. Trying to help Noah with his homework with Liam around is next to impossible. Liam has an innate ability to recognize when is being ignored and then promptly do anything he can do get my attention. Like, for instance, shoving crayons down the back of my pants while I work on math with my oldest. I didn't know whether to laugh hysterically or strangle him. So I think I will follow Noah's advice and "Just ignore him, ok?"

We're Gonna Party Like It's My Birthday.....

2011-08-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

Probably won't get to "sip Bacardi like it's my birthday" but oh well!

My birthday present to myself is a new blog post (about anything!) so that I don't have to look at that picture of my running shoes every time I open up my blog. Let's look at this instead....

Cause they're pretty cute, right?

So far, for my birthday, I have done the following....

~ Woke up slightly cranky because my allergias are going crazy, and congestion kept me up for a while last night. I do not like for my sleep to be messed with! GRRR!!!

~ Quickly dropped my cranky mood after all the facebook messages, texts, and phone calls wishing me Happy Birthday. I have such sweet friends and family - thanks guys! Oh, and the first thing Noah did when he came downstairs was come hug me and say, "Happy Birthday Momma!!!" - I love it!

~ Took Liam to meet his Mother's Morning Out (hereafter referred to as MMO) teacher and see his classroom. So cute! He went straight for the trains and then the slide and then screamed when we had to leave. Don't think dropping him off will be a problem next week. He'll be all, See ya Mom!

~ That's it so far.... I have big plans to put Liam down for a nap, possibly nap myself (hey, it's my Birthday!), and then head to my Barre Fitness class this evening. And then - my fingers are crossed - come home and hope that Wes will surprise me with some sort of baked good with icing!!!!

Oh, by the way, just so you know - While I was typing this post, Liam was behind me doing this...

Yes, he likes to put a bucket on his head and then yank it off and giggle. We call that game Buckethead. Creative I know. But this time he was barking like a dog while his head was in the bucket.... Niiiiicccee!

Dear Running

2011-08-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

Dear Running Shoes,

We need to talk. I know, that's kind of an ominous statement, but you can't tell me you didn't see this coming. I mean our relationship has been rocky for a while now - all summer long to be exact. Every time we hang out you leave me disappointed, and more importantly, on the verge of heat stroke.

(Photo, courtesy Noah Shealy)

So I guess it is time for me to come clean and confess to you that I have been unfaithful. I have been cheating on you for a couple months now. But its gotten worse lately and I can't live a lie anymore. So here is the truth.... I want to see other people. But we can still be friends. Right?

Ha, as if I could ever truely break up with running. I imagine running and I will always be in each other's lives (you know kind of like those girls who have that one dysfunctional relationship that they just can't seem to leave in the past). I have been a runner for 5 years now and I can't ever see myself giving it up completely, but I have been exploring some other ways of exercising lately and it has been fabulous! The heat this summer really was what made me take a little break from running. Even if I woke up at 6am to fit in a run it was still 100 degrees with 95% humidity and I just felt awful afterwards. Before I knew it, I just stopped having the urge to run.

Here's what I have been doing.

#1: Barre Fitness on Wednesday nights. I am obsessed with this class. It is one hour long and filled with all sorts great stuff. We do use the ballet barre but it is not a ballet class. Just overall strength training using your own body weight as resistance. I have seen big results just going to this class once a week.

#2: Bikrim Yoga. They just opened a Bikrim studio downtown so I went and checked it out with a friend of mine. For those of you who don't know, Bikrim is "hot yoga" (the studio is kept at 105 degrees) and is a series of 26 poses done in a 90 minute class. I was skeptical because I have never thought of yoga as an intense workout but I was proven wrong. Just holding the poses made my heart beat like a I was running an interval workout and I have never seen so much sweat pore out of my body. I was soaked in the first 15 minutes. Needless to say, I will be trying to do this class on a regular basis.

#3: Okay don't laugh... I am taking an adult ballet class. (Never mind, laugh your ass off, it's kind of funny.) On Monday nights I have replaced my running shoes with these...

I have not put on ballet shoes since I was 13 years old, and I was a little nervous that I should not be attempting it at 28. But I have a friend (who is a legit ballerina) who teaches an adult class at the studio where I take Barre Fitness and she told me I would be fine. So I went. And it was fun! I wasn't the worst in the class and after being self conscious for a few minutes I finally relaxed enough to enjoy just being in the class and dancing. Let me tell you, when I was younger I never realized that ballet was an actual workout. I was more sore after that class than I was after the hot yoga! I have decided to keep going back - if I can brave the idea of wearing a leotard and tights!

And never fear, yesterday I went for a 3.5 mile run - and it was great! With Noah in school I only have to push one child in the jogging stroller and I am hoping that any day now the summer heat will start being less intense as we move into fall. So there you have it. I am still a runner - just one that also wears leotards and says, Namaste.

And, on a completely unrelated note, I had to put up this picture of my boys.

Yes, they really did ride all the way home from Noah's school holding hands - two days in a row! I love how much they love each other!

Growing Up

2011-08-19T04:43:00.000-07:00

Time is such a funny thing. It can go by so slowly - like when you are getting a cavity filled or listening to Wes talk about the intricacies of the eye (I kid, I kid!) - and then other times it seems to race by at warp speed. For instance, like when I look at my boys. There is Liam, who is off and running. Literally. The child no longer walks anywhere. And Noah, who started elementary school this week.

Here he is on his first morning of Kindergarten. He may have been smiling big but I can promise you he was nervous. And so was I. The parents are allowed to walk them in the first week so that's exactly what I did, and despite his nervousness Noah did very well being dropped off. I think I am the only one who would have known that he was not 100% sure about being there. It did help that he has a good friend, Abby Grace, in his class who sits right across from him AND that he got to purchase a brand new Mario Brothers lunchbox!

And a side note: Me being me, I dealt with my Kindergarten anxiety by purchasing some new things that got me excited about the first day. These reusable sandwich bags with dinosaurs are not only environmentally friendly, but they just make me happy!

I am sure that they amuse me way more than they do Noah!

So anyway, after I dropped him off Wes, Liam and I went out to breakfast. I thought about ordering some sort of healthy-ish veggie omelet but decided that I would eat my feelings instead, and ordered a big plate of Peanut Butter, Banana, and Honey French Toast to make myself feel less sad about my oldest growing up so fast.

It kind of worked. What is really good though is that I still have sweet - and feisty - Liam to keep more than busy during the day! He is missing his partner in crime a bit. He went from days filled with this.....

.... to days filled with having to keep himself entertained without Big Brother.

I don't know how long the spatula and the contents of my cabinet will keep him happy. I think I'd better get on arranging some play date!

Chicago Trip, Day 4: This Is The Last One, I Promise!

2011-08-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Chicago was on Monday. Since we didn't fly out until Monday evening we had most of the day to finish up playing in the city! We got all packed, checked out of the hotel, and hopped into some cabs to head back to Navy Pier.

We used our tickets that we had redeemed earlier in the trip to enjoy the attractions at the pier. Here we are on the most slow moving Ferris Wheel in the entire world!

It was seriously so slow that it never actually stopped moving - you just jumped off as it rolled to the ground!

After the Ferris Wheel the boys decided to ride the swings. With Amy being pregnant, and Andrea and I wanting to keep our breakfast down, the girls opted out of riding and decided to take pictures instead.

The last thing we decided to do was the putt-putt course and OF COURSE it turned into a battle of the sexes. The boys started off strong and had us a little worried.

Really, the girls just needed to get warmed up a bit. We were way better on the second half of the course. Especially once we found a caddy to carry our 30 extra pounds of purses!

Alas, we did not win, but I did manage to have the best mini golf game of my life. I got two hole in ones and my score was tied with Wes and Adam. I mean, I should probably have earned a medal or something! :)

So that's about it. Our Chicago fun came to end after that as we gathered up all our luggage and headed our separate ways.

By the way..... I could do a whole separate blog post on the fiasco of getting from the hotel to the airport but I won't. Suffice it to say, it involved a lot of heavy bags being hauled up flights of stairs, getting stuck in train station turn styles, and my white jeans getting very dirty. Forget the golf medal - I told Wes I deserved a medal for putting up with all of that! Oh, and I told him next time he was forking out the cash for a cab!

It was a great trip with great friends and I hope it is not another 5 years before we do it again!

Chicago Trip, Day 3: My Favorite Day

2011-08-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning I managed to drag my butt out of bed to do one of the things on my Chicago wish list. I wanted to run around the lakefront path on Lake Michigan. It was literally just across the street from our hotel and I am so glad that I didn't let laziness get the better of me and miss out on it. Wes came with me, despite the fact that his ankle was still nice and swollen, and we did 3 miles in the morning "heat". I use the air quotes because I think it felt hot to the people of Chicago, but to us the low 80's temp and cloud cover with low humidity felt positively refreshing! I wish I had brought my camera - but alas, it is pretty annoying to run carrying that. That lake is so amazing. It makes the lakes here look so.... dinky, unimpressive, small potatoes, etc. I mean, it is so vast that you cannot see to the other side and I really felt like I was running next to the ocean!

After getting cleaned up from our run, we met up with the gang to head for our next adventure: An architectural boat tour along the Chicago River. Of course, as we boarded our bus ominous dark clouds were building in the sky. And, you guessed it, as we were hopping off at our stop the sky literally opened up and it started POURING! Wes, Amy, Andrea, and I immediately ducked into a small doorway off the sidewalk to wait it out. (Adam and Jeremy kept walking for reasons unknown. I can only assume that they don't know their wives as well as Wes knows me. No way was I going to spend the morning looking like a drowned rat!)

We waited a while and killed the time checking the weather apps on our phones (what did we do before technology?!). Amy assured us that the rain was supposed to pass through by our 11am boat tour.

When the downpour finally let up we decided it was time to make a break for it. We came out of our hiding place and eventually caught up with the other two. We made it to our destination and ended up waiting under a bridge overpass by the river. Yes, I am sure you can imagine my delight at having to do that! And it was not made any better when Jeremy started telling me that there were pigeons waiting right above my head waiting to swoop down and attack me.

But let me tell you, Amy and her smart phone were dead right. At the stroke of 11, as we were boarding our boat, the rain stopped and the sun came out and the day was beautiful!

See? We were very happy! Oh, and this is right about the time that Andrea was explaining that Adam does not "lean in" for pictures. Apparently he is way too macho to execute a lean for the purposes of a cute picture.

See? No lean. Andrea is always the one doing the leaning. I think that makes her a very good wife :)

Wes and Jeremy are clearly comfortable enough with their manhood that they don't mind a lean in for a picture with their wife. (Adam, take notes!)

So back to the tour. It was awesome! It was an hour and half of riding down the river listening to facts and history about the buildings of downtown. It sounds a little boring I know, but it was actually a really great way to learn about the city.

After our boat tour we ate lunch and spent the afternoon relaxing - and possibly some of us did some more shopping. That evening, on our way out of the hotel, we took our only group picture.

(Thanks Andrea for sending me this group pic!)

That night we headed to see a performance at Second City. This is the improv theatre were literally all the SNL cast has come out of. Tina Fey, Chris Farley, the Belushis, Dan Aykroad, etc. I had not realized how prestigious this place was until we got there. Needless to say I immediately got really excited about seeing the show.

We were shown to our seats - front row, center thank you very much! - and ordered drinks and prepared to laugh our asses off. Which is exactly what happened. There were 6 cast members that put on a 2 hour show of sketch comedy. (Similar to Saturday Night Live, but each sketch had a unifying theme.) Sitting in the front row was quite the experience, especially when one guy was playing a horse and chewed up an apple and spit all over Wes. Or when another guys randomly took of his robe to reveal his hot pink bikini underwear and started dancing complete with high kicks!) We were not allowed to take pictures or I might have taken a few. Or maybe not. It probably would have taken away from truly enjoying the experience. After the main show the cast came out and did an extra hour of straight improv using suggestions from the audience. For this they brought out some special guests who were Second City alums. One was a writer on SNL and the other was Jason Sudeikis! Wes and I got really excited because we had just seen him in the movie Horrible Bosses and it was the closest we had ever been to a real celebrity. The improv was hilarious, especially when it got so ridiculous that even the cast started laughing. We were very sad to see the show end - I think we could have gone and watched it all over again. I highly recommend going if you are in Chicago.

After that it was late and most of us were tired. Poor Jeremy tried to persuade us to go out and party but he was met with much resistance. He informed us that at this rate if we go on another vacation in ten years, all we would be able to handle would be heading out for the early bird special at 4:30 before crashing in bed at 7:00. I think he was trying to call us old. Whatev. Call me old all you want, but a big beautiful king size bed with feather pillows was calling my name!

Chicago Trip, Day 2: Using Our "Stop" Pass

2011-08-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early.... just kidding. Ha, we were on vacation people! This means that Wes woke up bright and early - and wandered aimlessly around the hotel - while the rest of us used the opportunity to sleep in a bit. After a little breakfast we all met up to begin our day of being tourists in Chicago.

We had all purchased a "Go Pass" which was a little card that featured something like 28 tourist destinations, and you could go see as many as you wanted in one day. Following Adam and his trusty map we hopped aboard the bus and headed to our first stop. The Field Museum.

Now, I should stop here and explain that even though I was very excited to be there I had HUGE guilt about seeing this place without Noah. Why? Well, for those of you who don't know what the museum has here is a little peek...

The Field Museum is Noah's idea of Mecca. There is an entire exhibit filled with dinosaur bones and the museum is home to Sue, the most complete skeleton of a T-Rex ever found. I know! And we were there without Noah! I am telling you - the guilt was extreme. (Which was probably why I went a little crazy in the dinosaur gift shop.)

The Museum was great - we could easily have spent all day there - but we had that "Go Pass" and we wanted to fit in some other places before the pass expired for the day. We ate lunch at the museum and then hopped in a cab and headed to Willis Tower.

It was crazy busy! And, according to Jeremy, Willis Tower got the award for being the most inefficient at herding tourists through the site. He was right. First you had to wind through a line, take an elevator down, get your tickets, wait in another winding line, get your picture taken as a group in front of a fake backdrop of the city, be herded like cattle into another elevator (this might have been where poor Amy started to be a little nervous), ride up almost all the way to the top, then get out and switch to yet another elevator and ride the final 4 floors to the top. Phew!

Of course, once at the top the view was totally worth it. It was a great way to see the city - even if it was very crowded.

We decided we had better hurry if we wanted to make it over to Navy Pier so we got in line to ride the elevator down.... and waited. Forever. Cause one of the elevators was broken. I must say that being at the top of the tallest building in the western hemisphere and seeing repair guys there working on one of the only ways down made me slightly nervous. And, it was at this point that a very frustrated Jeremy decided to rename the Go Pass. He was now calling it the "Stop" Pass since we had only managed to use it for 2 places all day long!

Needless to say, we made it down, hailed some more cabs and made it to Navy Pier. We redeemed our pass for the tickets to the attractions there and were told that those tickets did not expire. Score! We decided to come back another day and instead of trying to cram it all in with the crowds, we sat down and had some refreshments instead.

Hmm, margaritas, chips and guac, and Garret Popcorn - cheddar and caramel mix! 'Nuff said.

After being rejuvenated, we went back to the hotel to chill out before dinner and a trip to the top of the John Hancock observatory. Even though that building was 9 floors shorter than Willis Tower I enjoyed the view from there better!

We had dinner at a cute little local spot called Bijean's and it was delicious. I ordered the Chickpea and Sweet Potato Cous-Cous and it might have been my favorite thing I ate the whole time we were there!

That, combined with a really delicious bottle of wine, and I was suddenly very tired from our busy day!

Chicago Trip, Day 1: The Fun Begins

2011-08-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

I have not been a very faithful blogger, but I have a good excuse! We were on vacation!

Last night we arrived home from a very fun-filled time in Chicago with some dear friends. I am very tired - traveling really takes it out of you - but want to recount all the fun we had before I forget. So here goes.

We flew into Chicago at 9am on Friday morning. At the airport we meant our friends Adam and Andrea, gathered our luggage, and proceeded to head to our hotel. We had to navigate from Midway airport to downtown, and of course we had done absolutely no research ahead of time as to how to that. But hey, we figured that if we successfully navigated around freakin' Puerto Rico 4 years ago, we could find our way in a city that spoke English as it's official language! Sure enough we followed the sign that said, "Train to City" and we were not lead astray. Thirty minutes later we were dropped off a few blocks from our hotel.

Sadly, we started off the trip with a bit of a mishap. While walking down the sidewalk - hauling a million tons of luggage - Wes accidentally tripped over a curb and rolled his ankle pretty badly. He limped all the way to The Drake and when we got to our room proceeded to ice that bad boy up!

Here he is on the phone with our friend Jeremy making plans about where to meet. We could all hear Jeremy cackling on the other end as Wes recounted his accident!

Swollen ankle or not, we were ready to explore. We waited for Jeremy and Amy to arrive and then the 6 of us headed out to do a little damage on Michigan Ave. Well, the girls did anyway. The boys got a bit bored and wandered off back to the hotel bar.

That night we headed out to eat at a local Italian place.

Honestly, when we walked in I was a little scared. I mean, it seriously looked like a scene from a mafia movie. When our waiter finally came we didn't know what to do with his unsmiling, grunting demeanor. Finally Jeremy decided to be unfriendly right back and that seemed to make our waiter happy! So we communicated with grunts and one word answers and by the time we left we were fast friends!

I will say that when they brought out the A1 Steak Sauce I had my doubts, but the food ended up being very good - just way too much for me to even make a dent in! (It was a family style restaurant.)

After such a big dinner we elected to skip the cab ride and enjoy a leisurely walk back to the hotel through the busy city.

A Little Denial Never Hurt Anyone

2011-08-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

Last night I got an automated phone call from Charleston County Schools reminding me that the first day of school is August 16th, and that was a mere two weeks away. I don't know what else they said after that - I frantically disconnected the call and tried to erase the words from my mind and go back to my happy place. (Otherwise known as my kitchen full of friends, cheddar corn snacks, and wine.)

As if I needed a reminder that school starts in two weeks! Heck, what I need is all that aforementioned wine to calm me down cause I have been thinking about it too much. (I mean seriously, don't you think 5 is just a touch too young to expect a child to navigate from the carpool drop-off, through the winding halls of a huge school, and find his classroom all by himself?!)

So for now I have come to this solution. I will voluntarily remain in denial. It's a valid form of dealing, right? For now - in my world - it is still summer. We are still children of water and sun, and the gang is still all here!

Weekend Recap: Friday Fun

2011-08-01T05:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a recipe for Friday evening fun. Jump in car, head to Freshfields , grab a spot on the green....

Enjoy a refreshment

Listen to the band - dance when they play James Taylor

Spill ice cream down your face and shirt

Dance some more - feel the music!

Pose with some funny frog statues

And last, make sure to spend a little time honing your pickpocket skills. Those could come in handy one day!

Girl's Night Out

2011-07-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

I may or may not have had to take several Ibuprofen this morning. Not that I am complaining or anything. Anytime you have a raging headache from a night out with your girlfriends it probably means you had a good time!

You see, my friends and I had to have one last girl's night out with this beautiful lady before she moves next week.

Yes, Jan is leaving our 'hood to head to Atlanta. When we first heard the news we considered kidnapping her husband Joe and forcing him to refuse his wonderful job opportunity, but reasonable thinking won out and we abandoned that plan. Now we are just sad, 'cause what will Carolina Bay be without Jan?! So, instead of dwelling on it we did what we do best. Spent time together drinking, eating, and laughing.

We may not be able to make a decision to save our lives but we can laugh with the best of them!

Oh, and never underestimate the level of entertainment that exist after 11pm on a Wednesday night. Seriously, there are always people at bars who are drunker than you who will provide you with plenty to laugh about. (You just hope that they don't "make anyone upset in their panties", right ladies? Don't roll your eyes, I am allowed one inside joke per blog post!)

Jan.... We will miss you so much but we know you are headed for awesome things. Watch out for a carload of women who may head your way every now and then - we'll bring our tents! :)

Liam: An Update

2011-07-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

Well, it's time for an update on you know who.

Liam. And yes, we snack while we shop. It is really the only way to make it through the grocery store without him standing up and jumping out of the cart or screaming at the top of his lungs.

Liam is 15 months and we went for his check-up today. He is doing all the things on the checklist. Walking well (attempting to run actually), saying words (Mama, Dada, Bubba, fish, more, ruff-ruff, - a random assortment I know!), he waves, he climbs stairs... basically right where he should be developmentally. He weighs 21.5 pounds - down a couple because of his high activity level - and is 30.5 inches long. 15th and 40th percentile respectively. He eats a ton, and will try almost anything you put in front of him. His favorites are yogurt, cheese, blackberries, strawberries, sweet potato, banana/avocado, and of course, Larabars of any variety. Obviously we are out of the woods as far as nut allergies! He is drinking some milk, not a ton, and lots of water in his new sippy cups. The best part is that he naturally weaned himself off of his nighttime bottle. One day he just didn't want it anymore and now he just gets a bath, reads a book, and goes to bed. For 12 hours. Praise the Lord! Seriously, it makes up for the first 11 months that we spent waking up several times a night.

And boy is he cute! Which is good because otherwise I might kill him. Not really, but you know what I mean. He. is. crazy!!!! And already very mischievous. He does all the things he knows he shouldn't and when I try to implement an age appropriate punishment he looks at me and laughs. He loves to walk up to Noah and just wail on him. Sometimes he uses his hands and sometimes he changes it up and slugs him with a toy. We are working on "no hits!" I'll let you know how it goes.

All in all, Liam is a pretty happy and healthy little guy. We are enjoying all the wonderful aspects of his personality and all the little ways that he makes our family more interesting!

Kayaking Adventures

2011-07-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

Charleston is an awesome place to live. Seriously, there is so much to do and recently Wes and I have realized that are taking advantage of about 3.5 percent of it. We have been to the beach once this summer. Once! And, though I think I go more than some people, we don't get downtown as much as I would like. And now that Noah is older there all sorts of other things opening up to us. Like, for instance, sea kayaking.

Wes and I have wanted to try it out for awhile and we took advantage of my Mom being in town this weekend to give it a whirl. We signed up for a 3 hour guided kayak session departing at Folly Beach. (A funny story: When Wes called to book the appointment the lady asked if we each wanted our own boat or did we want to share a boat. When Wes hesitated, she informed him that they call the double boats their "divorce boats". 'Nuff said! We each got our own thank you very much!)

We got there Saturday morning and despite really strong winds and choppy waters we set out, with a guide and one other couple, to explore the water. I will confess, it took me a good 5 minutes to figure out how to coordinate working my paddle and my rudder to steer the boat. I was terrified that I would be the weak link in our group but before I knew it the other guy in our group tipped his boat and fell in the water during those first 5 minutes and I breathed a sigh of relief. While he struggled to get back in I figured out how it all worked, and by the time we were off I had things under control! (This is where I will add that Wes glided into the water and acted like he was a freaking kayaking professional and I so badly wanted to ram into him on purpose in an effort to knock him over and deflate his ego a bit. If I could have done that without turning my own boat over in the process I probably would have!)

We followed our guide through extremely difficult to maneuver choppy water over to a little island (called Long Island) that eventually blocked us from some of the wind. Because the tide was so high we ended up going further into the island than our guide had ever gone before. It was pretty cool to be able to explore places that you couldn't otherwise see in any other way.

We got all sorts of interesting info from our guide too. I eagerly listened to anything that was historically interesting and then tuned out most of what he said when he started naming all sorts of plants and animals and anything too scientific. Especially when he started yammering on about bird wildlife. (You all know how I feel about birds I think). I half listened and half whipped my head around frantically to make sure that the birds he was telling us about weren't flying to close to my boat. (Another story... Wes really perked up when he told us all about a bird who had natural bifocal vision. Oh yeah, that really got him all worked up about the wonders of the eye!)

By the time we headed back I was definitely getting tired. Kayaking is for sure a total body workout. Arms, back, core, and even my legs were getting sore. The nature stuff is great, but that was my favorite part about the whole thing. Finding new and exciting ways to fit in a workout really gets me going! Kind of like Wes and his amazing bird vision.......

We have decided that next time we are going to bring Noah back with us, as he would totally LOVE it! And don't be surprised if we start scouring Craigslist for a used kayak. It was a really wonderful way to enjoy this beautiful place that we live in!

Liam Discovers Blackberries

2011-07-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

His verdict.... Yum! Guys, are there more?

Wasting Time

2011-07-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

Shhhh!!!

Okay, listen. It is 9:16am and both my children are still asleep. What?!?!

I swear I didn't drug them or anything. You would think that with this unexpected block of free time I would be doing something productive but, no.... Instead I am sitting on the couch with my second cup of coffee wasting time on the computer. It is fabulous. Here is what I have discovered online this morning:

1. I am always right. I told Wes 4 days ago that the navy blue skinny jeans worn by Princess Kate would sell out in record time and therefore I must purchase them ASAP. He remained skeptical, I waited, and BAM! - 4 days later they are nowhere to be found. I hate being right - especially when it costs me a pair of super adorable pants!

2. When I went to People.com I found out many important things. The Beckhams named their new baby Harper (my friend Katy must be a trend setter as her 2 year old is named Harper!), Lea Michelle will leave the cast of Glee after next season, Gwyneth Paltrow still has a rockin' body (I only hate her a little), and last but not least, the celeb I still most want to befriend is Jennifer Garner. She is totally fine with being photographed in a t-shirt, jeans, and (gasp) baseball cap while out and about with her kids. She doesn't look like she spends three hours with a stylist before running to the store. I love it - she seems real. Well, as real as someone I stalk on a celebrity website can seem.

3. I have an unhealthy obsession with "Healthy Living" blogs. Seriously, I could probably spend all day experiencing the domino effect of finding one blog that leads to another, then another... well, you get the picture. But should I decide to take up becoming a gluten-free, vegan, yoga/runner who photographs all her meals for this blog I will have some good role models to follow. Maybe I will just become a professional blogger like some of these girls I am reading about....

Except, wait... Yep, there it is. I hear the thump from upstairs that means things are being thrown out of the crib, and THAT means I have about 34.6 seconds until Liam starts screaming for me to come get him. Drat, guess being a professional blogger will have to wait.

We Have the Yuckies

2011-07-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

"Cause everything is so wondrous....."

Those are some of the lyrics to the Curious George theme song and every time I hear it on the TV I laugh cause they make me think of Liam. He is at that age when everyday really is marvelous and everything (remote controls, chip clips, dirty laundry - you name it) really is wondrous! That is why he goes a hundred miles an hour and is into everything All. Day. Long.

So yesterday when I realized that he had been sitting on the couch lounging against a pillow watching morning cartoons for 15 minutes straight I was instantly alerted that something was wrong! (That and the fever he had started running.) Anyway, little Liam has a yucky virus that the doctor told us has been going around and will hopefully run its course in 3-5 days. I must say, being sick in the summertime is even stinkier than being sick in the winter. There is something very off about having to stay inside and rest during our usual hours of summer play. Not mention how bad I feel for the little guy having a fever while it is this hot outside! So we will keep doing a lot of this until we are well....

Oh, and in other random info... The only thing I accomplished yesterday was a trip to the grocery store after Wes got home from work. After I unloaded my loot and looked around I noticed the following and laughed.

Surely I am not the only one arranges her Larabars with the fruit in the fruit bowl? I mean, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is healthy right? Right???

Riverdogs

2011-07-13T06:50:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we went with our friends Joy and Brian, and their kids to a Riverdogs game. I have decided they should rename themselves the Swampdogs as the heat was practically unbearable in this swamp of a city that we live in. I don't think I stopped sweating the entire time!

Despite the looks on their faces Abby Grace, Noah, and Caleb all had a good time. (No really, I swear!) Noah had never been to a baseball game before. In fact his only experience with baseball is playing Mario Brothers Super Sluggers on the Wii and he kept yelling, "That guys swings like Funky Kong!" I was only slightly embarrassed by this. It was pretty funny though because in classic girl/guy dynamic I witnessed the following conversation between Noah and Abby Grace:

AG: "Noah! Look over there, it's the Riverdog! Look!"

N: (exasperated) "Abby Grace I can't look, I might miss the batter hit the ball."

And here is a picture of Liam for the 3 and 1/2 seconds that he sat still and looked at the game. Ready....

Yep, that was as still as he stood the whole time! Oh well, what else would you expect from a 15 month old?!

A Good Chuckle

2011-07-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

It's no secret to anybody who knows me that I love clothes. Don't get me wrong, I am not on the cutting edge of fashion or anything. Quite the contrary probably. I really love well made clothes with classic lines in muted colors. I like to think of myself as "classy conservative". Anyway, because of that, I love looking at pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge (aka Princess Kate). I have not seen her step wrong as far as her wardrobe choices - I love every single one of them!

Well made. Classic. Muted Colors. Usually..... Cause today I saw this picture and I had a good chuckle.

I guess everyone - even princesses - make a fashion faux pas every now and then!

Love/Hate

2011-07-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

I have been having a lack of inspiration when it comes to blog posts lately. My creative juices are stifled...bummer. I have been wanting to tell you about some new things I am loving but there don't seem to be enough to make up a whole post. And also, there I many things I am NOT loving but who wants to read a whole blog about negative things? So I am combining them for you. Anyway, the following is kind of random but it is what is going through my brain on this lazy Friday morning.

I LOVE my son.

But I HATE cleaning up after him. Seriously, this phase of I have just discovered how to be mobile and destroy everything I see is getting old fast!

I HATE that our washing machine finally died - after 9 years and 3 or 4 moves - but I LOVE that we were finally able to get a front loading washing machine to replace it.

All the better to wash something else that I am LOVING at the moment. My new running shorts from Lululemon.

I will never, I repeat NEVER, go back to wearing any other shorts! You see the waist band on those puppies? It is the most comfortable and flattering I ever experienced (hello, no muffin top!) and the material is so lightweight that it almost feels like you are wearing nothing!

Okay, next.... I HATE under eye circles. Seriously if I could change one thing on my face I would wish for no dark circles. But I can almost have this wish thanks to a new product that I LOVE!

Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat Concealer. This is like a little tube of magic. It goes on liquid smooth with no caking and it makes your dark circles disappear while simultaneously making your skin luminous!

Okay, this part is more serious than the rest but it still applies. I LOVE the following books.

These books by Michael Pollan, and a few others I have read, have been so interesting and helpful in educating me about the American food system. They have led me to HATE processed food, factory farming and the unbelievable amount of chemicals we ingest on a daily basis. As a result our family has started eating organic and locally grown. Plus, I am slowly headed in the direction of vegetarianism. And as a result of my new found info I had to bid adieu to my old friend....

When I read in the book Skinny Bitch that aspartame turns to formaldehyde (?!!) in your body I, a) Threw up in my mouth and then, b) Promptly gave up Diet Coke cold turkey. I am 2 weeks clean!

Well, that's about all for today I guess. What are you guys loving and hating right now? Leave a comment and let me know!

Fourth of July at the Lake

2011-07-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

Liam relaxes in a rocking chair that is the perfect size for little people!

Noah and Pops enjoy a little pre-bedtime snack on the couch.

Cousin Gemma enjoys some yummy Cheerios while we are out to dinner Saturday night.

Wes is not at all ashamed to have ordered a drink called a "Dirty Banana" - which he enjoyed with some fried onions. (Actually everything there was fried so I can't remember what that exact basket contained!)

Noah helps Uncle Cy blow out the candles on his birthday cake.

Riding in the boat to see the fireworks display. Liam didn't make it very long because in classic Shealy fashion we were forced to arrive 30 minutes early. Yeah, a 14 month old won't enjoy sitting for 30 minutes in a small boat while restricted to wearing his life jacket. Needless to say, Liam and I were dropped off back at the dock and Noah, Wes, and Pops returned to see the fireworks. Noah was very excited and kept telling Wes, "This is my very first fireworks!"

Liam likes to kick back and relax in the mornings with a nice greasy slice of bacon.

Noah discovered the Angry Birds game on our phones and spent much of his downtime in this position.

And, possibly my favorite picture of the whole weekend....

If there were a thought bubble over Liam's head it would read like this: "Yeah, I'm not gonna lie - I'm pretty bad ass!"

Wrestling

2011-07-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

I am frantically packing up our family to head to the lake for the holiday weekend, but I had to stop and document what my boys were doing this morning.

They were watching TV together so nicely when, as usual, Liam decided it would be WAY more fun to start walloping Noah on the head. I love that at first Noah smiled and took it. But of course, a five year old will only tolerate that for so long before he has had enough. When he tackled Liam to the ground I chuckled and thought, Well, that's the end of that! Wrong. Oh boy, can that kid defend himself! Pretty soon I was hearing a phrase that is becoming all too common in our house....

"Ouch, Liam! That hurts...Stop it Liam, you're hurting me!!!"

Poor big brother!

A Little History and A Top Ten List

2011-06-26T18:46:00.001-07:00

I came home tonight from Charlotte, where I spent the weekend hanging out and catching up with my good friend Julie. It was so fun - and a much needed break for this worn out Mom.

Before I tell you about all the fun things I did here is a little back story for you. Julie and I have now been friends for a decade! (That's a solid friendship right there!) And even though for most of the ten years we have known each other we have lived in different cities, our connection has stayed strong. I'm pretty sure that is due to the fact that during the time we did spend in the same city we were together almost 24/7. We went to class together, worked together, had the same group of friends, and we even spent many a night at each others apartments. Here is something you should know about us. When we are together, craziness is bound to ensue. I'm not sure what that is all about. In our normal lives we are each perfectly capable - her as a sales rep and me as a "domestic engineer" - but when we get together some latent tendency toward chaos manifests, and all sorts of things happen. For instance one time, on a road trip from Charleston to Birmingham we managed to make it all the way to Asheville before we realized that we had missed the exit for the major interstate that we were supposed to be heading west on. Or, there was the time we tried to pay for parking in an open lot downtown. We were supposed to put our cash into the little slots of a metal box. Instead of sliding them in one at a time, like the sign said, we tried to cram them all in at once and ended up ripping $10 in cash in half! (BTW, we managed to convince the parking attendant to accept the cash anyway. Did I mention Julie was in sales?) My theory is that we are just always too distracted having fun with each other to pay attention to minor details like exit signs and instructions.

So anyway, this weekend we once again met up for fun and shenanigans. I am going to finish this post with some pictures and my Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Julie.....

#10 We grocery shop the exact same way - meaning we walk through the store throwing in whatever we went without paying attention to the price. I got to experience this as we went shopping first thing when I got there because she had some recipes to make for me. In particular a peanut butter banana bread that she assured me was awesome. (I laughed as she matter- of- factly informed me that the recipe required overly ripe bananas and that she had "been rotting some at home" just for my visit.)

#9 She let me relax with a cold beer while she cooked me dinner on Friday night. Just what I needed!

#8 Event though we planned to go for a run with her running club on Saturday morning, we decided with a quick 30 second conversation that after several beers the night before that was just not going to happen!

#7 She knows all my favorite places to shop, and therefore plans out all the great stores to take me to!

#6 She buys equally extravagant things and carries them around in giant shopping bags to make me feel better.

#5 She is willing to pose for cheesy blog pictures in public!

By the way, we had a good chuckle over the Taco Mac's sanitation rating as we walked in the door.

I was totally unaware that a restaurant could score higher than 100 - guess we could have eaten off the floor!

#4 She is super sweet and took me for a pedicure - and managed to make me feel that it was okay to paint my toenails a shade of green.

#3 She totally understands a girl's need to raid her friend's closet for a shirt to match her new pants.... And the equally important part of being willing to change her own outfit so that said girl (me) would not feel too "party girl" all by myself.

#2 Even though she is a Skinny Bitch (hehe) she consented to eat cheese and drink wine with me on our special girls weekend.

And the number one reason I love Julie? That's easy. Time spent with her is refreshing for my soul. Thanks Jules for a great weekend and for letting me spend time with someone who lets me be me! I hope that we will always be close and that when we are 85 we are still going on shopping sprees together. They make designer orthopedic shoes, right?

Nine Years

2011-06-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you a story.

It's about this boy who began his senior year in college with the singular goal of working hard, getting awesome grades, and getting into a really good graduate school. He had no time for nonsense - he was an achiever! But nonsense found him. You see, he met this girl. She was a freshman with not a thought in her head about good grades. Heck, she barely went to class, let alone worried about what her grades were! But, for reasons still unknown, that boy liked that girl and they started dating. Well, dating might be the wrong word. She went out to dinner, movies, various Waffle Houses... with his friends while he studied hard in the library.

Well, one thing led to another and one day that boy married that senseless girl. No, really, he did! See....

That's me and Wes of course. Nine years ago today! I can't believe that he has put up with me for nine whole years. Although, some of his logic and hard working attitude has rubbed off on me along the way and - I'd like to think - some of my sense of fun has been transferred his way. And you know what we ended up with? Two people who are much better together than we ever were apart.

Wes, thanks for picking me - despite all the voices in your head that were probably screaming how bad I was for your GPA. I'm glad you ignored them! The last nine years have been great - not always easy by any means, no marriage is - but I would not want to be on this journey with anyone but you. Thanks for all you do for me (and for our boys!). Happy Anniversary!!!

PS.... You have one more year until 10. I think the present for that one will have to be really good. I'm sure it involves really nice jewelry, right?!

PPS.... And lest all you blog readers are looking at the above picture and thinking,What a great little family!, I will leave with the following. Don't want you thinking our life is too perfect.....

A little dose of reality for this sentimental post!

Father's Day Weekend In Pictures

2011-06-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

(And a few words, cause lets face it - I'm a bit wordy!)

Friday night pool and pizza with pals.

Saturday morning downtown at the Farmer's Market.

(Don't you love that we go to the Farmer's Market and buy donuts?! That's why I included the above picture - to show you that we did also purchase lots of fresh produce.)

After the market, Broad Street Barber Shop for Liam's first (much needed) haircut.

Bye-bye baby mullet. We won't miss you!!!

Building sandcastles at Folly Beach

And, finally, Sunday... Church, lunch, and cupcakes. And giving Wes some cards and a couple gifts to let him know how much we love him and think he is a great Dad!

14 Months.....

2011-06-16T11:22:00.000-07:00

And if he makes it to 15 months it will be a miracle. In the last 48 hours this child has made it all the way across the street before we could stop him and fallen down a flight of stairs. Lets not even begin to think about the number of times he has almost drown himself at the pool. Seriously?! I am going to be prematurely gray!

I love that picture of Liam because it is so totally him. In the middle of raiding the pantry - which he is NOT supposed to do - and he nonchalantly stops to take a little break to sip some water. You know, before he goes back to playing with the wine.

Liam is no longer a baby. He is all toddler, all the time. Into everything. Convinced he can do whatever Noah does, and already a pro at pitching fits and not listening. Don't get me wrong - he may be the cutest little boy I have ever seen, and he loves to kiss and hug and melt my heart on a daily basis, but it takes all my energy just to keep up with him. In fact there is no energy leftover to divert to my brain apparently. Just yesterday I went to grab a fruit salad that I had cut up earlier that morning from the refrigerator.

"Where's the fruit salad?" I asked Wes.

"What fruit salad?" he said looking over my shoulder into the fridge. No Tupperware container of fruit salad. Weird.....then the light bulb went off.

"Oh Lord!" I shrieked and lunged for a cabinet across the kitchen. I yanked it open and sure enough, there was the Tupperware of fruit sitting in the cabinet - all warm and slimy. Who does that?! Someone whose brain is fried, that's who! (By the way, Wes literally spent at least 2 whole minutes rolling on the floor laughing at me. I couldn't blame him - I totally deserved to be laughed at. Although, he stopped abruptly when he realized how much money in fruit had just been wasted.)

So, how am I going to make it through? Grin and hold on for the ride I guess. This time with Liam will go way too fast so I guess I will just accept all the crazy for what it is.

And my new coffee pot should help things too! For our anniversary (which is next week - yes, I get my presents early) Wes got me a Keurig coffee maker. It is genius I tell you! Perfect for lazy people or those of us whose brain is too full to complete anything other than rudimentary tasks. It works like this....

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Ahhh.... a cup of coffee ready in less than a minute. Fuel for the day!

Old Friends

2011-06-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

One of the consequences of moving around to a million different places early in our marriage is the fact that we have good friends spread out all over the place. Having little children makes it hard to road trip around the country visiting them - I hope as the kids get older that will change! In the meantime, we take whatever opportunities we can get to see our old friends. Over this weekend we drove several hours to Clinton, SC (no you are NOT supposed to know where that is) to see our friends the Bedenbaughs. They were there - in town from St. Louis - to visit Jeremy's family. We drove up to attend a surprise party for Jeremy on Friday evening. We had so much fun getting to see Jeremy and Amy, even just for a little while, but the most fun was watching our boys play together!

Liam and Sam (only about 11 months apart). Sam was not so sure about Liam trying to play with his toys. Also, for those of you who know Jeremy.... Is Sam not his total clone?!!!

Jude and Noah (both 5 years old) - I am SURE that if we lived closer these two would be great buddies. They had a blast playing video games, baseball, basketball, and just generally being crazy!

So much fun to watch the next generation hang out. Here's to hoping they have as much fun together as their parents always have!

Hot Child In The Suburbs

2011-06-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

Summer is officially in full swing and it. is. HOT.

So, we have been spending most of our free time at the pool. Or near water of some kind. This past weekend my Mom was in town so we took the boys to the beach. Of course, it was high tide at Folly Beach so we had about a foot and half of actual beach to play on but it was still fun!

Between our beach outing and all the time that we are spending at the pool we are all getting just a bit of summer color. I am loathe to say "tan" because I am so NOT trying to tan. Seriously here is a picture of the arsenal of sunscreen that I take with me on all our outdoor adventures.

My children and I are perpetually coated in SPF 85 or above, yet Liam is already dark. Noah and I have some color, but Liam is getting taaannnn! Check it out...

If that is what he looks like after 2 weeks of pool time I am a little scared for what he may look like at the end of the summer. (I am SO not used to having a child whose skin does this - Noah is my little "Casper the Friendly Ghost"!)

Anyway, the water and the sun. That is pretty much what we are up to these days. I will say though, that I have been feeling very blessed lately. I mean, my JOB is to wake up every morning and go play at the pool with my kids. I am very grateful for the opportunity to stay at home with them while they are this age, and get to form all these fun, priceless memories of lazy summer days.

And just in case you think that by the end of the day we have had enough of splashing around here is proof that my kids are water babies....

Summer evenings enjoying our water table! Let the good times roll!

Preschool Graduation

2011-06-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday was Noah's last day of preschool. I remember dropping him off when he was 2 - kicking and screaming, by the way - and I was not emotional about it all. I knew it would be a good experience for him and I was desperate for a little time to myself, and so I was very calm about my son beginning preschool. Fast forward almost 3 years and it was a different story. The ending of preschool was very emotional for me! I can't believe he is moving on to "real" school! That we are leaving behind the innocent days of ABC's and snack time and singing songs about Jesus. I hate that next year I will be forced to pick him up in the car line rather than walk in to get him and chat with all the other families and the teachers. I will miss the fact that in preschool they learn Bible versus and pray before they eat. And the teachers - we will really miss the teachers! Plus, going to Kindergarten next year will be irrefutable proof that my little boy is growing up way too fast.

His school didn't make it any easier on me. They had a whole Graduation Ceremony complete with cap and gown. (Are you trying to rip my heart out?!) Seriously though it was very cute. They sang some songs first. Even one about an alligator where they wore alligator hats.

That's Noah in the front row, in the blue. (Always in the front row when you're a shorty!) Then they filed out to put on their caps and gowns and the parents were treated to a little video presentation entitled, "When I Grow Up". This may have been my favorite part. The director of the school interviewed each of the kids about what they wanted to be when they grew up. They all said things like doctor, teacher, princess, superhero, etc. Then it was Noah's turn. The conversation went something like this:

Director: "Noah, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Noah: "A paleontologist!"

Director: "Wow! I can't believe you even know that word. What is a paleontologist Noah?"

Noah: "It's a dinosaur man who studies dinosaurs and studies fossils and stuff!"

She then tried to say thank and good bye but Noah totally interrupted with some long winded tale about how he had some fossils at home and how his Mom was going to hide them in the back yard for him to find like a real paleontologist. Everyone in the audience was dying laughing - Wes and I had tears running down our faces. It was so adorable!

After that video the kids came in down the center aisle of the sanctuary in their cap and gowns.

Then they each came forward individually to receive their "diplomas" from their teachers.

After the ceremony we went back to their classroom for cake and punch. They each got a little graduation present from their teacher and the parents got a framed photo of their child in the cap and gown. As usual, we were the last people to leave the classroom (we like to chat!) and on the way out we snapped some pictures with his teacher, Mrs. Lighthart. She is too cute - and will forever be the standard that Noah uses to measure other teachers!

And so preschool is over. It was an awesome experience for Noah (and all of us really!).

A Roach, A Boat, and A Grand Ol' Time

2011-05-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy lately that it seems every time I go to write a blog post about an event, there is another event I am already documenting on camera. I still have to write about Noah's preschool graduation, but for now I will stick to showing you what we did over Memorial Day weekend.

We packed the boys up on Friday and headed up the road (into what, to me, still seems like the middle of nowhere) to the Shealy's lake house. We spent the weekend soaking up the sun in the boat, on the dock, and in the water. (And, I am proud to say that we went through almost 2 whole spray bottles of sunscreen - SPF 85. No skin cancer here, thank you very much!) Despite a middle of the night roach encounter and no central air and only one bathroom we enjoyed ourselves very much!

I am also proud to tell you that I finally have photographic proof that I can indeed get up on a pair of skis! (I did it for the first time - after several years of trying - at the end of last summer.)

And, of course, so can Wes. He is much better than me and can stay up for a lot longer. However, I am convinced that of the two of us, I fall way more gracefully!

Noah had a blast on the boat too. He really enjoyed tubing with Wes. He also decided to give it a try all on his own because Pops promised that if Noah could prove he was brave enough, there would be a pair of his very own skis waiting for him next time. So Noah did it - and promptly asked for Wes to get back in. Not because he was afraid mind you - he wasn't - but because he can't stand to go more than a minute and a half without someone to chat with. Being in the tube by himself must have been horrifying for him.

And while we were enjoying all the water sports, Liam was hanging out with Nana at the house. He was not a fan of his life jacket and therefore much preferred pushing his cart of Lego's around the porch. (And, by the way, he is walking for real now. Everywhere. We are calling him our little penguin.)

Noah was very sad when we came home today. We had to promise over and over that we would go back to the lake soon. And I do believe that we will!

Birthday Fun

2011-05-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

So before I forget, and/or too much time passes and it fails to be relevant, I am going to post the pictures from Noah's birthday party.

We had his 5th birthday at Monkey Joe's and it did not disappoint! Seriously, the jump castles are great, the venue is new and clean, and the staff is extremely accomodating. Plus, after we were done in the party room having cake, the kids got to go back out and jump some more. For those of you who have been to parties at most jump castles, usually there is no option for more jumping after cake. Needless to say, it was a great place for a party and I had to do almost no work at all which I loved!

Soccer Finale

2011-05-23T07:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning was Noah's last soccer game for the season. I was really sad it was the last - it has been so fun cheering him on every Saturday - but excited because they had such a great game, probably their best of the season. It was a great way to finish things up! Noah scored two goals himself and was so proud. Wes and I were too. Not necessarily because of the goals (those are wonderful) but because of how hard he works when he is out there, and how much better he has gotten over the course of the season. Here are a few pictures of the Orange Team winning their last game.

And of course we can't forget about the family on the sidelines. I think we work pretty hard at cheering them on!

After the game his team had a little celebration complete with cupcakes and trophies.

And, last but not least, I have this picture. (Which was taken later that day at Noah's party, as most of my friends would have been irritated at me for suggesting we take a picture while we all looked so... sporty!)

We are officially Soccer Moms! Don't worry though, only some of us drive mini-vans!

Happy Birthday Noah

2011-05-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

Today Noah is 5..... WHAT?!

I don't know where five years has gone. I blinked and all of the sudden I have a long limbed, gangly little boy. Who is so smart and sweet and has a wicked awesome sense of humor. I love him.

(Here are some pictures from our family celebration this afternoon. I have more of his birthday party and soccer game but I will post those later.)

Noah, on your fifth birthday here are some things to remember about you......

You love to play soccer - and have gotten really good. Dinosaurs still reign supreme in this house. You even told me the other day that you "know more than all the paleontologists". You sing and dance in the car and especially love the Glee soundtracks, in particular the Britney Spears song Stronger (Daddy is not so keen on that). You are so much fun to be around and remember that sense of humor I was talking about? Well, here is a picture that shows it off. I love that you can get a chest full of dress up costumes for your birthday and do this with me.....

Happy Birthday to the best five year old that I know!

Sneaky Liam

2011-05-15T05:36:00.000-07:00

You know how a dog has a place he likes to bury his bones? Well, Liam has a place he likes to hide his toys. Seriously, any time I can't find something - a pacifier, socks, shoes, toys, the remote control - I usually just have to check this spot and I will find it.

See the random assortment of objects he has stored here? I have been looking for that pacifier for a long time!

I am pretty sure the good people at Pottery Barn would be appalled to see how we have put their decorative urn to use in this house.

Surprise!

2011-05-14T06:01:00.000-07:00

On Thursday my Mom came to town - but not to see us. She was here to fly to California with her "Man Friend" (because as Mr. Big from SATC reminded us, they are a little too old for the term boyfriend) Marv. We did not expect to see her, but she ended up getting in early enough for us to all meet for dinner. I grabbed Noah and we hopped in the car and I told him we were going to eat with Bebe, Surprise! He was more than a little excited.

While at dinner he took control of my phone and snapped some photos.

Mom and Marv

Jamie and Jess. I am warning you now, look out for those two! They look as though they are plotting something a little crazy right here. (Possibly the castration of all men....?)

Noah and Bebe. (Not sure why but he insisted on wearing her glasses in the picture.) He is not always thrilled to share her with the Man Friend but a ride in Marv's corvette has done wonders to changing Noah's opinion of things. He sure does love his Bebe!

Steps For A Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-09T05:17:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Make sure your whole holiday weekend is filled with parties to go to! We had three on Saturday alone! Here is a picture of Liam as he helped his cousin Gemma celebrate her first birthday.

The consensus was that they looked a bit like garden gnomes in the party hats. But cute garden gnomes, hence the flurry of picture taking!

Step 2: Go to bed Saturday tired but happy after hanging out with your friends and laughing together. Wake up late because your husband took charge of the kids. Go for coffee and bagels, then spend time reading on the back porch. Ahh, you should start to be feeling relaxed by now.

Step 3: Leave the kids with trusty Aunt J and head downtown with your husband to Second Sunday on King. How was it that the city knew that closing my favorite street to traffic and letting me roam about all the shops and restaurants would make me so happy? (And my husband's suggestion to visit a few of my favorite stores didn't hurt!)

Step 4: Come home, grab children, and head to the pool......where you will promptly find that all your friends had the same idea. Line up your lounge chair next to your buddies, grab a cold beverage and enjoy the sunshine. Oh, and get up a million times to keep your littlest rug rat from drowning. I would have been annoyed but his cuteness distracted me!

Step 5: Head out to dinner with friends. Go to local hibachi grill - which is sure to be free of Mother's Day crowds - and sit in the private room (complete with blue light special!) Contemplate ordering the "Hot Sex Mama" sushi roll. Listen to Liam scream every time you try to take away the giant soup ladle he is playing with and be grateful for the private room you are in. And for friends who understand crazy kids and their behavior!

Step 6: In all your brilliance, decide to try and take a picture with both boys when it is way past bedtime and nobody is cooperative.

Follow these steps and you are guaranteed to have a really awesome Mother's Day!

12 Month Stats

2011-05-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

I am obviously a bit behind on my blogging. Like, for instance, the fact that Liam had his 1 year doctor's appointment 2 weeks ago and I am just now getting around to posting about it. In my defense I was super busy last week. I was doing really important things like taking care of my kids, cleaning my house, working out, laundry, watching the Royal Wedding, etc. There was no time for blogging!

So, on to Liam. He is one year old (plus 2 weeks). He weighs 22 pounds (40th percentile) and is 29 inches (50th percentile). He has 10 teeth, a really awesome mullet, and he is quickly loosing all his baby fat as he moves around more and more. Speaking of moving....He can walk - a little. He has taken up to 7 steps at a time but quickly loses patience with how slow he is and reverts to crawling. I can't blame him I guess. He can be across the house (or all the way up the stairs!) in 30 seconds flat if he crawls.

He can say, Dada, Mama, aw dun (all done), and nynynyny! (No no no no!) No is probably his favorite word. It is usually accompanied by a furious shaking of the head and a "throw down". Throwing down involves him dramatically flopping his head forward to the ground while screaming. He will do it anywhere, even hardwood floors, but the best was when he 'threw down' in the bathtub and was really surprised - and then angry - about almost drowning himself.

He loves his brother, playing with cars, throwing things, and being outside. Also, he is now only drinking milk (which our checkbook is thankful for - bye formula!) but we have not fully committed to the sippy cup yet. Liam is even more independent than his brother and way more curious too. At one year he is definitely keeping us on our toes!

A Visit to the Farmer's Market

2011-04-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

The Charleston Farmer's Market is open for the season! Saturday mornings downtown at the farmer's market are seriously some of my favorite times. We had a great morning there and got a bunch of delicious produce for, like, $13 - you can't beat that!

Happy Easter weekend everybody! Hope you enjoy special times with loved ones!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

2011-04-20T15:57:00.000-07:00

This may be a bit of a random post, but today I am going to talk about things I have been loving lately. Here goes.

#1 ~ Twizzlers. Seriously, I cannot get enough of this yummy candy. I don't even want to know what they are made of or how many calories are in them. And I have lost count of how many I have eaten in the last month. Oh, and they go really well with a nice cold can of chemicals - aka, Diet Coke, my best friend.

#2 ~ The fact that Liam finally decided to eat solid foods. He was in this weird stage where he wanted nothing to do with baby food but was still choking and gagging on "real" food. I was going a little crazy wondering if he was going to just waste away when, lo and behold, about a week ago he just started eating! Cantelope, avocado, turkey, grapes, turkey bacon, chicken, french fries (well, he's been doing that awhile) and almost anything that I have on my plate that he wants to try. Here is a picture I snapped at Chik-Fil-A last friday of him chowing down on some of Noah's kid's meal.

#3 ~ Barre Evolution. I signed up for these classes at a studio over in Mt. Pleasant in the hopes of doing something to improve my overall strength. Well, let me tell you I think we have a winner. The class is like a combo of pilates/yoga/ballet barre work with some good old fashioned things like squats and push-ups thrown in for good measure. It is one solid hour of hurt - but in the good way! I can easily see myself becoming addicted so I may have to start buying lottery tickets so that I can have a financial windfall and afford all the classes I want to take.

#4 ~ Whole Foods. Let me tell you, I had gotten to the point where I HATED grocery shopping. The mere thought of going to Publix yet again made me throw up in my mouth. But Whole Foods? Well, lets just say that whoever is behind the marketing or merchandising or whatever you want to call it is a genius! The produce section makes me so happy every time I walk in. And they have coffee, and gelato, and all manner of awesome prepared foods just waiting for me so I can even eat while I shop. All organic and pesticide free of course. So I can feed my family the right things and feel all virtuous at the same time. And let's face it, if the only way that I could get all that wholesome, chemical free food was to shop at some random market that smelled of patchouli and was run by an aging hippie named Sunshine then you can bet that my family would probably just ingest pesticide. (Relax! I said probably.) Oh, and according to Wes, "Everyone there is really cute!" He's right. I get tons of fashion inspiration from my fellow yuppy shoppers. In all seriousness though, it has been good. Noah is even interested in all the fruits and veggies and wants to help me pick things out. (Something he never wanted to do in our previous store, with the mediocre produce.)

#5 ~ And speaking of Noah, my last favorite thing would be titled, "All the crazy things that come out of Noah's mouth". For instance, in the above picture he is holding a cucumber which he insisted was a pickle. He kept saying in his loudest voice, "Mama, I will hold the pickle!" I kept shushing him cause I feared the judgement of all the other wholesome food consumers whose kids were sure to know the basics of produce at a very early age. But no amount of convincing made him call it anything other than a pickle. What else?.... Oh yeah, he still calls a propeller a "crapeller" and he calls the baby monitor the "thermometer" and the other day he put his arms up in the classic bicep curl and announced that he had "Muscle Sprouts"! My favorite though was yesterday morning when I was hurrying him along on our way out the door and he stopped, put his hands on his hips, and said "Oh Mama! With you it's always rush, rush, rush!"

So that's it friends. In no particular order, those are all the things that make me smile these days!

Dear Liam...

2011-04-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

As of Friday, April 15th, you are one. ONE!!! As Noah has been saying, "He is not big enough to be one." I feel the same way bud! It seems like just yesterday I met you and you looked like this...

And now you look like this... no longer a baby, on your way to little boy.

We celebrated you turning one by having a little family celebration on Friday night. Uncle Cy, Aunt Carissa, and Gemma were there.

As were Nana and Pops.

And of course, Aunt J. She wouldn't have missed her Chunky's party for anything! (I am still scared she may make good on her threat of grabbing you and heading for Canada one day). Since you are only one and don't understand all the ritual surrounding birthdays just yet, Aunt J and Noah helped you blow out the candles on your cake.

Oh, and speaking of your cake. I ordered one from Publix - because they are so good - and requested it in the shape of the number one. Long story short, my friend Katy picked it up for me Friday afternoon while she was out and dropped it off to me. She had verified that the name was spelled correctly and everything so I thanked her and went to put the cake in the fridge. Good thing I snuck a peek cause it looked like this....

That is most definitely a backwards one! I called Katy and told her about it and we had a good laugh. She asked if I was going to take it back but I was too scared that I didn't really have enough time to get another one and its not like it was inedible or anything. "You just paid $30 for a backwards one!" she told me. I know, but now we always remember the birthday where Liam had the wonky cake.

The good news is that is tasted delicious and there was no mess up with the smash cake. That was just perfect. Liam, buddy, you totally went for it with that smash cake!

After the bath you opened your presents. What I mean by that is Noah and I opened your presents while you crawled around examining random bits of paper and packaging. No matter. You were happy exploring and you would have thought it was your brother's birthday by how excited he was to unwrap your gifts. Win-win for everyone!

So, now you are a big boy Liam. We love you so much sweet boy and are so grateful that one year ago you came into our lives to complete our family!

Our Week

2011-04-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

We have had some seriously busy (but fun) weeks lately, and this past week was no exception. First of all, Bebe was in town so Noah was in heaven getting loved on and spoiled. Also, the weather was gorgeous and we got to spend a lot of time outside. My Mom had even set up a photo session for Liam's one year old pictures which we did at Hampton Park, downtown, during the most beautiful morning. I will post some of those on here later - they turned out fabulous!

Noah and I spent several afternoons outside enjoying the sunshine while Liam napped. If you ever need photographic evidence that he is my son you can refer to the following picture.

On Thursday night I got to go out to dinner with my Mom, my sis, and my Mom's - boyfriend's - daughter, Jamie. (Did you follow that? BTW, Jamie is the aforementioned photographer who snapped all the great shots of Liam!) Jamie and Jessie both had birthdays this past week so we went to Taco Boy to celebrate with margaritas (per my sister's request). Here we are laughing at my Mom as she struggled to take our picture with my iPhone.....

We are laughing (or in Jessie's case looking extremely confused) because she totally had the phone backwards as she shot the picture and her first one ended up being this....

I guess when you still carry around a flip phone that does not even have a full keyboard for texting, you can easily get confused when taking pictures on "fancy" phones. Time to join the rest of the world and get a smart phone Mom! Anyway, we had a great time with lots of laughs. Here is a picture of the laughing as it continued on the drive home.

I should mention that there is another, funnier, picture of Jessie and Jamie but due to the fact that this is a family blog I won't post it. Let's just say that in the Taco Boy parking lot there exists a sign that reads, "Lock Your Coche" and Jessie may have misread the words lock and coche. That is all I will say about that!

And, last but not least, rounding out our week was last night's Pajama Rama at the Children's Museum. It really turned out to be a great success - which was a huge relief to all those involved in the planning of it. My eyes have been opened to all the work that goes into planning fundraisers of any kind. It is no small feat, but that makes it all the more satisfying when the event turns out so well. Wes, Bebe, Jessie and the boys came to enjoy the festivities. I spent most of the time working in the pillowcase decorating room which was sponsored by a really cool guy!

Noah ran around and had a blast with his buddies and this morning asked me when we could go to the Pajama Rama again!

I am tired just writing this post! So I am going to go take my Sunday afternoon nap. (Which will no doubt be interrupting at least 5 times before I give up, but you gotta try right?!)