The weekend

Friday night we went over to Aunt CiCi's for pizza. Vitor, Aunt Cici & Uncle Greg's foreign exchange student from Brazil, played the guitar for everybody. We all enjoyed it but he had one very special fan: Reid!! Reid watched him like that for 20 minutes until he fell asleep watching him. Ha. It was so cute.

Marshall was there. He is hilarious! This is him boxing Uncle Greg. He is so full of energy and he has such a fun personality-he is always laughing and playing!

Eva Kate--ok, just as a disclaimer-on my camera viewer it looked like she was smiling. Haha. She is such a cutie too. Both her and Lilly thought it was a lot of fun to push the kitchen stools around. What they find entertaining, right?? She has got an energetic fun attitude too.

Saturday was BEAUTIFUL so we took advantage and headed to the park. They have this train with different carts that Lilly went all through.

She just made herself at home. Haha.

Playing peek-a-boo. She is so funny--she says "boo" now and tries to "sneak up". The sneaking up is hilarious because she hunches her little shoulders and creeps on her tip toes. The only problem is she can't do it without giggling. Haha.

She also really enjoyed the big playground equipment (I am totally blanking on the right term!) They have a kiddie one but it is still a little big but she didn't care. There was no taking a picture while she was on there because it was simply not safe to let my guard down long enough to snap a photo. She was BUSY.

In this photo she was chasing the birds. We were trying to go for a walk but she had other plans--don't worry we ALL got our exercise anyway just chasing her around. Ha!

I love this picture because it shows that she is still little. I am always amazed at how big she is getting so this is one of those that helps me put into perspective that she is getting big so fast but she is STILL little!

Her curls.

I wish I knew how to do one of those boxes over his booty but I just love this picture. He went to town in the bath tub!! He was kicking and soldier crawling. He turned himself around, grabbed and sucked on the wash cloth--he had a big time! This was his first bath not in some sort of baby bath. WAHOO for being done with baby bath tubs (at least for now)--one less thing to keep in the bathroom.

Lilly loves her bath too. She really likes to bang on the walls and screech and splash. It is not exactly the relaxing bath I enjoy but to each their own! Hope everyone has a great week!

Friday Stink-a-Roo

Friday was a fun-filled day for us. We started out with a play date with some friends! Reid, Lilly, Cruz & Trevor, Trenton, & Stella. First, I should mention that as I was trying to walk out the door...I noticed my keys were missing from where I laid them down at. After frantically searching the house for 15 minutes, asking Matt "where in the world did he move my keys to??!", and being seconds away from what I call the ugly cry because I didn't want to miss the play date we had been trying for over a month to set up....I finally found them. Whew.

I am hoping one of the other girls got a better picture that I can steal later because these were the two that I ended up with. Despite the look on Lilly's face...she really did have fun playing with the other kiddos. I LOVE how every other child is looking at her like "what is wrong with you?" except Trenton who I believe is actually asking, "what is wrong with her??" Haha. I think a great time was had by kids and mommies alike.

After our playgroup, we met Daddy at Chick-Fil-A for lunch. Isn't this the sweetest picture?? I also want to note that Chick-Fil-A is the most kid friendly restaurant of them all-LOVE IT.

This is where the stink-a-roo part of the day begins. So, up until today if we left the toilet seat down...Lilly didn't mess with the toilet. Well, I was feeding Reid and Lilly was running around "uncleaning" and playing when all of the sudden I heard splashing water....my first thought was Tank's water bowl but then as I listened I figured out it was coming from a different area. So I sit Reid down and sure enough...this is what she is doing--putting her bath toys in the toilet. Guess who gets to sanitize those?? This girl. Yippee.

Well, Lilly decided she wanted the whole box of Goldfish for a snack. I thought...not worth the fight--go for it!

She was really enjoying them.

Until in a blink of an eye---whamm-O---all on the ground. Goldfish on the ground, Goldfish on the ground..haha. You can see where Matt was leaping forward to stop her. Too. Late.

Tank was willing to be a good Samaritan and clean them up.

She was willing to help him.

They have become such good buddies now that she eats "people" food. So, we picked some up and put them back in the box to throw away so that Tank didn't give himself a stomach ache.

Then, it happened. De-ja-vu (I know I am butchering the spelling)--she snuck the box and dumped them back in the floor AGAIN. Are you getting the stink-a-roo part of the title yet???

This time I made her pick them up....again, Tank was willing and eager to help.

Never a dull moment! Shockingly enough, that wasn't the end of our night but the rest will have to wait for another post. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Random

Reid is pretty laid back and doesn't mind just hanging out....as long as I am in the same room with him. Soooo, he has started hanging out in his Bumbo (yes it is pink because it was Lilly's) while I cook. Our big blue dog keeps him entertained when I am just not doing the trick. Ha!

I just LOVE this picture. I love the look on his face. Priceless.

We have just been hanging out in our PJs relaxing this week.

We made it through our fast!!!!! I like how this picture makes it look like there is a heavenly light shining around the Sonic cup. Haha. The lady at Sonic noticed I had gotten my hair cut and apologized if she had ever come off as snippy (she had NOT--sweet lady)...I think she may have thought we hadn't been there because we were upset or something. Haha. I have had caffeine today for the first time in 21 days--I hope I can sleep tonight!! I may give more details on the fast later. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them.

I said in a previous post that I would talk about some of our blessings this year so I am going to start with this one: Our 98 Honda Civic. Matt had a 98 Dodge Durango with 156,000 miles on it. Well, during cash for clunkers Jeep was matching what the government was offering so we were able to get an amazing deal on a Jeep Patriot. It was a great vehicle, but we decided that in order to meet all of the financial goals that we wanted to achieve we really didn't need a car payment. So, Matt put it on the lot to sell. To keep this story short, I will just jump to the fact that we were able to sell our Jeep and get enough money to buy this 1998 Honda Civic with ONLY 52,000 miles on it. That is less than 5,000 miles a year folks!! So we were essentially able to trade in Matt's Durango with 156,000 miles for a Honda Civic with 52,000 miles straight across...and get to drive a new car in the meantime!! God is SO GOOD!

Also, I also feel that it is such a blessing that we have the mindset to be totally ELATED by the opportunity to drive a 98 Civic. Please don't get me wrong--there is nothing wrong with having, wanting, or buying a new car!

Since Tank has been so very neglected on the blog lately, I took a picture of him so he could be included! He is such a great dog!! He lets Lilly just roll all over him...and now that she drops food all of the time he has become her little shadow. Haha.

And my last random thing, has anybody else tried these Chocolate Cheerios? Matt and I are obsessed. Matt went to Wal-Mart to buy some a few weeks ago and they were out. The next night we went to a different Wal-Mart and he came out with FOUR boxes. Haha. They are soo good. Sorry grandparents, no pictures of Lilly today--I just couldn't get her to stay still and the pictures all turned out blurry when she was in motion--I will try again tomorrow.

Birthday!, Valentines, & Great Dates

Yesterday was Matt's Birthday!! We said all of our sappy stuff to him in our cards--but I will publicly say I am the luckiest lady in the world to have such an awesome husband and father for our babies!! The handsome birthday boy! He was very sweet...his birthday is on Valentines Day so even though it was HIS birthday--he got up super early and surprised me with I-Hop breakfast and a razorback snuggie. I am so in love with him and the snuggie!!! After that we went to church and then had lunch at Chili's.

Lilly and Mommy. Lilly signed her own name for Matt's card AND drew him a beautiful picture of lines. Ha.

She kept doing this--she has always drank out of the straw sippees so I don't know what the "chug hold" is all about. Then we spent the afternoon driving around and just hanging out. At 5:00, we dropped the kids off at church for FREE childcare so we could go on our first Great Date. Our church is doing the Great Date Experiment which is a series of 6 dates that they preplan..it isn't like "go to this restaurant" or "do this"...it is more of a guideline. You can check it out here and get all of the details. You do NOT have to be a part of our church to do these dates--just go to the website and print off Date 1 on the right side. You have 2 weeks before Date 2 happens so join in the fun!! I HIGHLY recommend them--it really gets you out of that "dinner and a movie" rut!

Anyway, onto the date!! This date focused around "cultivating communication". There were 5 different points. The first one was to pick a place to eat and there was a list of questions/statements for us to talk about.

One of the things we could do was to let the waitress pick out our food. Well, since it was Matt's birthday and he wanted to go to Gusano's SPECIFICALLY for a particular pizza--we let her pick out an appetizer and surprise us!! It was really fun because the whole time we were wondering what we were going to get.

Matt was soooo excited about his pizza...can you see the smoke coming off of it?? It was really tasty and we talked all through dinner and had such a great time. After we were done eating, we opened up "point two" (you don't know what is next until you finish the previous "point" or activity.

The second point was to choose an activity to go to....then, on the way adjust the car where it was either way too hot or way too cold. We were trying to take a picture of us next to the thermostat because we rode all the way there at 90%....but since it was snowing outside, it still felt nice. Haha.

It said men are more likely to open up during an activity--so we chose bowling. There was a list of stuff to talk about while you are doing that activity. I am not mentioning any specifics in case any of you decide to do these dates. It was so much.....even though we were TERRIBLE bowlers. My high score was 74--embarrassing!

The next point was for us to go the grocery store and pick out a dessert for one another that we thought the other hadn't tried for a certain amount of money. I got Matt peanut butter cup chocolate ice cream and he got me sour skittles. We both did good!! Then, the final point, we still have to do so I will put a picture of that up soon. We had such a GREAT time!!! Yesterday was a perfect day.

Girls Night Out

Today we just hung out around the house. I just love his little smile!

This picture CRACKS ME UP. Both of their expressions are just priceless! Today, these two just kept making my heart melt! Lilly played right by him while he was in the jumper (in face she is sitting on the bar that is on the side of it. Then, he was in the floor and she kept bringing him toys and sitting right next to him. It was sooo sweet.

Lilly with sweet monkey, little piggie, and her new favorite--the box of chocolate cheerios. Our living room looks like a toy store exploded in it. Haha.

Can you find my cell phone in this picture?? Lilly has become quite handsy. She can open drawers now. In the kitchen she can just open them...in the bathroom she can actually get everything out of them--we won't even talk about where I found my toothbrush! Anyway, I was looking for my phone and I swore I left it on the counter but I couldn't find it anywhere. Well, Lilly plays with our house phone so that phone was dead. I had to charge it in order to call my phone. It took me an hour and a half (because after 30 minutes of charging...it would let me make one call, then die, and I would have to charge it for another 30 minutes---it was a vicious cycle). I took everything out of the recycling box, went through the trash, went through the laundry hamper, took everything off of the dining room table, looked through the cabinets--all because when I called I could here it vibrating....oh I guess I forgot to mention my phone was on silent....in that vicinity but it was very muffled. Well, I finally found it SHUT IN the drawer. There is never a dull moment folks!

Needless to say, I was praising God for a girls night out tonight! Don't get me wrong, 9.5 times out of ten I would rather stay with my family--I just truly LOVE spending time with Matt, Lilly, and Reid. I don't want to make it sound like I was just itching to get away....but we have been so busy these past couple of weeks and I literally did not get to sit down today unless it was to feed Reid and I just really needed some time to not worry about anything and just relax. Luckily God knows what you need when you need it (Amen!), and I had a girls night out planned for tonight anyway. Jenna had planned for a bunch of us girls to get together to go see Dear John. It was the perfect little....I can't think of a better word than break, so.....break. How was the movie? Well, I thought overall it was pretty good....a little sadder than I like. My only complaint is that if they would have just added like 5 more minutes to the end of the movie--it would've made it SO MUCH better. I had a great time and even got to meet some new friends!!

Oh, and I would like to thank my wonderful husband for taking care of both children while I was at the movie. On my way home I felt so rejuvenated and was so excited about seeing everyone and got a little sad when I realized both the babies would be in bed! Isn't it funny how that works? You look forward to a night out but then can't wait to get back home to see them?

Our Week & MOPS

After all of that running around last week, we enjoyed a couple of snowy days at home just lounging in our PJs and playing around the house. Where is Lilly???

Peek-a-boo!!!

There she is!!

Okay, so at lunch I got out some yogurt for Lilly but she wasn't interested because she was ready for her nap. So I set it on the table, put her down for her nap, and forgot about it.....that is until later in the day when I found Lilly like this!

Please note the yogurt on her face, all over her shirt, and the huge pile between her legs! I laughed so hard I cried a little--this girl just cracks me up and keeps me on my toes! I think she went through three outfits that day between this and the irresistable relationship she has with Tank's water bowl. Haha.

Oh, DeDe is lending us her camera and when I went to download my pics I found this one from Christmas. This is what Lilly does at DeDe's house!! (I.e. anything she wants..haha.)

The other day we (and by we, I really mean Lilly) got a fun surprise in the mail!!! Lilly's Aunt Susan and Cousin Lynn sent her a King Cake because she enjoyed the one at Lynn's wedding so much! Thank you guys so much for thinking about us (and again by us, I know you mean Lilly..haha)! Rest assured that Lilly is loving her little surprise!!

This is her in her jammies ready for bed tonight. We had a busy day! We started the day by going to our first MOPS group. Lilly and Reid got to play with some other kiddos and I got to enjoy some grown up time with some wonderful ladies....including my friends Jenna and Jennifer. It was so great to have adult conversation with smart ladies! They had a panel of men that answered some questions and really great to hear the male perspective. It also made me think that I could probably do some extra things to make Matt's day go easier and make him feel more special--I think we all need to be reminded to look for new ways to show our partners that we care from time to time so I am so glad that I went!

Back to this little cuties day: then we went to lunch with Daddy, came home and Lilly and Reid went down for a nap, Grandma Odie came over to watch them while I went to the dentist (Lilly tried to go home with Grandma Odie), then we headed back to church for our Connection Group. Whew! It was a busy day, but a great day!