NKOTB concert

All the girls at Alana's-where we met before the concert. From L to R Lanette, Amanda (on the railing), Dana, me, Molly, Emily, Jody, Jeni, Alana, Andrea, Jenny, Rachel, Jill and in the front Kayli (Jess's daughter) and Jess.
Me, Jeni & Emily in the lawn at the concert-Jeni bought a souvenier shirt!

Joey breaking it down on the big screen. He's still my fave 20 years later! He rocked it out too! :)

For those of you that don't know what NKOTB is, I went to the New Kids on the Block concert on Sunday. Yes, I did and I DID feel like a kid again! :) It was so fun though. There were about 15 of us that went together and several were girls that I hung around with back when NKOTB was really popular.....oh about 20 years ago :) So it was fun just being with everyone but the real nostalgia came listening to their old songs and seeing them perform. The place was packed with girls mostly around my age-and I was definintely not the only preggo there-one girl made a shirt that said her husband thinks Donnie is the dad (must be her fav. new kid). There were tons of home made shirts (including Molly and Lanette's who made very cute tanks w/ puffy paint and the bedazzler..okay it wasn't really a bedazzler and the paint wasn't all that puffy-but it WAS NEON....either way, they looked spectacular!) Of course Jody and Dana had VIP seats and parking (who, Jody?) so they got to get up close and personal with the band. It was a fun time (save for getting home at almost 1'oclock in the morning which I am so not used to!) Thanks girls! Here are pictures from other people's cameras as I did not have my camera with me.

What were we up to last week?

Happy 3rd Birthday Owen! (after Tricia lit the candle he bent in so close to blow it out that he burnt his little nose :))

The boys sportin' the Cubs theme at Owen's birthday party

Jack & Taylor at Owen's birthday party

Taking a time out to eat goldfish at the splash park. Kyla was cheesing it w/ goldfish in her mouth and Connor was turning his head on purpose, naughty, after using that pink shovel to "shovel" goldfish into his mouth

Kyla & Sara at the splash park

Kyla & Connor at the splash park

Since this blog is to serve as a sorta journal for me, I feel compelled to do reviews of my week. Just short ones-we don't need to outline when I went to the grocery or the bathroom :) We did lots of fun summer stuff last week, that is what we did!

• We went to pick up Taylor's trophy and baseball pictures from the coach/team mom and we were invited to stay and play on their blow up water slide. They have three boys (7, 5 and 3) so the boys had a blast. Turns out they had all kinds of fun toys to keep them entertained.
• Then later in the week we did water balloons and played in the backyard pool with the neighbors/our friends, the Marshalls. They have Grace (5), Koryn (3) and Jossilyn (2). If you have ever had a conversation with Taylor, you know who Grace is-their mom also watches my kiddos during the school year-God love her!
• Then we all went swimming at the big pool in our neighborhood on Friday.
• Saturday morning Connor and I met Kyla and Sara at a splash park in Carmel and then went to their house to play on the swingset for a little while.
• Saturday afternoon/evening we went to Owen Backofen's 3rd birthday party, which was Cubs themed (fun for my Cubs fan family! :)). The kids played on the slip n' slide, ran around and played backyard baseball. Too fun!
• Then Sunday was MY fun day-I got to relive my younger years by going to the NKOTB concert-I am saving that for a separate post :)

Florida trip

Here are a few (okay, more than a few) photos of our vacation to Florida (in no particular order). If you want to see all 200 pics, go to http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=13rxpw45.5e7o0p2x&x=0&y=-lpjmh5&localeid=en_US

I think we are looking at a crab, but I'm not sure.......

Todd's brother Troy with his wife, Kate and their cute little babes, Dylan (3) and Quinn (1 1/2).

Todd's sister Erika, parents Brenda & Dave and twin brother, Troy. Dave & Brenda celebrated their 40th anniversary this year! Happy Anniversary!

Family beach shot! You know you want my almost skirt-like maternity suit :)

Todd calls this "the greatest american hero" pic. I'd like to say it was his first reaction to seeing the ocean, but really I have no idea what he is doing. (I believe I can fly....I believe I can touch the sky....)

Taylor's favorite thing was playing beach baseball, go figure :) And that's my hot husband in the background :)

Apalachicola, the nearby town. The kids are hot and sweaty and in no mood to pose for pics like I ALWAYS am :)

All 11 of us out to dinner at the Blue Parrot on our last night there!

Taylor and mommy went to play Bingo at the local fire station with Erika and Grandpa. It was fun times and Taylor did so good! I was really proud of him. Grandpa won $20!

Stopping to pose for a pic while taking a night walk on the beach.

The house we stayed in. The Buena Vista-it was a beaut!

Connor's first beach/ocean bonding experience.

Two awesome kids on the beach!

The grandkids in the shirts that they made with their names on them (thanks Grandma for all the crafts!)

Soooo, we went on vacation to Florida! We went to St. George Island, FL which is an island off the panhandle. Todd's parents rent a house there for the whole family every two years. It was us, Todd's parents, Todd's sister, Todd's brother and his family. The house had a pool so of course we went to the pool everyday-and the beach everyday! We had a great time! Some of the things we did (besides go to the pool and beach) are:

• Went to the playground
• Played Bingo at the volunteer fire station (Taylor played and did an awesome job of recognizing all his numbers up to 100 and keeping up!)
• Ate ice cream almost every night
• Played baseball on the beach (I wonder who was obsessed w/ this activity??)
• Got yummy smoothies ("moodies" as Connor calls them)
• Went for night walks on the beach
• Rode bikes
• Fed the birds nightly (the kids thought this was the greatest!)
• Climbed to the top of the lighthouse
• Visited the nearby city of Apalachicola
• Went sea fishing and caught lots and lots of fish (and a shark!)
• Swam in the ocean (except me, I just waded-see above-said shark was caught from the beach)
• Played miniature golf
• Connor jumped in the pool and went underwater for the first time (sorta on accident-I kinda dropped him-but he liked it!)
• Played Outburst (you know, the board game)
• Took lots of pictures (who, me?)
  
  
  

Cosmetology School

So...I got on here to post about our recent vacation to FL, but while I am sitting on the computer Taylor is doing my hair and my make up. (which is what my last post was about, so I am beginning to see a trend here). Anyway, he says to me "Mommy, I am going to make you pretty so that daddy looks at you tonight when we go to Mamaw and Papaws". Then when he got finished he told me "Go look in the mirorr, you look very very nice." Isn't he great? I certainly think so! Maybe my husband will ask me on a date :) Stay tuned for more information on Florida. Oh and enjoy Taylor's "finished project" (please notice the eyeshadow job)

Taylor wants to be a chef

Okay, so these are the precious moments of my life that I have to share. I thought I was done blogging for this week but I have to share. So Todd gets home from work and comes upstairs to see what we are up to. I am sitting on the bathroom floor painting my toenails (which, don't they look good for a pregnant lady?) and Taylor is brushing my hair. Little does Todd know he has already tried to "style" it and straight iron it (w/ the iron off) as well as put it in a pony tail and head band. So Todd walks in the bathroom and then turns around and walks right back out. He asks Taylor from the other room, "So Taylor, are you going to be a hair dresser when you grow up?" And Taylor laughs and says "No daddy, I am going to be a chef". (which is interesting because he has actually said this before) So daddy asks him if we can eat at his restaurant and he says yes and I ask if we can eat for free and he says yes, still cheesing about it. Then he says, "I am going to work at McDonald's". (can you guess where we eat out at?) I say "Honey, you are going to have to shoot for a better restaurant than that if you are going to be a "chef". A nicer restaurant." So Taylor thinks about it for a minute and says, "Okay, I'll work at Arby's". Todd and I laugh and he keeps going...."Wendy's?" I went on to explain that usually we don't take them to "nice" restaurants so he may not have ever been to one and that was okay. But what is great about this is this is a 5 year old's thoughts. Not to take away from his aspirations and dreams, I did tell Taylor he could work at those places if he was 15 or 16. :) After Todd left, Taylor also painted one of my toes and put blush on my face (which I washed off b/c I am about to be in a car for bukoo hours).

Week in review

We have had a busy week! Not many pictures to show for it except for the four wheeler photo-but it is precious enough by itself. My week in review:

• Airconditioning people confirmed we need it fixed-a week w/ out air conditioning-could have been worse-thankfully it has been mild this week.


• My friend Stephanie that I teach with came to visit and play with us and have lunch. We had a fun visit and she new exactly what to do when I was talking to Todd on the phone and the boys were done swimming (she got them in dry clothes and ready for lunch). She'll be a great mommy someday!


• I was talking on the phone to Todd (who was in Chicago this week) b/c he found out that he still has a job (PRAISE since they laid off about 850 employees w/in the past couple of weeks), BUT his job is being consolidated to Texas so he has to go back to his previous position. He is not thrilled about this but we are so thankful that he has a job and they did not cut his pay that we will take it. It is a stepping stone for him and we will wait and see what happens in his future.


• Had a play date at Emily's and fun adult conversation for a few hours. Connor beat up Izzy this time (sorry Izz) and we missed Cheryl-she was supposed to make it but was sick :( I left with lots of new clothes for our new baby girl-THANK YOU SO MUCH EM!


• Taylor has his last baseball game (which we thought was last Saturday) b/c it was a make-up from a rain date. He had 3 awesome hits and Mamaw came to watch-she has been a true fan, coming to watch Taylor at quite a few games. We are all very appreciative of this-he likes to have her there to watch!


• Had a doctor's appt.-all is well-heartbeat strong, blood pressure good-that's all there is to say at this stage. Nana watched the boys while I was at the doctor and then she made us lunch at her house. THANK YOU NANA!


• Got to catch up with Jiffy on the phone-that was nice!


• Todd got home today all in one piece and we leave for FL soon so tomorrow will be a day of packing and getting ready and since I am the most UNORGANIZED person on the planet (yet am somehow a teacher) it will take me most of the day to pack.

LOVING LIFE, MY FAMILY and FRIENDS and GOD!

This weekend

We had a fun weekend! Friday we didn't do anything. Actually, as I hard as I sit here and think about it I can't even remember what we did; not one single detail about Friday is coming back to me. Saturday morning Taylor had his last baseball game. The team's last game is this coming Saturday but we will be in FL so it was Taylor's last. He will also miss the picnic and trophy celebration while we are gone but there isn't much we can do about that. He seems to be okay with it, although he was really sad today for a while b/c he thought they were going to throw his trophy away. I told him "no way" we will get it eventually. After his game, Grace (our neighbor, his friend) came over and played in the pool in the backyard and had lunch with us. After nap/quiet time we took the boys to spend the night at Mamaw and Papaw's to spend the night. We didn't know they were spending the night though so when we came to get them the next morning Taylor was wearing Mikey's old clothes (size 8 and he wears a size 5) and they were basketball clothes (a jersey and shorts) so he looked like a serious "baller"-wish I would have taken a shot. And Connor was playing in his jammies. Oh well, it's all good. Mommy and Daddy went to dinner, shopping and out for ice cream. Then we went to Todd & Alana's to get together with friends. There were a few people there I hadn't seen in a long time so it was so good to see old friends and we had a good time. Here are pics from Taylor's baseball game and also of them playing in the backyard Saturday!

Mission Accomplished

After a long search (which I thought would be an easy search) I finally bought a maternity bathing suit (at Macy's)! I know, such important news! I am not crazy about it and I am definitely not crazy about the price-but after weighing the options of letting my belly show out of my regular suit or buying a maternity one (that I will only wear this summer) I broke down mostly for the poor people that would have to see my belly if I did not. Of course of the four I tried on this was the most expensive one but isn't that how it always is?

Play date at Cheryl's

Okay, I feel like maybe I am posting a bit too much. I didn't really intend to have this many posts already but sometimes I just feel like talking (okay, I ALWAYS feel like talking) so why not type it all up and get it out there into cyberspace. You don't HAVE to read it! Today we hung out at Cheryl's house with her boys, Jacob and Joey, in the morning. The boys played in the yard while we got to have "adult talk". Emily was supposed to come over with her kiddos but she was having her phone fixed so she couldn't make it. I have included a pic of the boys eating their snack on the hammock. Joey was being held by his momma so he didn't make it in. After this outing, I again dragged the boys to the store (the mall this time-I AM cruel) and Taylor was such a big helper. He pushed Connor around in his stroller and while I was trying on clothes he helped Connor try on a pair of shoes (it was so cute; he sat him down and took his sock and shoe off and then put the new shoe on then made Connor walk around in it-just like I do to him when I have him try shoes on!). I then concluded my evening by working for 2.5 hours at the concession stand for the Taylor's little league. I could have lived w/ out that part, but it has to be done, so I was happy to help :) The boys came to visit and had a little snack.

Wicked

I went and saw Wicked last night with my mom and sister for opening night here. First we went to eat dinner at Bourbon Street downtown and then we hopped over to the Murat Theatre to see Wicked. I don't get to go to the shows often, mostly because they are expensive, but also because my husband isn't a big fan and we just have a lot of stuff going on with the kids so we don't have a huge adult social life anymore. :) My mom however, treated my sister and I to the evening and it was great! It was funny and two leads (Glinda and Alfaba) were great singers. Fun times-thanks Mom!

Outlet mall shopping

I thought it would be a good idea this morning (since it is icky out) to go to Edinburgh because I wanted to visit the Croc store (wanted to try to get cheap crocs for the kids) and the kids need a couple of other things. I also thought I would try to sneak in a couple of stores for myself since I am looking for something clothing items to get me through this pregnancy. The key to this idea is that it was WITH the kids, of course. It did not turn out to be the best idea. Why not?

• Because it was 80 miles round trip-farther than I had estimated.
• Because Connor cannot go into stores-he pulls things off shelves, cries to go home and is diligently working on his escape route out of his stroller. On this particular trip he also decided to take his shoes off and throw them overboard.
• Because it was icky out and we were walking around in the rain.
• Because I wasn't impressed with the prices.

However, Taylor did come home with new swimming trunks (a size too big so they are a little long) and a swim shirt to go with. I don't know why but he is obsessed with swim shirts. He has one now that is WAY too little that he insists on wearing to the pool even though it is super tight and he can't get it on or off w/ out help. Taylor wanted these things so bad he said he would even use the money out of his piggy bank to buy them with. I was already planning on getting him new ones so I didn't make him do that, but thought it was cute that he wanted them so much he would use his own money. I have included a picture in his new digs, which he is downstairs at this moment playing Wii with them on, price tags and all! Precious children. I do love them to pieces (even when Connor pulls things off the shelves at the store) :)

Pictures from first swim

The first swim of the season

On Sunday, we went swimming at the neighborhood pool for the first time. When I say "we" I actually mean Todd, Taylor & Connor. I do not yet have a maternity swimming suit and my belly peaks out from my regular suit and I don't think that is something for onlookers to be subjected to; needless to say a maternity swimsuit is on my list of things to do get this week. The water was cold, but Taylor could care less. He swam at the lake on Memorial Day weekend and was the only one in there most of the time and could have cared less about the temperature (except for the first time he jumped in and immediately wanted back out). Todd took a while to get himself used to it and then Taylor jumped in and we could hardly pull him away when it was time to leave. Connor, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about it. He loved the splash park by Kim & Will's house at the Crawlfish Boil but wasn't sure about an actual body of water. Daddy put him in the big pool and he started crying for me (which was sad but so cute). Once he discovered the baby pool though and learned he could sit on the side and splash and then daddy and Taylor got in w/ him, he adjusted to the baby pool.