Monday, January 30, 2017

Weekend Recap: Treat Yourself Edition!


This weekend was full of lots of fun: pampering and treats for everyone in our family!  Here's what we were up to:


Friday
Friday was hat day at our school, so I went about as casual as I could - haha.  But I sure was comfy!


Cooper was styling on Friday!

Saturday
Saturday morning was pretty lazy.  Towards lunch, I went and dropped LL off at Gigi's, and then I used one of my Christmas presents - a one-hour massage!

This is exactly what I needed on my Saturday!

After my massage, I snuck in a little Starbucks treat on the way home.

Saturday night, LL went with Gigi and Poppy to a play.  It's their "thing" to do together - to see local kids plays.  It was a very special treat for LL! While they were gone to that, Matt and I decided to have a date night with just our Cooper man!  We typically get in a lot of one-on-one time with just our kids and one parent, but rarely do we get a lot of time with one kid and both parents.  It was a special treat for all 3 of us!

First up, Cooper picked dinner at the "Superhero Pizza" aka: Mellow Mushroom.  Before you eat, you gotta do muscles like Hulk!


We had so much fun stuffing our faces and watching the pizza makers throw the pizza dough in the air.

After dinner, we hit up The Mix because - duh - you can't have a night out without froyo!


While we were eating pizza, LL has having so much time enjoying her solo time with Gigi and Poppy.  They got front row seats for the play (The Reluctant Dragon).


Sunday
Sunday morning we had to get up and going earlier than usual so that we could pick LL up from Gigi's before church.

Sneaking a picture of them being sweet to each other and holding hands!

We spent the rest of the day doing chores, going to the grocery store, and playing outside.  And maybe some snuggles and movie time, too.  :)

I hope your weekend was as relaxing as ours!  Now that we're entering February, we are entering a very busy and crazy month for our family!  It was great to get a relaxing weekend in before the crazy hits.

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Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Three Things

Taking a page from Andrea's book, I thought I'd share three things about each of us right now:

1- This boy is currently obsessed with all things super hero.  Dressing like the, watching them on TV, playing with super hero toys - you name it, he does it!  He loves them so much that we're in the process of slowly changing his room over to a super hero theme!

2-  Since birth, Cooper has always just taken longer to do things.  Longer to sleep through the night, longer to walk, longer to talk, longer to potty-train.  Everything.  Well, that means that we've also taken longer to hit our "hard" stage.  We didn't have terrible twos.  We didn't have trying threes.  We're having Freak-Out Fours.  Or Frustrating Fours.  Something.  Either way - it's not easy.  We are at the separation anxiety stage, the night time fear stage, and the pitching fits and/or crying stage.  It's not fun, but we're going to just love him through it!

3-  This boy is rocking out his potty-training.  Finally.  He still will have the occasional accident, but they are super rare.  It almost killed us, but we have finally reached the end of the tunnel!!  He's also been doing well on the sleep-training.  He is dry after naps 100% of the time, and he stays dry through the night about 90% of the time.  We'll be ditching the pull-ups completely here within the next month or so.  Praise the Lord!


 1- This little girl is killing 2nd grade.  She absolutely loves it, and it makes me so happy.  Now don't get me wrong, some of the work (which is EPICALLY HARD, btw) has been hard for her, and she's really had to work on it.  I think we've all shed a few tears over 2nd grade math (Bless - math doesn't come easy for me or Matt, so she gets it honest.  Math modeling, anyone??  **Matt**cough**Matt**).  But more important than anything, she is happy.  She loves her teacher.  She loves her classmates.  She loves her friends.  2nd grade is being good to her!

2- I got a super sweet message from her teacher letting me know just how kind LL is at school.  It was completely out of nowhere, and her teacher went out of the way to send it, and it just made my Momma heart so happy.  She said that LL is kind and such an encourager to her classmates.  Grades are good, but kindness is what matters.  

3- Over the past year, LL has really become an adventurous little eater!  She will try practically anything, and she's really finding some new things that she absolutely loves!  (pistachios, steak, and salsa to name a few!)  I love that she will at least give something a go before she decides if she likes it or not (instead of just judging it based on what it looks like).

1- Matt has already started to think and plan our garden this year.  He's been out doing some work in that area of the yard in preparation, and he's mentioned doing quite a few new things this year.  I'm excited to see what he and the kids come up with, and for all of the yummy (organic!) food that they'll grow!

2-He is also doing really well at work!  We were soooo hoping to get top 10 again this year so that we could get a free trip to San Diego.  He had been working so hard for it all year.  Then, at the last minute, it just didn't happen.  We were both sad (and probably both cried about it a little--or a lot), but we've come to a place of peace about it - haha.  That being said, he had his absolute best year ever with Mediacom, so we really can't complain.  I feel like he's really hit his stride with work.  He has figured this job out, he knows how to work best for himself, and he is killing it.  And loving it.  That's all you can ask for, right?

3- We got Matt a new truck a few years ago, and he's spent the last few months really getting it how he wants it.  He's added a few things to it (think bull bar/tool box/ etc), but he's also been doing something (I can't even tell you what), to turn everything black.  His truck is black, but now everything is black.  I like the blackout look, and he did a really good job on it!
1- This school year is flying by for me.  I can't believe were in Q3 and basically on the downhill slide for the end of the year.  I absolutely love my batch of kids this year (I love them all, but some want to make me retire immediately and some make me think I can do this - haha), and so I've had a blast teaching them.  I have some truly funny kids, and while they do keep me on my toes, they aren't making me pull my hair out.  I am so happy to be really enjoying my school year.

2- I am starting to get into summer planning mode!  We are already saving for our summer vacations, so that means I'm already starting to think about our trips.  A few summers ago, we decided to go to a different beach every year.  Two years ago, we went to St. Augustine and St. George Island.  Then last year, we went to Ormond Beach and Panama City.  This year, I'm wanting to stay on the Gulf Coast (PCB was soooo pretty), but I'm not sure where the best place to go is.  Any ideas for a Gulf beach that isn't more than a 4 hours drive??

3- I have been trying to re-vamp my wardrobe lately and purge the crap.  I decided I need to get rid of the stuff that I tolerate, and replace it with nicer things that I absolutely love.  It is a slow process (Hello!  Nice, cute clothes are expensive!), but I'm literally taking it one piece at a time.  I'm enjoying finding new things, and I like being able to wear things that I really like.

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Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Weekend Recap: Scary Weather Edition


What we thought was going to be another pretty low-key weekend (we loved last weekend!) turned out to be one heck of a roller coaster ride!  Here's what we were up to:


Friday
I tried out a new fashion trend on Friday.  No one said I looked stupid (and you know middle schoolers have no problem pointing out things!!), so I guess it was fine.  ;)

Getting to school before the sun comes up.

Cooper and Daddy have a lot more time to kill in the mornings.  Cooper has been loving playdough for the last few months, so he will occupy himself for hours if you give him some!

Casual Friday!

Friday night, Oma and Opa asked if the kids could spend the night so that they could take them to a local pizza/game place.  The kids had a blast!


Matt and I had planned to have a date night since we were kid-free, but thanks to a yucky tummy on my part, we had to edit our plans a little.  Instead, I took a nap while Matt dropped off the kids and picked up take out.  We enjoyed dinner on the couch and watching Bad Moms.

Saturday
Saturday morning I knew I would need to pick up the kids before nap time because we had some storms headed our way.  I went to get a manicure mid-morning and then got the kids.  By the time nap time was over, the rain had started.

What better thing to do when it's yucky outside than to make cookies??

We spent the evening playing inside, and eating cookies and left-over pizza.  While I was on social media, I literally found the funniest thing ever.  Have you guys seen the video of GW43 trying to put on his poncho at the inauguration?  Best.  Thing.  Ever.

Sunday
Sunday morning we woke up to some super bad storms.  As in, get up and get in the closet because it's super bad.

Early Saturday morning started round 2 of 3 rounds of a very bad storm.  During round 2, several tornados touched down near us.  One went right through Grammy and Pop's yard and basically destroyed the whole thing.  Thankfully nothing happened to their house!




We got a break mid-morning, but we knew round 3 was coming that afternoon.

Just to be safe, Cooper napped in our closet so that if we went under tornado warning again, we wouldn't have to wake him up and move him.  I hated the weather - I did not hate the snuggles. #hatetheplayernotthegame

After he fell asleep (I may have napped for about 20 minutes too!), I snuck out to get some stuff done.  And by "get stuff done", I really mean eat a snack and read a book - haha.

Matt was holding down the fort with the two dogs and LL.  Three were napping, one was watching a move.  You can guess which.

One of my goals for 2017 is to read a LOT more (and a lot more variety).  On Sunday, I started my 5th book for the year.  I'm about 1/2 way through already and I'm loving it!

Round three of the storms was short but strong.  Our neighbor across the street posted this after it was over.  Gotta have a sense of humor, right??

After we were sure that the storms (and thunder and lightening) were gone, we changed the kids into play clothes and let them go at it!  We literally had lakes all around our yard!  Making lemonade out of lemons, right??

We do not live in the town where I teach - and that town got hit super hard.  An entire moble home park was destroyed - resulting in a lot of deaths and even more people without homes.  This picture that was posted to social media really ripped at my heart.  Adel, GA really needs prayers right now.
{Photo cred: The Milla}

Monday
Because of all of the devastation, all of the local schools in our area were cancelled.  While I hated the reason, I'll always take an extra day off of work!  This is how many tornados were confirmed for the lower half of Georgia in a 48 hour period.

Monday morning, we got the kids out of the house and headed to Grammy and Pop's house to help with some clean up.  I'll tell you - it was so much worse than the pictures that she sent me.  They are truly so lucky that their house was not damaged!

What do you do when you're helping at your in-laws and they have no power and it's lunch time??  Selfies and McD's!!

Enough food for 4 adults, 2 kids, and the tree-cutting guy.  Spread kindness, right?

On a completely unrelated note, one of my bff's posted this to facebook.  I knew immediately that they were talking about me!

Even though the storms had passed, today was still a pretty nasty (windy, rainy), cold day.  After naps, we spent time cleaning up, prepping for the week, and playing!  Cooper got this fun Paw Patrol car rug for Christmas, so we busted it out for some inside fun!  (And of course he had to wear his cape!)

I have been wanting a decal for the back of my car for forever.  I had a plain white FSU one, but didn't love it.  I finally found the perfect one for me!  Random, but I completely love pineapples as decor pieces.  Thanks aNn monograms!

And to wrap up this long and random post - if a shirt could be my spirit animal - this would be it!

Tuesday, please don't act like a Monday!

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