Our weekly highlights

This week was much better than the last! Praise the Lord for that. Carter and Olivia have been on their best better behavior. Carter had school both days this week which always seems to help.

Monday, I joined my new gym. This is my Mother's Day, anniversary (also on Mother's Day), and early birthday present. They were doing a no-enrollment fee special this past week so I went ahead and joined. It has been like heaven on earth. It is very upscale, which it should be for the price we are paying. But I told Theo, it is worth every penny for me to be able to shower, dry my hair and put on my make-up by myself! The locker rooms are wonderful and the showers are bigger than the ones at our house. Wednesday when I went, all I did was sit in the whirpool, then get ready. I didn't even work out but it was sooooo nice!

Thursday, I took Carter and Olivia to the daycare by our house for hourly care. That too was heaven on earth. For twenty dollars, both kids stayed 2.5 hours and even had snacks and lunch. Isaiah and I went to Hobby Lobby, then to Babies R Us to order his crib finally.

Carter and Olivia did really well there and the ladies in Olivia's class begged me to bring her back. They said she was the sweetest cutest thing and they would love to have her anytime! Ha! Come over to our house around 5 p.m. and you might be singing a different tune! :)

Today marks the start of Theo's vacation! Per my suggestion, he is taking a week off and I am thrilled. This is not purely a fun filled week off for him though. He's trying to buckle down and finish his last two Master's classes. He should be done at the end of May. He'll have to take his comp exams over the summer and then he'll hopefully be done for good!!!!

We are planning on going up to Denver and visiting the aquarium or something fun. But other than that, we don't have any huge plans. If we can get our babysitter for Friday night, then we'll go out on an official date for our anniversary but we'll see. Jessica is now working so her schedule isn't as open as it was before. But hopefully she can come so Theo and I (and Isaiah, Mr. I-don't-want-to-take-a-bottle) will go out :)

So until next time...have a great weekend!



Fabulous Food Friday: Southern favorites

I checked out the Pioneer Woman's cookbook from the library last week. I have been following her on and off (mostly off honestly) for about a year. I love how she writes and love her recipes and her sense of humor. So I tried out a couple of recipes and they were fabulous, greasy but fabulous!

Last night I made for the first time in my life chicken fried steak. Yummmmmm! I also made mashed potatoes and gravy, and fried asparagus. The asparagus recipe was from Paula Deen and I think she is right: everything really does taste better fried! I did leave out the step of coating it in the flour because I found it didn't help the cornmeal to stick on it. Also, I served it with Ranch dressing mixed with some Tone's instead of the creole mustard listed on the recipe. Click on the links and you'll find the recipes. They are delicious, but not for the faint of heart. There was so much grease all over my kitchen! I hardly ever fry foods but mainly because Theo doesn't really have an appreciation for Southern food since he's a Yankee and all. But I decided that since he is not big on helping my plan menus, that for at least one meal every couple of weeks, I'll make something Southern :)

Our Easter

Confession: Our Easter wasn't as great as I had wanted it to be. Theo worked last night and was so tired when he got home that the kids and I went to church by ourselves. I was so rushed to do everything myself and be there on time since I go to a huuuuuuuge church (which I knew would be crowded today) that I was yelling at Carter and barking orders at Olivia. Great way to start the morning off, right? Not to mention, it snowed last night and the weather was so nasty all day today. But when I walked into the sanctuary, I felt all of my anxiety from the morning just melt away.  I had an amazing praise and worship time and really felt the Holy Spirit's presence. But after church, it was back to reality.

 I always seem to get so frustrated when I try and take pictures of all three kids. I am often heard yelling "Why do I even bother!" See the examples below :)

This first one turned out okay of my two boys:

 These, not so much:

 Olivia was in melt down mode most of the time:

 Refusing to take her thumb out of her mouth

I finally gave up on my live subjects and focused my efforts on things what wouldn't move or talk back: 

 Nana sent the kids a ton of Easter goodies! I feel a little guilty because she did more for them than I did. Most of the stuff outside of the baskets was from her. Thanks Nana! We love you!!!

 Carter's new outfit from Nana

 Grandma and PopPops also sent the kids some clothes and Olivia a doll but all of that stuff had already made it upstairs so I didn't get a picture of it.

Mom bought the most adorable cute smocked dress with rabbits on it a while ago. I couldn't wait for Olivia to wear it this morning. Unfortunately, she was quite uncooperative so I couldn't get a good picture of it. Or of the two of us so this is as good as it gets:

 Finally managed a decent picture with me and the boys but as you can see I had to resort to sitting on the floor...Poor Theo was in his pajamas most of the day hence why he's not in any photos.

Right now, all of the kids are in bed and I'm trying to calm down from the crazy day. This has been a rough week. It seems like most weeks leading up to holidays (especially spiritual ones) are stressful. But as Easter winds down, it is my hope that I will daily reflect upon the life of Christ and strive to be more like Him. I know I can't do it with my own effort. I must rely on his Holy Spirit to work within me. That will be the only way I can ever change for the better!

Underwater Easter egg hunt

Despite the 34 degree temps today and the scatter of snowflakes, we took the kids to the aquatic center for an egg hunt. So technically, it wasn't an underwater hunt because all of the plastic eggs just floated on top of the pool.

You'll have to excuse my crazy hair in these pictures. We had just gone to the Y where I ran 3.5 miles for the first time in my whole life and I was wearing a hat. I came home and showered but didn't wash my hair :)  I also got over my fear of getting back into a bathing suit after baby #3 and in public no less! I suppose eventually the baby weight will come off, right?

Anyway, Olivia was not having her life jacket but since I was the only one in the pool with them at the time, she had to wear it.

We had a great time. Carter got some good prizes too. But by the time we were finished, both of my kids lips were blue! Poor Olivia was saying "Brrrrr!" and shivering. Speaking of "Brrr", on an unrelated note, I made chili this week. When I told Olivia it was time to eat her chili, she said "Brrr!" It was so cute. It's so windy here that everytime we got outside I am always saying "Brrr, it's chilly today" and I guess she was trying to put two and two together :)

Tomorrow we are heading to church but Theo has to work overnight tonight so I'm not sure which service we'll go to. I hope it's not too cold or otherwise I probably won't get too many cute pictures of the kids. Happy Easter!

A Good Friday Indeed

As my Catholic husband tells me always this time of year, us "Protestants" don't celebrate Good Friday the way we should. I happen to agree. When did Easter become about bunnies, eggs, new outfits, and candy? Don't get me wrong, we are having all of the above but when Carter starts talking about his presents for Easter, I remind him exactly what it is we are celebrating.

And since today is Good Friday, I am stopping to reflect on Jesus' crucifixion and what that means for my life personally. When I am at church and it's praise and worship time, I often have tears streaming down my face because I think about just how good God is to me. I think about what he has saved me from, both here on earth and in eternity. I think about how much he loves me and how faithful his promises are. I can't imagine sacrificing my own son in order to save mankind. How generous and loving is a God who does that!

Pastor Brady preached on worship this past Sunday. He posed the question that I hope will now guide most of my days (I'm paraphrasing here): If we didn't have this amazing praise and worship team, these incredible instruments and musicians, great song lyrics, and a giant sanctuary, would we still worship Him? I hope my answer would be yes. God is so worthy of my worship and adoration and in the day to day midst of it all, I often forget it. But I am trying to be more mindful of it and truly savor being in His presence and giving him all of my heart in praise.

So Happy Easter from our family to yours and may you truly be blessed both on Easter and every day to come!

My creative side

Every year I have wanted to make, or should I say decorate, the kids Easter baskets. What I originally had in mind were tin pails but couldn't find any. So I went to the trusty old Dollar tree and found some cute bins for a buck. Can't beat that!

Now I am no artist, but I thought they turned out pretty cute once I painted on them. The white paint pen was tricky because some of the time it was really runny and then eventually ran out of ink. But this is what I came up with and for not much money, they're pretty cute! The boys baskets have the same bunny that I drew on the pink basket.

I made one for Isaiah but realized I didn't have anything to fill it with since he's so young. So right now, it has empy Easter eggs but I'm sure I'll come up with something!

Olivia's does have her name on the back but it didn't turn out as cute as the boys did.

Wednesday

She is looking like she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar and saying "Who me?"

Isaiah was cranky when I took this but I didn't want to leave him out.

And Carter just being Carter......

Pre-Earth Day Celebration

Today, our neighborhood had a pre-Earth day celebration for all of the kids. They had a couple of bounce houses (Olivia's first experience in one).....

and they had all kinds of crafts for you the young ones including face painting

 bird house painting

and worm digging.

The worm digging was funny because Carter didn't want anything to do with the worms but filled a paper bag with dirt!!

The kids favorite part of the day were these......

Me and my two favorite boys:

Me and my favorite man before we headed out:

We had a great day today. Hope you all did too!

Post bathtime fun

Museum

Saturday, I had the bright idea of walking to the museum in the 30 plus mph winds! Not a good idea with Olivia and her ear infection but hindsight is 20/20 right? The kids actually did pretty well but Olivia was not feeling great so we made a short trip. The most frustrating part was that when we got there, the museum was closed for a possible shutdown! What? They got the day off for nothing...anyway, don't even get me started!

You can tell how bad the wind is because my bangs are blowing almost straight up!

 Little man just haning out in the stroller

 Poor Livie not happy but I had to get her picture nonetheless!

We packed a picnic lunch and just sat outside and let Carter run around for a while. He had a great time. He was less interested in the planes

 and more interested in finding these:

The boy loves dirt and bugs!

Focus

Thursday, the kids and I went to Focus on the Family with my friend Lisa. She had never been there and I hadn't taken the kids since before Olivia started walking. It was a much different experience this time having two very mobile kids running in opposite directions and a stroller to push. Fortunately, Lisa helped me push Isaiah around so I just chased Carter and Livie!

Me and "little" on our way to Focus: (this boy looks nothing like his momma! Good thing I have Livie :)

We had a good time. It was chaotic, as is anytime we are out doing something fun. Olivia started to get really cranky at lunchtime and Friday morning woke up with a fever. I took her in and she has an ear infection! Only her 3rd one in 18 months so I should consider us lucky. But she is feeling quite pitiful.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our day. I couldn't get a good one of Lisa and all three kids because Carter was being a grumpy pants at that point! Oh well :)

Random Ramblings

I finally decided on some bedding for Isaiah. I originally wanted mom to make the bedding but I had been unable to find any fabric that I just loved. So I ordered this bedding from the Company Store and  ordered it in batches to take advantage of multiple coupons I had! Scandalous I know :) But I'm nothing if not a bargain shopper.  So, little man has bedding but no bed! Here is what I ordered for his room:

It coordinates so perfectly with Carter's bedding! (picture taken in our old house)

I think this is the crib we've decided on but I still need to go look at Baby Depot again.

I don't know how exactly we'll do nighttime routines once Isaiah does graduate to his crib but I suppose we'll figure it out just like we have with everything else!

On a completely different note, I got the new Pottery Barn catalog in the mail yesterday and am LOVING their beverage dispensers!

 I have one similar from Target but these are super nice and I would love to have one but don't think my frugal husband would approve :) But a girl can hope right? After all, my birthday, our anniversary, and Mother's Day is all happening next month....but I've already got my present picked out for that........

I know I said we were going to stay at the Y but the Y by our house has been "full" several times I've gone with either the baby room or "walker" room not accepting kids. I went Monday but couldn't bring Olivia. It was going to be a 15 minute wait for a spot to open up. I didn't have 15 minutes to wait and furthermore, what would I do while I wait? So instead of joining Lifetime Fitness, I think I've finally convinced Theo to let me join this place:

It's right across the street from our old neighborhood. We didn't join then because it's the most expensive fitness center in town as far as I know. But Amy let me use her guess pass two weekends ago (and my sweet husband kept all three kids) so I could go check it out. It was amazing!!! You can see why here. So I've asked for that for my birthday. They have incredible indoor and outdoor pools and a whole lot of other great stuff. 

I rationalized it to Theo this way: I told him that I don't really get to do anything else for myself. I don't get my hair colored (I barely get it cut!), I don't get manicures or pedicures. I don't have the latest phone or computer or anything else for that matter. I drive a six year old car which I am perfectly happy with. I get most of my clothes from Ross or Kohl's. I am about as low maintenance as they come. So at least I could do this for myself. I think he went for it. Plus, he's not going to join since he works late almost everyday and wouldn't drive across town to go workout when there is a gym at his work (and a mile from our house). So that'll make it less expensive. Plus, another perk, they are extending their childcare hours to 2.5 hours a day. That is the exact amount of time I would need while Carter was at school. I could go there instead of driving all the way back home. So I'm pretty excited! Or at least I will be once I finally join, which will probably be the end of May.

Anyway, so those are my random ramblings for today! The rest of the week is filling up finally! We are going to have a playdate with my friend from MOPS on Friday, are hanging out with Lisa on Thursday and am supposed to meet up with Amy one afternoon this week. Finally, loneliness has left the building....for this week at least!