what i did today

Lexi at her party on Saturday.  She said the cream was banana-scented. Cracks me up!

We enjoyed a very laid-back weekend.  The kids were out of school Friday so I worked from home and let them have a play date all day long.  It’s amazing how kids can busy themselves for hours together.  They had a fantastic time, although their bathroom and my closet were victims of the fun.  Friday night we went out to Ruby Tuesdays and all enjoyed the salad bar.  The kids were off to Scott’s parents for the night so you’d think Scott and I would have a great date night planned but no, these days we head straight to sleep.  I still can’t believe I’m always the first one up these days.

Saturday morning I was up early doing edits on my eBook (I’m showing the title, cover and release date tomorrow!!) and then I convinced Scott to go with me to finally meet and have coffee with Sarah Cunningham.  I read her book Picking Dandelions (go buy it!) a few months ago and connected to so much she was communicating.  I knew we’d get along and at least from my perspective, we did just that over the next two hours.  She was a great encouragement to me as an author, I enjoyed getting to know her a little more and it was great getting an update on One Thousand Premieres.  If you haven’t checked that out yet, please do so. They are planning to retell the story of David and Goliath in a modern way and I am so psyched about it.

After that, we were off to the mall so I could get some jeans I could actually fit.  Over the summer, yes, I let a few pounds creep on.  And honestly?  I’m not that motivated to work them off.  I was happy to find Express had their jeans on sale AND I had a coupon. 

Saturday afternoon Emma decided to stay over at Scott’s parents while Lexi went to a birthday party.  We were all back together by dinnertime so I made some Tilapia and we played Monopoly.

Sunday morning was the normal these days…church, CVS and lunch.  While Scott went on a bike ride and Emma stayed at Scott’s parents again, Lexi and I hung around the house (read: I worked on my book and she watched TV).  Last night again we stayed in.  We played Twister and Scott built a fire.  Somewhere in the mix, Emma and Lexi were playing on our hammock and I think some strings got tangled and pulled and Lexi lost a tooth.  Thankfully it was a baby tooth but oh the drama!  We never did find the tooth.  Last evening some friends came over to enjoy the fire that wouldn’t burn…all the wood was too green.  Scott improvised by burning some paper and it didn’t matter anyway, we were having a great time talking.

So that was our weekend.  I hope you had a great weekend and start to your week!

Returning books to the library.  It makes me happy.  Except the $7 in fees.

I feel like I need a big catch up post.  Nothing earth-shattering but I feel like a few updates are in order:

1 – We finally got a letter from DSS last week stating a worker had been assigned to our home study and would be contacting us about setting it up.  It’s been about a week though and nothing. I had hoped we’d be approved by November but it’s looking like maybe the first of the year now.  I’m not in a hurry though, I know this will all happen at the right time.

2 –  The body shop called mid-post and said the van is ready!  Woot! Our van is supposed to be done tomorrow!  Once the body shop sent it to a mechanic to get the electrical stuff up, a pump went out that had to be replaced and then the electrical stuff wouldn’t come on so they sent it to Honda where they found a fuse out and another sensor.  It’s all supposed to be fixed by tomorrow.  We shall see.  I do so miss my van terribly.  The gas mileage and parking power of a little car is nice but, well, it’s not my van.  I am shocked though that they have not totaled the van.  My guesstimate is they have now spent at least $7,000!  I’m so grateful though.  If I’m going to have a used van, I want it to be mine with a lot of brand new parts!

3 – I started FINALLY going through the Fruits of the Spirit activities from ImpressYourKids.org with the girls this week.  They are completely soaking it up.  Last night though almost felt like a complete disaster and I nearly wanted to give in (only 3 days in!) but I ran into a verse in Galatians today and I’m certain I need some FORBEARANCE to continue the GOOD work in my children.

4 – Melissa is doing the final edit of my eBook.  I think I have a release date picked and I’m going to be sharing more very soon (maybe the cover next week??).  Let me just say again how awesome my friends are and I love they are pushing me to make this the best possible.

5 – These next two months are going to kick my butt.  I have a HUGE project at work that will require near 24-7 attention for a few weeks.  Add in the girls’ birthday parties, Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping and I ALREADY feel pooped.

I think 5 is enough!  I hope your week is going well!

Well, if the last few weekends were quiet ones at home, this weekend surely made up for it.

Friday night started out with dinner at Moe’s (Welcome to Moe’s!) and then some shoe shopping for me.  We had a rainy picnic at work on Thursday and my favorite Rocket Dog gray silk flats were finally ruined.  I was so very sad to see the exact ones were no longer available but I thought these black and white stripes were pretty cute.

And I had a coupon and needed one more pair.  I’m really up for some tennis shoes but honestly, I can’t seem to make myself rock the neon shoes I’m seeing everywhere.  So I went with these:

I didn’t think I’d ever get Sperry’s but I love the blue goes great with the blue jeans I’m always wearing.  They are super easy to put on and super comfortable.

Saturday was our big day at Scott’s first mountain bike race.  They did a 6 HOUR bike race.  He duo’d with another guy he rides with so they took turns doing a 9 mile loop through the Greenway.  Both of them got in 3 laps totaling 27 miles.  Can you believe a group of guys also did the TWELVE hour race?   

Above is Scott before his first lap and below is him taking off for his last lap.  Unfortunately we couldn’t see any of the trail.  One guy did sustain a concussion and got some pretty nasty bruises.  Scott has taken some pretty bad spills in past weeks on their Sunday rides but fortunately he stayed injury free.

All the guys at Tailwind did great. One of them even finished 3rd overall! 

Scott was exhausted afterwards.  We spent the evening at home so he could recover.  He had a blast though and I’m sure he’ll be talking about it for a long time. 

Sunday we went to church, had lunch and then went off to a local farm to get a pumpkin.  The girls had a blast with all the activities.  Their favorite was this water pump game where you put a rubber ducky in the trough and pushed enough water to make it land in the far tub.

They also loved seeing the farm equipment.

Picking out our pumpkin.

And we just generally had fun getting out for the afternoon somewhere new.

This evening has been pretty quiet.  We stayed in for dinner and took it easy.  Thankfully even though the weekend was pretty busy, we’ve gotten plenty of sleep and I’m ready to start a new week! 

Tough day today.  And last night.  I just got to one of my breaking points with so many things going on and wondering if I should be working.  Nothing new here.  I also had a massive headache come on about lunch time and my throat is sore.  I feel generally run down even though I had a good 9-10 hours of sleep last night.  Suffice it to say I’m ecstatic it’s the weekend. 

I found this lovely music today on Spotify through my friend Lana.  Beautiful worship music.  Nothing like what’s on the radio or sung in churches.  The album name is Chair and Microphone, Vol. 3. You can check it all out free on Spotify.  I don’t know, it was just the perfect thing I needed for today.  Maybe you too?

Safe Place

You are the one my heart is waiting for

You are my treasure,

You are my king,

You are the door

You hold me tight,

you hold me quiet You hold me safe

Random Pinterest picture in honor of Canada Day today

Friday night we babysat our friend’s little boy and took the kids to Scott’s mom’s for the night.  Saturday morning we both decided to sleep in, something we almost never do anymore.  We then had to rush to get on the ball to get Emma to a birthday party at Carowinds.  Fun story.

We lost our passes a few weeks back so I decided to go first thing Saturday to get them to print a temporary pass for her.  The line was so long as it was Bring a Friend day AND Scarowinds.  I finally made it through and the lady would not give me a pass for her since Emma wasn’t there.  I tried to reason with her but to no avail.  I walked away aggravated at the lack of customer service.  I understand why they wouldn’t but it still caused extra work for me when the whole point of me going early was to get ahead.  Anyway, we went straight to get Emma and go back to Carowinds.  We then had one hour to get the passes, get all the girls lunch and still buy and wrap a present.  Clearly, I should have done that much earlier.  Anyway, we swung through the Wendy’s line just outside  Carowinds and then Emma and I went in to get her ticket.  Thankfully, the line had completely cleared out and we got the ticket within a few minutes.  The girls finished eating their lunch in the car and then Emma and I ran through Walmart.  Fastest decision making by Emma EVER. We then realized she didn’t have tennis shoes on so we had to stop in at the house.  On the way to the house, I was looking for the ticket and suddenly could not find it.  I remembered that Scott had it in his hand just before I went into Walmart so we started looking everywhere.  Then Scott says, “Oh yeah, I think I threw it in the Wendy’s bag.”  WITH THE TRASH.  And he almost had Lexi throw the whole bag away when we were in Walmart.  Holy cow.  We made it home with the ticket and I took the two minutes to wrap the present in the bag and Emma grabbed her shoes.  We made it to the party right on time.  Geezorama.  I was ready for a nap after that.

So the rest of the afternoon, Lexi played with my niece and I did laundry, worked on my eBook, etc.  We stayed in for the evening as well and capped off the night watching a Scooby Doo movie.

Sunday was another easy going day.  We had our friend’s son for the day again and the girls stayed super busy with him.  We stayed in for dinner and once again, watched the same exact Scooby Doo movie to finish out the night.  Exciting times, I tell ya.

Overall a great weekend. I hope yours was great and your week is off to a great start!

My weekends have been busy but tame lately.
Friday night started out by picking up our rental. I begged not to have a little bug of a car like we did when we had hail and water damage in our neighborhood. Luckily he hired this company to help us fix our home, learn more about them here. We got a Dodge Avenger and I have to say I’ve enjoyed scooting around in it this weekend. After eating dinner at a local place we dropped the kids off at my parents for a last-minute sleepover. Scott and I were wiped and when we crawled in bed the clock said 7:52. For real. How’s that for an exciting Friday night?

Saturday I was up early and spent time time cleaning up, having a great phone call with my friend Liz and scooting over to Target to use a gift card all by my lonesome. I got some new sunglasses (since the dog ate mine), a new Welcome rug and wait for this one…12 pack of toilet paper. How bad is it I poured over the purses, clothes AND shoes and didn’t find a thing to buy?
Saturday afternoon I finally convinced the girls to come home to spend time with me. We spent time outside as we had beautiful weather. Saturday night we cooked steaks and had a great dinner together. But again, we were in bed by 9.

Sunday after church and dinner, the kids ended up spending time with their cousin. I spent the afternoon finishing up the purple paint in the girls’ bathroom, doing more laundry and grocery shopping. I even managed to cook Pioneer Woman’s meatballs and mashed potatoes for dinner. The four of us packed up and snuck out for Frosty’s. It was a great ending to the weekend and we were ALL in bed by 8:15 last night.
These weekends sound a little boring but I’ll tell you, I love being caught up with all the housework. I love being home and not feeling rushed. I love that we ate two great dinners at home. I’m such a homebody!
After going to bed last night so early (and the two nights before) I woke up starting at 2:30 and then every hour after that until I finally gave up at 5:45 and got out of bed. At that point, I’d had 8+ hours of sleep and I was ready to get the week started. I got up, got completely ready, got the kids ready for school and somehow I didn’t have time for anything extra but it was a nice way to start the week unrushed and with a smile on our faces. I think this early to bed/early riser thing certainly has its merits. Scott goes on night shifts this week which means he’ll be wanting to stay up late to stay on schedule so I don’t know if I’ll try to stick with his schedule or stay on this one. In any case, I think we had a great weekend and got a great start to the week. Hope yours was great as well!

Just wanted to remind you guys that NEXT WEEK is the Disney on Ice show.  I simply am stunned how fast September went by and by show time next week, we’ll be a week into October.  Whew! 

I already picked the winner of the 4 pack of tickets to the Dare to Dream show.  Congrats again, Lana, can’t wait to see you!  But don’t forget to use the code ICE to get tickets on your own.

While you’re waiting on the show, here are some great Tangled trivia questions.  There are some tough ones in there!

• Why is Flynn Rider running from palace guards?
• Answer: He stole a tiara from the castle.
• What is the name of the tavern where Flynn and Rapunzel meet a bunch of Viking thugs?
• Answer: The Snuggly Duckling
• On her birthday, Rapunzel’s dream is to do what?
• Answer: See the floating lanterns.
• What is Flynn Rider’s real name?
• Answer: Eugene Fitzherbert
• What power does Rapunzel’s hair have?
• Answer: The power to keep people young.
• What is the name of the horse that chases Flynn?
• Answer: Maximus
• What type of animal is Rapunzel’s friend Pascal?
• Answer: A chameleon
• What weapon does Rapunzel use against Flynn when he climbs into the tower?
• Answer: A frying pan.