The Odd Life

Friday started off a great weekend. Since we saw the previews of The Odd Life of Timothy Green on TV back when it was coming out in to the theaters, Reese has asked to see it. Friday I looked it up on Focus on the Family website because I didn’t really know much about it. It had a gushing review of what a great movie it was so we decided to watch it. Reese was very interested in the movie and enjoyed watching it with us. Sam, I think, was a little too young for it. It did not really keep his attention. Very early in the movie it had some pretty emotional things happening. I was holding back the tears because I didn’t want to explain it to the kids. As the movie progressed, Lance, Reese, and I just loved it. There was one point where one of the girls cries but you don’t really know why. After that happened Reese asked us to pause the movie so she could go to the bathroom. She went in to the bathroom, flushed the toilet pretty quickly and came back out with a tissue. She had her ballet clothes still on so I knew there was no way she had gone to the bathroom as fast as she did. I asked her if she even went potty and she said no. When we asked her what she was doing, we saw the tissue and realized that she had been crying when the girl in the movie was crying. We all giggled and continued on with the movie. The ending was very sad and I couldn’t hold it back any more. I cried and cried. When I finally looked up at Reese she was sitting there with just as many tears in her eyes and ran over to me. We hugged and cried and giggled. Seeing her cry that way made me cry even more. Seriously that girl gets me! She is so emotional with such a tender heart and in the same breath can be such a stinker. All of that to say, we are in love with that movie!

Saturday morning came bright and early for us. Reese did a cheer/dance camp at Kennesaw State University. She could choose dance or cheer and she chose dance. The cheer leaders and dance team members were leading the camp. We had to be there at the time that she usually leaves for school during the week. It was a little hard to get moving but we made it. She was soooo excited to go and a little nervous. She kept saying she felt like she needed to go potty. Her bff, Hallie, also did the camp with her along with a few other girls she knows.

She had a blast! The camp was over at 11:00, we picked her up, and headed to the KSU women’s basketball game to perform at halftime. During the first half of the game all of the girls sat together on one end of the court.

They did lots of cheering. Honestly, I don’t think I really watched any of the game because I just watched the girls in their seats.

Finally it was time to come out on to the court. Look how excited Reese and Hallie look!!

I got a picture of her up on the big screen…she turned around.

She had so much fun on the floor.

Their little routine was cute. And she was just precious sitting on the floor waving to the audience.

We left after their show was done. She was a ball of energy the rest of the afternoon. When we got home, she went straight to her room and practiced all that she had seen that day. She told us that next year she wants to do the cheer part because those little girls got to do stunts.

Earlier this week Lance and I had our eighth anniversary. Last night we were finally able to celebrate it. I asked my parents if they would meet us to take the kids for a little bit while we had dinner alone (that was my gift to Lance). While we were getting ready, Reese came in with two bags packed and said she was going to spend the night at Gigi’s house. I told her we had to ask first and of course the answer was yes. Finally we were all ready and headed out to meet my parents. After the long morning, both big kids passed out in the car.

We dropped the kids off at Taco Mac to have dinner with my parents, grandma, and my cousin and his family. They had a great time visiting with everyone. While they were all having fun together, Lance and I went to Fleming’s. We had such an enjoyable time together and a yummy dinner! I know this is just a season of life but we never get one on one time together so we greatly appreciated my parents help. It was really such a great evening. After dinner we picked the boys up and Reese headed home with my parents.

This morning I headed to church with all my boys and then we had lunch with some friends afterwards. From there we went to Atlantic Station for some shopping and then met my parents there to pick Reese up from them. She had a blast spending the night with them. Sam was so excited to see her but they quickly fell back in to the fighting and picking on each other. Finally they both fell asleep in the car and all was quiet. We drove a little past our house to have a little more peace and quiet but not too long because it was late. When we got home we just left them in the car to wake up on their own. Reese slept for about five more minutes but I had to go out and wake Sam up…and he was not happy.

I am so thankful for the sweet family weekend that we had.

Circus

This past Saturday the kids and I headed out to my parents house for a little visit.  After visiting with my grandma and sister, my parents, the kids and I headed to Philips Arena for the circus. We left their house around 4:00…the circus was at 7:00. We took separate cars but met up in Atlantic Station to all drive in the van so we only had to pay for parking once. We thought we had plenty of time to grab some dinner at the CNN center and then go down on the floor for the preview show that was to start at 6:00.

We were in dead stopped traffic at 5:30 but we didn’t panic. We said we would start panicking at 6:30 if we still weren’t parked. 5:30 turned in to 6:00 and we had moved maybe 1/2 a block. We started talking about just parking where ever we could but all of those lots were $40 and I already had a parking pass for the centennial deck. 

During this time Sam really needed to go to the bathroom. He was bouncing up and down in his seat and kept saying , “I really need to go potty bad!”. Luckily we had a cup in the car and since we weren’t moving he got to pee in a cup. HA! The life of a boy.

At 6:30 we were another half a block closer. During that half hour we had to call 911 because  we were witnessing a road rage incident. One man who was much larger than the other flew out of his car and started throwing punches and then pushed a girl out of his way. It was crazy. Once everything was calmed down from that and the “suspect” had turned out of traffic, we decided that my parents would take Reese and Sam and walk with them to Phillips.

I was finally able to pull in to the parking garage at 7:10. Hayes and I finally made it to our seats around 7:30 and the kids were sitting there mesmerized. I was bummed because I forgot my camera in the car so I had to take pictures with my phone. The kids had some pizza, lemonade and popcorn by the time I was in there. They loved every bit of the circus (except for the long car ride). Even Hayes sat there wide eyed watching everything that was happening. Both of the big kids fell asleep half way home while Hayes cried most of the way!

Overall it was a fun night. I just don’t think I will go to the circus at Phillips Arena again. There were four big events going on down there and the streets and traffic cops just couldn’t handle it.

Random Glimpses

Having three kids has definitely made things a little more hectic around here. I didn’t really realize how much busier we would be once Hayes arrived. It is just constantly something. And this blog has been one thing that has not received as much attention as it did before. If I do get a chance to sit down at the computer, I usually do several blogs at once and schedule them to post because Lance is always quick to point out when I have neglected to post anything. I think it is a quick escape for him during his lunch break to see what we are up to during the day. So, here are a few random glances in to our lives right now.

I had to run a quick errand the other day after school. I put Sam and Hayes in the car and picked Reese up from the bus stop. We had to go about 20 minutes from our house and on the way I could just tell Reese was tired. She was actually quiet in the car. We made it to our destination, I made a quick drop off, and then we headed home. All three of the kids fell asleep on the way back home. I decided I would let them all get a little extra rest in so I drove around for a bit. Once Reese was awake, I headed back home.

Sam loves to lay on the bed next to Hayes in the morning when I am getting ready.

Sam has been getting in to our bed every single night for months. I finally got him to stay in his bed all night last week and took him to get a donut as a reward. He actually did it one more time since then.

We went to the park last weekend and Reese rode her bike there for the first time. She rode for a little over a mile. She was so proud of herself and had a blast!

Reese wanted in on the picture too!

Lance and I have had this old tube tv in our bedroom for years. He actually bought it back in 1998. It has been a great tv but recently the picture had started to go. We would have to bang the top of it or stomp on the floor to get the picture to come back. We finally had to let it go this week and got a new tv for our room. We are kind of in love with our new one! Farewell old friend!

Our Valentine Window

At Christmas we love to hang all of our Christmas cards we receive on our back door. It is fun to sit at the table and look at all of them. A week or so ago the kids and I decided to make hearts that said what we loved about each person in our family. It was fun to see what they had to say. We hung them on our back door once again and have loved seeing them as we look outside.

Here are a couple up close…

This says, “Sam is fun to play with and win I com home he is issided.”

And these are the ones I did for each of the kids.

And here are the Valentine’s the kids took to school for their friends. I found the pirate picture on Pinterest and then put them on a bag of Pirate’s Booty (the kids favorite).

Happy Valentine’s Day

1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Happy Valentine’s Day from my sweet babies!

The Big Sister

Reese loves Hayes. She loves having him as a baby. We will see what happens when he gets bigger and starts getting in to her stuff. She always wants to hold him “on my shoulder” like we do. I thought this picture below was too cute. I totally trust her to sit with him while I am doing things like making dinner. She is very good to tell me when she is getting tired or wants to get up.

One night this week we were all playing Just Dance. When it was my turn against Lance I sat Hayes down on the couch between the kids. He looked like such a big kid sitting there with them. (Sam is not pictured because he was being a stinker) During our dance the kids were laughing pretty loud and poor little buddy got upset. I had to finish my dance holding him.

Reese loves to dress Sam up. Usually it is in her clothes. One day she asked if she could dress him up in her clothes and for some reason I can’t remember I had said no. So she told Sam to come upstairs with her and they got dressed up in his dress up clothes. They looked so cute running around like this.

Some days Reese is a GREAT big sister. And some days I think she wishes she was an only child. Ha!

The Dentist

Tuesday Sam had his first official dentist visit. He went six months ago but it was just to check everything out and sit in the chair. This time he actually got his teeth cleaned. The first thing he got to do was pick out a toothbrush. He picked out a Cars one.

Reese was also there. We had to check her out of school to make it on time. She picked out a monkey toothbrush.

Sam did so well!! He did what he was supposed to do when she asked and didn’t flinch. I was a proud mommy!!

Since we were right near the kids hair salon we decided to get Sam’s hair cut after the dentist. When it is humid outside, Sam’s hair is pretty curly and cute. But when it is dry outside like in the winter, his hair just looks like a mess. So we cut off a good bit and will let it grow back out again when summer comes around so we can have those cute little curls again. At the hair salon there are toys for sale every where. The kids found the box of pirate stuff and were so silly with it.

After our adventures we headed home for a quick snack. We decided it was nice enough outside to go play at the tennis courts. We took both kids bikes there. Lance tried a while back to take Reese out to ride her bike and she didn’t want to do it. She usually has to do things on her own first. The last week or so she has been riding her bike in the house and getting pretty good at it so I knew she would be confident at the courts. She did so well!! She rode around and around.

Shortly after we arrived one of her friends in her class showed up. He was riding around on his little Razor scooter and doing a great job. We had also invited some other friends to play too so the kids were all having a great time together. Hayes just hung out all day and was the perfect little baby!!

Our Weekend

Friday was a busy day for us! We picked Reese up from school and she was so excited because she got to bring home her classes special teddy bear, Winston. Over the weekend Winston can do everything with the student and then the student has to write about their weekend in their class journal. First thing Winston got to do with Reese was go to ballet with her. He hung out in her ballet bag and watched her dance. (after Friday we kind of forgot about Winston)

After ballet we headed straight to Chick-fil-a for a quick ice cream treat/playdate with some friends we haven’t seen in a while. The kids picked up with each other right away as if it hadn’t been forever since we had seen them.

From Chick-fil-a we headed to our babysitter’s last basketball game. She is a senior and we didn’t want to miss getting to see her play. We had a great time watching her game and then the senior ceremony afterwards. Some of our friends went to the game with us so after the game we all headed to get some pizza. It wouldn’t be a Friday without pizza!

Saturday morning we went to spend some time with Adrienne and her family. It was a great morning with them. All three of the kids fell asleep on the way home for a quick car nap. That night Reese and Lance were headed to our church for a kids event. They decided to make it a date night and headed to CFA for dinner before the event. We forgot that it was Daddy-Daughter date night there because when Lance tried to get reservations all of our CFA’s were booked. When they arrived they realized it and the employees kindly made room for them. Doesn’t Reese look so excited??

Sunday morning I had to lead Reese’s class at church because her leader was out of town. When we first started at our church seven years ago I was a kindergarten small group leader. It definitely brought back a lot of memories. It is loud and tiring but it is so fun to see the kids enjoy their time at church. However, I don’t think I am going to go back to that any time soon. I like my volunteer position at the Info Desk just fine!! I love interacting with the adults and all of the first time guest. The rest of the day was low key. I went to BJ’s and the grocery store while Lance and the kids had some quiet time at home.

Three Months Old!

Hayes is three months old today. Here are things happening with him right now:

*Bats at objects and grabs on the rings in his activity gym.

*Loves to look at his own hands and others hands.

*Still puts fingers in his mouth but is doing much better with the pacifier.

*In 3-6 months clothes…but I don’t even know how much longer he will be in those. The boy is growing so fast!!

*I moved him in to size 3 diapers a couple of weeks ago.

*He sleeps for about 12 hours a night but wakes up one to two times during that to eat. He usually sleeps right through those feedings and is back in bed right away. Last night I decided to see if he was really hungry when he woke up the first time or just needed a little help getting back to sleep. When he woke up around 12:30, I put the pacifier in his mouth and he fell right back to sleep!

*Is not a great napper. We call him “Little Reese” when it comes to actually getting him to sleep. He fights falling asleep just like Reese did and he only naps for short periods of time. Max naps are one hour. Every once in a blue moon I can get two hours out of him. Those are usually with me holding him.

*Laughs and smiles a ton…I could not get a picture of him smiling today.

*”Talks” a lot. It sound like a gurgley GOO.

*Loves any and all fans…white, dark, on, off

*Was trying really hard to roll over while on his back. He finally did it for the first (and so far only) time yesterday. And I totally missed it. I sat on the floor with him for about ten minutes while he tried and I gave him a push a couple of times so he could see what it felt like. Finally Sam and I got up and went in to the kitchen and came back and Hayes was on his stomach!

Here is his three month picture…very serious today.