The Duck Hat

Lauren re-organized her room (like she does every few weeks or so) and brought out a basket of stuff she found that she doesn't use.

This basket happened to contain mementos I was saving from her very early childhood.

Since I'm not going to get rid of any of these items I guess it's time for me to find a new place to store them.  Obviously Lauren's room is now entirely LAUREN'S ROOM.  I can no longer claim even a top shelf of her closet to store stuff I want to keep for her.

Some of the basket's contents:

(Her Daddy made the Christmas shirt)

"Who Loves Baby" Picture Books

Pat the Bunny book

Her pin and t-shirt from the Doctor/Hospital who delivered her.

The Duck Hat!

The Duck Hat will never go away.  Too many awesome Lauren memories.

(I expect her to hand this hat down to her own daughter one day.)

SHE LOVED THIS HAT

The DUCK HAT!!

They used to be INSEPARABLE.

The Duck Hat in Real Life

What We're Reading

TYLER

Origami Yoda Books

(official website)

I love that he's reading these FOURTH GRADE LEVEL books!

A cool thing about the books is at the end of each there is instructions to make a paper character from the book.

Tyler named him "Chewy."

LAUREN

the Confectionately Yours series

These caught her eye at the school book fair.

They may have caught Romy's eye as well.

MOMMA

Katherine by Anya Seton

(I love historical fiction.)

DADDY

Daddy doesn't really read but he does get a few magazines every month.

(There's a reason I put Maxim on the bottom for the picture.)

What are you reading?

I could use some suggestions.

Good People

I don't think it's just a Southern thing but there sure are a lot of Good People around here.

Here's an example of one:

Last weekend we took a quick family trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  Friday after school, I loaded up the kids and the car and drove into the city to pick up Matt from work.  From there we (he) drove on up to Tennessee.

(I will post our Pigeon Forge adventures in a future blog.)

On our way home from Tennessee we had to drop Matt off at his office to get his car.

As soon as I got behind the wheel the Engine light turned on and a "The Battery is not Charging" warning started flashing on my dash.

I'm sort of, kind of, some might say, an anxious person and just driving in rush hour (even Sunday rush hour) Atlanta traffic makes my blood pressure soar.

Imagine how I felt the whole 45 minutes driving home with my car flashing a warning at me and thinking it was going to die in the middle of a 6-lane Interstate.

Luckily it didn't!

But the next morning when I tried to go to the gym it did.

Actually it didn't even start so I guess it didn't really die on me.

This was a super busy week for me and I had a ton of errands to run in order to get prepared for Tyler's birthday party this weekend.  Although I'm thankful this didn't happen while on vacation is was still pretty poor timing.  I really needed a car this week.

Matt was at work and super busy when I called him.  We talked about our options.  Perhaps it was the battery, or the alternator or it could even be something much more serious/expensive.  Unfortunately, he was so busy at work that he didn't have time to find out what the problem was.  

He called a tow-truck to pick up the car and take it to the dealer to get it looked at and fixed.

He told me to have $85 cash ready for the tow-truck driver.

When the tow truck arrived the driver (with a very gentlemanly Southern accent) asked me what was the problem.

 He said it sounded like the battery or the alternator and said GMCs are famous for alternator problems.  He got out his battery chargy thingy and told me that the battery was fine and he thought it was the alternator.  He told me he would hate for me to bring it to the dealership because they would charge me double the cost for a new alternator with labor and all.

He also said an alternator is a piece of cake to replace.

I called Matt and he agreed.  

I thanked the tow truck driver for diagnosing the problem and he was all set to be on his way without any thought of the $85 he was supposed to get to simply tow my car to the dealership.

(What's it to him if we over-pay...all he had to do was tow the vehicle.)

He even tried to refuse the $20 I offered him for his time and trouble.  After I used my persuasive Momma voice and insisted, he finally took it.

He's what I call Good People!

Here's another person I call Good People:

Matt

who came home from work, went out to buy an alternator

and in 30 minutes fixed my car.

 I like a man who can get his gloves dirty!

It makes me happy to see that Good People are still out there.

Tyler is EIGHT!!

Tyler is EIGHT!!

Here's proof.

Eight fingers on display and birthday presents to boot.

This is him before he turned EIGHT.

 (holy cow, how time flies)

Poor guy was rushed through his 8th birthday festivities due to Taekwondo practice and his sister's 7:30pm softball game.

His special birthday dinner (which he requested I make chicken legs and corn on the cob) had to be purchased from KFC.  

Luckily, we have a Game Truck coming this weekend for his epic 8th Birthday Party.

He was a happy trooper though.

Check out some of his presents.

LEGO Star Wars Droid Gunship

LEGO Star Wars Jedi Interceptor

US Map Puzzle

And a build your own Solar Powered Vehicle

 He may have been most excited to go for his first car ride without a BOOSTER SEAT!

 EIGHT YEAR OLDS DO NOT NEED A BOOSTER!!

Happy Birthday to our little old man.  He is creative, thoughtful, caring, uniquely unique, he knows what he likes and does not like, and is a total joy to have around.  We love you big guy.

Randoms

Four Random Things from Today:

Number One

Lauren rode in the front seat of my car for the first time.

GA law states that everyone under 8 years-old-must be buckled into a booster (or car seat) in the back seat.

It is only recommended that all children under 12 sit in the back.

Since we were only driving home from school after picking up Tyler from Art Club I let her sit in the front seat.

It made her day.

This is a happy 10 year old Lauren!

Number Two

Tyler's castle he made in Reach.

2 cereal boxes, 2 paper towel end rolls, toilet paper end rolls, 2 Pringles canisters, a chicken broth container, yogurt cups, and a bunch of K-cups and silver paint.

The K-cups really added to the castle look no?!

Number Three

After watching Danica McKellar (aka Winnie from The Wonder Years) dance on Dancing With the Stars we decided to buy her book about Math.  Lauren thinks Math is not much fun so we are determined to show her that it is.

 Or at least that it doesn't SUCK.

(What also doesn't suck is Bacon (in the background.))

Number Four

Pizza for dinner

Chicken/Bacon/Ranch for us and 1/2 Cheese & 1/2 Pepperoni for the kiddos.

I used this pizza dough recipe but instead of kneading by hand I used the dough hook on my Kitchen Aid mixer for 3 minutes.  I will never knead by hand again.

YUMM!

Bonus Random

Today but SEVEN years ago!

Lookit my babies!! 

I hope you enjoyed the RANDOMs from our day now go enjoy the RANDOM moments from your day.

Lauren's In The Art of It Birthday Party

This past Saturday was Lauren's birthday party with her friends.

Even before the party, Lauren's day started off great with a Falcon's softball win!

This was her first Spring softball game and our first win since moving up to 10-U (girl pitch) last fall.

Way to go Falcons!

(here they are shaking/high-fiving hands with the other team after the game)

 Later in the day Lauren and her friends celebrated her 10th birthday at In the Art of It.

(a nearby art studio)

Lauren chose the Panda to be the artwork theme.

Everyone was given an outline of the panda but they were encouraged to paint it however they chose.

Artists hard at work.

After a little prodding Tyler decided he wanted to paint as well....but not a panda.

Can you tell what he is working on?

It's Pikachu of course!

(Daddy penciled the outline for him from a picture on his phone.)

Putting the final touches on her panda.

After we were done painting it was time for cake (cookie cake) and ice-cream.

 It's hard to tell but Lauren chose a white cat with blue eyes and a red bow for her cookie.  It also says Happy Birthday Lauren.

(I don't think Tera wanted to be in the picture.)

After the cookie cake, we opened presents and then everyone lined up with their artwork for a group photo.

Pikachu and the Pandas!

What a good looking group of creative Pandas and their Artists too!

Well done girls! (and boy!)

 Back home:

Close-up of Lauren and Tyler's artwork.

Lauren was overly excited about all of her presents. 

Right after this picture she put on her new outfit and the next day she spent her birthday money and gift cards at Justice.  She's one very thankful 10-year-old!

What a fun and memorable day!

Date Night at the Gun Range

Date Night at the Gun Range

It has been awhile since I've shot a gun so Matt wanted to take me out to the gun range to get some practice.

I'm terrified of guns but he promised me dinner afterwards so I agreed to go.

Don't tell but, I may have had a little fun and just may be a decent shot!

He brought five different guns to shoot.

(Don't worry we keep the guns locked up in a safe and the ammunition locked up in another safe...except for the one gun we keep loaded in yet a different safe by the bed in case of an emergency.)

Matt went first.

(gun-range selfie)

Then it was my turn.

I decided I liked the Revolver best.

And I'm definitely a LEFT-HANDED shooter.

Between Matt and I, Mr. Pink Man didn't stand a chance.

As promised, Matt took me to dinner afterwards.

We went to a new restaurant on the square.

The Rednexican

(It was DELISH and I can't wait to go back.)

It's been a few days since my Date Night at the Gun Range but look what I found in my purse tonight.

It must have landed in there while we were shooting.

(hashtag) feelinghardcore