Lauren, what are you doing to me...these obviously aren't my size!

This just may be the funniest picture ever. Poor Matt was even home when Tyler wanted to try on the shoes. Funny thing is he walked in them better than Lauren did. We all got a good laugh at watching him.

Today was a good day. We got up and played for awhile. Lauren, GG and Tyler put together their favortie puzzle and we got a couple of sweet pictures in the process. We just need to teach GG how to look at the camera when requested. =)

Here is the final piece of the puzzle....




We drove to Atlanta to meet Matt for lunch today. GG was impressed with the city. She was amazed at all the greenery and how many trees are planted around the city. For lunch we went to Mellow Mushroom and all had delicious baked hoagies. They were out of this world. Since I'm a big eater...I ordered a "small" greek salad to go with it. The kids devoured huge pieces of pizza. We were all so full afterwards. The kids were asleep 15 min. into the drive home and once home we all took a nap...save for GG who read and almost finished her new book, "The Memory Keepers Daughter."

For dinner we had Anitpasto Salad. Spinach greens mixed with macaroni topped with pepperoni, kalamata olives, sundried tomatos, fresh mozzarella, red wine vinegar and olive oil. Again delicious...if I do say so myself.

After dinner I went to my step class at the Y and it kicked my a**. The kids stayed home with Matt and GG. When I got home GG was reading them bedtime stories. Lauren was snuggled up against her shoulder and Tyler was sitting on the other side of her. I think Tyler is warming up.

After they were in bed the 3 of us headed to the basement and watched "In the Shadow of the Moon". This is a documentary on the Apollo missions including the first man on the moon. It was a great movie and I'm not usually one who jumps to see documentaries normally. But y'all should see this movie. What's the next new and great thing mankind will do??

Today was my Birthday

(posted by Matt)

Today was my birthday and it's the first time that I had to actually do the math because I can't remember if I'm 35 or 36. Anyone know? That means I'm getting old.

Even though it's mothers was day we really didn't treat the day any different. This morning we were trying to figure out who had to make breakfast. I mean I would but it's my birthday, and Christine would, but it's mothers day, and GG would but she's a mother too...So it was the kids responsibility. We starved. Seriously, being a mother is much harder than staying alive, so my birthday was secondary and I made breakfast. My kids have the best mom in the world, go ahead and try to argue with me, you'll lose.

We had a mellow day. Christine went grocery shopping while GG and I entertained the kids. I went to Home Depot to get some stuff during the kids nap. Christine is now watching Survivor...you know same old stuff.

Tonight I was supposed to go to see Van Halen with some guys but we all decided we were too lazy and just weren't up for staying out all night and trying to get into work tomorrow. (note: this is another piece of evidence that I'm getting old) Why would Van Halen reschedule (they actually rescheduled twice) for a Sunday night, lame!!! I'm wondering how many people are in the same boat as us and just said forget it. Idiots! Mr. Buddy next door saw them a week ago up north and said it was not the same Van Halen we were used to. I guess David Lee Roth is getting older faster than me and isn't as cool as he used to be.

Anyway, later...

Bunko aka Drunko

Thursday was GG's first full day in the life of our little southern family. We carried on as usual for the most part. Lauren had school and in the meantime, Tyler, GG and I went to church to help out with the Sunday school prep and then it was clean, prepare and clean some more for Bunko on Friday. Lauren took some time out to pose (she prepped the entire shot herself...from the hat right down to the chair)

I'm am so pleased at how Bunko turned out. Matt took to kids next door to Mr. Buddy's house which was where a few of the guys and kids were hanging out tonight. Back at the Bunko prep party, GG helped a lot and so did Dana from next door. This is the first time I ever entertained for 14!! And it couldn't have gone any better. For appetizers I had veggie slices with ranch dip and chips and salsa. For dinner we had Lasagna Primavera, Parmesan Chicken, Summer Salad (with fresh strawberries, pineapple and bananas over romaine) and Garlic Knots. We only had a small plate of leftovers. Dessert was made by Andi (another Bunko broad,) it was a delicious raspberry tiramisu. And for the (apparently) most important item....beverages. I had water, coke, diet coke, decaf coffee, sweet tea (made from scratch!) red and white wine, coors light, Corona, Smirnoff triple black light, bucket of mojitos, bucket of cosmos and grape vodka mixed drinks. We ate and drank and played the absolutely no skills required game of Bunko. I ended up winning $5 by getting the most losses. I also was reimbursed $20 out of the pot because I had to provide a door prize too. (salsa and serving dish plus $15 Starbucks gift card) The party wound down around 11:30pm and Dana and Mary stayed and helped to clean things up. GG put most of it away before she went to bed so it wasn't very difficult at all. Bless their hearts for all their help.

Today GG felt the pain of all her (much appreciated) effort. Her leg was really bothering her so she opted to stay home and rest instead of attending Emma's 5th birthday party at Jump 2 It. This is the same place we had Lauren's party. Lauren and Tyler had a great time as you can suspect. Here's some pictures to clarify the point....

Both kids played so hard at the party that they were asleep before we finished the 15 min. drive home. They both slept for a solid 3 hours at home and would have slept more but I woke them up at 5:30. We had to eat dinner (soup, frozen potato wedges, fruit and rolls,) get a quick bath in and then head to church at 7pm. Mothers Day was the theme of the service. GG got to see what a southern "Bible Belt" church is like. People come as you are here. Jeans, shorts, sweats anything goes. It was a large turnout even for a Saturday night and GG was impressed that there was a police escort stopping traffic so we could make the turn out of the parking lot.

That pretty much catches you up. We'll probably take it easy again tomorrow...it's nice to rest after being so busy preparing for Bunko last week.

to close, here's a picture of Tyler playing with his big Thomas while waiting for me to finish making dinner.

29 and still holding

Happy Birthday to me (yesterday.) Whoo hoo...another year older. It's just not as cool any more. To celebrate, Matt went to the Braves game with some co-workers. I didn't feel like moping at home alone so I went and bought myself a birthday cake and full fat ice-cream and invited Dana and the kids over for dinner and cake. The kids sure enjoyed singing and eating the cake. Lauren called me "Christine" for the first time after hearing Emma and Shep sing "...Happy Birthday Dear Miss Christine..." It sounds really weird when your kids call you by your first name.

I've been running around like crazy the past couple of days. Cleaning and preparing for Bunco. I'd say I was cleaning up for GG's visit but she's family and therefore has to like me. The Bunco ladies don't so I need need need clean baseboards and blinds. Matt thinks I should host every month after seeing how clean and free of extra junk the house is getting.

The kids have been troopers the past couple of days. I'll take breaks to play Candy Land, put together a puzzle and read a story here and there but a lot of the time I'm cleaning something and they're entertaining themselves (or watching Thomas on TV.) Lauren really enjoys helping me out so every chance I get I offer to have her do something. like fetch this or that or dust.

This evening we loaded up the troops and headed out to the airport to pick up GG for her month long visit. The kids were SO! excited to see her. When we got home they were running around like crazy. Lauren was chatting her ear off. We are going to have a ton of fun during this visit. As GG says it will be the trip of a lifetime. I'm sure it will be for everyone.

Creedence Cleawater Revisited

I can't believe it's Monday already. It was pretty much an all or nothing weekend for us. Seinfeld on Friday and then Creedence Clearwater Revisted on Saturday. That was the "all" part of the weekend. The "nothing" part was that Matt was sick with the flu bug on Saturday and couldn't go to the concert and I was sick with aches and a bad headache on Sunday. Even Tyler seemed a bit under the weather yesterday. Today everyone seems just fine except the kids have runny noses. I was a little worried we were going to be sick when GG comes to visit on Wednesday. I think we're in the clear now though. I'll just Lysol the house really well.

Creedence was a lot of fun. Our neighbor is a Coke rep and had table tickets to the concert. Unfortunately he wasn't able to go. It was Mr. Nelson and Betsie, Gabriel and Mary, Buddy and Dana and dateless me. We all brought appetizers and drinks and had a light dinner before the opening band came out. I made Tex-Mex Tortilla Rolls. These were easy and since I wasn't feeling up to par I didn't feel like making anything too difficult. They went over very well and I will definitely make them again. CCR is actually a cover band of the original CCRevival. The drummer and bass guitar are the original members and the lead singer is the old lead singer of the Cars. All together they put on a great show...lots of energy.

Since Matt held out with hopes of feeling better until later in the afternoon we still had Morgan come over to sit with the kids. Matt stayed in bed and I just left Morgan her money on the counter telling her she could go home after the kids were in bed. She left a nice note for me saying the kids were wonderful and that Matt stayed in his bed and wasn't any trouble either. We like our baby-sitters!!

On Sunday I rested most of the day to shake this bug and headache. The kids and Matt got to play all day. I know they all loved it. Especially the kids. Matt took them to Walmart to buy new sand (this time it was RED!!) They stopped at McDonalds for lunch (since I wasn't there) and also played at the park for awhile. They sure love their days with Daddy.

Today my plan is to tackle all the bathrooms. (I can't believe we're thinking about adding another bathroom in the basement!) I need to get ready for GG on Wednesday and also Bunko on Friday.

Seinfeld at the Fox Theatre

Last night was a lot of fun. We left our house for dinner around 4:45 and due to traffic and lack of parking we didn't make it to a restaurant until 6pm. The show started at 7 and all the restaurants around the Fox Theatre had an obvious wait. So we found a tiny (empty!!) bar right across the street from the theatre. I'm assuming it was empty because they don't start serving food until 8:30. Matt and I shared a bottle of wine and talked the bartender into giving us some pita bread and hummus. It was a large serving and made a perfect light dinner.

Seinfeld was very funny. I'd describe it as a bit predictable however...PG jokes about being married, jokes about kids etc. etc. But it was so much fun to see a famous comedian and at the Fox Theatre of all places.

After the show we were both pretty hungry so we drove to Charlie's...a pub near Matt's work and shared a sandwich and fries. We caught just enough of the last half of the Celtics v. Hawks game for me to think the Celtics would win it. Pleasantly surprised I was to find out the Hawks pulled it off thanks to a technical and 3 needed points. On to game 7 now.

It was a fun night but Matt seems to be suffering repercussions. He's been out of commission ALL DAY!! We didn't drink that much so I don't believe he's hung-over. It's either a reaction to our late post show meal or he's really come down with a bug. Yesterday I felt a bit achy with flu like symptoms but so far they haven't gotten me down.

Hopefully he'll perk up in the next hour or so because we have tickets to Creedence Clearwater Revival tonight at the Villages Amphitheater in Fayetteville tonight.

is this a foodie blog?

Flank Steak with Snap-Pea and Asparagus Stir-Fry
my serving (this is actually a small plate even though it looks pretty big in the picture)



the kids version
Dinner was good. I normally have a problem with overcooking any steak I make because I overestimate how long I think it should cook. This time I adjusted a bit and it turned out great. The peas and asparagus were very spicy due to the red pepper flakes and I used beef broth instead of plain water when I cooked the rice. It was (as Tyler says) "delish."

As I look back through my postings I notice I talk a lot about food. It has become a passion for me...trying new recipes and tweaking them occasionally. I'm very blessed that I have the time and support to be able to plan weekly menus and put together healthy meals for my family. Thanks Matt for letting me keep this a priority...along with everything else that staying home to raise my kids entails. And in confessing to being a "foodie" here's a few other blogs I'm "addicted" too.
http://www.carrotsncake.com/
http://goodthymesandgoodfood.blogspot.com/
http://mizfitonline.com/

And since this started off as a blog about the going ons of the fam I suppose I'll mention a bit about our typical Thursday we just had. Lauren had school and learned about the letter "Y". She's pretty excited to finally get to "Z". She's asking me how many naps until they will learn the last letter of the alphabet. Since she only has 2 more weeks of school (4 school days) I assured her it would be very soon. While she was at school Tyler and I went to church so I could volunteer. When I picked him up from the children's area they said that he didn't smile at all. All he said was "no" the whole time. Apparently my kids are a bit on the "not so social" side. Oh well....they're still cute though.

Back home the kids took a nap and I FINALLY finished "The Witching Hour" by Anne Rice. I have been reading this book FOREVER. And I have to say I'm soooo disappointed by the ending but I'm very glad to be done with it. My next book will be one that requires no effort or thought.

The kids have had their baths and are in bed now and I'm watching Survivor waiting for Matt to get home. He should be home within the next couple of hours or so.

And tomorrow night we are seeing Seinfeld at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. Matt bought us tickets for my up-coming birthday. YAY!!