Memorial Day Weekend

Dustin's parents came up to visit for the long weekend for Memorial Day.  On Friday night, before they got here, a friend of mine came over with her daughter and watched the kids for us so we could go have some fun with other adults!  The music coordinator for the county had a bunch of band directors (past and present) over for a cookout.  It was relaxing and so nice to not have to worry too much about the time!
We went downtown for a festival on Saturday morning and just enjoyed the company with his parents.  We also may have used them as baby-sitters, which I don't think they minded too much!  That evening, a few small groups from church got together for a cookout at one of our friends' house.  It is such a great house, out in the country and on the top of a mountain.  We ate in their huge front yard, then went down into a little valley and had a huge bonfire.  They guys may have had to use an 8-foot stick as a skewer to roast marshmallows!  Again, it was so nice to enjoy our friends without chasing kids, or knowing that every minute we spent was costing us for a babysitter.

Flying Solo

There are so many great things about Dustin being a high school band director.  I love hearing the concerts, going to the football games and having a great supply of babysitters!  One of the challenges is the time I spend with it being just me and the kids.  This weekend was one of those long weekends where it was just that!  The band went to Universal Studios for their spring trip.  They left early Friday evening and got back Tuesday.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little overwhelmed at the thought of it being just me with two kids.  But there was a birthday party on Saturday to go to and I had some other things in mind that I wanted to do.  Of course things couldn't go as planned though... I ended up starting to feel sick on Wednesday and wouldn't you know, I felt awful by the time Friday rolled around.  I had hardly any voice and I was feeling pretty miserable.  I'm so happy that my kids are good sleepers because I may have gone to bed around 9:00 each night and was able to get some decent sleep.  I really just wanted to take nyquil, but was afraid that one of them would wake up and I wouldn't wake up with them.

Of course both my mom and Dustin's mom offered to come up and help, but me, being the stubborn one that I am, said I could handle it.  I did and we were all fine, but I'm pretty sure I should have just swallowed my pride and asked for help.

I digress... we ended up not going to the birthday party, but we did make it to the late service at church on Sunday. I took a sick day on Monday and didn't go to work, but I did take Rachel to the babysitters for a few hours so I could sleep and relax some.  I even managed staying awake for work on Tuesday even though I had to wake up at 4:30 in order to get all three of us ready and Rachel and Gavin to their different babysitters.  Oh yeah, we all ate and bathed too!

So although it isn't something I look forward to, flying solo isn't impossible.  I would just much rather have my man at my side!

Mother's Day 2012

I spent Mother's Day this year being a mom in every sense of the word.  We got the kids up early because Dustin had to be at church early because the church asked him to do a sort of photo booth for anyone to take pictures for Mother's Day.  I was going to help him with that, so we were all getting ready, looking nice because I wanted a picture done too, when Rachel said that her tongue was hurting.  I thought maybe she bit it or something, so I gave her some water and she seemed okay.  Then she started coughing and threw up on our closet floor- perfect.  I got her cleaned up and she said she was feeling better (I thought she just had some drainage going on) so we loaded up in the car and wouldn't you know, as soon as the back tires came off the driveway, she did it again.  Dustin stopped the car, put it back in drive and drove back up the driveway, got us unloaded and went on.

So I spent the morning cuddled up with my little girl watching princess movies.  Being the awesome husband that he is, Dustin came home with take-out so I still didn't cook!

We spent the rest of the day just being a family and relaxing together.  I loved it!  So glad I have these two sweet things that call me Mommy!

3 Months!

My little man is growing too fast!  I love how his little personality is coming out!

He loves to smile

His hands are the coolest toys that he has, and they taste pretty good, too!

He turns his head to find us and especially his big sister!

 He is (usually) a great sleeper- gets a bottle at 9 and sleeps until 6, sometimes I even have to wake him up to go to the babysitter

 I think his eyes are hazel- they look different colors all the time

 He makes noises and "talks" to us, and sometimes scares himself by the noises he makes

He absolutely LOVES his babysitter- Grammie Dawn takes such great care of him and he smiles some of his biggest smiles for her

His hair is looking more red all the time

He may just be becoming a mommas boy- and I absolutely love it!

Family Portraits

While my parents were visiting for my birthday, we decided to take advantage of dads photography skills and had him take some family photos!  I love that Dustin takes pictures, but a problem occurs when I want him to be in them.  So we all headed out (in two cars since four adults and two car seats just doesn't work in an SUV) to a park.  Of course there were some bumps in the road... Rachel really wanted to go on the swings, Gavin got hungry, Rachel had to potty, and then the rains came.  So we headed out for a second shoot later in the afternoon and it rained again, but it was really scattered, so we went downtown and got some good ones there. 

 Daddy trying to get Gavin calmed down

 What a silly girl!

Me and my Daddy on our birthday weekend!

I am so excited to finally have family pictures in the great collage that the 

McCollum's gave me for my birthday.

30!?

I guess I'm in a new phase of life now- my 30's!?!  Ahh!  Okay, I guess it's not as bad as what I thought... it's just one of those milestones that is hyped up a lot.  

My parents came up for the weekend and I was so excited to see them.  It hasn't been that long since I've seen them, it's just good when we get to spend time together again, especially on birthdays.  (Dad's is two days after mine, so I got to see him on his, too!)

Dustin set up a birthday dinner for me at Abuelo's.  It's a great place because it has a room that is sectioned off- perfect for a bunch of people with a bunch of little kids!  We could be loud, mingle and so could the kids and we didn't have to worry about disturbing everyone else in the restaurant.

So glad that we had another excuse to get together and eat some ice cream cake!  

Thank you Dustin for putting the party together for me!