I will never look at my mini-van the same way again... too too funny.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Pictures from our mama-son getaway-Wednesday.
The Hotel- we stayed in a Hilton Homewood Suites, and it was WONDERFUL! I would recommend it in a heartbeat. Clean, spacious, and worth the extra money when your a germaphobe and want to cook your own food in effort to 1.eat healthy, and 2. not spend tons of money eating out.
The kitchen and eating area
Living area-my retreat after the boys fell asleep.
Bedroom, two queens.
Wednesday evening, I'd just told the boys we were going to the beach in the morning. They were happy eh?
Laughing all night long at the Chipmunks sequel.
Out! This shot cracks me up. Look at the position they're both in, it is almost completely identical. Arms bent, other arm over their head, head's at an angle, mouths open... Their daddy's boys for sure! ;)
Our mini getaway
Well, last week the boys and I took off for a mini 2.5 day vacation to Charleston. It was absolutely wonderful! We left Wednesday. The plan was to leave straight from church as I had my monthly Women's Bible Study that morning, but as usual things didn't go how I planned and we had to come home to finish packing first. We ended up leaving Columbia around 3-330pm and arriving in Charleston around 5pm. Although I drug the boys around to do some shopping and then took them to Moe's for dinner before heading to the hotel. I was dreading checking in, but it really was very simple, only complaint would be that the guy talked FOREVER telling me all about the services and ammenities, blah blah blah, as I'm watching Asher get more and more wound up and wondering how badly he'd hurt himself if he were to fall from the fireplace he just climbed up....
Anyhow, front desk man finally finished jabbering and gave me the key cards to the room, then began the adventure of carrying in the luggage for the 3 of us. Once that was all done, I got the boys in their PJ's and we made one last trip downstairs for hot chocolate and coffee. YUMMY! Back in our room, we sorted through the overpriced pay perview movies and Aidan picked out The Chipmunks Squeakuel, he and Asher got in bed together and enjoyed the entertainment. Asher LOVED the movie (I also thought it was very cute) and had to get up and dance everytime the chipmunks or chipettes sang-it was precious, and made a lasting memory for sure. Once the movie was over Asher had a meltdown-I think he realized we weren't at home, and he wasn't in his bed-that was a very unfun 30 minutes but eventually he cried himself to sleep and then I spent some time quietly surfing the internet and sipping my coffee.
Thursday morning we slept way too late to enjoy the free breakfast, but I had brought some snack and things to eat and pulled them out of the fridge. Yogurt, Applesauce and Strawberries and milk, what more could a kid want? Then we headed to Walmart for a few things to take in our bag for lunch and we were on our way to the beach. I made it there without getting lost! YAY! Parked and checked the meter for instrusctions. Okay, $1.00 an hour, so I paid $10.00 not knowing how long we'd be there and stuck the ticket in the corner of the windshield as directed per parking booth kiosk. I am sure we looked like a rather interesting group carrying our LOAD of stuff from the lot to the beach, but we did eventually make it there and in only one trip. It was a bit chillier then I had expected so I didn't get to tan, and kept my jacket on the whole time-the boys also kept their shirts on, except for the times they convinced me to take them to play in the ocean-which was just a bit too chilly. But the boys had fun nonetheless, playing in the ocean, making sandcastles, collecting seashells, chasing the super annoying seagulls, frisbee, picnic lunch... and they lasted 4.5 hours!!! I was VERY impressed! We headed back to the car and to my great irritation were greeted by a parking ticket. Whatever, I'll pay the $15.00 because it's not worth contesting, but I'm not going to do it happily. The plan was to go back to the hotel and clean up before going out, but Asher fell asleep in the car, and I knew it'd be better to wake him up to food then to bathe, so we went to Fatz for dinner, soup and salad for me, along with their sinfully delicious rolls and butter, and chicken tenders for the boys. Then we headed to the outlets to walk around, got the boys and myself super expensive cookies from the Great American Cookie Company, then got the boys both haircuts since they were in dire need of them. Then it was back to the hotel where the boys spent some time coloring and then headed to the bath. After bath and pajama's it was time for another over priced movie. There weren't that many choices I felt comfortable with, so after a few minutes we decided we liked teh chipmunks so much we'd watch it again. The boys laughed just as much teh 2nd time through and fell asleep much quicker. I again enjoyed some quiet time before falling asleep myself.
Friday morning we had a lazy and slow morning, again missing the free breakfast at the hotel, so we went to starbucks before heading to a friends house for the morning. After breakfast we headed out to see our friends, but Asher decided it would be a good time to get carsick and lost his entire breakfast all over himself and his carseat. Now, taking into consideration it was 80 degrees outside, the day had only begun, I could not get the seat completely cleaned off, and knowing Aidan and I are both very sensitive to smells..... we had to make a detour by Kmart where I purchased a new outfit for Asher and a new carseat. We ditched the old one in the Kmart parking lot next to the dumpster. Then we continued on our way. We spent the better half of the morning with our good friends we had come to know during our last year in Charleston. What a blessing to have that time, finally about 1pm we thought we should probably feed the kids so we headed to Chic-fil-a and had lunch. Jenny and I got a little extra time to visit one on one while the boys all played in the play area. Then it was time to head to see another friend. So I packed the boys back in the van and headed to West Ashley where we had a great time visiting with my friend (and former trainer) Shannon and her girls. We left about 530 and drove straight back home. Our getaway over and back to reality WAY too quickly.
Darren got home around midnight Friday night/Saturday morning and it's been utter chaos since trying to tie up loose ends with our remaining adoption paperwork and getting it sent on it's way. But that's all done, and this is Darren's last week of night shift so hopefully things will settle down here in the next week or two...
Pictures to follow in a separate post. And spell check isn't working so hush...
Anyhow, front desk man finally finished jabbering and gave me the key cards to the room, then began the adventure of carrying in the luggage for the 3 of us. Once that was all done, I got the boys in their PJ's and we made one last trip downstairs for hot chocolate and coffee. YUMMY! Back in our room, we sorted through the overpriced pay perview movies and Aidan picked out The Chipmunks Squeakuel, he and Asher got in bed together and enjoyed the entertainment. Asher LOVED the movie (I also thought it was very cute) and had to get up and dance everytime the chipmunks or chipettes sang-it was precious, and made a lasting memory for sure. Once the movie was over Asher had a meltdown-I think he realized we weren't at home, and he wasn't in his bed-that was a very unfun 30 minutes but eventually he cried himself to sleep and then I spent some time quietly surfing the internet and sipping my coffee.
Thursday morning we slept way too late to enjoy the free breakfast, but I had brought some snack and things to eat and pulled them out of the fridge. Yogurt, Applesauce and Strawberries and milk, what more could a kid want? Then we headed to Walmart for a few things to take in our bag for lunch and we were on our way to the beach. I made it there without getting lost! YAY! Parked and checked the meter for instrusctions. Okay, $1.00 an hour, so I paid $10.00 not knowing how long we'd be there and stuck the ticket in the corner of the windshield as directed per parking booth kiosk. I am sure we looked like a rather interesting group carrying our LOAD of stuff from the lot to the beach, but we did eventually make it there and in only one trip. It was a bit chillier then I had expected so I didn't get to tan, and kept my jacket on the whole time-the boys also kept their shirts on, except for the times they convinced me to take them to play in the ocean-which was just a bit too chilly. But the boys had fun nonetheless, playing in the ocean, making sandcastles, collecting seashells, chasing the super annoying seagulls, frisbee, picnic lunch... and they lasted 4.5 hours!!! I was VERY impressed! We headed back to the car and to my great irritation were greeted by a parking ticket. Whatever, I'll pay the $15.00 because it's not worth contesting, but I'm not going to do it happily. The plan was to go back to the hotel and clean up before going out, but Asher fell asleep in the car, and I knew it'd be better to wake him up to food then to bathe, so we went to Fatz for dinner, soup and salad for me, along with their sinfully delicious rolls and butter, and chicken tenders for the boys. Then we headed to the outlets to walk around, got the boys and myself super expensive cookies from the Great American Cookie Company, then got the boys both haircuts since they were in dire need of them. Then it was back to the hotel where the boys spent some time coloring and then headed to the bath. After bath and pajama's it was time for another over priced movie. There weren't that many choices I felt comfortable with, so after a few minutes we decided we liked teh chipmunks so much we'd watch it again. The boys laughed just as much teh 2nd time through and fell asleep much quicker. I again enjoyed some quiet time before falling asleep myself.
Friday morning we had a lazy and slow morning, again missing the free breakfast at the hotel, so we went to starbucks before heading to a friends house for the morning. After breakfast we headed out to see our friends, but Asher decided it would be a good time to get carsick and lost his entire breakfast all over himself and his carseat. Now, taking into consideration it was 80 degrees outside, the day had only begun, I could not get the seat completely cleaned off, and knowing Aidan and I are both very sensitive to smells..... we had to make a detour by Kmart where I purchased a new outfit for Asher and a new carseat. We ditched the old one in the Kmart parking lot next to the dumpster. Then we continued on our way. We spent the better half of the morning with our good friends we had come to know during our last year in Charleston. What a blessing to have that time, finally about 1pm we thought we should probably feed the kids so we headed to Chic-fil-a and had lunch. Jenny and I got a little extra time to visit one on one while the boys all played in the play area. Then it was time to head to see another friend. So I packed the boys back in the van and headed to West Ashley where we had a great time visiting with my friend (and former trainer) Shannon and her girls. We left about 530 and drove straight back home. Our getaway over and back to reality WAY too quickly.
Darren got home around midnight Friday night/Saturday morning and it's been utter chaos since trying to tie up loose ends with our remaining adoption paperwork and getting it sent on it's way. But that's all done, and this is Darren's last week of night shift so hopefully things will settle down here in the next week or two...
Pictures to follow in a separate post. And spell check isn't working so hush...
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
And?
And then my vacuum cleaner went kapooey!
The week before last was spent running around like crazy people preparing for Darren's "deployment". We gathered all adoption documents, made all necessary arrangements to pick them up, etc.. so that I could put them in the mail last week. Cleaned the house, had everything put together for a week of school, got V's package ready to ship, packed Darren's bags, made travel arrangements for the boys and myself for our mini-vacation to the beach, finished up some landscaping and planting projects.... Whew! But we got it all done so that I could relax and not have to worry about anything while Darren was gone. Or so we thought...
And don't feel bad for me, I can't help but laugh out loud as I type this, it's so ridiculous it HAS to be real...
Well, first the mail carriers we've used to send packages to the orphanage in the past no longer deliver to the city V is in... because of the economy they have cut back on remote deliveries. Great, fine, we'll send to our facilitator who has agreed to send it onto the orphanage for us. Next, Aidan used to much toilet paper and I was dealing with not one, but two clogged toilets. Yes two, see he started in one, and then went to the other to "finish". Awesome. Then I got word that a US mother sent her 7 year old adopted child back to Russia on a plane all alone making claims that he was dangerous and a threat to her safety, thus jeopardizing the future of any further US-Russian adoptions. Then the refrigerator started making a loud whiring noise and leaking. Then both downstairs toilets, tubs and showers backed up, I paid $350 for the plumber to say "good gracious, looks like the city's main backed up in here" only for him to come back 20 minutes later (after running a camera through all of our pipes) to say that he couldn't find a single problem. Thus I spent 8 hours cleaning 6 inches of, uh... "sludge" out of our baths and showers, and scrubbing down the toilets and floors. I used so much bleach it ate the skin off my left heel... Aidan's blood sugar is acting up, I can't reach his endocrinologist, I've left several messages. Aidan is now a week behind in school. I have been unable to pick up our adoption documents for one reason or another, all equally as "comical" as what I've already described. Our account that holds money for V's expenses decided to close without telling us, so the checks I wrote to pay for such said documents bounced. Asher has a double ear infection, his 6th in 8 months and they finally agreed to refer us to an ENT yesterday. I have an upper respiratory thing going on, my throat is on fire and this morning... my vacuum went kaplooey!
BUT-my coffee pot is working, and that is a GOOD thing! ;)
The week before last was spent running around like crazy people preparing for Darren's "deployment". We gathered all adoption documents, made all necessary arrangements to pick them up, etc.. so that I could put them in the mail last week. Cleaned the house, had everything put together for a week of school, got V's package ready to ship, packed Darren's bags, made travel arrangements for the boys and myself for our mini-vacation to the beach, finished up some landscaping and planting projects.... Whew! But we got it all done so that I could relax and not have to worry about anything while Darren was gone. Or so we thought...
And don't feel bad for me, I can't help but laugh out loud as I type this, it's so ridiculous it HAS to be real...
Well, first the mail carriers we've used to send packages to the orphanage in the past no longer deliver to the city V is in... because of the economy they have cut back on remote deliveries. Great, fine, we'll send to our facilitator who has agreed to send it onto the orphanage for us. Next, Aidan used to much toilet paper and I was dealing with not one, but two clogged toilets. Yes two, see he started in one, and then went to the other to "finish". Awesome. Then I got word that a US mother sent her 7 year old adopted child back to Russia on a plane all alone making claims that he was dangerous and a threat to her safety, thus jeopardizing the future of any further US-Russian adoptions. Then the refrigerator started making a loud whiring noise and leaking. Then both downstairs toilets, tubs and showers backed up, I paid $350 for the plumber to say "good gracious, looks like the city's main backed up in here" only for him to come back 20 minutes later (after running a camera through all of our pipes) to say that he couldn't find a single problem. Thus I spent 8 hours cleaning 6 inches of, uh... "sludge" out of our baths and showers, and scrubbing down the toilets and floors. I used so much bleach it ate the skin off my left heel... Aidan's blood sugar is acting up, I can't reach his endocrinologist, I've left several messages. Aidan is now a week behind in school. I have been unable to pick up our adoption documents for one reason or another, all equally as "comical" as what I've already described. Our account that holds money for V's expenses decided to close without telling us, so the checks I wrote to pay for such said documents bounced. Asher has a double ear infection, his 6th in 8 months and they finally agreed to refer us to an ENT yesterday. I have an upper respiratory thing going on, my throat is on fire and this morning... my vacuum went kaplooey!
BUT-my coffee pot is working, and that is a GOOD thing! ;)
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Pictures and such around here
Some pictures of what we've been up to around here lately. You may remember last year we painted a similar bird house for our tree out front... it has since been demolished by the wind and rain. However, the boys wanted to make another one and we reinforced it with special glue. We figured we'd all paint one side and then send it to V for his birthday. They have a HUGE play area with lots of trees that it *could* be hung on.
We got our USCIS, which is now just CIS approval in the mail. Here's me reading it, and explaining it to the boys.
The boys with their new pool.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I mentioned in the last post that we have annoying birds that like to start singing as early as 4am... Here's one of them... the beauty of it ALMOST makes it bearable. Or not.even.close. I am SO NOT a morning person, please pretty little early bird, go sing somewhere else.
The wreath I made from goodies found at a Michael's bargain sale. Altogether it was right under $10.00. Works for me, and noone else will have one like it.
We had to delay our planting of flowers as the weather went back and forth on us. And then of course as soon as it was warm again, Darren's work schedule was hectic so... anyway, here is us planting a few of the flowers we've got planted in just a tiny little section. I'm hoping we'll get the rest finished this weekend. I'll post a finished picture if we do.
So glad that the sun seems to be sticking around and the weather is warm enough to be outside again! Glad the school year is almost over and I'll have the summer to be with the boys. Thankful for family time and enjoying the simple things in life. More pictures to come in the days ahead! Hope you're enjoying your Spring!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
First Day of Spring
I've got to admit, I'm still a little skeptical.
Taking into consideration that Columbia has seen not one but TWO snowfalls this year-which is TOTALLY unheard of.
But.... I do think today the weather took a turn, and (hopefully) there is no going back (this wishy washy weather is driving me, and my old lady knees CRAZY)!
How did we celebrate this momentous occasion? Well, it started technically I guess at 2am when Asher crawled into bed with us, and then proceeded to keep me awake for the next 45 minutes until I conceded and gave up my half of the bed and moved to the couch.... at which point I was awakened by either trains every hour or so, or the really annoying early (literally) birds that like to sing outside in the yard-I'm talking like 4am, these birds are crazy!
Once everyone was up, it was breakfast and then time to head to the gym. After a really REALLY lousy workout (I was not opperating well on 5 hours of interrupted sleep) we headed to the Nursery up the street who was having their annual Spring Sale. We bought some GORGEOUS Dahlia's, snapdragons, Petunia's and something else I can't think of right now. Oh and two bags of potting soil. Everything was 25%-50% off for the sale so we made it out of there for about $65.00. I can't wait to plant everything tomorrow after church!
From the nursery we headed to Fed-Ex to send off our Criminal Clearance checks for the adoption, had lunch at firehouse subs and then because I wasn't feeling so hot we headed back to the house. I laid down and slept for about an hour, while the boys and Darren put together their new swimming pool and gave it it's first official use. I got up in time to see 'em play for about another half hour. This is by far the coolest "cheapy" plastic pool ever, it's got a built in slide and hand rail, and two steps... so cute! Asher LOVED it.
We got the boys dried off and packed up the cooler and headed back to the van for a drive to the Gaffney outlets. I had a 30% coupon and the boys really need a spring jacket/hoodie type thing. First of all, the Gaffney outlets STUNK it up, I was sooooooooo not impressed and will NOT be going back, but at least now I know. We looked at several stores, Tommy (I feel in love with some amazingly cute bright colored polos for the boys, but passed) Children's Place (did get a pair of shorts for all three boys) Crocs, Carter's, Osh Kosh, Gymboree, and Gap (where the boys each got one t-shirt and Aidan got the jacket we actually went looking for). So, although dissappointed in the selection today that just means I get to go shopping again in a few weeks =)
I did make some other GREAT finds this weekend! Yesterday Michael's was having an AMAZING sale. I got some fake flowers for a $5 vase (clearance from Walmart) I have had sitting on our dresser for weeks. I bought 10 clumps and they were 60% off! I also got some materials to make a spring wreath for the front door, cost about $10 to make (versus paying $35-$50 for a premade one) a decorative thingy for on top of the kitchen cabinets (50% off) and two placemat school things for Aidan at $1 a piece. Made it out of the store for $50!
Old Navy was also having a sale, and with my 30% off coupon it made the deals even more amazing. Since both Darren and I are at the gym 5-6 days a week (when things go our way) we are always in need of gym clothing. What's funny is I have plenty of gym bottoms, but all my shirts are stretched out (maybe from carrying kids around for the last 6 years?) stained or are so worn their becoming a little too thin for comfort, so it was really time to get some gym shirts. Darren on the other hand is just the opposite, he has plenty of t-shirts, but his shorts never seem to last, they either rip, shrink or disappear, so currently he has 2 pair, only one of which he actually wears. So I was able to get myself 5 new tanks/shirts a sports bra, and a pair of shorts for Darren for $35! What a steal!
So... that's been our first weekend of Spring! What have YOU been up to?
I'll have to post pictures of my finds/creations/yard tomorrow after the flowers are all planted!
Taking into consideration that Columbia has seen not one but TWO snowfalls this year-which is TOTALLY unheard of.
But.... I do think today the weather took a turn, and (hopefully) there is no going back (this wishy washy weather is driving me, and my old lady knees CRAZY)!
How did we celebrate this momentous occasion? Well, it started technically I guess at 2am when Asher crawled into bed with us, and then proceeded to keep me awake for the next 45 minutes until I conceded and gave up my half of the bed and moved to the couch.... at which point I was awakened by either trains every hour or so, or the really annoying early (literally) birds that like to sing outside in the yard-I'm talking like 4am, these birds are crazy!
Once everyone was up, it was breakfast and then time to head to the gym. After a really REALLY lousy workout (I was not opperating well on 5 hours of interrupted sleep) we headed to the Nursery up the street who was having their annual Spring Sale. We bought some GORGEOUS Dahlia's, snapdragons, Petunia's and something else I can't think of right now. Oh and two bags of potting soil. Everything was 25%-50% off for the sale so we made it out of there for about $65.00. I can't wait to plant everything tomorrow after church!
From the nursery we headed to Fed-Ex to send off our Criminal Clearance checks for the adoption, had lunch at firehouse subs and then because I wasn't feeling so hot we headed back to the house. I laid down and slept for about an hour, while the boys and Darren put together their new swimming pool and gave it it's first official use. I got up in time to see 'em play for about another half hour. This is by far the coolest "cheapy" plastic pool ever, it's got a built in slide and hand rail, and two steps... so cute! Asher LOVED it.
We got the boys dried off and packed up the cooler and headed back to the van for a drive to the Gaffney outlets. I had a 30% coupon and the boys really need a spring jacket/hoodie type thing. First of all, the Gaffney outlets STUNK it up, I was sooooooooo not impressed and will NOT be going back, but at least now I know. We looked at several stores, Tommy (I feel in love with some amazingly cute bright colored polos for the boys, but passed) Children's Place (did get a pair of shorts for all three boys) Crocs, Carter's, Osh Kosh, Gymboree, and Gap (where the boys each got one t-shirt and Aidan got the jacket we actually went looking for). So, although dissappointed in the selection today that just means I get to go shopping again in a few weeks =)
I did make some other GREAT finds this weekend! Yesterday Michael's was having an AMAZING sale. I got some fake flowers for a $5 vase (clearance from Walmart) I have had sitting on our dresser for weeks. I bought 10 clumps and they were 60% off! I also got some materials to make a spring wreath for the front door, cost about $10 to make (versus paying $35-$50 for a premade one) a decorative thingy for on top of the kitchen cabinets (50% off) and two placemat school things for Aidan at $1 a piece. Made it out of the store for $50!
Old Navy was also having a sale, and with my 30% off coupon it made the deals even more amazing. Since both Darren and I are at the gym 5-6 days a week (when things go our way) we are always in need of gym clothing. What's funny is I have plenty of gym bottoms, but all my shirts are stretched out (maybe from carrying kids around for the last 6 years?) stained or are so worn their becoming a little too thin for comfort, so it was really time to get some gym shirts. Darren on the other hand is just the opposite, he has plenty of t-shirts, but his shorts never seem to last, they either rip, shrink or disappear, so currently he has 2 pair, only one of which he actually wears. So I was able to get myself 5 new tanks/shirts a sports bra, and a pair of shorts for Darren for $35! What a steal!
So... that's been our first weekend of Spring! What have YOU been up to?
I'll have to post pictures of my finds/creations/yard tomorrow after the flowers are all planted!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)