spring break laziness, a sweet sixteen, and a photobomber



We just finished up with our Spring Break and this pretty much sums it up:

 

 

 

OVER IT. I am absolutely ready for warmer weather.

 

So, our Spring Break was pretty low key and I didn't hate it. We had a couple of things planned, but we did a whole lot of just hanging around. :-)

 

 

Baseball season officially started back. I asked Maggie if she wanted to play T-ball this year, but she just gave me that "deer in the headlights" look and said no. So, while Levi is at practice, Maggie does a lot of exploring. 

 

 

She asked me if it was okay to "cross the sea" and play on the rocks. Ha! I told her that was fine, but in Indiana we called those creeks. ;-)

 

Easter was early this year and fell on the weekend of our break. I LOVE Easter - loooove it! - but there is one little downfall each year. I sing in the choir at church and we usually have to be there for sound check before the sun wakes up. This means that Eric is in charge of getting the kids ready and in their cute little Easter attire (and no cute Easter morning family picture - eyeroll). As the mom of a little girl, this scares me a little bit. But, I've learned I just have to let it go. One thing is for sure: as Maggie has gotten older, Eric has learned to rock a little girl ponytail with a bow!!

  

 

One special highlight of our week was that our niece turned SIXTEEN! That's just crazy to me because she was a baby at our wedding. And, since I'm only 27, all these numbers just don't add up...

 

Anyways, sweet Megan is 16. So it was time to celebrate! What better way to celebrate than a day of shopping?! We had a fun day together. Found some good deals and Megan learned that we had to keep Maggie reigned in. She likes to shoe shop and love to TOUCH EVERY SINGLE THING in Sephora! She loved hanging with the big girls all day.

 

That evening, we took the whole fam to P.F. Changs. We had a fun time, but joked that my kids are just really small rednecks. Take them to a fancy place to eat and they don't know what to do. They are totally happy with Chick Fil A or McDonald's. Ha! Such a fun experience, though!! Happy Sweet Sixteen, Megan! We love you!

That pretty much wraps up our break! Lots of family time and lots of time just playing outside - perfect! Oh, and I ordered a new hat for our upcoming vacation (did I mention that we are going on a cruise??). It came in the mail and I was so excited! Of course, I took a selfie for the bestie and got photobombed. He was proud of himself.
 

 

One more pic, just because they're cute:

You wish your shingles were as fun as mine

We had nice little plans today for Thunder over Louisville. Our plans were to head over to a friends house and grill out. We were renting a bouncer for the kids to play in and after dark, we were going to watch the fireworks on a projector screen outside. Sounds fun, right?! Yeah, it would have been. 

However, I will be here on the couch all day with an ice pack on muh face. ;-( 

No, Eric didn't hit me...although that would have been a fun story! Ha! Unfortunately, I have come down with Shingles. What the what?!!?

If you happen to have a weak stomach or hate to see pictures of boo boo's, this is your chance to turn away. Run. With all that is in you, LOOK AWAY SON!

With that said, my shingles haven't really been as bad as some of the pictures online. 

This was Wednesday when I first thought I was having some sort of allergic reaction or something. I was just keeping an eye on it. It started on my forehead and in my hair line, which you can barely see. 

On Thursday, it was still ever present and seemed to be growing. Ugh. I tweeted something about being SO thankful for makeup when you have a weird rash on your face. Oh, and something else about being thankful I'm not Amish. You know, because makeup. ;-) Anyways, the spots were there, but very easily hidden with a couple coats of concealer and foundation.  

Then came Friday. It started covering my eye brow and MY EYE LID. This was a shot in the morning.

And, finally, Friday afternoon. SORRY for the hideous mug shots!!

It was hard to keep my eye open. I headed to urgent care. I had sunglasses on and I wish I had been videoing the receptionist when she asked "what are we seeing you for today?" I removed my sunglasses and said, "I think something is wrong with my face." Priceless!

They took me straight back and had me fill out paperwork in the back. That should have been clue #1. The nurse asked me a bunch of questions and the doctor came in almost immediately. She looked at me and less than a minute later, she declared I had shingles. She told me they were making an appointment for me immediately with an eye doctor. Fast forward about three minutes and they had me walking out the door to go see the eye doctor. The whole urgent care visit was less than 10 minutes.

While waiting on the eye doctor, I received this from my brother. Typical.

The eye doc was super nice. But, I don't remember a lot of what he said after, "need to make sure it hasn't gone onto your eye..." He was explaining to me what would happen if it had gone further than the eye lid. I think I must have looked panicked or gone white because he quietly asked the nurse to go get a Coke. They poured some in a cup and politely asked me to drink it.

He did his exam and praise the Lord, only my eye lid was infected. Happy dance!

Again, my brother:

He couldn't just normally say, "we are on our way to bring Levi to you". Oy.

This has been painful and irritating. I'm not gonna lie. But, I am PRAYING I have seen the worst of it and it will not continue to become more painful. All I can do is wait. :-)

And, because you can NEVER GET ENOUGH, one more message from this morning:

My brother brought me eye drops.

And a patch.

Phone dump to the rescue

When you haven't blogged in over a month (WHAAAT?!), there's nothing like a good ol' phone dump of pictures to get you back in the blogging mood. :-) 

I was going through my pictures last night and trying to delete the hundreds of selfies from Maggie and realized I needed to blog. Bad. So, here's my attempt at starting fresh. Again. ;-)

This throwback goes all the way back to Valentine's Day. Aww :-) We went out with two other couples - our friends and old neighbors. It was fun because the guys planned it and it was a surprise to us gals. Eric has pretty cool connections and got us a limo. I guess he can do that kind of stuff when he can drive it. Ha! It wasn't just any limo...it was a stretched Hummer. Hilar. For 6 of us. Well, 5, because Eric was driving. We went to dinner and then like the wild party animals we are, went to the Pie Kitchen for dessert. Then home to bed because it was past 9:00 and we were tired. 

The gals -

The guys -

Sorry for the horrid iPhone pics. Gah!

With the weeks of snow days and frigid temps we've had, we have still tried to do a fun few things with the kids. You know, like eating ice cream as big as our heads... 

And staying up WAY TOO LATE because Mom had lost control of bedtime somewhere after the 4th snowday!

This little cutie didn't get to stay up late (HELLO GROUCH MONSTER) and she doesn't like ice cream, so we found fun things to do like paint her nails and fix her hair in pigtails. Cuteness! :-)

One afternoon last week, my mom, Maggie and I drove to the outlet mall and met my aunt Gail to shop and eat lunch. Love these ladies and spending time with them!

We also had an evening to hang out with the Murphy's. You know what's good about old friends? They know all about you and still love hanging out with you anyways. We've been friends since college. You guys!! We've been friends for 18 years. EIGHTEEN! How is that possible considering I'm only 24? I love these peeps so much! We've been through so many things together. College years when you're young and care free. Marriage. Children (lots of children!). Buying our first, second homes. Vacations. I've loved every bit of it. 

Maggie had her first basketball awards program where she got her very first trophy ever! Such a big girl now.

We've had some library time. Levi is an old pro. Maggie is getting there. She does know to be quiet now, which is wonderful. Both my kids love going. :-)

And, this weekend, we had the boys while my sister kept the girls. Give a boy a milkshake and a little basketball on TV and they're useless for conversation.

All in all, we've had a few good weeks. However, this momma is SO happy that school is back in session!! BRING IT, SPRING!

Yes, I have trouble with math. And bowling.

After the kids' basketball games last week, we spent THREE LONG HOURS working in our church's concession stand. Ima just go ahead and point out that math is not my strong suit. I would also like to say that if I was in charge of the concession stand, everything would be an equal DOLLAR. None of this $.25 or $1.75 stuff. That's just dumb. You want an Airhead? Yep, a DOLLAR. A coke? That's also a DOLLAR. I was proud that I only had to break the calculator out for a few orders. Shew! (And you people with kids -- have them make up their minds before they come to the window. None of this changing their minds mid sentence!) I kid. Sort of...

Since it was such a long day for me, we decided to meet up with some friends and take the  kids bowling. I have a hate-hate relationship with bowling. As my husband puts it, "To some people, bowling just comes natural. That doesn't happen to you." Nice. Ha! I was happy to find out that only the children were bowling. The parents just got to sit and chat. (Thank you, Jesus.)

My kids LOVE it! Maggie was hilarious. She would walk up to the lane and literally throw the ball on the ground. It would then take about two minutes for the ball to travel to the pins. Levi is pretty good. Seems he is one of those people it comes natural to. ;-)

Love my babies!

Switching gears -- on Tuesday night, we channeled our inner "retirement home" personalities and headed to Levi's school to play Bingo. 

Reading Bingo, that is! Now THIS was something I could do.

Emmy was one of the first ones to get Bingo. They had a table full of fun books and anytime a child yelled "BINGO!", they got to pick out a new book. Super cute!

Levi picked out a book about Pearl Harbor. 

Super excited to be there...

See this lil' face here? Can you tell she'd been crying? Uh, yeah. Maggie started bawling because she didn't get a Bingo right away, so THE TEACHER CAME OVER, GRABBED HER HAND, WALKED HER TO THE TABLE AND LET HER PICK OUT A BOOK. OY. She can throw down tears like nobody's business. 

Super fun night! I was hesitant to go, but I'm so glad we did. Looking forward to many more fun things at school.

All things Maggie May

Today, I'm talking about all things Maggie May. 

You guys -- this little girl brings me so much joy. And exhaustion and frustration. And sometimes, she causes me to get on my knees and pray so that I don't strangle her little butt. However, we're gonna just focus on the joy today. ;-)

She came home Monday wearing this crown. Adorable. She was picked as the Star student of the week for preschool. You would have thought the Queen had visited and made her a princess. Oy. She requested that we all refer to her as "Princess Maggie" for the rest of the day. So much sass. 

She really does love school. Her teacher has wonderful things to say about her on a regular basis, which makes us extremely happy. She is very social. In fact, when we pull up to the car rider line, she rolls down her window so she can shout talk to all her friends. 

These days, she seems to be growing up so fast. She has gone from that little toddler stage to a little girl. I'm not gonna lie...I love each new stage! Except maybe the new stage of throwing up a peace sign each time I try to take her picture. QUIT ACTING LIKE YOU'RE TWELVE. ;-)

Along with Maggie turning 4 came a super sensitive side. She's always been a sensitive child, but recently it has become a little RIDICULOUS. If I tell her no, she immediately throws out the lip and you can prepare yourself for a full on meltdown with a bucket of tears. She will be perfect for the day time soap opera scene. This child can cry like no other. Most of my family thinks it is comical. My parents just sit back and smile because they say that is exactly how I was. Whatev. 

And this right here melts me every time...

Every night, Mags falls asleep with her "Boltie" and her hand twisting her hair. So sweet! She got Bolt as a souvenir from Disney and rarely does anything without him. She has done the hair thing since she was a baby. She loves to rub it or twist it when she gets sleepy and we think it is quite adorable.

I have this weird, paranoid mom obsession to constantly remember what my kids are wearing. Call me crazy or tell me I've seen too many scary shows where the child gets abducted and the police instantly say, "What was he/she wearing?". I can always give you details about them. And, at the end of any given day, I will be able to back up my details with the MULTIPLE SELFIES of Maggie on my phone. Every.Single.Day. #blessed 

Love that little face! It is crazy to me that this once little blob-like baby is now quickly approaching FIVE YEARS OLD. Thankful for the joy that she adds to our lives.

Sometimes I just have NO WORDS for myself

You ever have one of those mornings? Those mornings when life is just...good? You wake up on the right side of the bed. You have some sweet quiet time before the bustle of the day. Your house is clean and laundry is done. You're having a really good hair day and are pretty okay with your outfit. 

This was my morning on Thursday last week. 

Maggie was at preschool and I was feeling pretty proud of myself for getting things checked off my "to do" list. When I picked her up from school, my day changed. 

Look at this: 

You see that? THAT, my friends, is mud. MUD. Ima tell you a little story.

I did my usual thing as I picked Maggie up from preschool. Parked the van, walked up the hill, greeted the teacher, exchanged pleasantries, told the teacher goodbye -- all the normal things. As we walked back down the hill, I was telling Maggie not to step wherever there were muddy places because she could slip and fall...

...which is exactly what I did.

I slipped and fell. In the mud. At my daughter's school. In front of her teacher and some parents. {Please PLEASE excuse the extremely awful butt pictures, but I wanted you to see how horrid this was!}

I do believe any of my other most embarrassing moments have now been topped.

As I sat there, IN THE MUD, I tried to stand up and fell back down AGAIN. People. I can't even...

Maggie didn't even want to walk next to me because she didn't want to get dirty.

And, you know what was even worse than MY SHOE GETTING STUCK IN THE MUD?

Maggie's teacher sending me a message later that evening to check and see if I was okay.

I died of embarrassment all over again.

Luckily, I was able to sit back and laugh about it. You know, after I cleaned off the van seat, washed Maggie's backpack, sprayed off the floor mats, cleaned my shoes, did a load of laundry, took a bath, and slugged Eric for laughing at me. ;-)

Levi's taken up golf and Maggie keeps kissing a box

{{Just want to give a big HUG and say thank you to those of you who have continued to ask how Levi is doing and who have been praying for him!! It is awesome and humbling to hear other stories, struggles, successes and each have encouraged me. One day, he seems better and takes huge steps forward. Other days, we all take steps backwards. This is a learning process and we all continue to learn what works and what turns around and bites us in the rear! Ha!}}

Recently, Levi has shown an interest in golf. That makes me super happy! He seems to have good athletic ability, so Eric took him to play and "test the waters". Much to his delight, Levi took to it and showed some pretty good skill. We got him a set of clubs and they have really enjoyed playing together.  

Yes, that is Levi drinking a large Mountain Dew while out playing. Oy. 

I have never played golf, but I love to watch it! I would be thrilled if he turned into a professional golfer. ;-)

I love this kid so much! After going through some pretty rough nights together, it blesses my heart so much when I see smiles like this...

Now, lemme tell you about his sister. She is crazy. See this box? 

That is the box that Levi's golf clubs came in. It has a giant picture of Rickie Fowler on it. 

Cutie patootie, right? Mags seems to think so! She won't stop kissing the box...

In fact, she takes him with her all over the house. He goes downstairs to play. He sits near her at dinner. He watches her play with her stuffed animals.

She even dances with him and makes up songs for him. 

The other day, she sang him a made-up song about how she liked his orange hat and how she liked those golf clubs he carried. If I would have been quick enough, I would have gotten it on video! That child cracks.me.up. I love her little free spirit.

Now, when she turns thirteen, I may not be so quick to laugh...