As for the weekend. . .

Sam and I had not only a date Friday night, but also Saturday too. We went to a Crawfish Boil that some friends threw at the lake! Wow - 2 consecutive nights without the kids - can't remember the last time that happened! Anyway, it was a nice treat that we thoroughly enjoyed. I'll post pictures from the crawfish boil when Terri sends them to me. What better way to spend a perfect Saturday night than at the lake with friends, eating crawfish, and having some adult beverages!

Date Night - Woohoo!

Sam are I are scheduled for a date night tonight! We are going to The Exective's Formal tonight and I am pumped about getting all "dolled" up (as we say here in the south)! What girl doesn't look for an excuse to where a dress, put on makeup, and go to a party (and not a kid's birthday party)! So looking forward to it!

Art Show 2008

The girls had their annual art show at school tonight! It is really cool - every class (infant through pre-K) has their artwork covering every wall of the gym in our church. I plan on posting pictures of some of their artwork, but probably not tonight. Mary Mac was so excited - apparently she thought we were taking pictures of her and all of her classmates and friends. She ran around wild with shoes off with some of her friends. By the way, her school raised more than $5000 for March for America (March of Dimes) and they were all supposed to wear their bright yellow and green shirts today at school and at the art show. Mary Mac, the fashion diva that she is, decided that it would only look good if she wore her matching yellow Mickey Mouse Crocs! What a look!

Recipe for getting out of Yard Work

So being the wonderful, helpful wife that I am (or should I say try to be), Sam and I decided to do some much needed work in our yard this past weekend. We edged all the flower beds, removed old mulch, weeded them, and then pulled the grass roots that had grown into the beds with a hack saw (or something like that). Then we planted about 25 more plants throughout the yard and beds to help fill in where the current plants had not grown into yet. Then put new mulch into all the beds. Sounds like a normal weekend of yard work, right? Well, not exactly.

Mistake #1: Sam sends me, armed with the length and width of our flower beds, to the local mulch sellers. I gave the guy my handy measurements and they asked if he wanted to layer it thick - of course I said yes! So, he figures out that we need about 17 yards of mulch. I thought Sam was going to have a cow when we see a dump truck (no kidding) coming up the street!

Mistake #2: Sam gives me the task of using the hack saw to pull the grass roots from the beds. Did I mention how sore I was from this task? No, sore is not the word! I swear I think I tore my hamstrings!!! My never-ending complaints of my soreness are about to make Sam crazy!

Mistake #3: Sam hands me a post-hole digger to start digging holes for the new plants while he shovels mulch. Ok, so post-hole diggers are not made for a 5'1" woman, or maybe I am just not coordinated enough to use them. Makes no sense - why squeeze it to release the dirt and open to grab - or something like that!? So, I opted for a shovel. My old cheerleading days so pay off in this respect because I am able to balance on the shovel!

Mistake #4: Did I mention that I have horrible allergies???? Well, again being the wonderful wife to a husband who travels a lot and wants to spend every second he's home with his girls, I decided to help him out and try and mow the yard (or at least the front yard). I've only ever used a lawnmower once in my life, so I was walking into this BLIND! I figured out where the gas goes, but clumsily (as usual) I spill it all over the mower! To a make a long story short, I did get the front yard mowed and it looks Fabulous, even if I do say so myself! But, as soon as coming inside, I started sneezing I think millions times. I blew my nose and blew it and blew it to no relief! I decided I needed to maybe take my clothes off and wash off in the shower. Well, I was covered in hives! I took some Benadryl at this point and started feeling a little better, only to notice that I had two huge blisters on each thumb from holding down the little bar thing on the mower!

So, needless to say, all of my efforts to be this amazing, totally self-sufficient wife that my husband could brag to his buddies (I'm envisioning this conversation: "Well, guess what kind of wife I have? Yep, she's the one who can do it all! She even mows the lawn! What a woman!"), I think I have officially lost my job of yard work - I think I'll stick to the house and kitchen!

If anyone wants help in devising such a genius plan, just let me know! I'm sure I could think of more "ingredients" to you customize your Recipe For Success! Ha! Sorry Sam, wish I was more help in the yard, but I'd bet you would rather do it than listen to me complain! By the way, I'm headed to play tennis - I like this part of my "chores" much better! Have a great day!

Translations of a 3 year old

While at lunch today with my parents and Sam, we were laughing about all of the nicknames that Mary Mac has for places and things, and it hit me that this is what my next post needed to be about . . .Translations by Mary McLain Collins (in chronological order of invention!):

1) "Jamma-nomes" - Pajamas - I guess this one came from the fact that Sam and I always told her to go get her "pajamas on" after her bath and this is apparently how she heard it. By the way, we all still call them that now!

2) "Ebalator" - Elevator

3) "Donkey" restaurant - this is the name for a local Mexican restaurant that has a statue of a donkey in the front that she always wants to "ride". The real name is Jalapenos

4) "Chicken N Nuggets" - McDonalds - that is all that she will eat at McDonalds so, hence, her name for it!

5) "Friday's Tuesdays" - Ruby Tuesdays - Well I guess they both end in y!

6) "Apple Neighborhood" - Applebee's - maybe this came from the commercials? You think we watch too much TV?

7) "Where the Sun Meets the Moon" - a different location of Jalapeno's and this comes from the fact that they have iron suns and moons everywhere on the walls! Ok, so you think we like Mexican too?

Those are all that come to mind right now, but I will add to the list as I remember them. As a matter of fact, I think I will make a label for these called "Translations"

Also, I am seeing a pattern here = we like to eat out (maybe it's the Kids Eat Free or maybe it's the margaritas)!

Jealousy?

I think it's taken a year for the jealousy factor to hit with Mary Mac. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I guess now that Anna is active and getting into Mary Mac's stuff and taking more of Mom and Dad's time, Mary Mac has turned into this whiny, fit-pitching little girl! Not that she hasn't pitched fits before, but she had become a "big" girl and the fits had stopped. Well, they are back! I do have to admit, though, that her fits are not that bad or a raging temper tantrum, but they are fits indeed!

Oh well, sorry to vent, but had to get it out!

No, Anna is still not walking. On one hand I am glad, but on the other hand, it sure would be nice to have her able to walk on her own! I know . . .it's a whole new ballgame when they walk! Mary Mac didn't walk until she was almost 16 months old, so who knows when Anna will walk. She prefers Mommy's hip!

Mary Mac - The Artist!

After several hours in her playroom, by herself, quiet (and not asleep), this is what I found! Check out the look on her face - pure pride at her artwork! Diego, on the otherhand, has never looked . . .ummmmm . . .so colorful!

Wonderful weekend

We had a wonderful weekend this weekend. The weather was perfect on Saturday for a day outside. So, I decided to take the girls on a local field trip: first we went to the Farmer's Market to see what was growing; then we took Mary Mac's bike to the Riverwalk and had a little nature class (see pictures of her collection); then we took the girls on a picnic on the Quad and enjoyed the A-Day festivities (for those of you not from Alabama, this is the annual football scrimmage where they also have all of the game-day activities going on too). My Anna is a little pig - check out the picture of her gnawing on a chicken leg! Mary Mac, still to this day, will not eat chicken on a bone! Great weather, great day, great quality time!

My daily mantra . . .

I hope you all notice one of the songs playing on my blog - Mama Tried by Merle Haggard. I realize he's talking about being in prison, but he does credit his mother with at least trying. This is the mantra I keep saying to myself lately . . . "Mama tried"! Everyday I wake up and tell myself that no matter what happens today, I know that I will do my best to do everything right by my girls so that I can never look back and say that I didn't at least "try" to raise them in a fun wonderful world!

For example, today when I picked them up from preschool, Mary Mac wanted to know where we were going (this is a daily question - can you tell she has been on the go since birth?). "Well, today I think we are going to go to another planet out of space" (with the most serious look on my face). She looked at me like I was an alien (no pun intended). Why not at least imagine it? So we did, we pretended (while driving down the street) that we were in space and that everyone on this new planet stood on their heads and picked their noses! She was hysterical - we love pretending in our house or car for that matter! These are moments that I want to cherish forever!

Now, back to my main point. At least my girls can't say that Mama Didn't Try and make their world a fun and imaginative place to live: hence, the new song added to the playlist! Hope you enjoy!

Yikes! Tornadoes!

Have I ever mentioned that I am terrified of tornadoes? Well, I am! And today we are under a Tornado Watch most of the day. My stomach is already turning over and it's not even cloudy here yet! Our poor children will probably always be just as afraid as I am because I think my fears of storms are already rubbing off on them!

Wedding Anyone?

Things I Could Do Instead of Going To a Wedding in NC with my husband:

1) Spend time with my babies!
2) Clean house - uggghhh
3) Iron clothes - another uggghhh
4) Enjoy a flowery bath - Ha, just a joke (reference to recent Cosmo article I read about a "Cosmo Weekend" - by the way, Cosmo is no longer practical reading since becoming a mom)
5) Get my house organized
6) Dream of a vacation to a tropical destination with my wonderful husband (hint, hint Sam - our 5th anniversary is this summer)
7) Take it easy - haven't had a chance to do that in a while
8) Get caught up at work

Well, that's all I can think of right now. Gotta go set up our Diego Slip N Slide. I promised Mary Mac that if it wasn't raining after her nap that she could play on it since the weather is nice. She's never played on a Slip N Slide before and I'm not sure my doctor would approve of me showing her how since I'm only 3 months out from my "enhancement - post babies" if you know what I mean. I'm not sure how I would explain that one!

"Um, yes, Dr. ******, I think I may have popped one!"

"WHAT????? What are you doing throwing your body onto the ground, dolphin-style? You're a freakin' adult aren't you?"

Oh well, I love Slip n Slides! Not to mention, the things we will do for our children! Although, I haven't attempted a back-tuck yet! That is taking it a little far. Sam keeps reminding me that my agile, flexible, athletic cheerleading days are over! Maybe so, but I WILL SHOW THEM ONE DAY!

New Look!

So how do you like the new look? After a tough battle with Photoshop, I finally admitted defeat and just went to www.scrapblog.com and Cutest Blog On The Block to fix my profile the way I wanted it! So, if you are looking for a new look (no pun intended there), then visit these sites. They are both very easy to figure out! Goodluck and Happy Scrapblogging!

Still computer issues. . .

Ok, so by now I know I should have all of the computer issues resolved, but I don't! I am using an old computer at home and it is causing major issues! I actually spent about 2 hours on the phone (while the girls napped, of course) with someone at Adobe trying to help me resolve my issues with Photoshop Elements. For some reason, everytime I start creating something, the whole program freezes! UGGGHHH! Oh well, maybe one day I'll get it all fixed.

As for everything else, we got back from the beach Sunday and I am still trying to get caught up washing, grocery shopping, and housework! Sometimes I feel like I need a vacation from a vacation to catch up. The weather has been wonderful here so we have finally been able to take advantage of our family Christmas present and take a golf cart ride the last several nights.

Anna has really come into her own personality. She is much more curious than Mary Mac was at this age, but has absolutely no interest in walking yet! She has 6 teeth now and is learning to use them!!!! Well, that is all from the home front for now!

Easter Craziness!

These are pictures from the church Easter Egg
Hunt, the neighborhood hunt, and Easter Sunday!
Mary Mac was killing the boys in the hunts! Go girl!

Anna's 1st Birthday!

Okay, so just a teaser - we celebrated Anna's birthday last weekend! In short (I will talk in detail later), we all had a great time, the weather was good, and we had green icing from head-to-toe! I will post pictures later as well!

At the moment, we are at the beach enjoying a long weekend after a crazy 2 weeks with Easter and birthday! It was cool and cloudy yesterday so we did a little shopping and Build A Bear. Today was warmer but still cloudy, but we were able to go out to the beach this morning. The girls are currently knocked out from all the swimming. Uh oh, they both just woke up - gotta go. I guess I'll finish later!