Another haircut!

I took Sydney to get her haircut yesterday! We got it cut a few months ago, but Sydney had wanted it to be shorter. So, off we went! It is very cute, I have to say. 

Before

During

After! (PS- Don't fret. The curl isn't gone, she just blow-dried it straight)

Yogurt trip to celebrate. 

Whatta Break

As my break from school is coming to an end, I'm sitting here thinking- seriously??  I'll be back in the swing of work in a matter of hours (as long as it doesn't snow!), and I haven't even cracked open anything school-related.  I'll be in for it, for sure!  What's really cool is that I've gotten to spend so much time with Stephen and the kiddos.  In fact, even though I took them to daycare a few times over my 2 week break, I never had a kid-free day.  Which is fine.  Really.  I've enjoyed it a lot.  I'm just tiiiiiiirrrreeeedddd!

Anyways, here is what we've been doing since we got back from South GA last Saturday.

Last Sunday, we ventured to church and Sydney's friend, Raegan, came home with us.  They played all day, and her parents came over to eat dinner with us.

Guess who did the UGA drawing?  

It's okay... we got him back.

On Monday, I took Taylor and Parker to daycare, and Sydney and I took a trip to IKEA.  We didn't have too long to peruse, so we made a dash for the toy section, which she loved!

After IKEA, we headed to Atlantic Station to meet my brother, sister-in-law, and niece for lunch and some Old Navy shopping.  They were on their way home to Nashville from Disney.  My sister-in-law is expecting their 2nd baby in late March/early April, so I loaded up their car with all of our baby stuff.

That night, we had some friends from church over.  Savannah, the daughter, spent the night with Sydney. They had fun watching movies and staying up waaay too late.

I braved it and took all 4 kiddos to Dunkin' Donuts in the morning.  One lady came up to me and said, "You're an example of why women should rule the world."  I laughed and said I didn't know how pretty that would be, but thanks.

On Tuesday, after donuts, we dropped Savannah off at her house, and I took the three kids to daycare.  Stephen and I had a date day, where we went to lunch and then to a movie.  It was great!  That night (New Year's Eve), we went to a Japanese restaurant with our neighbors.  We were going to their house to hang out, but Parker was so sleepy that we went on home.  

Sydney and McNair

Wednesday, New Year's Day, we hung out at home all day.  I got lots of organizing/cleaning done- it's always great to start the new year with a fresh start.  Besides that, we were bums all. day. long.

I got a little crafty, too.  Here's a gift card/coupon holder.

Thursday was going to be my first kid-free day, and I had some plans.  Mainly, I was getting my hair cut/highlighted, which was a big necessity.  This was the day Parker was diagnosed with the flu, and luckily Stephen could come home from work and work from home so I could go to my appointment.  He's awesome like that.  After getting my hair did, I sanitized the whole house in hopes that no one else would catch the flu!

Friday and Saturday, we just hung around the house.  I tried to get little things done around the house, which I accomplished.  The girls had a "sleepover" Saturday night and watched All Dogs Go to Heaven.  

Sunday (today), we went to church and then Raegan came home with us again.  I went to the grocery store to get things for the week (you never know, we could get snowed in!) and Publix was packed!  We all played, got in our PJs early, and now the kiddos are down and Stephen and I are going to sit on the couch and enjoy the night.  

Back to the wind and grind tomorrow.  I'm kind of hoping they don't cancel tomorrow because it's a teacher work day, and that is much needed for me!  Now, if they want to cancel school Tuesday, I'd be all for that... ;)

Should've knocked on wood

I was just telling Stephen about how I keep seeing Facebook posts about the flu every single day, and how glad I was that none of our kiddos has gotten it.  Unfortunately, it looks like I spoke too soon.  I took all three kids to daycare on Thursday so I could wander aimlessly around the 75% off Xmas clearance at Wal-mart and then get my hair done.  You know, important things.  About an hour into my wandering, daycare called- Parker had a 102.7 fever.  I hurried to pick him up, walking into his classroom to find him asleep in his teacher's arms.  His teacher said he also seemed to be breathing weird- taking deep and also rapid breaths.  I called the doc and they wanted to see him right away.  The verdict: ear infection and the flu.  BOO!  Luckily, since Parker had his flu shot, the doctor said this was a "week strand" of the flu.  $120 and one bottle of Tamiflu later, plus an antibiotic for his ear, Parker is now on the mend.  His fever has disappeared and he is just a little fussier than normal.

I have sanitized every single toy in this house, praying that the girls (or Stephen or myself) don't get it.   I'm having the girls shut their doors so he can't get in their rooms to touch their stuff  Parker was supposed to have his 15 months well check-up today (Friday) but they recommended that we postpone it until he is actually, well, well.

Poor sweet baby... I pray he gets back to 100% soon!

Work it

I think Sydney's New Year's resolution is to exercise more. Today, as I was working out to a DVD, she made her own exercise list. (She got a little help from Shaun T on the video). She called each thing she wrote down as an "ingredient". Once she finished her list, which was rather long, she and Taylor performed the whole exercise routine for us.  Hmmm... I think Shaun T. might have some competition.

The funniest thing is that Sydney writes phonetically, so you'll have to check out a part of her list of "ingredients" to see if you can comprehend.  If you're feeling the need to get physical, perhaps you should give this routine a try! 

1.  Stretch

2.  Jump side to side

3.  Water! Water!

4.  Kick

5.  Running in place

6.  Jog  (to the right: run and jump and back bend)

7.  Punch

8.  Squat

9.  Push up

10.  Running and jumping

11.  Back bend

It continues on with "water! water!" a few more times, and even includes burpees.  The best was she included "food" about 3/4 of the way down.  That's my kind of workout!

2013: A Year in Review

Another year is in the books!  Hard to believe... I thought I would write a blog to recap this awesome year, just like I did for 2011.  I guess I had too much on my plate last year to write one. ;)  Here goes!

Trips: We didn't venture out quite as much this year as we normally do.  Traveling is a huge passion of mine, so I'm hoping we will get to see more places in 2014!  In 2013, we went to:

• Charleston, SC
• Nashville, TN
• Lake Junaluska/Cherokee, NC
• Mountain House (in South Carolina)- twice
• Waycross, GA- twice

Fun Events:

• Parker's baptism
• Bathroom remodel
• Stephen's half marathon!
• Leaving my old job, going back to CMS
• Sydney and Taylor being flower girls
• Going to the zoo
• Lots of summer fun, including scavenger hunts, Stone Mountain, Build-a-Bear, visits to the library, picking strawberries, swimming lessons, and much more.
• Sydney turned five!
• Taylor turned three!
• Parker turned one!

Wow!  What a year!  So funny that, in my 2011 post, Parker was not even thought of/known about yet.  God surely has blessed us and our little family.  I pray that 2014 brings health, togetherness, travels, patience, fun, adventures, and good, quality time with loved ones.

Happy New Year!!

From Sydney and her new love of trying to spell anything and everything she can... on her own.  Love her!

South GA Trip

The day after Christmas, we woke up early to head down to South GA to see Stephen's family for the holidays.  The kids did well on the ride down (thank goodness, because it's about a 5 hour trip!).  We got to their papa's house and they ran all over the place!

We hung out most of the day Thursday.  On Friday, we went to lunch with "Uncle Randy" (Stephen's cousin).  Then, we went to a park for a little while... the kids had so much fun.  The weather was overcast and about 55 degrees, so it was a little chilly, but not unbearable.  Later that day, we went to Stephen's aunt's house to see a bunch of his cousins.

It was a couple of fun, late nights for the kids, but it was great to see all of Stephen's fam!

Parker loved the playground!

Stephen and I had a contest.  I couldn't, for the life of me, do the monkey bars like he so easily could (darn upper-body strength!)...

But Stephen couldn't hang upside down, like a monkey.  That takes agility and guts, right?  I think I win.

Here are some pictures from his aunt's house:

Taylor and Addie Grace (Randy's daughter).  She and Parker are 1 week apart.

It looks like Parker and Addie Grace are conspiring together.

Sweet Uncle Randy.

Our Christmas- Part 2

Merry Christmas, y'all!  We all woke up about 6:30 AM (a little later than I expected!) on Christmas morning.  It was hard to contain the girls' excitement and ask them to wait the 5 minutes it took to get their brother up, diaper changed, etc.  I think it was worth the wait.  The girls had so much fun.  Here are the pictures of the morning...

Checking out the loot from Santa.

After seeing what Santa brought them, we made breakfast and ate.  Then, we hit the tree.

After the tree, we all got dressed and headed up to my parents' house!  There, it was my family, my brother's family, my sister's family, my parents, and my Aunt Katherine from Florida.  It was utter chaos, if you can imagine 6 kids 10 and under unwrapping their goodies.  Good times.

Madeline excited about the hair streaking kit we got her.

Sydney didn't take this off all day.

Taylor getting her hair streaked.  Even I got in on the action!  I had a lovely pink stripe down the front of my hair.

My 2 favorite guys.

We ate brunch, hung out until about 3, and then made the trek home.  Back at home, the girls got a look at all their goods and played the rest of the day.  Parker got to play, too.  Stephen and I were packing for our trip the next morning, which I'll talk about next...