our favorite babysitter

Our favorite baby sitter is going back to college.  She leaves tomorrow and we are so sad.  Meghan is one of my favorite people and I trust her implicitly with my kids.  And the kids adore Meghan and she adores them.  Meghan came to watch Love Bug this morning while The Mayor and I went to a movie with our friend Aidan and Ms. Vicki.  After the movie, we went to lunch and when we were leaving lunch to go back home, The Mayor asked if he could go home because he wanted to play with Meghan.  Sweet Meghan stayed an extra hour to play with both Love Bug and The Mayor before she left to go home and pack.  We are going to miss her!

This past week has been chock full of busy.  Aunt Nat, Uncle Tom, Trey and Luke came for a long weekend and The Mayor and Love Bug were so happy.  They love it when their cousins come to visit. Although they weren't here nearly long enough, the kids crammed a lot of fun into a short timeframe.  

This week is chock full of fun too.  We have play dates and lots of activities scheduled; we are really getting the most of our last few weeks of summer vacation.  It is hard to believe preschool starts in a few weeks.  This summer has flown by.  And I am so grateful we are gearing up for The Mayor's PreK year...because this time next year we will be getting ready for Kindergarten.  And that kind of makes me want to cry...and vomit...and cry some more.  So happy I have one more year with my boy before he is off into the big school.  

meet the new cousin

Yesterday we took The Mayor and Love Bug over to meet Walker and to bring lunch to Meega, J and Bennett.  It was fun getting to eat with them and love on sweet baby Walker.  At first the kids were more interested in playing with Bennett, but slowly both The Mayor and Love Bug became quite interested in their new little cousin.  The Mayor really wanted to hold him too and wanted to touch him and kiss on him.  Love Bug wanted to hold him but that lasted about 12 seconds...then she wanted to get back to her toys.

It is going to be so much fun seeing these sweets grow up together.  I just know they are going to be such great buddies.

walker ford

Yesterday morning, I received the call we have been waiting for...Meega was in labor!  After a quick shower and the Chick-fil-a drive-thru I was in her hospital room.  They were just getting settled themselves and Meega was already 5 centimeters!  Once she received her epidural, she was good to go.  PopPop, J's parents and J's sister-in-law rounded out the welcoming committee.

Meega's labor actually went pretty quickly and the delivery was lightning fast.  About 10 minutes after we left her room we heard that sweet baby crying.  Music to our ears.

Perfect angel Walker Ford came into this world weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces and is 20 1/2 inches long.  He has really dark hair and beautiful full lips.  He is a doll.  And I can't wait to get back up to the hospital today and get my hands on him.

the party's over

A little after 1:00 today, MeMe and Big Daddy rolled out and are now headed back to South Georgia.  We are all a little sad around here.  The kids have loved having their grandparents here...and so have D and I.  We were able to go out to dinner Monday night with some friends and then today they told us to go to lunch alone while they watched the kids.  I can not remember the last time D and I have eaten lunch just the two of us during the week.  It was really nice...and so quiet.

This afternoon is going to be a low-key afternoon.  We have been going non-stop since MeMe and Big Daddy arrived Sunday morning.  Love Bug definitely needs the low-key afternoon.  Oh my goodness...is she being a pill.  She is so tired and a tired Love Bug is NEVER a good thing.  She has been extra whiney and extra ornery.  Which the really odd thing is D and I were talking about how well-behaved The Mayor has been the past couple of weeks...he has been nothing but awesome and so much fun to be around.  And now Love Bug has taken a turn.  Is it physically impossible that both kids are well-behaved at exactly the same time?

We have plans the rest of the weekend and The Mayor has his soccer assessment Saturday morning (should be interesting) so before I know it another Monday morning is going to roll around.  My new nephew better be here by then!  I am a little bummed he didn't arrive on my birthday as he and I discussed many times.  I guess he is happy being locked up in Meega's womb...but hopefully for not too much longer.  We are chomping at the bit to meet the little guy!

who says lunch time can't be fun?  Making "spy glasses" out of our pretzels

monkey see...monkey do

Big Daddy, MeMe, The Mayor and Love Bug

36

If it weren't clear as day on my birth certificate that 1976 was the year I was born, I wouldn't believe today was my 36th birthday.  36 is our parent's ages...I remember my parents at 36.  I can't be my parent's ages...I just graduated college...didn't I???

Today is going to go one of two ways:
1. Meega is going to call me and tell me she is in labor and that sweet baby boy she has been carrying for the past 10 months is going to be the best birthday present ever...or...
2. Me and the kids are going to hang at the pool with my dear friends Stacey and Vicki and their little sweets and we are going to gossip and laugh and watch the munchkins play in the pool until naptime and then come home and then D and I are going to dinner with Sue and Jay to celebrate birthdays.

Either option equals a pretty amazing birthday for me.

MeMe and Big Daddy are here!  They arrived yesterday morning and to say the kids are excited is an understatement.  The Mayor must have thought they were only going to be here for 24 hours because he tried to cram every ounce of playing with them he could possibly muster.  They played with every toy in their playroom and he didn't want to take one second to rest afraid he would miss a minute of fun.  We kept telling him they would be here most of the week and would be here when he woke up...

Tomorrow we are going to take the kids to our favorite bounce house to play and then MeMe and Big Daddy are going to take The Mayor to the movies while Love Bug naps.  It's going to be a great week.

MeMe and The Mayor resting together...he finally settled for a minute when he was covered in sweat from playing so hard

Big Daddy and his favorite girl

vbs and ice cream

Today was the first day of VBS at our church...and The Mayor had a great day!  His class is chock full of his friends and he is loving every minute of being there.  We are abundantly blessed to be member's of this church and to have the friends that we have.  To leave The Mayor there with two of my great friends as his teachers is unbelievably comforting.

While The Mayor was at VBS, Love Bug and I went to the gym (shocker) and then to the grocery store.  One overflowing grocery cart later and our pantry and refrigerator are now full.  Good news...our family is not going to have to resort to eating sugar packets and ramen noodles this week.

This afternoon was spent with Love Bug napping and The Mayor and I taking it very easy.  After dinner, we loaded up and went to D's softball game.  Our team won and we went to get some ice cream afterwards to celebrate.  The kids had a blast eating ice cream and then playing "tag" with their friends. We didn't get home until 8:30 and then had to take quick showers since the kids were disgusting after playing in the dirt at the game and being covered in melted ice cream.  Both are sound asleep and I am about to join them.

old mother hubbard

Oh boy are the cupboards bare in the Shirley household.  If I don't get to Publix in the next 24 hours there is a good chance we are going to be eating croutons and sugar for dinner tomorrow night.  So dinner at Steak-n-Shake tonight was not only a treat but a necessity.  How cute are the kids in their paper hats?

Today was a great day.  D had a century ride (a 100 mile bike ride) this morning so the kids and I went to church and then lunch.  About an hour after Love Bug went down for her nap, D got home and then about 10 minutes after that, I went down for a nap.  I slept until 5:00 this afternoon...and so did Love Bug...and The Mayor had fallen asleep on the couch about 10 minutes before I woke up.  This was one tired bunch.  

Tomorrow starts Vacation Bible School at our church for The Mayor.  I'm excited because my two friends are his teachers and some of his closest friends at church will be in his class.  Going to be a great week!

my little chefs

I made some cupcakes today for a baby shower and had a few extras, so I made extra icing and let the kids chose the color of their icing and let them decorate their cupcakes.  They were so excited and actually great little helpers in the kitchen!  Love Bug chose to make her icing pink and The Mayor chose yellow.

This evening we topped it all off with a great pool party with our Sunday School class.  The kids had a blast.  The Mayor had so much fun that he didn't even eat dinner.  He didn't want to get out of the pool to eat...he is going to be starving at breakfast.

This has been a great week.  We started with a great cookout at our house last Sunday, play dates, movies at the movie theater and the fireworks celebrating the 4th of July.  This 4th was definitely a memorable one when after 10 minutes of playing in the huge grass area waiting for our friends to arrive a massive thunderstorm rolled in and we had to make a mad dash for the car.  Lightning struck a transformer about 20 feet from us spreading sparks everywhere (and scaring the mess out of us) and torrential down pouring occurred for the rest of the night.  We ended up going to our friend's house and then waiting until 9:00 and went and watched the fireworks in the rain.  The kids didn't seem to mind since they still got to see all the "colors" as The Mayor says.

Love Bug watched from the truck with Vicki, Trent and Aidan

The Mayor watched under the umbrella with Jeremy and Avery

Tomorrow is church (and D has a 100 mile bike ride scheduled).  Monday starts VBS at church for The Mayor...this summer is really flying by.