he rocks my world

I love D.  And I want my kids to know, when they read this 30 years from now, one of the many reasons I love D is because of the little things.

Meega had invited me to attend a Thirty-One party with her tonight.  After the party, I needed to run to the grocery store to get some food for breakfast in the morning.  We are heading out for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch in the morning, and D and I invited the gang over to our house and D is making breakfast before we go.

Meega and I went to the grocery store at 10:00 tonight and by the time we got home it was 10:45.  She helped me bring the groceries into the house and D was already asleep.  But he had laid out all of the gear he needed for the breakfast, had pulled the plates for The Mayor, Love Bug and Bennett, and even put out our spare booster seat for Bennett.  The pots and griddle were on the stove top and his spatula was in the spoon rest.  He is so cute.  I love him.  I didn't ask him to do any of this...he did it on his own.  I love this man.  I love that he loves our family and is excited about the day and got prepared.

Tomorrow we serve breakfast at the Shirley House of Pancakes at 7:30 and then we roll out at 8:00.  Can't wait.

all grownup

It is sad to say, and it is probably true in most households, the master bedroom is usually the last room to be decorated.  Think about it, it is usually the last room anyone sees so it is usually the room the least amount of effort is put in to.  Which is sad.  It should be our sanctuary.  So over the last year or so, I have slowly been working on our room.  The first portion was the bedding...and now I am on to accessories.  For the past 4 years, the accessories in our room have been pictures of The Mayor and Love Bug.  And I LOVE my kids, but I want to move the kids out of the master bedroom.  Without getting too personal, D and I just shouldn't be looking at pictures of the kids above our headboard or on our dresser when pulling out our PJs and socks.  So today, I moved on to making our master bedroom all grown up.  

For the past 4 years, we have had 3 11x14 frames over the headboard with black and white photos of The Mayor from when he was 6 weeks old.  Today, they came down.  And I purchased two gorgeous glass candle scones and a large metal scroll piece.  I L-O-V-E it.  Seriously, I sat in our room for hours this afternoon just looking at our wall.  I feel so grownup all of a sudden.  And...I also found bath mats that I love!  Why I ever shop retail is beyond me.  I went to Homegoods today and found these Ralph Lauren bath mats...which are AWESOME...and are about 1/2 the price of what I was going to pay for subpar bath mats that I was going to purchase yesterday from Target.  And the metal pieces above the bed were all purchased at Hobby Lobby and all of them were 50% off.  I could EASILY decorate my house just from Hobby Lobby alone.  How I am just now stumbling on to this masterpiece of a store is just beyond me.  

Once I find some curtains for the master bathroom I will feel like our space is done.  It is slowly becoming our space...and I love that.

our awesome bathmats...how awesome are these??

our grownup bed...LOVE the metal pieces

stumbled onto this awesomeness at Homegoods today...it would look A-MA-ZING in our master bedroom...sadly, not in the budget :(

three dollars worth of happiness

We have lived in our house for 8 years.  This is the longest I have ever lived in one house my entire life.  Since moving isn't an option, I am trying to come up with new and cheap ways to fall in love again with my house.  Today's obsession was the master bathroom and the remedy was bath mats.  I don't know...sometimes I really wonder what the heck goes on in my head.  For whatever reason I woke up this morning with our bathroom on the brain and just knew if I could find bath mats, it would totally transform the room.  

I loaded the kids up and we were off to Target.  And I found bath mats but nothing I really loved.  But then I also thought we needed an area rug in the bathroom and then a large round cream distressed table...yes, our bathroom is that big.  It is single-handedly the biggest waste of space...ever.  I found a great rug on clearance but it wasn't quite perfect for the bathroom...and I didn't want to get it just because it was a great price.  So we left the bathroom area with no bath mats and ideas just swirling around the brain.

We wandered down to the Halloween section to see if any new decorations that I haven't already looked at and/or already purchased had ended up on the shelves.  Nothing new.  But thank you to the great people at Target for not only putting Halloween decorations up a month ago but also putting out some Christmas decorations.  And I will thank Jesus for the next one...for blessing me with a son who is as obsessed with Christmas decorations as I am.  He ran to the same silver Christmas tree that he has run to the last 5 visits to Target and kept telling me to look at it.  He asked over and over if we could get Christmas lights and if we could put up his Christmas tree.  I told him no (but secretly wished we could) and stumbled on to some Halloween lights...for $3.  Compromise.  I grabbed two boxes and have now ghettoed up the windows in the kitchen.  Most people would wrap them around the deck or their staircase or put them in the bushes.  But not us...because we want to see them all of the time.  So they are wrapped around my cornice boards and windows in the kitchen.  And all of the lights are off in the house so we can sit here by the light of the orange, green and purple awesomeness.  

so proud of his lights

poor Love Bug still eating her dinner in only the light of the Halloween lights

firepits

Just when I thought we were done...D comes up with another plan.  We are loving our new backyard but D wanted to add one last touch...a firepit.  He has flattened out a section of one of the flower beds, is almost done building a retaining wall, has made the firepit and is deciding what to do around the firepit (pavers or gravel).  He has worked like a dog this weekend and is about 90% complete.  By next weekend, we can make s'mores by the fire.  Obviously, there will be pictures posted...but not until it is complete.  What a transformation our backyard is.

We had a great week.  The weather was perfect and the week was filled with tennis for me and playdates for The Mayor and Love Bug.  This week I need to get working on The Mayor's birthday party...it is less than 2 weeks away so I need to get my act in gear.  I can't believe my boy will be 4!

stats

I totally forgot to post The Mayor and Love Bug's stats from their well visits.

The Mayor's stats at his 4 year well visit:
weight: 42 pounds (90th percentile)
height: 41 1/2 inches (75th percentile)

Love Bug's stats at her 18 month well visit:
weight: 25.2 pounds (70th percentile)
length: 32 1/2 inches (75th percentile)
head: 19 1/4 inches (90th percentile)

The Mayor isn't officially 4 until the end of this month, but we went ahead and did all of the doctor's appointments on the same day.

The Mayor is solid.  He actually has definition in his abs.  I am seriously jealous of the abs on my almost 4 year old (I have got to get to the gym).  I was shocked his height was only the 75th percentile.  He is so tall.  People are surprised when they find out he is only 3 because he is so tall.

Love Bug is still a peanut.  I know her weight is in the 70th percentile but she somehow is so dainty.  She has always been this way.  From her first second of life when our midwife said she looked like she only weighed 6 pounds (and we were shocked when the scale read 7 lbs 10 oz) through most of her doctor's visits, the nurses are always guessing her weight is much lower than the scale reads.  I am seriously jealous of my daughter looking smaller than she actually weighs (I mean really, I need to get to the gym).

Today's weather was gorgeous.  Sunny and 70s.  We spent the evening outside enjoying the backyard.  We were only out there for 45 minutes and I took 140 pictures.  I love today.

don't want to forget this picture...The Mayor was talking to himself about trains and was passionately "pulling the train whistle" and saying choo-choo

miss independent

another tri bites the dust

Today marks the one year anniversary of D's first triathlon, and what better way to celebrate then with another triathlon.  It has been an amazing race year for him.  He has pushed himself and completed races I thought he would have to be insane to do in his first year.  But he did them and exceeded his goal for every race he competed in.  We are so proud of him...and in the words of The Mayor today "daddy, I'm so proud of you swimming and riding your bike and running.  I want you to do it again"!  We all do buddy, we all do.

We had an awesome cheering section again this year.  Mamie, PopPop, J, Meega and Bennett joined The Mayor, Love Bug and I in cheering on D.  His goal was to beat his time from last year and he did it...with a bum calf.  Way to go D!

another great day

The Dawgs won and the weather was perfect.  Tomorrow we wake up bright and early for D's triathlon.  Going to be awesome!