Fashion Week/Girls' Trip

I have some really great friends from college. For several years now we've tried to take an annual girls trip, which has been named SFGG (Super Fabulous Girls Getaway). This year, we went to Fashion Week in Charleston. SIX of us were able to getaway. Returing to our college town together was a real treat! We come from all over and thoroughly enjoy each other's company. This is a much needed time to escape and enjoy! 

Friday night dinner at FIG
L-R: Amy (due in June with #3, lives in Birmingham), Melissa (from Monterrey, CA), Heather (known her since 7th grade, lives in Atlanta), Laura (Spartanburg, SC), Cory (Charleston), Kate (lives in Charleston and has a 2 week old- so glad she came out!), Randy (Middletown, DE), and moi

After dinner, we went to Henry's. We wanted some music and were tired of sitting from our 2 hour meal. Of course, at 8:30 no bands have started. The night was young....and we are not! However, upstairs there was a sorority semi-formal. We snuck in as "alumni" and danced in the corner, appalled at how these girls dance and dress! We all decided to NEVER let our daughters attend college. :)

Saturday morning, Laura, Randy and I went for a jog around town. I ran for 35 minutes! Go me! That's the longest I've done.  Then we went to the Bridal Show. This is the only Fashion Week event we attended. Next year, we are definitely returning for more! It was so fun! And Laura's sister-in-law (and one of my sorority sisters) was a model, so it was neat to see someone we knew! The event was cool- free appetizers, mimosas, bloody marys, make up application, and goodie bags! Afterwards we ate lunch at Amen Street and shopped around downtown.

Saturday night dinner at Trattoria Luca 

There was a cute, tiny bar across the street so we hung out there afterwards 

Thank you, Amy, for confiscating all the cell phones

We went back to the hotel afterwards and played Cards Against Humanity. If I explain it, it won't sound fun. But it is the most hilarious game ever! I'm talking my sides were sore the next morning from laughing so much!

Sunday morning was rainy, rainy, rainy and downtown completely flooded. We ate brunch/lunch at Virgina's. My friend Stacy (who lives in Charleston) also joined us. I am so glad I got to spend so much time with my favorite girls! And thank you to Seth (and his parents, who majorly chipped in) for keeping the kids! 

21 months (and a ton of pictures)

Happy Spring! James will be 21 months tomorrow, but has rapidly entered the Terrible Twos! He tests us to no end. I love him to pieces, but this has been a month of new, not-so-fun behaviors. We will survive...

Adelyn on the other hand, has exhibited more mature behaviors, so that's been a blessing. She is on a counting kick and wants to count to 100 all the time. Her reading and writing are improving. She is planning her May birthday party daily (and has been for a couple months now). 

Below are a bazillion pictures of memories this month has brought. 

Adelyn has been DYING to have a friend spend the night. Mae Mae and Adelyn had fun playing dress up (James is just happy to be included), eating hot dogs, and watching Happy Feet with popcorn and ice cream. Sweet girls!

Seth had a race in Austin, TX. Circuit of Americas is an awesome, brand new track! Fans can ride an elevator  up to the top of this tower and view the entire track. It has a glass wall and 1/3 of the floor in glass too. Of course, I didn't have my camera when we went up! The kids made me nervous up there!

We ate dinner 2 nights at Matt's Famous El Rancho. It was seriously some of the best Mexican I've ever had (especially the chile rellanos!). Clearly, James enjoyed the queso. 

Watching Seth qualify

Adelyn and Eli climbing the fence- I was pretty proud of her for doing this! She normally does not do things like this. 

We went to this awesome park and let the kids play. Thomas, Eli, and Adelyn had a blast!

Cool old firetruck

They had a train ride that took us all over the park (and gave us pretty views of downtown)

Grandma, Grandpa, and James on the train. I would never survive 3 days at a track with kids without them!

Rob was nice enough to give the kids a little motorcycle ride. 

We had dinner at Ironworks Barbecue. Sweet Henry fell asleep on the ride there. Beth was able to keep him asleep until the next morning. The track will wear the kids out!

During the race, the kids rolled down this hill over and over again

Post race....Seth and Dan started in 29th and finished 10th! They are currently THIRD in points- woo hoo!!

Play hard, sleep hard. Here's my sweet boy sacked out with his lovey as a pillow

James loves Nutella!

Jonquils pop up every year in the pasture by our house. Adelyn loves to pick and arrange flowers.

My friend Amy and I took our girls to see Mickey Mouse Live in Birmingham! It was a cute show, filled with lots of Disney characters

James is doing surprisingly well with Practical Life lessons. Hopefully this will build his concentration and strengthen his pincer grip (and buy me 10-20 minutes, which is how long he did this!)

Adelyn's school had Daddy Night. She was so excited! They did lots of crafts and read books in a tent. I love this questionnaire! She painted a picture of him too- he has brown hair. 

Baking cake pops

GORGEOUS afternoon! They could spend hours in the sandbox. I think we're ready for a beach trip! 

We had friends over for dinner. Cullen and Adelyn are enjoying the dessert that Kyla made. Adelyn wanted to make sure there were flowers on the table for them. First date?? 

On St Patricks Day, a leprechaun dyed our yogurt, eggs, and milk green!

Family picture before church on St. Patricks Day

I helped host a shower for my friend Amelia. Here she is (with her mom) at 32 weeks. Ironically, she had her baby 2 days later (emergency c-section). Please keep her and the baby in your prayers. Mama and baby are doing well! :)

College of Charleston KD reunion! A band was playing as we left the restaurant and all the kids started dancing to the tune of "Gin and Juice". The crowd was cracking up!

20 months old (2/22)

 James is talking more and more each day. He wants to speak in sentences, so it will often sound like, "ahgy ghoug goud TRACTOR" or "boudyg guydh gydw RIDE???".  Everything kind of ends with his voice going up towards the end, making him sound a bit British in my opinion. He is all about Adelyn. He has to know where she is at any given point in time and he says her name 24,569 times per day. "Adda!"...and he kind of rolls the "d", like he's speaking Spanish. He's very cultural.
He still is a great little sleeper. I am trying to get him to drop that blasted morning nap, but he is so cranky or he'll fall asleep in the car before lunch and mess up the vital afternoon nap (when Adelyn is also asleep!). He takes a great 2-3 hour afternoon nap and goes to bed around 7:30/8:00 and sleeps until 6:30/7 a.m.
James enjoys playing with blocks. He uses large lego-like blocks and build things or can make some serious towers with solid cubes. He loves to figure things out- I love to watch him study. James loves to be chased or chase you and he giggles the entire time- SUCH a cute giggle! I love this little man! :)

I went to my parents and Adelyn got to go my mom's school one Friday. My mom teaches at a Montessori school. Adelyn was very excited to have Nana as her teacher. 

Adelyn in Practical Life

We've had several beautiful winter days. One day the kids even got ice pops, since James fell and busted his lip. 

We have several pecan trees in our front yard. Adelyn loves to shell them and eat them. Unfortunately, she didn't get all of the bitter part out. 

He's not ALL boy

James plays with his "choo choo" table everyday

My pretty ballerina- one day we played with her hair and made this princess bun (oh, and added some lip gloss!)

Daddy is always fun!

Seth and I took Adelyn to the Big Apple Circus. It's a smaller (not for profit) circus company that came to Alpharetta! It was a really neat show and we all enjoyed it! We went on a rainy school night, so it wasn't too crowded. They moved all the spectators to the front rows- we got awesome seats!

Watching the beloved John Deere tractor video on the iPad

 One Friday, I had several errands to run while Adelyn was at school. Rather than take care of my things, I had a morning date with James. We went to Starbucks (and he had a blueberry muffin from Donut Depot while I had a latte)

And then we met my friend and her 2 boys at Catch Air. It was so fun to spend one on one time with my favorite little boy

I added a kids' table in the kitchen. Adelyn eats every meal here and James gets to eat here occasionally (he gets up too much!). He thinks he's big stuff when he gets to dine with Adda!

Hawaii: Part ekolu (3)

Wrapping up our week... (Part 1 here and Part 2 here) 
Friday: We rented snorkeling gear. The woman at the shop recommended a beach that had great coral and fish. We packed lunch and headed to 49 Black Sand Beach. It was in Mauna Lani Resort, but was public. It wasn't crowded at all and the snorkeling was awesome! I wish I had an underwater camera for pictures of what we saw! There was a trail that led to some of the homes and it was neat seeing the luxury. 

49 Black Sand Beach

Afterwards, we headed to Lava Lava (a public beach/restaurant/rental units) for an afternoon snack

Tuna appetizer- how much tuna can we eat in one week??

Friday night was our big date night. 

We ate at Merriman's in Waimea and this was seriously THE BEST meal I've ever had. I had mahi mahi in ponzu sauce, black rice, and broccolini along with a nice pinot. We followed this with bread pudding and Hamakua Hawaiian Cloud Forest coffee

Saturday: This was our last day. :( We spent the morning cleaning the condo and packing and I went for a run. We had our snorkeling gear for 24 hours so we decided to go back to Lava Lava and hang out. We snorkeled, lounged, and ate lunch. 

The snorkeling here was pretty good. We did come face to face with sea turtles underwater, which was a little scary! 

Like my Valentine's toes? The sand here was black and tan- we thought it looked like bird seed. 

Love this!! Paddleboarding with her dog

4 sea turtles

It's too far off, but this is about the best shot we got of a whale

Saturday afternoon, we drove to downtown Kona to check it out. I honestly wasn't that impressed. It was very touristy and kind of junky. Our flight wasn't until 9:50 that night, so we just killed time. I was half sad and half ready to get home and see the kids.

This trip was wonderful in every way. I think it's important for parents to get away. Adelyn and James did great at home, staying half the week with Seth's parents and half the week with mine (at our house). We can't say thank you enough to them for taking such great care of them while we were gone. And I can't say thank you enough to Seth either for arranging this trip for us!