Workout Buddies

Gray loves his new workout clothes...though he hasn't done much working out in them:)

Easter Girl

Am I THAT Pathetic?

At the grocery store yesterday, I was waiting in the checkout line. I had Julia in the front pack carrier thing and Gray in the buggy and Joshua walking. There was a lady in line paying. I didn't realize she even noticed us until she caught my eye and said, "I'm going to unload your cart for you! I just feel so sorry for you!" I said, "Oh, I'm okay. We do this all the time!" She would not be deterred. "Well I just feel so GUILTY!" she says, "I just can't leave you like that."

Leave me like what? Do I look so run down/frantic/stressed that I can't put my own groceries on the conveyor belt? I mean the boys didn't do that great in the store this time and it's no secret that grocery shopping with the 3 kiddos is my least favorite task, but still--it's just 3 kids, not 10! (Of course right after she came over, Joshua climbed on the cart to help unload and stepped right on the eggs, so that didn't help my case any.) Anyway, maybe it's just me, but though she was trying to be helpful, the way she said that she felt sorry for me made me feel a lot worse than if she had just left us alone! Was she thinking she felt bad because she was going to go home and drink lemonade by the pool while I struggled in the checkout line and went home to tame my 3 unruly children? Or was she thinking I must be irresponsible to have SO many kids in so little time and obviously at too young an age? Or maybe what got her was that I looked like I hadn't had a shower in a few days (which I hadn't, but I did actually put on a little makeup!) I guess I'll never know!

Gray's birthday

Well Gray didn't exactly have a happy birthday. He was better, but pretty grouchy. He didn't even want to eat his cake! And another sad moment was when he put on the new outfit Stacy got him. He said he was going to keep those clothes on for the party. Poor guy didn't realize we had to cancel his party and he wasn't going to have one:( He did get to open some gifts and he enjoyed that, though was pretty subdued. He also liked watching his "3rd Year" movie and listening to me read the birthday letter I wrote. We tried to make his day special and hopefully it was, despite the circumstances. Hoping next year is much better!

Happy Birthday to Gray!! (and Happy early Birthday GrandGene!)

We did a little bit of celebrating yesterday with Mimi and GrandGene. Gray still didn't feel well, but he opened his presents from my side of the family (Thanks everyone!!) and we had birthday lemon pie for Daddy and gave him his presents. Gray seems better today, but I don't want to count my chickens! Hopefully the cake I made for him several days ago will be eaten tonight!

Movin' On Up

Poor Gray spent most of his weekend like this.
Joshua is still so taken with his little sister!
Can't get enough of this sweet girl! She has been so pleasant this past week!

Julia finally moved out of our closet into her own room upstairs tonight! Not sure how well I'll like going upstairs to feed her tonight and not having the convenience of all her stuff in my room, but it is nice to not have the extra clutter and to not have to tiptoe in to brush teeth at night so we don't wake her. We'll see how it goes! She hasn't slept well at night lately, so guess it can't get much worse!

And speaking of moving, Matt is now looking to possibly move the gym out of our garage into a rented space. We have a few options in Hillsborough, but it's a pretty big decision so Matt's not going to rush into anything. We think a bigger building and better location will generate more business, but of course the downsides are paying rent and not working from home. It will be an adjustment! Please pray for us as we make this big decision.

**Gray had another rough day, but seemed much better right before bed. Time will tell how he feels on his birthday tomorrow!

More Matt Birthday

Soccer Game...or something like that

Well I didn't get to go to the game since Gray was sick, but from what I heard, Joshua wasn't exactly the star player:) Apparently he mostly stood on the field the whole game. Can't say I'm too surprised since that is his typical response to new situations. Then once he sizes things up, he gets into the action. So we'll just assume he's still figuring out the mechanics of the game and coming up with a strategy to win....sounds better than stubborn and shy at least!

Side note- Gray seemed to be better at 1 am, though all day yesterday was rough for him. We're hoping to celebrate his birthday today with Mama and Daddy and I'm so hoping they don't get sick today!

Unbelievable. :( :(

Well Gray woke up throwing up this morning. I thought us having the GI bug twice already in the last month or so would assure us of being well till next sick season...or at least for a couple of weeks! So huge bummer for us that we can't do the quadruple party as planned. I'm just hoping my parents don't get it too. They are with Matt and Joshua at Joshua's soccer game and we're going to try to have some kind of smaller scale party tomorrow when, hopefully, Gray is feeling better. In the grand scheme of things, I know this is not a big deal, but I'm still disappointed. It's very reminiscent of that Christmas when Matt was deployed and I planned all these fun Christmas activities for the family and we all ended up throwing up and missing it.

Happy Birthday to Matt!

We gave Matt his card and gifts this morning and he and Joshua have been spending the whole day together! Think they are having fun, but haven't gotten the whole report yet. We're having pizza (made by me, so you never know how that will go...anyone remember the waxed paper incident?) and cheesecake tonight and will be welcoming Mama and Daddy, who will be in town this weekend for the big party tomorrow. We also have Joshua's first soccer game in the morning and a group dinner with church tomorrow night. Should be a busy day!

Don't know why this fascinates me...

but here's another comparison of the kiddos at about 3 months old.

Weekend

It was a blessedly uneventful one! We spent some nice time outside, went to the mall so Matt could pick out a birthday present, ate pizza out for lunch, went to church on Sunday, and had more outside time playing Hide & Seek (which was pretty funny since Gray would jump out and shout, "Here I am!" as soon as the finder finished counting). Nice to be well and just hang out as a family. I'm thinking of it as the calm before the storm since we have the big quadruple birthday party here next weekend, followed by hosting a cookout/workout here Easter weekend and then of course Easter Sunday. Looking forward to all of those things too and hoping everyone is well!

Movies

We started a 2 week trial of Netflix and then I missed the cancellation date by a day so we ended up paying for a month of it. We haven't gotten as much for our money as we should have because we are either watching tv shows we like or coming home later and too tired to start a movie, but we have watched a few.

Last night we watched Seven Pounds. It was definitely good and thought-provoking, but I hesitate to tell you to watch it because it's pretty sad. It is one of those movies that can start me thinking about all the sad things that could happen to our family and/or make me determined to love them better.

Another movie we pretty much liked was Yes Man with Jim Carey. I expected cheesy but it was actually very funny, though it had some kind of yuck parts so can't really wholeheartedly recommend this one either.

And then there was Confessions of a Shopaholic. Matt actually watched this with me without putting up a fuss. But about 30 minutes into it, when I was glued to the tv and thinking, "What a great, fun movie!", Matt said, "This is pretty horrible, isn't it?" But he finished it out with me and I don't know that his opinion improved, but he survived! Of course this movie isn't Oscar-winning, but I thought it was a good time anyway.

What else? There was Julie and Julia. I had wanted to see that for awhile and then there was just "something" about the title that made me want to see it more:) We watched this in 2 parts in Fort Mill because we all fell asleep the first time. I never like movies as much when I don't see them all at once and this one was no different. I thought there were some good parts, but overall it was just okay to me. I like the scenes with Julia Child the best, which reminded me that I would have enjoyed living in the 50's (I think). I love movies from that era at least.

We watched a little bit of a movie called The Insider...or something like that. It had Al Pacino and Russell Crowe in it, but we couldn't really get into it so it didn't last long.

The same thing happened with a Julia Roberts movie we got. I can't remember the name of it but think it was her latest. We were both kind of tired and just couldn't focus and then we didn't give it another shot.

Matt watched a movie with Ben Affleck in it. Can't think of that name either, but it was his most recent I believe. He really like it, but it was one of those nights that I had to go to bed early because Julia hadn't been sleeping well.

The Invention of Lying was pretty funny, but had some junk in it. Also, I had read an article about this so I knew ahead of time that the star and director (or maybe he was the write) is an atheist and the direction the film ends up taking is that people totally made up God. Interesting and kind of a deep underlying theme for what you think is just a romantic comedy.

The other movie that I can think of that we watched was Syriana. It was a middle eastern type and pretty interesting, but doesn't leave you with a good feeling.

Well that's all for my movie reviews. Think we're going to cancel Netflix for real this time. Movies can be fun, but there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot out there right now that are really good and interesting to us. Anyone seen any good ones lately? And yes, Daddy, I know The Blind Side was great, but you can't get it on Netflix quite yet. We will be sure to see it one way or another when we can:)

You can run, but you can't hide

The stomach virus has gotten us again! I was throwing up Monday night and until this morning, thought I was going to be the only sick one, but the boys woke up with it this morning. Seems like there's just nothing you can do to escape once it gets one family member! Still hoping Matt and Julia can avoid it though.

And speaking of inescapable annoyances, I have a little bit of poison ivy again. I know, I know. I should have learned not to mess with that stuff, but there were roots of it just laying out under one of our trees and it was too tempting. Of course, once I started pulling them up, I remembered what a daunting task getting rid of that stuff can be. There was a huge network of roots under the dirt and working for an hour or 2 (and getting 2 trash bags of roots up), I barely covered any ground of the affected area. And then like a dummy, I left the bags under the tree and you-know-who drug the bags and roots over the yard when I went inside. So more clean up and more opportunities to get the rash followed. I tried to be so careful, but like I said, I just can't escape this stuff!

Julia pictures

I just love this outfit and it's a NB size so this is probably the last time she can wear it. Had to take some pictures though she wanted to lick her shirt a lot more than she wanted to smile!

Julia playing

Proud Gray

He dressed himself completely this morning before he came downstairs and he was so excited about it:) (Yes, both his pants and shirt are backwards.)

Things that amaze me this week...

-How when Julia is dressed in pink and sitting in her pink carseat and someone can genuinely ask, "Girl??"

-How Joshua can have 10 "why" questions about the book "10 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." It's really not that complicated, Buddy!

-How my family has such a propensity for peeing/pooping/spilling drinks/shaving hair/tracking dirt on any surface I have just cleaned.

-How Gray can tell me in all seriousness that he has cleaned his plate when I can see a pile of food on it from across the room.

-How totally cute baby girl clothes are! (Anyone seen the Spring stuff at Costco? I have yet to buy an outfit for Julia because I'm afraid if I start I will never stop!)

-How gross little boys can be! (i.e. Joshua, who told me this morning, "Sometimes I use my thumb to get food or boogies out of my teeth.")

-How wonderful Spring weather can make everyone feel! I have heard many squeals of delight this week as the boys have done fun outside things like throwing sand at each other, digging up worms, and peeing in the same place in the grass.

-How getting everyone ready to leave the house inevitably turns me into a grouchy mommy! Heaven help us when/if we start having to go to school every morning!

-How hard working out is! I think CrossFit is great...until I have to do it:)

-How affectionate Joshua has become! Never thought he'd insist on so many hugs every day.

-How adorable Gray still is! Even though he's almost 3, those baby cheeks and little sweet voice are just so cute.

-How much I'm enjoying having a girl. I used to think baby boys were so much more fun than girls, but I feel so differently now that I have a girl.

Well those are my thoughts from this week. Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Sorry, Carly!

Okay, Carly, I promise we thought about you yesterday on your birthday and made this movie, but I forgot to actually post it till I saw your more thoughtful aunt Jeannie's blog with her Happy Birthday message! Hope you'll forgive us! We love you and hope you had a great day!! Happy 4th!

Julia pictures

It's official...

I'm losing my mind.

I just took out 2 pictures of Julia out of an album to make copies to put in her calendar. I made the copies, cut them out, was getting ready to put them in the calendar and went ahead and put the other set back in the photo album. Then I couldn't find the copies. Where are they? I JUST cut them out so they have to be here! I looked in the photo album. I looked in the calendar. I shook both of the out. Straightened up the desk. Checked the trash. Repeat 3 times. Then I closely looked at the originals in the photo album. Yep, they were the copies and where were the originals? Still in the scanner.

If only this was a rare occurrence. I know I have 3 kids and one is a "newborn," but how long can you use that excuse?

Soccer!

Joshua had his first soccer practice last night and he loved it! He was a little shy, but I think he'll warm up to everyone and be a good little athlete. It's all pretty funny at this age! He's in the "under 4" group and there are about 10 little ones on his team. Last night they just practiced kicking. I think their first game (in less than 2 weeks!) is going to be pretty hilarious since no one knows what they are doing! Joshua was mostly excited about a little friend from church being on his team. He kept saying afterwards how much fun he had playing with Jack and "Mommy, next week, I'm going to ask Jack if he'll be on my team!" Not sure if he gets that they are on the same team already, but may play against each other in practice:)

(Oh, and I just threw in a picture of Pogo, who was relaxing last night after a fun weekend at Nanny's! Thanks for keeping him, Cindy and Barnette!)

Where we've been...

Well I haven't had any time to post anything the last few days because we were in Fort Mill for a CrossFit event Matt competed in. It ended up being 2 long days of competition (Thank you Mama and Daddy for watching the boys) and we had a great time, but were busy and tired...especially Matt! He did great and finished 37 of 81 men...and there were some seriously fit guys there! The workouts were incredibly hard and when I have a chance, I'll post some pictures so you can get an idea. Very proud of Matt and really enjoyed watching him. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

**Pictures added:

1) Day One, 2nd workout included deadlifts, jumping over a tall box, and climbing a really tall rope. Some people couldn't climb the rope, so Matt really did well here!

2) Matt jumping

3) Deadlifts

4) Julia made a great spectator! (Day Two)

5) Day Two, first workout was clean and jerk the heaviest weight you can

6) Day Two, second workout was 10 different exercises, including double unders (double jumping a jump rope), lifting a heavy kettle bell over your head, rowing, etc. This is the "slam ball"...a 30 pound ball that you bounce on the ground from over your head and catch....30 times.

7) Julia and Matt hanging out (Day One)

8) Day One, first workout was a bunch of sprints and squats with a 60 pound sandbag.