Long day...

When I used to say I had a "long day" it was because it was a stressful day. Now when I say I had a "long day" it is because I spent the whole day playing with my kids. Ok, not the whole day, but close. I had good intentions when I woke up this morning. Lillie and I had breakfast, started laundry, and cleaned. Then the phone rang. It usually means a call from my sister to ask if we want to play. The answer is always yes! We started off at the Omniplex then had lunch together. After that we picked up Bubba from school. I tried to get home to finish my work, I promise. Lillie wanted to take a nap. Then the phone rang again. Spencer wanted to meet Lillie for some swinging. Lillie can never pass up an opportunity to go to the park. We finally got back home at 5pm. Just in time to get dinner ready and head to the gym. Lillie is really starting to love the YMCA. She gets so excited to go play with kids. We had dinner and Lillie got ready for bed. I have a feeling we will all sleep well tonight. I am so thankful that I get to spend more time with my kids. Lillie and I have fun everyday. Soon Draven will be out of school and can join us. We have lots of activities planned. This is all thanks to my wonderful, hardworking husband. I am so lucky, or as Ben's Fold Five (in our song) says "I am the luckiest."

This is what a baby looks like after a long day... I think she was afraid to fall asleep. She didn't want to miss anything.

Mother's Day weekend...

These are pictures from our dinner at the Meltons.

Look out Lillie, A CAR! This is the annual beer and brat's party.

Lillie and Bubba got to ride in the fire truck at the Village Fair.

Since it was Mother's Day, everyone humored me and we wore our matching March For Babies Tshirts.

Aunt Marla sent me these beautiful earrings for Mother's Day. I wore them all weekend.

What a great weekend. Here's the recap. Friday Chris got off work early so we could go to the Southside YMCA for family fun day. We try to do something fun for the whole family on Fridays. The Southside Y has a indoor water park. Chris and I did our workout (my second workout in one day) then went swimming. It is a great place for babies. Lillie can walk in the water and play with all the water toys. They even have a family locker room. We have our own private room with a bathroom and shower. That makes things so much easier. After that, Chris and I had a dinner for exchange club. Draven babysat for a couple of hours and Chris and I enjoyed a wonderful meal (that wasn't on our diet.) When we got home we watched the Punisher. Not a bad movie. Definitely a boy movie, not a mom movie. We went to bed around midnight.

We spent most of the day Saturday running around. We started off with the Cassidy School Estate Sale fundraiser. Then we ran into the Village Fair. It was basically booths, music, food, and a petting zoo. The weather was beautiful so it was great just wandering around outside. After that we headed to an annual cookout. We had homemade beer and brats (once again, not on the diet.) The party was filled with kids. Draven and Lillie had a blast. The house is on a dead end street so the kids were riding bikes and playing in the road. Nice. We had to leave early from that party to head to another. We had a friend's daughter celebrating her first communion. We had more wonderful food. This time I stuck to a light salad. There were more kids playing. The big kids played soccer and Lillie played on the swing set and playhouse. We are taking home the playhouse. Our friends little girls have outgrown it. We are also getting their kitchen set. Both are adorable and much appreciated. We topped the night off with cake and champagne (there goes the diet again.) Once we were home we all crawled into bed and watch Justin Timberlake on SNL.

Now on to Sunday. Lillie slept in til 10am. So, I slept til 10am. I woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking. Chris made me breakfast in bed. He picked some sweet flowers and Draven and Lillie made me a card. Pretty sweet stuff. I decided to have my breakfast downstairs with the rest of the family. We all sat at the table in the living room and had breakfast together. While Lillie took her nap, Chris and I headed to the gym. We had a lot of "bad food" on Saturday. It was time to burn some of those calories. We checked out our rank at the gym. Looks like Chris and I should both make the board for next month. We both are trying to get our names on the board for top 10 male/female calories burned and for top 10 male/female days at the gym. Something about competing with others and seeing your name posted for everyone to see makes me want to work out even more. After the gym we went to run some errands and finished up with a trip to the library. I picked up a few nutrition books. Now Chris is making dinner. We are having turkey sausage, spaghetti, and zucchini and yellow squash. Yum!

I wasn't sure what I wanted for Mother's Day. Now looking back at my weekend, I think I got the perfect gift. I spent time with my family and they kept the house clean!

March for Babies...

These are the signs that my adorable nieces made for the walk. How cute Kate? I love this picture! Brooke made this one all by herself. I am so proud that she is my niece!
Ok, now this one cracks me up. Check out the small "s" after "dime." They even covered the sign with dimes. So clever!
Here are a few shots of what would of been the March for Babies.

Lillie had to carb up for her big walk.

I need to get a better shot of our shirts. They turned out so well. I want to wear mine all the time.
Lillie and her blankie.
This was before I got a chance to put on my shirt. I really think we would of won the tshirt contest if we had our whole team there.
As much of you know (or guessed) the walk did not happen. I woke up at 7 am ready to go. I heard the thunder and knew it wasn't going to happen. But, I wasn't giving up. I got everyone dressed and out the door. We showed up at the myriad gardens and saw people leaving and empty tents. The rain was pouring. I wore a poncho and covered Lillie's stroller with a poncho. We were directed downstairs for a small indoor gathering. No walking, but lots of people having a good time. After an hour or two it was over. I was really disappointed, but things happen. The walk has been rescheduled for June 6th. I don't know if we will be able to attend. We have a close friend's birthday and a wedding. The important thing is that we ended up raising over $1,000. That is twice my orginal goal! Once again thanks to all that helped!

DRUNKEN SAILOR?

No, It's Lillie Marie!
After a few months of "thinking" about walking, Lillie has finally made the switch. About two weeks ago she stopped crawling completely. I took her to Northpark today to exchange some clothes. I decided see how she would do without her stroller. She did a great job, but is a bit slow. She also wants to explore everything. She was fascinated by the big fountain and an elderly lady with a walker. We made time to stop a play a little bit. This video was shot after shopping. She is a little wobbly, but getting better everyday. She also started talking a bunch too. She even speaks in sentences that I can't understand. I don't know what all of the words are, but here are a few guesses:
Hi
Cheese
Cookie
Thank you