Happy Birthday Lily!!

Today is Lily's actual birthday. Four years ago (at 7:16pm to be exact), after a week of waiting (btw, the longest week of my life) our Lily Grace was finally born. Weighing in at a healthy 7lbs, 8 oz. she was just perfect...she started smiling at 4 weeks and hasn't stopped since. She was just the best, most laid back baby. She slept well, ate well and just generally had a good disposition. Things that haven't really changed. She was a week late and she still moves at her own pace. But, I just couldn't love her more! She is such a blessing and I am truly grateful that the Lord gave her to me.

This morning I fixed Lily her favorite breakfast - cinnamon rolls and yogurt. Then she and Emma played with the new Barbies for a while. We then headed to the mall for a little birthday shopping trip. We went to Build-a-Bear and Lily got to pick out some new things for her bears. She chose a bathing suit and a bed (which took forever for me to blow up!). We then played in the play area and had lunch at Chick-fil-a. A fun morning! Julia's napping now and after she gets up I imagine the birthday girl will want to go swimming. She wants to go to dinner at Red Robin so we'll do that later and let her open her gifts from us when Paul gets home. Hopefully the day will result in a fun, great birthday for Lily!

A Very Barbie Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Lily's 4th Birthday and we had a great time! It's hard to believe my little Lily is turning 4 (her actual birthday is tomorrow). We invited several neighbors and friends over for a pool party (I love having one child with a summer birthday - pool parties are the easiest!). We had 10 little girls over and the plan was to have cake and ice cream at our house then we'd head for the pool. The theme this year was Ariel so before the party Lily helped me create the cupcake cake. It turned out pretty cute and Lily loved it. In addition to the 10 little girls we also had 3 sets of grandparents in attendance so that made the day even more special.

Once everyone arrived we sang Happy Birthday and ate the cupcakes and ice cream (birthday cake flavored, courtesy of Emma). We then handed out the "goodie bags" which was a big towel with each girls name on it (I really try to give a favor that kids can reuse. I hate when kids get a bag full of junk at parties, no offense). The towels turned out to be a hit and then we headed to the pool.

It was probably the most laid back party I've ever done which resulted in no stress on my behalf which was great. I also succeeded in not opening presents at the party (which I've said the last few parties that I wouldn't do but always end up doing anyway). I just think with a lot of kids it gets crazy opening gifts. So after we got from the pool we opened her gifts. She got some really nice things...our friends are so generous! She got a ton of Barbie stuff - seriously..a ton! I think it was at least 4 dolls, 2 horses (but they were different), a car and a golf cart. She loved it though, she's been totally into Barbie's lately. She got a purse with money from my dad which she thought was the coolest thing ever! She also got some baby doll stuff and an art set.

We did get a couple things we already had but you know those 2 awesome moms but gift receipts with them so we can return them to Target. I love moms who do that. I try hard to be that mom but sometimes I just forget to include the gift receipt.

All in all a great day and a great party for my little Lily bug!!

Our Rock Star

We got RockBand for wii the other day and let me tell you it's hard! I am apparantely not going to be a rock star anytime soon. Julia, on the other hand, is our budding little drummist. Check her out:

To Buy or Not to Buy...That is the question

I have a confession to make - school lunch stresses me out. Just thinking about having to make my kids lunch every day is stressing me out. See I'm not a big fan of the midday meal. Sure I like to eat it but I loathe thinking about it every day. The more children I have the more I hate it. I could exist on pb&j every day but sadly my children are not fans. In fact they aren't fans of sandwiches at all. Which is leading to my stress about school lunch. I know, I could just have Emma buy her lunch every day which would relieve the stress...I just always pictured myself as the mom who sent a good lunch in and wrote a little note to my kids. You know, what my mom didn't really do. I bought lunch most of the time, if I recall correctly, and when I got to middle school if I wanted to bring my lunch I packed it myself. So I vowed to do things differently and now I'm stressed about it. What do I pack her? How healthy should I make it? Now I hear you have to pack a snack too! I'm just not sure I'm ready for this!!

Target to the Rescue

After ranting about not being able to find school supplies at Walmart or TRU a friend told me that SuperTarget in Apex had stuff out. So last night after a yummy (& cheap) dinner at the Loop we headed over there to check it out. I needed diapers, wipes, paper towels and some other misc. stuff plus I had a rewards coupon so it was good timing.



Paul took Julia and Lily and Emma and I set out to fill her list. On the list:

Hannah Montana Backpack - check - not the girls rock one but one she liked

Package of glue sticks - check

Box of Kleenex - check

Towel for rest time - check - a bright, bright yellow one that she thought was so soft

Hannah Montana Thermos of keeping foods hot/cold for lunch



And that's pretty much it. All she needs for kindergarten - or at least until we get her specific teacher assignment. The backpack was really the only thing holding me back from filling the list. Target had a pretty good selection of them and of school supplies in general. They were very well shopped though...seems everyone has figured out Target is the only place in town that has an expanded section. We're happy to have the list filled...Emma is even more excited now to start school! Countdown to Kindergarten: 12 days!!

Wild Goose Chase

Our "Countdown to Kindergarten" is down to 13 days (OMG!!) so yesterday Emma and I spent some quality time looking at backpacks online. I wanted to get her an LL Bean one, monogrammed but she insists on a Hannah Montana "Girls Rock" one. Whatever. We saw the backpack on toysrus.com but I'm too cheap to pay shipping so I thought we'd just check out the stores and see if we could find it locally. Plus, I have a $3 off coupon for TRU.

So we leave gymnastics this morning and head to Walmart to pick up some bday party stuff (and an new coupon organizer to replace the stolen one) and check out their backpacks. Do you know what they had? Nothing! That's right - no cute kids ones - so disappointing. So Emma is really wanting to look for the backpack so I thought OK - we can to to TRU - it's not too far from here. So, we drive about 15 min down the road to where I think there is a TRU and guess what - it's not there. Apparently things change when you move away for 3 years. Go figure. So we're out burning up the gas anyway so we head 15 more min to where I'm sure they is a TRU. We get there and guess what? No backpacks of any sorts. None. Nada.

I should have just ordered the darn thing online. I'm sure I spent WAY more on gas today looking for the backpack than the shipping would have been. But it's so frustrating that stores here don't have much back to school stuff. I wouldn't necessarily expect them to have tons of stuff but really, we've had year round schools here for years. Haven't they figured that out yet? Perhaps I'm the only parent who would like to be prepared for school before it starts?

Anyway..that's my story of the day. And, guess what else - the new vera bradley I picked out from ebags isn't available so I had to pick out another one. I did get a great deal (already on sale and an extra 25% off and free shipping) but still frustrating. Very frustrating. Guess I'll look and see how long it will take the Hannah Montana Girls Rock backpack to be shipped...

Paul Caved!

I was looking at purses online last night and Paul caved and gave me his credit card so I get a new one! I'm so excited - I got a cute Vera Bradley and a matching wallet. They were both on sale and I got free shipping so it wasn't too expensive.

Not sure what made Paul cave - he did buy some new running shoes for himself so maybe he was feeling bad about that. I don't care one way or the other I'm just excited to get a new bag! Ebags said it should be here on Thursday!

credit card withdrawal

I'm so over not having any credit cards. I was really hoping at least one would arrive in the mail today. Honestly I'm shocked my drivers license arrived before at least one credit card. Really..the dmv moved faster than citibank. Go figure.

Lily's birthday party is on Saturday and I have some errands to run to get ready for that. Not to mention I need paper towels, laundry detergent and some misc. stuff from Target. I got a rewards card for Target today (a discount) but you need to have your Target Visa to use it and that, I do not have.

I think I'm getting payback for all those times when I get annoyed at people writing checks at stores. I'm about to be that person. Since I do have my license I'm free to write checks now but I hate that. I know Target and the grocery stores take checks but does Michael's? I guess in another day I'll be having so much shopping withdrawal that I'll be writing checks anywhere that will accept them.

I know I sound whiny but I get annoyed when I'm inconvenienced and things don't go my way. For the first few days it was OK but now I'm just over it!

Product Endorsment #1: How Swim shirts have changed my life

I confess, I've never been a big fan of the swimshirt. I didn't think my kids would be big fans either so when we got a couple in a bag of hand me downs I just sat them aside. However, I have noticed many more children wearing them at the pool this year, even the cool kids. When their mothers raved about how it cut back on the sunscreen time I began to listen with interest. With our daily (and sometimes twice daily) trips to the pool the time it takes to sunscreen all three kids was getting annoying. I have several products to expediate the process - the stick for the face and the spray - but great heavens that spray is expensive - we can easily go through a bottle in 4-5 days. So I decided to break out the swim shirts and see what happens. And you know what, the girls liked them - it certainly helped that a bunch of their friends were wearing them. And it really has cut back on the sunscreen time - it's nice not to worry about their backs, shoulders and chests getting sun exposure.

I felt like I hit the jackpot at Old Navy last weekend when cute swims shirt sets were on sale! So, if your kids are out in the sun a lot and you don't use swim shirts give them a try. Our new rule is daytime pool requires swim shirts and in the evening they can wear whatever suit they want. So far it's working!

Fun in the Sun

For the most part we're really enjoying our summer vacation. Most days are filled with lazy mornings and home and trips to the pool. I have tried to set up a few playdates for Emma now that her vacation time is really dwindling fast. But really we've been just hanging out at home and enjoying our lazy time.

Yesterday we went to our friends Riley and Preston's pool. They have a great pool and the kids had a great time there. The pool has a zero entry "sprayground" part for the babies and Julia loved it. They had an awesome water slide too that I think Emma and Lily would have spent all day at had I let them. I'm amazed at how confident both of them have become in the water since the beginning of the summer.

Today we're headed to the pool this morning then we have a birthday party this afternoon. Have I mentioned we have 4 birthday parties in the next 7 days (we've already been to 2 this month!)?? Birthday mania!!

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the pool yesterday:

The Aftermath

So it wasn't a nightmare...my purse (and cooler) really did get stolen yesterday and they really did charge close to $1000 worth of charges between 2 credit cards. Ugh...I took Emma to a playdate, bribed Lily and went to the bank to see what I needed to do to get my money back. They were very helpful and even cashed a check for me while I was there so I could have some money. I filled out the necessary paperwork for the bank. For one of the credit cards I have to wait until their paperwork comes in the mail. I ordered a new license from the dmv online (yes, you can do that - I thought there was just no way I was hauling 3 kids to the dmv), ordered a new AAA card and I need to go to BJ's to get a new card from there. So, there's still the matter of the new purse and wallet to acquire but I probably need to wait until I get my new cards for that. Paul did get all the new locks installed on the doors so that's good.

From all this I do have some lessons learned. I realize most of you are smarter than me and probably already know this but....

1. Don't keep all your credit cards in your wallet...keep at least one you don't use often at home in case said wallet gets stolen.
2. Keep a list of what you do have in your wallet and their phone numbers so you can call companies quickly if something gets stolen. I was thankful Paul was with me and has all the same cards so we had the card numbers and phone numbers readily available. Who knows how much they would have charged if it was even another hour....
3. Don't keep your PIN number in your wallet. Yes, I am that stupid sometimes...I don't think the thieves found it though...I've used the atm once in the last 3 years and it was fairly recently so I stuck the number in my wallet and never took it out. Dumb, I know..Paul was not happy when he heard that....
4. Don't leave your wallet/purse in the car especially if you even suspect that your husband will forget to lock the doors and especially if you are in Durham
5. Just generally avoid Durham - this is 2nd time my debit card has been stolen in Durham. I've had better luck in downtown Boston.
6. Thieves buy really random things...ice cream, chocolate, gas (well I guess I'd get gas these days too). If I were ever to steal a credit card I'd head straight for the mall and Ann Taylor, Nordstorm, shoes, purses....

Thanks for the Sympathy

We get home from the debacle at the musuem and Emma says to Paul...me and you can go shopping to get mommy a new purse since hers got stolen and she can't drive because she doesn't have her license....(isn't that sweet!!). To which Paul replied...mommy has enough purses...I'm sure she has another one she can use...nice Paul, really nice...way to be sympathic.

Great Day Gone Bad, Very, Very Bad

So Paul was off today and I decided we should have a fun family day. With only 3 weeks until E starts Kindergarten our days of leisure are coming to a quick close. On the agenda: a trip to the Musuem of Life and Science in Durham, a visit to Locopops then home for a dip in the pool - pure family fun....

The day started off well. We packed up some snacks and headed to the musuem. We haven't been there in eons and everyone raves about how fun it is so we were looking forward to it. It started out fun - I will eventually add some pictures - I got a ton! We loved the butterfly pavillion and the girls really had fun with all the exhibits.

We get done and head for the car. Which is when the day took a rapid downhill turn.

Lily was complaining about being thirsty so I told her to grab a drink out of the cooler in the car. To which she replied where is the cooler. It's in the car I told her. I can't find it she said. Oh. No.

Then I notice my purse was missing. I always tuck my purse under the console in the front between the drivers seat. I'm always careful to completely conceal it. Turns out somone stole my purse (my fairly new Vera Bradley) and our cooler. Yep, our tote bag cooler with waters, oranges and granola bars in it. Seriously...our cooler?? I guess they were hungry. Thankfully we'd had the car detailed a couple weeks ago so it was pretty cleaned out. Or else they might have hit the jackpot. Paul thinks perhaps he forgot to lock the doors as there were no signs of forced entry. I'm trying not to keep remembering this fact. But still, locked or not you don't take people's purses!!!

So Paul goes to alert the musuem staff and I start calling the credit card companies. Methinks I have 3. I pray I'm right. I call Target first and cancel my visa - no new charges today - things are looking up. Then I call SECU to cancel my debit card....not good news. $640 at an ATV shop, $12 at Maggie Moos (seriously they had my cooler why get ice cream!), $11 at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and gas. Why did they go for that one first..it's linked right to my checking account so that sucks. Big time. Then we call Mastercard and so far only one charge - gas. More gas?? Guess they were filling up for everyone they know! We probably won't know the extent of their shopping spree for a couple days.

The scary thing is they have my license so they know where we live and I think (but not sure) I had a house key in my purse. So, Paul is at this very minute at the locksmith, with all our locks getting them re-keyed. Better to be safe than sorry.

I keep trying to remember what else I had in my purse - not a tons but I know of some lipsticks, chapsticks (including my new fav burts bees), calendar and my coupons - that I'm upset at losing. I've been collecting those for a long time now I have to start over. And of course my Vera Bradley wallet that my bff gave me for my birthday. There were some momentos from Disney World in there too that I just never took out. Shame on me...I know I had some random shopper reward cards and old insurance cards but since Paul changed jobs those are invalid. Ugg..so frustrating and upsetting. It just sucks!!!!!!

We call the police and they finally come. But let's be real..it's Durham they have bigger issues. But so that we can ensure we get all our money back we filed a report. So we leave and decide to still to to Locopops. We get there and they don't take credit cards. And, oh yeah, I had $10 in cash that I won at Bunco last week but that got stolen so we don't have any cash so no locopops for us.

Now we're home and Paul is getting the locks redone and I'm trying to not be bitter. I wish I could have a drink...I need one today....

Happy Father's Day!

What a nice day we've had today! We all slept in this morning then I prepared breakfast (which I usually don't on Sunday's). Breakfast was a french toast dish that Paul has been hinting that he wanted me to make. Then we went to church and heard a great sermon about finding joy in our every day circumstances (more on that in a later blog). After church my sister in law took the big girls for the afternoon and Paul went to play racquetball with a friend. I felt like it was my special day! We went to my father in laws for dinner tonight and had fun playing in his pool. It really was a nice day.

In thinking about today I am just so thankful for Paul and what an amazing father he is. He loves our girls so, so much. He is far more patient with them than I am and doesn't mind doing girly things with them. He dances and sings with them, paints their nails if requested, plays Pretty Pretty Princess and hugs them constantly. They are all daddy's girls that's for sure and I don't mind one bit. I love how much they love him and seeing them all together warms my heart. I feel so blessed to be on this parenting journey with Paul. I couldn't ask for more!

The Evil Empire - Take 3

So, it was my third shopping trip to Super Walmart today. I decided I wanted to go for my weekly shopping to see if it did save me money. Yesterday we went to the Farmers Market so I got a lot of fresh fruits and veggies there so mostly I was buying dry goods, dairy and frozen at Walmart. So I go about 7:30am by myself which was good. The store was not busy at all and I was able to get in and out fairly quickly. While it wasn't a horrible experience it wasn't that great. The store is kinda dirty and the checklanes are always busy. They do have a lot of groceries and when the new SWM opens near me something later this year I will likely shop there (at least in the beginning before it gets too ghetto). I definitely saved some money but I also had some impulse buys (hard to believe from me, I know..). A good test..I definitely like Harris Teeter better though!

Guilt be Gone....

Paul canceled our gym membership today. I'm actually a little sad about it. For those of you who know me know that I really don't like working out. I do it however, because you are supposed to and to set a good example for the kids and all that (plus I would feel guilty for paying all that money for something I didn't do). I went pretty faithfully last summer and I went a lot over the school year because the gym is close to the preschool. The gym is not close to our house however and since school has been out - going on 4 weeks now - I've been approximately 1 time. It's just not near where I'm out and I just can't justify going out just to go to the gym (hence the guilt). Paul doesn't use it much either - he belongs to a gym closer to the house so he made the decision that family gym membership needs to go. With the crazy price of gas (I know..I'm sick of it too) and Paul's new job we need to make some cuts and one easy way to save $100/month is to cut the gym. We did buy the wii fit and since I've not been going to the gym I have been doing the wii fit every day. At least that's something right??

I will miss showering in peace while my kids are in the daycare. I think that might be the best part of the gym membership. I know though that even when Lily is back in school and I'm 36 weeks pregnant going to the gym will be the last thing I want to do. It was a good financial decision to cut the gym. I'm sure we will revisit after Christmas when the baby is a little older and I'm ready to work out again. But until then - it's wii fit or bust!!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Paul is back at work today! Yeah!! He started his new job at Dicks Sporting Goods this morning. He's been off of work for a month so it was a little tough for him to get up to be at work by 7am this morning! Overall I've really enjoyed having him home. He was great help with the kids and he did a fair amount around the house. Still a few projects lingering but hopefully they will get resolved while he is in training. It was hard to be in a routine while he was home though - every day felt like a Saturday. I feel like now that he's back to work we can get into our summer routine - whatever that means.

Also after a 2 week period of no health coverage I feel like we can breath a little easier today knowing we have health insurance. (Of course we had the cobra option but who wants to spend $900 for 2 weeks of health insurance if you don't have to and thank heavens we didn't) So today is a fresh start in our family. I'm hoping Paul is having a great day!!

Graduation Parties

Today we went to a graduation party for a son of some friends of ours. Two things struck me: 1. How am I old enough to have friends that have a son graduating from high school and 2. Half of the "kids" at the party were born the year I graduated high school. Seriously. Born the year I graduated. That means they only know Paula Abdul from American Idol, they never, ever had cassettes and they always remember the internet. I remember as a teen any friends of my parents were old. Just old - I mean my parents were old so their friends were old too. (By the way the older I get the older I think old is and my parents are so not "old"). It is amazing how fast time flies - I remember high school graduation pretty vividly!

In other thoughts about graduation parties my neighbors are throwing their 5th grader a graduation party. Yes, I said their 5th graders since she's going to middle school next year. Apparently times are achangin cause I don't recall any 5th grade graduation parties when I was that age. In fact I don't recall any preschool graduations or kindergarten graduations for that matter. Now there's a graduation for every thing. I guess I am old....

My love/hate relationship with...

Walmart! Dare I admit that I've been to Walmart 2 times this weekend!! I think that doubles the number of times I've been to the evil empire (as it's more commonly referred to in my home) in the past year. Prior to this week my husband has pretty much banned me from spending his hard earned money at Walmart but now that he's on longer employed by Target it's fair game. I must admit that while my shopping experience was not anything like a Target expererience it really wasn't that bad. In fact, I found the low grocery prices exciting (hence the love part of my relationship with Walmart). The checkout experience not so great (hence the hate part of my relationship) however, I am willing to give it a whirl. I'm going to try my weekly food shopping there this week - it's a heck of a lot closer to my house than the SuperTarget (sad..or I would keep shopping there even without the discount) - and a heck of a lot cheaper than Harris Teeter (which is the closet grocery store). So I'm looking forward to seeing if it saves us any money shopping there. I'll report back...

Emma's on to me...

We're at dinner tonight with some friends. The girls asked if they could go to the pool after dinner and the other mom and I said "we'll see." So Emma says: "My mom says we'll see when she doesn't want to do something." While that is entirely accurate I just didn't realize that they knew that!! I thought "we'll see" works better than a flat out "no" so I've been saying that a lot lately. Apparently too much. Back to the drawing board for me....

Schools Out - Scream OR Shout

Summer vacation is here and I have a real love/hate relationship with it. On one hand I love that we really don't have plans, that we don't have to rush out the door in the mornings and that we can be lazy if we want to. On the other hand I miss the routine of school days and the getting up and getting moving we have to do. With Emma starting school in a month this summer will be a short one and I'm thankful for that. I talked to a mom at gymnastics yesterday who was so happy her kids were out of school - she said she felt less stressed than she had in months. Other moms think summer is so stressful because the routine is gone - people are so different! Paul starts work on Monday and then I think we can get into a "summer routine." I need to have some structure in my days so that I can feel like I'm getting something accomplished. Of course we'll have 4 weeks of a routine then have to figure something else out when school starts but that's OK - I like it like that!

On another note I took all 3 kids to the pool by myself today (we've been almost every day since we got back from the beach but either Paul was with me or I had just the 2 big girls). I was SO thankful their were other moms there to help keep an eye on my kids. It was fun but a lot of work - well not so much at the pool but when we got home! Seriously - the hardest part was getting everyone dried off, cleaned up and getting the wet bathing suits/towels into the laundry room to dry. Unfortunately for me all my children seem to love the pool so I guess we'll be doing this lots this summer. Yeah me!

Bedtime

My kids are pretty good sleepers but my older 2 girls sometimes have a hard time going to sleep. They are great about staying in their room but we often hear their little feet running around their room. So about a month ago we started a sticker chart for them so that if they stay in bed then they get a sticker on their chart. When they get so many stickers they will be allowed to pick out a webkin. We've been allowing them to have 2 books and a leapster in their beds and that's it. So the sticker chart was a good idea except they don't really care and most days they don't earn a sticker although every night they say they are going to stay in bed. So, Friday night I go check on them before I went to bed and here's what I found....




Clearly my sticker chart is working well....