Kabuki

Our girls will eat about anything, but they especially like Japanese food.  So when Rachel and her boyfriend Willie invited us to go to Kabuki, we thought it sounded like a fun chance to take the girls for their first hibachi experience. 

We had such a great time.  They sang happy birthday to Harper (seriously, it's going to be a month-long celebration), and let her try to catch shrimp with her mouth.  I'm already preparing for how many times we're going to be asked to go back. 

M

Cinderella {Our First Family Movie}

I admit it-- our kids watch tv.  Not all day, and not all the time, but they do.  And because of that, Harper could not miss (and neither could I!) the fact that a new Cinderella movie was coming out.  She has seen the classic Disney cartoon version and liked it, but she was so much more excited to see the new remake despite the fact that there was no animation involved.

One of the tricky parts of being a working mom is that there are many times when it would make more sense for us to have a babysitter or ask a family member to keep one or both of our girls, but when it comes down to it, I just don't want to if it can be avoided.  I just feel like my weekends are the bulk of my family time, so I like to spend every second (ok, most seconds) with my husband and my littles.  Mom Guilt riddles me.  So, lucky for little Wills, our idea to take Harper to see Cinderella in the theatres came after a particularly busy work week, which meant there was no way I wasn't going to take her to the movies, too.  Yes, you just read that correctly.  Yes, we took a four year old and a just shy of two year old to a movie.  And a non-animated movie at that. 

Half of the fun of surprising the girls with our family date to see Cinderella was getting ready to go.  I got the girls each a little outfit to wear on their special date.  Aren't Harper's leggings the gaudiest, loudest, most they're-so-ugly-they're-cute things you've ever seen?  and here I said my kids wouldn't be decked out in a bunch of licensed character gear.  Ha! That was before they were born (or had ever met--and subsequently become obsessed with-- Dora or any Disney princess), obviously.  I even found a cute little tee that said "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo."  I may need to go get that out of the dirty clothes to see if I spelled it correctly, since--shocker--that phrase isn't recognized by spellcheck.  ;)  So, boy was Sam a lucky fella, with all three of his girls sporting some Disney's Cinderella gear. 

I bought advanced tickets on Fandango and planned to go to the latest matinee showing at 5:00, thinking that would allow for some naps but wouldn't be so much later that I'd have to be worried about them getting tired again.  Neither of our girls are gracious tired people, so that's always crucial for planning.  I'm always so jealous of the parents with the quasi-narcoleptic kids that will just go ahead and pass out wherever they are when they're tired.  Nope, not here.  So, 5 p.m. seemed like a safe bet.  But, then the girls went down late for nap.  Which means they got up late from nap.  Which means we left the house late.  Which means Sam drove past the exit for the movies.  (I know that doesn't make sense, but I was trying to help you out, honey! wink, wink.)  Which means we got there late, and the lovely Carmike employee said, "why yes, we do have four seats left for our sold out movie that technically started rolling 7 minutes ago, but you may all be on different rows."  As appealing as it sounded to go ahead and let our toddler sit with someone else during a two hour movie, we thought we should go ahead and move our tickets to the next showing.  Since it was opening weekend for the movie, we could fortunately catch one just an hour later.  That gave us just enough time to go walk around the mall for a bit, and find Sam a super cute blazer to wear to the McCoys' wedding next weekend.  Win!

We made sure to get back to the movie theater early and picked out our seats about 20 minutes before the previews even started.  Go ahead, do the math.  That meant 20 minutes before, 15 minutes of previews, 10 minutes of a Frozen Birthday short feature, and 1 hour and 52 minutes of Cinderella.  That is a longgggggg time for kiddos to stay in there seats.  But, those girls were troopers.  There was a lot of switching parents' laps and asking questions, but with an auditorium filled with kids, we didn't feel out of place or like we were disturbing others.  And they weren't disruptive enough to keep me from crying when Cinderella's mama died.  She sang the lullaby "Lavender's Blue" to young Ella in the movie, and Harper has since been asking me to sing it to her before bed.  So sweet.

As crazy as it sounds, we would be up for another movie with our two crazies.  Although, next time, I'm making sure it isn't over an hour and a half, and it's animated.  Those two would've made it even better. 

       

"Where there is kindness, there is goodness. And where there is goodness, there is magic."

Welcome 2015!

Helloooooo, 2015!

Man, that sounds weird.  It just doesn't seem possible that it's 2015.  The year my firstborn will start kindergarten.  The year we'll celebrate 9 years of marriage.  The year we'll be driving flying spaceships on 581.  Ha! That would've been my answer if you would've asked me what would be happening in 2015 back in 1990.  I can't believe we're not all Jetsons yet.

Usually I have some pretty ambitious resolutions on the ol' docket on January 1, but this year I don't.  And maybe that is a signal of an even bigger, deeper resolution that I have for the year.  Last year, I wanted to lose the last of my baby weight from Willa (update: I did!  I lost 12 lbs between January and May.  And then I gained it all back.  Whoops!  I'm sure the need for this resolution will resurface about 4 weeks before our beach trips).  I wanted to run a 10k (update: I did!  In May, I ran in the Appalachian Power 10k and  it was as horrible wonderful as I had hoped!  I mostly ran on a treadmill, but I just got an update from MapMyRun--the app that tracks my outdoor runs-- that I ran 129 miles this year). 

 2014 was a good year.  2015 has the makings of being a big year.  For my work.  For our family (nope, not pregnant--you can breathe, grandparents!).  It also has the makings of a stressful year.  And I don't want that.  Not for me, not for my family.  So maybe that's my non-resolution resolution.  To relax a bit this year.  To not be so hard on myself.  To just be happy and in the moment.

We enjoyed ringing in the New Year with our friends at Shula's, and spent New Year's Day lounging with our girls.  

What better way to declare "Let's be fat and happy!" than kicking it off with a family morning at IHOP?  Yummy!  The family time and the bacon.

I hope 2015 brings me Peace.  And even more joy.  I hope it does you, too.

Princess Party

Since Harper was such a good sport about not being Elsa (that was her first choice), I decided to take her on a special mommy-daughter date the day after Halloween.  Viva La Cupcake in Roanoke's Grandin Village was hosting a Princess Party, with guests inspired by the Disney princesses.

 

 

We went to Grace's Place for lunch, and she was so cute snuggled up next to me in the booth.  I loved getting to hear about what is on her mind, most of it hilarious.  We have all had a bit of a cold the last two weeks, but, no worries, Harper has some sound advice on it.

Harper, "Mom, when people are coughing, water comes out of their eyes. That's ok, it helps them breathe."

Enjoying her strawberry cupcake

 

After lunch, we went next door to Viva la Cupcake for the princess meet and greet.  Harper was a little bit shy at first, but then warmed up to them.  She most wanted to see Aurora, which kind of surprised me.  Harper wanted to wear her Cinderella dress with her hair straightened so it would look longer.  She loved that Cinderella wasn't there, so she could be the missing piece.

 

Pretty Weather Weekend

It is officially feeling like fall around here-- beautiful weather and busy schedules. Harper has started back with "winter" swim lessons, so every weekday she has either preschool (MWF), swim (T), or gymnastics (Th). Appalachian Power schedules outages for the mild times in the year, so Spring and Autumn are usually the hardest times of year for Sam at work. During the outages, it isn't uncommon for him to work 60-70 hours a week or go 10 or 12 days without a day off. 

Though it is hectic, this is undoubtedly my favorite time of year. Big blue skies, sunshiny days with a cool breeze- this has to be Heaven's weather. It makes you take in His creation a little more,  enjoy moments and the view a little longer. 

Last weekend, we enjoyed a Friday Night Family Date. Sam and I took the girls over to Outback for some QT together since we knew they were headed to Poppy & MiMi's house the following night (and of course, just because we love their sweet little company.). After looking at the menu, Harper told us that she would like "scrimp."  The kids' menu didn't offer shrimp as an option, so I added unlimited shrimp to my dinner instead, since it was cheaper than doing a separate meal anyway. Daddy taught her how to pull their tails off, and next thing you know, Harper Mae had eaten between 10 and 15 shrimp. As soon as a new plate arrived, we were requesting the next. I am often amazed (and always thankful) at what an adventurous eater she is. Both little ladies were so well behaved at dinner. My goodness I don't get to say that very often.  :)

Appalachian Power was a sponsor of this year's Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival, and a lady from public relations gave Sam two of the VIP tickets they received as part of their sponsorship package. How nice! 

The weather was unbelievable. We enjoyed lounging in the VIP area, listening to the live music, and visiting the booths of all the local vendors. 

Even though we enjoyed the afternoon together, we really missed the girls!  The only things we brought home were for them-- sparkling organic juice and an interactive children's book signed by a local author. (P.S. Harper loves the book, and would probably love to get the others in the collection if you ever need a gift idea for her!)

Since Sue and Dave had our girls for the night, we met up with Chris and Tabatha (also childless for the weekend) at Beamer's 25 for dinner and some fun downtown. Just in case we didn't already know, we verified just how old we all are since we were yawning by 10 pm and struggled to "make it to midnight."  What on earth are we going to do when it's New Year's Eve?!  

Maybe the biggest luxury of our Saturday night/Sunday morning without Harp and Wills was being able to get ready for church without refereeing fights/cleaning messes/changing clothes/changing clothes again. We leisurely walked in to church early. Our life group friends may have not even recognized us.  :)