Family Alive

Thanks to a surprise in Samford’s academic calendar, Brian had today off!  It’s never been a school holiday, but this year his students swore there was no class, and Brian was excited to find they were right.  There is always a big cycling race in Atlanta that he’s never been able to do… so within minutes, he was registered 🙂  His parents stayed with the kids, giving us a kid-free getaway!  Sweet!

On the trip over, we saw lots and lots of Louisiana cars heading to Atlanta, and our hotel had many LA cars in the parking lot.  We stayed in a very nice Doubletree hotel (the bed was absolutely heavenly… like sleeping on a cloud!).   Last night we were busy picking up race numbers, driving the race course, and checking in, so it was a late night.  Brian was up super early, for the 7:15am start.  Thankfully he could ride the short distance to the start, so I stayed in the cozy bed for an extra hour or so, before heading out to the race course.

There were 11 laps, and Brian made it an EXCITING RACE.  He was in a break with 2 other riders, and they had 40 seconds to 1-minute gap.  I was so excited!  This was a HUGE race, with lots of top pros, and the payout was $20,000 over 35 places.  I could hardly sit still in the 12 minutes between each 5-mile lap.  The break did eventually get pulled back to the main field, unfortunately, but Brian did win $100 in a prime while they were out front.  The sprint was downhill and crazy fast, with 100 riders jockeying for position, and spinning as fast as their legs could go… probably hitting 50-55mph into the finish.  Brian ended up 41st.  Still, it was so exciting and fun to see him be such a big part of the race.  Here’s a link to a good picture on Velonews.com, a well-known cycling news site.  (Brian was hoping the caption would have been more telling, with something like, “A look at the day’s most promising break”, as what’s written sure doesn’t capture the excitement!).  Brian’s written a detailed report on his blog.

We were able to go back to the room to shower and relax before checkout.  Of course, then we had to make our obligatory Trader Joe’s stop, since we were withint 50 miles of my favorite store 🙂  Highlights in my shopping cart…

• Gyoza Chicken Potstickers (great quick dinner tonight, and though they were good, we have been spoiled by tasting Corrie‘s homemade ones!)
• whole wheat and tabbouli salad (greek with bulgar, parsley, tomatoes, onions and cucumbers… a treat for me)
• TJ’s Mocha and Chocolate yogurt (!!!!  Can’t wait to try it!  We CANNOT like this too much, because it’s nearly impossible to bring cold stuff back with us, like if we’re at TJs in Chicago.)
• Vegetable Root Chips – very colorful, and I thought they were tasty.  Sweet potoes, parsnips, batara (?) and something else.
• Vanilla paste – I love this.  One of my favorite baking essentials.  Only at TJs.
• Freeze dried strawberries.  A favorite snack of the kids.

Then we had a nice quiet lunch at Joe’s Crab Shack (we didn’t plan the Joe-theme!).  We were home by 4pm, and it’s amazing how sweet and cute my kids are after less than 24 hours away!  What a treat to have such a nice spontaneous getaway!

Hope you enjoy the new look!  We’re excited to keep tweaking and adding some things.  Keep watching!

Just one quick look at our busy weekend in Chattanooga, from the Tennessee Aquarium on Saturday morning:

From our lunch playtime at Chik-Fil-A…

Analise came out of the play area to munch on her nuggets and gulp down some lemonade (“yemon-ade” Josiah calls it).

“I met a new friend, Mommy!”

“Really?  Did she tell you her name?”

“Yes, her name is is South Carolina.”

Do you think her Daddy needs to back off on showing her maps of his favorite rides from his college days at Clemson?  I have a hunch her friend might have been named Caroline 🙂

The great things I’ve accomplished…  Once again, one of my favorite bloggers, Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer, says it just as my heart feels it.

That’s what this week has felt like to me at least that’s what it’s felt like in my head.  Sorry I’ve not been on here!   Feels like not much to write about, although I have lots that I still INTEND to post about… notably more about my parents’ visit with pictures.

Brian raced this past weekend in Mississippi (more details on his blog), and we had Kim, Lauren and Anna over for lunch and playtime after church on Sunday.  Always fun to hang out with them!  I snuck out Sunday evening to the coffee shop for a meeting… which got canceled at the last minute, but I still stayed and relaxed with my book.

Monday we had a quiet day at home while Brian was busy at school getting ready for classes to start next week.  We enjoyed a new sandbox on our back porch, which I had been looking forward to for a long time.  Yes, the kids thoroughly enjoyed it.  They buried each other, dug, sifted, molded and tossed sand everywhere.  For all the fun they had, I sure got grumpy trying to get them to keep it in the sandbox and not get sand in each other’s eyes.  And then when they were done, I pretty much didn’t want to let them inside.  We ended up having to take baths at 11am, and sand got tracked everywhere.  Was this supposed to be fun??  I’m learning, slowly, that trying to be the over-controlling-clean mom only really hampers the fun for everyone.  I’ve got to find a balance.  One tip, though… baby powder really works well to brush the sand off!!

Monday evening I got to go to a faculty dinner with Brian, which was fun.  The other professors and their spouses in his department are great company, and I always look forward to these events.

Tuesday we had friends over to play, and we made edible peanutty play-doh.  To top it off, I gave the kids each a package of M&Ms, which was more exciting than the play-doh.  I had also invited Brian’s parents over for dinner, and while I was getting the table ready, Josiah fell off the couch and cracked his lip open.  Poor little hard-luck guy.  He bled all over me, but a popsicle finally soothed him.  And of course, Analise had to have one too, even though it was before dinner.  Thankfully, they were Pure Fruit pops 🙂

Today started out with Josiah and I at Children’s Hospital for his yearly tests to follow up on his vesico-urethral reflux issues (VUR).  I was pretty worried about it, because back in April it took 3 tries to get a catheter in for a urine sample, and he had pain for several days.  The test today (a VCUG) involved a catheter, but it went as smoothly as could be expected.  Still painful, tears on both our parts, but he did well.  I’m so proud of my little guy.

Tonight was back to our weekly Wednesday Life Group routine.  Brian’s parents are now taking both kids to church with them for dinner and their Missions Friends and choir programs.  We arranged to have my invaluable babysitter, Abigail, here when they got home at 8 to put them to bed, while we’re at our Life Group for dinner and discussion.  It went smoothly tonight, and Analise was even asleep when we got home, which has NEVER happened on a Wednesday!!

Tomorrow we may get some haircuts (everyone but me needs one!!), and get ready for a weekend of fun and racing in Chattanooga.  The season is winding down…

Just to mark this date… he’s 2 years and 2 months old. We haven’t even thought of potty training Josiah yet.  Well, I’ve dreamed, but since we’re still dealing with an occasional accident by Analise.  Even though I’m desperate to be done with diapers, I’m not ready to start the the PT boot camp again.

Tonight in the bathtub, Josiah said he had to go poopy.  "No, no, no!" I told him, as I pulled him out and put him dripping wet on the little potty seat on the toilet.  I’ll spare most of the details, but he actually went a little! 

I, on the other hand, was so excited about his accomplishment, I forgot about his little penis until I got sprayed!  AG!  I guess I have a lot to learn about potty training a boy.  #1… always keep it pointed down.

Brian’s 32nd birthday was this past Sunday.  I invited his family over for dinner on Saturday, so we had a big crowd… Brian, I & the kids, my parents, his parents and Matthew.  We had delicious Spicy Sour Cream Chicken tacos with all the fixins, cheesy Rotel dip and chips, and cake.  I mentioned that I had high hopes for the cake… a yummy peanut butter cup and fudge frosting chocolate cake.  Well.  It looked like a flop.  It wasn’t completely cooked, so when it was cooling, it sagged through the rack.  I was so disappointed, but I decided to make it into a hot fudge cake.

I made a decadent hot fudge sauce, and we topped it all off with homemade vanilla ice cream.  YUM.  It wasn’t pretty, but man, it was delicious.  And we have a nice big container of hot fudge to continue to enjoy.

Birthday celebration moments…

Sunday Brian got to ride to Mount Cheaha to meet us up there.  He had a big steak dinner at the beautiful restaurant on top of the mountain.  We had a fun time swimming, exploring, hiking, climbing, enjoying my parents, and staying in our great cabin.  It was a great birthday!!

The restaurant overlook.

The view from Pulpit Rock, a 1 mile hike (round trip) that we did with the kids on Monday morning.
Josiah was so cute… “I climin’ a mountin!” he kept saying.

Josiah and I at the overlook on a boardwalk trail we did on Sunday evening.

We played in Cheaha lake on Sunday afternoon, and it was so warm and very shallow for the kids.
This is the pool at the Cheaha lodge, and it was deep and COLD, but with a fantastic view.

Analise, my little mountain goat.  Everywhere she climbed, Josiah wanted toclimb, too.

Mom and I got a lot of things done this week, but this was the biggest…

We made a headboard for my bed.  It was so simple!  We used a 4’x5′ piece of plywood (the hardest part of the whole project was fitting it into the car!), covered it with batting and a beautiful fabric, and stapled it all around the back.  It turned out so beautifully!  It’s like a bed makeover for me!  We also got a new pillow, and I got a bedskirt which makes the whole bed look so much neater.  Thanks, Mom!!