Fun with the Gals

This past weekend I had a fun one night away with some of my friends from high school.

We headed to Chattanooga and stayed at the Chattanoogan. That place was awesome, and I strongly recommend it!

We had a good meal at The Urban Stack and went for drinks at The Flying Squirrel. That place had lounge areas, so it was perfect for sitting back and drinking with the girls.

This week is full of party prep for Conley's 2nd birthday! It's hard to believe he is now TWO!

August is a pretty busy month with KMB events, and then the boys start school (Mother's Day Out). Conley is going just for one day a week, and I think he'll do great.

I'm WAY behind on my blog reading because this week is crazy with birthday party planning and KMB event planning, but I'll try to catch up next week!

What's on your agenda this weekend?

Natalie

Taking Time for Us

Before kids, you and your significant other take for granted the alone time you have. Because at that very moment, it's not even on your radar.

After kids, your marriage changes. In some ways, it's stronger because of the bond you share with having children. Or watching one another be a parent to your children can make your love grow leaps and bounds.

In the day to day, we tend to forget about taking time for "us." Personally, at the end of the day with the kids I just didn't have anymore energy. The routine of making dinner, feeding them, cleaning them, getting them ready to bed...it just seemed like I had nothing left to give to my husband.

So in the last few months, I've tried to make more of a effort to preserve the "us" that we once had. We are lucky that our in-laws do watch the boys so we can do date nights. But when they can't, I have made the decision to get a babysitter.

Before we had kids, we used to travel a lot and do fun activities. We might not be able to travel as much as we did, but we have made it work with smaller trips (like Chicago at the end of his business trip), and last weekend we did a winery tour in a town about an hour away.

It was just for one night, but it was so nice just to get away. We toured three wineries and of course wine tasted! Once we finished we went to Putt-Putt golf and dinner. The next day we did something we haven't done forever...we SHOPPED until we DROPPED. We shopped at the outlets which is close to the wineries. It was just like old times and so fun...you know minus the spending money part!

So even though our life has changed, I think it's important to steal away those moments. You'll be glad you did!

Natalie

Giving Grace to My Boy

Lately little Nolan has acting more like a threenager than a 3 1/2 year old. He's always been mild mannered but also on the emotional side.

You know what I'm talking about. The crying over things that you can't believe they are crying about--for instance jumping out of a helicopter. And no we haven't gotten super adventurous and forced him to jump out of a helicopter. He's just started saying that he's scared to jump out of one.

The usual offenders are still there. The transition of leaving a fun place such as the child watch at the YMCA. He literally would not walk to leave and refused to go. So I tried my best to carry a 43 pounder and push the stroller with my 32 pounder. It wasn't pretty, and I was mad as heck when we made it to the car. He wouldn't let me strap him in. So at this point I am sweating bullets. I close his door, start the car and just sit in the front until he crawls into his seat. He cries all the way home. 

He's at a weird stage. You can put him in time out, you can take away his toys...he literally said, "Oh you forgot these toys, can I help?" I mean what kid helps put his toys away!

So now I always get nervous when leaving somewhere fun because I'm afraid of him causing a scene.

I'm trying to use patience and not lose my cool...and to grant my boy grace because I know he's try to deal with all the emotions going on in his little body.

What has helped you deal with your threenagers?

Natalie

To the Baby Who is Almost Two...

To our little boy who is almost two...

You are a spitfire, a boy full of joy but also anger. You can be super excited and in a second in tears.

You are full of determination and perseverance that leads me to believe you'll be the athlete in the family.

You want to be just like big brother and do all the things he can even though your legs might not reach.

You are full of words and sentences, "I don't want it, I like it, I love it, I did it" and saying 88 degrees from watching the weather channel with big bro.

Your wild blonde hair fits your wild personality, and we can't cut it yet for those reasons.

Your smile is the biggest and your cry is the loudest.

You are a lover of chocolate, waffles, blueberries, and anything sweet. 

Your hand dexterity is so crazy good, and you use a fork better than your brother as well as color and write with the correct hand hold.

Watching you grow especially these last few months has been so enjoyable. Seeing you interact with your brother just warms my heart when you two play and go on little adventures.

To my little boy, my baby, my Conley...I love you little one. 

Natalie

Fun Holiday Weekend

We had a great holiday weekend. We kicked it off on Thursday with GORGEOUS weather. I might even say at night that it could be called "chilly" and people were talking about sweaters!

We started our 4th of July festivities at a local picnic. Music, robots, watermelon, ice cream, legos, bounce houses, and much more! The boys had a great time.

Conley wanted as much watermelons as he could get his hands on. It was too funny!

The next morning we hit up the same area for the local parade, and the boys had a great time watching the bands and firetrucks.

Before all these festivities, we went to a Fruit and Berry patch. The boys picked blueberries and peaches. I was amazed at Conley's picking skills! It was SO HOT but we survived our first berry patch trip!

After all our fourth activities, we also went to two different parks. I even took Nolan to see Rio 2 at our local dollar movie theater. He loved it! I can't wait to take him to the "Fire & Rescue" Planes movie in a few weeks!

How was your weekend?

Natalie