Birthday Party 3.1

I must be in denial over Jake turning three on Friday.

Or just plain busy this time of year.

Last Thursday, after a (calling it lightly) crazy week at work, I realized I had scheduled a "friend" party for Jake for the next night at the Children's Museum. It's such a great place to host a party (we had Brooklyn's #2&3 there) and requires no entertainment planning.

But I still ran around like a headless chicken getting ready for it. But it was all worth it.

Jake had a great time with his Shout church family, his future Carolina classmates, and a few preschool friends.



He chose a Yo Gabba Gabba cake this year. :-)





Finally! A kid who lets people sing Happy birthday to them!


Showing Nanny and Callie his cake...


Three! Holla!











Proof that Brooklyn and I were there :-)


Stay tuned for another weekend of celebrating my baby boy.

For the love of the Zumba

For some reason my Facebook is blowing up about Zumba today. Various friends and friends of friends discussing it, checking in at it, and questioning it.

That happens sometimes....you know, when your Facebook kinda developes a "theme."

Like politics.
Or football.
Or weather.

But anyways, I digress.

Tonight seemed to be telling me that I needed to get this post out of my back pocket- or more technically, off the Blogger draft list.

Zumba.

Oh, Zumba, where have you been my whole life?

Or more acurately, where have you been the last 15 years?

My parents bought me a Living Social deal for Christmas last year. My mom said, "all the cute young people I work with love it."

I said, "hm."

It wasn't that I was avoiding Zumba. I just never really gave it a second thought. Many of you have followed me through the "fat years" and the journey I've taken the last 2 years to cut the fat and get back on track as to what a 30-something mom should be. I went "couch to 5K," I am all "My Fitness Pal"ed out, I was Jillian's b*tch for 30 days, and I am a P90 graduate. I feel like it was all good...and definitely worth it.

But they all had a beginning and end. And each time something ended or I "graduated," I felt frantic like all of a sudden I was gonna balloon back up 10 jean sizes in 5 days.

So, I cashed in my Living Social in April. And I went like 4 times the whole month of April...and that probably included May, too.

And then I realized that it expired in July.

And dude, you know I canNOT let a deal expire.

So, I started going regularly. And I found a teacher that I loved. And who made me sweat.

More than Jillian and Tony.

And then when I went on vacation I missed it.

Like a lot.

Which made me wonder..."What is it about the Zumba?"

And then it hit me.

I had not danced- really DANCED- in 15 years. You know, the "learn the choreography-come back the next week and do the same routine-feel the music in your soul" DANCE.

Most of you know I danced growing up. For many years. And loved it. And I loved her.

After Blanche died, I checked out. I went through the motions my senior year of high school. I made excuses about other obligations, got mono (that was not on purpose), graduated and went off to UNC where I could make more excuses about "not having time...boyfriend back home....got to have weekends free...etc." And I guess I kind of pushed dance out of my head for oh, about a decade and a half.

But, sometime this summer that love came back. Sneaky little sucker.

The love of dance is back. The love of walking into a familiar studio. Seeing familar faces. Laughing at mistakes. Celebrating the "good moves." And just having fun.

And there's something else about Zumba that's good for your soul. For anyone's soul really- dancer or not. And most definitely good for the "working mother of 2 worship leader" soul. Zumba truly allows me to be 100% in a "moment." For 45 minutes, I seriously cannot think about, worry about, plan ANYTHING. I can be completely "mind empty' for 45 minutes and just BE.

And sweat.

A lot.

All that from an almost-expired Living Social deal.

I'd say my mom can consider that one of the best $20 she ever spent.


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Much Cuteness Monday

I couldn't think of a catchy title but I did have three cute pictures of two cute kids eating apples tonight...








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A night to remember...

So, for you long(er) time blog readers, you have read about my friend, Brendan. It's no secret I am a proud friend, and you can read about it again here, here, here, and here. Oh, and here.

Last Wednesday, we had the unique opportunity to host Brendan in a house concert. As he is traveling the country visiting various venues, he is also stopping along the way performing for friends, family, and complete strangers.

My Aunt Patty was awesome to open her (so perfect) home for the concert. It was such an awesome night, and we had the best time hanging out before the show and laughing about the old college days.



The acoustics were perfect and it really truly was a night to remember.

I've always had faith that Brendan was going to become a household name one day....and I hope that day is soon. He has worked so hard the past 10 years and deserves all the success in the world.

In fact, while he was playing for us, the rest of America was hearing one of his newest songs playing on The X-Factor that evening. You can hear his song here as the background song.

Whoop! Whoop!

Another fun Friday with Nanny

Tonight, we took the kids to the local Children's Museum. Since this is where I just reserved Jake's birthday party, I wanted to get him there a few times before and also see the crowd on a Friday night. It was a great time!








Oh, law.





Um, ok.


Sweet siblings!


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Slow Cooker Weekend: Apples & Soup

Though I have been awful about posting my Slow Cooker recipes each week, I can assure you that the old Slow Cooker is still widely and regularly used.

In fact, it was brought out, not once, but twice, this weekend.

Saturday, we still had a bunch of golf ball sized apples leftover so I attempted this. Pretty yummy.
Crock Pot Cinnamon Apples

Ingredients:
6 large very tart apples, cored, sliced and peeled (peels on is okay too!)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (or less if you have sweeter apples)
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter, sliced

Directions:
Put all ingredients EXCEPT BUTTER into crock pot; stir well, coating all apple slices, and place slices of butter on top.
Cook on HIGH for 1-1/2 to 2 hours OR cook on LOW 3-1/2 to 4 hours, stirring once half way through.
Serve and enjoy!

Then, Sunday night we came home from church to this heavenly smell!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Source: jonandjenmiller.blogspot.com via Jaclyn on Pinterest

Happy Fall!

In honor of the first day of autumn I thought I would share some pics of our trip apple and grape picking last Friday.

But did you know that apple season peaks in July/August?

Oops.

But the kids had a great time and we came home with about 50 apples the size of a golf ball :-)




















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Even bigger news...

I was able to announce on Facebook last week that my bro-in-law and sis-in-law are expecting their first baby in April. I am sooooo excited and eager to get some newborn snuggles in this spring. :-)

Some big news...

When last week it appeared that the potty was only going to be used as a stool...


...this week we are making some great progress on the potty-front.

See? That's why I haven't been blogging. No time between chasing a squirmy, stubborn monkey around the house asking every 5 minutes, "Did you pee your pants? Do you have to go? Now? No more juice until you go. Now? Seriously, you peed your pants didn't you? Now? How about now?"

Oy.

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Should I even bother with an excuse?

At this point I'm sure you are all like "whatever."

I got random ADD around this blog the past few weeks- meaning everytime I sat down to do something I was all like, "oh, instagram." or "Wait, there's a Honey Boo Boo I still need to watch."

Yeah, no good excuses. Just excuses.

But anyways, from Labor Day on things have been busy.

Did another closet purge and trip to Goodwill. There truly is no going back to fatter clothes now. They are gone.


Then, I did the easiest.pinterest.project.ever and organized the tshirts that I did keep.


Are you all just truly entertained now? Edge of your seat kinda excitement going on here, folks.


Lots of snuggles, though, which is never a bad thing.

I got mad at my elliptical because it was squeaking so dang loud...


...so on a whim I went out and bought a treadmill.


Love at first sight.

Jake spent some quality time with his Yo Gabba Gabba friends...plus Pablo.


And tossed back a few cold ones.


Brooklyn and I are dealing with her being 2nd grade. And moody.


And when we are not looking, she's making the little sister she always wanted.


But the biggest news is that...oh wait, is that a new Honey Boo Boo.......

Our weekend

Pretty busy weekend for us...

Friday night, while the guys played poker, we locked our kids upstairs in baby jail.






Kidding.

Saturday, we took B to the lake with friends while Jake got some good grandparent time. :-)

She looks like she was made for a boat, doesn't she?





Then we met up with Jake at Panera sunday morning. The kids were very happy to see each other :-).





Precious, i tell ya.

I hope you all had a great weekend, too!

And for everyone starting school tomorrow (especially those kindergarten babies), good luck!!

First Day of School!

Brooklyn's gonna rock out her first day of second grade today!










Growing up fast....


First days of kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd!