Lacking Motivation

Lately I have only been motivated to do this:

And sit here:

 

And I was afforded that luxury for a late birthday/early Mother's Day this past weekend.  It was a fabulous getaway - just me and Don. We sat on the beach, ate great seafood, watched the sunset from the rooftop bar, paid too much for suntan lotion, survived the Russian mafia, and just had a great time in general. It was a nice break before the chaos really begins at our house.  And you haven't heard a peep from us because I've been too pooped to post lacking motivation to do anything.  But just so you know, we're still here and waiting for Brother to make his appearance, and I'm fighting this lack of motivation to bring you a few pictures of life over the last few weeks.

There was the shower that I didn't blog about b/c I had to download pictures from Mom prior to posting (any post requiring more than 2 steps is doomed). We now own lots of fabulous blue things.

We ate our breakfast outside and Kate tried to share her yogurt raisins with Kitten.

We did some shopping at Target.

And made sidewalk chalk art.

Got lots of hugs.

And even slipped up and got caught looking at the camera.

And I still have this baby on board.  Who Kate has declared that we name Brother.

 
And there you have it, in a nutshell.  Hospital bags are packed (because I learned my lesson last time) and the nursery has lots of blue.  Still no name, but we've almost, kind of, sort of narrowed it to two.

Busy Weekend!

It was a wonderful, busy weekend. Here are a few shots from Sunday... more to come!

Sunday we headed out to Harbison State Forest to watch some bike racing.

Had to take snacks.

Cheered for bikes.

Took a break to read some Little Mermaid - out in the middle of the woods.

Don was nice and brought me a chair.

And finally, at the end of the weekend. Kate's room was almost complete. She did sleep in her bed Saturday night, and fell out twice (onto a nicely padded floor). The second time she told me: "I fell out two times and I said 'Not again!'"

Hoppy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! What a beautiful Easter day it was. We slept in today, which was not really part of the plan, but made for a pretty relaxing day.

I know you'll be shocked to hear that the Easter Bunny stopped at our house. Kate was VERY excited about the Easter Bunny.

He left her a basket of goodies... including her favorite LaLa Loopsy Doll (aka the Loopsy Dolly with the mouse - more on that shortly).

After church, which we made on time, by the way, we went to Nan and Pop's for some YUMMY lunch! Including my red velvet strawberry shortcake, with fresh local strawberries... yum yum! Don't be too impressed. It was all out of a box and super easy. I can't even claim the idea. If you love to bake, or like me, think about baking, please check out the iambaker blog over to the right. Or, you can just see the cake and recipe HERE.



Of course we hunted eggs.


And I even got Kate to sit still for more than 2 seconds and actually look at the camera.


All of this led to a great nap for Kate and a movie for Don and I. Then we colored eggs. That's right. We colored eggs basically after Easter was done. What can I say. We march to our own beat around here.


Everyone got an egg. Even Hank. His is the one without a name - in case you were hopeful we'd made a decision.



And what is inside an egg? Kate had a lot of good guesses.

Group picture with all of her Dolls, wearing the Dora princess dress the Easter Bunny left at Nan's.


On the upper right is the Baby All Gone that she got from Nan and Pops. This baby eats bananas and drinks juice. Thanks to my Dad she just asked "how do we get the bananas out of Baby All Gone?" Which was followed by "her not have a hole." Don crafted a fabulous answer about how we don't "get" the bananas out of Kate either, her body uses them for energy to play and talk and eat. I told him I thought this was a very well crafted answer, even though I didn't think our two year old really got it. "I think she got it, see: Kate, why do we not get the bananas out of Baby All Gone?" and Kate says: "She not have a hole in her." Yup, she got it.

And here are her two Loopsy Dolls: Sugar Crumb Cookie and Pillow Featherbed. She saw Sugar Cookie on TV and in a Target magazine, and has been asking for her for a month. Her sweet Daddy wanted to get her one before then, so when I was out of town, he got her a Pillow Featherbed to lift her spirits. She quickly pointed out to him that she was NOT the doll she wanted. The one she wanted had a mouse. She even gave it back to him briefly. But today, when she finally got Sugar Crumb Cookie, she ran off to get Pillow so they could be friends. And they're best buds now - they go everywhere together.



What a wonderful day it was!

Egg Hunt Take 2

Another egg hunt! We made the short trip to deliver Grandma's birthday card and did a little outdoor exploring to boot. Kate LOVES being outside, and Grandma wore her completely out with egg hunts and walks around the yard.


Apparently prizes are now a must for egg hunts.


After the first hunt/opening, Kate wanted to "do it again!" (not surprisingly), so she and Grandma re-filled the eggs with the assortment of animals and toy cars and hunted for a second time.


There may have also been a caterpillar. I'm a little shocked that she let it crawl up her arm.




And even more shocked that she picked it up! (gently)


Where else would a caterpillar like to hang out than an azalea bush?


What a fun day! AND, at the risk of jinxing her or getting too excited myself.... she wore the same Pull-up all day and didn't lose any of Dora's flowers. In other words... she used the potty all day! It also means I owe her a trip to get ice cream (or a banana split) since I made that deal. Not that I mind getting ice cream. In fact, I'd be ok with an ice cream trip every day. :)

Beautiful Day for a Picnic!

What a beautiful day for a picnic and egg hunt, even if it was a bit on the hot side. Kate's school had their annual Easter Egg Hunt and picnic. She was SO excited about hunting eggs that she could hardly eat lunch.

We started off with lunch with her little friend A, who didn't seem to notice that there were eggs laying everywhere in the field beside us (believe me, this didn't go unnoticed by our child).

Then (thankfully) there were games and other kid fun until the hunt began.

Sidewalk chalk with G.

Plinko

Jump castle - where she got jumped on by a boy. Apparently because he was a boy and that's what boys do (according to K).

Ball toss - the girl has skills!

And... the hunt!

It was such a challenging Easter Egg hunt (if you were blind).

Kate was all about what was hidden in the eggs.

Like this Yo-Yo. I had no idea she knew what a Yo-Yo was.

What a fun day all around!

Happy Birthday!

It's a happy day! It's Grandma Meredith's birthday!

Kate and I celebrated it on the way to school. She thinks Grandma needs a cake - probably a princess one.

Hope you have a wonderful birthday Grandma!!

Wednesday

Just another Wednesday afternoon.

Some butterfly art.

Lots of Iris blooming (although Kate calls them Daffodils)

Swinging (like pirates do).

And a caterpillar. Can you spot him?

Welcome Spring!

This is the post in which I do not comment on our health, other than to say that it got much worse before it got better. But, as you can see, we were out this weekend making the most of our beautiful weather.

Don and Kate tagged along on a trip that I made to Clemson to give a short talk about Dengue Fever. I think it was tiger paw overload for Kate, but she enjoyed herself immensely!

Riding Daddy's shoulders.


Flying a kite on Bowman Field.


Exploring the Military Heritage Plaza.


"Where's he going, Mommy?" (yes, the question phase is in FULL swing)


Just in case you were wondering how round I actually am. Can you believe a lady actually compared me to a watermelon?! How uncool is that?


My favorite quote of the trip? On the playground (there was a mirror at the top of the slide):
"Now I can look in the mirror to see how I'm pretty. Yep, I'm pretty. Now I can slide."

And then last night Kate modeled my apron (which is a full dress for her).