Sunset date

Has sickness hit your house yet?

If you've got anyone under the age of ....oh, what does it matter.....I'm sure you've been hit in some way or another.  It's that time of year.

I had been cautiously optimistic that our house had evaded it.

Then Wednesday came.  Addison dropped first and Graham was about two days behind her.

So we have been house bound and house crazy ever since.

When you can't go anywhere....school, the gym, MOPS, church, ....I even felt rebellious heading to Target yesterday....you get the crazies.

By 4:30 today I needed out.

What can I get at the store?

Oh!  I most definitely need to get out for green onions!

Yup, that's it.  I took Graham (1 kid less makes all the difference) and headed out to the fruit stand.

On the way home, I noticed that the sun was on it's way down...and it was gorgeous!

So G and I headed to the beach to get a closer look.

 My cute date!

 So Andy' and my date night might of gotten canceled tonight due to the crud,

but my impromptu beach date almost made up for it.

Back to the good stuff

I've been feeling stressed lately.

It's expected this time of year, but I've been a little convicted about what I've been stressing about.

My stresses include: present buying, gift wrapping, lack of cookie baking or gingerbread house making,

not getting around to doing all the stuff on my Pinterest board labeled "Countdown to Christmas"...

Really?

And those are just the stresses and convictions that I feel ok typing.

Ok, I'll put it out there.

I'll admit that I have lost it more than once when Graham's train set has been destroyed by him PLAYING with it.  It's been driving me crazy that the playroom is a wreck and my house is right there with it.  

I've lost it this week with my kids.

LOST it....more than once.

I'm the crazy lady who is yelling at my kids for not picking up their stuff, and to leave me alone for one stinkin' minute so I can spend time on Pinterest finding some "fun activity" we can do together.

Messed up crazy lady.

That's me lately.

So after conviction set in.....

and God had a little heart to heart with me...

I've been a little emotional realizing how QUICKly these kids are growing up.

I'm not getting this time back.

And time with me is what they need.

Not Pinterest activities....although I do love 'em.

So I'm trying to take a step back (away from the computer, for one)

and spend more quality time amongst all the craziness of this time of year.

Last Thursday I dropped Addison off at pre-school and instead of taking Graham on a gagillion errands minus one kid....I took him to the park for some one-on-one time.

We weren't there long...

Because he wanted to go ....

look at this.

 And so G and I walked on the beach by ourselves for a few minutes.

We looked at waves, and really just took in all in.

 And it was the best time I"ve had in a long time.

I know he probably won't even remember it.

But I will.

A lot longer than I will some of the other stuff I've been spending my time on.

TWO!!

Graham turned TWO on Friday and what better way to kick off a birthday weekend (because we always try to stretch birthdays around here), than to have daddy stick around the house and make breakfast?!

 His main birthday gift this year was a Thomas the Train set.

 I got this set almost two years ago at a resale in Houston, and have been so excited to pull it out.

Since it was used, it came with no instructions for set up.  This wouldn't have been too bad, but it had several pieces of sets thrown in, and the detail frettin' person that I am was stressing the night before about how to fit it all together. And why do we have 50 other pieces left over?

Andy assured me that my 2 hours of stressing was wasted time since our two year old would "deconstruct" it in two minutes flat.

I hate to say that my husband was right, but it was a definite waste of two hours on my part.

Yesterday was the party.

Pinterest has done nothing in my effort to simplify.

We introduced a few people to our love of Chick Fil A.

The twenty minute drive requires a little more effort than the 2 minute one in Houston, but those nuggets are always worth it.

 Nuts & Bolts snack mix

 "Leaded fuel" for vintage cars.

And we needed it.  It was so chilly and windy and the hot coffee hit the spot.

 I don't know that I'll ever have a birthday cake again.

Donut cakes (especially those made from VG's)

have a new spot in my heart.

 The donut tower also fit into the theme with "Luigi's spare tires"

and dipsticks...

When Graham arrived, he made himself right at home by the nugget tray.

 And if you were looking for him at any given time during the party, you could probably find him with some kind of food in his mouth.

 Chick Hicks chicken nuggets & Mater's tater chips

 More love for the donut cake

 Digging for the good stuff...

 and when Graham wasn't by the food, he was most likely here.

 The park was great.  I think it would be hard to convince my husband to ever have another kid party at the house because clean up was a snap and there was plenty for the kids to do.

 and no fretting over mess....

so this guy was happy.

 This boy does not love the camera.

Or standing still

 I love that I got this one.

This is the same girl who loves to snatch his toys, 

and get her way with her brother, 

but she can be so sweet sometimes with him.

He wanted nothing to do with her help, however.

 And for my little guy...

Graham, you are one car lovin' * no, CARS obsessin' *juice drinking * big boy bed sleeping * independence seeking * sister following * airplane pointing * food loving *even broccoli eatin' * momma huggin' *goofy face making * show requesting * bull in a china shop runnin' * won't stand still for a picture * slightly slow in talking * but best laugh in the world * donut loving * still referring to your sister as "ASS"....please don't stop this anytime soon * helper lovin' * TWO year old!

And my favorite TWO year old, at that.

We love you Bubbas!

Here are his two year old stats:

Height: 36.5 inches (90%)

Weight: 30 pounds 9 ounces (80%)

This guy

This guy came running into the kitchen today grinning ear from ear. I greeted him warmly and went back to cleaning. Then I snapped back to reality and realized that it was in fact nap time, and THIS GUY had scaled his crib, opened his door, climbed down the stairs and declared that naptime was officially over.

And, I'm off to work on his big boy room.