Tuesday, February 28, 2017

The big 3-3!

Happy (Oh my God, Oh my God) 33rd (33rd!!!! What!!!) birthday to me! OK, I"m not going to lie, I still claim 29 when my kids ask how old I am, but it's only because I genuinely still feel 29! I don't feel 33, but I also can't complain about how pretty awesome my life is at 33.

My birthday was on Thursday, but my birthday week started on Tuesday when a dear and talented friend took the time to do my hair for me. 

**Side note... if you ever have the opportunity to find an amazing hairdresser  who is totally an awesome person and also has a kid the same age as your kids so they can be friends.... don't mess that situation up! It's the best!!! You get a built in amazing friend and someone who is a magician at hair at the same time!



Anyway, after hair, I had an amazing happy hour/ dinner with my amazing friends . We haven't all been friends long, but these amazing women have been my rock for the last few years, and the fact hat our kids our all besties is really the icing on the cake!

 (Jenny is missing from this super cute pic!!)

My actual bday wasn't as amazing. S had to work (which was fine, we had decided awhile ago that we would rather him take off for a long weekend than take of a Thursday.), and I had to spend the morning in restitution court for that darn dog bite L got back in October. Court went fine, we basically only asked the guy to cover the urgent care visit and he was pretty cool about it, but it still wasn't the ideal birthday morning. After that I had a nice lunch with my parents, who were in town. They left to head out to Wyoming pretty much right after, and luckily S was able to  get off a little earlier than usual. 

And, amazing presents aside, how cute is the card that S helped the boys make for me? 


S was wonderful and got me the new fitbit that I've been wanting and also a cute workout tank top that he found when we went to Flag a few weekends ago. For my actual bday we fed the kids dinner and then just had some appetizers and watched a movie and drank some beer. S took Friday and Monday off, so it was the kickoff to my actual birthday weekend!

On Friday S got up and got the kids ready for school and let me sleep in a bit, and then we headed to a local diner for breakfast. We hung out and killed time and relaxed until we had to go and get R from school and then drop him off at our neighbors house, and then we headed out to Scottsdale to do our "pinspiration" day that S got me for Valentines Day.


Of course, as is the way that always happens, after juggling and arranging babysitters and after school care for all three kids, literally as we were walking in we got a call from L2's school that he had a fever and needed to come get picked up. Seriously? After a few moments of panic that our day date was ruined, and talking to the nurse who let us know that his fever was only 100 (is that even really a fever?) we decided that S would run over and get him and bring him back while I started the craft. It was definitely a hiccup in our plans, but it turned out fine and it was so fun creating something together!






The rest of the weekend was equally as perfect and relaxing. On Saturday we went out and did some furniture shopping and had nice dinner in. On Sunday I went to a Spring Training game to meet up with some college friends, including my old suite mate and her new baby that I hadn't met yet!




S took Monday off too, so I had another day where I got to sleep in a bit and then we went and got bagels and coffee before getting R for school. Then we went and did more furniture shopping (we needed new dressers!) and had lunch out! Pretty nice way to round out the long weekend, and it was the perfect end to celebrate turning the big 3-3!!!

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Valentine's Day 2017

You all know I am a lover of holidays. Give me reason to celebrate, and I am fully in. And yes, that includes the ones other people hate, such as Valentines Day.

I know, I know. It's commercialized and it's just a way for hallmark to make money and you don't need a day to show your love for someone.... blah, blah, blah. In my opinion, how great of an idea is it to set aside a whole day just to show your special someone you love them?

S and I have been together for over a decade now, and as the years have gone and the children in our house have multiplies, our V-day's have gone from fancy dinners out and jewelry to takeout or home cooked meals, glasses of wine, and smaller gifts. But it doesn't matter. I would rather eat takeout on my couch with S than receive jewelry or go to a nice restaurant with anyone else in the world. And I love having a day that we set aside to celebrate that.

This year S went above and beyond in the sweet and thoughtful category. Normally S leaves the house before 5am and the kids and I are up by 6:30. On Vday I woke up at 7am and panicked!!! I jumped out of bed, yelling at the kids to get up, freaking out that my alarm hadn't gone off. As I ran downstairs, there was S. He had turned off my alarm in the night so I could sleep in and told his work that he would be coming in late. He had all the kids up and dressed (and quiet!!!) and had blueberry muffins and a mimosa waiting for me. This right here encompasses so many of the reasons that I love this man. I am so lucky to be able to stay home, but sometimes the days get long and the kids can be tough and I start to get snappy and worn out and overwhelmed. For him to know me and understand me so well, and know that this gift would mean so much to me, is everything.

So, that was my morning surprise. After breakfast the kids and I headed off to school and S had to head into work. In  the afternoon R and I went out to L2's school for his V-day party, which was super cute. When we got home I fed the kids dinner and we waited for daddy to come home to do the rest of the gifts. I got S some candy and a bottle of his favorite gin, and we got the kids some candy and matchbox cars. After the kids went to bed S made us a delicious dinner of lobster and scallops. It was perfect, and then S added one more surprise. He have me an anagram and some clues (which I am absolutely horrible at.) The clues were "it was somewhere we were going to go" and "it was something we were going to do together". I couldn't figure it out and finally he caved and told me that he was going to take me to "inspiration". Basically, some people out here opened a workshop where you can go in and choose from different pinterest crafts and they have all the supplies and walk you through how to do it. I know this is not something he would choose to do on his own, ever, so it was again such a perfect and thoughtful gift. I love this man!

So that was our Valentine's Day. I have no pictures, but it was perfect day and is still one of my favorite holidays!

Monday, February 13, 2017

A Flagstaff trip

This weekend we decided to be spontaneous and forgo our normal weekend plans. Instead we loaded up the car on Saturday morning in search of cooler weather, a mini-vacation, and possibly some snow! We've been wanting to take the boys up to the snow for awhile, and even though Flagstaff had a pretty good winter it was in the 80's in Phoenix at the end of the week, so we knew our time was running out.



And guess what? We found some! In reality, it was really patchy, and we basically had to drive out towards the lake and then pull over on the side of the road. The boys were.... not as thrilled as we had hoped. They were all really excited by the prospect of snow, but the reality that it was cold, wet, and hard to walk in was not ideal for L2 and R. L had a good time and even did two half hearted runs on the sled down the steepest hill we could find.







Overall though, we did what we came to do and I considered it a success. After the snow we headed to check into the hotel and then straight out to lunch at one of our favorite breweries from college. Needless to say, S was more excited about the craft beer than the boys were about the snow!


It was a quick and wonderful trip, and on top of the snow and beer we added in a trip to the pound so the boys could play with the animals, a swim in the indoor hotel pool and a relaxing take out dinner in our room. We got up the next morning and had breakfast at our favorite bagel place before we headed back down the hill.

And then, of course, we were about 10 minutes on the road and we got the notification that there was an accident and the freeway was closed. If you know Flagstaff you know that when the main freeway is closed there is no easy way in or out, and so we decided to detour down through Sedona. IT as annoying to add an extra 45 minutes onto our trip, but I have to admit Sedona is so gorgeous that I think we ended up enjoying the drive.





Our next couple of months are packed with planned activities, camping trips, visits from family and many more things, so I'm so glad that we took a quiet just the five of us before things get crazy!