March 2015, Staycations, Sickies, and everything in between!

We kicked off Seuss and Shamrock month with some Dr. Seuss at the breakfast table! 

I cant get enough of these two and their bond and friendship.  The best!

We stopped by Mac and Gramps' house to check out their festive decorations in preparations for their annual shindig!

And Whitney revived her old Snow White costume from the closet :) 

Some of their favorite memories will be from my parents' house.  Tea parties and dress up, hitting golf balls and jumping in the pool.  They both ask to go to Mac and Gramps' house almost daily. 

Whitney has been recruiting Grady to help take the recyclables out, and Grady now likes to bring the garbage can in all by himself.  Such a big kid!

Timehop is the best app ever. 

March is probably my favorite weather month here in the sunshine state.  We had our first bathing suit weather early in the month, even if the pool was still only in the 70s.  

After-church spring flower picking at Home Depot.

And what would life be without more themed costumes?!

And poor GBass...when you lose the diaper-booty, your bathing suit might droop.  Hes still rockin' the 18 month shorts and bathing suits :) 

This Dr. Seuss quote was a great reminder at the start of Dr. Seuss week at the kids' schools.  And, so true, right?  We were reminded to make the best decisions for our family and if others have an issue with the choices we make, then that is their issue.  Not ours.  Dr. Seuss is pretty wise!

Whitney's class enjoyed "Mixed-Up Monday" to kick of Seuss week, and when her Life Skills teacher saw me the next day, she said, "Oh, I saw Whitney on Mixed Up Monday and I thought, 'Wow, I bet that outfit drove her mom crazy with all that mismatchy mix!"

YES! I cant handle the mismatch!

Timehop for the win, again. 

Grady and I enjoyed Story Time at the library! He is so fun to watch! 

It is difficult to tell who is the bad influence here.  The lizard-chasing mutt? Or the two year old who discovered that giant pot had a bunch of dirt to play in?? They work against me and my efforts to have a clean house. 

My favorites.  Reading together before bed.  

Whitney rocked her Seuss bows and shirt :) 

So proud to have Grady in her care.  I'm forever grateful for my college friend, Devon,  and her "thinking outside the box" to help us help Grady when other docs brushed us off or were honest enough to say "I just don't know enough about MTHFR. I know it's a 'thing' but I don't know how to start treating it.' Elaine Hardy knew immediately what Grady's body needed, and almost a year later, we feel so blessed to know Grady is in capable, knowledgeable hands. She's awesome!! 

I love these evenings!

"Okay, Grady, ten more swings and we are heading into books and bed."

(Closes his eyes tightly and pretends to snore.)

"Mommy, I'm sleeping. See? I needa nightlight."

Done. 

And Whitney had to dress like her favorite Dr. Seuss character for their Seuss Week, and we chose Fox in Socks! She was excited to be able to read the book all by herself :) 

Grady came home from school and I was blown away by his latest school pic.  My baby boy is soooo handsome! 

And Whitney came home with this madness.  In her KINDERGARTEN assignments.  

We have been so blessed with an awesome introduction to public school and to the education system in general.  I LOVE that Whitney is being challenged!

Speaking of "challenging".  Mr. Grady.  Ugh.  

And to round it out, Whitney came home with another awesome report card with remarks about her excellent behavior and her perfect attendance :) 

Grady got some new hand-me-downs from his far-away friend, Charlie!  And these shoes are a new favorite!  My Super Dude!

Whitney got to choose a restaurant to celebrate her excellent report card.  She chose Duffy's Sports Bar/Restaurant and Menchies for dessert!

"I heart school"

Grady fell in LOVE with The Cat in the Hat at school! 

And I LOVE when he walks holding my hand.  He loves to be carried everywhere but my back cant always take it. 

Mac got Grady a Thomas the Train bubble whistle and he LOVED it!

"Whoa! Daddy! Big bubbles!! One more times!" :)

I was on the hunt for new motivation to get back into running, so we shopped for running shoes.  My boys had other plans :) 

And Whitney came home from her sleepover at Mac and Gramps' with a bunch of loot for her awesome report card!  She got right to work creating and crafting! 

And these two sillies make life so much fun! Full belly laughs for Daddy before we rushed off to church :) 

Eating outside, Chipotle, after church.....cant think of a better way to start a week/end a weekend!

The pool was only 70 degrees but girlfriend was excited to kick off pool season!

These two crack me up! These kids just told me they "HAVE to blow that whistle THAT loud because it's a fairy whistle" and they are "summoning the fairies to our house!"

When I asked if the fairies do laundry? Floors? Make dinner? They laughed at me. Hysterically. Like, full on belly laughs. I didn't think it was THAT outrageous to at least ask. 

My baby boy loves to "cuddle in mommy's crib," and I cant say no. Im trying to break the habit but hes so cute and its hard to tell a sweet boy that you dont have time to cuddle with him. :)

Whitney had her last field trip of Kindergarten! We went to the zoo.  On a school bus.  With no A/C.  And 4892 excited Kindergarteners.  Yeah.  It wasnt "relaxing".  But it was a ton of fun and Whitney's class is so well-behaved! 

Pool echoes! 

"No, Sissy! YOU jump!"

First jump of 2015!

Time Hop

I wonder who Bingo will push in the pool first.....? Or how long it will take him to end up in the pool!?

Time Hop = Heart stopping

Grady got a new car seat in March.  Matching car seats.  In my back seat.  I remember a time when I thought I might never have a car seat in my car.  And now their are matching car seats.  So we immediately celebrated by going to Jeremiah's for "ice cream"....which Grady promptly dropped in his brand new car seat, thus removing the "brand new" appearance.  Sigh.  Boy child. 

Whitney reading bedtime books to Grady.  I can die a happy mama.  

And this mutt.  He is undoubtedly my biggest mistake.  But he sure is cute and sure does love these kids.  

March brought Spring Break for the kids! Grady had one extra day of school so I got Whitney all alone while GBass headed to class! 

Whitney and I headed to Dunkin Donuts for her favorite breakfast treat after we dropped Grady off....

To the girl behind the counter, it was just a donut. But she knew it was much more for this little girl who she called "princess" and gave her a strawberry pink frosted sprinkle donut  "on the house" today. Whitney said, "wow! That was really nice of her! We should buy someone else's donut now!"
Love her giving heart!

Grady missed the excitement of a fire in the woods behind the houses across the street from us.  Fire trucks and ambulances! 

And the best Daddy/Husband EVER got off work early to tackle Grady duty so that Whitney and I could go see the new Cinderella movie together! Im not sure who was more excited!!? (I was crying within minutes.....great movie, but a little grown up for our five-year-old).

And our usual Friday night Kickball routine continued with warmer weather! :) 

We had a Spring Cleaning porch day, getting the pool and proch ready for the fun days ahead!  Pressure washing, toy tossing, happy kids, and Bingo doing a great Bailey impression :) 

My parents held their annual St. Paddy's Day party again this year, and Eric and I were super excited to have a trusty teen babysitter!  The kids had a blast and we are excited to have an awesome babysitter who we can rely on so we arent always asking my parents to watch the kids. :) 

Mom always throws an awesome party, and this year was no exception! She knows how to have a great time, and their friends are fantastic! 

How fun are my parents?! And Eric's hat?! Love!

These guys are the BEST of the BEST!

And the next day we carried on the green tradition and headed to EPCOT! 

And once again, meeting up with a bestie at Disney World?! Life doesnt get much better than that :) 

We checked out the butterfly garden....

....where these two Tink lovers had a blast! 

Every now and then, I see a picture that makes me think Whitney and Grady look like each other..... 

Our own Anna and Elsa at the Flower and Garden Festival!

And Spring Break was off to a great start on Monday morning when this happened....

They both slept til 8am and then requsted breakfast "in Mommy's crib!" The best!

TimeHop for the win:

No luck involved.  Im totally blessed. 

Mac and I took the kids to the beach one day!  It was windy and the water was frigid but the kids had a great time! 

We are all SO excited for our beach vacation this summer! 

Dude.  TimeHop.  Same shirt AND shorts.  My skinny healthy dude!

And as the month came to an end and our favorite month of the year approached, I could procrastinate no longer.  It was time to bust out the sewing machine and get the birthday shirts made.

Sniff, sniff. 

I heard about a great website that teaches kids how to draw popular characters and themes, step by step.  Whitney jumped right in and got to work!  She loves to draw and color!

While she worked on those, and Grady actually napped (gasp!), I got their (heartbreaking) shirts done.

Wahhhhhahaha My babies!! 

And what Spring Break is complete without a trip to the dentist!? Both kids did great and the doc said Whitney has "super model teeth!" and Grady has "really gorgeous teeth...like, really." 

Our kickball team may not have made it to the finals, but we all gathered to celebrate a fun season and watch the championship games.  Only the coolest Daddies babysit the Elsa doll while the little girl gets busy in the dirt! 

After the games, we headed for Mexican with the team and Eric had them bust out the (gross) sombrero for my birthday the following week.  

And leave it to the two year old boy to keep it classy.  

LOVE these girlies!  Theyve known each other since they were toddlers running around storytime at the library and even when weeks and months go by without seeing each other, they fall right back into place and are full of giggles :) 

Grady rocked some awesome hand-me-downs from Scary Spice, a college bestie who is one of my very favorite mommy friends :) 

And this little girl rocked her "5" Anna shirt til the last few days before turning the big SIX! 

She was dancing and singing in the mirror outside her room, and I was floored by that teeny little pink dress and birth announcement hanging on the wall to the right.  My baby is soooo big girl now. 

In March, I read this article:

http://iammrsfancypants.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-lot-of-people-ask-me-so-did-you-guys.html

And immediately thought:

Ahhhhh!!!! I feel like I could've written this! And if I ever actually find time to blog again, I WILL write something like this! 
We didn't adopt because we couldn't get pregnant. We couldn't get pregnant because our first child was meant to be ours through adoption. Whitney was meant to be our daughter and the perfect path lead us to her. I cherish our infertility years as the testing I had done eventually helped us diagnose and treat Grady, who technically, according to science, isn't even supposed to be here. Our story is my favorite happily ever after Love that someone else experienced the same happiness and put it into words ❤

The porch days were off to a great start! Bingo seems to think he is supposed to bust through every. single. screen on our pool deck.  But we will work on that so he can enjoy time poolside this Summer. 

Silliest kiddos.  Happiest Mommy.

Eric spoiled us on my birthday weekend! Poolside snacks, and healthy, too! 

My boys!

Grady tried on his Easter outfits so I could choose a favorite....this one was the winner! 

And probably definitely one of my favorite memories of the year so far....taking the kids to Magic Kingdom after dinner one night, just to meet Tink and watch the fireworks! We had the BEST time! 

Both kids are really into Tinkerbell and her fairy friends right now, so this was especially adorable as they both sprinted into her arms when they laid eyes on her! 

Im telling you, there is magic in EVERY visit to the happiest place on earth! 

Whitney said, "My little brother LOVES you!"

And Grady got his first smooch from a fairy :) 

Such an awesome memory! Both kids were on cloud nine! 

Magic Kingdom has had some significant landscaping renovations in the last year, and we had no idea how amazing they were!  We got fast passes for fireworks viewing and were so pleasantly surprised with how it works! 

An awesome lawn to watch from with a great view of the castle and Tink as she flies from the castle before the show! 

There was a family seated behind us and after the fireworks ended, she stopped me and said, "Your family is SO cute! I hope you dont mind, but I snapped some pictures of all of you and Id love to send them to you!"  It was so fun to see the pics (which FB wont let me save without 'friending' this stranger..) and view our family from someone else's eyes :) 

We had planned to "just" watch the fireworks and head home, but the kids were having a blast and the weather was PERFECT, so we hopped on the Barnstormer! 

And then Dumbo took us for a spin! 

And then....the inevitable....

the walk to the car with two crashed-out kiddos :) 

This stroller is PRICELESS!  Thanks again and again, Mom and Dad!

The next day, both kids slept til 9:22 when Whitney woke up singing.  Well done, Disney.  Well done. 

My birthday was a few days later and my brother, aka Uncle Jay, called to send good wishes.  Grady was pretty psyched that Uncle Jay was about to board the T in  (freeeeeezing cold) Boston! 

Grady got to watch a few trains pass by Uncle Jay before it was his turn to board! 

Grady talks about Uncle Jay every. single. day.  Itll be fun to see these guys swim and build sand castles this July!

My birthday was fantastic...

Painted nails and toes. Happy, silly kids. Pinot from a glass from a bestie. A snuggly, calm pup. A rainy day that turned to sunshine. A server who saw my sad gluten free toddler as he delivered bread to the table, and decided to bring a batch of GF chips for him to feel included. Birthday cards from Eric's parents. A FaceTime with my big brother that made my train-loving kid light up. A restaurant gift card from my favorite aunt so I don't have to cook on my birthday. Two kids who politely ordered their own meals. Fastpasses and cabanas lined up for a fun weekend staycation with my brother and family thanks to my parents. A ridiculous number of FB messages from friends near and far, from St. Jude and Whitney Farms to Lauralton and Clemson to Chase and StarChild and teaching and church and beyond. There is nothing anyone could say to convince me that I am not the most blessed, luckiest, happiest girl in the world right now. I know life isn't always easy and I know it could all disappear in an instant. I am incredibly and deeply thankful for this life God has given me, the friends and family I've had to lead me to where I am today and for another year to celebrate, party, take pics, laugh til I pee, appreciate, savor, and enjoy every minute. Thank you for the birthday love today! Life really is THAT good.

Seriously.  TimeHop wins. 

Whitney has been wanting "Dictionary Words" forEVER! Instead of sight words, she's moved up to vocabulary words and I'm reminded why I LOVE her teacher and her school! 

Love these beautiful babies!!

"Grady, what does your shirt say?"

"Ummm, touchdown!!!"

"Well....no. But who's the other team we cheer for?"

"Oh! Go SOX!!!"

Yessss!!

Excited for Uncle Jay to get here and ready for the Red Sox spring training game on Friday!! (Rain, rain, go away!!)

TimeHop happiness...

Seersucker.  Little boy.  Enough said. 

And then it was time to start packing.  Whitney had just received her report card with a big congrats on her perfect attendance, but we were ready to blow that popstand and get away for a little staycation with my parents and my brother at our favorite Disney resort......if only the bags would pack themselves....

Unfortunately, it was about this time in the packing process the day before we headed out that I started to feel sick....and it only got worse from there.  

On our tenth wedding anniversary, we loaded up (way too much stuff) and headed less than an hour away to one of our favorite places with some of our very favorite people! 

There is no one else Id rather have by my side on this adventure....

.....and Im so grateful for the life he provides for us and our children.  

He is such an amazing dad, and an awesome friend to so many....

He is patient and funny and humble.  

And he's all mine :) 

I am so blessed to be his wife and to call him my best friend. 

And it was an amazing first ten years....

I can only imagine what the next ten years will bring! 

We jumped right in the pool despite the overcast sky....

...and the sun finally peeked through the clouds! 

Uncle Jay arrived from Boston and the party got started! I was still attempting to push the sickies away....

The sun! And the lazy river! YEAH!

Mac and her girl :) 

Mac got Whitney's hair done at the poolside stand and Whitney was in LOOOVE! She never wanted to take out those braids! 

And my own version of TimeHop:

2014

2015

The next day we had tickets for the spring training game...Red Sox vs. Braves!  We were excited to represent Sox Nation in central Florida :) 

The game was eventually called due to poor weather, but we got to see a few innings and eat a few pretzels and have a few drinks before it rained on our parade. 

And one of Whitney's preK classmates happened to sit in front of us with his parents! 

The beginning of the end, as the rain came in and brought a cold front and legit COLD temps, and I got sicker and sicker as the evening went on....

It was fun while it lasted, but the next day was COLD and I continued to be sick, so we all packed it up and headed home so I could be sick in my own bed.  

No one was too surprised when Grady spiked a fever....and then Whitney took her turn.  I never had a fever the whole time, but apparently this virus works its way out differently in adults and kids.  Both kids battled fevers for a day and then were back to normal :) 

My PSA for the month:

PSA: if you are sick, stay home. Please don't risk spreading germs just so you can "power through" and tough it out. In the last week, we have had to leave a long-awaited family vacation early because of nasty illness, and now our happy Dude is a glassy-eyed, super warm, "I don't wanna be sick, mommy" little mess who hasn't left the couch since he got out of bed this morning. 
Keep your germs at home!

I need to clone myself. One of me could sit here and snuggle this sad, sleepy, feverish little boy who just wants to be held. The other one could go finish laundry, disinfect the entire house some more, .....and maybe hand the snuggly "me" the remote that she can't reach so I don't have to sit here watching Blue's Clues until Eric gets home. Sigh.

March was a great month with, much like life, many highs and lows! It happens! We were VERY excited to roll right into APRIL to celebrate birthdays and more staycationing and more!