The kids had a blast together...

Crystal and the kids were in town and Layah came to play (and then decided to spend the night). The kids had a great time! Layah came over Thursday morning just in time to go to Chuck-e-cheese with us. The kids played for a few hours and we had lunch there. It was alot of fun, but a mental note -avoid it on school holidays. It was Spring Break so the place was packed.

After Chuck-e-cheese, we came home and the kids played outside for hours. They ran around the backyard, they played in the dirt, they moved out front to write on the sidewalk with chalk, to blow bubbles and they even played basketball in the street with some of the neighborhood kids. They all played hard! I think they all really enjoyed each other!






Thursday night was a big slumber party ...and what's a slumber party without someone loosing a tooth and people getting manicures and pedicures, right? :) Ethan lost his 5th tooth! I actually got to pull it too! yay! Layah and Evan wanted their nails and toes done so I played beauty shop with them! Lincoln just loved having 3 extra kids to play with ...and not just Ash and me! We all had so much fun!




Friday started out great, but then I got sick! :( I guess the flu that Mama had in Vegas, she gave to me. It hit me out of now where! I felt awful!

MK, this one's for you...

I'm dedicating this entry to one of my best and dearest friends, Mary Katherine! She loved my bread baking entry so much, that I thought she would love to see the brownies we made tonight! :) Ha!

Crystal and the kids got in town late this afternoon! We had a great evening together with the kids. Lincoln was so excited to see Ethan and Evan. The spent about an hour this afternoon drawing on the side walk with chalk and blowing bubbles!

For a little treat, I thought we could bake brownies ...not the old boring, plain chocolate ones ...but chocolate ones with confetti sprinkles! YAY! I did the hard part ...mixing and stirring, but the kids did the decorating ...and they had a blast doing it!



Ooey Gooey Delicious!

Mk, I hope that this makes you smile as much as it did me when I thought about blogging about it! :) Muah!

Vegas...

We spent the weekend in Las Vegas! It was fabulous! Our friend, Lori, got married there and Lincoln was "supposed" to be the ring bearer (AKA her bling bearer), but unfortunately he didn't make it down the aisle! His words exactly, before he and I were supposed to walk down the aisle, were "NO WAY!" I hate he didn't make it down because he looked so cute in his little suit vest!

We had a great time in Vegas, it was my first time and I can't wait to go back again! My mom went with us to help with Lincoln and she enjoyed her time with him on Thursday and Friday, but unfortunately she got the stomach flu on Saturday and she was so sick until we all got on a place to fly home on Sunday. We felt so bad for her because she felt so bad.

Thursday night was girls night and we went to a show and then went out to a club ....as the saying goes, "What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas!" We had a great time!

Friday night we had tickets to see Criss Angel's Show BELIEVE! It was amazing! Everything about the show was great ...the magic, the dancing, the stage was fantastic, everything!

Saturday during the day we went to the Shark Reef Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay hotel. It was really cool and Lincoln really enjoyed it! He is always drawn to the turtles, they are his favorite! That afternoon we took a few hours before the wedding to walk down the strip to see what all we could in the few short hours! We had a great time! Our friend, Jessica, went with us on our journey of the strip. My favorite hotel was The Venetian. It was gorgeous. I so wanted to go on a gondola ride, but we didn't have the time. I'm hoping that our next trip there, that we can stay there!

Saturday night was Lori's wedding. She got married in a wonderful chapel at the Mandalay Bay hotel. It was a short ceremony, but so intiment. She looked so beautiful and so happy. The reception was dinner at Ruth's Chris.

I've decided that there is no way to accomplish Vegas in 3 short days, I need another week there to see and do all the things that we ran out of time for this trip! I can't wait to go back...

Duck, duck, goose...

Nope, we didn't play the game, but we did see lots of ducks and geese at the park today! The weather felt great, a bit overcast and a slight breeze, but it was perfect for the park! I guess county schools are out for Spring Break because the park was full of kids in the middle of the day! Lincoln played for about an hour and then we headed over to see the ducks!

He did really great with them. It's been awhile since he had been that close to any so I wasn't quite sure how he would react, but he really enjoyed it. He watched them come in and out of the water and he didn't move, just sat there in awwww! He tried to talk to a few, but thankfully they didn't talk back! It was so peaceful sitting there just watching them swim, couldn't even hear the chaos of the playground across the way! We will have to go back before the weather gets too hot to enjoy!

Ok, I'm excited...

So, I'm watching DWTS, yes literally, it's a commercial! AND I'm excited! The two surprise dancers have changed the whole show this season for me! I was and still am team Melissa Rycroft from the Bachelor and love Holly on The Girls Next Door, so now I'm watching it! Go Melissa and Holly! And the little gymnast, Shawn Johnson, is adorable and did a great job, so I'm rooting her on as well!

So, I can't decide if I'm excited...

Normally at this time I would be jumping up and down with anticipation of the show, but I'm just not crazy with this seasons Dancing with the Stars line-up! I guess I will give it a watch and see if my excitement changes. I haven't heard of more than half of the stars, the professional dancers are all more of stars to me! I guess one good thing of me not liking it and not watching it ...Ash will be thrilled that it's one less "boring, waste-of-a-time, girlie" show I will be worried with this season! :) ha!

Will let you know how it goes tonight!

More snow pictures...

I don't get any credit for these great pictures, they were taken by my neighbor, Michael, who was so generous to take them and send to me! He took these pictures of our house this morning, while the snow was still on the ground, but the sun had come out! They are such wonderful pictures! And the funny thing was I had just told myself this morning that I wish I had gotten up and done this first thing before it started melting and it still looked like a blanket outside! And when I checked my email my neighbor had done it for me! Guess he read my mind! And I doubt mine would have turned out this great had I taken them myself! Thanks, Michael!

Snow filled weekend...

Snow ...again! But it's the day before March. Isn't March supposed to be Spring time??? When I hear March I think sunny skies and pretty flowers ....NOT 8 INCHES OF SNOW!





(Mine and Lincoln's first snowman together! Mini-Frosty!)

How do you wake up and within a few short hours you have 8 inches of SNOW! To some you may be thinking ...that's easy! BUT we live in MEMPHIS! This was not possible in Memphis ...that is until today! The crazy part of it all is that once the snow started falling (and falling hard and fast) I'm thinking to myself, how are Jessica and I going to pull off a bachlorette party for our friend, Lori! For it to be so cold, I was sweating!

But I am happy to say ...we did it! We had a great night and I think Lori had a fabulous time! We started at Sekisui for some yummy sushi before heading out to party! We had to sort of plan as we went with the weather like it was ...but it all worked out! We went to Blue Monkey Midtown and had a great time. After Midtown we decided to brave the roads and headed downtown. I had already decided I would be the driver for the evening, so we just took the roads slow and headed down. We went to Silky's and 152 and I must say the partying world is so much more amusing through sober eyes! :) You might not think it's possible to enjoy a night of bachloretting without cocktails ...but man for the people watcher enthusiast (that I am) it is hilarious! I had a fabulous time & I know the all the girls did too ...most importantly, Lori did!

And I can't believe I'm blogging on 3 1/2 hours of sleep! I think I'm functioning quite well for no sleep! Ash said that Lincoln was a partying kid last night, too! He said that he didn't fall asleep until almost 1:30am himself! He was begging him to go to sleep, but Lincoln wanted to pull an all-nighter too! Ash says he just wanted to play, but I like to think he was waiting up for his Mama!
So, when naptime comes around, you can bet this Mama is napping, too!

Girls & kids weekend...

Lincoln and I met Crystal and the kids this weekend at Ganny & Papa's house! It was a girls & kids weekend! We had a great weekend. The weather was so great this weekend with the exception of one windy day, but the windy ones just get spent inside ...and there is always something fun to get into at Ganny's house inside or out!

Saturday, Crystal and I took the kids to lunch at McDonald's so they could play on the play ground. They have one of those great big ones that is inside, its the first one that Lincoln has been tall enough to climb all the way through. I only had to climb in there once (yikes) to help clear the way of some not-so-polite little kids trapping him, Ethan and Evan from being able to get down. I hate a bully kid!!

After there we went to the park for a few minutes, this was the one windy day that we were there, but the kids wanted to run wild a little longer, so we braved the winds! The kids had a great time showing us all their playground tricks on the monkey bars ...and Lincoln and his slide tricks, too! :)


Before leaving we made our way onto the old bridge to look at the ducks!


The kids played hard so we settled in for the night and the kids were busying playing their video games and I was able to capture the sweetest little moment. Lincoln was mesmerized at Evan playing a hotwheels game. He just nestled into her and watched her play. The moment sure melted our hearts for sure and reminds me how happy it makes me that the kids are so close!
The next morning they were back where they left off ...the video games!



Sunday the weather was perfect! The kids spent some time outside running around and helping Ganny feed the birds and water the grass! And helping water the grass turned into ..."hey, let's run through the sprinkler with our clothes on!" Ahhhh!





The town just got an inflatable jump place kind of like Pump It Up, it's just much smaller. The kids had a great time ...with the exception of a few bigger, out of control kids that were there running around! It was a great ending to a great weekend! We hated to see Crystal and the kids leave on Sunday, but they had to get back. Lincoln and I drove back on Tuesday. We were going to come home Monday, but my shoulder was hurting and Lincoln ended up with a tummy bug, so we waited and came back yesterday. He is still feeling a little under the weather, but we saw the doctor today and its just a bug that's going around!

Check out the giveaway, while you follow Wife In Training as she becomes ...My Life as Mrs. M...

Yay, giveaways!!!

My friend Lori, Wife in Training, is hosting another Giveaway! You should check it out!

It is for a chic wine bottle holder filled with goodies, a cute little scrapbook, a Shopping platter, a ribbon candle holder, and a surprise piece of jewelry!
GOOD LUCK!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone...

Back in town...

We went to Ohio this weekend! Ash had a meeting Monday morning in Dayton, so we decided to make a weekend trip out of it! We are wanting to get new furniture for our den and we both love the stores West Elm and Crate & Barrel and since we don't have either here ...we decided to take a look! We found several sofa's and chairs that we like, but haven't decided on one just yet, probably going to be one of the choices that we found though. We have to measure the den, find a coffee table and end tables that we like before we make our final decision. Which is your favorite??? (We will be getting dark grey)

The Cameron

The Delaney

The Hennesy

The Troy

We got to Columbus late Friday night, but still got to see Nadeen & Amir for dinner! It was so great to see them (meet him)! We were all really starting to have "Dean" withdrawals! Ash was so nice and watched Lincoln after dinner and the three of us went out! We had a blast and we shut down Columbus! Saturday we drug them shopping with us which was alot of fun! I mean from shopping to listening Lincoln serenade all of Crate & Barrel with his new harmonica ...how can you beat that! It was hilarious ...he was so good & so cute that we should have put a can in front of him and he might have been able to pay for the furniture for us! We spent most of the day hanging out, shopping and eating lunch before having to say good bye to them, they had to be back in Cleveland that night! :( We missed them before they left the parking lot, that is for sure!

Saturday night and Sunday night we ate dinner at some of Ash's other cousins houses and had such a great time! Lincoln loved playing with all his cousins and one even nick-named him Linky! It was adorable coming from a 3 year old, but a nick-name I feel sure he isn't going to want to keep! :) It was so nice to see everyone and I couldn't believe how much all the kids had grown since the last time we were all together about 6 months ago. After dinner Saturday night, Ash was excited to get to go out with a group of his cousins for some much needed guy time! I believe they closed down Columbus that night! :)

Sunday we did some more shopping in Cincinnati at IKEA! That place is an adults playground! We bought some things for the house and Ash bought some stuff for the coffee shop! I could have spent a week in there just walking around and probably then wouldn't have seen everything!

Ash had his meeting on Monday, so by the time we got back to Memphis it was so late and we were all exhausted! I swear the time went by so fast on the trip there, but it DRUG along coming home, it felt like we had been in the car for 20 hours straight. And the crazy part is that we didn't even have as far to go coming back on Monday because we were already in Cinci!

And I know you are all reading this and thinking ...she is bound to have tons of pictures that she is saving for us at the end ...BUT NOPE! Lincoln (he didn't mean to) kicked my camera out of the back of my truck at the park before our trip. He didn't see it and I was dumb for putting it where I did and before I could grab it, IT HIT THE GROUND! It worked for a few pictures, but now it won't do anything but tell me to turn it off and back on! :( I'm going to take it in this week and see if they can fix it! I'm lost without it! Since Lincoln was born I think I've taken at least 10 pictures everyday ...and on most days more than that! The thought of buying a disposable one for the time being just makes me want to cry! And I'm hoping that they can fix it without costing me an arm and a leg!

Well, I'm going to run for now! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Flour on the floor, flour in my hair...

I finally did it! I baked bread! YAY! Jen Ken has been trying to get me into bread baking for probably the last year! I've fed starter, I've dumped starter, I've asked for more starter, gone out of town and not fed the starter and then asked for more (thanks Jen!). And now I have done all that for a reason ...I HAVE NOW BAKED MY FIRST 2 LOAVES!

So, I prepped it last night, getting it all mixed and ready to rise overnight!


And this morning I crawled out of bed EARLY ...beat it, rolled it in flour and got it ready to bake!  Unfortunately, I was so tired and half asleep when I was doing this part that I forgot to take pictures of the big doughy blob that was waiting on me when I woke up! Then I baked it for 30 minutes ....and wa-la I have bread (& a prond soul)! I DID IT!

The presentation outside of the bag can use a little practice, but I thought it tasted yummy and Ash said he liked it ...although he could love me that much that he didn't want to hurt my feelings! :) So, I sent a loaf to my mother-in-law to see what she thinks! We'll see what she says! I at least, packaged it pretty for her!

If anyone is wanting to take part in the bread making frenzy, let me know! I'll give you a cup of starter to get yourself STARTED!