Climbing, Sliding, Jumping, Riding!

Boy, did we have fun the last three weeks that the carnival was in town! It was only supposed to be here for two weeks, but its next location got rained out so we lucked out with an extra week of fun!

We took Lucy 3 or 4 times, and the last time we went, we got Joe and Lucy wristbands for the day. My kiddo had a BLAST! Her favorite ride? The roller coaster! She is a girl after  her Daddy’s own heart! She also loved the Scrambler and the 30-foot slide, among other rides.

I didn’t go on any of the rides because I’m scared of roller coasters (even the ones like this one that was only as high as I am tall), and I get sick on other rides. But, I had SO much fun watching Joe and Lucy have a blast together. Seriously. It was awesome.

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What’s your favorite carnival ride??

Bunnies, Eggs and Friends

We had a fabulous Easter this year. It was a pretty busy morning, but it was a ton of fun.

It all started out with Lucy getting her Easter basket! She was super psyched about everything in it, but I think the sidewalk chalk was her favorite. Girl loves to draw!

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Then, we headed out to have Lucy’s picture taken with REAL bunnies! I had put off taking her to see the Easter bunny, and I’m so glad I did. This was SO much more fun, way cuter, and Lucy wasn’t freaked out like she normally by the creepy Easter bunny! In fact, Lucy wanted to bring the bunnies home with us. Lol. I can’t wait to get her picture this weekend!

After having her picture taken, we swung by the store to grab some munchies for a picnic and then headed to an Easter egg hunt with Lucy’s Sabbath School class! It was SO much fun! Lucy was staking out the eggs she saw as we walked from the car to the barn where the picnic was going to be held.

And, you guys, she ROCKED this egg hunt. For realz.

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This is when she shouted, “YAY! EGGS!” Because she’s crazy like that.

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After lunch, we picnicked with friends whose daughters are Lucy’s BFFs, and we all had a blast! We got some ridiculously cute pictures of Lucy and Macy. Seriously.

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See? They are so stinking adorable! When we left, we went to Outback since we were still hungry and kids ate free, and then we came home to relax. And, count Lucy’s eggs, of course! Girl got 50 EGGS! She’s an egg hunting monster!

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Of course, we had to dump out all our loot, just like on Halloween!

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And, because I love it, a shot of Lucy with baby Belle. So cute!

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I hope you all had a wonderful day as well!

Mommy-Daughter Date

Whenever I go to my rheumatologist, it ends up being a several hour affair. I’m still getting used to my new doctor who really takes his time during appointments rather than rushing through as my last doctor did.

I had Lucy with me today, which really isn’t a big deal – unless you have to get x-rays done. And, guess what I was told had to happen after my appointment? Yeah. Obviously, Lucy couldn’t go in with me, so we set her up in the infusion room so she could watch cartoons. She was A-OK.

I was kind of stressed out during the x-rays and the bone density scan because, you know, I couldn’t see her. She wasn’t crying, which was good. I was sure she was OK.

When I finished, I found her curled up in one of the big infusion chairs, her hand over her head. I thought she was sleeping at first, but when I got closer, I saw that she wasn’t. I asked if she was watching TV.

“No. I scared. I hiding from people.”

Broke. My. Heart. I seriously felt like the worst mom ever.

After we left, we headed across the street for my lab work and then trekked back home. Lucy fell asleep not long into our drive so, instead of stopping to eat like we had discussed, I phoned in a take-out order to Chili’s and quickly ran in to get it.

But, when I got back to the car (I parked in front of the door and kept my eyes on it the entire time), Lucy was awake and adamant that we go in for our mommy-daughter date. So, after having just picked up a meal, we went in to eat. I was kind of embarrassed since, you know, there were only two servers working, and I’m pretty sure they recognized me, but my kiddo was SO happy to be on a date with Mommy. That outweighed all the embarrassment.

And, we had a GREAT time. I can’t wait for another actual lunch out together!

Super Bowl Sunday

Wow. What a game last night. I’m a Baltimore native, so I was definitely cheering my hometown team on last night.

The Ravens blew away the 49ers in the first half but, as we have seen in other rounds of the playoffs, the 49ers are a second half team, and that certainly was the case last night. After the crazy power outage, momentum switched, and I really thought we were going to blow it. It was like we were watching the Falcons game all over again.

But, we pulled it out, and the Lombardi Trophy is going home to Baltimore. Yay!

We had big plans to have friends over for the game. I came up with a pretty good menu – vegetarian chili, pizza rolls, chicken nuggets for the kids, pasta salad, chips and dip, and cookies – and Lucy and I spent some time out picking up decorations and last minute items.

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But, when Joe returned home from his 30-mile (yes, that was 3-0) run, he wasn’t feeling quite right. We waited until about 45 minutes until our guests were supposed to arrive to give him a chance to start feeling better but had to call it off. We’re not sure if he had a stomach bug or it was something with the long run and amount of fuel. In any case, he wasn’t in any shape to have people over.

Lucy was REALLY disappointed because she was looking forward to playing with the kids who were supposed to come. I think she thought she was being punished because she kept begging us to let them come. It broke our hearts. So, we set up the party for her. I didn’t make all the food I was planning, but I set up some decorations and put out some food for us all. She had a blast!

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Lucy had her first taste of grape soda.

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We watched some football. We watched a time lapse video of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.

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And, we played some games.

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It was a nice, fun, family night. Gooooo Ravens! Hopefully next year, we’ll be watching our Falcons in the Super Bowl!

Lucy’s First Haircut

Last week, we got Lucy’s hair cut. For the first time. At age 3. That’s how slowly my kid’s hair grows. I mean, really, up until this year, she hardly had any. And, if it wasn’t for the straight strands underneath all her beautiful curls making the back look like a mullet, we probably would have waited even longer.

We don’t have any children’s hair cut places in town, so our options were either Great Clips or a salon. We opted for a salon and, boy am I glad we did. The stylist was SO good with Lucy and the hair cut REALLY enhances her curls. It seems MUCH more curly now, which I love. So happy.

And Lucy? She did awesome. She didn’t cry. She didn’t fuss. She sat, intently staring in the mirror as the stylist worked.

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When the stylist was done, she sprinkled fairy dust on Lucy’s hair. And that was when she won all of us over. Best children’s stylist ever.

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Before we left, Lucy insisted on sitting under the dryer like the other women.

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And, we had to get a picture of her in front of the salon, since we hadn’t gotten one when we arrived.

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Her hair doesn’t look too much different, but it is a little shorter and a *little* less shaggy. Honestly, I didn’t want it cut “short” because I want it to grow a bit. We needed it cleaned up a little, but with all those curls, it’s always all over the place! I wonder how long it will be before her next haircut!

Before:

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After:

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A Newspaper Love Story

When people ask me how Joe and I met, I sometimes feel like it’s a convoluted story, one that really doesn’t make sense to anyone but us. But, it does, and after I’ve told it, I’m told just how sweet it is.

And so today, I’m sharing it with you.

It all began in the newspaper biz. I was working at a small daily newspaper in Northwest Georgia, and Joe was working for another small 6-day-a-week paper about 45 minutes south. I was working on a feature story on the Georgia State Patrol’s Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team and, after doing some Google searches, I came across a story that Joe had written on the same subject.

So, I emailed him. And that, my friends, was the beginning.

We became friends through email. We emailed numerous times a day just to chat about things. We were both in relationships, so it was really just a friendship. Soon, we both ended those relationships and began new ones. And, our friendship carried on.

But then, we both broke up with our significant others again and, after growing our relationship via email for about a year, Joe asked me out on a date. Our first date was a double date with a mutual friend with whom I worked and with whom Joe went to college. We went to dinner at Chili’s and then saw Bridget Jones’ Diary at a theater in Chattanooga.

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And the rest, as they say, is history. That was toward the end of 2004. The next year, I moved to Joe’s town and, in January 2006, he proposed.

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Yes, he proposed by making a scrapbook page. I was a huge scrapbooker then (not so much since Lucy came along), and it was seriously romantic. Love this man. And, nine months later, we were married.

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Sure, it hasn’t all been easy. We’ve had our ups and downs and our challenges, especially with trying to grow our family, but there isn’t one other person I would rather do it with.