Grandma Sleep Training

Perhaps the best part of our wknd vacation was that my mama stayed with the kids and taught (bribed) them to sleep in their beds all night!  Somehow they had both fallen into the habit of waking up and coming to our room.  Oh wait, it may have been because of the mattress on our floor inviting them there.

We figured this was better than them waking us up.  The rule was that if you come down you have to be quiet and just go to sleep.  Sometimes it worked. 

Anyway, Grandma training.  Here is how it went down...

Mama likes her sleep and didn't want them to wake her up, so she told them if they slept in their beds all night she'd take them to get ice cream the next day.  I couldn't believe it, but it worked.  On day 2 she took them to Target and had them pick out two toys each. The catch was that they had to put them on top of the fridge and could only have them if they slept all night in their rooms.  It worked! 

To continue the bribe theme, we took them to the $ store and had them pick out about 10 things each to put in a grab bag.  If you sleep all night, you get a grab back treat.  My babies love presents, so yes, it worked. 

Lucas with his bag and his first item... silly string.

Crazy hair awaiting her bag.

Grandma was about to head out, but we got a few shots of her with the kids.

Sunday in Atlanta

Jeff and I had fun hanging out in our old stomping grounds this morning.  

We especially enjoyed getting to meet William!  And it was so nice to visit for a few minutes with Wendy, Mark, Charles and Caroline.

Then we got to see Angela, Bryan and Wesley for lunch!

Lauren's Wedding!

It was fun to get away for the wknd and have some grown-up time.  Jeff and I stayed in a swank hotel room in ATL last night, had a lazy afternoon and a fancy evening...

I was proud of my creativity with making these two pieces of hotel furniture an inversion prop.  

Here I am playing with the camera functions on my new phone.  What's with the color?  yikes.

My cute date : )

 

Laruen and Mike... so beautiful!!!

Mom

Jeff and I are in Atlanta for Lauren's wedding.  As a bonus, we get to see Mom!  We drove in on Friday and some quality time with her last night and this morning.  

Update 5/14/2012.  I didn't know it at the time, but this was the last picture that I took with Mom.  She would have killed me for posting it because she didn't have any make-up on and hadn't fixed her hair.  But I am posting because she looks BEAUTIFUL to me.  Bright eyes, bright smile... these are the things I will remember about Mom.

When Jeff and I left we went to visit Jennifer at her work.  She had to work that Saturday, but I at least wanted a hug.  As we were leaving I realized that I had left my electric tooth brush at Mom's, so we drove the few miles back to her house to get it.  The last memory I have of Mom in good health is her wearing this blue house coat, waiting for us on her front steps, waving my tooth brush in the air with a big smile on her face.

Lucas's School Bags

I took this picture for Charles to show him how Lucas keeps his L*go flashlight keychain on his book bag.  We are going to see him this wknd when we go home for Lauren's wedding.

Also, how cute to remember Lucas's kindergarten bags!

Happy Birthday Baby Russ!

Lucas E. became a big brother today!  We are so happy for Susie, John and Lucas! 

Susie was worried about not being there to pick Lucas up from school, so I got this picture of him with her mom to show her how happy he was to hear the news that his little brother was born today. 

And here is that sweet baby.  We love him already!

Tired Baby

Yes, she is still my baby.  Napping in my bed.  Will I ever learn?

We've come a long way...

We met Kim and Susie today at Roanoke, which brought back many old memories of bringing the boys here when they were toddlers.  They were asked to pose for a picture, so that we could send it to Wendy and Charles, but could not work out the sillies... 

Can't forget to capture Ellen at the park!

Or the mommies.  Ellen took this picture : )  Shanna, Susie, Kim.

Breakfast Struggles

Lucas B. is not a breakfast person.  I can't find anything that he is interested in eating except for biscuits, and he's usually too busy playing to even want that.  I am having to make it a little more exciting to hold his interest...

Lincoln

Kelly and I have such great intentions with our Sunday morning walks.  Fun time with friends, a cozy visit to the coffee shop, exercise since we walk to the playground after breakfast.  It always fails though.  We have finally learned that taking four kids under the age of six to a coffee shop is NOT a good idea.  And we have learned that walking with the same kids down a semi-busy street is NOT a good idea.  Next time we'll go out for wine and leave the kids at home.

The kids didn't seem to notice our stress (maybe because they were causing it).  They always have a great time.

Lincoln was protesting the end of the play date, so told Kelly just to leave him for couple more hours.  They had a great time digging in the "garden."

And playing with the "pink castle."  Notice Ellen right in there with them : )

Katie and Tyler Dinner

We had our good buddies over for dinner last night...

Jeff and I call this "Ellen Face."  With her buddy, Mr. Adam.

Happy Birthday Jared!

Ellen's two best friends right now are Karis and Jared, both in her preschool class.  Jared is in her class every day, whereas Karis only 3x a week, so she and Jared play together more.  Each day after school they run and run and run until we make them, usually kicking and screaming, get in the car to leave.  Malia, Jared's mom, has become a great friend as a result of all of the playing.  She told us about J's party and then said, "Wait, can you come?  If you can't, we will reschedule!"  So it seems Jared loves Ellen as much as she loves him : )

Like her brother, Ellen likes to be beside the birthday person...



Jared licking the icing off of one of the party favors...

Ellen licking the same one... oops.

Three year old best friends!

Lucas was also invited to the party.  Here he is making Ellen laugh by trying to not get hit by her swing.

Jared and Ellen looking cute.

Ellen swinging with another classmate, Ella.

Pout Face

New Year's Eve Acorn Drop

Raleigh does something pretty cool for the little folks on New Year's Eve.  They drop the acorn and shoot fireworks at 7pm and midnight.  That way the kiddos can celebrate, but still get to bed on time.  I have to admit that I was a little disappointed though.  It just doesn't feel the same to celebrate at 7pm as it does at midnight.  Better than nothing, I guess, since Jeff and I were asleep before midnight : ) 

The best part was the energy in the air and the snacks.  Oh, I almost forgot.  We looked and looked and looked for ice cream, but all they had was italian ice, for about $5 a serving.  We decided it would be more fun to go to Ben and J*rry's or B*skin Robbins.  We didn't think about them being closed on New Year's Eve.  But guess what was open for $1 a serving?  A hint is that it has a yellow sign that is shaped like an M.  No shame here... we saved about $12 bucks and got the same result.