Great weekend

We really had a very nice weekend.  Yes, it was hectic and stressful, and no, I didn't get any pictures, but it was productive and fun!

Saturday morning, Todd went to CrossFit while Grant, Natalie and I went to gymnastics.  Natalie's coach (Gary) told me that Natalie was VERY strong!  It's funny to watch her out in the gym doing her gymnastics, because there are a lot of gymnastics moves that we do in CrossFit.  Things like knees to elbows, the rings, handstands, etc.  I saw Natalie doing knees to elbows with ease.  Meanwhile, I can't do that AT ALL!  She's going to school me when she's 4/5 and starts CrossFit Kids!

Natalie took a slightly early nap on Saturday and I went to get my haircut.  My normal girl was booked up and I HAD to get my haircut before I went to Spain.  It was insanely long.  The other girl, Jillian, did a great job and had a fantastic flat iron that I contemplated buying for about 5 minutes until she told me about chemical relaxing... and I am TOTALLY going to do that when I get back from Spain.  It's kind of expensive, but you only have to do it twice a year, and your hair will be super straight even right out of the shower.  I really need this, because after having my two babies, I got a crazy wave in the back of my head.  It started out fairly small with Natalie but grew to encompass the entire back of my head with Grant.  It's frustrating because flat iron's really don't even get it out.  So I'm excited to get it chemically straightened. 

I came back home and Natalie and I hopped in the car and headed into Boston for the Yo Gabba Gabba live show.  It was funny- Natalie kept telling me that she wanted to give Brobee (the little green one) a hug.  But I kept telling her that we would only see them from afar, and they would be on stage singing and dancing.  I wasn't sure she quite got the concept.  So the show starts and it's SUPER fun. I was a little surprised.  I really don't even like the TV show, but the live show was really high energy, lots of songs that we knew, and wasn't too long (so my toddler paid attention the WHOLE time!).  There was about a 15 minute intermission halfway through, and of course, at about minute 14, Natalie goes, "I gotta go potty!"  GREAT.  So we run up the aisle, down the hall, down the stairs and to the bathroom.  On our way out, we can see two of the characters, Muno and Foofah.  So we go halfway up the stairs (so as not to block their way- they were also coming up the stairs), and Natalie is in total awe.  Muno comes right up to her with open arms and she gives him a big hug!  Then we follow them upstairs as they are waiting to go into the audience to walk up the aisles back to the stage, and the lady who was leading Foofah around said, "Would you like to hug Foofah?"  So Natalie RUNS up to Foofah (cutting off the other little girl who was there!) and gives her a big hug!  She comes back and goes, "Foofah is soft."  All I could think of was meeting Peter Buck in the airport in Madrid and thinking about how excited I was to meet one of my idols!  The second half of the show was equally as entertaining and Natalie really had fun.  So much, that she had a little tantrum as we were trying to leave.  She didn't want it to end and was begging me to go to the next city.  I'm like, "What are you?  Me, following REM around?"  I went to 3 REM shows in the summer of 2008 (Raleigh, DC, and Jones Beach, NY).  I was amused by her obsession (although, NOT the tantrum).  I bribed her with muffins that Maureen had made with her and were at home in the fridge.  She immediately perked up and we went home and had the muffin treats.  Whew, muffins save the day!

Saturday was also a good football game- Auburn beat South Carolina in another close game, and Mississippi State beat Georgia!  I love it when both of my teams win!!!

Sunday we got a lot of things done around the house.  We even started getting ready for our trip to Spain next week.  Just buying some toiletries and getting the kids diaper bag and church bag ready for Grammi and Bean's.  I got a bunch of other things done around the house (sheets changed, floors vacuumed, swiffered, mail organized, etc.).  We also ate YUMMY food this weekend- Todd made homemade meatballs with tomatoes, zucchini, onions and squash in the slow cooker, and we had chicken apple sausage from Trader Joe's.  SO YUM.  The Patriots won in a nail biter, and the only thing that brought my weekend down was the darn Bucs lost to the Steelers!

Auburn-Clemson game

For my birthday, I got a weekend away.  I flew down to Atlanta Friday morning and a bunch of us drove to Auburn that afternoon.  (But not before having lunch with Bayless, who was not going to Auburn because she flew to L.A. to see her husband, who is the drummer for Skid Row, play at the Verizon Amphitheater!).

Luckily, Kim's husband Rick scored us a free sweet 4 bedroom condo/townhome!  His company owns the place and during the week, some of the workers who are working on projects in Auburn stay there.  But they leave on the weekend, so we got a free place to stay.  

Friday evening, we all went to Amsterdam's for dinner and a mini ZTA reunion (our sorority).  

My big sis Hope is in the pink almost off screen next to Ayala.  Then there's (and I'm only giving maiden names here!) Melissa Ayala, Kirstin Myers, Kara McLaughlin, Stacie Wright, Katie Allen, Michelle Motley, and Tyler Martin. 

While we were there, Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler, and Erin Andrews came in and sat in a corner booth.  GameDay was live from Auburn on Saturday, so they were in town.  We love them because they always have great things to say about Auburn.  Plus Erin Andrews is a ZTA! 

Saturday we got up early to get to the tailgate.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get the TV to work, but we did have satellite radio and listened to some of the earlier games while eating burgers, brats, potato salad, brownies, veggies and dip, and cookies. 

Oh let's not forget my old pal, Maker's Mark, who made an appearance.  Ayala and I started drinking beer, but it was just making us sleepy.  Thankfully Maker's Mark (aka: brown liquor) was there to save the day!  I don't think you can see it very well in the picture below, but the normally red seal wax on the top of the bottle is actually orange and blue when you buy it in Auburn!

Katie (Allen Gust, blonde, long hair in the first picture above, next to Stacie) told me to meet her at the athletic center at 3:30 to get my ticket.  Her husband works for Auburn and scored me a nice, free ticket!  Hooray! Missy and I hit the bookstore before we were going to meet Katie.  I picked up some cute things for the kids- look for future pictures/posts about how cute my kids look in Auburn gear! Anyway, due to lack of cell phone signal (because you know, Auburn becomes the 3rd largest city in Alabama on Saturday's in the fall), I couldn't get ahold of her.  So Missy and I watched Tiger Walk and hung out with the Garner's (Kristen's parents!) before heading back to the tailgate.

The game was a good one.  Katie's seats were really awesome.  Hope and I sat on the 30-35 yard line, about 45 rows up.  It was so good to spend some time with my Big Sis too!  I hadn't seen her since 2008, and even then, it was brief.  Thank goodness for Facebook!  Speaking of that, if it weren't for Facebook, I wouldn't have know to wear blue.  You can see all of the Auburn fans wearing navy, because the Clemson fans are wearing orange.

The picture above is kick off.  War Eagle, hey!  And the picture below is probably my favorite picture of the weekend. We were down 17-3 at halftime, then took a 24-17 lead in the second half, only to have Clemson come back again (on dumb Auburn mistakes), and take it into overtime.  In overtime, we scored first (3 pointer) but then there was a false start by Clemson as their kicker MADE the field goal.  So they brought it back.  And guess what? He missed it!   I love a good Auburn win, especially for my birthday! 

Amused Baby

I just love this little guy.



More gymnastics

Just another shot of Natalie doing her gymnastics!  She just has no fear in her class.  Here she is getting ready to hang from the rings!  She just trots right on up and goes at it!

Picnic in the Park

Todd, the kids and I went to Boston Public Garden for Labor Day.  We brought along a picnic lunch and strolled around on a beautiful late summer day.

Natalie was a big hit, scoring lots of smiles with her angel wings on.  I mean, really, isn't she the cutest??? 

We also rode on the famous swan boats.  I had never been on them, and neither had the kids, so we took a little family cruise on the pond at the Boston Public Garden.  The sun was in our eyes, which is why Natalie has the sourpuss face on.  She was really good and had fun on the boat!

But I didn't have Grant facing the camera, so here is the big guy with his Mama on the boat.  Right after this picture, Grant grabbed my earring out of my ear and tried to fling it, but thankfully Todd caught his hand and took it away from him.  And thankfully I wear the kind of earrings that can pop right out when a baby grabs at them!

After our swan boat adventures, we went under a shady tree and had a picnic.  Of course, we forgot Natalie's lunch, so she had to eat some of ours.  G enjoyed a jar of green beans under the trees.  We didn't take any pictures of the picnic- it was a little chaotic!

The swans (the real ones - hey, they don't call them swan boats for nothing!) and the ducks were so comfortable around people, you could walk right up to them.  Here, Natalie had little interest in the birds, but was very excited about stirring a big stick in the pond.  Do you ever wonder what goes on in the mind of a 3-year-old?????  Fascinating stuff! 

Sippy cup

We keep trying to give Grant a sippy cup and this is pretty much all Ole Blue Eyes does with it:  not much.  But he looks cute doing nothing!!!

Sorry this next picture is blurry... this time, he kept trying to bend over to drink it.  He doesn't quite understand gravity yet!  But he did enjoy chewing on the rubbery spout!

Natalie's Gymstars I class

Natalie really enjoyed the brief, 10 week summer gymnastics class she took.  She was in the Tiny Tumblers class, but now she has moved up to the "big girl class" (as she calls it), also known as Gymstars I.  It's a little more organized now.  First, they sit in a circle and do songs and stretching and dancing. 

You can see here, she is doing a pretty good job of paying attention.  However, in the next picture, she is running around while all of the other kids are quietly seated.  Such is the attention span of a 3-year-old!

This picture is so awesome.  The only thing in focus is Natalie.  Pretty wild.  After the group sing-a-long, they go and break into smaller groups and do smaller obstacle courses.  Below, she is waiting in line to start one of the courses.

In the next shot, my little daredevil is climbing the ladder (with the help of one of her teachers, Mr. Gary). 

And lastly, here she is jumping on little squeaky pads.  Yes, that is her new leotard.  She was very excited to wear it and didn't want to take it off when she got home.  She said she wanted to wear it all day!

Big boy can stand by himself at a table

Sniff sniff... where is my little baby going????

Grant is standing alone at a table now.  We have to put him there- he can't pull himself up yet, but he can stand there for quite a long time, and doesn't even have to hold on with both hands!  He is showing us this in the picture above.  See the green train mom?

And I love the picture below, mostly because Natalie took it!  Notice how cautious mommy still has a hand behind his bum!  Just in case!

Also, Grant has finally decided that rolling over from back to belly would be a fun idea.  Most babies do this around 4 months.  Grant?  Almost 10 months!  (He started doing this on August 24th).  Both of my kids are proof that every kid moves at their own pace. 

Mesh Bag Baby Safe Feeder

Big G went absolutely bonkers for the mesh bag baby safe feeder that we got him.  It's a great little contraption.  It has a hard plastic handle that screws into another plastic piece that holds a mesh bag.  You drop in some food (doesn't matter what- chicken, bananas, peaches, broccoli, whatever!) and baby gnaws on the mesh bag and gets out all of the yummy goodness without the fear of choking.  The other night, I filled it with slices of a plum, and he couldn't get enough of it.  I was worried at first, because when we gave Natalie the same device, she had no interest and only wanted to gnaw on the hard plastic handle.  One time, she ate 3 grapes in it, and despite giving it to her a handful of other times, she had no interest.  But G actually cried when I took it away from him!

Natalie's 3 year stats

Well, there's not much to report that's new here (no real changes since we self measured her in June!).  Natalie had her 3 year checkup last Thursday and she is 38" tall and weighs 32 lbs.  This puts her in the 55th percentile for weight and 60th percentile for height.  She is 5% higher in height, which is the first time in her life that has ever been the case!  It was usually the reverse- slightly higher percentile for weight than height. 

She also had to have blood taken for the 3-year-old lead test.  In Massachusetts, kids have to be tested at 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years for lead.  I'm assuming she passed because no one called us on Monday!  Dr. Meisheid and I also discussed her potential peanut allergy... so they took a little extra blood and tested that.  Well, they called on Friday and told us she is NOT allergic to peanuts!  Hooray!  What a huge relief!

Natalie only cried during the blood work and was very good when Dr. Meisheid was poking and prodding her (despite being uncomfortable that she was only in her undies and socks!).  So after the appointment, I took her to Dairy Queen for some celebratory chocolate ice cream!