Visitors!

Nanny & Poppy arrived Thursday afternoon, just as the kids were getting home from school. It was a gorgeous day so we took the kids for a bike ride around the neighborhood, and then played a bit outside.

 

Nanny was itching to show Abby some of the new clothes she'd bought her, and when she pulled out this pink dress, it was love at first sight for Abby. I think she wore it for the better part of the next 3 days. (And it's going to be her Easter dress, so just pretend that you haven't seen it when I blog about Easter in April :)

Taking Angelina Ballerina & Charlie the Cat for a spin around the neighborhood

 While the girls played, the boys did coins like I blogged about previously. Click here if you haven't read that post.

Friday, the kids went to school so I had some downtime with N&P. We went to lunch at T-Town Café. Go there right now to try their fried okra if you've never had it. SO GOOD!!

We picked up the kids from school around 3 pm, and then promptly headed to a nearby bank so Poppy and Nate could try to find more Presidential Dollar coins. I tell you, these two are on a very obsessive scavenger hunt!!

 

Saturday, the girls & Nate had a lazy morning and a big breakfast, while Greg & Poppy ran a race. BOTH placed in the their age group!! Greg got first and Poppy got second. But the biggest news of all....they won a door prize: two tickets to the last Alabama basketball game of the season! Greg has been wanting to take Nate for some time now, so they will have a Dad & Lad date at the game on March 8th. So fun!

 Greg & I left mid-morning to go get new iPhones (!), so the kids had fun building forts, playing, and going to McDonald's with N&P.

 And yes.....Greg and I finally joined the 21st century and got iPhones!!! We had been counting down the days until our 2 year contract was up, and Saturday was the day! We turned in our old phones (and when I say old, I mean archaic), and let me just tell you how many people laughed at us. Both of the guys we worked with at Sam's and Verizon were a bit speechless when they saw our phones, ha! And when we "traded them in," we got $10. Total. You know they just went in the back and threw those things in the trash. But whatever, we used the $10 gift card towards Greg's case.

 Most of Saturday was spent playing on our phones, and yes, N&P had to show us a few things. It was definitely a low point in my life :)

My case just arrived yesterday in the mail....love the blue!!

 Saturday night, we did the Glow Run with some friends; click here to read that post if you already haven't. It was so fun and nice to get out with friends. And the Mellow Mushroom pizza afterwards was a bonus! The kids had pizza as well - N&P ordered Domino's - and had a movie night complete with popcorn and Coca-Cola. Clearly, they had a ball :)

 

Sunday, Greg & I had to teach Children's Liturgy at the 9 am mass, so Nanny came & helped us out. We usually have a large (15-20) group, but this time it was only 10. Regardless, it went well and then we treated the kids to Krispy Kreme afterwards.

 The weather finally turned around so we had a picnic lunch outside, and then put out the bouncy house later that afternoon. Some of the neighbors came over, and it was nice to sit & chat on the patio while the kids ran around!

 The most memorable moment of the visit was when I discovered Nate & Poppy hysterically laughing in the playroom. Nate had figured out how to turn the camera around on Poppy's iPhone, and they were taking SELFIES. Yes, my son taught his Poppy how to take a selfie and they were cracking up as they took picture after picture. Precious!

 Nanny was Abby's little playmate all weekend and was such a good sport. They had picnics, played dress-up, had dance parties, you name it.

 One more "selfie" before bed on Sunday night. These two are nuts.

Nanny & Poppy left Monday morning and the kids were S.A.D!!! I definitely had to de-spoil them the next few days, but it was worth it b/c we had such a good visit.

Money Madness

Over the past few weeks, Nate's math unit at school has involved money. He has really enjoyed learning about all different types of coins, their value, the presidents on them, etc. Actually to say he has been enjoying it is the understatement of the year!! He is borderline obsessed.

 

He started combing through his & Abby's piggy banks (as well as my wallet), trying to find "specialty quarters." To him, this meant quarters that had a state on the back. I told him that his Daddy used to collect all the state quarters, back in college when they were just releasing 4-5/year. So, our little coin collector was born...

 

I dug out a little box I had in my safe, from my grandpa who also enjoyed collecting coins. I found a few silver dollars and I have never seen Nate's eyes light up so big!

His first silver dollar!

 Nate's teacher must have also recognized this new interest of Nate's, because she sent a note home 2 weeks ago that said "I am going to start giving Nate extra math classwork because I've noticed he really likes adding and counting money." Ha! So here is some of that:

 Then, the boy goes and picks out this book last week at the library. I just assumed it was like money, like the cover says:

 But no, when you open it up, it is more like an economics book!!!! Of course Greg was proud. And very excited to read it to him, ha!

 Now, fast forward to Thursday. And enter: Poppy.

 

He and Nanny came for a visit. Poppy has been known to be a coin-collector himself (and a bit obsessive as well!) so he & Nate got right to work....sorting State Quarters, presidential dollar coins, buffalo nickels, Susan B. Anthony coins....you name it, they looked at them. Poppy graciously gave Nate most of his collection, and Nate wanted to look through the coins ONE BY ONE and have Poppy tell him about them, how old they were, etc. They even got on the internet to look up a few values....Nate's best find was an 1892 nickel worth $14!! Of course that one (and about 20 others) were put in a small protective sleeve and stapled shut.

Poppy was very patient with Nate all weekend - and his endless questions - but to be honest, I think Poppy was having even more fun than Nate!! Grandpa Gregg Gibbs would be proud....the coin collecting gene will live on in Nate.... :)

Nate could not WAIT to get home from school on Friday, to look at more coins with Poppy. Poppy surprised him and gave him not only a State Quarters map, but also a Presidential Dollar Coin map and a State Parks Quarter map. Yes, these two peas in a pod had quite an exciting few days!! :)

Quite the collection for a 6 year old!!

Glow Run 2014

Have you ever heard of the Glow Run?! Click here to see if it will come to a city near you....it is so fun! A group of friends did it on Saturday night and yes, I even talked Greg into coming!! Now, keep in mind that this was not a "real" race (since it was not timed), so I wasn't sure Mr. Competitive would want to do it. But he agreed to come even though I warned him that there would be some jogging and (gasp!) even some walking.

 

Everyone met up at our house beforehand, since the race was downtown & we live the closest. Every got their glow gear on and we all piled into the Party Van!

Poonam, Alba, Katie, me & Greg, Nick

The back of our van looked a little crazy!

Yes, we pre-gamed it a little bit :) (Pardon my chins!!)

The girls, ready to get their Glow on!

Did I mention that Greg was a REALLY good sport?! He didn't even flinch when I told him we were painting our nails with glow-in-the-dark nail polish!! Jazz hands....

(Silly me though, I put the nail polishes on in the wrong order, so ours did NOT glow. So Greg got his nails painted for nothing. Oops!!!)

Black light station mid-race

Greg photo-bombing Nick's picture, ha!

Cheers!

 So.....after lots of singing, dancing, jogging, and walking....we finished!! And got glow-in-the-dark medals for participating. (And please notice the awesome fanny pack I am wearing. I got it at a thrift store so I could store everyone's money, keys, etc. Let me just say....that thing is so practical! I think I may just have to start rocking one again.)

Me & Katie in our post-race glory

After the "race," we walked up to Mellow Mushroom for lots of yummy food, beer, and laughs!! Love my little Supper Club group!

Abby's Wacky Week

Abby had quite a Wacky Week at school!

 

Silly/Backwards Day

On Wednesday, Abby not only wore her shirt backwards, but proceeded to dress-up like it was Tacky Day. She picked out every inch of her outfit and was so pleased with herself! :)

 

The "crown of bows" was her fave :)

"Silly pose"

PJ Day

Abby doesn't normally go to school on Thursdays, but since they were off for President's Day on Monday, her teacher allowed her to come. So fun! You wouldn't know it by this picture though:

Not sure why she was so grumpy (other than she is a GIRL!).....but I told her I'd take out her "Elsa" braid (from Frozen) and immediately she cheered up! Funny how that happens.

And she insisted on wearing her kitty cat slippers too, which I think are oh.so.cute!

 

Silly Share Day

On Friday, the kids were asked to bring in something silly for Share Day. And of course my girl picks a "fart whistle," because really.....what is funnier than a fart!? :)

Showing off her pink & red patterned nails

I'm so happy Abby's teacher does these fun days for her class; it just makes her love going to school even more!

Another Milestone

Today, Nate turned 6.5 years old!!!

He has been counting down to this day on his calendar for weeks. (I'm not sure why he was so excited about turning 6.5, but he was.)

And....my parents arrived today for a 4 day visit, so I thought it'd be the perfect time to have a half-birthday party!!! I surprised Nate with a half cupcake, half party hat, and we sang half of "Happy Birthday" to him tonight after dinner. He was thrilled :)

Nate continues to amaze me at 6.5 years old....

He is a sweet sweet boy and the best big brother in the world...

He is still obsessed with legos and I love seeing all the new "creations" his brain comes up with everyday...

He loves making any crafts with paper....paper airplanes, origami, fortune tellers....

He has really enjoyed a recent unit at school on money....it has sparked a new hobby and now he is coin-collecting. Which is such a joy for his Poppy, who also shares the same interest. (More on that later....)

He is starting soccer next week, yippee!

He is reading better & better each day. His vocabulary is growing exponentially and he loves doing all the extra classwork & homework from his teacher.

He is a thoughtful, sweet, inquisitive and sensitive boy. And I wouldn't change one thing about him. Especially not that heartbreaking smile :)

Happy 1/2 birthday to my sweet boy!

My Funny Valentines

Greg & I woke up early yesterday morning to make a special (pink!) breakfast for our two funny valentines. Next to Christmas Eve, I have never seen the kids so excited to get out of bed in the morning! I told them their "buckets of love" were on the kitchen table, ha! (And Greg got his 2 favorites - Reese's Cups and coffee :)

 They don't look excited at all, do they!?

 Abby insisted on "reading" all of her new Frozen book to Nate. Mind you this is at 6:30 am!

 These don't look that impressive, but I assure you they were good :) Pink chocolate chip pancakes, yum! Greg tag-teamed with me and made bacon.

 Best buds :)

 All dressed & ready for school! (And more importantly, their Valentine's Day parties!)

 I wasn't able to go to Abby's party, but a friend's mom took these two pictures for me. Love my sweet little Miss Priss! The first thing she told me about her party was that "she had cheetos!!!!" :)

Her beautiful bestie, Mia

 Nate's Valentine's party was pretty hectic to say the least. His Teacher's Appreciation Luncheon/Craft Day had gotten cancelled two weeks prior (due to snow), so the principal rescheduled the 2 hour (!) Craft Day to coincide with the Valentine's Day party. Good thing I had lots of volunteers to help me, but still, it was pretty crazy. We let the kids watch a movie in one room, while we pulled them a few at a time into the craft room to make handprint bags - for Mother's Day - and snowglobes out of a mason jar. Both crafts turned out well, but like I said, were just really time-consuming.

 Somehow we managed to squeeze in some V-day party & snacks too. Oh how I love the opportunity to be a part of my boy's class! :)

 Abby had a make-up gymnastics class after school, and luckily, was the only one there. So she pretty much had a private lesson and loved every minute! I, on the other hand, was about to collapse. I am still recovering from strep throat and have little to no energy. And 2+ hrs with 30 kindergarteners about did me in! 

Luckily, I came home to home sweet treats from my sweetie :) I told him not to get me anything, other than letting me order the new label-maker I wanted. (Yes, I'm weird). Well, he listened, but insisted on getting me some yummy chocolate!!! (And thank goodness b/c I made pink brownies for the kids for dessert and they were NOT great. Pinterest fail.)

We topped off the night with a quiet night in, yummy pasta & wine, and snuggles with the kids. It was just what this exhausted mommy needed! :)