Jumpin Around

We had such a fun playdate on Saturday. It was with my friend Hilary and her son Cade, who Audrey loves. Hilary suggested going to this place, Jump Mania, which turned out to be AWESOME! It was only $3 per child and the place was full of huge inflatable jump houses, slides, and toys. The kiddos loved it!

Audrey was beside herself with excitement the whole time. :)
Crawling through the obstacle course to get to the slides . . .it was hard work! The mommies did it a few times too and it was quite the work out!
Climbing up the stairs to the big slide with Cade . . .I must admit, I was pretty nervous at first. This thing was TALL, but they got the hang of it right away.

Wheeeeee!

Friends. :) These two are so sweet together and they love to hold hands. I love it!

After all of the jumping, we decided to go to lunch. Hilary convinced me to go to Raising Cane's, which everyone had been telling me to try for awhile now. It.was.awesome. Their dipping sauce is amazing. After a slight tantrum when we first got there, Audrey was happy as could be to have lunch with her friend. :)

Going in for the hug . . . . Cadester isn't quite as into it. ;)

Ready to go home! And, oh my goodness were they ever. Audrey, who hasn't napped at home in MONTHS, slept for TWO HOURS when we got home. All that jumping is hard work!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Some Days, It All Just Comes Together!

These days aren't too frequent as a single, working mommy (or for any mommy I'm sure!) so I thought I'd document this day so I can look back and remember that somedays everything does work out just as planned! ;)

I've been feeling a little burnt out lately at work (Spring Break is less than 2 weeks away!) with so much going on, and I've been feeling a little burnt out at Mommyhood as well. At work, everything is just piling up. Conferences, meetings, Open House, ESL certification (which called for 2 back to back all day Saturday trainings!), and general student behavior has just got me at my wit's end. It's just that time of year where the students and teachers are ready for a break. And at home our streak of no tantrums in over a month has now completely changed to at least 2 tantrums a day. We have a tantrum almost daily leaving school (she doesn't want to leave) and then something goes wrong at home. So instead of playing with Audrey and having fun everyday after school, I've been doing a lot more disciplining and talking with her about her behavior and it's consequences. Super fun!

BUT . . . today I feel like I got my mojo back. I think it's the weather. I had the windows open all weekend and it just got me feeling in a better mood. Today at school I was ON. I haven't been this "on" in a long time. Every single one of my lessons came together and I felt that my students and I were in sync. Not ONE behavior problem today either. Hmmm . . .maybe those two go hand in hand?! I had a great lunch with good conversation in the teacher's lounge, and then after school I got a chance to help out one of my teammates. She teaches the after school program, but couldn't today, so I offered to cover for her. It was FUN. Extra money and reading fun books with my 1st graders? Yay!

And then I picked up Auds, and she was so happy to see me. She started to have a tantrum on the way out, but I actually was able to diffuse it by letting her know we wouldn't be playing outside when we got home if she continued to argue with me. She stopped! Score.

Then we got home and played outside for awhile and it was so nice. The weather was perfect and I got to chase Audrey all around on her scooter. She was laughing and saying how funny I was. :) Best feeling ever! I wish I got in on film.

After we came inside, Audrey watched a cartoon while I actually, wait for it, talked on the phone with a friend for almost a half hour!!! It was SOOO nice to catch up with a friend I hadn't chatted with for a while.

Then I made a healthy dinner and Audrey actually ATE.HER.CARROTS people. Seriously. Now she's playing nicely upstairs, well singing actually . . .

while I blog. I'm sure tomorrow will be another story, but today was perfect.

Audrey's 3rd Birthday

Audrey is 3! I can't believe she's actually that old! This was definitely our best and (easiest) birthday party for Audrey yet. We have always done parties at home, and while they were fun, they were also stressful. Having to clean the house, prepare food for adults and kiddos, create activities to entertain everyone, and did I mention the cleaning?!

So this year we opted to do Audrey's party at ASI Gymnastics. She had been to a few parties there and loved it, so I knew it would be fun for all of the kids. But it was even better than I imagined! We brought all of the decorations, snacks, cupcakes, etc, but the minute we got there the staff insisted on taking everything off of our hands and said they would set everything up and serve everyone! Now that's how I like to host a party! ;)

The birthday girl

Listening to the instructors . . .they were all so in to it!

Sliding down the slide

This is my favorite picture from the weekend. This is Audrey with her BFF Sara, and they are just hilarious together. I swear they have their own language that only the two of them can understand. They are both VERY opinionated and know what they want. I'm not sure what is happening in this picture but I think it has something to do with Sara telling Aunt Amanda what she wants Audrey to play with next and Auds is all "No, let's go play over there next!"

Auds leading the group . . .

Wells is such a big boy!!!

Play time . . .

Blowing out the candles with the help of a friend . . . :)

Snack Time!

Hangin with Auntie Amanda after the party . . .

Hey everyone, I'm THREE now!!

It was such a fun day and Audrey can't stop talking about it. Happy Birthday my love!

Audrey's 3rd Birthday, Part 2

That's right, part 2. I had Part 1 all up and ready to post, but stupid blogger.com has shut that window down TWO times now. So I will try that part again tomorrow.


So let's start this blog post AFTER the super fun party that Audrey had at ASI Gymnastics. More about that later.

Because even more importantly, Audrey's 3rd birthday was call for her to get her Big.Girl.Bed!!! So exciting. Now, truth be told she had been sleeping in Mommy's bed since we moved, and it was time for her to go back to her room. We had been talking up her big girl bed for the past month, and let her pick out her own princess bedding. She was SO excited.

James and Eric setting up the new bed . . .
I wish I had the super cute picture of her sleeping in it to share, but again blogger.com shut me down. But so far, so good! Audrey has slept in her new room for over a week now and LOVES her new bed. Win win for everyone!! :)

This birthday she was also very interested in the presents . . .

and she got some AWESOME ones. Thank you to everyone who knows her so well and got her so many PERFECT gifts. She loves all of the play doh, Dora, and princess stuff. Let's just say she is never bored!


The day after her party was Audrey's actual birthday. It was so funny when I woke her up that day and sang Happy Birthday to her again, and she was all "No Mama, my birfday was yesterday, it's over!" Then when I explained how today was her real birthday she couldn't believe it!

Birthday donuts. . .

Playing with Grammy . . .

For lunch we asked Audrey where she wanted to go and she immediately replied "McDonald's!" So, that's where we went. But we went in style. Auds demanded that she and I both where our crowns. Why not?

Playing with Uncle Eric . . .

Happy Meal!

Ice Cream with Aunt Amanda

and the fun didn't end there. After everyone left, James and I took her to see Beauty and the Beast at the theater. She loooooves Belle, but hadn't seen the movie yet. It was fun to watch it with her, but she was a little scared. That Beast can be a little scary!

It really was a wonderful birthday weekend. Audrey was so excited and in to it and it just made me realize how fast she is growing up. As everyone knows, I wasn't a fan of the baby stage and couldn't wait for the toddler one, but now that it's here and flying by us, I have this need to slow things down and keep Audrey where she is. She'll be in Kindergarten before we know it!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my favorite little Sassypants! :)

Wait, here's her super cute photo in her new bed. So sweet! (blogger sometimes randomly places my photos!)

3 Year Interview

Thanks Kristin for this great idea! :)

Here is what's going on in Audrey's world these days . . .
Favorite Color: pink!! (she will only wear something if it's pink!)
Favorite Animal: fish
Best friend: Sara
Favorite Food: chicken nuggets
Favorite Tv show: Dora
Favorite Toy: "my babies"
Favorite Movie: Tangled
Favorite Drink: milk
Favorite Restaurant: The Hamby Store (that's what she calls Wendy's!)
Favorite place to go: The Hamby Store!
Favorite Game to play: blocks
Silliest thing daddy does: The Bear Clock (he holds her upside down and pretends she's a clock)
Silliest thing Mommy does: the computer (um, maybe I'm on it too much?!)

We have her party today and actual birthday tomorrow . . .pics to come!

And here comes Year 3 . . . (or Lord, please help me!)

Okay, so we were "those" people in Chili's today. James and I used to mock those parents whose children were having tantrums in public places. I remember us saying that would NEVER happen to us, and we would always leave the restaurant/store before our child ever screamed.

Right. Until today. It took us almost 3 years to be put in our place. Audrey has always liked restaurants, I mean, she is my child, so she has always been appeased by bread or chips while waiting for our food. We were headed out to Firewheel for lunch and to do some last minute birthday shopping for Auds. (and by last minute, I mean everything. We had to buy her big girl bed, bedding, party outfit and party favors). It was going to be a long day of shopping. Well the minute we walked into the Chili's she fell on the floor and SCREAMED. I picked her up, like oh I've got this, just show her the booth and she'll be cool. NO. She screamed even louder there. Everyone was staring. So I picked her up, walked her to the bathrooms, and had a Mommy to daughter talk with her. She continued to scream and try to climb the walls, while also trying to dart out in the aisles in front of the waiters. This called for my backup plan. The spanking. I told her if she continued to scream and yell, she would get a spanking. She kept on and tried to dart out into the restaurant again. So I pulled her back in and gave her the dreaded spanking, which I swear makes me feel worse than her. She wouldn't calm down. Luckily James came back then and took over. They were at the restrooms for almost 10 minutes, and I don't know what words of Daddy wisdom he used, but she came back to the table and acted like my normal Audrey. Eating chips and salsa and laughing. She then proceeded to be an angel through a whole afternoon of shopping. I know she is testing me, but oh my goodness. We'll see if we make it to four! Any mommies of 3 year olds out there, any advice would be appreciated. ;)