Winter Blues...

Have I mentioned, lately, how ready for spring I am?  Oh yes.  I have.  LOTS.  And I know I'm not alone. This is turning out to be the wettest February on record, and seems to be, on average, much colder than normal.  Hello, Mother Nature?!  We have TWO beach trips in the very near future and we would VERY much like to see the 70's and MUCH sunshine.  Please and thank you.

The kids have had a couple little playdates over the past week...with Sam and Wes, and we made a short visit to Morgan and Jake's (on Gavin's 9th birthday).  Wait, my little Gavin is NINE? 

Sam, you are SO GQ!

(Griffn and little Ben Topham, I mean, Wes...both about 18 months)...I can totally see these two playing video games together in these chairs in not too long.  HA!

Griffin and Jacob (20 months)

We were supposed to have a playdate with Raegan and Camryn over the weekend, but Auntie Cheryl came down with the "plague."  And Missy now has it also.  I'm telling you...this is the most contagious stuff I've ever heard of.  The Plague of 2013.  If you haven't had it yet, RUN!  Get better soon, Aunt Miss!

This past week or two, Payton has been AWESOME about going into her school classroom AND ballet classroom.  She's been excited, and has listened (pretty well).  Here she is singing, nothing other than Taylor Swift, "Trouble," on the way to ballet.  Anything can be a microphone these days.  Also, we are still THUMB-SUCKING FREE!!  She has truly quit sucking her thumb.  We are SO proud of her!  Another big change...I think she may need to cut her afternoon naps out, or at least, cut them shorter.  She is having a REALLY hard time falling asleep at night.  Last night she was up until almost 10pm, in her room, reading books to her dolls.  She really just isn't tired.  So, we'll experiment until we find the right "formula."  This momma isn't quite ready for her to give up her naps, but on the other hand, I don't want her up until 10 at night!

Someone loves himself!  (in the dance studio)  Eyes even closed.  Too cute!

Friday Granby and Grumps were in the mountains, so Griffin and I dropped Payton off at "school" and he was my office assistant for the morning.  He was really, really great.  Quiet, didn't bother anyone, and stayed pretty entertained for a couple hours.  I loved him being in the office with me (and I think maybe everyone else did too?)

Where did my baby go?  This is ALL little boy now!

Making calls for me

That evening, we went to Shelby Watson's 6th birthday party, at Lake Wylie Bowl and Bounce (where we went on Christmas night, remember?)  The kids LOVE LOVE LOVE this place.  They started out bowling.  There were enough kids there that they took up THREE lanes!  I was pretty much chasing Griffin around while Brian helped Payton bowl.  They bowled, played in the bounce house room, ate pizza, and had cupcakes.  So, around 8:30! and full of sugar, home we went.  Yep.  Griffin HAPPILY stayed up until 8:30, but we could tell that he was more than happy to go home and sleep then. 

Payton and Carter being silly

Stonie and her sweet little Juliet (Carter's 3 month old sissy)

Cupcake face! (And blue raspberry slurpee tongue).  Yep, full of good ole corn syrup.  That's good parenting, right there! ;)

Funny thing (or not) was that he could actually lift some of the lighter balls.  Toes=in danger!

I'm SO stinking sick of rainy Saturdays.  It ruins my running day.  It ruins getting the kids outside to get their Vitamin D the old fashioned way.  It sucks.  So, we met up with some friends, Kim, Madison, and Jacob, at Discovery Kids, in Huntersville, NC.  This.Place.Was.Awesome.  It's designed like a little pretend town.  There was water for them to play in.  A huge train table.  A vet.  A restaurant.  A grocery store.  A bank with drive-thru teller.  An airport.  A firetruck.  Ambulance.  Under the sea area with submarine.  A wall of legos.  A craft room.  You think of it...they had it! 

The bank vault

Working as a teller at the bank

Trying out his construction chops

Driving the firetruck

Madison and Griffin watching the puppet show

Seriously considering putting one of these on a playroom wall of our next house!  This would entertain the kids for hours!

Madison and Griffin on a lunch date at Lupie's

Griffin is like his Daddy...he likes older women.  Well, Madison is just 3 months his elder, but still!

Look at those cheeks!  And lips!  Such a sweetheart!

Little cowgirl...this picture makes me laugh!

Shopping at the market.  Her friend, Libby, is working the check out!

Bubble-girl!

Sitting still for the puppet show

Well, until they tried to JOIN the puppet show!

Pilot Payton

Sunday my dear friends, each I've known since the FIRST grade, ran their first half marathon.  It was in Disney World.  I wish I could have been able to join them, but since I couldn't, I ran my own half marathon, alone.  13.1 miles.  2 hours and 14 seconds.  That broke my PR from my last half marathon.  On April 13th, I'm running the Charlotte Racefest Half.  My goal is to break that 2 hour mark.  It's a hilly course, but I'm hopeful I can do it!  First up:  the Cooper River 10K and fun with friends at the beach...Payton will celebrate her 3rd (gulp) birthday at the beach, then she'll have her party the following weekend (after my half marathon)...again, Mother Nature, PLEASE give us some sunny, warm days beginning in March.  I'm going to Snowshoe with one of my best friends, Gary Guthrie, next week, then I'm officially and truly ready for spring.  Tans.  Bikinis (well, I have lots of work to do before that!), and wakeboarding.  The sun WILL come out tomorrow!!  (and maybe for the next blog update, I'll actually use my nice camera instead of my phone!!  We keep forgetting to haul it around with us.)