Another Sunday night

Last Sunday, I wrote about the 11 things I must accomplish to have a good Sunday.  And here we are again, so quickly it snuck up on me.  Did I reach my ultimate goal that I work so hard for every Sunday? Nope. Not even close.  Even further away than last Sunday.

As a recap, here is my "to achieve a happy Sunday" list:


1. Have a great worship experience at church (journeychattanooga.com)
2. Go to lunch with family/friends OR get home before kids fall asleep to feed them lunch
3. Put all three kids down for a nap which lasts for a full two hours
4. Take a nap myself
5. Have all laundry that is clean, folded and put away. I would say all laundry done, but ha! Yeah right.
6. House all picked up and everything in its place
7. Do something fun
8. Plan menu for the upcoming week
9. Grocery shopping complete
10. All marketing caught up for Yarn Therapy, any work i brought home for DivCo complete, and a couple of yarn therapy orders to work on
11. See family at any point during the day

This Sunday I got to accomplish #7, and that is it.  One little thing off my list. In fact, I did a few things that weren't even on my list that should actually be deductions, like go in to the office. That is like a -5.  So that puts me at a total of -4 for this Sunday.  Next week will better. I am cooking up a good idea for next week.  It of course will only accomplish #7 again, but I think it may be worth it.

Lyla and Nana, Happy Birthday!

ice cream face!

ice cream face part two!

I have had the laziest most unproductive weekend.  For most, that is a relaxing weekend but for me it is not.  I can't stand either being lazy or not getting anything done.  The lazier I was, the less motivation I had. And it lasted alllll weekend.  We did get out of the house last night.  It was my beautiful mother's birthday.  We took her out to Sweet Frog's, a yummy frozen yogurt place.  Definitely a new family favorite.

This morning, everyone slept so late, kids included, that we missed church.  I know it is selfish, and I always regret it, but it is so hard to wake them up when they sleep that late.  We make these poor kids get up so early at the butt crack of dawn during the week.  It isn't often an issue on Sunday, so when they do sleep...I let them.  After lunch, I had to go into the office while the kids napped to catch up on some work I missed last week due to sick kids and concerts.  I was dreading it. Not the actual work part, I was excited to get some stuff done so I could have a smooth upcoming week.  I was dreading the fact that I would be alone in the building, with a mouse.  Yes, a mouse.  One was spotted running into my office on Tuesday while I was at lunch.  We put two traps out.  One in my closet and one in a corner.  I was terrified to check them. Terrified.  If I saw a dead mouse, I would probably leave and never go back.  I was so relieved when I saw that one of the press operators were there.  Before I went into my office, I asked him to please please please go check my mouse traps. He so kindly did. And yup, a dead mouse in the closet.  He took care of it, and I was so grateful! I had a good two productive hours of work.  I only jumped, flinched or got startled a few times from strange noises.  I know there must be more of these little unwelcomed rodents somewhere. I thought they were coming to get me.

Lyla was pouting because she couldn't sit sideways

When I got home, all the kids had woken up and I was ready to go do something.  I needed to get out of the house and do something fun! So we went to the zoo.  Lyla loves loves loves the zoo.  Her favorite animals are the jaguars (thank you Go Diego Go!).  We stayed about an hour, rode the carousel and then headed to our favorite shopping place, Target.  I was absolutely delighted to see that they have these awesome shopping carts that fit three kids!

I guess they have seen me in their store numerous times struggling, and decided to help me out.  Not that I needed a reason to go to Target anymore than I already do, but at least now I know I can handle all three on my own so I am more likely to go more often.  Yay!




I all of the sudden got motivation to do #5, 6 and 8.  I better get on that....


Happy Sunday! Enjoy some pictures from our day at the Zoo

we love our wagon for the twins! Best twin purchase yet.

waiting to get a glimpse of the jaguar

we love butterflies!

"we got fun and games!!!" The zoo is so rock n roll :)

she is getting so good at walking

loading up and headed out

Tripp'let update

All three kids are sleeping (yay me, thank you Babywise!) so I figured I would take a moment and journal a little about my three precious miracles.


I have a hard time even trying to put into words what these kids mean to me.  The love I feel is indescribable.    The gratitude for this life I have been blessed with is indescribable.


Ok so here goes....


Lyla, 3 years and 11 months old.  She is pretty small for her age in weight and height.  If you tell he she is little, she responds with "I am not little, I am petite!".  Her daddy taught her that.
Her imagination is so entertaining.  I need to do a better job at documenting the hilarious, insightful, and sweet things this child says.  She is the most gracious, generous and empathetic person I have ever met.  For example, I accidentally ate her cookie.  I know, bad mom.  I just didn't think she knew there was any left in her wrapper.  But uh, she did.  I felt terrible.  I kept telling her I was sorry.  Most toddlers would scream and cry.  Instead she responded with, "it's OK mommy.  I not mad.  Accidents happen".  And went on with her night.  She does stuff like that all the time.  It brings me to tears almost every time.  I am so proud of her and the way she treats other people.
She knows her ABC's and can identify each letter, it's sound, and a word that starts with that letter (for most of the alphabet). She can count to 30 in english, and 20 in spanish, knows her colors, shapes, animals, and knows a few site words.  She is getting ready to start a pre-K class and get kindergarten ready.
She is your typical girly girl, loves dress up, princesses and unicorns.  In fact, she is an active dreamer like me and my siblings, and she often dreams about unicorns.  One of my favorite things to do is when we wake up in the morning, we cuddle and tell each other our dreams.  Gahhhh, so in love with this cuddle bug.  She is my world.


Liv, 14 months old.  She is Lyla's twin sister when it comes to her looks and personality.  She is also small for her age in weight and height.  Another petite little princess.  She has a firecracker attitude, and doesn't put up with much.  If she wants something, she will get your attention one way or the other.  Liv is the most laid back of the three otherwise.  She likes to sit back and observe.  She has the most adorable smile and laugh, but you have to work for it.  She doesn't give up that cutness to just anybody.  Liv has four teeth, and just started walking.  She took a couple of steps right when she turned 14 months and two weeks later is beginning to use it as her main mode of transportation.  I love love love the zombie walking stage.  It is sooo cute!!!! She says "uh oh" but no other words just yet.  She babbles alot, so she is saying something, but only she knows what. There is no such thing as a food that she doesn't like.  This girl loves food and loves to eat.  Their portions are about equivalent to Tim and I.  She eats about four times as much as Lyla. I don't know where this petite dainty girl puts it. Liv has music running through her blood.  She is very in tune to music.  The moment it comes on, she dances with her entire body. I would say she is going to be some sort of musician or dancer. Either way, she is going to steal some hearts!


Sean, 14 months old.  Sean is direct opposite of either of his sisters.  He has thick blond hair, and has already had two haircuts. Which is hilarious, because Lyla just really got hair in once she turned 3, and finally had her first hair cut when she was 3.5.  She didn't need one but it was just for memory sake, Liv is following that same path.  Sean has bright blue eyes.  He is gorgeous.  He will smile and laugh for days. His laugh is contagious! I have never heard anything like it.  You just look at that boy and he breaks into a giggle fit or will flash a smile that melts your heart.  He is all boy.  Loves balls, trucks and knocking stuff over. We call him bulldozer.  If he needs to get something, he will crawl over anything and knock stuff out of his way.  He crawled first, but is the second to walk.  He took a step before Liv, but never did again until recently.  He is now standing on his own without falling, and occasionally takes three or four steps.  But he then falls forward, and when he falls, he falls hard! This boy is solid muscle.  He is tough physically.  Not so much emotionally.  He loves his mommy, loves to cuddle and loves to be held.  He gets his feelings hurt pretty easily. Sean still has no teeth! It doesn't slow him down from eating.  Like Liv, he loves to eat and will eat absolutely anything.  He eats the same portion as Liv, which is equal to Tim and I, and four times as much as Lyla.  Sean's favorite thing to do is throw the ball and hope that someone throws it back.  That, and beat on things with a plastic knife and fork.  I think he will for sure be an athlete of some sort, and perhaps a drummer? This boy is just so lovable.  People instantly fall in love with him.


Some of my favorite pictures from the past year

cooling off in the hot summer at the water fountains

strike a pose! riverfront walk

this is how they react to a clean playroom....DESTROY!

ready for the beach!

loves the sun

big sister giving little brother ice cream.  sibling love!

checking out the animals at the zoo

more zoo animals

stylin'!

putting on a brave face to go in the big kids pool

one of my favorite pictures of all three kids

cool lil dude

playing with daddy is their favorite!

mommy, please no more picture!

proud of their British heritage, they love marmite!

twinkie dinks

cool lil chick

bath time!

Kiss me I'm Irish (for the day)

future drummer

Easter egg hunt!

happy happy happy :)

Disney on Ice

searching for bones

lil firecrackers, happy 4th of July!

staying cool on 4th of July

Happy Easter!

my family

Number 28 ATL 7/26/12

Last night I went to my 28th Aerosmith concert. Ahhhhh, felt so good to be seeing the boys on stage again!


Bekah was my partner in crime on this trip.  We both work for the same company, so we started off our day in the office getting things going for the day.  As it got closer to 10am, our designated leave time, the excitement started to build. We headed out the door, and were Atlanta bound! The drive was nice and fast, got to Atlanta around noon.  Parked our car at the CNN Center/Philips arena, got freshened up and found a place to get some pre show eat and drink.  We hopped around to a few different places, met one very interesting fan.  To say they were an obsessed annoying weirdo that made Aerosmith fans look like obsessed annoying weirdos, would be an understatement.


It was time to line up for the meet and greet, the "Sweet Spot" package.  

You see, I have been fortunate enough to meet members of the band the good ole fashioned way.  Look for tour buses, and go on a wild goose chase.  I haven't ever purchased meet n greets before.  I have gotten passes to a few of them by being in the right place at the right time!  However, I have always purchased my tickets through the fan club. This tour is different.  Thanks to the crappy new rules of AeroForceOne (fan club).  In the past, fan club members had first dibs on tickets and usually got great seats.  Especially since I have 18 years seniority, I have always gotten great seats, and you just pay face value! Not this tour.  In order to get fan club seats you had to buy a VIP package.  The least inexpensive package included an "ultimate fan experience" with Tom, Brad and Joey.  Or, as they are also known as, the LI3.  The "less interesting three" which is self named by the trio.  Seeing as Tom Hamilton is my favorite, I would be OK with that.  I wasn't OK with forking out extra money just to get seats I am entitled too, but I fell for the corporate greediness and got the tickets. This sounds spoiled, and I am aware of that, but I couldn't risk getting non floor seats. I love seeing the band perform live way top much to not experience them up close and personally.  I have been so fortunate with great seats in the past, wasn't going to let that change.


As we are lining up, I see that there are alot of people also lining up.  I think it ended up being 450 people all together.  I quickly realized, this wasn't going to be a traditional meet n greet.  You know, where you are in a small room and you get to interact with everyone, get a few autographs and photographs.  But that was OK...this is still going to be cool.


So we go inside, and we have first access to the merch booth. I of course pay way too much for a new shirt, which is super cool and I love it.  I really needed a new Aerosmith shirt.  No really, I did!! I gave all my concert shirts to my sister and she made a quilt out of them for me.

Bekah and I wearing our new shirts

Not too much of a wait longer, and all 450 of us headed down to the arena floor at the end of the catwalk.  We were given the rules.  No personal autographs, only people with a band member name taped under their chair can come up and ask a question.
Joey Kramer came out first, and was very gracious and told a few stories and answered a few questions. He was pretty cool, he came down to the crowd instead of staying up the on the stage.  I was actually surprised how gracious towards the fans he was.  I have met him a few times, and always got the feeling he could have cared less about his fans.  I am glad I got to see this side of him!  My favorite question was "if you could have lunch with anyone, who would it be?" And he answered: My Father.  Thought that was sweet.

Next out was Brad Whitford.  He wasn't feeling very well.  I felt bad for him.  What dedication musicians have.  There are no sick days, well for the most part. I was grateful he still came out and fulfilled his duties and answered some questions.  He jammed a little bit on his guitar.  Such a talented guitar player.  Great guy.

Last out was Tom Hamilton.  He has always been the kindest of the five, in my opinion.  He immediately started joking around about random things.  Always a crowd pleaser! He definitely sounds different, I assume it is from his battle with throat cancer.  Such a trooper. 

It was time for Tom to answer questions, but not as many people went up with their little pieces of paper that were taped under their chair, so they opened the floor for anyone to go to the microphone.  I immediately had a sucker punch to the gut feeling while Bekah simultaneously told me to go up there!!!  I kept saying no, I don't do public speaking...no, no, no.  She threatened me, so we quickly looked up some questions I had written up on my iphone, picked one out, and headed up to the mic! I am surprised I even made it to the mic. I don't talk in large groups.  Not even when I am comfortable with the crowd, such as co workers.  And here I am, in front of 450 die hard Aerosmith fans about to ask a question.  I had been making fun of some of the lame questions people had been asking, now I am putting myself out there for people make fun of me.  Whoops.  Note to self, don't make fun of people. My turn came up, I thought I was going to puke, and suprisingly, I spoke into the mic, with a steady clear voice 

"Hi Tom ::smile::: when coming up with the setlists do you balance the old fans, new fans and record company to keep them all happy, or do you just play whatever the hell you want?"  

I am not sure what he answered.  I seriously zoned out and just stood there and nodded and smiled.  You will need to watch the video to see his answer (not yet posted, it is stuck on my camera. Will update blog once I have it uploaded).  I thanked him, and he thanked me back.  I went back to my seat a little stunned.  Definitely was proud of myself for over coming one of my huge fears!!!


Bekah and I hung around the arena, went to a super cool restaurant in middle of the arena and had some yummy bites to eat, and a few more drinks.  Then it was show time! We headed down to our seats, right on side of the catwalk towards the end! I told Bekah that was a good thing, Steven and Joe spend most of their time at end of the catwalk.
Cheap Trick was on, and they put on a good show.  I rocked out to their last few songs, great warm up for the main act.  But honestly, I wish that it was just Aerosmith, and they played a little longer.


During the break, we chatted up the guys next to us.  They were down from KY and it was his 11th show.  He had been in the fan club for 8 years.  Ummmm...and we are in the same row? Ok, we won't go there again. They were sitting closer to the catwalk than us, and were so incredibly kind enough to switch with us so we could stand next to the catwalk.  So, it turned into being front row for us.  Oh yeah....here is my happy place!!!


It's show time!!!!!! Steven came out from below stage, at the end of the catwalk! It immediately came back to me like a flood, why I love this band so much.  The energy, the showmanship, the music.  Ahhhh, happy happy happy place!!!
They opened up with my very favorite live song, Draw the Line.  That song makes me go nuts. I exert 100% of my energy right up front when they open with that song.  I love the bass line in it.
Here is the set list for the entire night:

Draw The Line
Love In An Elevator
Same Old Song And Dance
Livin' On The Edge
Jaded
Oh Yeah
Last Child
---Drum Solo---
Rag Doll
Peter Gunn/Boogie Man
Combination
What It Takes
Rats In The Cellar
Legendary Child
SOS (Too Bad)
Sweet Emotion
Walk This Way
-----------------------
Dream On
Train Kept A Rollin'
Chip Away The Stone

Set list taken from AeroFanatic's facebook page.  Myself and a couple of others were set list reporting to him via text throughout the show.  Between a few drinks and autocorrect on my iphone, I probably wasn't the best person for the job. 
There was a father and son right next to us.  The son looked about 15 years old.  I was so impressed by him.  He knew every song, even the older less known songs. He was into it, true music fan.  I so respect that.  I asked his dad what was the secret to raising your kid to be so cool? He just answered, "I don't know, he just is!!". I hope my kids grow up with good music taste, and that I can be of some good influence on them.  I don't think I am going to have to worry about Lyla though.  I have a feeling she is on the right path.  Proof is in this VIDEO.  
A definite must see.
After the show, I was on my natural music high buzz.  Love that feeling.  If I could bottle that feeling up, that would be pretty awesome.  Bekah seemed totally satisfied and loved the show.  That made me happy.  I love going with a newbie, and seeing the show through their eyes.  Sometimes I wish I could relive my first show, but then I quickly realize every time feels like the first time when seeing Aerosmith live!!!!!


We headed back home, definitely not as fun of a drive back.  Made me wish we got a hotel room and just stayed the night.  Two and a half hours later, I got home safe and sound.  I went into the kids room to check on them all and kiss them good night, and my first thought was....so glad I didn't get a hotel room.  I was right where I was supposed to be.  Now that is a natural high I get to feel every day. This is my real life happy place!


Now, where are they playing next? My desire to follow the band just hit me....


Just a few photos from the show off my crappy point and shoot camera, and a few iphone pics.  What I would give to be able to take my Nikon DSLR into a show.....