Oh, I almost forgot! Today I started my Random Acts of Kindness celebration for my birthday! I was so crazy busy that I didn't get as many things done as I would have liked but I definitely enjoyed what I did get to do!

Today I:
*Used my change ($6) at Subway to buy a gift card for someone who needed it
*Dropped off a ginormous garbage bag full of stuffed animals to Healthy Families
*Way overtipped the guy who served us dinner tonight

OK, so these things aren't gonna bring about world peace or anything like that but they were unexpected things and they made people feel good. Tomorrow should be less hectic here and I'm hoping to think of some better and more fun things to do.

Are you joining me? I'm doing 32 random (or sorta random) acts of kindness to celebrate my 32nd birthday on July 7th. If you decide to join me, I'd love to hear about it!
P.S. I am totally bummed out that Jason will be out of town for my birthday. This is totally selfish of me I know but now who's gonna bring me my cake?! Ha ha Only kidding. Well, sorta.

P.S.S. OK, I am aware that that last comment about how bummed I am that J won't be here for my birthday at the end of a post about doing good things for others seems a bit shallow and selfish. Don't judge.

We had dinner and cake and ice cream for Easton's birthday tonight. We were planning a party but we all got some kind of bug so we'll have to postpone it. Everyone here is feeling better but we'll still hold off on the party just to make sure we don't share that with our friends. I'm sure they appreciate that. We sure had fun tonight though! For dinner, I made kid-friendly food: Mummy dogs, Easy Peas-y Mac and Cheese, Scarecrow Taco Dip and a Monkey cake. I'm not the best cake decorator but I think it turned out pretty cute. I could have gotten the lines a little straighter but I think I did pretty well for just using a sandwich bag w/the corner cut off to pipe this icing! Next time though I will definitely invest in some pastry bags and tips so I can do a better job. (Don't know why the pics uploaded in the wrong order but I'm too tired to re-do it.) This first picture cracks me up. He did NOT want to wear the silly birthday hat and really I don't blame him. :)
Happy Birthday, my sunny funny boy!

When my mom was here, she bought Jason and me a WiiFit for our combined birthday present. We had fun playing it one night while they were here. I really like the balance exercises, especially the hula hoop one (which feels REALLY strange to do in front of an audience!). I'm hoping I can start doing the yoga and strength training exercises this weekend when I have a little more time. Thanks, mom!

There are just not enough hours in the day to get done all of the things I want to do. I've "written" about a dozen blog posts in my head but haven't had time to post them here. As of right now, it's 4:05 pm and I'm still in my pajamas. The dryer just buzzed (again!) and I really should be thinking about what to fix for dinner. But the kids are both asleep (it's a miracle!) and I wanted to take a quick minute to post an update on the last few days.

4th of July - what a great day! I convinced Jason to put off mowing the yard for one more day and we just hung out with the kids all day. Jason put the car seats in the Camaro and we took the kids for a ride to Sonic. THAT was funny! Honey, I bet you never thought you'd be buckling car seats into the 'maro, did you?!

I think Easton liked going for a ride in Daddy's cool car.

The boys in the 'maro Easton and the Camaro


After the trip to Sonic, we came home and put the kids down for a nap. Then we did a few things around the house (finally hung some pictures on the walls, picked up the clutter, etc). After E woke up from his nap, we all went out on the deck and watched Easton play in his pool.

All of those toys in the pool and look what he wants to play with. He had fun seeing how big of a splash he could make every time he dropped in a bottle of water.

At dinner time, we fired up the grill and cooked some "burburs" as Easton calls them. We had burgers, potato salad and baked beans. After dinner, we made s'mores. (I have a pic of Easton and his first s'mores mess but my camera is on the charger. I'll put it up next time I get a chance.) After we cleaned up from the messy s'mores, we got both of the kids into their pajamas and bundled them up. It was COOL outside! I was wearing long pants, socks and shoes instead f flipflops and a jacket. In JULY!!! We sat outside at the end of our driveway and watched the neighborhood fireworks. Our neighbors from two houses across the street from us were out and they all came over and sat with us and visited in our driveway for a couple of hours. It was really nice. Easton LOVED the fireworks. He kept saying "Wowee!" and "Cool!" Thankfully he had a long, late nap earlier in the day because he really enjoyed the fireworks and wasn't scared a bit.

My birthday - I took the kids to Walmart to buy a few groceries. While I was there, an older man came up to admire the kids. He said "Wow! Two beautiful babies and one more on the way! Aren't you lucky?!" I didn't correct him and tell him I'm not pregnant. Ugh! That was NOT fun! As if taking two kids under two to Walmart isn't hard enough on its own, now I have people telling me I'm fat too. Thanks, Mister! I know you were just trying to be nice but it really wasn't.

That not-so-fun experience aside, it really was a nice day. I got lots of calls, texts, emails and cards and that really made me feel good. (Thank you!) I asked for an ice cream maker and Jason got it for me. One of my favorite 4th of July memories from when I was little was eating homemade strawberry (or banana) ice cream. Now I can share that with my kids. I also got a new coffee mug (I asked for that too), and a new purse.

For dinner, Jason brought home crab legs, salad and wine. (SIX bottles! Good thing I know there's a discount when you buy 6 bottles or I'd think he had an ulterior motive.) We had a really nice, relaxing evening and went to bed early. Wow! Can we do this every year?! It was great!

That's about it for us. The rest of the time, we've been hanging out around the house. I've just been doing housework and taking care of babies. It's fun and wonderful and exhausting and stressful and amazing and beautiful. I wouldn't trade this job for anything.

Today, we're having an early birthday party for Easton. I can't wait! We're having a monkey/jungle themed party to celebrate our little monkey turning ONE! He was a little bit of a stinker last night and stayed up until 10:30. His normal bedtime is 7:30 or 8 but since we're on vacation, "normal" has been thrown out the window. I am really looking forward to visiting with everyone today and can't wait to see Easton dive into his very own monkey cupcake. I'll post pictures when we get back home.

We had a great 4th of July. We did pretty much what I thought we would do. We stayed home and watched the neighborhood fireworks from our deck. We made burgers and roasted potatoes for dinner and ate smores for dessert. It was a fun night. It was a nice night, so we had all the windows open. I think Easton must have known it was a special night because he didn't want to go to sleep. Normally, we would have just kept trying until he nodded off but since we were out there on the deck having fun we decided to make an exception just this once and let him watch a few minutes of fireworks. Sure enough after about 20 minutes he was rubbing his eyes and yawning so we put him back to bed and he went to sleep without another peep. He LOVED the fireworks! We were far enough away from them so that it wasn't loud but close enough to really see them well. It was a fun night.

Fast forward to yesterday. My birthday. It started out just like any other day. I went to run some errands and go to the library. While I was at the library looking for a certain book, I came across one called "It's my F#$*ing Birthday". I cracked up at the title but didn't check it out. After our errands, I came home and fed Easton and put him down for a nap and then read a few blogs and caught up on my emails. Thank you to everyone who called, emailed or a comment to say Happy Birthday!

When Jason came home from work, he brought dinner. Steamed Chesapeake Bay crabs! He also brought wine and a really yummy chocolate-peanut butter cake. We had a great dinner. Easton was taking a late nap while we ate, so it was a pretty relaxing, fun dinner. Just a note though...if you are easily grossed out or the least bit squeamish DON'T get whole crabs! I'd much rather just eat crab legs! At least that way you don't have to look at the whole crab and tear it apart piece by piece. Let me say though that they were delicious! Once I got over the yuck factor, dinner was REALLY good! And the cake was great! Who knew peanut butter flavored icing was so delicious? Then again, how could it not be...it's peanut butter!

After dinner, Jason and Easton brought me some gifts. I got a really sweet card that Jason and Easton both signed. Jason put Easton's hand on the pen when he signed his name. It is too cute! I also got 3 cds I've been wanting and some Amazing Grace perfume and body wash. It was a really nice night.

Tonight, I'm going over to my friend's to scrapbook. Easton's coming with me so I might not get too much scrapping done but it will be fun anyway. Jason's going out to dinner w/a vendor from work so we'll all be busy.

Oh yeah! And what did I decide to do for myself to celebrate turning the big 3-0? I enrolled in Ashford University's online bachelor's program. I start classes
July 15th and once I take that first class, then I'll find out how many of my credits from previous schools will transfer. It sounds like they're pretty liberal about transferring credits so I should be more than half way to my degree. Finally! And with an online school, I can do it anywhere so I won't be interrupted when/if we move again. Like I said recently, no moving plans that we know of but you never know.Hmmm...now if I could just get a new computer to do homework on. This one I'm on is constantly locking up despite everything we've done to clean it up. We'd better start saving for a new one.

Anyway, wish me luck! Going to school and doing homework again should be interesting with the little man around. But it feels good to finally be working (again) toward the degree I've wanted for so long. The actual degree from Ashford is a Bachelor's of Arts in Social Science with a concentration in Early Childhood Education. Finally! And the good news is I think all those classes I did working toward my CDA will transfer and count as college credit. YAY!

Is it really true that I'm going to be 30 in 5 days? Nope. Not me. I think I'll just stay 29 for the next 10 years. Then I'll go straight to 39 for 10 years.

Well, OK actually I'm not all that weirded out about turning 30. But I do feel like I should do something big to celebrate. Something really big. Something life-changing big. But the question is WHAT? I've already got a tattoo so I've kinda been there and done that. I'm not getting anything pierced, so that's out. I don't have much money so that limits what I can do. Probably no sky-diving trips (I'd probably wet my pants on the way down anyway. Ew gross!) Any ideas?

We've had a busy, busy few days lately! Last Thursday, Jason and I celebrated his birthday a day early. I gave him his present (a Wii) and he loved it! I also baked him a cake and decided that for my next career move I will most certainly NOT be a cake decorator! I got in too big of a hurry when I made his cake and didn't let it cool completely. BIG MISTAKE! As I was lighting the candles (30 of them!), the top layer slid off, taking the 30 burning candles with it! Jason was in the living room playing his new game and I was in the kitchen laughing and trying to slide the top of the cake back on. Jason came in to see what I was laughing about and we both cracked up at my horrible looking cake.
Here's a picture of my birthday cake decorating fiasco:

Beautiful, right? :) Yes, I DID know you were supposed to let the cake cool completely. But it was getting late and we wanted cake so I forged ahead and ended up scooping the top layer of cake off the countertop. Guess I learned my lesson. See the places with no frosting? Yeah...there was frosting there before it slid off onto the counter. :)

The next night (Jason's actual birthday) I surprised him by taking him to Sansui, a Japanese steakhouse and sushi bar. unbeknownst to Jason, I called several of our friends and arranged for them to meet us there. We had such a great time! The dinner was awesome, the show was entertaining and the company was great. Easton went with us and I was surprised he didn't get scared by all the loud noises and flames from the hibachi grill but he just watched it all very wide-eyed and quietly. Here's a picture of him at the dinner:

He was hanging on to those links of his for dear life.
Looks like he's riding the subway.

Here's two more pictures from dinner that night:



Friday, we ran errands and shopped all day. YUCK! Since Jason gets paid only once a month, we sometimes try to do all our major shopping for the month at one time. It ends up being a long day and we spend a lot of money in one day but it beats going to the store every week! Now hopefully the only things we will need the rest of this month are milk and bread. We'll see about that but that's how it's supposed to work anyway.

Saturday, we had our pictures taken at Penney's. I've been to this particular portrait studio once before and we had a good experience but this time was awful! I think a trained monkey could have done better than this particular photographer. And I know for sure that while I am no professional photographer by any means, I'm pretty sure I could have done a better job myself. Out of 24 pictures she took, only two were even just OK. We ordered them because we wanted to get 6-month pictures of Easton but I am going to call and complain about what a crappy job that woman did. I had really wanted to have pictures taken of just Jason and me, of Easton and Jason, and of Easton and me but this woman did such an awful job I just wanted it to be over with. Normally the photographer should suggest how you should pose for the picture, right? No. Jason and I ended up posing ourselves, which was weird and led to some awkward looking shots. But this woman acted like she didn't have a clue what she was doing! Oh, it made me so mad! I mean it is not easy to get us all three there and looking our best and have Easton smile for photos (well, actually almost ANYONE could make Easton smile, except for this lady!). What a disappointment! Think I'll call and have a talk with the manager today. Maybe we will get some free pictures out of the deal. Just give me a different photographer this time, OK?

Yesterday was Sunday and we spent the day cleaning and organizing our house. I made that yummy chicken, broccoli and potato dinner and we played the Wii after Easton went to bed. I never expected to like a video game so much! It was well worth the money! My favorite games we have are a shooting range game, a fishing game, pool, bowling and boxing. And I can't believe it but my arms are sore from boxing! Guess that means I need to keep doing it, huh? It sure is fun and if I can get in some exercise while I'm doing it then that makes it even better.

Today, I'm working on a meal plan for the next month and trying to set up a cleaning schedule to help things run more smoothly around here. I do so much better with a plan. Anyway, that's what's up with our family lately. No scrapbooking lately and it is driving me crazy! I have so many fun layout ideas and haven't found the time to work on them. Maybe today. :)

Here are some of my favorite photos I took recently:

Baking, baking, baking, and cooking today. I got up this morning and went to Walmart (UGH! Just the name sends shivers of disgust down my back, but it's a must here in this town.) Wore myself out there, came home, unloaded the groceries, etc. Had some Laughing Cow cheese w/my honey and got to work. Today is his 26th b-day and his friends are having BBQ for us. I was asked to bring potato salad (for a crowd), and snickerdoodles. I made the salad, some jambalaya, a mandarin orange cake, and some blueberry muffins to take to the folks at my work tomorrow A.M. They love when I get in the Martha Stewart frame of mind. And Jason does too. Geez, I've already done 2 loads of dishes in the dishwasher today and still haven't made the snickerdoodles. Guess I'll get back to baking...my timer just went off. Gotta check the muffins.
Geez, my feet hurt!
I think I deserve some kind of award today. :)
AmyE
P.S. 18 days until my wedding! Woohoo!!!!!