Keeping it Classy.

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Who says that your 21st birthday has to involve going crazy and waking up with a hangover…not this girl:) In fact, I spent my 21st birthday having a family pizza party with cheesecake and of course Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Not that I don’t get tipsy off of one Mike’s because I’m a lightweight like that….

But if you haven’t noticed Rob and I are two very different people, and he likes to upstage me, so of course… Rob went the classier route. With special thanks to Uncle Dave and Aunt Jen who insisted we go out and have an adults only night at a fancy restaurant to celebrate-who would turn down that offer?

Before we leave though….Let the photo shoot begin!
Two handsome looking guys right here! Can you guess which one is older?
The “old people” as Aunt Jen says…
Love my Aunt Jen!
Aunt Jen and Uncle Dave took us to Chuck’s to celebrate! It was our first time and it was very yummy:)
This is not the most exciting bread picture but it was cheddar-y bread with a herbed butter! Yum-this carb loving girl was happy!
Edamame:)
Rob’s first drink! He had a Razz-mopolitan, very manly, and I had a Pomtini. It was my first ever martini and I must admit it was pretty delish!
Cheers Rob!
Uh-mazing “Uptown Shrimp” I could have just eaten that and I would have been perfectly content but more yumminess was to come!
I ordered Chuck’s Seafood Gumbo as part of my meal and although Uncle Dave loved it I did not. Which means it was me and my pickiness regarding fish=/
I also ordered the Spicy Scallop Roll to “share” with Rob per his request and uhm he ate one piece and I had the rest…what can I say I’m starting to like this whole sushi thing!
Aunt Jen’s chicken dish-the pasta sauce was to die for!
The Birthday Boy ordered the Grouper and Scallop special with gingered rice and asparagus-I had a bite and it was Grace approved!
We ended our dinner with coffee and white chocolate bread pudding! It basically rocks and makes me want to try to make bread pudding! I see a new recipe in my future!

Dinner was fabulous and as for the rest of the day well it was pretty laid back. Aunt Jen and the kids headed to Alabama Adventure but “Old Man” Rob wanted to stay home:( So I stayed with him it was his birthday after all. We went to Zoe’s for lunch.

Hummus and wheat pita chips…
and Greek Salad:)

Then went to Dick’s to find some more Nike shirts for him and then to Michael’s to get a shirt for me-my tie dye didn’t turn out so well:( Then we came back to the house and relaxed while we waited for everyone to come back home! I read and Rob played Tiny Wings-he’s really intellectual like that:)

Happy Birthday Baby! I love you and I hope you enjoyed your day because you make all of my days happier:)

Okay I’m done being gushy now! I have lots of homework, working out, and hopefully some more relaxing to do tomorrow!

Questions for you!

What did you do on your 21st birthday?

Momma’s Home!

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Aunt Jen and Uncle Dave got home last night a little before midnight to some very excited children! It was an exciting end to an interesting day…

Day 7

We spent the morning or should I say afternoon relaxing and just hanging out! Iron Man enjoyed a yogurt:)
Later the kids developed a contraption where John David pulled them around…so funny!
Come on ride the train!

It was nice and sunny when we all woke up basically in the afternoon but that didn’t last long. We went up stairs to finish decorating our shirts and a storm came and the power went out :( For the next 7 hours!! Needless to say we all had a bit of cabin fever and 4 hours into the power out fever we had to get out!!

We decided to head out to Jim and Nick’s BBQ for some dinner. Every one was very entertained with their electronics:)
They have amazing cheesy biscuits with honey butter!
I went all out with my comfort foods:) Catfish taco…yummy!
The Company House Salad-with their delicious ranch!
and their “mac the cheese.” Literally the best mac and cheese ever!

Did anyone guess what today is? Rob’s 21st Birthday!!!!

Rob’s early birthday! Chocolate french silk pie..we had to order another one!
We went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 after dinner and it was so good!
We had the theatre all to ourselves! The way all movies should be seen in my opinion-especially with a 4 year old!
The girls did a pre-show dance show!
Happy 21st Birthday Rob! This is last night a little after midnight! He is such a cute birthday boy! Or at least I think so:) 

Not sure what is in store of Rob’s Birthday but right now he is snoozing away, one of his personal favorites so I think he’s happy:)

In honor of his birthday I will share this hugely embarrassing video that MK made of various footage of all of us dancing, mostly doing “the creep.” In case there was any doubt in your mind that I am a giant loser who cannot dance this video will change that.

Questions for you!

What would you do to keep busy during a power outage? We tried playing Life and that didn’t go well…I spent the rest of my time trying to put away laundry  and dishes in the dark-it made things just a little more difficult!

“Exhausted Grace”

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Sometime between Thursday and yesterday I slowly morphed from “Fun Grace” into “Exhausted-PMS ridden Grace.” Sounds like I am a big ball or fun right? Well after a nice long sleep last night I am feeling in a much peppy-er mood and “as soon as I finish blogging,” I promise we’ll go decorate shirts-which is what I’ve been repeating all morning early afternoon.

Thursday-Day 4

Pretty breakfast:)
Making some tie dyed t-shirts to take to the beach with us!
While we were up in the craft room John David discovered a toy from his past…

John David was just excited to be wearing gloves!
Rob helped Booda make his shirt.
The girls:)
We slipped in some pool time since it wasn’t raining! Although the pool was a bit chilly from the rain and lack of sunshine.
Rob and Booda started playing “submarine!”
and Booda is now scooting his way around the deep end like “Spiderman” without being scared!
I figured out a great way to exercise and watch John David! I give him a snack, a drink, a blanket, and put on some ‘toons and he is entertained!
Dinner was an interesting mix of baked potatoes, paninis, salads, and of course chicken nuggets.
The kids discovered the blue gloves thanks to Rob which resulted in some shenanigans and later me picking up lots of gloves off the floor.

Friday-Day 5

We all had an early day since Josie had to be at gymnastics 8:30! After we dropped her off we headed for a 5 star breakfast!

McDonald’s Play place!
Taking a break from playing to eat some breakfast..or should I say to eat some sausage.
We ventured to Dick’s to return something and it turned into a full-blown hour and a half extravaganza!
We tried out some machines…
Uh…John David, that’s not how you use the treadmill.
Paddling some kayaks…
I think Mk’s form is a little better..
Starbucks Stop! Mk’s first ever Cake Pop! John David is a pro at eating them now!
Rob looks pretty relaxed with a coffee and blankie seeing as he is driving?
Oh no second playground of the day at Chick-fil-a for lunch after picking up Josie. Except this time he wouldn’t actually eat:( He preferred acting like a monkey!
We spent the afternoon at the pool, fit in some exercise, and later made pizza for dinner!
They all like cheese and pepperoni- just in different ratios.
My “pizza”-Whole wheat tortilla, bbq sauce, and cheese:)
Oh no! Here come the gloves again!
Crazies!
This is my please stop acting like crazies, I’m really tired face…lol!

Saturday-Day 6

Yesterday was when “Grumpy Grace” really made her debut. MK and I woke up at 6 to take her to her tournament. I am going to blame sleep deprivation and hormones on me being a grumpy pants. I feel bad for the poor kids because I was being way lass than fun:( We did head to the pool and Josie had her friend Allie over night before so they were at least entertained! I have been combating my grumpiness by taking some “me time” to read.

I found this book in one of Aunt Jen’s drawers and I am finally pulled into a book! I’ve tried reading a couple other books recently and was just not interested and this one is different! Apparently there is a Lifetime movie I’ll have to watch when I finished reading it…gotta love Lifetime.

We went to watch Mk’s team play their last game but it turns out the time was wrong time so we headed to the park for a little while!
Ahoy there mateys!
oh hey Rob.
John David being his cute self!

Okay! We are currently in the midst of a dance party at the house and then we’re going to decorate some tie dye shirts!

P.s This is my 100th post!

Okay this is clearly inappropriate but this is what MK changed my iPhone background to the other day…she is naughty!

P.s.s-Tomorrow is a special day for someone important to me! Any guesses?

Questions for you!

What do you do for “me time?” Reading, exercise, baking, and watching movies -I think it’s high time I watch something that isn’t Disney Channel, animated, or involving a super hero:)

A little more low key, but only a little.

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Day 3

I had grand plans to take John David to the pool everyday this week and I was convinced he’d be swimming in no time! Unfortunately the weather here in Birmingham has not cooperated what so ever.

Promising, right?

So instead of hanging out at the pool we’ve been hanging out around the house. As you saw they kids live pretty busy lives so some low-key days are probably great for them. If you didn’t notice I spent quite a bit of my down time yesterday mixing up the look of my blog! It is still a work in progress but thanks to Google Images and Shabby Blogs I think it is looking pretty cute! If I do say so myself!

This is much of the day looked like...Iron Man watched Cars and played with his toys into the afternoon.

I think they're enjoying relaxing? P.s. like my finger in the picture?

After lounging around all day…spending an extremely frustrating hour trying and failing at french braiding…going to the pool only for a thunder break to be called 10 minutes later…we were off again! Josie went to gym and the rest of us took Mary Kathryn to her practice about half an hour away.

We went to find a Doctor's kit at Walmart while MK was at practice...John David put his socks on all by himself!

I was beginning to think this may have been a bad idea?

We didn't find a Doctor's Kit at Walmart but we found a Starbucks when we left and John David got a cake pop!

Someone else turned into Iron Man when we got home? See her "arc reactor" that was what John David got instead of a Doctor's kit since they didn't have one at "Super Awesome Target" either.

While I was making dinner there were lots of races going on...

I think I almost got run over at least 10 times while trying to make dinner...but they're so cute how could I be mad at them?

Dinner was interesting last night....Josie wanted breakfast for dinner and MK wanted chicken nuggets and mac 'n cheese. John David decided he wanted a mix of both...interesting.

I made Rob and Josie some yummy looking breakfast sandwiches! Rob wanted mac 'n cheese also...he's a fellow carb lover!

I somehow managed to go to bed even later last night! I think working out at night gives me a little boost of energy =/  I cannot stay up that late the next two nights though because we have two very early mornings ahead of us! We’re doing some more relaxing today and I have loads and loads of laundry to tackle!

Questions for you!

Do you enjoy lazy days? Sometimes being too lazy leaves me feeling tired but I still had lots to do around the house and no time to be sleepy!

How is the weather in “your neck of the woods?” I know Florida has afternoon thunder storms every day but they usually clear up quick enough for an afternoon nap…this weather however is just blah blah all day!

 

 

This is a test.

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Day 2

I guess I was being a little too confident at the end of Day one… because Day 2 came with some serious tests for “Fun Grace.” Starting at 2 am! Since John David went to sleep so early he woke up at 2 in the morning and didn’t want to go back to sleep. Luckily a cup of juice and warm blanket lured him into watching Peter Pan outside of Mary Kathryn’s room on the couch. My alarm clock was going off way to early for my massage and that 6 am workout? What a joke..that didn’t happen! The massage was nice but usual it made me have some roller coaster like emotions=( When I got home we all had breakfast and I cleaned up and we headed to the pool! Unfortunately once we were there for an hour some big clouds and thunder started rolling in from almost every direction and they called a “thunder break.” That means that every time they hear thunder it is 30 more minutes before you can get back in the pool=(

Eating lunch at the pool during the thunder break. We ended up leaving after=(

After my plan to wear John David out at the pool went out the window I made one of the worst decisions ever….to take all three kids to Walmart. We needed quite a few thing…what could possibly go wrong? They reminded me that I am being “Fun Grace” as they put movies, Cosmic Brownies, Chef Boyardi Raviolis, Spray Cheese, and lots of other junk food into the cart. They were testing me…big time!

MK decided it would be a fabulous idea to take a million terrible pictures while we were in Walmart...

Going into...."The Toy Zone" What? You thought the Twilight Zone was scary. Try taking a 4-year-old into Walmart, it is terrifying!! He ended up trading a toy for a Green Lantern Comic movie.

Mk being the stalker-razzi...

After dropping off Josie to gymnastics carpool we took MK to pitching practice. I was teasing her about her cute little pink cast swinging while she pitched:)

Mk got a little sweaty at practice and wanted to cool off with a $1 Sno Bizz! Just for the record she is making that face on purpose...

They have a ton of flavors! Mk got Watermelon and Lime, Rob got Cherry (boring!), Booda got blue raspberry (he likes anything that turns his mouth blue), and I got peach passion!

We went to the Mall for MK to use her birthday money. John David found a Doctor's Kit he wanted and well...threw a rather funny fit when I told him, "No, you already got a movie today." "But a movie isn't a toy Grace!"

Finally home for dinner after picking up Josie from gym! John David had Cars Chicken Noodle Soup that he had about one bite of...

Rob and I ate garden vegetable pasta with meatless meatballs and Sweet Pepper tomato sauce-it was really yummy! and the girls ate their gourmet Chef Boyardi!

This is where John David fell asleep last night...

I did some baking for a future guest post! Turned out amazing! Then finally got to bed at about hmm...2?

Even though I went to bed late we all slept in until about 10! I was having some horrible dreams that I cannot actually remember so I know it wasn’t the most restful sleep…but 10 is nice! When I woke up John David wasn’t in his bed? He wasn’t with his sister’s watching TV? He wasn’t in his parent’s bed? But don’t worry I found him….with Rob! The fist thing John David said was, “Can we go to the mall today and get that Doctor’s Kit? I want to pretend to be a nerd!” He meant a nurse! Because he is already a nerd! It looks like we’re going to “Super Awesome Target” a little later to see if they have a doctor’s kit because he apparently is not going to conveniently forget about it.

Questions for You!

What tests you the most? Ice cream I love, and Little Debbie brownies I can tolerate but spray cheese? Really?!? That almost put me over the edge.

Mommy Bloggin’

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We now interrupt your regularly schedule programming  giant portions of froyo and sweaty workout pictures  to present :Your Daily Grace as a Mommy Blog.

My Aunt and Uncle left for a week-long Caribbean vacation, which means I am on Mommy Duty a.k.a. slightly organized chaos. I’m not sure if you have picked up this vibe from me yet but I am not going to be the “good cop” when I have children. If you’ve ever seen Modern Family, I am full on Claire.

See that frustration…I can relate. But I’ll be a “bad cop” if I can look like that after having children:)
So Rob had a “talk” with me the other night about being “Fun Grace.” Which translates to: I do not interfere with behaviors such as making a gigantic mess with toys, consuming far too much sugar, and subsequently acting like a crazy children unless someone may get hurt. Instead I join in on the fun! It has already been hard I mean come on John David is a 4-year-old boy…do I need to say any more? But I think I’ve been successful on Day 1…

Day 1!

After a workout, shower, and quick house clean up we were out the door to the orthopedic doctor...Thumbs Up! Mk's arm is healing on schedule:)

Rob, Josie, and John David got into some shenanigans while MK and I watched from the waiting room...they found a dog?? and then, thank goodness, it's owner!

Rob couldn't stop the car from "driving itself" to Starbucks so the kiddies got some morning treats, too!

We went to Painted by U and got our creative juices flowing! Cannot wait to show you all the finished products in a week!

The children requested lunch at California Pizza Kitchen-where not one of us ordered pizza? Even though they put the dressing all over my salad(yucky and fattening) it was still pretty yummy, along with my tortilla soup! One wonderful thing is that all of CPK's soup are all vegetarian!

John David had....Macaroni and Cheese. Yum?

After dropping off Josie to gymnastics and a trip to use John David's Books -a- Million Gift Card. He and I headed to the pool together while MK relaxed and Rob went to the gym.

He is a gigantic ham if you haven't noticed...

Booda and I went to Michael's to pick up some tie dye materials then picked up Josie from gym... and finally arrived home for dinner at 9, I was starving!

I did however successfully wear him out! he fell asleep before we even got home! Rob just jumped on top of him on the couch because he didn't see him and Booda didn't even wake up!

What You’ve Missed…

Because I’m a terrible blogger.

A trip to.....The one and only Mercedes Factory in North America!

The visitor center where our tour started from!

Our group:) We weren't allowed to take pictures during the tour but we had to get one with our fancy badges on! It was a really awesome tour...the best part was watching the huge robots at work!

One of the Mercedes cars from Jurassic Park=/ Those movies terrify me!

I now want a Mercedes M Class due to it's safety rating...and well look at it.

The boys got their hair cut together..how cute!

This is what happens when you fold 5 loads of laundry, don't put it away, and start having a dance party with a 4-year-old. Stayed tuned tomorrow for a hilarious video...

I'm not sure what exactly was going on in this picture?

On Father's Day we took the boat out on Lake Tuscaloosa. Unfortunately I took no pictures nor do I have access to the ones that were taken:(

Well there you have it! You’re all caught up! I hope you’re ready for 5 more days of pure “Fun Grace!” This “Mommy” has a massage scheduled at 8 am tomorrow morning, which means 6 am wake up call for my workout! Night, night, Sleep Tight, and Don’t let the bed bugs bite! Or at least that is what my Mommy always told me:)

Questions for You!

Do you read Mommy blogs? Which ones are your favorite? I love “It’s a dog lick baby world”, “Kath Eats Real Food”(only semi-Mommy), and of course” Peas and Thank You.”

What is your dream car? I don’t exactly have one…I just said that the nex car I buy will have a back up camera and sensor on it! I love SUV like cars and safety ratings are high on my priority list as well!

P.s. Please excuse my blog as it is currently under construction..:)