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Monday, June 30, 2014

Welcome Rowan!

Darrin's brother & his wife, Aaron & Jessica, had a sweet baby boy this morning.  Rowan Joseph McClure weighed 7lb 6 oz and was 19 3/4" long.  He sure is precious.


Big sister, Jayci, seems so happy to have Rowan...


Granny & her new grandbaby...



Miles is ecstatic to have a boy cousin.  Congrats to Aaron, Jessica, and Jayci!

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Weekend Wrap Up

It's been a rainy, rainy weekend here. We weren't able to go swimming all weekend.  Friday night, we had a movie night & watched the Nut Job.  Saturday we decided to go to Jackson, do a little shopping, and take Miles to Chuck E Cheese.  We ate lunch...


Tried on some Nike gear at Dick's...



....and then, after a few more stops, it was time for Chuck E Cheese...


Miles has played skee ball before, but I guess he forgot how.  He picked up the first ball and hurled it like a baseball.  


Saturday night, we did a little exercising at Miles' request.  He did stretches, push ups, sit ups, crab walks, and squats.  He worked really hard at sit ups & did a good job!


He wrestled with Dad...


This pictures cracks me up...


Today, has been the laziest day we've had in a long time.  Since we got home from church, other than laundry & a little food prep for the week, we've just laid around all day while it poured outside.  For a lot of the day, we all watched TV in separate rooms. Typically Miles is only allowed to watch TV in his room right before bed.  On very rare occasion, like 2-3 times ever, we let him watch it during the day.  He is not usually good about entertaining himself, but he seems to really like days like today.


Now, he's in the bath tub playing with dinosaurs...


Our weekend went way too fast.  I'm not ready to go back to work tomorrow, but ready or not, Monday is coming.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Random Updates

A few random updates that don't go together at all.  I know everyone is on the edge of their seats wondering how my lettuce is doing.  Well, I'm just not sure.  The picture makes it look better than it is.  First, the bamboo sticks fixed the rabbit problem, so that's good. 


I think I planted too many seeds in too small of an area.  It seems like it's choking itself out.  Just when it starts to look good, it dies.  Right now, it looks the best it has looked.  Maybe, we will actually be able to eat some this year.  The herbs on the top look scarce b/c I just trimmed them last night.  They have been super easy.  Although next year I will probably just plant cilantro & basil.  We haven't used the parsley or the chives at all.  


As for my other plants & flowers, it's been 50/50.  Kind of like this...


I do love my Lantanas.   I have two of these and they look great.  My mom told me that they are easy to grow & maintain and she was right.


Another update...Miles is still a little OCD.  I just threw this in here b/c he was sitting next to me organizing Darrin's shoes in the coat closet.  He was a little appalled at how Darrin had thrown them in there.  To which I say, welcome to my world.


And for an update on my sugar detox...Day 1 was a success!!!  I took some pictures of my meals, but clearly there is an art to that and I need to refine it.  My food looked gross.  I don't want you guys to think I'm crazy :)  The best meal was the turkey burger for dinner.  They would have been better with ketchup, which I can't have, but they were still good.  They were a little too spicy for Miles, but Darrin couldn't stop talking about them.  I love when that happens.  I have to say, it hasn't been bad at all.  If anything, I've been too full & it's making me a little nauseous.  A lot of protein is hard to eat.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to tear into a Twix, my personal favorite, but it has been totally doable so far.  Bring on Day 2!

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Sugar Detox

Tomorrow I am starting this 14 day sugar detox.  I read the Four Fit Sisters blog and the detox is offered through them via Facebook.  They basically offer you meal ideas and lots of information about clean eating.  We eat fairly clean in our house, but admittedly it's more like 75-80% of the time.  I'd like to be more disciplined than that and I'm hoping this group offers the accountability I need.  It is only $25 and I figured the recipes and information alone were worth that. 

So, what does one do the night before a sugar detox?  You take your kid to the yogurt shop...



...but then go to Walmart & get the one thing you've been craving...


Now that I have that out of my system, the fridge is stocked and ready for tomorrow....


Really our fridge usually looks like this with individual salads, fresh veggies, homemade salsa, hard boiled eggs, etc...it's just a little more prepared tonight.  The guys will do a lot of it with me, just not quite as strict.  For the 14 days, I won't have potatoes, brown rice, or any fruit except berries.  They will continue to eat things like that.  Sugar is my biggest weakness, but a close second is my Crystal Light Energy drink every morning.  I am most worried about that.  I would love to cut caffeine out forever starting tomorrow. Time to go to bed so I can wake up ready to go tomorrow.  Good night!

Monday, June 23, 2014

Weekend Wrap Up

Another good weekend around here.  Friday night, we went to a Travis Tritt concert at Discovery Park.  I was able to get free tickets from work.  A little Travis Tritt background for you...Darrin does not like country music.  At least he says he doesn't....even though he knows the words to a lot of country songs some how...and he sings along a lot like someone would do if they actually liked country music.  But even with all that, he admittedly loves Travis Tritt.  He listens to the Travis Tritt Pandora station almost every morning.  It's very strange that he, of all people, does that, but he does.  So, imagine my elation when I found out that Travis Tritt was coming to Discovery Park AND the tickets were free. 

Friday was the day.  Reagan came over to watch Miles and we went out...



It was a casual concert, outside on the lawn of Discovery Park, which is in the background below...


We ran into some of Miles' teachers & had to take a picture to show him.  They didn't know any Travis Tritt songs, but came anyway b/c they also scored free tickets.  Corey Smith opened up for Travis Tritt & they were way more excited about him.  On the flip side, I didn't know any Corey Smith songs.  Can you say generation gap?

 
We met some of my work friends there...


Pretty clouds rolled in first, and then it poured a cold, hard rain.  We stayed b/c he hadn't really sung many of his popular songs & we were just sure he was going to.

 

He only sang about four more songs and called it a night.  It was a fun night, but someone needs to tell him to stick to all the songs that made him famous.  No one wants to hear a song off his "latest" album, whenever that was, or the only instrumental song he's ever written.  Just sing "Anymore" and "Help Me Hold On" and "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" please.   


Saturday, we went swimming at the country club and then had these guys over for ribs and cards.  Very fun night & so many laughs. The kind of laughs that add years to your life.


Sunday was Darrin's mom's birthday.  She's visiting Darrin's brother & his wife in South Carolina, awaiting the arrival of their baby boy, Rowan.  We sent Granny a happy birthday message...


After church, Darrin played golf & then we met him at the country club to swim for the afternoon.  Even with Darrin's eyes closed, it's still cute...


I love this picture b/c Miles' eyes are closed.  He looks so relaxed.


He made a lot of progress swimming this weekend.  He's now able to jump off the driving board and swim to the side without any help.  We don't even have to be in the pool.  He can also swim from one side of the deep end to the other.  We are so proud of him.  I think it's so important for kids to learn to be great swimmers as early as possible. 

Well friends, it's one of my favorite times of the week.  It's time to watch the Bachelorette.  Like I told Darrin, it's my mental vacation for two hours and I couldn't be happier about it.  Good night!

Thursday, June 19, 2014

When Daddy's Away

Darrin has been gone to West Virginia since early Sunday morning, but he's making his way back to Tennessee now, and will be sleeping in our house tonight!  We are so excited.  We've had some fun while Daddy's been gone though.  Miles has been keeping his side of the bed warm...


We've been rockin' faux hawks, at Miles' request, as a lot of you saw on Facebook...


We went to the Splash Pad with Colt & Case, and their mommy, Christa.  This picture cracks me up.  I sent it to Darrin and said, "he's so your child" b/c of how affectionate he is.  He certainly did not get this from me...


Colt is smiling and thinking, "why is he wrapped around me??"  All of Miles' friends should just get used to this now.  He hugged a random toddler at the library today.


It's been a good week, but we sent this picture to Darrin today and told him that we were ready for him to be home.


I think Miles is ready to get back to his morning routine of snuggling with Daddy, eating a Cliff bar, and watching SportsCenter.  My routine of waking him up early, rushing him to get ready, and stuffing a Cliff bar in his hand as we walk out the door is no replacement.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Bike Riding

Miles was gifted a bike recently from his cousin, Abby.  He thinks it's really great.  To my surprise, he's not nervous to ride it at all.


Darrin put some training wheels on it last week and he's being practicing almost every day.  It is just a little too big for him, which is perfect for him to grow into, but just a little hard to do on his own.  He's getting it though.  I'm sure he'll be riding around in no time.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Weekend Wrap Up

It was another great weekend around here.  We just hung out at home on Friday night and grilled out for dinner.  That's really nothing special b/c we grill probably 5 days a week, year round....snow, rain, ice....we'll be outside grilling.  Our neighbors probably think we are crazy.  We had a good night just relaxing & watching golf on TV, plus one of Miles' personal favorites....family movie night.  We watched the Bee Movie.  It was cute, but definitely felt like it was never going to end.  Animated movies should never exceed 90 minutes....ever.

Saturday morning we cooked gluten free pancakes for Darrin for Father's Day...yum!  He had to work today so we did our celebrating on Saturday.


He also got a 100' tape measure at his request, and several Father's Day surveys from Miles.  Miles got a little 'one track mind' during the surveys, but Darrin still thought they were cute.  


 

We recently joined the Clinton Country Club, which is where Darrin grew up going.  It's 30 minutes away, but it's reasonable for us to golf & swim for the summer.  All three of us hung out at the pool on Saturday b/c they had a tournament going on & Darrin couldn't play golf.  Miles had a blast.  


He was swimming like a fish by the end of the day...even jumping off the diving board with no floaties.  I never thought I'd see the day that he would be so brave in the water.


The water was freezing, so Miles had to take breaks every now & then just to warm up and stop shivering.


After several hours of swimming, we came home & did a few things around the house while Miles played with some neighbors...


Then, Miles had plans to go with his friend, Thomas, to the movies to see How to Train Your Dragon 2.  He was so excited that he waited on the front steps for him to get there...


Miles has a lot of friends that he really likes, and several that seem to really like him, but the feeling is totally mutual with these two.  They have a great time together...


Dinner at Taco Bell...


...and then on to the movie...


While Miles was gone, Darrin & I fixed a great dinner.  We actually marinated some ribs all day and then cooked them for 4.5 hours...


It was so worth the wait.  Darrin loves ribs and he said they were the best ribs he had ever eaten.  I love when a meal turns out even better than expected, especially after 4.5 hours.


We sat outside & ate, and visited with a neighbor for a while.


We don't like to part with Miles often, but when we do, we realize that it's really nice every now & then.


He had a great time at the movies & was happy to see us...



After a long day of swimming, playing, working, eating...it was time to blow out the candles & go to sleep...


Miles & I went to early church & then back to the pool today for the afternoon.  All the kids at the pool today were older than him.  He played with them like he was their age, even though he was the only one wearing floaties :)  They were very nice to him.  At one point, they were playing a game that involved swimming across the deep end.  He would jump right in and paddle across with his little floaties.  It was adorable.  I was so proud of him for not being intimidated.  I think this country club membership is going to have multiple benefits...learning to swim & gaining confidence in new situations.


After two days of swimming & a later than usual night last night, Miles was one tired kid.  He was practically falling asleep at dinner, and was in bed asleep for the night by 7:45pm, which NEVER happens.


Happy Father's Day, Darrin.  Simply said, we think you are the greatest dad ever.