Home             Who Am I             The Family             Recipes             Contact

Monday, December 5, 2011

Fun and Surprises

On Friday, Elijah and I had planned to hang out with a couple of friends, but since that was a bust, we decided to sleep in and hang out in our PJ's all day! :D  We read about 15 books, we made a little reindeer craft and Eli showed me some REAL appreciation for marshmallows.  He loves them! 
On Friday night, I had a MNO and we had a total blast!  We started the night off at Hobby Lobby, where Breanna bought WAY too much stuff, but somehow made it look completely stellar when she got home and decorated her mantle. 
Then we went to eat at Gaucho's and it was so yummy! It was just what I needed and despite an over zealous flirty meat server, we had a great time and I am surprised we didn't get kicked out for laughing too loud! :D  haha!  When we were leaving Gaucho's, I over estimated the opening of Renee's car door and totally slammed my knee straight into the side of the car!  It hurt:




On Saturday, we met David's family for breakfast at Mimi's as they were passing through on their way home from Arkadelphia.  It was so nice to see them and Eli was super excited to see Mammy ("Mam") and devastated to watch her leave. :(
Then we headed to a baby shower in Maumelle where I got to see a few friends that I don't get to see near as often as I would like, before heading to a birthday party at 1pm for a friend's little boy. :D  We had a super busy day, so we decided to get a babysitter for Saturday night and enjoy some alone time.
We went straight to 7th street because we have both been antsy to get a new tattoo!  Jud hooked us up with some new art...he's amazing!
Mine is a play off of a Roman coin.  On The Ides of March (March 15th, which is my birthday), Brutus killed Julius Caesar and freed the Romans.  He later released a coin to commemorate this day.  Here is what I came up with, with Jud's artistic help:



I love me some Jud! :D

My husband got his family crest with a little artistic help as well.  It looks amazing!  Here is a picture of it:

                                                  


Looks great, right? :D

Sunday, we ate some yummy lunch at Chipotle and went grocery shopping with three kiddos, which is always fun! ;)  While we were at Kroger, we grabbed a couple of Red Box movies (one for the kids and one for us) and we enjoyed a night in. 

This weekend was full of fun and surprises and we had a blast, as always! :D  Stayed tuned for more fun. :)

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Dentists, Dings and Date Nights!

Yesterday, I had a dental cleaning and I absolutely LOVE to have my teeth cleaned. Some people have irrational fears of dentists (David), but I absolutely love them.  They make your teeth feel all clean and sparkly. :D  Dentists are wonderful!
Does anyone else appreciate a good dental cleaning? :D

Today, I headed to Land Rover to hear the bad news.  The damage is $2,300!!  We WILL be turning it into insurance, so what did my experience cost me?  Backing out of the garage cost me $500.  :( 
Stinky, right?  Well...lesson learned.  This one cost me more than the average lesson, but I won't be backing out of the garage any time soon.  How's that for irrational fears? ;) 

I am back on track with my healthy eating and this is day 4 of eating healthy.  I am dying for all things unhealthy, but I am getting stronger every day.  :)  There will be a minor setback tomorrow night.  A few friends are getting together for a MNO and we are eating at Gaucho's!  If you haven't tried it, you should! It's a Brazilian steakhouse and it's amazing!  I can't wait!  :)  I'll update soon, hopefully with some great pics of me with some gal pals. ;)

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

DVR is magical.

Today, Eli and I were blessed to sleep in until after 9!  It was sooooo nice!  We woke up and had a leisurely breakfast and basked in the glow of sleeping in. :) 

We had a play date today with our fabulous mommy group, Small Fries.  It was so good to see everyone!  With the holidays and travel and such, we have been kind of MIA for a while and we missed them so.  We went to The Church at Rock Creek to play in the indoor playground and Eli is FINALLY old enough to REALLY enjoy this place!  He is a pro all of a sudden. It is bitter sweet.  He was up the stairs and down the slide without thinking twice.  It was a joy to see him truly enjoy himself.  :)

We left play group a little early so that we could meet daddy at home for lunch.  Eli LOVES having lunch with daddy. Not only is he super excited to see him, but daddy is a good sharer. ;)  Eli always steals what fruit he can from daddy's plate after he has already filled his little belly with his own lunch. ;) 

After lunch, Eli laid down for a nap and I had some brief "mommy time".  I would usually spend this time cleaning or working out or something, but today was different. Today I chose to relax and catch up on a little DVR and it was so nice! I cuddled with Libby and watched Gossip Girl and craved chocolate that I can't have. LOL 

Tonight I made up for all the laziness of the day and did some hard work.  David and I are cleaning out the attic and we are doing it one box at a time. It is out of control!  We are getting rid of everything!!  Unfortunately, in the meantime, there is stuff all over our dining room and it is driving me crazy, so tomorrow I am making a trip to donate.  I can't wait to unload. :) 

I guess I will close now. I need to go catch up on some People's Court! I love it! I currently have 36 episodes on the DVR and the kids are in bed, so night night. :)

Monday, November 28, 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

I am so thankful for the family and friends the Lord has blessed me with.  I couldn't ask for more love and support than I receive from them. They are amazing and irreplaceable.

 I love you all.

The celebration started a little early, on the 22nd, when we celebrated my FIL's 77th birthday! :D  We had cake and ice cream in honor of this handsome 77 year old. 
Ms. Cathy and David and I got him a new 32' LCD TV for his "TV room" and it took us forever to trick him into going to his room to watch tv so that he could see our surprise.  He is so humble and modest that he wouldn't ask for anything for his birthday, but we could tell by his bright smile that he loved it.  He had been using an old (by old, I mean VERY old) 19' for years.  He said it best when he said, "Now I can read the small print at the bottom of the screen".  HAHA 
He's a precious man and I couldn't ask for a more loving FIL and grandfather for my children.  We love you, Papa!



This year our Thanksgiving was spent going between Green Forest and Berryville, as usual. :D  We started off in Green Forest for lunch.  We actually arranged a photo shoot for my three sisters and myself, so that we could grant our mothers single Christmas request. She asked for a picture of her four girls.  We didn't have a professional photographer because daddy was busy frying the turkey...
...so David grabbed my camera and took a few shots of us and here is what we came up with:



We got a few more, but these were a couple of the best ones, where every one is looking and kind of smiling. ;)

After pictures, we headed to grandma's (dads mom), where both of my grandmothers were in a silly mood:





Aren't they cute??  Here are a couple of more serious shots:





We spent the next three hours visiting with family and eating... A LOT!  I love Thanksgiving!  :D

We also managed to grab a few shots of the kiddos throughout the day, even though they were running around playing with their cousins, whom they don't get to see near as often as we would all like.

Here is a picture of Ali and her cousin, Tamika.  Aren't they beautiful?  I love these girls!

 Ali and Drew with their cousins, Tamika and AJ.
                                     


Ali, Lily, and Tamika.


Ali being super silly! :D  That's my girl!


Drew decided it was a good idea to pick one of grandma's flowers and give it to mommy. HEHE SHHHHH...don't tell grandma. ;)


After stuffing ourselves silly, we left for David's parents house.  Eli spent most of Thanksgiving day on Blaze:




While we waited to eat, I got a quick shot of David, with his two sisters and his parents...



We said grace and started eating and didn't stop until bedtime...literally!  We usually play board/card games, but I think everyone was too full to move. LOL 
We had a great time and we are so thankful to have such amazing families to celebrate with.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and remembered what it is that Thanksgiving is all about. :)

On to Christmas...

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Libby goes GREEN.

Today was a very exciting day around Casa de Lynch.  David woke up early with the kiddos and was gracious enough to allow me to sleep in to "catch up".  When I woke up at around 9:30 (3 HOURS later than the usual 6:30 wake up), the house was peaceful.  The kids were quietly playing, the house was clean (my husband rocks!), and the luggage was almost all unpacked from our week away from home.

I woke up thinking, "this is going to be a nice, relaxing day" and for the most part, it was. 

David went grocery shopping and I stayed home with the kids.  I don't know which one of us gets the better hand when we split the chore of grocery shopping, but Eli was napping when he left, so all was pretty quiet.


About 15 minutes after David left, I heard screaming coming from Eli's nursery.  I opened the door to see Eli's leg stuck in between the rails of the crib!  I was horrified. This has happened a few times now, but he has always stuck his leg between the rails that are on the very end (which are easy to disassemble quickly)...until now.  He not only stuck his leg right through the middle bars, but it was also on the back (tall) side of the crib and my 5'4" self could not reach over to get to him.
I panicked!!! I called David, more for his comforting voice than anything else and I finally calmed down enough to realize I could twist him onto his side by pulling his leg sideways, since I still couldn't reach the little guy.  It was tough, mostly because Eli was terrified, but I managed to flip him over and slide his leg up the rail!  He was so happy to be free, but for the next two hours, he wouldn't let me put him down at all...he was traumatized.  The poor little guy...:(

While I held Eli close and comforted him, daddy came home and unloaded the groceries and all was well.  We even decided to let Libby downstairs to play for a while, while we were all available to keep an eye on her.  Remember:  Libby is 5 1/2 months old and crate training. She is doing really great, but we have had a few setbacks because of her bowel disease, although she has been doing super since her change in meds. :D

Libby was roaming around and harassing Sadie as usual.  We were keeping a close eye on her and everyone was enjoying the relaxing Saturday.  Daddy was baking muffins (he has a new thing for baking) and the kids and I were in the play room with the two fur babies...
I told Andrew to clean up his trains from the play room table and take them to his room before Libby got a hold of them and Drew began carrying the trains to his room.  Libby, of course, felt this was the perfect time to escape. As Drew opened the door, she ran through the kitchen and straight into Drew's room.  David saw her run past, so he went to get her, but it was too late.  Drew was yelling that Libby had something in her mouth and by the time David reached her, he heard her gagging and swallowing something, but no one knew what! 

We were so worried!!!  We gave her hydrogen peroxide to try to make her throw up (vet's orders), but twenty minutes passed and nothing.  We gave her a second dose and crossed our fingers...finally, 15 minutes later, she vomited!  We were so excited, but there was nothing there, except for dog food and bile. :(  I immediately called the emergency vet and they told us she would need to be seen immediately and an x-ray would be necessary. I got in the car and drove her to Maumelle. 

When we reached the vet, I quickly got out of the car and went to the back, where Libby was waiting in her crate.  When I got her out (in the rain-btw), I noticed something in the back of her crate. I could barely see it, but I could tel it was green!?

See exhibit A:

  Libby had swallowed a TREE!  Sure, it's a plastic tree from Drew's train set, but Libby swallowed a tree! 

That little girl sure did scare me today, but you know what...I'm thankful.  I'm thankful for the joy Libby brings our family and I'm thankful that she chose to throw it up BEFORE we paid 200 dollars for an xray. 

I have a lot to be thankful for, but most of all, I am thankful for a Lord that watches over us, even when we are too "busy" to ask.  Tonight, my baby is sound asleep in her crate and my Jesus is REAL! :D  I am so thankful!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Dancing with Jesus.

I hesitate to write this too early, too close to the time I heard the news that she was gone.  But I have to write, I have to express myself somehow. 
A woman that I have known for over 20 years passed away yesterday.  She was beautiful, funny, kind, loving and most importantly IN LOVE with the Lord.  I know she is dancing with Jesus right now, but I miss her so and there is, and always will be, a place in my heart for her.
This woman, whom I spent countless hours with as a child, even calling her mom on occassion, is the mother of my longest childhood friends, Toni, Taylor and Sarah. 
At the young age of 54, Susan passed away from a stroke (a massive bleed in her brain).  She was loved by so many and touched so many lives, including my own.
Over the years, as too often happens, I lost touch with the family.  Over the past couple of years, I have reconnected with Susan and the girls and even taken on Susan's maiden name when I married her first cousin, David.

Susan-You always lit up a room with your beauty and your smile.  Your laugh was contagious and it was always a joy to be around you.  Your love for the Lord and your family was inspiring.  I feel so blessed to have known you and for you to have played such a big role in my life.  I promise to continue loving the girls you left behind.  You will never be forgotten, for you will live in our hearts always.  We love you.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

It's all water under the bridge, er floor.

While David and I were away, the water came out to play.
We came home to a vicious leak in the "craft corner" downstairs.  Water was all over the ceiling and coming down the walls.  It was devastating...
We turned off the AC upstairs, thinking it was the cause of the leak.  We assumed the AC had frozen up and the overflow tray had, well...overflowed.
We started to get ready for bed after a really long day of flights and picking up doggies and kiddos and as David reached under the bathroom sink to get his face wash and other bedtime necessities, he opened the drawer to find his belongings literally FLOATING in water!  The sink had been slowly leaking and had filled his top two drawers with water and as the drawers overflowed, the water trickled out of both sides of our double vanity.
The 100+ year old wooden floors are ruined and buckled and the ceiling downstairs is in need of desperate repair as well. :(  It's been a trying few days, but I truly believe that "this too shall pass". 


Here is a picture of the mess we are currently working to clean up:

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

"Flipping Out" in California!

David and I just got back from visiting California and we had a blast!  It was a business trip for the hubby, but I tagged along for the break! :D  It was fabulous!  The first couple of days, David had to be in the office all day and I spent the hours alone getting terribly lost and shopping WAY too much!


Friday began our true vaca and we took advantage of every minute!  We spent our first day checking in to the most amazing hotel EVER (holla to Mr. C!!) and touring LA with our bestie, Wendy.  Wendy moved to LA last year and I was so excited to get to see her while we were there!


We visited the Griffith Observatory, saw the Hollywood sign, and ate at Casa Vega before heading back to Wendy's apartment to watch a freaky new series (American Horror Story), that I would not suggest to anyone!










Saturday, we went on a little stalking adventure.  The two of us are mildly obsessed with the show, "Flipping Out". More than the show...the cast!  We love us some Jeff, Gage, Jenni, and Zoila!  We decided to do a driveby at Gramercy Place.  For those of you who are not faithful watchers of the show (you should be!), this is a house that the couple just purchased to renovate and start their family in.  After taking a few pictures, I was totally sulking as we walked back to our car. I was disappointed that I had ONLY seen some worker bees and no stars.  I had also noticed a Mercedes in the garage (I have totally seen Jeff and Gage driving said car on the show) and I KNEW this car didn't belong to the workers, who by the way were laughing at my obsession with the house!  As we were walking back, David said (very casually, might I add), "There's Gage."  I quickly retorted with a, "Stop! That's not funny!".  THEN I LOOKED UP AND SAW....GAGE!  I squealed like a little girl and David AND Gage laughed at me!
I MIGHT have also screamed his name, but it all happened so fast. ;)  He started walking back up toward his home and I yelled after him and asked for a picture! LOL  He was super sweet and obliged...
He was super dirty from working on the house, but he still looked gorgeous as ever. ;)  Don't you think?








After we took a few pictures with Gage, we headed to Santa Monica Pier. I had a blast!  That place is right up my alley!  We went on a few rides and, on one ride, I even rode alone because David's weak tummy wouldn't allow it. ;)  Later, he braved it and regretted it...we won't talk about that! LOL




After enjoying the pier for a while, we went to a local seafood place called Gladstones.  We had the most amazing clam bake!  I had never even heard of such a thing.  They brought us a HUGE pot of seafood (with a little sausage and potatoes mixed in).  Doesn't it look yummy??



Since David doesn't like lobster, I made sure it was all taken care of! ;)  We looked really sexy in our bibs! :D





After dinner, we went for a stroll on the beach. It was beautiful.  It has always been a dream of mine to walk a moonlit beach with my love! :D  Dreams come true...



On Sunday, we headed back to Santa Monica to take care of some shopping! :D  We made sure to get a few shots of our shopping experience as well! ;)




On Sunday, we also had the exciting experience of meeting Alyson Hannigan and her beautiful daughter.  We happened to eat at Chipotle at the same time and got to have a nice conversation with her and her playful toddler. :D


We were sad to check out of Mr. C, especially when we were welcomed by a dirty airport hotel, but our flight left EARLY on Monday and we wanted to be close...
We are still exhausted from the hours of sleep we lost on our mini vaca, but we couldn't be more thankful for the time alone we got to share.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

2011 LR4 vs. 1913 Bungalow

Today was a lousy day.  When I say lousy, I mean REALLY lousy!  I mean the kind of day where you wreck your brand new dream car.  No, the kind of day where you wreck your brand new dream car into your own home!! 
Yes. This actually happened...I actually wrecked my new car into my home! :'(  You see...in Hillcrest there are very few homes with garages.  Our home has a garage...a very tiny garage.  The 2011 Land Rover LR4 is anything, BUT tiny.  Every day I carefully pull my car out of the garage, every day hoping that my mirrors make it.  Never did I wonder if my front bumper would make it. Thanks to this day, this very lousy day, I will now worry whether my bumper is going to make it because today...it didn't. :'( 



Not only is my precious car damaged, but the house was damaged as well!
Let's just say, I am going to bed early. 
Goodnight all!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Leyla and Eli sittin' in a tree...

Today our playgroup got together and met at Lake Willastein Park.  This is a phenomenal park with great playgrounds, swings, and even walking trails.  It's so pretty because it is surrounded by lots of water. It's a very peaceful place. We love this park!
We had lots of fun, as you can see:


Eli was a little scared at first, but he quickly remembered how much he loves to swing! :D
                                                      

Max was just chillin'

Rylan has no fear!!


He didn't understand why he couldn't go UP the slide, instead of DOWN, until a child came barrelling down and kicked him in the face!

Pretty girl!  I <3 her!!

She has the silliest crinkle of her nose when she smiles! LOL

My Lily Bug! :D

Leyla and Eli could not get enough kisses!

Addi the wild child!  This child seriously fears nothing!!

 After school, the kids and I went back to Lake Willastein to have some more fun!  The kids loved it!


Andrew showing how big he is!

my baby boy!

Ali was very cautious, as usual! lol

My babies, having fun together! :D
I got a lot accomplished today!  Aside from the TWO trips to Lake Willastein, I went to the Revenue office to register my car and renew David's tags, I went to Land Rover to schedule my first oil change and I also stopped in at Bedford to price some canvas wraps! :D  All things considered, it was a good day.  I am worn out!
Goodnight fellow bloggers!


 
Designed by Munchkin Land Designs • Copyright 2011 • All Rights Reserved