Wow, lots to catch up on so I'll get started....
I haven't updated since shortly after we got back from our June vacation to Cape Cod and Boston. Since then, we've been sticking close to home except for a couple of weekend trips in July. Ed and Elizabeth went to Houston at the end of June and had a great time cheering on the Red Sox and enjoying some time with Nana and Poopa. The Red Sox managed to win the game on Friday night (while losing the other two) to make Ed's record something like 1-7 for the year. Perhaps he should re-think the Red Sox road trips for next year and devise a new strategy....
We then traveled to Adel, GA for 4th of July weekend for the annual BBQ with the Duke family relatives. Ed had Thursday and Friday off for the holiday so we left on Friday for the Hampton Inn in Adel. The kids had a little swimming time at the pool on Friday afternoon and then we traveled 20 minutes north to join the Taylors at their RV park for a cookout. Despite a swarm of bugs, we had a great time and we are pretty sure we won't be invited back to the RV park again!! Papa and Mimi made the trek down to Adel on Saturday and we all enjoyed the big BBQ lunch together. We enjoyed some beers in the Hampton Inn lobby on Saturday night with Bruce and Denise and Papa and Mimi. We had a pleasant drive home on Sunday and we even got a chance to put our new GPS to good use when it found a McAlister's Deli for us in Macon to stop for lunch.
We then enjoyed a long awaited weekend at home. We got a babysitter for Friday night and we joined Gary and Lorie up in Suwanee for dinner at Ippolito's and an outdoor jazz concert. Then we had Mimi and Papa babysit on Saturday night while we had dinner with friends - Ron & Kristi, Jill & Allen, and Jim & Que - near Ron & Kristi's house in Piedmont Park. We were finally able to attend church on Sunday morning again. We all enjoyed our first weekend at home as a family of four in about 5 weeks!!
Then off we went again the following weekend to our annual Taylor family reunion in Blairsville. Mimi and I left on Friday morning with the kids and stopped in Dahlonega for lunch and a little shopping. Papa picked up Ed from work and they met us at Carol's mountain house on Friday evening for dinner. It was good to see everyone, but attendance was again low and we're wondering what might happen next year. Carol vows to sell the mountain home and Ashley's wedding is supposed to be that weekend next year so several of us might not be able to go to Blairsville. Oh well. We always enjoy the people who are there and it's a nice weekend away. Ed played golf on Saturday with the guys and the rest of us drove to Hiawassee for a parade and shopping. The kids really enjoyed the parade - there were antique cars, horses, a few floats. It gave us something to do! We came back to the hotel in the afternoon and Papa took the kids swimming. We enjoyed dinner with everyone on Saturday evening and then went to bed early. We had breakfast on Sunday morning and then we were home by lunchtime. A good time was had by all!
For our first somewhat "free" weekend in July for the final weekend, we decided to get serious about shopping for a new TV for our family room. Papa and Mimi had just purchased a brand new Sony 46" flat screen so we decided we couldn't let them have a nicer TV than us! And we also thought it would be a great b'day present to each other. So we visited Circuit City on Saturday evening after having dinner at Provino's (yum!) and Ed was armed with some research from Consumer Reports. He talked to one of the sales guys and narrowed it down between Sony and Samsung for a 46" flat screen LCD. I had been to BJs Warehouse earlier in the week and I finally saw a TV stand that I was happy with (I was not happy about giving up the entertainment center in the family room!) When we got home Saturday night, Ed saw a recent issue of Consumer Reports that ranked the Samsung #1 so he was sold. We went to church on Sunday morning and then we drove straight to BrandSmart. He wasn't satisfied with the return policy or the chaos in the store so we left but he took note of the price. We came home to eat lunch and then we drove to BJs in two cars to purchase the TV stand (for a bargain price of $250!) and then I came home with the kids while Ed went back to Circuit City. A little while later, he came home with the Samsung! We had the Dormineys over for dinner and then we put the kids to bed and got to work on reorganizing and assembling. Ed had the great idea of moving the entertainment center into the playroom so we rearranged some furniture in there. The new TV stand was already assembled (hallelujah!) so we moved that into place and then placed the TV on it and all the components. Now all we needed was to sign up for HD from DirecTV! Incidentally, I really like the entertainment center in the playroom. It makes it look more like a living space, with a focus on the kids' needs, rather than just a romper room of nothing but kiddy stuff. Kudos to Ed (again!) for the great idea!
So we called DirecTV and Ed got everything ordered - including new dish, two new HD DVRs, and moving our existing DVR to the bedroom. It was originally scheduled for today but he called back early in the week and they had an opening for Friday! The guy showed up at 4:30 and had no clue that we needed a new dish - he thought we just needed the DVRs. But he was nice enough to do it all for us anyway. The new TV looks amazing in HD. The basement TV definitely pales in comparison, but at least it looks better than before. And I'm sure the DVRs will come in handy too - now with something like 180 hours of recording time instead of 30!! We are definitely now TV spoiled, but I still feel like the 46" doesn't overwhelm the room and it will be amazing for watching the Dawgs!! And in another amazing feat, Ed was tired of getting multiple emails from DirecTV with different reports of what we were charged each time so he called them on Saturday morning and we got everything for FREE - dish, DVRs, installation - AND we get one year of HD for free and the NFL Sunday Ticket this year for FREE! It's amazing what you can do when you push back on these guys for once....Yay for Ed!!
So that finally brings me to this past weekend - my birthday!! We just ordered pizza on Friday night since all the stuff was going on with the TV. On Saturday, Ed had emailed me weeks ago with an invitation from Brian Steed to play golf at East Lake, paid for by Brian's clients. So my mom and I made plans to have lunch and go shopping, since it was the tax free weekend in GA. I needed to get an outfit for Daniel for Burt's wedding and I also wanted to look for a new dress for myself. So I drove to mom and dad's house and we left Daniel while Elizabeth came with mom and I to have lunch at On The Border. We then went to A&J jewelers and mom bought me a new soccer ball charm for my Pandora bracelet. We went back to their house and put Daniel down for his nap and left Elizabeth to watch a movie with dad. Mom and I decided to go to Mall of Georgia, which was a complete ZOO! It was like being there on the day after Thanksgiving, only worse because we always get there really early for that day! We only went to Macy's but I was successfully able to find a pair of pants for my dad for his b'day, an outfit for Daniel with Polo pants, shirt, and a tie, and two dresses for myself. I opened a Macy's charge so that I could save even more on top of the tax free (Daniel's outfit became $35 instead of $75!!) We finally left Macy's a little before 5:00 and I insisted on stopping at Publix to buy beer because I knew we didn't have a lot. I thought Mom and Dad were coming over to our house for a small cookout with hot dogs and hamburgers. We went back to their house to pick up the kids and then we headed to my house. We got there a little after 6:00 and much to my surprise (SHOCK!), there were balloons on the mailbox and about 40 people standing at the top of my driveway!!!! Sneaky ole Ed had decided to throw me a surprise party for my 35th birthday!!!! I could not have been more surprised. The golf outing was all a sham. He spent the whole day getting ready for the party and everyone knew but me! There were so many people there - family, church friends, Atlanta friends, tennis friends, even Coke friends. It was incredible.....
.....but then, about halfway through the party (maybe 7:30-8:00?) it suddenly got dark and very windy and a violent thunderstorm moved through. Our first in weeks, of course. The power flickered several times and then finally went out. I was still so in shock that I didn't panic nearly as badly as I would have if I had planned the whole party. People didn't seem to be too bothered by it but it was definitely a bit disappointing. But we all made the best of it and basically moved outside after everything calmed down because it was much cooler. Like everyone kept telling me, at least it made it an even more memorable night and I'll never forget it!!
We did our best to clean up after everyone left and then we ended up spending the night at Mom and Dad's since the power was still not on. It turns out there were several trees that fell on Henderson Mill Road and one at Midvale and I-285 that probably caused the power outages. We called our answering machine on Sunday morning and it picked up so we came home and it looked like our power came back on about 3am. We spent most of the day on Sunday getting the house back in order and I did laundry and cleaned. Then Mom and Dad came over to babysit in the evening and Ed took me to Capital Grill for dinner. It was incredible! They treated me so well for my birthday. There was star-shaped confetti on the tablecloth and they gave me a long-stemmed red rose. They gave us each a glass of champagne with a raspberry in the bottom of the glass. Dinner was fantastic. I had tuna and Ed had two small cuts of filet with grilled shrimp on top. We shared the asparagus and mashed potatoes on the side. Then they gave us a complimentary chocolate birthday dessert and even took our picture for us to keep! It was such a great birthday dinner and weekend!! I really didn't want it to end. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and wonderful friends and family as well.
Well, that's the best I can do on summarizing our weekend adventures. In other news, Elizabeth just completed a couple of weeks of semi-private swimming lessons. She's definitely come a long way! She can put her face in the water and swim underwater for a short distance. She does pretty well at sticking her face in and kicking her feet, but she needs work to add the arms. We've decided to book up to 4 additional private lessons with the same instructor, hoping we can get her to add the arms and improve just a smidge more by the end of the summer. So hopefully that will go well. I've also just finalized some activities for the kids in the fall. Daniel will be taking a "gymnastics" class with some YCS friends (Mitchell, Eli, Miles) at the Decatur YMCA on Tuesday mornings. So that will be fun for him and even better for the moms - we get to chat during the class!! And Elizabeth will also be at the Decatur Y for soccer this fall. Some YCS parents, mostly from the Zebra class, have organized a team for Saturday mornings (Jack, Jay, William, Ethan, Ella, Elizabeth). It seems a bit more expensive than TYSA but hopefully the familiarity with the other kids will help and we can be very flexible on self-coaching as well as practice and game times, etc. We'll see how it all goes! I am still hoping that the YCS will be able to offer dance classes after school for Elizabeth and then I can get her in ballet or gymnastics or something that will be a lot more convenient than having to tote Daniel with us to something at Tucker Rec or somewhere else.
This summer continues to be "challenging," in my view, with regard to the kids and trying to keep everyone busy and to curb Daniel's temperament and Elizabeth's whining, etc. I just can't wait even to go to the grocery store by myself again!! But we're making the best of it and things have been better in the last couple of weeks. We've been to the zoo with Mimi, to Stone Mountain playground with Ella and Miles, and we have plans for Chuck E Cheese on Wednesday with Jack and Colin. Between the swimming lessons for Elizabeth, some routine errands, and hopefully some more playdates or fun outings sprinkled in, I think we can handle the last few weeks of summer. We really only have this week and next week, since we are leaving on the 20th for California. As challenging as things have been, it really is crazy how quickly the summer is disappearing!
And it doesn't look like Daniel will be potty trained before school starts. I've thought about it, but I just don't think he's ready, and I know I'm not and with our trip to California, it's kind of tricky to figure out the right timing. So we'll just play it by ear and see how things go once school starts. I might follow the lead of other kids in his class or of his teachers, if they think he's ready and willing. Or we may wait until Thanksgiving break or Christmas break, who knows. My new goal is just to have him trained by his birthday in February and I feel confident we can find the right time before then.
I think those are all the major happenings in this house, for now. Hopefully it won't be so long before my next update!!
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