Man Day

Well Amanda decided that she would give me a "Man Day" for my birthday this year. Since it was March 18th, the time we could arrange was this weekend. A while back my buddy, Mike Clarke and I, went for a "Man Weekend" down to Hartfield where we played in a golf tournament, fished, smoked cigars, had a few beers, didn't shower, ate meat on a stick over an open flame etc. You get the drift. We this morning we set out around 7:15am to fish our community pond. We ended up with one a piece, not too productive so we blamed it on the weather and lack of sun. After that Amanda packed us up some lunch and we headed to play some golf at Stonewall Golf Club in Gainesville. We both played well given the 3 club wind and it felt like all the holes were "into the teeth". We capped the day off with a awesome dinner back at the house that Amanda had prepared. Yes it was grilled food we had. Man Day was awesome and we were both exhausted by the end. So next I will start thinking of how to come up a way to treat my wonderful wife, a Man-D Day. Hope you all get that. Cheers, Mark

(this picture was taken with Mike's iPhone)

Monkey See, Monkey Do

No explanation needed here...just follow the progression!

A Visit to the Easter Bunny

Today, Nina got to visit the Easter Bunny. This isn't something that I even think about, so when we happened to see him on a quick trip to the mall yesterday, she really wanted to visit him. She was quite the grungy little girl yesterday, so my excuse was that we'd have to come back when she was in a dress or something. Sure enough, this morning she remembered about the Easter Bunny and asked if she could put on a dress to go see him. Lyla wasn't into getting her picture taken with the bunny, so it was just Nina, and she was SO excited. She kept sitting on his lap until they had to boot her off for the next kid in line.

She also thoroughly enjoyed the lollipop they gave her afterwards!

She Chose a Nap?

Since Lyla made the transition to one nap a day this week, I decided to allow Nina to make a transition also. For weeks, she's resisted sleeping during her nap time. We've tried everything from taking away the stuffed animals in her bed - she just talks to herself instead. We tried doling out consequences for not sleeping - not much changed. I kept telling myself that she was too young to go without a bit of rest all day, but she seemed intent on proving she felt otherwise. After some thought, I decided to allow her to have "quiet time" for an hour while Lyla took her nap. As this is the only time in the day that I can get a shower, and she still does need the down time, the rule was that she had to stay in her bed with a bag of books and either look at her books quietly or fall asleep. When I took her up for quiet time today, she actually asked if she could take a nap...slightly doubtful that she was serious, I waited to hear all the fooling around in her bed. Sure enough, she was/is currently fast asleep. Now if I could just get Lyla to realize that when she takes one nap a day, she has to sleep longer than the 45 min. she was sleeping per nap when she took two a day!

Fun Friday

This morning we headed out to Nina's buddy, Jonathan's, house for his 4th birthday party. Jonathan is quite the guitar guy, so it was a very cool guitar themed party. After playing "pin the pick on the guitar" they are seen here doing the Shakey Egg.

Jill's husband, Mark, helped the kids get set up for a couple songs on Rock Band, and Nina gave the guitar a try. I think they look like a mini School of Rock in this picture! So cute!!Jill also made a delicious guitar cake to keep with the theme. Yet, another occasion for Nina to eat cake in the past two weeks. She is LOVING March so far.

The girls I'm pictured with here, Sallie (on the left) and Jill (on the right), have been friends of mine since I transferred schools when I was fifteen. Eighteen years and six kids later, we're still great friends, and it's awesome to see that our kids are friends with each other too!Since we were in the relative viscinity of Shenley's house, we went there next so Nina could spend the rest of the afternoon playing with Emme. After not sleeping all day, Lyla finally crashed over there for a little nap, and Nina and Emme played princess and other unknown games for several hours together. It was a great Friday with friends!

Birthday Wish

Hello All, this is Mark posting here,
Well believe it or not, one of my birthday wishes was to take the family over to fish the community pond today. Since the temps hit the 70 degree mark, there was a good chance we would be successful. Actually I wanted Amanda to catch the biggest bass she had ever caught. I didn't really even fish too much, not with Nina and Lyla along for the ride. I set Amanda up with a spinning reel and a dropshot rig. I gave her a pointer or two and then suggested she cast across the pond. On her second cast she pulled in this 5+ pounder. Her comment when she first got hooked up was, "Well I don't think I'm snagged". Next thing you know I see this big bass trying to shake her off. I have to say Amanda looked like quite the pro and landed the fish with ease. I hope you like this proud display of her new personal best, even though this picture is posted against her will.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Updates

I've had computer trouble all week, but finally the problem is fixed, and I'll be back to posting. In new news, Lyla got in four top teeth. All of the front four broke through at the same time, so she went from a practically toothless baby to tripple the teeth in like a week! She also started saying her name which is very cute (and admittedly quite an easy baby name to say). I celebrated a birthday on Wednesday, Mark comes home tomorrow from his last preseason trip, and then he celebrates a birthday a week after me, and Nina is just happy because this means three occasions for cake in a total of ten days (when you include Lyla's birthday on the 8th). Also noteable, we survived another preseason and spring is right around the corner!

Happy Birthday Lyla and Bo!

Since we had Lyla's party last weekend, there wasn't much hoopla today, but I still tried to make it somewhat of a special day. Nina started the day insisting on wearing goggles and her bathing suit (no idea why). She looked so funny wearing goggles that I had to take a picture of her.After lunch, the girls and I went up to our town center to visit Edibles Incredible for birthday cupcakes. It was beautiful outside, and Nina does great now at riding her tricycle for long stretches, so she rode while I pushed Lyla in the car.
We got our cupcakes and sat on the bench outside the treat shop to eat some. They were so huge that we took most of them home, but we all enjoyed the tasty treat!
After cupcakes, the girls played in the back yard while enjoying the beautiful day. Lyla played in the dirt, tried to eat some dirt, and finally settled into walking around with my empty water bottle in her mouth.

After a quick trip to McDonalds for her "guilty pleasure" (french fries), Lyla was a certifiable dirt ball. She got a bath and closed out her first birthday exhausted. Happy Birthday Lyla Rose!

Today is also Bo's birthday. Bo was actually born 24 years ago on the evening I was supposed to have my 9th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. My party was canceled, and I got a brother instead. At the time I don't know how psyched I was, but today I must say that I wouldn't trade him in for a party at Chuck E. Cheese. Here is a little flash back to last year of Uncle Bo meeting Lyla on their birthdays. Happy Birthday Bo - Love you!

TGIF

I'm very happy for Friday today because it is the start of what is going to be a beautiful weekend here. After being sick, stuck indoors with cold weather, Mark travelling for preseason, etc., we are ready to get outside for some fresh air. We started the day by meeting some friends at Red Robin for lunch, and then Nina and Lyla were both pretty wild afterwards. It was almost nap time, but both of them were running back and forth through the upstairs - Nina with the panda and Lyla with her headband - squealing, laughing, etc. After naps we went outside, and Lyla got her first taste of walking on the uneven ground and grass. She actually did much better than I expected. While they were playing upstairs, Lyla found one of Nina's headbands and really wanted to wear it. She tried putting it on herself, but it kept falling off, so I offered a little help. She'll try anything to be like one of the big girls!

Sliding is Fun!

Lyla's 1st Birthday Party

Yesterday evening we celebrated Lyla's first birthday. Her actual birthday is this coming Sunday, 3/8, however since Mark will be on a trip again in a few days, we decided to celebrate a week early so he could be a part of the celebration. We had family over for the occasion, and we all had a really great time. To check out the pictures from the party, click this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/amandabeth2/LylaS1stBirthdayParty?authkey=Gv1sRgCODX6s6s1MfV0AE&feat=directlink