Slice of Life: November 25th, 2019

Today is a beautiful Monday morning here in north Alabama. It’s a cloudless day with deep blue skies, in the 50s (perfect fall temps IMO!), and all three of my babes are happy at school (the big two) or with my mother-in-law (the baby). But I might be the happiest all of them because I have 2.5 hours to sit in peace and quiet and write up a quick “Slice of Life”. 

I mentioned on Saturday that I have three “Slice of Life” posts to share as a way of catching up, so if you missed Saturday’s, you can back track and read it here. 🙂

Let’s get to part two!

The last week of October is known as Hell Week at Orangetheory gyms across the nation, where the workouts are extra intense and the days are themed. I remember last year how the members got so into the themed days, so this year I played along as well. 

And it was SO fun! I attended each day with these two strong, hilarious, fun friends of mine, and we made the most of our five tough workouts.

This day was neon day.

And this day below was Tacky Tourist Day, the one day I didn’t participate in because I didn’t like my clothing options on Amazon. 😉 Savannah did participate though and had on a big beachy button-up that came off pretty quickly into the workout. We took a picture anyway since we accidentally twinned!

I got to go with this big girl on her kindergarten field trip to Lyons Farm! I knew a handful of the other moms too and enjoyed the social time with them as well as the time spent running around and playing with Hadley. Standing back and watching her with her peers was my favorite part. She has the sweetest kids in her class, and her teacher is a total gem too.

She is getting so big and I’m really, really noticing it lately. We heard in a parenting class we took at church in Kansas that the 0-5 year old years should be spent making sure you’re teaching right from wrong and disciplining, and that 6-10 can then be spent focusing and teaching “big kid” skills and watching them discover their natural strengths, interests, and talents. And I’m really seeing that lately. She is her own little person who is maturing in ways that knock my socks off. She has legitimate opinions that make sense, and Jamie and I are always like “What?? That’s a smart thought!” Okay I’m rambling, but holy moly, but my kids just make my heart explode sometimes. 

Oh, my Grandma. I could write a novel about her. She is something else, and I’ll just leave it at that. 🙂 She recently participated in a costume contest and last-minute asked if she could borrow Jamie’s Army uniform so that she could be Captain DeSpain. She thought she was hot stuff, but hey, she won the contest!

This was our first year to carve pumpkins with the kids, and I’m not sure who loved it more: Jamie or the girls.

Actually, I do know. It was Jamie!

He’d printed off the templates at work, YouTubed all the best ways to carve a pumpkin, and then stayed up way after the rest of us had gone to bed to make four pumpkins perfect. Such a riot. He had himself a beer, SportsCenter, a quiet house, and just carved away until midnight. I LOVE him. 

And please look at the Hello Kitty pumpkin. Such a girl dad. God SO KNEW what he was doing giving Jamie all girls. He embraces and rocks the role like no other!

Our church just pulled off their first ever two-day women’s conference, and it was phenomenal! Words fail me when it comes to what I could say about these women below. My life is so much richer because of the roles they play in my life.

Author and speaker Rebekah Lyons was our main speaker, and I was asked to be her at-church host for the weekend. The role entailed many things, but essentially I was simply her person and point of contact throughout her stay. I am familiar with the role of a host after speaking with Rachel’s Challenge years ago, so it was humbling to play this role for Rebekah and her assistant. I loved getting to know her and see the behind-the-scenes of what her career entails (though I’m sure I just saw a teeny tiny smidge!)

My two neighbors and dear friends came to the conference too, which was just the best!! I adore these women!

My life-long best friend Amberlee is due with her third baby next month, and we recently celebrated with a simple Baby Sprinkle at a local restaurant, Cork and Crust.

The whole thing was very easy and sweet. We created Facebook invitations, creating a casual tone for the small event. We kept decor to balloons and floral arrangements. I made cupcakes using a delicious recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. 

And Amberlee was spoiled spoiled spoiled with the sweetest items for her little girl. She is already a mom to two boys, so she’s excited and nervous about all things pink this go-around. What’s funny is that she and I are six months apart, and Jillian and her daughter Cora will be right around 5.5 months apart. They’ll each have a little best friend from birth. <3

Jamie recently attended a very well done Veteran’s Day program at Hadley’s school, which he absolutely loved attending. They even had a breakfast for all of the vets to attend after the assembly. Both girls told Jamie he looked so handsome in his dress uniform. 

Spontaneous play dates with friends are my preference! A couple of weeks ago I saw a friend at preschool pick-up, and joked with her about how she should bring her kids to come play with mine since I intended on coaxing them to spend the afternoon in the backyard (it was THE MOST gorgeous day). 10 minutes later she called me and was like “For real? Can we come crash?” HECK YES! The kids played hard for three hours and we had the best afternoon.

And here’s just another “snuggled up in mom and dad’s bed” picture… only because this site melts me regularly and I’m always reaching for my camera to capture it. The end.

Hope your Thanksgiving week is off to a great start! See ya back here tomorrow. 🙂

Let’s chat!

How do you and your friends celebrate a second, third, fourth baby?