9 Years!

Arnold and I celebrated our 9-year anniversary this past week. 9 years. Only one more year til we hit a decade. I can't get over that. I remember the days when we talked about what we would do for our first "really big" anniversary and now it is coming up next year! Where does the time go??

Anyway, we decided to have a fun day to ourselves, without any set plan, agenda, no kids, nice food, and all that good stuff. We picked the Friday before our anniversary to go out. The kids would be in school all day anyway, and we arranged for Arnold's parents to pick up the kids after school so we could have the rest of the afternoon, too. 

We set out around 8:30 am, soon after we dropped the kids off at school. We headed down to Concord and went to the mall. I know that may seem sort of boring, but it was fun to walk around together and actually look at stuff, without having whiny kids dragging along with us! They have the huge Books A Million store which we hit first, and Arnold swore I would find books I had to have, even though I have a huge stack at home to read still. Well he was right! I picked up a few books, a new bookmark, and a few books for the kids I am setting back for Valentine's Day. Next we went to several kids' stores and I picked out some things for my cousin's baby shower which was the very next day (nothing like last minute huh? But it was the perfect time to pick stuff out!) I found some great deals on kids' clothes so I had to get the kids some stuff too. Stopped by Bath & Body works of course, b/c their Semi-Annual sale was going on and had to stock up on body wash and wallflowers! 

At this point we were already wanting to rest for a little bit and we were hungry, so we went over to the food court. We got yummy, greasy Sbarro pizza for lunch and it was soooo good :) Then Arnold went out to the van to drop of the several bags we had already accumulated from a morning of shopping ;) Then we basically started back up again. We went into the Western store because Arnold always loves looking at the cowboy hats. He always wants to get one, but never has. Those things are expensive!! We stopped by the Disney Store.. I hate they don't have one in our town anymore!! They were having a great sale also, and I put some stuff back for the kids for Easter gifts! I am ahead of the game on that this year ;) When we were ready to leave the mall I had to make a stop by the Dippin Dots stand. I LOVE them!!! We don't have any near us that I know of. They had a deal, buy a large cup and get a small cup free. Guess who got the large cup?? ;) Haha!!!

After the mall we headed down the road and I dropped Arnold off at The Guitar Center. Anytime we are in the general area he has to go by ;) He even had a pick in his pocket ready to try some stuff out. He always asks if he can buy a new one, but he knows the answer to that!! ;) I drove across the street to some more stores. I found a few shirts for myself and a new Valentine's Day flag for outside our house. I was supposed to pick Arnold up when I got done looking around, but when I walked outside I saw him standing out there! He had crossed the busy road and met up with me because he said he was done earlier than he thought. Apparently there were a ton of "annoying" teenagers over there banging on drums and being loud and obnoxious, so he ended up leaving. I felt bad, because I thought I was being an awesome wife leaving him over there for a long time and letting him have fun, and he wasn't having fun! Oh well.

We decided to head back toward home around that time. BAD IDEA. We got caught up in horrible traffic. We were sitting or going VERY slowly for about an hour. We finally ended up in Statesville and stopped to have dinner at Red Lobster. One of my favorite places EVER! And we save that place for special occasions because it is so expensive.. at least what we like to get. We got a really nice waiter and told him it was our anniversary and ended up making small talk for awhile (love it when we get a nice waiter!) Arnold and I both chose the "Ultimate Feast" which included a lobster tail, crab legs, 2 kinds of shrimp, a side, salad, and their cheddar biscuits. Let's just say we were STUFFED when we left there. But it was so good. I can put a hurting on crab legs. I think I might have embarrassed Arnold tearing those suckers apart. The people sitting beside us were probably trying to have a nice meal together and all they could hear was me cracking the crab legs.. haha! 

After dinner we headed back to get the kids. They had had a great afternoon with their Grandparents. I could tell the Grandparents were ready to get rid of them though... they packed them up pretty quickly! ;) We of course brought back the kids each a little gift.. and they loved that :) All in all we had a pretty awesome day and I love it when we get chances to do stuff like that! (which isn't very often at all!)

So I have to mention what we did on our actual anniversary, which was on Wednesday. Arnold got up early like usual and went to the gym with his dad. The kids were off school for a teacher workday, so I was home with them. At lunchtime we picked up some Bojangles and went up to Arnold's work and had lunch with him. The kids were sweet and colored pictures for Arnold to take up there and him put on his cubicle wall :) That evening I worked childcare at lifegroup..so I left Arnold at home with the kids. We figured no big deal if I worked that evening since we had already celebrated a few days before. Although we did want to have a special meal together. So when I was leaving the kids' house, I called him, and he called in an order to Olive Garden. I went by and picked it up and brought it home. We sat in the living room eating, and watching Duck Dynasty. So romantic ;) I then went to take a shower, and when I got out, I heard Arnold snoring away on the couch :) I went in there... woke him up.. and then we went to our bed and passed out for the night. That my friends, is what an anniversary is like when you are parents!!!! ;) 

On on way out of town for the day!

We did a lot of shopping! Mostly got stuff for the kids (that's how it always ends up!)

He thought I was an awesome wife for dropping him off at the Guitar Center. (until he got bored ;)

Ready to dig into my seafood feast! It was so, so good!

Arnold got me this charm for my new bracelet I got back at Christmas! An owl--- perfect for me, right?? Ok, I picked it out, but it was still "from him" ;)

We decided to get each other a set of living room lamps for our gift this year. Exciting right?? Actually I love them!!! But we are old and boring!! ;)

Wanted to throw in a few pictures of us on our wedding day!! We were so young and thin!! ;)

What I was doing on the night of anniversary! Watching the kiddos!

How you do an anniversary dinner when you are parents-- takeout!! ;)

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Have you heard? Crispy M&M's are back!!!! Who remembers them? I used to get them all the time when I was a teenager.. I remember hanging out with my friend Jess and we would pick up a snack and I'd get them often! I have heard they have them at Walmart and CVS so I will be on the lookout! They did NOT have them at Target this morning.. boooo!

GONE GIRL is out on dvd! So now finally I will get to see it. I read the book of course, and it was soo good. I wanted to go see it in the theater with friends, but never got around to it. Who has seen it? Is is good? Not as good as the book of course ;)

Our Anniversary is next week and I told Arnold I wanted new living room lamps! Yes we are old and lame, but who cares? We picked this out at Lowe's the other day. We also have a matching one on the other side of the living room. I love them.. they match well with our wall colors and look good in there!

I am loving this new show on NBC! Quirky and funny. Arnold just thinks its a little crazy and doesn't really watch it anymore. Does anyone else watch it????

I had my first day in Medical Terminology class this week! WOW.. I can tell it is going to be tough! We started right out with learning how to break down medical terms and there is so much to it. There is a lot of English involved in the class, so thank goodness I am already good at that subject! This is going to be a fast paced class and I hope I can keep up! On the plus side, my teacher is very nice, and seems like she is going to be easy to get along with. She is young and has a daughter around Rachel's age.

Rachel's class is doing the CUTEST thing ever. They were asked to bring in a teddy bear this week and they made a cave in the classroom, and all the kids' bears went into the cave and are going to hibernate until Spring! Rachel told me they all gave them a kiss goodbye before they went!! How CUTE is that?! Seriously, I was about dying over the cuteness. In the spring they are bringing them out and going to have a Teddy Bear picnic. I love Rachel's teachers. They are always doing fun stuff with the kids.

Ok, so who else is addicted to Trivia Crack?  Most people got addicted to Candy Crush, but this MY game. I can't stop playing. I think I am currently playing about 10 different people right now. I have someone to play at just about any point during the day. I play Arnold every night when he gets home from work. We are both in the same room on our tablets.. pretty funny. (we are so cool ;) Friendly competition! ;) Oh and I have noticed that I am NOT that good at the Geography questions.. guess I should have paid better attention to that stuff back in school ;)

~Lifegroup starts back up tonight for the new year! I am sooo thrilled to be back, doing childcare for all the sweet kiddos. I can't wait to get my hands on baby Ansley! I have missed all the kids so much! And I get to spend my wed. evenings with 2 of my best friends. What could be better?!

~Yesterday my Barnes & Noble books showed up at my door! I ordered a few new books.. let's just call that my anniversary present to myself ;) I ordered "Pride over Pity" by Kaitlyn from Teen Mom, "Marriage Illustrated with Crappy Pictures" (written by a blogger, she is funny! check it out!), "Heaven Changes Everything" (which is a follow up to the Heaven is for Real story..), and "Shopaholic to the Stars" (because sometimes I really just like some fluffy Chick Lit! ;)

~Tomorrow the winter Target toy clearance is supposed to be going 70 percent off! Some of you know what I am talking about. I checked out our store this morning when I was already there getting groceries, and they had a pretty good selection. They had ONE Monster High Castle which I'd love to get for Brooke, but I'm not even sure if it will still be there in the morning.. the toys usually go fast!

~Brooke seems to be doing a little better at school since we tried her on a new medicine! Her teacher said she is more focused and helpful in class, and gets her work done. Her grades have been improving some. She seems to have some mood swings and tummy aches, but I hear that will get better over time? We will see. I am just so happy she seems to be doing better and getting more confident.

~One of my very best BFFs, Joanne, joined our childcare team at church!! yay! Good news for her, because she has been looking for a job, and good news for me because I now will get to work with her, hopefully. I am so blessed to have found a fun job that I love and 3 of my best friends are on the same team so I get to see them even more! I love it!

~Arnold and I are going out of town for the day on Friday, to celebrate our anniversary! He took off from work, and the kids will be in school all day anyway. His parents are going to pick them up after so we can have even more time out! We are going to maybe hit some shops/outlets, have a nice lunch and dinner, maybe a movie.. who knows? We try to do this every year, and it's a lot of fun. Quality time just for the two of us. We love our kids but we need a break sometimes!!!!! 

~My cousin is due with a baby girl (Lily!) in February. Mom and I are heading to SC to go to her baby shower on Saturday. I am excited to see her, because we don't get to often. I am excited to celebrate her upcoming arrival too and see all the sweet baby girl stuff! She is going to be a great Mom! :)

What We've Been Up To...

Well  the time has gotten away from me again, somehow! I have a lot to catch up on, and some new pictures to post, so he is all about our past couples of weeks!

We celebrated New Year's Eve with some of my best friends, at Joanne's house! We have done this for a few years now and it has been great. The kids get to hang out together and they leave us alone usually long enough to play WII games, sing (horribly) at Karaoke, watch tv, eat snacks that we all bring over, and eventually watch the ball drop on TV.. but towards the end we always get grumpy and sleepy.. well at least I do! ;)

There's always time to take selfies with friends! ;)

We celebrated Daddy's 33rd birthday, on New Year's Day! We went out to eat at Olive Garden for dinner.. one of our very favorite places to go! That afternoon we also went to the movies to see "Annie." It was amazing! I loved every bit of it... the music, the story, the little girl who played Annie... I laughed and probably cried 3 different times! The kids all seemed to like it too. Arnold said it was pretty girly, but I know he enjoyed it, too ;) The girls have been singing the songs since then, we need to get the soundtrack!

We went to a birthday lunch at Bojangles with Arnold's family. We were going to Village Inn, but they were closed for lunch on New year's (booo!) Brooke didn't mind though, that girl has found her new favorite thing-- CHICKEN LEGS!!! She can put a hurting on some chicken! That is one way she is NOT like her mother... her mother will not eat chicken on a bone ;)

We tried to get a family shot and this is the best we could do! Brooke was taking the picture. The people in there probably thought we were crazy.. but that's just how we roll ;)

Arnold and our sweet niece, Bekah. Doesn't she look like she could be one of our's with her blonde hair and blue eyes?! ;)

Rachel lost her 2nd tooth! She had been wiggling that thing forever and one day it just popped out, and we didn't even notice it until a little later! She ended up getting money from the tooth fairy AND her grandparents, so she was feeling pretty good that day ;)

We enjoyed some family time and went to eat at West End BBQ. Rachel had to take a very important phone call on her Dora cellphone while we were there ;) And Olaf decided to be in the picture too ;) All things she got at Christmas and likes to carry around with her lately.

My boss Amanda was out of town one Sunday at church so I had to take over for the day!! This is me, just keeping it real.. showing I could handle everything ;) 

While waiting on people to show up we took Selfies of course ;)

Thank goodness my sweet hubby was there to help me do sign in! I couldn't have handled the morning without him! We make a pretty good team ;)

Daddy has been helping Brooke make her loom bracelets, because she gets frustrated while doing it. Isn't he the best Daddy?? ;)

We have been cheering on our PANTHERS!!! Because they made it to the PLAYOFFS!!! Unfortunately they finally lost Saturday evening and aren't going on to the superbowl, but we are still proud of them. We have to represent our boys and our hometown ;)

The kids have been getting a hold of my Ipad and taking selfies!

Sheldon has been lounging like usual, but has taken over my blanket that Erika made me for Christmas! I have to fight him for it! He's usually sleeping on my lap in the evenings anyway ;)

Thanks to a friend on Facebook, I found this yummy goodness a few towns over. While we were down in the area for a birthday party, I made Arnold stop by the gas station to pick us up some ;) It was worth it ;)

I took this picture the other day and loved how it turned out, so it became my new profile picture ;) That day I also went into the school for a meeting with Brooke's principal. Since we were there at the end of the school day, we went by the kids' classrooms to pick them up. While I was getting Rachel, I noticed two little girls staring at me. Then one spoke up and said "I love your necklace!" And the other one said "are you Rachel's Mommy? You are super pretty!" I was taken aback for a moment.. that little girl made my whole week! It is always nice to get a compliment. And if you know 5 year old girls like I do, you know they can be pretty blunt and truthful. So it actually felt even nicer being from her ;) Then they gave Rachel a big goodbye hug... they seem like like are all becoming good friends :)

To Read List: 2015

Here is a list of the top 20 books I want to try to read this year. They have either caught my eye online or been recommended to me by a friend or someone's blog. Anyhow-- Please let me know if you've read any of these or heard anything about them (good or bad!) So I will know if I need to adjust my list! ;)

What is on your list to read this year?????