Holy cow where have the Stephens been??!!

So I realized it has been over a month since I blogged last so instead of boring you with a lot of craziness, I will speak through pictures (I mean a picture is priceless right??)

 Celebrated St. Patty's Day with a cute shirt from pretty pretty baby (check her out on facebook!!)

 Had a "summer day" in early March and had to break out the slip-n-slide!

 Tried out muffin tin meals (i will have to do a blog on these) and they were a success...i use them weekly!

 Went to the skating rink for the first time (was celebrating cousin Emma's birthday)

 Had school egg hunt! This is Jackson's K-3 class :)

 Hailey hunted eggs to with her friends in K-4.

Miss Jillian came over for dinner and we dyed easter eggs with her and Aunt Kelsey!

Lots of things are going on from Easter activities, to Marmie and Great-Grandmommy's birthdays next week, a surprise visit from Aunt Ashley and Cousin Colton next weekend, Daddy traveling ALOT! and planning Sharkboy's party for the 14th!! Stay tuned for pics/blogging of the most awesome birthday gift we got Jackson....

Spring is here!!

Sharkboy and Lavagirl have paused to enjoy the lovely outdoors this weekend and show some sibling bonding to have pictures made (cant wait to see how they will turn out!!).  I have finally found someone to give making Sharkboy and Lavagirl costumes a try and not cost me an arm and leg...just a pinkie toe! I hope they turn out fabulous!!

We are gearing up to get ready for spring here by preparing our shopping list to the Home Depot and Dudley's for some plants and mulch and other yard-like thingies we need. I am excited to get our landscaping done the way we want and not the el cheapo (get it done quick) way. I mean dont get me wrong I am very thankful for our home and how beautiful it is but we will just make a few cosmetic changes ourself!

I know it has been a while since I've blogged but I am supper de duper busy!! Not only am I doing the marketing thing and selling Thirty-One but I am also putting together a WAHM (work at home mom) Fair with lots of vendors form the area for Spring. Hopefully it will be huge and very successful for everyone!! I love doing these kinds of things! So if you are reading this and wanna come out it will be April 2. Email me or call me or facebook me or text me or come on over and I can give you more details!

Hope everyone has an awesome week!

Where have the Stephens been??!!!

We got so caught up in our trip to Galinburg then Wee-Peats that I am finalyl catching up on some much needed R&R.  But lets get yall all up to speed on the actual "skiing" part of our trip and then on to my oh so fabulous week I had at Wee-Peats!!

Riding the tram up the mountian was a fun new experience to start our day!

Hailey jumped right in and fell in love with it but Jackson really wanted to "board" as he called it! Unfortunately, they didn't have small enough ones for him so after a break and some coaxing he started to enjoy it!

Last picture of the trip was in front of the huge ice on top of the mountain on the way home! (for all pics check out my facebook page)

Now for WEE-PEATS!! For those who dont know, one of my dearest friends Amber does a Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter children's consignment sell here in Augusta! And it is huge!! I dedicate my whole week to helping her and of course running my Thirty-One booth, but this past week was one of my favorite sales! I had the pleasure of being setup between some awesome women who do awesome handmade kid stuff.  Kristen of Pretty Pretty Baby and Jen of Rock-A-Bye Bedding. We united as a team and sold from all of our tables (including Girl Scout cookies with Leah too!!) and all had a win-win week in sales! Please check out their facebook pages and etsy accounts especially if you have kids, expecting or just need baby shower gifts!

Here is a small sample of what you missed if you didn't go to Wee-Peats!!

P.S. My other dearest friend, Sally, holds an adult sale coming in a couple weeks....she is accepting consignors and the Spring/Summer Sale will consist of not only clothing and accessories buy household furniture too!! Check her out http://www.revampconsignment.com/

Have a great night!!

Gatlinburg Day 1

One.
Driving in the car with a 3 year old and 4 year old who constantly ask "Are we there yet?" "Change my DVD Mama" "I need to pee!" can be a little over the top but we made it all in one piece and no headache!! Whoo hooo!!

Two.
Our lovely abode is comfy and just what we need (and it came with a welcoming committee!!). Thanks to the Brackett Bunch we are taking their 2 extra days here at a little townhome in Gatlinburg to relax and enjoy some skiing and swimming in the heated pool!

Three.
Nothing beats swimming in the middle of February in the mountains in Tennessee! Hailey is not an expert swimmer but can manage around the pool by herself with no floatation device and not drown. Jackson, as long as he has his arm floats, never wants to get out of the water! They are both like little fish and would live at the pool if we would let them.  Although we won't discuss the fact that Jackson jumped right in without his floats and I had to go in after him bag and clothes and all-at least it was shallow water and I didnt get my brand new Thirty-One bag (or phone) wet!

Four.
I have learned that all you have to do is ask and you can find the best deals/attractions/local restaurants when you're on vacation :) We drove the 10mins over to Pigeon Forge to see the live bears at the Three Bears gift shop place, then dinner at Mel's Diner followed by a round of blacklight indoor mini golf all for a total of $32.50 for all of us!! Back to the hotel for another dip in the pool and we called it a day!

Five.
My kids do not sleep in the same room EVER and there is a reason.  They never stop talking! You would think that since we have this nice 2 bedroom place and they each have their own bed in the 2nd bedroom that that would be enough....nooooo not for my two! I finally after an hour of threating to get a belt (they must have known i didnt have one) I had to seperate them. One in my bed and one in the other room. But finally all is quiet!

Six.
Tomorrow is going to be an adventure as I am taking them by myself to the ski slopes.  I'm a pretty good skier (I think!) and they have never been so this should be quite interesting.  I did opt for the lessons for them so at least I can have some adult help in the beginning. Pics to come as soon as we get back home!

Seven. (Cause I wanna be cool like Lindsey and that is the Payne magic number)
We miss Daddy but are very thankful that we were able to come (last minute) and do a little mommy-son-daughter bonding.  Ask me how much I love them at the end of the week!

Goodnight!

Valentine's Day

So I woke up this morning all sad because my valentine is outta town but then realized I had a few others in the house to cheer me up :) My favorite part this morning was when Jackson yells to Kelsey, who is downstairs in the kitchen, "Happy Valentine's Kelsey! I'm gonna lick you!" Oh that crazy kid how I love him! This morning was crazy by all means, I took kids to school just to come all the way back out here past my house to register Jackson for Pre-K (yes public and yes lottery funded and yes im freaking out a little about it) then back to the school for Hailey's Valentine lunch with parents and then to the office for like an hour then back to school for pick up then home....whewwww that was a lot! 

It was a beautiful day, a little windy but still pretty, so we enjoyed the afternoon in the backyard while waiting on Grandaddy (aka Papa Payne) to arrive. He came toting homemade valentine cookies from Marmie (aka Mama) and bills for Kelsey :) We hung out for a bit then he swapped cars with Kelsey and was off again (but not before slipping me and Kelsey a little $$ for a valentine's dinner for the two of us!!) I love my Daddy he is the greatest and just talking to him makes me feel better! Not to mention Shane's Rib Shack for dinner was yummy in our bellies!! A call to Mama to thank her for the cookies and for her to sing us "Moto Moto Dance" almost made it all complete. But then....

I get a sweet email (yep we're techie over here) from my hubby telling me he loves me and hates he isn't here and that he might have a surprise for me :) Valentine's Day can be a little overwhelming for some (and me at times too) because if your single it sucks, if your spouse/significant other is away it sucks, or if you just dont wanna give in to the retail made-up holiday it sucks! So here is to missing my hubby today but being able to still spend it with my family, at least some of them!!

P.S. Hailey told me tonight during bathtime that she didn't have a good Valentine's Day because she didn't get any flowers!! I mean 5 years old and already the retail world has taken over!!

Good night and Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Oh Sunday...how you ended so well :)

Church. Cleaning. Life Group. And then....bammmm!!! Just like that the night turned crazy! But lets start at the beginning!

Got to teach my sweet 2-3 year old class agian this morning with Kelsey's aid... talked about love, ate heart-shaped rice krispy treats and played hide and seek (yep best game ever to play with 2-3 year olds...they love it...even if its a big open room with nothing to hide under/behind but a table!!) Once we got back home spring cleaning set in and we all pitched in to help.  I mopped, vacuumed, scrubbed, wiped and cloroxed my entire downstairs while Kelsey and Paul (with the kiddos) power washed the cars and front porch.  While I was still scrubbing away they headed out back to clean up doggie poopies and get the grill ready. And in between all that I managed to write Paul's Valentine's Card and finish his gift and sneak it in his car seat before he left for Hotlanta.  Yep im wonderMom :) Why all the cleaning today you might ask?? Well LifeGroup was at our house and I had to make it all sparkly before it could get all dirty! Yep our LifeGroup is amazing! 6 families. 12 adults. 13 kids. Okay maybe its a crazy LifeGroup but we all love it and would not trade it for anything. After preparing, cooking and devouring the kabobs we settled into our lesson and just good ole' no shame in our game honest talk! I love each and every one of them (and their kids) and the times we have together. So after everyone left and it was just me and the kids (Paul was already gone) I got to feeling lonely :( Well then Kelsey gets home form Adpi stuff and we settle in to a little Grammy watching and calls home to Mama and Daddy and this is where it gets good. Well we talked Daddy in to coming to see us tomorrow after his meeting at Lake Thurmond (10 mins from my house) and spending Valentine's afternoon with us...maybe he will bring chocolates and flowers or maybe just that carton of chocolate milk he said we would have to split!! Then we called Mama. Who tells us she has been cleaning and has found some fabulous reading material. Well she proceeds to tell Kelsey all about the "note" that was written to her from Kelsey about Audrey bitting her on the bus....its great! Then I get on phone and she tell me all about the "Dear Diary" note I had written when I was 9 years old...and all the grammar errors and lordy lordy she is trying to figure out how to scan them, convert them to jpegs and put on FaceBook...be prepared world for that! But wait it gets better. So then Kelsey shows me the card she sent Mama for Valentine's...its an Ecard on Hallmark...go to hallmark.com and click on ecards and search for "Moto Moto Dance" in Valentine's section....LOVE IT!! ("I like'em big, I like'em chunky, I like'em plumpy") Best part is when Mama explains to me about how a certain sister left another certain sister some clothes/purses and such and forgot to clean out a purse...lets just say at this point in your life you have to laugh about it...oh how it made my night!! And there you go.... a true typical day at the Stephens...lots of craziness and laughter and just plain ole' good times!

Now to figure out how I can get to Gatlinburg this week and with whom.....hmmmmmmmmmm.........

Saturday...where did you go?

So I was woke up this morning by the sound of the doorbell....and guess what it was the Fed-Ex man with all my new Thirty-One spring stuff!!! whooo hoooo!!! And it came just in the knick of time too cause I had a party at 12:30! To sum it up I spent my afternoon sharing my Thirty-One experience and holding one sweet little baby (my hostesses newborn).

When I got home we all got on our comfy clothes and loaded up the car to go for a walk. All of us...Daddy, Mommy, Hailey, Jackson, Aunt Kelsey, Ella and Gunner (from across the street) and Maya. It was nice getting out and walking with the family.  From Jackson falling down trying to walk up a big (dirt bike) hill...to Jackson falling down running downhill on some rocks....it was adventurous :)

Then back home again where we were all starving for CHINESE :) Yummy!! Nothing special about today other than just hanging out with each other. Although the smell coming out of Maya's hiney right now is enough to almost ruin my chinese dinner....ughhhh its so grossssssss!!!

Quickie Update since its been a couple days since I blogged: Sharkboy and Lavagirl has been watched 3 times. Hailey's ear started leaking fluid Friday afternoon so we went to doctor and yep ear infection. Kelsey does nothing but study and facebook. Paul packed to go out of town for a few days.

Quotes/Memorable Moments: (freaking out tears voice) "Mommy there is a bug in my room. I can't go in there" -Jackson  "Im getting stronger. Im getting faster too. Look at my teeth they are getting sharp" -Jackson  "You can call it boatie. And be friends forever and ever" -Hailey (on telling her daddy she was getting him a boat)

Goodnight Everyone!!