Weekend Painting Project

Or rather, a project for a few weekends ;)

TGIF

It's been a long and busy week. Fortunately I am starting to feel a lot better! Today I have this cutie pie home with me, since her preschool is closed for the last day of Passover. I also got the spring portrait I ordered (digital as well as print copies), so I have a double dose of cuteness to share today!

A Lot of Lunch Dates

Caroline gets a lot of lunch dates with Mom this week, thanks to the kosher-for-Passover rules in effect at preschool! Since she can't eat matzoh and I can't send it any food from home besides fresh fruits and vegetables, I get to pick her up every day at lunch and take her out. I guess there are worse things than getting to spend lunch with my baby every day!

Weekend Recap

More flowers! Plus paint samples, flag football, and a birthday sleepover/ pool party.

Mani-Pedi

Daddy pressed into service again for his nail-painting skills :)

Happy Passover!

Caroline's Spring Progress Report

Caroline earned "GP" (good progress) on all areas of her progress report except for shoe tying which, I mean, how can she even practice considering she owns no shoes with shoelaces? This is what her teacher wrote:

This is the Meal that Almost Killed Me

Friday Joel and I headed to Charleston for what was supposed to be a fun birthday weekend. Unfortunately I was already not feeling very well when we left due to the stomach issues I had been suffering with for weeks, and by the time the meal below was consumed Friday night in Charleston, I was feeling downright bad. I spent most of the night up and in pain, and in the morning we decided (reluctantly) to head back to Charlotte and go to the ER. I ended up (to make a long story short) admitted to the hospital for 2 days while they ran tests, finally doing an endoscopic ultrasound Monday morning where they found two large ulcers at the start of my small intestine. I am now on Prilosec twice a day and instructions to be very careful of what I eat for the next 4-6 weeks while the ulcers heal. The cause of the ulcers is unknown, as I tested negative for the bacteria that commonly causes ulcers. 

The meal (At SNOB [Slightly North of Broad]):

Thanks for the pretty get well flowers, Kathleen and Mike!

The Downside of Asking for Cash at Your Wedding

And then using said cash to pay for your honeymoon.... Thirteen years later you will look around and realize you have no pots and pans and no knives! Problem solved with yesterday's Amazon delivery of Circulon cookware and Rada knives:

Weekend Wrap-up

The weekend went by too fast as usual! Ben had a flag football game on Saturday which started out pretty annoying because an email received Thursday listed the wrong field location (and apparently I was the only one to read the email and go to the wrong field location). But we managed to get to the correct field just as the game was starting. Ben is sharing QB duties with a kid who can't hit the broad side of the barn, so by the time Ben was put in as QB his team was down 4 touchdowns to 0. Ben managed to bring his team back into the game with 3 touchdowns during the second half. I know it's good to let another kid who wants to play QB have a chance, but hopefully they can figure out a winning strategy at some point :)

We also went to Burger 21 for dinner (Caroline's choice) where I had to pay up $5 to Ben who ordered 2 chili dogs, fries and a milkshake and I bet him he could not eat all of it. He did. The chili dogs were huge. He ordered two because he wasn't sure if one would be enough - it definitely would have been!

Joel took Caroline for a new bike yesterday and came home with a 20 inch Trek. She is just barely big enough for it, but she was slightly too big for the 16 inch. Unfortunately since she still can't stop, this presents a problem as only her tippy toes touch the ground so the usual strategy of dragging her feet to stop doesn't work. We are going to have to do a serious braking boot camp with this girl!

Ben cooked dinner for the third Sunday in a row this weekend. He made stuffed peppers, which I thought was a surprising choice as I've never made them but he informed me it was the number one recipe on food.com or something ;) They turned out very well! When he cooks I stay in the kitchen with him and talk him through each step but let him do the work himself. I do have to help him dice vegetables and onions -- he does it and then I do a second pass just to make sure it's a fine enough dice. I think it is a good way for him to learn to cook and I can imagine that soon enough I won't be needed in the kitchen at all on Sundays!

I also had my first workout with my Moms in Training team yesterday morning at the JCC. Joel was in the gym and Ben and Rebecca were at religious school so I brought Caroline to the babysitting room which she gave me the evil eye / silent treatment for. The workout was really good! As evidenced by the fact that I am totally sore this morning. My arms are killing me from push ups, my legs are killing me from squats, etc.

Thank you so much to those of you who have donated already to our team! Your generosity is appreciated so much! If you have not donated yet, the link is below. Please consider supporting our team by making a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! We have 9 weeks to go!

My Fundraising Page

Cuteness on Wheels!

Caroline clutching to the breakfast bar for dear life on her roller blades this morning :)

Thanks Mom and Dad!

For the doggie shaped get well flowers ❤️ I have been feeling a bit under the weather lately with what I think is a retained stone somewhere in the vicinity of my (long since removed) gall bladder. I have an appointment with a GI doctor on Tuesday. 

Get in Shape, Meet Moms, Fight Cancer!

This spring I am participating with Moms in Training, which has just launched here in Charlotte. It is a ten week fitness program for moms of all fitness levels, which culminates in a 5k run on June 11 (I will be departing for the beach shortly thereafter :)). We are raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. LLS raises money to fund research for the treatment of leukemia and other blood cancers in both children and adults.I have set an ambitious fund raising goal, so please consider making a donation to support me and my Moms in Training teammates as we kick cancer's butt in our stylin' purple t shirts! There is a link below where you can  donate and THANK YOU!

My Fundraising Page

Always a Cutie Pie!

Spring portrait proofs! Here is just a small sample. Get in touch with me if you want to see the rest.

Bowling

Caroline went bowling for the first time today, at her friend Bennett's birthday party. In case you are wondering what a four year old bowling looks like, it looks like this: