Blogging break...

Unfortunately I must announce an unintentional blogging break! It would seem my bff (laptop) has a problem... not a virus, some type of wiring problem or a short? Anyway, it's been shipped off to the doctor (please pray it is all covered under warranty and is fixed without a hitch... seriously, please, lol). In the mean time all I have is the dinosaur that is my desk top. Unfortunately she is too old and slow to be considered efficient or even functional. So, I'll see you in a week or two (hopefully) with lots to update you on!

Discovery...

One of Lily's most favorite places in the world is the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro! We have made several trips there for birthday parties and such over the past few months and she has enjoyed every moment and is always sad to go! This is why we were THRILLED with Chris' Aunt Jan and Uncle John gave us a "family" membership to the Discovery Center! The three of us get in free all year long! :-)

So yesterday, we figured, what better than a snow day to make our first visit as "members" to the Discovery Center! Above you see the three of us! (That's Lily's "picture" smile... she's so funny... she'll smile like that til the flash goes off the giggle and really smile! She even cracks herself up!)

Her most favorite thing about the discovery center is the slide, hands down! :-) She would go down that slide 584 times if we had the time to do it!

She slid a BUNCH when we got there and then again at the end! She even got Daddy and me in on the action and made us both slide down with her!

She also likes the "market" upstairs! There is a little farmers market set up and you can shop and run the checkout! She shopped and I ran the cash register for a while.... then her daddy and I shopped and she checked us out!

She is the only kid I know that puts all of the food items individually back in their spots each time she is done checking out before she starts again! We also all three put all of our food back in the correct spot before we moved to the next activity... could she be any cooler? I think not!

They have a giant tree you can climb up in! I hate that this one turned out bleary, bbut here are Lily and I hiding from the "monster" who was daddy and happened to have the camera! lol. :-) We each took turns being the scary monster, which means Chris and I had to climb that silly tree with child size doors and child size steps and fit on the child size platform - together! lol I am sure other adults in the room were giving us funny looks, but Lily was laughing and loving life!

Lily beat Daddy at giant tic-tac-toe a couple dozen times! She really has the hang of it now! She's so smart!

We had lots of love, lots of hugs, and lots of laughs together...

And we all had fun painting, cutting, cluing, and chalking in the art area...

Two peas in a pod?

Overall it was a wonderful way to spend a day and we can't wait to go back again very very soon!

How sweet it is to be loved by you...

Happy Valentines (one day late) to everyone! I hope you all had a relaxing and wonderful Valentine's day with your loved one(s)! I know I sure did!

Chris is traditionally anti-Valentine's day... he believes you should be sweet all year round! He also has had some pretty negative Valentine's day experiences in the past. So we mixed it up a bit this year and made the holiday fit us! :-)

Lily spent the night with her grandparents Saturday night so we could have our Valentine's day celebration earlier in the day to beat the crowds! Because our plan was to celebrate in the morning with just the two of us and in the afternoon with Lily, we skipped church. We enjoyed a very lazy and relaxing morning! Chris gave me a wonderful massage and then took me out to lunch! It was a great way to start the day!

After lunch, we went to Chris' parents house and had a good long visit! Then we headed to Beth's where Lily made Chris and I candy apples for V-day! :-) That was fun! And then we headed home to just enjoy the rest of the day! Lily made me THE most adorable and SWEETEST Valentine's day cards! Now that she can write, it is amazing how she expresses herself! My card told me how much she loved me and why - priceless! Her card to her daddy was JUST as PRECIOUS! She is such a kind-hearted little girl! :-)

Unfortunately Valentine's day ended on a sour note for me! I have come down with the stomach bug that the Hutching's had last week! And if I had any doubts about how miserable it was (which I didn't), I certainly don't anymore! lol.

I hope you all had a magical day full of love! I can't wait to read and hear about all the special Valentine's day memories!!!

4th Annual Super Bowl Birthday Bash!

This weekend was, of course, Superbowl Sunday! (WORD!) Which means... it was time for my 4th Annual Super Bowl Birthday Bash! That's right... my same group of friends has been getting together to celebrate my birthday and the Superbowl together for 4 years running! That's hard to believe!

Of course we have a Three Amigos shot! La, Me, and Moo. These ladies are such amazing women and wonderful hostesses! La was gracious enough to volunteer her awesome bonus room for the par-tay!

Me and my handsome man! I am so lucky to have someone so special in my life. I used to wonder why I could never meet Mr. Right and now I know it was because God had a plan all his own! Chris has been worth every moment of the wait and the blessings that we have brought to each others lives excite us about our future!

Dawson was ready in his football shirt! He is talking more and more every day and is so much fun! When we got their, we were pleasantly surprised when he exclaimed, "Aunt Meagan and Chris!" SO SWEET!
It was Vance's actual birthday and we celebrated together! He had a blast playing with Dawson! He also had fun lovin' on Web! (above)

Here's the whole Hutchings bunch! Look at all those smiles! I don't know about you, but I think this is one good lookin' family! I am so blessed and enriched through my relationships with them! I truly consider you guys a part of my family!

Baby Jack getting some QT with his Aunt Meag! He is all smiles and growing SO fast!

Can you get over those blue eyes? Unbelievable!

Overall it was a WONDERFUL party! Laid back with friends, football, and tons of food! The kids played, the adults visited... it was awesome!

La, Moo, thank you so much for a wonderful birthday! I love you girls so much - you are truly sisters of the heart and I don't' know what I would do without you!

28 years...

I celebrated my 28th Birthday yesterday! Those of you who know me well, know that I actually celebrate my birthday the whole week! lol. I think birthdays are so special and so I always make a big deal out of everyone's birthday - including my own!

This year, I began my special week with some snow days and my special day with a precious card from Chris and Lily telling me how much they both love me! :-) There is no better way to start the day than that! I had to work and with the ball tournament it was a long day, but I did have... tons of birthday cards and well wishes from my students. Flowers. Gifts. Cards. Visitors to my classroom to hug me and wish me a wonderful day. Lunch prepared for me by my friends at work including both a chocolate cake and a made-from-scratch peach pie! Luckily both of our tournament games were early and we were done by dinner time! Chris took me out to Red Lobster! :-) We also had to run by the hospital (an unorthodox birthday stop - please pray for Chris' sister, who seems to be having complications from an earlier surgery). And, perhaps the best part of my birthday, a half day to sleep in this morning because I didn't sleep well last night... and even better... when Chris found out I was taking a half day, he took one with me to take care of me! :-) And to top of my birthday week on Friday with a cherry on top????? ... we WON the county tournament tonight! That's right, my man coached an amazing group of boys and took the title of champions tonight! How rewarding.

Overall, a WONDERFUL birthday week! Wonder what next week will hold?

Blast from the past...

As the snow days come to a close (we DO actually have to work tomorrow, albeit 2 hours later than usually - yay), I have reflected on all the fun we have had. Snow days with a 5 year old around are a lot different than the snow days I have had in the past! :-) I obviously spent a lot of my time off work with Chris and Lily and we had so much fun! We did all kinds of things... read a lot, played a lot, napped a lot. There were a few things, however, that brought back childhood memories and I wanted to see if any of you share some of these memories as well!

One was fresh baked bread! I cooked a lot and tried some new recipes over the weekend. One thing I did was bake from scratch, sour dough bread! Mom used to make this when we were kids and ON MY GOSH it's good! She got the starter going over Christmas and this weekend was my first successful attempt at actually making the bread. :-) It just reminded me of when I was a child and warmed my heart. I am so thankful for the amazing childhood that my parents provided for me! Thankful that I had a dad who worked hard to provide so that I could have a mom that was home with us to do things like make homemade fresh bread! Mmmm.

Another thing we did this weekend was make pot holders! Did any of you have one of these looms? lol. I know I had one! I have made many a pot holder out what appears to me to be loops of brightly colored pantyhose! Ha! Lily and I got this out over the weekend! She made Chris and I pot holders, and before she went back to her mom's we made one for her to take back with her! It was so much fun!

And we watch lots of Looney Tunes! I grew up on these! We never watched TV hardly, that I remember! I remember doing A LOT of playing and not much time sitting still in front of a tv... but we did LOVE bugs bunny! :-) Lily is enjoying discovering this characters from the past and Chris and I are enjoying seeing our favorites from growing up!

And do you remember these? Fuse beads!?! You put them on the peg board and iron them! I used to LOVE these things!!! We broke these out over the weekend and made all kinds brightly colored shapes! I am going to get some magnets to put on the back so she can put them on her white board or her fridge! We had so much fun! I even made one for myself!!!!

So, do you remember having any of these things when you were a kid? And what are some of YOUR favorite indoor snow day activities? Share with me, if you please!