Labor Day Weekend

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for the amazing response you gave me from my last post. Chronic pain and IC are something that I've learned to live with and make the best of, but sometimes it can get the best of you, and you need to get the feelings out. And there's no better way to do that than to broadcast it to the entire world via internet. 

See, I still make jokes.

But seriously, all of the comments on Facebook and the blog itself, all of the private messages, all of the texts, and all of the emails reached me and made an impact; and it means the world to have such support, both from friends and from people I don't even personally know. I appreciate the thoughts, prayers, and good vibes you have sent my way more than you can ever know. I also want you to know that I wasn't soliciting for pity or concern, and that I am a tough chicken. :)

Now, on an unrelated note, I hope everyone had an awesome Labor Day weekend! We sure did. Friday was an easygoing day, where we ended up taking the kids to our neighborhood park and pool for a while. I love that the community recreation areas are just steps from our house; it makes it really easy to just hop in the little wagon and bikes and head over. 

World's best death stare.

Vivi has gotten pretty ballsy with her jumping and diving and swimming. She even made friends with all the "big girls" at the pool who couldn't believe she was two years old and swimming with them. Bobby, of course, is now completely cocky in the water and can dive to the bottom of an 8 foot pool and retrieve things. All the credit goes to Alex for teaching them how to swim; I'm not exactly the kind of gal who likes to get her hair wet. Mainly because I'm not the kind of gal who likes to make the commitment to get my hair back dry again.

 #lazygirlproblems

I slept in my trusty UGA adult onesie that I like to wear on Gameday Eve, and then we woke up with bells on to watch Gameday on ESPN. I made a delicious pre-ballgame breakfast of Nutella on waffles. Have you ever tried that? It's the best thing ever. My sister-in-law introduced me to the idea, and it made me wonder how I've never thought of it myself. I go the really lazy-mom route and just use the frozen blueberry waffles that I'll toast and then top with copious amounts of Nutella. Sometimes I'll add some strawberries or other fruit if I want to feel like I'm still healthy, but Gameday is about excess, so carpe diem. 

You are looking at Florida's biggest raccoon. 

I put the Mississippi roast in the crockpot and tidied up the house a little, and then just enjoyed having football on in the house, even if it wasn't my team playing at the time. There's something so comforting to me about having college football on in the background on the television. I guess it signals to my brain that it's Fall, and Fall is my favorite season of them all. We also did a little pre-game practice with the kids, retraining them how to say "Goooooo Dawgs! Sic 'em! Woof, woof, woof." 

But it didn't go over as easily this year with Vivi. She just wouldn't cooperate, so I had to set her down separately and try to practice one-on-one with her. 

"Vivi, say, 'Go Dawgs,'" I instructed.

"Go kitty cats," She retorted.

Check mate.

We've also brought out the Halloween kitty jammies. 

Our next door neighbors, whom we love, are UNC fans, so we had them over for dinner and the ballgame. We made a bet with them that the losing team family had to put out the winning team family's team flag in front of their house for a whole week. I don't have any personal issues with UNC, since they aren't an SEC team and we don't play them too often, so I was alright with the parameters of the bet. Believe me, I would never do something that risky with a Florida fan. Woof. I kid, I kid ;)

Hey, look--Bobby wrote his first word!

Luckily, UGA won the game, so our neighbors must wave the red and black flag in front of their house. On an unrelated note, the pot roast was divine, and we also indulged in an epic peach pie. There's nothing that says Georgia like a good ol' peach pie. 

..or this majestic creature..

Sunday was a hopelessly lazy day. I'm all for laziness whenever possible, but it's rare for Alex to completely commit to a day of straight chillin'. So days where the entire family chills and does absolutely nothing are far and few between. We just vegged out on the couch while the kids played with their toys and we binge watched the third season of House of Cards. So good. 

I've also begun a love affair with zucchini noodles. I've been hearing about them for a while, but they seemed a bit intimidating. Finally, though, I broke down and bought a really cheap, hand held spiralizer from Amazon, and I'll be damned if I don't love that thing more than almost any other kitchen tool I own. I usually use about seven zucchinis when I make a batch. I peel the zucchinis and spiralize them, and then just saute the "zoodles" with garlic and olive oil for about five minutes. I usually toss with pesto or just some goat cheese. And it's seriously so good. Bobby, won't eat anything but chicken nuggets, so I've learned not to take offense to his food rejections, but Vivi loves the faux pasta and especially loves to eat it Lady & the Tramp style with her daddy. 

On Labor Day we went to our community's water park, which is pretty amazing. They have a lagoon, a lazy river, a splash pad, a regular family pool area, and then an awesome little kid water playground with slides and tunnels. 

She also completely klepto-ed this little boat, and we have no idea how. I'm telling you, she's SUCH a raccoon. 

The kids loved it, and Alex and I even got to have a cocktail while we watched them play. We spent the last few hours of the beautiful afternoon there and let the kids wear themselves out, and then we even grabbed a pizza there. So that made it perfect to go home and go straight to baths and bedtime. 

See, I wasn't exaggerating when I told you earlier that Bobby likes to completely drop trou at public pools. Sigh. 

All in all, it was a fun weekend full of water and sun and rest. All things that are good for the soul. 

Now we are getting ourselves back together and trying to finish up some house projects before Alex starts his new job in ten days. Can't wait to share some of those things with y'all very soon! Hope you have a wonderful short week, friends!

XO