A birthday, A(nother) trip, and DADDY!

Wow!! What a GREAT weekend we had. Thursday was my birthday and Nat took some days off to come down and be here with me. It was the BEST birthday present I could have asked for. The longer were apart, the harder the time apart gets. I thought I would get used to this... and I have to some extent.. but those last few days when I know Nat is coming home are killer. BUT, this is likely the LAST time we'll have to say goodbye!! That makes me so happy. I'm so ready for this to be over and to feel normal again and do normal wifely duties. I have thoroughly enjoyed being here with my family and my mom has thoroughly spoiled me!! I told Nat that when we live together again, he better get ready to keep up the spoilin. :)

Anyways... so Thursday, we dropped all the kids off at the in-laws and Nat and I had a fun day to ourselves. Nat took me to my favorite restaurant for lunch then rather than spending $40 at the movies, we went and got a redbox and came home and watched it. It was de-lightful!! Then we went and picked up our brood and came home for a family dinner (my dad's birthday is the 6th, and Kinsey's is the 7th along with mine.) So we celebrate them all on one day. I specifically told Nat not to get me anything because I had already bought myself some clothes. I am (was) T-I-R-E-D of wearing maternity clothes and the few clothes I owned in between pregnancies are all in storage so I had to go out and buy myself some stuff so I can begin to feel normal!!

Friday morning, we woke up and (2 1/2 hours later than I had planned on leaving, thanks to my dear husband who drives me nuts and waits until the last second to start to get ready) we headed back to Round Rock for some shopping and to get our pictures done. First stop was only the coolest place EVER:

This picture cracks me up... See us in the truck???

We had intentions of NOT buying a whole lot. I had some birthday money I had wanted to spend and that was it. But, Nat being Nat wouldn't let me spend it on anything but myself... so If anything would partially benefit anyone but myself I was not aloud to buy it with my money. We ended up buying a bunk bed for the girls. The bedroom that they are going to be in at the new house isn't very big at all so I was going to try and sell Madelynn's bed (which we also got at IKEA) and buy them something more room efficient. When I told Nat the idea he got the idea that he wanted to build them some good bunk beds but when we saw these, we decided that it would be cheaper, and easier to just get 'em. I'm excited to get them all set up in their new room.

By the end of the shopping trip, the kids were spent. They had been stuck in their car seats for 4 hours, and then dragged along a long shopping trip so when they were able to get out and run around, we let them. They had so much fun just going through this little area. They were screaming and laughing and everyone was starring at us like our kids were outta control. If they only knew...

Daddy always makes things fun for the girls.

so they ran up and down the aisle spinning around and around. The girls loved it. They also loved climbing through the boxes and through to the other aisle while mommy was left all alone and had to leave Stetson and climb through the boxes to the other aisle to chase my little hooligans. Payton is the type where you say "come here Payton" and she starts to giggle and take off like its a fun little game... Madelynn is slowly starting to play along with her rather than be the obedient one.

Saturday we had our pictures done and then we all 5 took a nap!! That was a record... and it was WONDERFUL. First nap i've had in a looooong time. Then we went and did some more shopping. Now let me tell ya something... if your in the process of buying a house and are saving every penny you have... DONT go to Ikea, and DON'T go to the mall. Any normal person would think DUH... but not I. So we (I) over-ly spent and I now regret it just a tad.. but it was so much fun I wouldn't have changed any of it for the world!! I got some really good deals on clothes for the kids (mostly Stetson because I try really, really hard to stay away from the girls section anywhere I go) at Carters... and Madelynn went goo-goo in the Disney store over the Tot Story stuff so we let her pick out some stuff, and of course, you can't get one thing for one and not the other.

this is how we roll. I forgot the moby for Stetson, which I had intended to bring for places that wouldn't have a basket. She walked a little, and rode a little but hey, it worked.

Madelynn had her first Icee and she loved it.

All in all I had such a fun time with my family. All 3 of the kids did WONDERFUL in everything that we did. It was probably the best birthday (weekend) I've ever had!! Back to life tho... Nat's gone back to New Mexico, and Madelynn's sick with a cold.