Kirsten's Turning 4!

Ahhh, my baby is 4....tomorrow! I thought the meltdown at 3 was fierce, but 4? It's crazy when some of my mom friends from Kirsten's class say things like, "and my child will be 5 in Sept.", or "he'll be 5 in Nov." WHAT? Kirsten's just turning 4....sslllloooooowwww dddoooowwwwnnnn. I have to admit "3" has been my absolute favorite age so far. Of course, I do love the baby stage, where you just look at your infant and hang on to every coo, and facial expression. Then comes the milestones of sitting up, and baby food, and crawling, then walking and a few words. I do miss those precious times I can't get back. What I don't miss are feedings every 2-3 hours, nursing, the smell of baby food, colic, explosive diapers, lack of sleep, and potty training. I would definitely do it all again, but I don't particularly miss it.

As we all know we can't celebrate or recognize any type of occasion worthy of mentioning without some lists. So, in honor of Kirsten's 4th birthday I want to share some lists of things that showcase my child and my adoration towards her.

Top 4 Kirsten-isms of age 3:

4. Me: "Kirsten, you know you are so stinking cute."
Kirsten: "No I'm not, Mommy. I just took a bath."

3. Kirsten: "My Daddy's favorite drink is Mountain Goo"

2. Kirsten: "I have 2 Gwamaws and 2 Pawpaws. I have a Big Gwamaw, and a Little Gwamaw, and a Big Pawpaw, and a Little Pawpaw."

1. Kirsten: "Mommy when I was a baby was I in your tummy?"
Me: "Yes, Kirsten you were."
Kirsten: "How did I get there? Did you eat me?"
Me: "Haha, No Baby, God put you in there."
Kirsten: "Oh....Did God eat me?"


My top 4 things I love about Kirsten:
4. She's the perfect mix of Greg and me. She carries the genes of our strongest qualities. She's great at problem solving like Greg, and she gets her creativity from me.

3. She's so sweet to other kids. She goes out of her way to speak to everyone and she does her best to include kids if she notices them not being included.

2. She is the most observant person I have ever known. Her observance is better than some of the smartest adults I've ever met. She has a photographic memory, I just know it. I don't say this as bragging about my child. This is nothing I could have ever taught her. She just has this observant memory that amazes me.

1. She's such a prissy, girly girl. She loves the mall. She loves to shop and try on dresses. She loves to cook with me, and pick flowers. She loves to dress up and have tea parties. I could not have hand picked a more awesome child.

I'm so honored to be her Mommy.

Mother's Day

A lady at our church was baptized yesterday and she shared the most amazing testimony about Mother's Day. A few years ago, on Mother's Day, her 19 month old son drowned in a pool. As you can imagine the agony and pain she went through, she said she was so angry at God. It took her years to move past this pain and regain her faith and strength. She recognizes and confesses that Christ pulled her through this, and gained complete control of her heart and life. Seven years later, on Mother's Day, this lady gave birth to her daughter. There is absolutely no way this story can be credited to anything BUT GOD. She saw it only fitting to share her testimony and baptism on Mother's Day. There was not a dry eye in the room. Hearing stories and testimonies give me so much light and encouragement. I love to hear how God works in others lives.

Greg and Kirsten made my Mother's Day so special. I felt so spoiled, loved, and mostly appreciated. We make a weekend out of holidays in our house. We make about a 7 day celebration out of birthdays. My weekend started with a trip to Roly Poly in Kennesaw. Greg isn't too fond of Roly Poly, but I am. I haven't had one since it closed in Jackson, MS years ago. I've been asking him to take me ever since I found out GA had them. It's about an hr. drive away, but he took me. On the way, I saw a church was having a craft show/garage sale. So, I asked Greg to stop. He was like, "Seriously, you want to go to this garage sale?" Of course...you never know what treasures you'll find. I found fabric remnants for $.25, and a wooden ladder, that I've been wanting FOREVER for $5. It wouldn't fit in the car so I couldn't get that. :( On the craft side of the event, this precious tweenager made these hair accessories to sell to help raise money for a mission trip she's going on this summer. Well, I am a sucker for tweenage fundraisers, especially those "for Jesus" kinds. I bought a couple of hair accessories for Kirsten and some friends who have little girls. These were so cute....watch out Blu Gertrude. It made the tweenager's day that I bought so many. But seriously, I now have her on speed dial in case I need a hair accessory pronto. :)

After the church function we went to Roly Poly, and it was still as yummy as ever. Then, Greg surprised me by taking me to Alpharetta. I love Alpharetta. All the shops look like castles. It's like Madison on very illegal steroids. We went on a wild goose chase looking for the Ben & Jerry's only to find it had closed. :( So we went to Northpoint Mall. They have the biggest White House/Black Market store in the universe. Not really, but it's pretty huge. I stayed in there for about 2 hrs. Then I got to take Kirsten to the American Girl store. She's counting down the days till her 8th b'day so she can have her party there. I mean, all her friends will come right? It's only about 1 1/2 - 2 hrs away. Kirsten ended up taking a nap...yes you read that right. She got so tired of shopping, I mean window shopping, that she fell asleep. So, Greg, being the muscle man he is, carried her 38 lb. self around the rest of the afternoon. What a great man...he let me shop (again, window shop), he followed me around the mall (that was 1 1/2 - 2 hrs away) on a Sat., and he lugged a sleeping 38 lb little girl for about an hour...greatness.

For dinner Greg took me to our favorite restaurant in Atlanta, The Real Chow Baby. So fabulous. We make everyone that comes to visit us try it. No one has left unsatisfied. It's an Asian stir fry place. You go through the line, fix your own bowls of rice, noodles, veggies, meats, sauces and spices. The cooks cook it for you then bring it to your table. It's all you can eat, so if you mess up your food, you can just go back and try again. Kirsten even ate the stir fry this time, and she liked it.

After we stuffed ourselves to the point of almost not fitting in our seatbelts we headed home. At home Greg had rented The Social Network from Redbox for me. I've been wanting to see that forever, and as part of our "cutbacks" we stopped our Netflix. I haven't watched a movie since February, and there's been tons of releases since then. The gesture was grand, but I fell asleep during the movie....long day.

Sunday Morning, Mother's Day, I was served my coffee and MOMosa in bed. Greg and I sit up in the bed on Sunday mornings and watch Charles Stanley on tv. I know, we're dorks, but he's really good for a pastor from the previous generation. He obviously opted for that Anger Management While Delivering a Message class in seminary :). When Kirsten woke up, she and Greg gave me my Mother's Day present....a Coach purse. Sorry, a PINK Coach purse. I was so proud of Greg. Kirsten said, "Mommy look, it's pink!" Love her. After getting ready the four of us went to church. The four of us being Kirsten, Greg, Me and my purse. We had a great message at church about family conflict, spiritual warfare and strongholds. Quite appropriate for Mother's Day, wouldn't you agree?




After church, I exercised my right to forgo lunch since I was still stuffed from The Real Chow Baby dinner, and I couldn't wait on my surprise Greg had for me. We pulled up at The Avenues and I thought for sure he had scheduled us to take one of those awkward family portraits with the backgrounds from the 70's and everyone seems to be sitting in front of each other. I was pleased, no I was ecstatic, to find out he had scheduled Kirsten and me appointments at Parisians. We were both going to get mani/pedi's. Kirsten walked right up to the wall of colors and chose her color right off and I chose lavender for me. She was all about this until she saw the pedicure chair and foot bath, then she freaked out. So, I opted for the hour long pedicure with some fancy sounding scrub and oil treatment. I haven't had a pedicure in years, and it was due time. I love my man. I do wish Kirsten would have joined in the fun, but I think she was just tired from Sat.

After my fabulous pedicure, we headed to Atlantic Station for ice cream. Cold Stone was packed, but it was a beautiful day to stroll around Atlantic Station. I love the atmosphere there. After the ice cream we went on another goose chase for some cupcakes Greg likes and he wanted to get for me. They were closing when we finally got there, and only had coconut left. I am not a coconut fan so I'll have to go back when they have a larger selection. For dinner, Greg grilled steaks. I sat on the couch while he cooked and propped my pedicured feet up. It was a great great day. Can't wait to honor my man for Father's Day for all his hard work.