The Rundown

I don't like it when I go almost 2 weeks without blogging.  You can bet that when that happens, it is not for lack of blog fodder.  We have been ridiculously busy around here.  So here we go:

1. Emily's 18th birthday.  We celebrated Emily's birthday twice this year.  On Saturday night we went to her favorite restaurant, J. Peter's, with Grayson, Allen, and Kelli.  It was really yummy and worth the wait (Note: Don't try going to J.Peter's on a Friday or Saturday night unless you have had a snack and are prepared to wait.). 

On Sunday night after church, Emily's brother, Andrew, and some friends planned a surprise party for her at her house.  Emily cried upon realizing what was happening (such a tender-hearted young'un), but was soon wearing a big smile as we ate pizza, looked at gifts, and of course, showed everyone how she and I dominate on the The Michael Jackson Experience Wii game.

2. Valentine's Day. We normally don't do anything really special on Valentine's Day.  In fact we could not remember the last time we actually went out on V-day.  Well this year, my best friend from way back, Carolyn, invited us to hang with her and her husband, Paul, this year.  We at dinner at Outback and then got some TCBY.  It was simple, but so fun.  We never have a problem finding a topic of conversation with these two. You know the friends, the ones you can immediately fall back into conversation with even though you haven't seen each other in months.  The best part of the night was trying to take pictures in the parking lot by ourselves. 

 We finally got this shot on our 3rd try with the timer.

 And that's the real us...what a crew.

3. Baby registries.  I started a baby registry online when we were snowed in for an entire week.  I have since then been to 3 different stores trying to figure out what to keep, what to add, and what to delete.  The best part about going to the stores, however, is the goody bag that you get.  The first actual store I went to (so I could actually put hands on all the stuff I had chosen online) was Babies R Us.  You get a little ditty bag, a small pack of wipes, a diaper, and some coupons.  Not bad.

At Buy Buy Baby, however, you get a full-size bottle of lotion (not the largest bottle, but not the travel size), a bib, 2 magazines, a Mam pacifier, lots of coupons, some cream, and a free sample of a wipe that gets rid of germs.  Um, Buy Buy Baby, you just kicked Babies R Us' rear!  And I must say I really like the amount of choices they have and the abundance of help that is never hard to find.

Then there's Target.  You get a ton of free stuff all inside a cute reusable shopping bag.  They probably had the best coupons, although they all expired at the end of February so I had to go ahead and use them.  They did have the best gift of all: a $20 Shutterfly gift card that doesn't expire until June.  So let's all pray that we have a baby before June so I can make a cute little book about him/her with my gift card. 

 Note: I know that 3 registries is absolutely crazy, but I will address that in another post and hopefully get some feedback from you guys.

4. A New Job.  Don't get too excited.  It's not a complete change.  Jeff and I have been talking about how next year would look for us.  Being a public school teacher, I cannot give a 2-week notice when we get the phone call that Little One is here and then bolt.  It has been decided that I will not be teaching full-time next year, whether Little One is here or not.  We have prayed, crunched the numbers, looked at many options, and reached our decision.  In the meantime, I am trying to work as much as possible so I have picked up a part-time job after school 3 days a week.  I am teaching in an afterschool program at our school that is funded through Clemson.  It has made for a super long week this week because of all of the extra evening events we had planned.  However, when that money comes in, it is going straight to the ole savings account so hopefully Jeff and I will be able to buy something decent to eat next year and not have to live on water and Ramen noodles. 

5. Alexis' 18th birthday.  Yes, we had another birthday to celebrate this week.  I, of course, didn't bring my camera because by Tuesday evening I had already work 20+ hours outside of my house (see #4).  Anyhoo, we went to eat at Sumo's and had a great time the big ole fam.  Jeff got some of their sushi, and I even tried a piece.  We decided that we need to double date with Alexis and her boyfriend, Blake, because they both like sushi and Alexis and I could take it or leave it. 

6. Gifts.  Back to Valentine's Day...Let's face it, the only thing Jeff and I really want right now is a baby.  Our gift-giving has become much more toned-down and more practical.  I told Jeff that for Valentine's Day, I really wanted to figure out how to hook our laptop up to our TV (because we watch most programs online) and I wanted to get a wireless keyboard and mouse so we wouldn't have to pull the laptop out all of the time.  Well, if you read the last post, you know we are not on the cutting edge of technology.  We still have an old TV, not a flat screen, so we were not able to do that.  Instead, we each picked out a Wii game and bought another controller.  Anyone who wants to come over and challenge me to a dancing duel, you're on!  

 My game.  Jeff picked out a James Bond game for himself. 

Our electric blue controller