Join the Mureens

• Wed - the kids and I "ran" to Waco so my orthodontist could make a new retainer (I had had that retainer since 8th grade...so for like 16ish years and I just feel like I need it); I also went by the house I grew up in and it was for sale and I asked Jon if we could buy it and he said, "No," so I asked my parents if they would buy it back and they said, "No." Waco did feel more "hick" than I remember it being when I lived there...maybe b/c I ate at Uncle Dan's for lunch. Wednesday night I had my last Philippians Bible Study with my girlfriends from church and oh I will miss it...I LOVE those girls!!!



My house for sale in Waco







• Thurs - we had a fun playgroup here and Sarah brought some Lightning McQueen goodies for J.R. that Zac had out-grown...I can't WAIT to give them to him for his birthday :)






• Fri - we went to a Mom and Tots dance class and then a play group at our neighbor's after naps...I've discovered a new neighbor named Melissa I LOVE with kids near my kids ages...so excited b/c she's just down our alley






• Sat - Anna Kate and I went to a birthday party together and I thought, "Is it weird for her to get so much attention from me in public?" b/c usually when we're out I'm chasing J.R. or nursing Caroline and Anna Kate just has to fend for herself being the oldest; Sat night one of Jon's friends from law school stayed with us and took us to a yummy mexican restaurant for dinner which was a huge treat - thanks Reed!






• Sunday - we celebrated Sugar's birthday at Luby's after church and Abby came up to treat us all and it was so fun...




Anna Kate and J.R. are quite the dynamic duo...Anna Kate has never met a stranger and J.R. follows her around and flashes his one-dimple smile and together they make all kinds of new friends...peppermints and balloons are welcome bonuses :)




• Mon - We played with a friend from church who has kids older than mine, she and her kids are so sweet and she's Anna Kate's favorite teacher at church, "Miss Jill," and that was really fun!






• Tues (today) - we went to the Beth Moore Bible Study this morning and then to Chick-fil-a since Libby, Carrie and I all agreed that the spraypark is WAY more trouble than it's worth...but as it turns out, Chick-fil-a was a disaster b/c the play area was over-run with these big (6 or 7 year olds?) bullies that BEAT UP J.R. and TERRIFIED Anna Kate with their yelling and pushing...Ronnie put it best, "There are some bad kids in there." So all our kids came out one-by-one in tears...

• I told her she couldn't watch tv and she said, "It's ok mom, J.R. said I could do it."
• "I love this dinner mommy. It is so yummy! Thank you for making it for me mommy."
• "I love it when you dance ballet with me mommy." (after I did a mom and tots dance class with Anna Kate and J.R. while Caroline watched from her carrier...J.R. was thoroughly unamused by dancing and walked around with his cars the whole time)
• "Zac told me that Jillian told him she is marrying him. I'll just have to wait my turn. Maybe I'll marry J.R. while I'm waiting. You can have 5 kids mom, J.R. and I will have 7, and Caroline can have 18 kids. Actually, I think I want to marry Trey now."

The easiest thing to do with 3 young kids is to stay at home...especially with one nursing. I have these 3 hour windows b/w Caroline's feedings to go somewhere, but that's really not long enough considering how long it takes us to get out the door after the 3 hour window has already started b/c it's just hard to get 4 people cute-ified all by myself all at once. And not that I'm opposed to feeding Caroline in public, but it's a difficult thing to do while chasing J.R. :) Timing is just tricky and so getting places on time is tricky (not that it's ever been a huge strength of mine). But I'm beginning to think it might be expensive to stay home because J.R. throws random things away here and there (or flushes them down the toilet)...Jon's razor, my retainer, one of his crocs and our cordless home phone...I digress. But honestly, home is my favorite place to be (especially if it happens to be clean). I love just taking it easy and not having places we have to be...if a playgroup lands in our laps, we're super excited b/c we all LOVE being with other people, but I just don't want a stuffed calendar. Caroline sleeps better during the day if we just stay at home and Anna Kate and J.R. nap better, too, and I feel like just the peace and quiet and not going going going is good for them and makes them more content.

"I'm gonna get you!"

lovin my mullet cut..ha ha - not.

She loves to read her princess stories out loud to herself.

These are the best pancakes!!!

Even I can make decent pancakes now w/ this mix and Anna Kate helps! And the kids love them.

So Anna Kate talks so much and I just love it. Some things she says a lot (at least once every day) are...

• "I love pink and princesses and all those things."
• "I love my WHOLE family...Mommy, Daddy, J.R., Caroline, Ty, Houston."
• "I'm going to be Cinderella when I'm 4 and Sleeping Beauty when I'm 5." (she's talking about Halloween...sometimes she'll throw something random in like, "I'm gonna be an angel when I'm 25," or "I'm gonna be a fairy with I'm 37.")
• "I love Caroline. She's MY sister. She's my best friend."
• "When I was 3 my mommy made me a lamby cake." (for her birthday)
• "My tummy hurts." (usually because she's over pigged-out on a fruit or vegetable she loves or it seems to hurt when she gets tired)
• "I want to wear my jammies." (pronounced "jommies")
• "I'm hot!" (she has hot-flashes! especially when we ask her to clean)
• "I'm not stinky. I don't need a bath or shower."
• "No! I don't want to wear my hair up."
• "We did that when we went camping." (when we went to CO for Family Camp last summer)
• "[Friend name] came over 'yesterday.' " ("yesterday" means any time in the past)
• "I'm getting bigger and one day I'm going to get married when I grow up and be a mommy and have a baby in my tummy...I'll be like the mommy and Zac will be like the daddy." (Zac's mommy said Zac may break some hearts b/c there are several other girls that have "claimed him" as well :)
• "I want to go to Trey's house today."
• "Jesus loves all the children."
• "Jesus made everything." (it's really cute when we go downtown and she says, "Do you know who made those big buildings? God made those big buildings.")
• "I don't want to die." (Her only little worry is about dying or her family dying...like Great Grandma Dot. So we told her you only die when you get very old so she wouldn't worry about it b/c telling her she'd live with Jesus and we'd all be together again did NOT make her feel any better...so now she informs the old people she sees that they will probably die soon...)

When she's not talking her favoite things are dancing "ballet," art projects, watching Disney movies and, of course, being a "mommy" to Caroline and J.R....

Today I started a summer Bible Study on the life of David by Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore and Kay Arthur. So many of my friends are doing it, too, and I'm so excited!! My small group is mostly older ladies, but they are all super sweet and chatty and I love that too!

So afterwards, I accidentally locked my keys in the car. Thankfully no kids were inside b/c it was HOT outside. So Jon had to leave work and come rescue us. BUT my sweet friend Betty waited with us and gave us water and crackers which was a blessing.

Jon's father's day card the kids picked out was very appropriate for the occasion...it says, "Every one needs a hero and I'm so glad you're mine" and it has a picture of Superman :) I'm glad he's mine, too :)

So my sweet friend Amy brought us lunch from McDonalds and we ended up having a spontaneous play-time lunch and so, I'm actually glad it happened the way it did :)

We brought a little friend...

for the wedding of our friends (one of Jon's roommates in college), Scot, and his bride Lindsay...it was a GREAT time!!



Caroline was a doll and had a great time :)

Our sweet friends Danny and Lacy (below) could always make her smile (above) really big :)

Jon went deep sea fishing with all the guys and got REALLY sea-sick...no pictures of that, though :)

Caroline and Mommy on the beach...trying to stay out of the sun...my how that's a change from high school and college where the whole point of going to the beach was to be in the sun.

This is the historic bed and breakfast where every one with the wedding stayed....The First Colony Inn. This is what I guess you'd call the Happy Hour with an open bar before the wedding even started. The weather was gorgeous!!!

And this is the tent for the beautiful reception.

This is where the ceremony took place.

It was a little hard to hear with the waves in the background and these random people were watching the wedding off to the side...some random people walked across the front of the wedding behind the cross in their bikinis DURING the ceremony! I couldn't believe it!

The wedding decor was amazing and the whole thing looked like it could have been in a J.Crew catalogue.

The exit sign in the tent really cracked me up...apparently the fire marshall required it.

Jon and I (aka the milk machine) on the beach...

On the plane ride home we were all VERY tired...on our drive to the airport we stopped at the Shamrock Family Restaurant in Williamston, NC and it had the BEST soul food style vegetables (greens, yams, cabbage, corn, lima beans, etc...) I have EVER eaten!! I sure wish I had their recipes!!!

So Caroline is outgrowing everything including her bassinet...she totally skipped 3-6mo clothes and is wearing 6-9mo right now and she's not even 3 months old! She must have a great milk machine! ;) A little boy said Caroline sure does have big arm muscles :) The only bad thing is that her cute chubby rolls are so deep, especially around her neck, that it's hard to get/keep them clean! When we got home J.R. and Anna Kate spent a couple of days warming back up to us and our wood floors were buckled, but it is so good to be back home safe and sound...as a family :)