Birthday Celebration

Court was kind enough to turn a year older over the weekend. He's not really a birthday-celebrating-kind-of-guy but when my sister graciously offered up her babysitting skills, the birthday celebration was on!

With Molly in charge, we hit the road for one of our favorite, close-to-home (but not too close) destinations - Walla Walla. We arrived early afternoon with enough time to walk around downtown - which we hadn't done in ages! There were so many new restaurants, wineries and stores! We did stop into a new patisserie and scored big time when we ordered their peach and blackberry pie tart thingy. 

It. Was. So. Good. 

I could have eaten three - before dinner - but we were responsible and split one. 

Why is it SO hard to be good?

Meanwhile, our munchkins were partaking in their own patisserie a la Auntie Molly!

Soon it was time to head for dinner where we sat for over three uninterrupted hours eating and drinking and talking. So fun!

Side note: My track record of mis-hap packing for date nights continues. Remember this? 

Brought my black shoes - but two different shoes.

Doh!

This time I brought a matching pair but for whatever reason, they didn't fit. They were too big...or it was hot and my feet were sweaty and sliding every which way. Either way, they were ill-fitting four inch heels - not a good combo under the best of circumstances.

Ever been out and seen a girl clodding along like a linebacker in high heels, than you know exactly what I was up to on Saturday night. If I tried to walk on my toes, my heels would slip out and I'd trip. If I walked heel first, my stride and balance were all off making me look a grizzly bear prancing in a circus. Not pretty.

I didn't get up to go to the bathroom until the end of dinner and only because I thought I was going to explode. The thought that I could potentially tumble in the middle of a restaurant in my mid-30s because I didn't 'test run' my heels was enough to risk an even more humiliating accident. Luckily, that is why God made alcohol!

Regardless of my ongoing inability to appropriately dress my self far into adulthood, we had a great time! In the morning, we hit the breakfast buffet and then made our way back home. Short but sweet!

It's amazing how long you yearn for some quiet, peaceful time away. But when it finally happens, it somehow doesn't feel as glorious as you anticipated. Don't get me wrong, there is some gloriousness - it's just short lived. Before you know it, the clock starts ticking - counting down the time until you get to come home - and you can't wait!

Happy birthday Court!

Um...You Won't Believe This....AGAIN!!

I slept in this morning. To 7:30! It felt like 10 am after waking up before the sun more times than not this past week. Truth be told, I woke up more groggy today! Maybe I just felt more groggy because Court was awake too and firing off questions before I'd had a chance to drink my coffee. (The good thing about an early wake up? -You have lots of time to wake up - in silence! haha!!)

Grace and Charlotte woke up just minutes later and we were getting ready to have "family breakfast!" Family breakfasts are special because they mean three things: 1) Daddy is not working, 2) We are all at home and 3) DONUTS!!! It's Court's special treat with the girls. He takes them to the store, let's them pick out whatever they want...so you can imagine how excited Grace was!

On my second sip of coffee, I heard the flapping of wings. Immediately, I thought Kiwi had flown 'the coop' and had landed somewhere in the living room. When I looked in the direction of the sound, I could tell by the look on Grace's face that it was not Kiwi!

I ran out to the living room and there on the floor was a DUCK!! As soon as I saw the duck, Lucky, our fierce, fluff ball of a dog, saw it too. At that point, I screamed because that's all we need is a duck death in our living room - in front of our girls!

Court, hearing me scream, ran out from wherever he was on level 10,000 on a scale of 1-10. Grace and Charlotte ran into our bedroom as Court and I tried to get the dogs. The dogs, of course, wouldn't listen, so Court ended up grabbing Lindey and launching her in my direction. At this point, he still didn't know why we were all panicking so his adrenaline gave him Herculean strength. I think he thought it was the owl again!

Only after the girls and the dogs were safely nestled in the back bedroom did he figure out it was just a duck! But seriously!?!?!? A duck? In our house? 

Look in the way back...the duck is in the fireplace.

We think that is how he got in. 

Rest assured, he was safely released. Court has had practice at this sorta thing! haha!!

Regardless, what is with all of feathered friends getting into our house?

Whoever lives in this house next is going to be in for all sorts of surprises!!

All Sorts of "ER-xcitement"

Like I've said before, summer = harvest around here. So things are a bit busy. Especially for Court. He hasn't had a day off since June. Nope not one! Not a Saturday. Not a Sunday. Not a half day. Nothin'.
So yo can imagine how excite he was - WE BOTH WERE - when he discovered he was going to get this past Monday off. Whopeee!!!

To celebrate 24 hours of life free from work, we hopped in the car on Sunday and headed over to Seattle.

The plan? Court was going to squeeze in as much time with his girls as humanly possible. Swims! Walks! Bike rides! You name it! But come dinner time Monday it was going to be just me and Court...and some steaks....followed by a "Little Big Town" concert. Believe me when I say we were not only excited but our mouths were watering. Operation Butterball punishes effects both me AND Court as there is nothing remotely good to eat in the house - ever. So some steaks, drinks and desserts were not only going to taste REAL good, they were probably going to go down a little too easy. Regardless, it was going to be fun and tasty.

Nana was in tow...we weren't leaving home without a babysitter! She was charged with watching the girls while we dined, drank a little too much and sported our cowboy hats in downtown Seattle for the show!

Sunday went off without a hitch. Seattle was gorgeous. Sunny. Warm. Did I mention sunny? The girls slept in the car. We had lunch. We went swimming. We made dinner. We got both girls down to bed before 8 pm - IN THE SAME ROOM!! Which left ample time to drink wine and watch a movie. (Note: We watched 'Something Borrowed' - Good-tearjerky chick flick with a twist at the end that I didn't see coming and I still don't know how I feel about it. I recommend as a rental.) It was a great day!

Next stop on this little story-telling adventure: 3:30 am. Charlotte woke up and I gave her a bottle. Court got up too to get a drink of water. We both went back to bed within 15 minutes and quickly made our way back to dreamland.

Fifteen minutes later, I awoke to Court writhing in agony. I figured he was having a Charlie horse. But when he started shaking like he was being electrocuted I knew something was wrong. The pain - which he described as a thunderbolt of electricity - traveled from the base of his skull down his left shoulder but not into his arm. He kept saying that something was wrong with the nerves in his neck. His feet and hands all worked fine but he couldn't move. It was much too painful.

Immediately, my mind jumped to worst case scenarios. Heart attack. Paralysis. Aneurysm. To me, it wasn't a question of whether or not we should go to the emergency room it was I don't think we can get to the emergency room fast enough.

Court on the other hand thought we should wait. That the pain would eventually go away. We endured what seemed like electrocution every minute or so for an hour when I finally began calling every medical professional in our family. They all concurred. He needed to go to the emergency room.

We got dressed, out the door and eventually made it to the ER - which could be an entire blog entry in and of itself if I didn't know Grace was about to wake up from her nap any second. (Tip: It is helpful to know where the nearest emergency room is BEFORE there is an actual emergency.)

The silver lining in this whole ordeal. There was no one seeking treatment at 6 am on Monday and we were able to get in, get out and get home before the kids woke up! Ohhh!! And Court was ok! That was also great news!

He was diagnosed with a severe muscle spasm which sounds like a more intense charlie horse if you ask me. But seeing it with my own eyes - not even experiencing it for myself - I think it needs a name more like the-most-excruciating-pain-outside-child-birth-and-passing-kidney-stones-a-human-being-can-endure. You know - something very medical-y and technical. Hmmm...maybe it needs some latin thrown in the name for good measure...

Anyway,  he was given some medication and sent home to rest and relax. It was going to take a while - as in days - for the pain to subside. Dinner and the concert were clearly out of the question. So the poor guy spent his one and only day off in the ER. Not exactly the drunken food frenzy we had been envisioning but grateful (oh so VERY grateful) that it wasn't anything more serious.