2 for 1

 We packed in a lot of excitement in two days.

On Saturday we headed out early to get to Denver, NC where my parents live. We met up with my sister and her family and my brother and his family along with my parents to eat lunch for Laney's birthday (1/23). Evey did great riding in the car. She took a little cat nap so that she could keep up with all the festivities.

She was super hungry when we got to the restaurant and so I gave her a nutrigrain bar while the rest of us ate chips and salsa. She ate it up in a heartbeat. Once our food came out I gave her some chicken and zucchini and rice. She LOVED it. Thankfully we have been to restaurants with her before so the noisy atmosphere doesn't bother her as much anymore. She does act like a typical toddler when it comes to not wanting to stay in the high chair for a long period of time. I ended up getting her out to be held by her PatPat. Laney didn't want to be sung to but it was too late to tell them and they brought out the sombrero hat. We sang and then each kid tried out the hat. It was a fun time had by all. 

We then went back to my parent's house and enjoyed some cake and icecream and opened up presents. Evey slept through it all and woke up in time to see what all Laney got for her birthday. Evey was able to play with some new toys that PatPat kept from Laney's and all the other grandbabies' days. She tried baked ziti for the first time and ate some sugar wafers for dessert. She LOVED the sugar wafers! After we ate, she was able to play for a while until everyone was ready for bed. 

Today, we woke up and ate a huge breakfast that JoeJoe likes to cook every time we visit. Evey loved his livermush and ate more of that than she did her eggs. She loved the eggs more this time than she has in the past. I am hoping she will continue to like eating eggs since I haven't tried them with her in awhile. After we ate, we cleaned up, packed and then headed to IKEA.

Joshua and the kids had never experienced IKEA. Laney was in heaven! The boys were into it for a while, but soon Ty lost interest and just wanted to get out of there to eat lunch. Evey ended up falling asleep on me at the end but also got to ride in the buggy and say Hi to people. They had blankets for $1.99 so we got one for each kid. You can't beat that price and you can't have too many blankets especially with these below freezing days we will have for the next few days! Laney got a few things for her room to make it more of a preteen room. It's probably the most relaxing room in the house now. 

Everyone was hungry by the time we left IKEA so we headed over to Jason's deli to eat lunch. Evey tried pasta and didn't like it. She then tried cornbread and LOVED it. The frozen yogurt machine was working so we got some and at first Evey didn't care for it but by the second lick she couldn't stop licking. She got mad when we told her it was all gone. Thankfully everyone else was finished as well and we got everything ready and headed to the car. We said goodbye to PatPat and JoeJoe and got on 85 to head home.

Evey did not sleep on the way home but played happily in her carseat and sang along to the songs we were playing. When we got home we let her watch Ms. Rachel while we unpacked. We got all our IKEA finds out and started putting together the furniture pieces and the lamp. Laney and I started decorating her room with what she got from her birthday and IKEA while Joshua, Evey and the boys hung out downstairs. Evey started getting tired around 5:30 so Joshua got her ready for bed and she fell asleep around 6:00. 

It was a fun filled weekend and I think everyone's joy bucket was filled to the brim. All the kids are sleeping soundly and Laney is finishing up organizing her room. We have tomorrow off to finish getting ready for the week. Thankfully it's another short week and we are still going to pray for snow! 

Be like a bee- hardworking, wise and delicate!