Twins...Twice??

Is it a sign that you're good friends when you dress alike not once...

...but TWICE within a week's period of time??

Goodbye Old Friend

There are things in our life that just get better with age...a bottle of wine, marriage, a pair of jeans...

a cell phone...

Adam has had this trusty Samsung since 2006.  It's outlived three of my cell phones and is still going strong!  For years I've tried to entice Adam to upgrade to a more current model...and for years he's refused, saying that it still works fine.  If it ain't broke, right??

So the years have passed and Adam continues to rock the flip phone...

...until today.  Today he and his Samsung flip had to say "goodbye."  He was finally ready to upgrade to something more "of the times."  I think the tipping point was the scratch on the screen that irritated his cheek.

So, as faithful Dave Ramsey followers, we started saving for new cell phones a few months ago.  We had a "cell phone fund."   We finally reached our saving goal and eagerly planned our outing to make our purchases.  (I, too, was going to get a new phone but was much more excited about the rite of passage that Adam was about to take.)

Excitement filled the air as we entered the store, greeted by eager customer service representatives ready to make a sale.  We browsed, we hemmed, we discussed and we bought.

And now, I am pleased to announce, that Adam is the proud owner of a brand spankin' new...

...Iphone! 

He thanks you all for your love and support during this transition in his life.  He is sad to let his old friend go but is thrilled at the relationship he will form with his new one. 

Welcome to the wonderful world of wi-fi, weather updates and Words with Friends Adam!  It's app-solutely amazing! =)

Intern Outings

A few weeks ago, we stayed in Jackson for a weekend to spend some time with the other interns that Adam works with.

Adam works with Maria, Cathy, and Christina.  They are all married but only one of the spouses lives here in Jackson.  Everyone else is "commuting" like Adam and I are for the year.  This particular weekend, all spouses/families were going to be in town visiting so it was an opportune time to get together and meet everyone.

The weekend began with a little Girls Night Out for margaritas.  It was great to get out and even greater to get to spend some time with the girls who look after my man during the week!

We woke up to beautiful weather on Saturday with highs in the 70s.  So after naps, we headed out to a nearby park to play and to meet Christina's daughter, Katherine.  Katherine and Thomas had fun playing together at the park.  The playground area was covered with sand and a lot of their time was spent digging in the dirt...

...which provided for a fun clean-up!

There was also some swinging...

...and some soaking up of the gorgeous, spring-like weather!

After the park, we moved the party over to Cathy and Christina's apartment for dinner.  Thomas and Katherine had a ball, complete with new toys and a movie!



they both requested wipes while watching their movie...a replacement for popcorn??

an attempt at a pic of the new friends

are we shying away, Thomas??

The grown-ups had fun with good food, good wine and great stories!

we laugh at this picture...it looks like Adam with all of his followers!

 Evan had a great time as well...

 ...he was the life of the party!

We had such a good time getting to meet everyone!  Hopefully we'll get to do it again before the year's over!

*thanks Cathy for letting me steal some of your pics of the weekend =)*

Love, Love, Love!

Love...

Love...

Love...

All you need is love!...

...and some fun Valentine's treats of course!

We got the creative, economical juices a-flowin' this year for our Valentine's Day celebration.  We spelled out the letters to L.O.V.E and we each chose a letter.  Your gift or gifts needed to all start with the letter that you chose.

Adam, Thomas and Evan's finished products...

Adam picked the letter E.  His gift consisted of an ESPN magazine, a picture of Evan on an easel for his office, and some Extra sugarfree gum.

Evan "picked" the letter L.  His gift consisted of a toy lion, a light-up tiger toy and a little book.

Thomas picked the letter V.  His gift consisted of a pack of Valentine Hot Wheels vehicles, a Valentine book and Valentine candy.  Yeah, I used Valentine a lot in his gift...

He was very excited about his cars.  Wasn't too interested in the other gifts...

We had pasta for dinner in heart-shaped bowls.  My original idea was to find some heart-shaped pasta.  That wasn't successful but I did find some pasta with red noodles in it to add to the festivity.

I chose the letter O for my gifts.  I was impressed with Adam's creativity...I must be rubbing off on him!  Along with two sweet cards from him and my two little boys, I got a bag of only chocolate Hershey kisses, Oil of Olay face wash and a shower organizer.

After dinner, we went out to get some ice cream at this great place we found in Brandon.  It's called Bops and they serve frozen custard.  It was thoroughly enjoyed by all!

ice cream and wine...what more could one want??

I think out of all of us, Evan was the most excited!

It was a great day spent with the ones we love most!

XOXO, The Blanchers

Two Months

And the time continues to fly by!

Evan is two months old...

...and he's huge!  He could pass for a five month old...I actually compared him to a six month old yesterday at church and he looked like he was the same size as she was.  We're growing some linebackers!

 His cheeks are huge too...and I could eat them up!  I LOVE his chubby little cheeks...very kissable =).

Thomas loves his little brother. It's so precious to see him genuinely interested in Evan and what he's doing. He'll walk into the living room after his nap and immediately ask "Where baby Evan?" He has to give Evan a hug before he goes down for a nap or goes to bed at night. Evan just takes it all in stride. I'm excited to

see their relationship develop as they both grow older.

Along with loving baby brother, Thomas also likes Evan to help test out his toys...

He's growing so fast.  It's amazing how quickly they change in the first few months.  It's so easy to forget this from child to child.  Capturing little details like sweet baby feet and hands help me remember these precious times.

Evan's tolerance for tummy time is pretty good.  He'll stay on his tummy for awhile before either turning over on his back or letting us know that he's ready for tummy time to end =).  He's very strong.  He's got a strong kick and will push his legs off of your lap like he's ready to jump off...I know Adam's keeping his fingers crossed that we'll have little soccer player boys running around!

He really seems to enjoy being around people.  He's very content laying on his play gym as long as someone's sitting next to him.  He still loves to be held.

He's started smiling and cooing.  I love watching his expressions develop.  His gaze is much more focused on people's faces.  He will lock eyes with you and study your eyes. 

He's eating great and is sleeping great too!  He generally goes between four and five hours between feedings at night and is still eating every three hours during the day.  He continues to have a generally happy disposition and is such a joy to have around.  We're heading to the doctor this week to see how much he weighs now (I'm guessing 13 lbs!) and to get our first round of shots.

Time is flying by but I'm loving every minute I'm spending with this wonderful little boy. 

We love you Evan!  Happy two months!

Rebekah's Recipe Challenge: Final Thoughts

It was a lot of fun trying out all of these recipes this week!  All of the recipes were a hit with my family.  We'll definitely be adding these recipes to our dinner "rotation."  Each recipe was simple to make, utilized good ingredients that we often had on-hand, and was well-received by a 2 1/2 year old who has the tendency to be quite picky! 

Thanks, Rebekah, for all of the great ideas!  We give all your recipes a big two-thumbs up!