On Friday, July 11, 2008 Sarah challenged Steve to the ULTIMATE THROWDOWN! 

The Challenge:  Steve was to have the girls for the first time OVERNIGHT and two days by himself. 

The Risk:  Whether he would survive 2 full days by himself without collapsing, dying, or develping severe head spasms  from the severe mental breakdown Sarah was determined he would go through...

Steve's Prior Experience:  Although, he has been a great Dad for over 4 years now, he has never risen up to the Challenge of "Mr.Mom" for an extended period of time.  Would Steve FINALLY understand why dinner is never on the table right at 5 or why the house is never clean? 

Sarah's Thoughts:  Can Steve do this?  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  He is not going to know poop from chocolate by the time I get home....He will be so tired. 

WOULD STEVE ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE??????

"BRING IT ON!!"  Was Steve's reply.

At 11:45am Friday Morning---LET THE THROWDOWN BEGIN!!

THE JUDGES:

Now come on?  These girls are MOMMA'S girls.  They are going to ask for me ALLLLL weekend.  Steve is TOAST! 

Friday: 3pm-- Sarah called to check in.  Both girls didn't take good naps.  HA!  My plan is working.  FINALLY, a husband who will understand WHY I can be so grumpy when I don't even get to pee by myself during the day.  Still Steve seems to be in relatively good spirits.  He just doesn't want me to hear the nervousness in his voice.  He knows he is in for a big challenge.

Friday:7pm - Sarah is sitting at the Women of Faith Conference in Washington D.C.  Her phone rings.  Steve.  HA.  Sarah could not answer.  Finds out it was her daughter Reese.  Sarah is sure Reese is calling because she is SOOOOOOO HOMESICK for her.  Sarah smiles the rest of the night.

Friday: 10pm:  Sarah listens to the voicemail.  Reese just wants Mom to buy her a new Bible.  No, "I miss you" or "I love you."  Just more "I WANT..I WANT...I WANT..."  Hmmm......

Saturday: 9am - Steve calls to tell me he is taking the girls to Richmond to go shopping by himself.  WHAT??  Sarah's plan is backfiring.  He is crazy....but Sarah is still sure she will win.  What an idiot to think He can do this by himself.  Sarah talks to Finley.  She says, "momma," but then hangs up on her?!?!  WHAT?!?

Is Daddy having a negative effect already towards MOMMA'S Girl??

Saturday, 5pm: Sarah calls to let Steve know she is on her way home,  knowing that he will be so relieved.  Steve answers the phone...laughing as if he is having a jolly old time.  I hear Reese and Finley in the background.  They are making sounds like a CHOO CHOO train since they rode on all afternoon at the Shopping Center.  Then I heard them talk all about some kids show they also went to that afternoon....Steve goes on to tell me both girls and him are making cookies.  WHAT???  I wouldn't trust Finley near any powder type substance for fear she would inhale it like cocaine or roll in it like meatball going for a dip in the frying pan.  What a mess!  Sarah quickly tells Steve, "Let me talk to Reese." 

Reese:  Hey Mom!

Sarah:  Hey Baby!  Do you miss Mommy??

Reese:  No...I am having WAY too much fun with Daddy!!

Sarah's heart breaks.  She feels her victory slipping right through the cracks of Finley's butt cheeks. 

9pm-Saturday:  Sarah walks through the door of the house.  Still holding on to hope that the house will be going up in flames without MAMA there.  As she walked in the door...not even a speck of dust revealed.  The house was spotless...emalucate.....  Sarah, with the competitive nature that she has, went straight to the toys.  Starting jumping up and down and screaming.  Reverting to a 1 year old felt quite necessary for her.  She scattered the toys all over the living room in her fit of rage and destroyed the "perfect" house.  Then she settled down, turned back into a 28 year old and went a ate a cookie baked from that day.

THROWDOWN OVER:  WHO DO THE JUDGES SAY WON?

"DEFINITELY DADDY!!!"

Ok ok....my hats go off to Steve.  He did do a great job.  He did admit that he was extremely tired and could not do it a few days in a row.

I took a fun picture of Reese.  The sky was so pretty tonight

Last week, Steve was gone for work.  It is always stressful for him being gone and it is stressful for me being a "single" mom for a week.  Friday he decided to come home a few hours early because he wasn't feeling very good.  He thought he had a fever, chills, sore throat.  When we got home he was complaining that part of his scalp hurt.  I looked at it and it looked like he had gotten bit by something.  It continued to get worse...and it became very painful.  Thinking it was a bug or something from staying in Hotel rooms all week, we decided to go on with our weekend plans.  Steve's parents came into town to watch the girls while we took a "day trip" together.  We were able to go to Colonial Williamsburg.  Since we live among so much history, I decided I need to take more advantage of where we live since we don't know how long we will be here.  We had a nice day together...it was what we needed.  To be among no children.  We actually got to hold a conversation without being interrupted.  Then we headed back to VA Beach because Steve had a dinner for work there.  He was nominated as one of 4  top Sales Managers in the state.  I was so proud of him  At the dinner, they had an illusionist as the entertainment...and guess what...I got called onto the stage in front of like 300 people.  E.M.B.A.R.R.A.S.S.I.N.G.  Last time I wore that same dress in Hawaii, I got called up on stage to do a dance.  I decided I am NEVER wearing that dress AGAIN.  On our way home, Steve started not feeling good again.  By Sunday, you could see his lymp nodes in his neck popping through his skin....they were so swollen.  And the spot on his scalp had turned from gross bug bite to DISGUSTING what in the H*** is it?    After looking up numerous different kinds of bug bites--everything from what lyme disease looks like to bed bug bites, we decided he needed to go to the Dr.  The next day he went and found out that he has SHINGLES!!  Not only does he have it on his scalp...he has it on and around his eye, his eyelid (one of the most painful places to have it!), his back, and his leg.  So today, a couple more spots showed up...but they weren't the shingles rash...it was actual chicken pox!!  This could be an interesting couple of weeks.

Not only do I have to deal with a husband who is in a lot of pain, but I got woken up quite a bit last night from Reese.  She was complaining of a stomachache.  Turns out after we got back from gymnastics today, she was running a fever.  I have looked for spots on her, but she doesn't have any.  I think it is just a virus that she got from our neighbor's little girl.  Who knows though.  Finley hasn't acted like she feels good either.  She has been incredibly fussy and has a runny nose like Reese.  I am just hoping they don't get the chickenpox.  They have been vaccinated, but we have heard that since the vaccine is so new, they don't know how it reacts when one is exposed to shingles.  GREAT.  Just what I want to deal with...a 16 month old and 4 year old miserable and itching.  So please pray that no one else gets sick from this. 

This all hit at a bad time.  Tomorrow is Steve's Birthday (poor guy!) and I had some fun stuff planned for us that will most likely be cancelled Plus, he has so spend his birthday miserable! Then on Thursday, my brother and sis-in-law from PA were going to spend the 4th with us.  I was SUPER excited to see them and have family in for the 4th.  Plus they are our best friends and we haven't seen them forever.  But..since they have 3 kids, including a 10 month old, they decided it would be best not to expose them to this nasty stuff.  So I am incredibly bummed.... 

Well, I will end this incredibly uplifting  post with a bunch of pictures...

Last week Reese wanted to take some pictures with me..

Then she wanted to make silly faces...Lovely..huh?

The only picture Steve and I took at Colonial Williamsburg...we are really originial, aren't we?

Here is the cake I made for Steve's birthday tomorrow...it is definitely not perfect, but he did like it..

Sorry for the mess in the kitchen...I am not a clean baker..I would not fare well on The Next Foodnetwork Star

Steve taking a drink out of his BIG Starbucks cake....(this is his good side.. not shingles/chickenpox side...)

I will try to update more and let you all know how Steve and the girls are faring...

Introducing...Miss June 2008-Finley Grace.  She looks a little like Pebbles...:)  I can't get her to stand still for any pictures so they all look blurry.  But let me tell you...she looks ADORABLE in the suit...and thinks she is pretty big stuff in it too.

It has been awhile since I have posted.  Things have been crazy around here.  Preschool has ended and summer has come in like a fierce storm.  Today and tomorrow it is supposed to be close to 100 actual temp.  AHH...and summer is going to be a busy one for us.  Both girls are in gymnastics.  Finley LOVES it and of course needs to be in the center of attention.  As we are sitting on the mats in gymnastics, all the other little ones are sitting on their mommy's lap....of course Finley needs to go around socializing with everyone and making sure she figures out the balance beam and the obstacle course mats right away.  Then the music starts...all the other little kids watch their Mommy shake the bells and sing....not Finley.  She stands in the middle of the circle in the middle of the mat and starts singing one syllable (AAAAAA) and one note at the top of her lungs while dancing something similar to Michael Jackson's Thriller video.  Of course all the other Mom's are staring at me as if they are saying, "What in the world is your child doing?  Why is she out of control? and I sure hope you didn't teach her that?"  Instead of being utterly embarrassed, I just gazed at my child with pride.  "Yes...my child actually has MOVES!!!"  She must of got that from WAY down the genetic line because neither Stever nor I have a lick of rhythm.  I am looking forward to every week.  Reese has a blast too and is first to obey the teachers and try something new.

Memorial Day Weekend we went up to Hershey and took the girls to Hershey Park.  Reese rode an "adult" roller coaster!!  I despise amusement parks and riding roller coasters.  Much to Steve's disappointment, I get very sick on many rides and do not enjoy the thrill of a roller coaster.  Since Reese and I's personalities are a lot a like, I didn't think she would fare too well on the TrailBlazer, but Daddy took her anyway.  About 20 min. later and a huge smile on her face, she runs towards me telling me she rode it 3 times!!  And she wanted me to ride it.....

Oh crap.  My 4 year old daughter is going to see a moment of weakness.  I was not going to let her see I was scared, so I agreed.  We stood in line and I was visiblly nervous.  Reese, my FOUR year old daughter kept telling me, "Mom...it is not that bad.  Don't be nervous!"  Granted, she couldn't even see over the car, but I told myself to BUCK UP.  If my 4 year old isn't scared, I need not be.  I grudgingly got on the ride...and survived.  Reese went 2 more times after that.

They LOVE anything dressed in costume.

I will have to update more later on what is going on in our lives.  But I leave you with a precious picture of my girls.  They love to be together, and it melts my heart.  Oh, this pictures tells of time to come in about 13 years...