You know you're getting old when . . .

a day at Play by Play leaves you bruised and battered. Warning-The following pictures are fuzzy because they're from my camera phone.

Saturday morning Jeremy and I braved the harsh thunderstorms to take Emma and our 4 year old nephew Holton to Play by Play. This place is absolute nirvana for kids. There are old school arcade games (whack-a-mole anyone?) and a giant 3 story maze of tunnels, tubes, ropes, and slides. I love going to Play by Play because it wears kids OUT with minimal effort on my part! Unfortunately for me this was not one of those days where I could kick back and watch.

Holton was running through the maze like a lab rat on crack (absolutely hilarious) and Emma desperately wanted to keep up with "my Ho-Too" (Emma speak for Holton) but the maze is still a little advanced for her. So being the good mommy that I am I went in with her to help her through. That thing was not created with adults in mind! Holton was zipping through the tunnels and scaling the rope ladders in record time. I was crawling through tubes (luckily not getting stuck) and helping Emma along as well. Not the easiest thing in the world and I have the bruises and plastic burn marks to prove it. Jeremy and I traded off occasionally, he would keep pace with Emma and I would try to keep up with Holton and then we would switch. Mainly because the person trying to keep pace with Holton would be huffing and puffing after about 20 minutes! After a while though Emma got tired of the maze and spent a long time playing with the arcade games. She didn't care if they were working or not which was great.

After Play by Play we took the kids to lunch and scoped out a new sporting goods store in Hot Springs, Dick's Sporting Goods. I'd never heard of it and I wasn't all that impressed. I like Academy Sports much better. But while we were there the cutest thing happened. Holton is at the very mature age of 4 and insists on being treated like a big boy. So very rarely do you get blantant displays of affection like hand holding, hugs, and especially not kisses, but I was lucky on Saturday. While we were at Dick's (really? who thought of this name?) Holton was looking at big boy bikes, aka no training wheels, and he grabbed by hand and gave me the most precious smile and said "Stephanie, when I get bigger can we come and get me this bike? It's really nice." Can you see SUCKER stamped across my forehead? Guess I'm gonna owe him a bike in a year or so! The second time he grabbed my hand and gave me the look was when we were at Chick-fil-a and he wanted to play in the play room. I was a good aunt, I made him eat his lunch first, but then of course he got to play some more. He's a very smart little boy. I'm proud of his mad manipulative skills.

After our big outing to Hot Springs we stopped by Trendy to see my sis-in-law Brittany and so I could shop her fabulous Anniversary Sale. Shameless plug I know. Brittany opened up an accessories store in Malvern a little over a year ago and I have benefit tremendously from this. Check out my sweet new handbag-just in time for fall! Don't you just LOVE it? Jeremy, being your typical man, just couldn't understand why I would need another purse. "I've had the same wallet for 10 years." Whose fault is that? I informed him in my most can't-argue-with-this-logic-voice that since having his child I can no longer shop for clothes like I used to. The only foolproof items I can purchase that will always look good on me are handbags, shoes, and jewelry. So just zip it already! Ha!

Speaking of Emma and digressing into left over baby weight, I started my Jillian Michaels workouts again after about a two month hiatus due to pure craziness at work and home. So on top of the bruises from Play by Play I'm also creaking around like an old woman. Hopefully I'll get accustomed to the workouts again soon because it is pure agony to sit down in my chair!