Just us Girls

Rarely do Samantha and I get to "get away" for a few hours without the boys.

I always have to be paying waay more attention to Andrew often, because he's so fast and sooo busy/mischevious.. he'll wind up in the ER if left alone too long..ha just kidding, sortof...

 

 

Im pretty big on one on one time with my kids.

So this weekend Samantha and I had 2 events that we spent just us girls.

 

Saturday we went out to the country to visit our cousins.

They have a beautiful log cabin in the woods, and I loved every single thing about it.

They had invited us out to see their baby chicks who had arrived 2 weeks ago.

 

The chicks were adorable.. but I think Andrew would have done some permanent damage had he tagged along.

 

A big ole orange cat.. 

The house is amazing.. and I only took one sadly of the inside.

I could live here..

We hung around with the chicks and then headed outside to see the coop and the bigger chickens and rooster. We peeked inside the coop, and saw todays eggs.. so cool.

I really hope to have our own eggs someday.. and so does Daddy.. We are realizing that we truly do want to live somewhere with a little land.

Our adventure out to the country was so much fun.

Samantha had such a good time, and took a looong nap

 

Sunday, Samantha was invited to Lily's Birthday party.

The theme was Rapunzel, and Maria did a wonderful job.

Look at these cupcakes.. and the TOWER? I die.. right up my alley..

 



Sun and Crown cookies & snacks, and white chocolate covered pretzels with sugar sprinkles.

So yum.. I think SJ ate about 10 of the pretzels.

The party was at a really fun interactive play place.. full of toy stations, dress up clothes, chalkboard and dry erase walls, lego areas, trains, 

We had lunch and then it was time for a craft

right up her alley.. she loves painting.

The birthday girl

I had so much fun with my little "big" girl this weekend.

I look at her face, and I can still get flashbacks of when she was just 10 months old. She still has that same little baby face to me.. Getting bigger by the day, and I love this girl more than words!

Catch Up!

This past weekend I did start thinking about Christmas...

I did a little shopping for it as well.

Im trying to get a jump on things so I dont get overwhelmed.

If I buy a few gifts per week, I hope to get it all done in time.

 

We pulled out Samantha's tree and its all lit up in her room.

She loved decorating it, and she also found our dancing christmas tree and singing Rudolph.

Her and Andrew were having fun with them this week.

 

Andrew finished his ear medicine, but I think he's still in pain.

He's constantly grabbing at his ears, and when he's sleeping (with us) at night.. he is still waking up crying.. Lord will this child ever sleep.. and enjoy it?

I digress...

 

I got to straigten my hair this week.. more than once!

Ahh its the little things.

I've been trying to buy more variety of foods for Andrew.

I really want to start feeding him a lot.

Im feeling like I want to give him the opportunity to wean on his own, Im in no hurry..

But I know once he's 1, I'll be hurrying him along, and eventually cutting him off perhaps like I did with Samantha.. who till I did wean her completely.. didnt sleep to well either.

 

Saturday we had some lovely morning guests!

 

Our dear friend MoMo and Gabrielle from Colorado were in town!

Samantha had such a good time coloring with Grammy and MoMo.

 

 I made the Pioneer Woman's French Breakfast Puffs.

O M G

These are fantastic.

I swear ... I love everything she makes...

Everything...

 

 Samantha loved Gabrielle.

And if Gabrielle lived here.. I would steal her and make her our full time babysitter.. hands down

So sweet and so wonderful with both kids.. I miss you!! Come back!







 

After a little visiting we decided to drive up with them to Niagara Falls.

Andrew slept the entire way up.. thank goodness.



 

After a short cat nap he was all smiles, and enjoying his first time at Niagara Falls.

Samantha had fun running around.. and she insisted upon wearing her large pink tutu to the falls...

 It was a short visit for MoMo and Gabrielle..

We had so much fun with you both!

Come back soon!!

Such a nice weekend!

 

Monday it was back to school for Samantha Jane..

She's doing so much better. She even left Debbie in the hall in her backpack the last 2 days..

She made us some festive artwork

 My Erin Condren life planner came today.. Yeay...

I know I can probably put everything I need to know in my iphone.. but Im old fashioned in the sense that I really like making lists, colorful pens, sticky notes, stickers.. organizing.. and I love all of EC's stuff & designs.. I bought one last year ... and this year I chose a smaller thinner notebook.. and I really like it.

 This picture I snapped today..

Samantha LOVES being a little mama..

Today she wanted to feed him his squash.. so I gladly let her try.

She did so good.. Talking to him like I do.. Its so funny ...

"Okay are you ready for another bite big dude?"

"Oh good job big dude... wow you really like your squash"..

I was peeing my pants.

Its so amazing the dialogue she has with him.

And one final pic of our very big dude whos is having a very monumental week...

 

He's starting to take steps.

Yes.

Every day he's getting a little better

But soon I'll have a walker in the house..

It wont be long now...

Weekend in The Buckeye State

This past weekend we spent at my in-laws in Ohio.

We havent been back since 4th of July.. it was a rough visit back then.

Neither child slept well, or behaved well at all.. But not this time.

They were BOTH amazing.

Then we found ourselves saying "gee, we should have stayed 4-5 days.." But how could we have known!

 We left early Friday morning.

I got a venti starbucks the day before to ensure I'd have what it took to manage both kids on the way...

I was scared! ha!

 

Andrew took two naps thank goodness

 

Samantha slept too for about an hour.

It was hard keeping her quiet for 3.5 hours..

The ipad is my saviour.

 

We finally made it to Baka's and Samantha found a furry friend.

Usually Baka's wild kitties arent too friendly.. but this batch is!

 

Friday we just hung around... ate a fabulous homemade roast beef dinner with mashed potatoes and garden tomato salad, homemade chocolate pecan and vanilla ice cream for dessert.. OMG.. I love eating so good when we visit.

 

Saturday we took amazing naps..
While Momma finally got rid of my awful migraine headache... went to run a few errands by myself.
I was only gone an hour.. but i LOVED that hour!
We headed over to Uncle Mark and Aunt Meghan's house for dinner.
And a lot of FUN!

 It was nice for about 1 hour.. then nasty thunderstorms rolled in.

Andrew and Samantha were both in such good moods and had so much fun!

 Dance party after dinner..
The girls love just running around together and screaming... Samantha loves visiting her cousins!

 We had a little mustache fun too..

And Samantha tried PopRocks for the first time!

ha!

 

The sweet girls!



 

Uncle Mark had fun tickling Andrew 

 

We headed home around 7 ish..

For baths, jammies and a little drinking.. haha..

 

Sunday morning Andrew slept for 3 hours ..

we were waiting around to leave... thinking he would wake up any minute!



 

We walked around Baka's yard

Picked Pears and Figs (below)

I'd never tried a fig before, but Baka loves them and has 2 fig trees in her yard.. so I picked a few for the road!

 

Saying goodbye...

We had SUCH a great weekend!!!

 

Oh yea.. and on the way home..

We stopped for a little treat.

Krispy Kreme!

I had not had them since my pregnant days with Samantha in 2009.

I got their coffee to try and it was so good this morning!

 So a fast whirwind trip to Ohio was great in all ways.

Now back to the grind!

 



Back to Back Party Weekend

We had a party filled weekend.

Back to back

And it was a HOT HOT weekend.

Probably the highest temps of the summer so far..

The kids tried to keep it together

But we did have a few meltdowns, and no nap for Samantha on Saturday at our first party of the weekend. It was a cookout with my family.

We grilled hot dogs and burgers, and Samantha and Daddy went out on the Kyack a few times.

She loved it... but I didnt take any pics of it! argh!

It was steamy hot.

My Aunt and Uncle had the pool, sprinkler and slip and slide all set up.

Andrew loves the water so he got right in and kicked kicked and kicked.

Lucas our cousin from Missouri was visiting...

He's such a cutie!

Me and my Sis {i look awful}

I will miss you next week Sissy!!

Cousins Andrew {6 months}

and Lucas {16 months?}

Party #2

A christening for our friends Chad and Julie

Blakely is their 4th child

I didnt get a pic of her either!! argh.. Its busy at a party sometimes.. I totally forgot!

They had an very pretty back yard.



{Grammy and her Grandkids}

{quality uncle time.. so sweet}

I added a canvas to Blakely's gift

I love how It turned out.

You can see another view on my craft blog HERE

It was a fun back to back party weekend!