A Great Fall Weekend!

Happy Monday!

Seems like every weekend from October until the end of the year is busy these days. This past weekend was no different.

Violet turned ONE on Friday!  Sweet baby girl! I cannot believe how quickly this last year flew by! We reminisced about our trip to the hospital to deliver, worrying we'd never make it! We had a little doughnut date ~ her first~ and a sweet little cake just for her while we sang happy birthday!  She's going to get a separate post all about her. We are celebrating her with a family party next weekend! Lots of purple. :)

I took the girls to Andrew's football game Friday night for the first time. The downside of having a husband working nights is things like this are often just me.  The weather was perfect that day and didn't look like it would be too cold that night.  I was right. It was perfect! I wore Violet in the carrier and Lily was great about staying with me. She loved watching the marching band and kept shouting, "Bubby!" trying to get Andrew's attention.  She also was super excited about the cheerleaders pink pompoms! I let her go down the few steps in the stands from where we were to stand in front of the cheerleaders and she had a ball! Violet was perfect all night! Not at all fussy, danced everytime she heard the marching band play even throughout the game, and smiled and waved at everyone walking past us.  We left the stands after the half-time performances and watched much of the 3rd quarter walking around. Finally, I decided we'd head to the car and wait for Andrew after the game there and maybe the girls would fall asleep while we waited. They did. After the game, the band performed another show and I watched that one from the parking lot.  Our stadium is set lower in a valley so the parking lots overlook the field. It was a fun night! Happy 1st birthday to Violet!

Saturday, we did some things around the house and took Andrew to get his flu shot. The girls already had theirs done a few weeks ago.  I asked if they could weigh Violet really quickly and unofficially since we don't go for her well-visit until next week.  I love our pediatrician's office!  Andrew also had a band festival their school was participating in, so his evening was booked.  The girls and I invited ourselves over to Stef's house while Andrew was gone in an effort to get Tracy to keep her birthday dinner plans with her husband after her sitter couldn't make it.  Stef and I both offered to keep her kids, so we made it in one place and Stef's house is closer to them.  We left to pick Andrew up at school and promptly came home and crashed.

Sunday, we headed to the pumpkin farm for our annual pumpkin picking trip. This is one of my favorite activities each year and has been ever since Andrew was born!  After we got home from that, my crew was hungry and cranky, so everyone had snacks and I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things to make supper. I found a new, easy recipe for chicken parm that turned out great and our family dinner was really nice.  We're always so on-the-go that when we get to sit down for more than a rushed suppertime, I definitely appreciate it.  We talked with Andrew and Lily about what they're loving about school currently and it always makes me happy to listen to them talk. Sometimes teenage conversation is like pulling teeth.  Since Violet missed her entire afternoon nap, she was ready for bed right after supper. Lily decided she wanted to watch Frosty, so she cozied up in our bed.

George and I had also had somewhat of a date night planned.  I say somewhat because we were going to meet a friend in town from Minnesota.  The funny thing about this friend is G and I both knew him separately and since we both were friends with him on Myspace, THAT is how George and I met! So for the first time in 8 years, we all got to see each other. We had a great time with him and enjoyed our kid-free time as well! Hopefully, it will be sooner than 8 years before we get together again and his wife will able to make it too.

It was a great weekend and now we look forward to my mom's arrival this week!

A Little Recap

I've clearly not been blogging as regularly the last few weeks, but I'm working on getting it caught up as well as planning a second {OMG!} birthday party!

Andrew's been enjoying time with his dad and that side of his family since the day school got out. I'm ready for him to be home for a few days later this week before he heads out for Scout Camp and then to Arizona immediately following camp.

Reagan's on her second week with her mom on our summer schedule this week. We finished up our first week. That's been a slight change for all of us. Things are peaceful so we're adjusting to going from busy school time to all down time when she's here and the adjustment at her mom's is going from 2 full days to 7 full days.

Lily's been loving her time with just us, but does miss "bubba" and "sissy" too. She's been busy with her own friends though, hitting up the zoo and the North Shore water steps in the last two weeks. {some of the posts I'm working on}

Of course, there's been a lot of Lily asking for "Bub bub bubble guppies!" which has become her favorite new show. And when I say favorite, I actually mean obsessed. She tells us which episode she wants to watch and names all the characters each time it starts, dances to the theme song, squeals with laughter as it begins and chatters about the episodes and characters all day long. Did I mention obsessed?

Potty training is soon to hit full force in our house. She hides when she's pooping, she asks to get on the potty when we're in the bathroom and the other day wanted to wear her Minnie undies. So, we picked up the seat to fit on the regular seat and after our trip to pick up Andrew, we're on it!

We had an unbearably hot week last week and this week the weather is heavenly~ in the 70s and 80s with low humidity again! One night is even supposed to be 48!

We've been trying to make the most of our time just enjoying hanging out at home, going to the park, getting ice cream, playing outside and just enjoying summer.

 George has started playing with a band this summer which has been great too! Reag went with him to practice last week and was so excited! It's been a really good thing for him. He loves playing guitar and after the last too many few years of drama, he needed something just for him. The time committment is the right fit, he's happy with group of guys and it makes him happy. Which makes me happy.

Happy summer!

End of the Week

This week was one of those weeks. A lot accomplished. A lot going on. Not bad at all. Good, actually. Great, in fact.

The heat has been cranked up for the weekend like nobody's business. All of a sudden it's summer. Not really much of a Spring at all, sadly.  I can deal with the heat.. It's the thick, soupy air that kills me.  We've got that too.

Last year, end of July one of our window air conditioners broke, so we had to replace that this year.  One of our other "keep cool" staples are popsicles.   Yesterday afternoon, Lily and Daddy shared some. :)  She'd give him a kiss in exchange for a bite. It was super cute!

We headed out last night to run a few errands and I had one of those moments of disbelief. This is my baby...how is she big enough to want to walk into a store instead of being carried????

She adores her daddy, that is for certain.

My kids had a great week all around too.

Monday brought an evening of hanging outside after chores and homework, catching up on our day of transition.  It was adorable to watch Lily just so enamored with Andrew and Reagan and wanting to be like them.  We're very blessed with the children we have.

Lily had some cereal in a bowl with milk for the first time this week and it's safe to say, she loved the milk the most!

She also spent some time trying to soothe her teeth this week.

Operation Paci Weaning has been going really well! She's cried for it a few times randomly, but overall, she mostly just wants it when she's tired and ready for a nap or bed.  During the random times, if I ask her if she wants to take a nap, she'll shake her head no and then stop asking.  Smart baby and I feel pretty good that we'll be able to be done with it by the time she turns two. That's the goal anyway.  We're also going to seriously start potty training this summer too. She hides when she poops and comes and tells us afterwards, "Potty. Poopy."  The other day I left her diaper off just to see and as she peed in front of my bedroom mirror, she said, "Mama, potty."  Okie dokie, Lily.

Andrew and Reagan are heading into their homestretch of the last 2 weeks of school. They're definitely anxious in some ways to be done.  Reag had her final field trip of the year and her Brownies end of the year ceremony this past week while Andrew has his big 6th grade field trip coming this week.  They found out they won't be getting their yearbooks until next year because the committee wants to include all the end of the year activities. Andrew's pretty bummed because his friends won't be together to sign them.  

This coming Monday marks the 17th anniversary of my dad's death, which in some ways seems like yesterday and others so long ago.  My family will be spending the day celebrating birthdays with friends and family and I can think of no better way to honor my dad than celebrating life.♥

Hope you're all having a safe Memorial Day weekend! 

Busyness of Our Week

ahhhhhhhhh it's Friday! 
I'm so glad!

Lily has a cold that's gotten worse. Clear, runny nose turned yellow. Cough and just general whininess. Is that a word? I think it should be if it's not.  Because that would be pretty descriptive of her.  I'm pretty tolerant of it because I know she's not feeling great.  And to top it all off, she's not sleeping great as a result. The good thing is she's not coughing at night while she's sleeping.  We'll see how she is before we head to the doctor if we need to. So far, just a cold. Hope that it just gets better from here!

She's been so sweet lately and George and I are just LOVING this stage. Literally, we lay in bed and just randomly quote her little sayings and expressions and talk about how lucky we are she is exactly who she is. We are definitely in love with 18 months! I love that it's such a new experience for him to share in collective, on-the-same-page parenting and adoration for this little person we chose to create.  We're so blessed to be her parents.

She will lay her head down when Daddy says, "Awww do the baby," and she rests her head on your shoulder or pulls a stuffed animal on her shoulder and says "awww baybeee".  She did it in the bathtub the other night and had a bunch of bubbles on the side of her head. She did "the baby" to a cardboard box yesterday.  It's the funniest and sweetest thing. 

 

"Baby" is one of her words she says all the time now. Lots of different varieties: "baybeeee" "baybah".  We were driving Andrew to Scouts the other night and she was "singing": "Baybah baybah baybah ohhhhhh". We all started cracking up because literally NONE of us listen to Justin Beiber, but we all sing that part of the song randomly! We're still trying to catch it on video!

Our weeks are super busy with the kids' schedules, activities and appointments, so by the time the weekend comes we're pretty worn out. Lily and I get downtime during the day, of course, but our evenings are go go go.  This week Andrew had Scouts and while he was there, George, Lily, Reag and I headed to the mall for Lily to play in the play area and for me to try to find plain navy leggings or tights for her.  You'd think it would be easy to find those. Um, nope. Nowhere. 

Matt Cooke from the Penguins was signing autographs that night at the mall too. I just snapped a pic on my phone and moved on. No waiting in line for me.

Tuesday, Reagan had an appointment in the evening and Andrew was going to head out to supper with Granny & Pappy while Lily and I hung at home.  Well, last minute score for the Huz! A friend of mine from high school in Arizona lives here with his wife and kids and he won tickets to a concert last minute and didn't have anyone to go with him. I hooked them up, we switched around who was taking Reag to her appointment and off George headed to see a band he loves. Score for him!

Wednesday night, the big kids (A and R) have a LegoClub at church that they started last month and they both look forward to going. It's something they get to do together with friends from school and there's no issue with Reagan missing out on half the time because of any bullshit with BM. They really enjoy it and it's been a really good activity for them this winter. 

Thursdays are our one night we're home each week, even when Reag has Brownie meetings because her meetings are right after school.  So, this week the big kids finished their homework, did their chores and we grilled out for supper with no place to go. It was nice. There's still minimal time in between homework, chores, and regular bathtime & bedtime routines for us during the week, but we're trying to make the best of it since we have no "off" time with Reagan.  I made her not smile, so we could pretend I was the wicked stepmother and she was Cinderella. ;)

 

Report Cards came home yesterday too!  Both Andrew and Reagan are doing excellent in school and have all As and Bs. The Bs are things they both know they need to work on because they're capable and literally the Bs are like 88s or 89s.  We're so proud of them! 

Andrew's got a Scout event this weekend, so we'll be our party of 3 again for part of the weekend. I'm hoping to get Lily's 18 month pictures taken this weekend too, hence the hunting for navy tights or leggings, but I'm going to have to come up with something else it seems.

For those of you rooting for and wondering how the upcoming zoo overnight and birthday party attendance for Reag will go, she won't be going to any of those activities.  She's beyond disappointed and even has begun writing about those feelings in her journal at school like she did with her letter to us the other day.  We're very disappointed for her and believe me, we have done EVERYTHING humanly possible to try to work with BM to allow her to go to these activities with nothing but grief in return, as per usual. All we can do is help Reag work through her feelings with the help of her counselor, her Brownie troop leaders and her teachers well, as she's becoming more expressive about her feelings outside of our home.  We're very proud of her for that too.  I don't have too many people who have control issues in my life, but this is definitely one of those situations where BM is holding onto the last shred she has at the price of her daughter.  Last night, Reag said to me after her latest disappointment from BM, "I just want to be a normal kid."  I want you to too, kid. 

Next week we have Valentine's boxes to create and Open House for school amidst all the other weekly activities.

Despite the busyness of life, things are very good and we're enjoying the weather this winter, time together and our alone time too!  I've got crafts to create and a tutu to make too... but first I must take a nap while the babe naps. I'm tired today.