memorial weekend 2017

I don't know about y'all, but this family just finished up the busiest past four days imaginable.  I absolutely love Memorial weekend honoring all those that served and kicking off the unofficial start to the summer season.  And after spending last year's Memorial weekend working on house projects, it was a-maz-ing getting away and visiting my family with warm temps and plenty of sunshine! It was perfect.  And I'm already trying to relive the weekend in my head because I can't turn back time and do it all over again.

 

It's always a little chaotic the day we leave for trips as we try to pack, do laundry, do dishes, clean the house and make sure we're not forgetting anything. But we had a little wrench thrown into our normal leaving routine when we suspected that Linden could have an ear infection and we wanted to make sure that he got checked by the doctor before venturing 7 hours away on a holiday weekend.  Let me tell you, I thought we were just being cautious and that Linden would actually be perfectly fine, but his doctor confirmed there were two big fat ear infections in that little boy.  Seriously, so thankful we took him in and were able to get the meds he needed before heading off.  It obviously made him feel a lot better as we ventured through the weekend.

 

We didn't take off until late evening on Friday which meant we rolled into my parents house well after midnight, so we chatted for a bit before catching a few hours of sleep.  Saturday started all the fun activities.  We spent the morning biking around town visiting great-grandmas and hitting up the park.  Conner rode his own little bike 3.5 miles before deciding that he wanted to hitch a ride in the bike trailer with Linden.

 

 

After lunch and naps, we headed over to the zoo which actually is the boys' first visit to a zoo ever.  In my head, I imagined it being fun and the boys being excited for the animals they see in books.  In reality, the boys were running around like maniacs (Linden especially) and throwing some epic tantrums if you stop them from climbing through the fences to get closer to the animals.

 

 

The zoo also has this amazing cage that you can walk into and stand right in the middle with all of the parakeets.  I also imagined that the boys would get a kick out of this.  In reality, they could've cared less, but I loved it!  To be honest, I think the only thing they were truly excited for chickens and goats.  Go figure..

 

 

After we survived that trip ordeal, we left the boys with my parents and Joe and I used the evening to run errands and grab a bite to eat.  It's amazing how much you can get accomplished when you don't have toddlers in tow. And it always amazes us when we can actually have a conversation with each other over supper instead of being interrupted every five words by a toddler screaming, asking questions, or boys fighting.

 

 

On Sunday morning, we took the boys on a walk with Papa and spent some time afterwards playing outside.  We planned for dinner with my entire family in the late afternoon along with family photos at the park afterwards.  Somehow I completely forgot to take photos of this amazing family time!  And family pictures went as expected... the boys had meltdowns which is very standard for them whenever I pull my camera out for nice photos.  We ended the evening with dessert on my parents' back patio as the kids blew off bedtimes and ran around chasing each other. 

 

 

On Memorial Day, we headed out early to my sister's house to watch their town's memorial parade.  It was so fun! Linden totally caught on to waving at the everyone in the parade, but instead of telling them "hi!" he just waved and yelled out "bye" to everyone passing by.  This kid is too cute!! I can't handle it at times!

 

 

Linden crashed for a nap so we snatched Conner away to the pool.  It's always fun watching that little water bug have a blast swimming.  I'm still getting hit with waves of morning sickness from time to time, so I decided to sit out from swimming because of that.  But I had fun watching from the pool deck soaking up some vitamin D. 

 

 

We had a little bit of time before we were planning to hit the road and head home, so we decided on an early dinner of pizza with my parents.  Literally, on the 5 minute drive to the restaurant, Conner passed out so hard from exhaustion.  And since we couldn't wake him up, we just picked a table in the corner and laid him down on the floor to sleep away.  Of course he finally woke up as we were carrying him back to the car and he wanted pizza.

 

 

After that, we loaded up, said our goodbyes, and made the journey back home.  It was an amazing weekend, and I hope everyone else had an amazing weekend too.

 

Thanks to everyone who serves or has served and the families of those who serve.  You're all appreciated so much!

 



pumpkin festival 2016

It's that time of year again...time to go crazy over anything and everything pumpkin because we just celebrated the Pumpkin Festival this past weekend!

 

While 93% of Americans have begun their obsession with pumpkins, it's a fairly recent trend with the masses.  I take serious pride in the fact that we've been on the pumpkin bandwagon for decades, passing it on from generation to generation.

 

Every September, people migrate to Illinois to celebrate this amazing time of year and this year was Linden's first time getting in the mix of it all.

 

This weekend did not disappoint!

 

Friday

We had an opportunity to meet up with one of my favorites and her family and swapped turns doing family photos for each other.  We had it perfectly timed out with the weather just not so much with naptimes.  Can't win 'em all, right?

 

 

Later in the evening we chowed down on some pizza and then left the boys with my parents so Joe and I could go walk around the festival in search of pumpkin ice cream.

 

 

Saturday

By far the busiest day of my life.  After going back and forth on whether to run the festival's 10K race, I finally decided to go for it.  It was hot.  It was humid.  I skipped breakfast.  But in the end I made it, so the first 10K since having babies is now in the books. We went straight from the finish line to the end of the line for pumpkin pancakes.  I think it was an hour long wait for those pancakes, but sooo worth it. (Joe may disagree, but his opinion on the matter doesn't count right now.)

 

 

 

 

 

After loading up on seconds, we had to take them with us so we could get back in time for the parade to start.  The boys did great this year.  It's fun watching Conner getting into the candy this year (until he was totally over it and decided to lay in the street because he was so tired!)

 

 

From there, it was straight to nana and papa's house for a family picnic with all the cousins.  Let me tell you... ten kids make for a loud and high-energy atmosphere.

 

Joe and I planned it out with my parents to have them watch the boys for the night so we could get away for the first time in nearly three years without any kids.  I'd be lying to say I was a little nervous leaving my baby, but he had a blast.  Both boys actually had a blast hanging out and having their first sleepover at nana and papa's without us around.

 

Meanwhile, Joe and I enjoyed a much needed date night with some amazing flatbread pizza and a long island for the win.  After supper we walked along the riverfront, picked up Tylenol from Walmart (I know.. romantic) and decided our night would be spent best going back to the same restaurant we just came from to sit on the patio with more drinks. :)

 

 

Sunday

We got back to my parents early Sunday and enjoyed the rest of the day with them.  We relaxed, did a neighborhood walk, went to BassPro, hit up the playground, swam and napped.  We loaded up the car and started the journey home after supper.

 

 

Needless to say, I'm still exhausted and trying to recover from this weekend, but I wouldn't have done it any other way.

Labor Day 2016

I love looking through all my friends feeds and all the blogs I follow and see the little kiddos just smiling and cooperating for the cameras.  It completely makes me believe that they are chill little kids that listen to their parents when told to do something without pitching a fit or running away.  But I'm a parent, and I know better. I know that behind the scenes, those kids are just as crazy as mine.. or at least I hope they are.

 

Conner pushes the energy to the next ten levels beyond how I see most kids interact.  And Linden tries to follow suit.  I also have a 9 month old that was finally sleep trained but doesn't do well outside of his regimented night routine. 

 

You may be wondering why I'm even talking about this. It because despite how these boys are, we decided to go tent camping for Labor Day weekend.  Take a moment.  Soak that in. 2 year old + 9 month + tent camping. yeah, that happened.

 

First off, I have to fully admit, it was fun! We had a blast hanging out with Joe's family. Conner even did great without a much needed nap.  A huge part of camping with Conner being a success was because he had his cousins there to play and wrestle and a lake for him to swim all day in.

 

See Exhibit A:

 

Most of the day was spent doing just that. Swimming. Walks. Eating! Watching the boys wrestle.  It was so much fun!!

 

 

 

Nighttime... not fun. After trying for two hours to get Linden to fall asleep, he finally caved and drifted off.  That lasted a whopping 2 hours and then he was back to crying until I gave in and laid down with him for the night.  Moments where you have time to talk with other adults sans kiddos is rare, so I was a little bummed that I had to throw in the towel early instead of chatting around a campfire.  Then 3am rolled around, and we were back to crying. I gave it 2 hours and finally called it quits, so me and Linden headed home at 5am for a morning nap.

 

Best hour of sleep ever!

 

We rejoined the group the next day for more swimming, walks, food, fishing and missed naps.  I left to pick up lunch, and while I was gone I receive this picture:

 

 

Conner caught his first fish!!

 

All in all, it was such an awesome weekend with family and our first camping experience as a family of four.  It was definitely an adventure.  And of course we rounded out our last summer weekend with a trip to the beach!

 



4th of july | 2016

Happy Tuesday everyone!! I hope everyone had a blast celebrating their 4th of July with family and friends.  I know we made the most of it.

 

We spent our three day weekend potty training. [Insert overwhelmed face here.]

 

Since Joe was on call and we had three days off work we decided now would be the best time to get the ball rolling.  And in all reality, there's never a good time to start training, but everyone dreads it.

 

We started Saturday morning, and I can say we've come a long way since.  It started pretty tragic with a boy who didn't care if he peed on the floor, peed in his underwear, or peed in his bed, but he absolutely cared about sitting on his potty (and not in a good way either).  Sitting on the potty is like the worst form of punishment to him.

 

 

But we really have made strides in potty training department.  He now screams and gives me a distressed look to let me know that he's gotta go and runs off to his little Mickey potty.

 

Since we were do the potty-training dance this weekend, we turned down any of the fun plans that were extended our way.  It was sad not to go hang out and enjoy the holiday weekend with everyone, but this will pay off in the end.

 

We even got brave on Monday and ventured off to a nearby park without any accidents! Woohoo!  And since we were on a roll and halfway to the river property anyway, we decided to head over and see papa.

 

 

Of course that led to some spontaneous swimming in the river that was we were completely unprepared for.

 

 

We rounded out the night with dinner on the deck. :)

Thanks to all those that gave us (and continue to protect) our freedom!!