A busy weekend...

Phew. Sat was our yard sale. It was pretty good. We had steady, consistant crowds until it rained and then a few came in after the sun came out. I made a little bit of cash to put toward fall clothes for the girls. So that's nice.

I ran over to do Rach's make up for the wedding. All the details were so perfect. They did an amazing job at sticking with their theme- so beautiful.

Ayla getting ready for the wedding...

Back home to do my motherly duties. Clean, shovel lunch in my mouth, swallow, clean, change diaper, rock to bed, etc. You know... the norm. I did get to shower and do my nails during naptime.

Fast forward to the wedding/reception. The girls had an amazing time. Mommy was stressed for a bit as my kids and Koen terrorized the corner we sat in. They had a fun photo booth and we took a cute family pic. My fave idea. Then boogied on the dance floor til we had to pull them off kicking and screaming. Well, maybe not that dramatic, but Ay did cry bc she didn't want to leave "Princess Racheal's" ball.

Daddy and Ay waiting for wedding to start. It was a beautiful ceremony where her father and brother performed the wedding ceremony. How cool is that?

Everything was "Princess Rachael" this and why, where, and how did "Princess Rachael...."

The awesome couple.

Congrats Zach & Rachael

Both girls had friends there. Leah and Koen were kinda crazy. Running amuk. Turning on the water fountains and then running again! Ayla found Aspen by the cake table. They must have been thinking the same thing!

Jeff and I both love to dance at weddings. This was no exception. We cut a rug!

Note the two children attached to me. Leah tugging my dress. Ayla dancing. This is how its been alot lately. Its the main reason I say we need to wait for babe #3. Its all about Mommy right now and its been kinda tiring. I hate saying that. But, Im tired. ha

Saturday was also my dad's bday but we possibly couldn't stuff one more thing in that day. So Sunday we had an awesome dinner with him and my bros. Its so nice to just hang out laugh, talk, and eat.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Home for Sale

No, not mine. But, I'd be willing to sell. That's a whole other post in itself. Our good friend's the Grabers asked us to help spread the word on their home. They have a beautiful home in a great, northside location.

To be honest, its one of my favorite houses in Washington. Large enough to have a big family and not feel crowded. Wonderful, open floor plan. Professionally painted. Very comfortable. Quality construction.

Check out their blog... its beautiful and know it will go to a great family! If you know anyone looking, pass it on!!

http://www.graberhome.blogspot.com

Yard Sale Sat 7:30am-??

Im having a yard sale with some friends this Saturday. Location 9 Green Acres aka Jessie's house :) So glad she allowed us to have it there. There will be alot of room to move around. Lots of quality items. Don't miss it! Items include home decor, tables, cribs, tools, baby items, men's & women's clothing, baby girl clothes 0-3T, and lots lots more....

Cincinnati Zoo 2010

We are settling in after a weekend away with family. We headed up to Cincinnati Friday night to celebrate our nephew's 2nd birthday. We got up early Saturday morning and hit the zoo with our 3 nephews, bro & sis-in-law, and Jeff's parents.

We had a great day. Let me start off by saying it was HOT. Really. REALLY H.O.T. But, everyone did really well. Very few meltdowns, lots of water & ice, and lots of stops in areas to cool down. The zoo was beautiful. Very well kept and had a great children's area that included a large petting zoo. The kids had a great time in the goat pin.

Of course, I had to admit a pic of all the kiddos together. Its starting to get comical. It is what it is! You can tell in all of the pics how sweaty we were. Poor Leah is a sweaty girl anyway. She reacts to the heat fast, so Mama poured water on her head all day! ha She liked it. I almost asked someone to pour it on me. :)

Regardless of the heat we made it back to the hotel for a quick nap before a yummy dinner out and swimming. Sunday am Leah's earring came out and it was quite tramatic putting it back in. Ugh. I m not ready to relive that experience. Phew. Then it was off to Ridge's birthday party.....

What have you been up to?

Time is sweeping away from me slowly. I am tired just thinking about it ha. It seems everytime I try to get my girls back on some semblense of a schedule we are off again on another adventure. ha

We have had some construction going on in our master bath for a little over a week now, which means men need to have access to my bedroom in the wee hours of the morning. Ick. Again, tired. I usually curl in with Ayla for a little bit, but its just not the same. Leah is trying to figure out whether she wants to nap once or twice a day. I don't remember it being so strange with Ayla. Though it was just us 2 then... She seems content with one nap a day, but she'll only sleep 1.5 hrs and that is almost half of what she was doing. Just makes me concerned that she's not getting enough sleep. We'll figure it out.

She's delightful.

Since we're attempting shift our nap times, I have been putting both girls down to rest a bit earlier. I thought Id flip through tv and "rest" myself a couple times. Oh my. My fave quote... "fried pickles take pickles to a whole new level" WHAT? What do people watch, oh my goodness. I lost serious brain cells. Well, maybe my fave is the show "I didn't know I was pregnant". First of all, the title gives the whole thing away. Seriously. Really?! Who doesn't know they are pregnant until they are in labor- or better yet til they have the baby in their pants. No joke- she didn't even think to pull down her pants. HA Lots of babies born in a commode apparently also. Geez. It sucked me in to its ridiculous. As a nurse I have seen alot of ignorance or people not listening to the signs their body gives them but that show just makes me laugh.

Ps. I knew at 3 wks I was pregnant with both of my kiddos

On another note, Im currently on a baking kick. I baked homemade cinnamon rolls from scratch the other day. I may post the recipe it was lovely! :) Pizza dough from scratch the next day. Baked Oatmeal for breakfast today. YUM. Thank goodness for zumba night. oh ZUMBA- I havne't talked about zumba. Its my new obsession. That's a whole post on its own.

I know that was a bunch of jumble, but I felt like I could get somewhat caught up on happenings around here. Im packing up to take the fam to Cinci for the weekend for my nephews 2 bday and the zoo. We are all pretty pumped about it. What have you been up to?

I will leave you with a few fun random pics of my fave girls....

Celebrating 15 mo

Random Awesome-ness

Talk about a crazy week (or so) I've been having.

Random Awesome-ness totally covers it.

I helped one of my besties- also one of my former dancers paint her aisle runner for her upcoming wedding. We got creative, made our own stencils and are thinking of starting our own etsy shop bc, well, we're amazing.

PS. I can't believe one of my former dancers is getting married. Kinda sad about it. But they are the real deal. So cool.

Thanks Leah for your help. :)

We broke down and finally bought the one ultimate kid item on my list.

I have been scouring yard sales and asking family members in other towns to be on the look out for a cozy coupe. No such luck and WM had one on sale so I snagged it.

They LOVE it. Ayla likes to fill its gas tank. Whatever.

I have spent most my week away at camp with my (dance) girls.

They are silly, sweet, indecisive, wonderful, talented, fresh, and I wouldn't change any of that.

I am tired.

Fireworks

I was too lazy to actually pick up the camera to snap any of real fireworks.

I was loving having both girls snuggled up on my lap under Leah's blankie.

Our time zone is nuts! They didn't start the show until 10pm.

Thankfully the Jeff & Dusty show didn't mess around :)

Here's my sweet family all sweaty and tired getting ready to start our own fireworks.
Wasn't it beautiful at dusk!

Cutest lil bug. :) Leah's eyes still kill me and hope she doesn't get away with everything after looking deeply into someone's eyes with those baby blues.

My cousin Brian and his girl Maren. She's cute, but didn't dig being up late to watch the silly things in the sky. Mad fire. Then she fell asleep in her dad's arms. So sweet.

Fourth of July: More Fun

We had a little shindig over the holiday at our house.
I do love our home location for this reason.

Its a great spot for entertaining the 4th of July festivities.

My dad and Maren (my cousin's babe)

Leah running like the maniac she is.

Ayla loved having all the kiddos around playing, sliding, eating, jumping, and being silly!

Koen and Leah are getting to be closer in size and like to play together. Its funny how when they are little a couple months means ALOT. But now you can barely tell the age difference.

Cupcakes, anyone?

Fourth of July: Playing

The 4th of July,

I mean the 3rd of July

consisted of alot of this...

and this...

some of this...

and we'll never forget that.

I heart Playgroup

We love our playgroup family. Such a great variety of people from different backgrounds. I appreciate a safe, fun group to have for my girls. And my girls appreciate all the awesome times we have. :) We had a few playgroup-ers meet us at the waterpark last week then back to our place for dinner. It was fun, laid back, and yummy. Thanks everyone for coming!

Ava, Ayla, and Aspen
Top: Patrick, Noah Sam
Bottom: Ava, Adara, Ayla, Leah, and Aspen

SO CUTE

So glad you all came. Those who were unable to come, we missed you!

Thanks for being such fun friends!

Trains & Timers

We had such a great time this year at French Lick. I just love the girls ages right now. They are a lot of work, but its been such a growing age for all of us! These were taken literally as we were driving out of town. (A planned) Last stop.

Still havent gotten around to a Holiday World or 4th of July post. Hopefully soon.

On our way out of town I realized I wanted to stop by the old train depot because Ayla is really into trains right now. Don't know if its because of Dinosaur Train (thanks Emily) or that my Mom has a really neat set at her house. Regardless, its cool.

She kept asking me if the conductor was going to be there. So I had to explain that they weren't running. She wouldn't take no for an answer, so he was "sleeping".

Both girls loved running around and climbing on the trains. The trains do run at certain times with little heist shows. I hope to take Ayla to one sometime this fall. Truthfully, Ive never rode on a train myself.

One thing I like to do while on this particular trip is try to get self-timer pics of my family. Sometimes they work, most times I delete before even pulling them off my card. Regardless, its like a game for me. The ones we did at the gardens this week were comical; to say the least. So, the brilliant woman I am wanted to try it on the trains. I had to fashion a couple camera coupes... a booster seat (had in the car) on a bush and old ladder we found. Whatever.

My bud Brittany helped take the "glow" off us as the sun was setting on in our faces with her awesome skills. I'll share it with you soon. But, its fun. Until next year....