Happy Easter Weekend!

It was a good weekend.

My Mom called early last week to say they were planning a trip to see us this weekend. It ended up being super quick-Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon-but I'm so glad they could come! It's a busy spring for them as far as weekends go so it was either this quick trip now or wait until May.

On Saturday, my dad took Adrian for a walk and to the playground (thanks, Dad!!) and my mom cleaned the entire kitchen and vacuumed (thanks, Mom!!)

Jeanie was able to come but Dan had to stay home because he had a cold. My mom said he was so excited to stay with my brother Brad that he didn't seem to realize what he would be missing.

My mom joked a few times about Isaac being such a crabby baby. ;) He is honestly such a content baby. Adrian was too, hopefully this doesn't change! Isaac basically cries when he's hungry or needs to burp. And sometimes not even then. The other night he wouldn't burp for me and just as I was drifting back to sleep, he spit up all over himself and it somehow spewed onto the floor. He never cried once.

This was Jeff's weekend to work so he was only able to visit on Friday, they were gone by the time he got home on Saturday. Which means he also missed out on Easter morning and Adrian finding his basket. I almost forgot about the whole Easter Bunny thing with Isaac's arrival. We ended up picking up a little bit of candy and some stickers for his basket. These bunny finger puppets would have been fun but I didn't have everything on hand and I wasn't up for running to extra stores. Maybe next year! Adrian was thrilled regardless of how simple this Easter was.

 He ate all of his candy before breakfast and his gum was all chewed by noon. Ah, well, at least he still has a few stickers left.

And you can see just how long this basket lasted...It was upside down on the floor and he thought he could stand on it. It happened before I had a chance to stop him. At least we got a few years out of it.

He looks pretty remorseful, huh?

in the hot, hot heat

Maybe I'll be back to more frequent blogging in the fall...
Last Wednesday was my birthday. I'm 23. Not 25 or 26 like my brother Dan thought. And no, I don't have wrinkles. Okay, maybe a few, why do you think I have bangs??

It was hot, hot, hot on my birthday and it just so happened that it was also Jeff's turn to drive. All plans of a refreshing day at Lake Superior vanished into thin air when I heard that news. It was the hottest day of the week, too. Instead, Adrian and I headed to Teal Beach right after breakfast. Okay, so maybe not until 11 because as I recall, it did thunderstorm in the morning. We stayed and enjoyed the water and the company of a 3-year-old who was trying to get Adrian's attention until he finally told me he wanted lunch.

 I was so surprised since it felt like we just got to the beach but then I remembered how late it was when we finally made it down and by that time it was 1:00. Since it was too hot to even heat up leftovers and since it was my birthday, we walked over to Border Grill and enjoyed some burritos for lunch. We stayed for quite a while considering how S-L-O-W-L-Y this little boy eats. That's was more than fine by me since the air conditioning was half my reason for going! My mom called while we were there so I chatted with her for a bit while I waited for Adrian to finish up. (It was my mom's birthday too!) By the time we got home it was close to 3. I put Adrian down for a nap and decided to take a nap myself. What else was I to do while stuck in a sweltering hot apartment for 2+ hours?

 I woke up practically dripping in sweat when Adrian hollered that he was up and I hurried us, as quickly as I could with my foggy brain, back to the beach.

We stayed until Jeff came home from work then, headed out for dinner at the Casa Calabria. Which, by the way, was pretty much a big mistake all around especially considering Adrian is wheat intolerant and it's an italian place. He ended up dipping strips of grilled chicken into marinara sauce.

When we left the restaurant, it was 100 degrees. We went straight to the nearest beach and several of our friends happened to be there so we crashed their little get together and enjoyed Lake Superior for the next several hours. I could have stayed at that beach until the sun went down but my dearest said the flys were biting so we left and took a drive around Presque Isle before heading back home.

It was a pretty good, relaxing birthday. Not much effort on my part! The only thing missing was a cake...;)

What a blast! I spent the weekend in Appleton Wisconsin (and Oshkosh, and Green Bay...) with these ladies. I didn't go for the shopping (and that's what the trip was for, I mean seriously) but I had so much fun! I haven't laughed that hard in way too long! These girls are some serious shoppers, we actually went to 3 different malls in 3 different cities one day. Yikes! Talk about shopping until you drop! For all the different shops and department stores we visited, I only bought from Once Upon a Child which is a consignment shop. Ironic isn't it? Adrian needed mittens and boots which I found there along with a beanie and a clip-on tie that I just couldn't pass up. I think most of the other girls bought enough to fill up their cars and had most, if not all, of their Christmas shopping done. That must feel good! I, on the other hand, have only just started.

This weekend was the first time I was away from Adrian overnight. Holy cow, that's crazy when I really stop and think about it. I acted like I was ready to run out the door but when it came right down to it, I was ready to bawl like a baby. Jeff said he did great all weekend, he didn't even ask for me. Way to break my heart! I'm glad he was good though. Jeff did say that one evening, our friend Paul came over and when he opened the door Adrian went flying over and seemed slightly disappointed when he saw who it was.

By the way, Jeff is basically the best husband ever. I came home to a clean house and Adrian was in bed (although honestly, I had to get him up to say hi). Then, today he washed dishes and did laundry. I was kind of like 'what the heck??' but believe me, I wasn't about to complain. It's been a good couple of days!

A Few Visitors

My sister Gretchen stopped by on her way up north the other day. Dan and Jean were tagging along and they all spent the night. Yay for us! We love to get visitors! It was really hot in our apartment so we had the grand idea to go to Lake Superior to swim. (It was only 70 out there at 8:00 but the water was pretty warm.) Since we had to take two vehicles and I wasn't ready to leave yet anyways, Jeff took Danny to his work before heading to the lake. The next morning (Jeff was working) Danny told me about 4 times, "Make sure you tell Jeff I said 'Thank-you' for taking me to his work. It was so cool, I could just stay in those airplanes forever! I could sleep in there!" He now has grand plans to move up north and work at the airport with Jeff. "I can work there and help Jeff. I can hand him his tools back. And then I can move in with you guys and live here." Yeah...about that...Needless to say, he thought it was pretty cool to check out all those planes.


I had a dentist appointment the next morning so the kids babysat Adrian. Boy was that nice! :) I had planned on bringing him to a friend's house but that was much easier to be able to walk out the door!



Thanks again for stopping by Gretchen, Jeanie and Danny! We LOVE when people stop in ESPECIALLY our family...nudge, nudge. ;)

(These pictures are from another evening swim in the 'The Lake' after one of Jeff's softball games.)

April showers bring May...Snowflakes?

I'm not sure who was more excited to look through these clothes, Adrian or me. It seems like every time I start thinking "Adrian has plenty of clothes for now but we don't have anything for the next size up," someone is looking to get rid of baby clothes...in the next size up! This time it was Stacey. I don't know if you read this but, Thank-you Stacey! We really appreciate it! :) I can't imagine buying all of these clothes new! Now, I think I'm set for a few months so I can focus on the bigger sizes at garage sales.

Regarding the previous post: We have since anchored off-shore. I don't feel quite as sea-sick.

Oh, and in case you were interested, it's snowing.

My day started at 4:45

That's only about, oh let's see, 5 hours ahead of schedule. Did I say 5? I mean, uh...3 hours?

As hard as the waking up part can be, I really do enjoy the early morning. I've always considered myself a morning person more than a night owl although somehow I've "evolved" over the past year or so. My bedtime is closer to 12:30 on any given night. Adrian makes it too easy when he sleeps until 9 or 9:30. On the rare occasion that I do get up early (like today, so I could drive Jeff to work so I would have the car) I ask myself why I don't do this more often. I mean, maybe not 4:45 per se, but it'd be nice to see the sunrise every once in a while!

On the agenda today:

Write up grocery list and meal plan-I never did this...that is NOT good
Visit the Doc to make sure this...infection of mine isn't anything serious-Phew, don't worry, it was no big deal, got it all taken care of!
Take pictures of cards for Etsy (finally) if the sky stays clear enough-Did that, but I'll show you later
Make an exchange at JCPenney before getting my grocery shopping done-did that, now I have some fun tights that actually fit, I was so excited to see them on clearance for $0.97 I didn't realize they were the wrong size
GET LOTS OF QUARTERS-I came so close to forgetting this one
Drive to the airport to pick up my dear husband (where he works, he's not sunbathing in Hawaii or anything)-I might not have to do this anymore, he thinks he can get a ride
Make supper...still thinking about that one, I might just do pancakes and sausage-check
Do 37 loads of laundry which actually won't happen tonight with only one washer but you get the idea-Uh, yeah, I did two, can't wait to do a ton tomorrow!


I hope your day started off as good as mine did! :) And I mean that in all seriousness, I can sometimes be that annoying way-too-happy-for-this-early-in-the-morning person. (And I cannot for the life of me understand why people are crabby in the morning! Again, I'm serious.)

Our trip south

If chocolate chips cookies are "healthified" you can eat as many as you want, right? (My sister Emily's recipe from the Magnolia Lane cookbook.)

I hadn't intended to take a week-long break from blogging but when we went downstate for five days it just sort of happened! And you know I was sitting around twiddling my thumbs the entire time...

Actually, I wasn't. I wish I was. Well, sort of. The thing is, every time we go downstate to "visit our families" we end up running around like headless chickens. This past weekend was no different. In those five days, we attended several church services (it was fall services for that area), went to a wedding (outside), played the guest of honor at a baby shower (I did, not Jeff), and did some shopping (nothing too serious). Did I forget anything?

Friday was probably the most relaxing day. We had arrived late the night before, leaving once Jeff got out of work. I went garage saleing with my Mom and sister-in-law. Or tried to anyway. We went to one of the three we had planned and didn't get anything (one had a sign posted reading "rain delay"). So we went to Salvation Army instead. This particular one is fairly new and it is HUGE! I found a few things for Adrian. I wish I would have had the time (and money) to look for things for myself. I mean, there is seriously so much there. My shopping experience was cut short by a little...er, we'll just say, a little stinky situation. (Why does that always happen when I'm out and about?)

Saturday was the wedding. Jeff's cousin got married in a cornfield behind his grandpa's house. Well, not literally. The cornfield was more of a backdrop. It was really pretty with the fall leaves scattered everywhere. I'm realizing, as I type this, that I never got a picture of the bride and groom. We, however, got yet another family picture!

We went to church on Sunday and managed to see both sides of the family. It was fun to see my brother Brad's baby. She's grown so much! Besides that, she is tall for her age (7 months) so when she was rolling around on the floor, I was ready for her to jump up and start walking!

I did some running with my mom on Monday and then headed over to see Jeff's family before the baby shower that my mother-in-law hosted that evening. (Thanks again!) I enjoyed seeing everyone at the shower, Adrian is not lacking in the clothing department anymore! Besides what I got Monday night, I also received a ton of hand-me-downs from Jeff's cousin who has two boys. I'm still working on sorting through everything to see what he still needs as far as pants and shirts. I have stacks of clothes piled up on my couch. A friend of mine stopped by this evening and was telling me about a clothing sale of sorts at a local elementary school this weekend. So that's my deadline to get all this stuff figured out!

We left Tuesday evening to head back home. Jeff and I both agreed that we should leave earlier in the day next time. He's working afternoon shift so it's not really a big deal for him to be up so late (it's a 7 hour trip). But, it would be nice to have some time to unpack and unwind before going to bed. As it was, when we got in last night (or this morning?) we only brought in what we absolutely needed. And our car was stuffed! We ended up hauling the rest of our stuff in this morning before running out grocery shopping and I still haven't unpacked.

We pulled in around 2:00 a.m. and surprise, surprise, Adrian was still up at 8:30 this morning! I didn't sleep much in the car, I get too nervous that late at night. Needless to say, I'm pretty exhausted by now. I had this list about a mile long of things I had wanted to get accomplished today. I'm trying to think of one thing that I did get done...oh yeah, I went grocery shopping. Yet another reason to come home earlier in the day. Every time we get back from a trip I have to go shopping the next morning. It'd be nice to get it done that day rather than waking up hungry and knowing there is nothing to eat for breakfast!

Well, I'm off to bed! This momma is tired!
Good night!

P.S. I had wanted to post pictures but I can't find my camera and I have this sinking feeling that I forgot it at my Mom and Dad's...and it's too late to call. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers that it's around here somewhere!

ETA: Brad's daughter is 8 1/2 months, not 7. Whoops! I can't keep track anymore!

Please Excuse my Absence...

...This little guy decided to show up in our lives. We've been a little busy. :)



Adrian Jeffery
DOB: August 11, 2009 (Dad's birthday)
Weight: 8lbs 5oz
Height: 19 in
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue

If found please tell proud parents how adorable he is! :)

Thank-you!

Thanks to everyone who made it to my baby shower on Monday! And a special thanks to Kate for making it happen! We appreciate it so much! It was so fun to get all that cute little baby stuff that we'll be using in just a few weeks!

I was so glad to see nearly all of the girls in the family, both sides in fact! We were just missing Jennifer and Larissa. I wish they could have been there but I was thrilled to see the majority regardless!

We had a house full that night with Sara and her kids as well as my Mom and the rest of my sisters that were with her (minus Gretch, who went the rest of the way up). I don't think we've ever had that many people stay over at once! I either slept very deeply that night or everyone went to sleep and stayed asleep. Hopefully it went as well as it seemed!


(The first two pictures are from my Mom's blog. I gave my camera to my sister to take pictures at the shower but I didn't realize I still had it set for fireworks so they all turned out pretty dark.)

Three Things that make Me Happy

I love when Jeff helps me dry the dishes, especially when I have a particularly large amount, when I have so many that they won't all fit stacked into this little drying rack without tumbling down and needing another "bath."



My Kitchenaid mixer!! I love this thing! Thanks again to Jeff's aunts and uncles for so graciously gifting this to us when we were married. Without this, I would not make all of our bread rather than buying it and consuming who knows what it is they put in that stuff these days. And without this, I would probably look like Popeye because I would actually have to knead my dough by hand if I actually dared to make it without this lovely appliance. (And that's a strong motor, don't stick your hand in it, it will hurt.)



And number three: this little baby of ours that sometimes kicks so hard you can actually see my belly move. And right now I think it's doing a cartwheel...