Starting summer off with a bang!

Go, go, go, go, and more go mixed with loads of fun this weekend.  Our weekend via photos:

Friday started off with a trip downtown to the library, baby doll in the baby stroller and all.  The kiddie area has been revamped since our last visit.  Loads of new toys, a play kitchen, lots of fish tanks, and etc makes for a good time.  $8 of fines and three books later and I had a happy Parker on my hands.  Soon to be even happier after our walk to the self-serve yogurt shop. 



  FRO-YO!  So many delicious choices.  I went with blueberry topped with chocolate chip cookie dough, Parker picked out her own mixture of chocolate with animal crackers and chocolate chips, and Kris went with some delicious mixture of chocolate times 12.  Teagan even had a couple bites of mine. Entertainment was provided by a magician and while Parker preferred her yogurt to tricks of cards and coins it was still neat to see.

We burnt off some of that sugar by taking a walk downtown next to the river.  Parker insisted on swimming so the majority of the time was spent making sure that Parker did not in fact try to swim downstream.  This girl and her fearless ways!

Saturday greeted us with that perfect summer weather.  Upper 80s and slightly cloudy which is perfect for beaching it up.  Sydney was dropped off at the groomer, Kris’ car was dropped off to get his brakes checked out, and then we were on our way to the lake.  It’s in a perfect location for us, a mere three-ish miles from our house, and is the ideal beach.  Clear water, clean sand, roped off wading area, playground, canoes, a trail, awesome lifeguards…it’s got it all.   We’ll be spending plenty summer weekends and evenings on these sandy shores. 

Nap time is tricky.  Teagan is on a 930am to 11am and 230pm to 330pm schedule for the most part.  Parker is on a 1pm to 230pm nap schedule.  So basically we have children napping all day.  But with T being able to snooze in the stroller and P being able to have her nap pushed back, we’re able to plan our out-of-the-house activities between 11am and 2pm. 

Sometimes Parker skips a nap.  This is what that looks like, makeshift kitty cat as a pillow and all.   I don’t recommend nap skipping.  Actually, I highly warn against it.  But sometimes it happens and we have to keep her very occupied until bedtime or you know what hits the fan.  And it’s not pretty.  Thankfully Parker did really well on sans nap Saturday.  After the beach we played a little Sesame Street for her, grilled out on the patio, played with her neighbor friend (who is starting preschool with her today!), went to Lowes to FINALLY set a date to order our granite counters (which is also today!), had basement time as Parker calls it, and went to bed with zero meltdowns.  Glorious!

Patio-ing it with grilled chicken, oven baked potatoes and oven roasted asparagus (recipes to come soon).  Even Teagan enjoyed the exact the same meal.  Well, she enjoyed the chicken and potatoes.  The asparagus…not so much.  We’ve officially found the first food she will not touch.   Parker doesn’t eat potatoes and was too skeptical of the greens.  The other night, in our ongoing battle to get greens in her system, I explained to Parker that veggies make our muscles grow big and strong.  Three fistfuls of peas later and making a huge deal about her big muscles was all it took.  I felt like a genius.

 



Sunday we went to another lake.  Parker begged to go down the above water slide.  Not happening, girlfriend. Not until you’re as big as “Matalie,” her cousin, I explained.  We haven’t seen “Matalie” for weeks but Parker still talks about her constantly.  “I brush my teeth all by myself like Matalie.” Or, “Matalie doesn’t cry when she brushes her hair. I don’t cry either.”

We finished off our beach time by taking the girls in the lake, Puddle Jumper, floatie tubes, and all. Most of the lakes prohibit any sort of flotation devices so it’s nice that this beach doesn’t.  After three hours Teagan had enough and passed out in my arms.  We loaded up the car and two minutes later Parker was out too.  Scenic route home to kill time it was. 

A little more grilling, play time, baths, girls to bed, wine, Scrabble, and TV capped off the weekend.  Back to the grind today but looking forward to kicking our vacation off on Friday.  Up North, here we come! Words cannot describe my excitement to spend my days exploring northern Michigan, checking out the lakes/beaches, eating good eats and drinking good drinks!

Weekend Recap

As of this weekend I am an official mom.

My hair is chopped. And I bought a one piece bathing suit. M.O.M.



Teagan sporting her moo-moo leggings and me sporting my new hairs at Cook's Dairy Farm.  Check that one off the the summer bucket list!




Perhaps it's because my 30th is right around the corner.  Perhaps it's because I've had two children in less than two years and my ab routine is non-existent.  Whatever the reason, I felt that it was time to bid my farewells to long hair and string bikinis. 

My new look was sported at our pool this past weekend.  Mid-June and it was our first time swimming! Low 70s and cloudy is simply not conducive to being poolside.  Saturday we packed up and headed to the pool to have our plans literally rained on.  So to the great indoors we went—the kid friendly mall.  Carousel, play place, Bass Pro (for the fishies), and Rainforest Café.

Thankfully we could strap Parker to the horse because God forbid we try to hold onto her.

Bass Pro had boats too.  Who knew? One day we'll have a boat.  One day when I don't have to fear my fearless Parker jumping/falling/diving out of the thing.  But for now, we will spend 30 minutes at a time pretending to drive the Bass boats while ignoring the glares of grumpy old employees.

An 80% chance of rain on Father's Day turned into 80 degrees and sunny.  We zoo’d it, complete with a picnic (another bucket list item checked off!) and pooled it.  The pool has a kiddie area complete with a kid-sized water slide.  Parker walked up the steps to the slide a couple times, thought about it, then came back down.  But bravery got the best of her and finally she slid down.  “LETS DO IT AGAIN!” Repeat 60 times (not exaggerating).  The joy on her face was enough to burst my heart.  Watching her conquer her fear of the slide made me one proud mama.  Watching her slide through my arms at the bottom of the slide, going completely under water (have I mentioned the world ends when girlfriend even gets a drop of water in her eye? Because it does) made me feel a little less proud.  But a couple minutes of ear piercing screams later and she was back at it. 

She ain't mad about it.

And neither is her partner in crime.

How itty bitty teeny tiny doesn't T look next to Kris??



Teagan doesn't appear to mind water in her eyes. 



So there you have it.  I forgot how much fun we have during the summer.  Sun up to sun down we are go go go.  Looking forward to next weekend.  Water park? Beach? More pool? Maybe we'll do it all!

And last but not least, happy Father’s Day weekend!  I couldn’t ask for a better dad for my girls.   Funny, patient, kind…he’s got all the positive traits and none of the negative.  Love you and all that you do for us!

Teagan is 8 months old!

8 months old and no complaints!

As you can see from the above picture, Teagan is still loving life and smiles 24/7.  Babbles of "dada" are heard nonstop and my constant requests of "say mama, Teagan! Maaaaa-maaaaa" are met with a response of "dada." Stinker.

We are 100% into finger foods and girlfriend cannot get enough in her mouth.  Pasta with marinara sauce, grapes, bananas with wheat germ, broccoli (she loves it, just like her sister did!), black beans with shredded cheddar...really I can't think of one food that she's refused.  We've slowly started introducing wheat again and it seems to be going better than in the past.  The most recent times we've had zero bleeding diaper rash and zero cranky baby syndrome.  Hopefully we're getting somewhere!

In true Teagan fashion of being happy in the current moment, she has absolutely no desire to crawl or pull up.  No interest in that nonsense.  And actually, she still can't stand to be on her belly for more than 1 minute, tops.  But she's starting to figure out that she can scoot around on her butt.  I'm willing to bet that butt-scooting will be T's preferred method of getting from point A to point B. 

I'm weeks late on this post and while sleep has changed for the better (squee to the squee!) I'll save that for the 9 month post. The 8th month greeted us with the typically every three hour wake up to eat--11pm, 2am, 5am.  Teagan is down for the night by 8pm and wakes around 7am.  Naps are still frequent, usually three, sometimes two a day, and range from 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. The crib is actually being used this go around for all naps.  Crib time is also happening until T's first wake up at night.  Yay for getting use out of our organic crib mattress (which did not happen so much with Parker...).  Often she sleeps on her side or belly.  If she happens to end on her back and stirs, feet holding is her method of comfort.

Get that flash outta my face.

We've had a pretty healthy month other than those pesky allergies.  Daycare is going great.  Teagan has adjusted very well to all of her friends and fab teachers.  Love those ladies and all they do! From crafts, to outside time, to bubbles, to hugs and love...not a day goes by that I'm not thankful to have such great caregivers in our lives. 

Life is good :) Happy 8 months, sweetie!

Recipe Share: Mini Egg Bites

I have a slight addiction.  Actually, a massively slight addiction (is that even a thing?).  Something to the tune of not understanding that I don’t have a college sized football team to feed but rather a family of four.  One of whom is under the age of one.  Does that even count in the “number of mouths to feed” equation? Me thinks probably not.  But I also have the most amazingly well-behaved fur baby on the face of the planet who loves nothing more in life than to jump on the table/counter/children under 36 inches in a desperate attempt to find food.  Bump my “mouths to feed” tally back up to four. 

On one of my most recent Costco runs I grabbed not one but TWO of these bad boys:

Let’s see here.  One container has 24 eggs.  I bought two.  I already had a dozen eggs at home. 24 + two + one dozen + an expiration date in a matter of weeks that I happened to overlook (details shmedetails) = desperate need for freezer egg meals. 

Enter my good ol’ standby—mini egg bites.  Not only are they scrumptious (word of the day from Sesame Street, thankyouverymuch), but they freeze well, making it a really easy morning meal.  Hubs likes them. Parker likes them, though she does question the edibility of the green foreign objects (spinach), and I like them.  Winning all around.

Perhaps my favorite thing about these bites is the ability to make them your own.  Throw in whatever you have on hand—artichokes, red peppers, kale, bacon (!!!)—and see what taste combo you like best.  Enjoy!

Mini Egg Bites

Adapted from Weelicious

Ingredients

·         6 large eggs

·         4 tablespoons milk

·         4 tablespoons parmesan, grated

·         1/4 cup spinach, chopped

·          

Preparation

1.    1. Preheat the oven 375 degrees.

2.    2. Spray or grease mini muffin tins with oil or butter.

3.    3. Whisk the eggs and milk together. Add the cheese and spinach

4.    4. Add a heaping tablespoon of egg/vegetable mixture to each muffin cup.

5.    5. Bake for 12-14 minutes.

6.    6. Cool and serve.

May Things

May has come and gone and as usual, it was a great month in the S house. Some May happenings included:

Well, this has nothing to do with May but a few months ago the girls were subjected to their semiannual school photos.  I’m always excited to see the end result.  



Classic.





The "Reflection Pond" really adds a little something special to this one.



Oh my poor Parker!

Memorial Day weekend was spent in Columbus with my fam.  The Cbus zoo was visited and it was in.credible.  Apparently it’s the #1 zoo in America.  Huge variety of animals, aquarium, petting zoo, pony rides….seriously, this zoo has it all.  A water park is even attached but at 65 degrees no one was about to jump in for a swim.



Nana, Pap Pap, Lindz, and Jes



Miss Diva rocking her shades, compliments of Lindsey and Jes.



That Sunday we headed up to Aurora to visit Kris’ family.  Parker and Teagan were finally able to experience a parade.  Small it was but both enjoyed it.



MELTS MY HEART.



Kris was able to see his grandfather on Sunday and the very next day, on Memorial Day, he passed. I’m very thankful that we made it to Ohio in time for Kris to say goodbye.  We were already back in Michigan when we heard the news.  So we packed everything back up and headed back to Ohio early Wednesday for the funeral.  While not the happiest of circumstances, it was truly great to see so many family members. 

Miss Natalie and Teagan :)

Parker and her cousin Caroline.  Only three months apart but states away so they don’t get together too often. Of course they start playing together in the cutest way possible minutes before we’re ready to head back home.

Caroline is  an excellent piano player.

Just ask Parker ;)

Trying to get five children to pose for a family photo is quite the impossible task. 

And the photo dump continues:

Lindsey & T

Lindsey & P

P & something swimming

BOBCAT!

Loving life

&

Heehaw

My little daredevil.  Girlfriend has absolutely no fear. Rock walls, jumping from slides, ignoring of our pleas of “be careful.” I like the brave, adventurous personality that’s balled up in all 36 inches of her.  I just hope that no broken limbs come as a result.

So there you have it.  We did lots of other things—hung out with neighbors, blew up our huge swimming pool, arts & crafts, and more—and we’re looking forward to warmer temps this month.  Happy June!