Cruisin' in Style!

We don't know if you know this,

but we're kind of a big deal!

Crusin' top down with Daddy in the convertible!

Amanda and Tony's Wedding

Amanda and Tony got married on Saturday, June 19th. It was a beautiful day and everything went super smoothly. All three kids made it up the aisle together and were fantastic little troopers. We would not have survived this day without my mother's help as child wrangler. I can't thank her enough for flying up here to help us out.

The pictures are all what was on my camera, so of course most of them are of the kids. As soon as we get pictures from the photographers, I will add them as well.

My beautiful sisters-in-law

Our fave photographer was there to get reception pictures (the one who takes our family pictures every year). I can't wait to see what she got of the kids because they just hammed it up for her!

Carter was ready to bust a move right away. With his blankie buddy. Who also got to walk up the aisle tucked under Carter's arm!

I had to make the poor boy stand to dance as I just couldn't hold the 40 pounder any longer!

Pack it all up

Jake's younger sister Amanda is getting married this weekend. For some reason still unbeknown to me, I volunteered to make the programs. Amanda and I found a kit that contained all the pieces. All that needed doing was typing and formatting and then printing everything for 200 programs.

Of course, with only 75 insert sheets and 100 cover sheets left, I ran out of printer ink. This was only as we were trying to get everything together and out the door to go over to my in-laws to make the programs with Amanda and Holly. "What to do, what to do?" was the thought that kept running through my head. I didn't feel like running to Target to get ink, running back home and wrapping up a good 30 minutes of printing and then heading over later than planned to make the programs.

So I did the only sensible thing I could think of. I took the printer!

And for the record, the programs are finished!

One down, One to go!!

Ava is officially potty trained! I just decided one day that it was going to be the end of diapers for her and she has done fantastic. No accidents in the underwear. She does wear a diaper for nap and bedtime and will go in it while sleeping (and sometimes sneaks a #2 in before coming downstairs!) but she hasn't had any underwear accidents at all. Hooray for one down!

Look at her cute little butt!

Carter is about halfway there. He does really good when in underwear but sometime forgets to get to the potty or doesn't get there in time. One day he stood in front of the potty screaming "I have to go potty" while he wet his pants! He tries so hard and will have it down soon. For now, when we go out somewhere, he gets a diaper. Carter also invented a new way to use the big potty. Pretty ingenious, as long as he makes it in the toilet each time!!

Happy Birthday Ellie!!

Today my little baby girl turns seven years old! Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday she was a little 5 lb 7 oz and 18.5 inch bundle of trouble. Now she is a 45 lb and about 2/3 the height of me bundle of trouble. How the time flies......

For her birthday, we took the plunge and got her an American Girl doll. Ellie and I went to the store together at the Mall of America and she got to pick out the doll she wanted. We had already agreed ahead of time that Kit was the doll she wanted and she stuck to that even after seeing all the dolls in the store.

Ellie likes Kit because she looks like her. After Amanda's wedding, I will let Ellie cut her hair so that Ellie and the doll can look even more alike. I also went to JoAnn Fabric's the other day and am planning to attempt to make some clothes for Kit. This could get interesting, but as it is a doll and she can't voice her opinion of my sewing skills, it should be alright!

So Happy Birthday to my little Ellie Mae! You are getting so old! You are such a beautiful girl, so full of life and spunk. You always make me laugh with your witty view of everything.

I love you so very much!

Intentional?

I'll be the first to admit that my housekeeping skills have been rather lax lately. It's hard to find motivation when first it rained for a week straight and the next week was beautiful weather in the 70s which had us outside every day. My excuse this week is that it is too hot in the upper 80s and even into the 90s to clean. All my energy must be conserved to keep myself cool!

Anyway, on Sunday Jake was finally overwhelmed by all the stuff piled up everywhere waiting for me to find motivation to put it away. He started listing all the things that needed to get done around the house. Not one to expend more energy than necessary, I convinced him to help me when he got home from the gym. Surprisingly, he agreed.

Jake called me as he was leaving the gym later that morning.

This is what he did to his ankle while playing basketball:


Some might feel sympathy for him but I knew that he agreed too easily to help me straighten up the house. Rolling your ankle for the hundredth time is a little intense but I guess it does work if you are trying to get out of something. So intentional or accident????? You decide........

Carter Catch Phrases

Ah, my sweet baby boy. Bless his wonderful little heart.

Carter has been driving us nuts for the last week or two. He doesn't mean to, but does all the same.

He has always been a simple little boy. Provided all his needs are met, he is content. Unfortunately, we have not been able to meet all these needs this week, so we hear about it.

Carter has developed a solid three catch phrases, with a couple others thrown in there.

If we were to make an action figure that could speak, it would not be hard to think of his phrases.

"I have a runny nose."
"I'm soggy."
"I need chocolate milk."

The other random ones include "Where's my blankie?" and "I want to watch Dora." However, the frequency is not nearly as high as the other three.

Bless his little heart, he isn't a very demanding child, but when all you've heard the past week are those phrases, it's hard to not want to tape his mouth shut! Here's hoping we can start finding some new things to talk about.