Wordless Wednesday

Oh Canada

We spent Saturday and Sunday in Canada! I wanted to surprise T with a getaway weekend, and it worked! Pretty much. He had a little tip off, but thankfully he forgot about it and was pretty surprised. :)

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The biggest part of the surprise was that we left the girls with my parents! Considering the fact that I didn't leave K overnight until she was 2 years and 8 months, that is pretty shocking. :) It definitely wasn't easy! I missed my baby! And since I am exclusively nursing it was really a trip for three T, the breast pump, and I. :P Not exactly the getaway I had in mind, but it worked and we had a great time. The girls had fun too and they did great without us.

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We started out on our little road trip on Saturday morning. Our destination was about three miles from the border. (As far as we had to go to get to Canada and not much further.) Haha :)

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We stayed in a bed and breakfast...a first for us...and while it was nice, we decided we are more hotel-people than bed and breakfast people. Everything was really nice it just felt like we were visiting long lost relatives or something. I was expecting it to be a little more...I don't know...professional? Which I guess some of them might be, but this was just staying in a room right in the middle of someone's house. But it was a very nice room, in a very nice house, and our host was a pretty good cook. Haha:)

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It was just kind of awkward to be in someone's home that we didn't know. She had a friend there and they wanted to sit and chat, hear where we had gone and what we did, and I thought we would eat breakfast on the deck or something, but we all just sat down at the table together. It wasn't a bad experience, but I think we'll stick with a hotel next time. :)

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So since it was somewhat of an awkward situation we didn't really stick around the B&B too much. We put our bags in our room and left to explore. We found a little Par 3 golf course that was just my speed. I'm not much of a golfer...I think it was my 4th time ever...but it was a great course for a beginner. We had a lot of fun, and T taught me a few techniques. Par for the course was 27 and I got 58, but I achieved my goal which was not to lose my ball! Yay. :) T, of course, did much better. :) We had fun just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful day.

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After golfing we went for a drive and explored the nearby towns. We found a little Italian place for dinner and it was really good. Then we got some ice cream and went for a little walk/hike up to some falls.

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This isn't a very good picture, but it was really pretty.

The town is built around this beautiful lake. We walked along the beach but didn't do any swimming. I had never seen this, but T told me it is a sport...standing on top of a kayak-looking thing and paddling? It was pretty neat...I know I couldn't balance like that!

We saw a LOT of deer! And half of them were in town. :) This one was in someone's front yard, and we saw another one inside the fenced playground of an elementary school.

And of course there were lots on the side of the road...and in the road. :)

We kept laughing at all the different sayings and such. The "Gas Bar" for instance, and the grocery store called "Extra Foods" not your regular stuff...just the extras. There was another grocery store called Overwaitea Foods...overweight? I probably wouldn't be inclined to shop there. :)

It was the little things that made the trip fun and made us feel like we were somewhere foreign...like the fact that everything is written in both English and French.

All the kilometer signs took some getting used to. I think 50 km/h is somewhere around 35? And almost all of their signs are hanging on posts like this instead of mounted on a pole like ours.

We are easily amused. :)

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All in all we had a WONDERFUL relaxing time and it was a great celebration of six years of marriage. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband!

And we are even more blessed that one of the best parts of our trip was coming home!

Birthday at the Lake

For my birthday I choose to spend the day at the lake. It was a beautiful day! Sunny and hot, with the lake to cool off in. Wonderful and relaxing!

We brought a picnic and ate out under the trees.

Our sweet baby is sitting up! I think I can officially claim that since she can now last over a minute before toppling...sometimes more. K didn't sit up until six months...which I guess isn't that far off, but it seems a little early for Boo to be sitting up so well.

I got so many wonderful presents!

A bunch of the family went together and got me this beautiful James Avery necklace and earring set! It's a butterfly made up of two hearts...one for each of my girls. I love it!

And I also have something to put it in...T made me a jewelry box! He had been busily working away in the garage this week and I figured he might be making me something and he sure was! He does such a good job! The lid looks really big in this picture, but I think it was because I was taking the picture from above. He made two snug little trays to hold everything. :)

Our little Boo bear taking a snooze in her PeaPod at the lake.

It seems like all my pictures of K lately end with her crashed out in the car! We have had a jam-packed summer so far! But we're also having tons of fun!

Here's Boo crashed on the other side of the car...well her reflection at least. We need to work on bringing the thumb to the mouth, not the mouth to the thumb. :)

We spent almost the whole day at the lake and then came back to our house for dinner, cake and games.

My mom and aunt made me this yummy cake. I got the recipe from my sister-in-law. I think she called is German Chocolate Upside-down cake, but my aunt said she makes the exact same cake and in the south they call it Earthquake cake. Whatever you call it it's delicious!!!

We played Chicken Foot before it was time for the girls to go to bed. I had to get this picture b/c I can't even begin to count how many memories I have of sitting on someone's lap while the grownups played cards or Dominos. My family has always been big game players and the kiddos always got to sit in laps and watch until we got big enough to play.

My grandma smoked us all, but we had fun losing! Haha :)

Thanks for all the wonderful birthday wishes, cards, presents, and fun times everyone!

Happy Birthday Mama!

My Aunt is here from Texas! I love when she visits because she is one of my most favorite people in this big wide world! She has always been a second mom to me and it makes my heart glad to see her with my girls.

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Boo and her Great Aunt.

Tuesday was my grandma's birthday so we headed over to my parents to celebrate. We call her Mama (sounds like Maw-maw). We had a great dinner and then played Bocci Ball. It is such a fun game! I had never heard of it until a few years ago, but we love it!

Love Bug's hands on the hips. :)

Doesn't my mom's yard look great?

Bug helped Mama blow out the candles.

Bug asked if she could take some pictures. She actually did a really nice job! Boo's expression is hilarious in this one!

She took a whole bunch but this one cracked me up! SO funny! Boo even has some angry eyes going on. Haha:)

Happy Birthday Mama, and Happy Birthday Uncle Sean too!!!

Let Freedom and Fireworks Ring

We headed out to the farm for the 4th and took some good family pictures since our last ones were missing the two newest members. :)

Pile of cousins. :)

Grandma and Grandpa

Uncle, Aunt, and cousins

I'm trying to decide between two pictures of our family. I LOVE this one b/c both girls are so happy.

But I really like the pose and the flowers in this one.

Uncle Wade, Auntie Nae, and Waylon

Grandma, Grandpa, and the grandkids

Bug had so much fun playing with her cousins!

Grandpa built an awning for the sandbox and Grandma covered it with this adorable fabric!

Boo had fun being snuggled and cuddled by all the family.

The guys made their own driving range. T loves having a brother who is a superintendent of a golf course. :) He brought a whole bucket full of used balls and they hit them all! And then went and hunted for them in the field...they are surprisingly hard to find...and then hit them again! Bug wanted to hit like Daddy so he gave her a little iron and let her go to it. :)

As soon as it got dark the guys brought out the fireworks. Uncle Wade knows someone who owns a firework stand so we got a WHOLE pallet of fireworks for a discount! Waylon's ready for blastoff! :)

The kids all piled together under blankets to stay warm once the sun went down.

I had fun using the fireworks setting on my camera.

Bug didn't really care for the fireworks. She said they were too bright in her eyes, so she wouldn't really look at them.

We had a wonderful long weekend with the family! It seems like we have been go-go-going lately! I guess one indicator of too much fun is when your toddler crashes as soon as you're out of the driveway. :)

We hope everyone had a fun and safe fourth!

Busy Beavers

Wow! I am getting behind on my blogging...and everything else. My house is a disaster! We've been home 3 out of the last 10 days and those three days we were gone for a portion of the day, so I am definitely behind. My question is: how does the house get this messy when we haven't even been home??? I've been in my house for less than 2 hours (off and on) since we woke up this morning, and in 20 minutes we are leaving to go have dinner at my parents for my grandma's birthday, so I will try to get some pictures edited and get them up tomorrow...I think we'll be home. :) On the plus side we are finally getting up into the 80's and it is starting to feel like summer! Yipee! I'll leave you with a cute video of Boo at Grandma and Grandpa's house this weekend.

"Laugh With Me!" - Part 4

It's time for another edition!

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April 17th - Since we don't have TV, Bug has never experienced Saturday morning cartoons so we let her watch a Strawberry Shortcake episode when we were at Grandma and Grandpas. I turned it on for her and went upstairs. About five minutes later she started yelling, "It's gone! It's gone!" T went downstairs and told her it was fine. Another few minutes went by and she started yelling again, "Mommy! My movie turned off, it's gone!" I went down to see what the problem was and saw that there was a commercial on. I told her it was fine and she pointed to the TV, "But it's gone!" I finally realized she'd never seen a commercial before. The only thing she has watched are DVDs. I tried to explain. We sat there and watched. It took several commercial breaks to understand, but she got it eventually. :)

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May 5th - T and I were talking about the fact that we need to exercise more and were discussing the possibility of starting up a running program. I said, "The problem is that you like running and I like jogging." K piped right up and said, "And I like shopping." :)

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May 6th - We went to a friend's house to help them move a piano. They live on a farm and when the guys were done they took K out to feed the cows. The adults were talking about planting a garden while she did it. K loved the cows and on the way home she asked, "Can we plant a barn at our house?"

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May 11th - K was helping me plant flowers. I was explaining how to do it and she went about it very carefully. She looked up at me so sweetly and said, "If I put it right here you will be filled with joy?"

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May 17th - We are working on being brave when Bug gets hurt. She hurt her back and was whining so I said, "Remember the new plan? We just say 'ouch' and shake it off." She replied pitifully, "I don't want to shake it off. I just want to cry a little."

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May 20th - We did a car wash in town, the kind where you do it yourself. Bug used to be scared of them so now we always try to make them fun by squirting water at her window and pretending the car is laughing and being tickled. When we were pulling away from it she said, "Mommy? That was fun! Can you water the car again?"

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June 2nd - I think this is a "you had to be there" moment but I'll put it down anyway. K came into our room early in the morning with one of those tall plastic popcorn containers that resemble a popcorn bag. We had eaten popcorn after she'd gone to bed the night before and she found the empty container on the counter. She had it over her mouth and was saying in a deep monotone voice, "Popcorn. Popcorn. This is where the popcorn goes." It probably isn't that funny but to go from a dead to sleep to that was hysterical to us. :)

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June 7th - "I need some little bit help." This is one of my favorite of her phrases. She says it all the time and I think it is so cute. :)

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One of my favorite new pronunciations is "nola bar". That's what she calls a granola bar. I also like "banas" for bananas. "Lem-ma-made" for lemonade. And "Ice-cweam" is still one of my all time favorites.

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That's all for now!