My family came down to the lake the last weekend of July and the weather was perfection! N was even able to do quite a bit of swimming. It was a great weekend!

M’s entire family came down for the 4th of July at the lake this year. The forecast called for rain the ENTIRE weekend and I remember thinking ‘It can’t actually rain whole time’. Turns out… it CAN. We were down there 5 days and we only saw the sun once.

Regardless of the weather, we all still had a great time. Puzzles were completed, booze was consumed, food was eaten, and we also made sure to swim in between the lightning.

 

I love all of these pics. N loved riding in the wagon and E was such a good big sis holding her sister.

June 2016

Don’t mind the fact that these posts are not in sequential order. I’m just happy to be getting them posted at all!

D, R, and E came down to the lake for memorial weekend and I would say it was a roaring success. Watching the two E girls play together is so much fun!

R took lots more photos and has a great post about the weekend here.

We had a great Father’s Day weekend at the lake this year!

The weekend started with dinner at Paradise with D&D.

Saturday morning was spent checking out the W’s new renovations (sorry, forgot an after pic) and swimming on/off of their dock.

Saturday night we ate at B&C’s with J, K, R, & O. I didn’t manage to take even one photo. Our stay there was unfortunately short-lived because we were going on about 3 hrs of sleep thanks to the littlest lady.

And Sunday, we managed to invite ourselves on D&D’s boat. N fell asleep almost immediately and when we stopped the boat, I took her life jacket off and she just LOVED chilling on the floor of the boat. My girls enjoyed themselves (as did we!) and are ready for their (open bow) boat!!

It was a GREAT weekend!

My grandparents had the PERFECT yard for hiding eggs and Easters at their house are such a treasured memory of mine. Well, when we saw our current house for the first time, I took one look at the yard and thought “this yard would be great for Easter egg hunts!”. So, we decided to start an Easter tradition. We invited over some friends and their kiddos and held our own Easter egg hunt. The eggs were hidden harder for the older kiddos and and an easier hunt was set up for the youngins. We provided bagels, yogurt, fruit and beverages as well. Because what is a 9:30 am Easter egg hunt without booze? I honestly didn’t take very many photos at all, but here is what I did take.

 

As for our actual family Easter, E loved both coloring and searching for eggs this year. We spent Friday evening with my family and Sunday with Dad’s family.

 

 

Having kids has tamed down our St.Patty’s days QUITE A BIT, but it’s still fun, nonetheless. This year we headed out to the Brookside parade with some friends on the Saturday before and although the weather was cold and rainy, we still had a great time!

 

After the parade, we all took our kiddos and made a stop at the Brooksider bar for a quick drink. This is where M and I met 9 years ago. We’ve come full circle.

On the actual holiday, M and I took Nat to a local Irish themed restaurant/bar and had lunch. And here’s a photo from lunch SIDEWAYS, because WordPress will NOT ALLOW ME TO TURN IT! Ugh, I’ve been having a hay-day trying to work with WordPress lately, so… just turn your head in the meantime. 🙂

And finally, here is a pick of the girls on St. Patty’s. This was the best we could get and I love it. E wore that same onesie on her first St.Patrick’s Day.

 

…in the middle of our street.

April 16th marked one year since we closed on our house. I kept putting off blogging about it because I wanted some “finished” rooms to show, but then I realized “when is a room ever really finished”? And besides,  I’m sure one day we will enjoy looking back and seeing what it looked like in the various stages.

Since moving in, we (and by “we” I mean either us OR we paid someone)
have knocked down a wall between the kitchen and living room, sanded/stained the floors, painted the exterior trim, seeded the lawn, painted all interior trim, painted E’s room, painted Nat’s room, painted dining room, painted wainscoting in living room, removed doors on built-ins, painted kitchen cabinets, painted built-ins in hallway, replaced tons of pulls, replaced a few light fixtures/fans, replaced outlets, re-routed some plumbing, fixed the chimney flue, painted the fireplace insert, re-routed some vents, removed shutters, removed overgrown bushes, built a firewood holder, and purchased a new couch and dining set. Oh yeah, and that was also all while growing a human (we found out we were expecting two days before closing).

Whew. We are exhausted and broke. We still have a LONG list of things we’d love to accomplish, but we really do love this house and we see ourselves here for the long haul. So, I guess we have time.

Here are a few before and afters. April 2015 vs April 2016.

The time had come. My 1998 Honda CRV had been so good to me, but when kiddo #2 came along, it quickly began to shrink. It also began making more odd noises and wasn’t quite as trustworthy as it once was. I knew I wanted a Honda and I have always liked the Pilots, so, the decision was easy. We went with a 2014 model and compared to what I had before, I feel like I’m driving a Rolls Royce.

Goodbye ’98 CRV. You will be missed (not really, but I feel obligated to say that).

Yes, I realize they are similar looking. A girl knows what she likes.