Engagement Party

Last weekend me and my older sister and mother threw my younger sister and her fiancee an engagement party at their home. It turned out rather well! I was a jack of all trades...I was the bartender, bingo caller and photographer. Needless to say, the party moved pretty fast! It seems like my sister has been engaged for almost two years but now her wedding is less than two months away! I suppose it should be time for me to get my dress altered and hubby to try his tux on...

Eat, Drink and Be Married!

Groom cake pops

Bridal

Signature drink of the party- peach sangria! It was a huge hit, the bartender ran out of supplies :)

Silly Nick and Kristen opening presents

Guest favors

Concentrating on bingo

We're starting to get pretty busy with wedding preparations. I can't wait until some extended family comes in town and for the big day, of course!

Goldfish Brothers

If my boys could have a choice of swimming in a pool full of some kind of food, it would be Goldfish crackers. They LOVE them. Well, they love crackers in general, but with Goldfish I have to buy them each a bag so they have their own to hold and take from (it's a hysterical mess if there's only one bag). So, we have his and his bags of crackers!

Posed for the picture, now it's time to eat

...and another day

Sadly Aaron has lost his privilege getting to hold a bag since he has started to just dump them all out onto the floor. Lily couldn't be more grateful, but then that leads to the hysterical mess I mentioned before with one bag left.

Since it's been a while since my last Nate and Aaron comparison shot, how about a 15 month one :)

Aaron

Nate

Can you tell they're related?!

Josh's 30th Birthday

Last week Josh turned the big 3-0! It was a busy week between school starting and Josh leaving for a business trip on his actual birthday (boo!) but we celebrated all around everything.

First, we had dinner out at BJ's Brewery with our families the night before (birthday boy's orders : pazookie, please!)

Yum-my!

That day we also got Josh some balloons and made him a few 30 related funnies :)

Josh requested that he wanted to go back to the cabin place where he proposed (awww), just the two of us, for a weekend for his birthday. So, last weekend we stole some time away without the kids to Christopher Creek. We enjoyed some hiking and peaceful meals and time together. It's not too often we can listen to the wind whistle through the trees :)

Our lil' cabin

Berries!

Beautiful...and then a half hour later it rained :)

Our views from Tonto National Bridge

Few waterfalls

Josh had a very enjoyable birthday! Wow, slightly less than five months before it's my turn for the big 3-0 :)

1st Day of School

Nate had his first day of school today-his last year of preschool, going three days a week for a few hours. He was so excited to go this morning.

In our city the kids go year round. They begin now and go for six weeks and then get two weeks off...go back again for six weeks and then get two off....I think I'm going to like this schedule. Nate will go to school until the very end of May and then get seven-eight weeks off for summer. Since Nate is attending preschool at an elementary school, he's implemented in the schedule.

Nate was so busy in the classroom when we got there that I wasn't able to get him to pose much for me :) He loves his classroom so much. It is pretty fun, there's lots to do!

Puppet theater area

Nate had a fun morning. It's good to be back in the swing of things!

Girls, Girls, Girls!

I was so thankful last week that I had a few outings planned with my sisters and my mom one evening, and then a girls getaway with friends over the weekend after our baby powder fiasco (see post below if you haven't already!) I had such a fun time at both. It was really nice to break away!

I went with my mom and sisters first to the spa to get our hair and makeup done. The occasion was to go see a group named Il Divo (a group of opera pop men) sing. We always try to go together when they're in town so we cleared our schedules to go, deciding this time we wanted to go all out.

Lunch before getting dolled up!

Ta-da! What a little makeup (ok, a ton!) and hair help can do!

Beauty queens for a day

Nate had to get his picture with all the beautiful girls

Ready for our night out

Steakhouse dinner

We'll get to have Part 2 when my sister gets married in October ;)

On Saturday I got together with a few girlfriends and we spent the night at the Arizona Biltmore Resort. Despite the monsoon weather taking away some pooltime, we had a great time just catching up and talking away all weekend. Wine, dinner, chatter and then pooltime Sunday morning...couldn't have asked for a better weekend or group of girlfriends!

I love girl time ! Can't wait until my next night out :)

Baby Powder Bliss (or not)

Before I even begin my tale, I need to keep in mind this picture.

Two cute, adorable little boys. Mostly well behaved. Mostly, that is, until this afternoon. Picture a fairly large size bottle of baby powder. Then imagine two little boys, looking for some fun while mommy was in the kitchen preparing dinner. After I got things cooking, I went to check on them. These are the pretty images I found--

Casper the Ghost

Two-ish hours and glasses of wine later, Aaron's room almost looks like a white powder storm didn't hit it. All of his toys have been washed, the floor vaccumed twice, furniture dusted three times, laundry done...this mama is exhausted! Needless to say, I'm making sure all the lotions and potions are tucked away where they can't be reached. Finally at 8pm, the kids are in bed and it's time for the dinner I made hours ago! Not today, but one day, I will get a good belly laugh from this.



Book Club Week

Since Nate likes to look at books and cook, I thought, why not combine the two? So, I found some books where we did just that.

The famous, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie"

Then, today for lunch...

Nate enjoyed reading his new books and figuring out at the end what our cooking project was.

Aaron--Almost 14 Months Old!

Amazing how in the last almost two months (heck, even in the last week!) Aaron is becoming more independent...and growing up! It's time for another edition of Aaron Facts :)

--By the end of May Aaron started drinking whole milk. By the second week of June, he has started drinking from sippy's! So much easier than with Nathan. I threw Aaron's bottles away within one day. He had no problems of letting go of the bottle. Yay!

--As it is, we only let him have his paci when he sleeps. We hope this will help down the road with weaning, when that day comes. He's a pretty good sport about that too.

--Loves to play Peek-A-Boo!

--...and loves to play musical chairs. Exhibit A, B and C below :

Thankfully he also knows how to properly get off of them, too!

--Can independently open our food cabinet for a snack and just today started to open and shut doors with the handle.

Our sneaky little bear

--Loves bathtime, especially if big brother is involved. Then it becomes splish-splash time!

--In a transition stage with naps. One day he's good with one, the next he would have preferred two...we're trying to decide which way to go :) I'm hoping we can get him to one...I think it would be nice to have quality time together in the mornings when Nate starts school (in the AM) soon.

--Is walking about 80% of the time now! Really that's only been within the last week. I'm actually relieved that he's coming out of the crawling stage.

--Stuffed animals and blanket must be removed from his crib at all times before he can sleep :) We always know what he's up to the first few minutes we leave the room. Also, the Waterfall sound machine must be on at all times! 

--Generally, he loves to play. Big brother is a particular favorite playmate, but that doesn't always work out.  Usually leaving the two of them alone erupts in Aaron crying and Nate telling Aaron he can't have a toy. I was blessed last week to have a full hour of just hearing giggles and no crying!

--Loves booktime as much as Nate. Touch and feel books are what he's into right now.

--Enjoys cuddling. I love when I sit on the floor, criss cross applesauce, he comes right over and plops in our lap. Everytime. Sometimes he'll even bring a book with him. One of his favorite places to be.

--Just started to wave "hello" and "goodbye". He's trying hard to say "bye", and within the last month has started to say "dada".

--While he loves bathwater, he's still trying to get used to pool water. Eh...work in progress.

Aaron is such a sweet, mild mannered, chill, go with the flow kind of dude. Mommy digs it! :) Suddenly this last week I've gotten all sorts of compliments on his behavior when we're out, it's been rather nice. Mommy's sweetheart for sure! <3