Memorial Day

Today was another hot one and the first day this weekend that we didn't have any plans. We had a lovely, relaxing day mostly consisting of this:

With a little bit of this,

this,

and this,

thrown in.

We grilled our dinner and I highly recommend this new side dish we tried: Armadillo Potatoes.

I also recommend that you check out our after-dinner entertainment:

I just can't get enough of that face. It never gets old!

Then it was 6:30pm, and my 6:30pm self thought it would be fun to roast marshmallows. Or "smarshmallows," as Leyna called them all night. And just for the record, she had 3.

Unfortunately, my 9:00pm self would now like to smack my 6:30pm self upside the head. Let's just say bedtime was a little more difficult than usual. Not smart 6:30pm self. Not smart at all.

Keepin' cool

Today Andy & his brothers helped paint a garage and us girls just tried to stay cool in the 90 degree heat all day! We sat in the shade, splashed in some makeshift kiddie pools, and just hung out. Apparently I was too hot to take pictures because I really only got these three:

Cora loved wearing Aunt Chrissy's sunglasses

1 popsicle + 1 brownie + 200 sprinkles = severe sugar daze

Soaked. But happy :)

Surprise!!!

When I woke up this morning I thought the plan was to drop the kids off at my parents' house and head to a wine festival with a few friends. Boy was I wrong! When we got to Nana and Pee Paw's house I was greeted by a bunch of my awesome friends yelling "SURPRISE" and singing Happy Birthday to me. I was shocked, and I was holding Leyna who was also shocked. Then I had to put her down because I was shaking so hard. LOL. We had tons of good food and the very best company. I didn't take nearly enough pictures but here are a few:

The fun decor

Leyna lived on rolls today. I think she had 3. 

The weather was great! There were about 22 adults and 13 kids so it was nice to be outside and have room to run!

Instead of singing Happy Birthday again, Pee Paw let everyone watch an embarrassing video of my friends singing to me on my 10th birthday. I won't be posting a picture of that ;) Then we had some pretty amazing carrot cake. YUM!

Ani drove 2 1/2 hours to be there for me today. Wow. :) The girls were really happy to see her too!

Me and my Momma (aka Nana)

More pretty flowers

By the end of the party Cora had fallen asleep while eating yogurt on Nana's lap. She looks so comfy and squeezable in this picture.

I just have to thank Andy, my parents, and all of my friends for making me feel SO special. That's all anyone really wants on their birthday, right? I definitely won't ever forget it!

Happy Birthday to me :)

Well I guess turning 30 wasn't as bad as I thought! Today was a really, really great day. To start it off, Leyna slept in her bed all night last night and she got a present this morning for racking up 5 more stickers on her sleep chart. She's been wanting an umbrella for quite some time and this one has Ariel on it!

After breakfast our sweet neighbors brought me a homemade birthday card and a whole plate of brownies! Leyna and I each had one for our mid-morning snack and I think she was feeling the effects of hers for the rest of the afternoon. One word: Hyper!
Later on Pee Paw came and accompanied us on a little shopping trip and then took us out to lunch! I found some great deals and Leyna ended up with a pair of "glass slippers!"

(Those don't really look like princess legs do they? More like a football player's legs I would say...)

Cora ate almost an entire plate of sweet potato fries at lunch, plus shared my mac n cheese. Pee Paw and I were both cutting up fries as fast as we could and she was just shoveling them in. Thanks for lunch Pee Paw!

I came home to an absolutely gorgeous arrangement of my favorite flowers from Andy:

And then after some rest this afternoon Nana and Pee Paw came over and watched the girls while Andy and I went out to dinner. We tried out a new place and it was so good I just had to take pictures of it. We even got ice cream for dessert.

(Macaroni and cheese with a Chevre, Maytag Bleu & Smoked Cheddar Cheese Sauce. Topped with Toasted Bread Crumbs & Bacon. Heavenly!)

The girls had fun while we were gone and now we're all pooped out. Thanks to all my family and friends for making my "big" birthday very special!

Signs

Cora used her first sign language sign today! She did the sign for "more," which was also Leyna's first sign. These girls are greedy! Haha. Leyna had her own unique way of doing the "more" sign and Cora's is different too. Kind of like a clap right now but she's definitely doing it after her tray is clear and she needs more food. I love baby sign language!

Here are some other signs we had around our house today.
A sign of boredom:

A sign of strength:

A sign of frustration (yes, she knows how to throw tantrums now!):

Two signs that Mommy made some really yummy Strawberry Freezer Jam today:

And finally, a sign that someone is feeling beastly:

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go check my hair for signs of gray. This is the last day the girls will have a momma in her twenties! Ack!

Strawberries galore!

We went strawberry picking with a bunch of friends today. It was ridiculously hot but the girls did so well. Leyna really seemed to enjoy it. She picked a lot of strawberries and shockingly didn't try to eat a single one until we were done. It turns out she wanted them washed first. That's my girl! Cora hung out in the wagon with a new little friend and just chilled.

After a little picnic we headed home and made a few things with our strawberries. We made a delicious spinach salad with strawberries, mandarin oranges, sugared almonds, and poppyseed dressing. It was EXCELLENT. Leyna and I also made this Fresh Strawberries and Cream Bread. Yummy!

We still have a lot of strawberries so we'll be trying out some more recipes tomorrow. Feel free to leave me a comment with your favorite strawberry recipe!

Way back when...

Two little cuties...

Make two even cuters...

So what do you think? Who looks like who and who has whose features? Andy's about 4 1/2 in that picture and I was about 3. Leyna tried to copy Andy's face in his picture. It turned out pretty funny but it was a good try! Here's a cuter one of her just for good measure :)

Take me to the looney bin!

So I have a little Cora story for you. Ever since we went to Disney World we've been listening to classic Disney songs in the car wherever we go. Somewhere along the way I have figured out that "It's a Small World After All" calms Cora down when she's fussing in her car seat. She doesn't do it very often, but when she does "fussing" is really a nice way to put it. The other night after Reagan's party we had a 20 minute drive to get to Conner's house. Cora was already fussy before we left but once we got in the car she really let us have it. After a couple minutes I remembered the magical song and turned it on. She stopped crying almost instantly. In fact, she sat through the entire song just looking out the window with an angelic look on her face. I thought for sure she would fall asleep any minute. But the end of the song came and as soon as they sang the last "It's a small world after allllllllllll" cue the crying. She screamed her brains out for the last verse and the entire pause until the song started playing again (I put it on repeat). Then she was quiet as a mouse  Until the last verse. Then screaming. Then quiet for the entire song. Until the last verse. Then screaming. This went on for 20 minutes. If you've never heard the song I'll just tell you that once is enough. Twice is more than enough. Eight times with screaming interspersed is where the title of this post comes in. And guess what? She did it again today as we were driving to town. Somebody help me. The end.

(Totally unrelated picture of Cora having the famous "Beef & Macaroni" for the first time today. Thanks Nana!)

I've been getting a few of my childhood things from my parents' house and brought home two little treasures today. One was my trusty old Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine. Leyna and I made a snow cone on the deck this evening. Pretty tasty but more work than I remember (probably because someone else did it for me back then!)

I also ran across this picture of me when I was three:

And it totally gave me goosebumps because last week I took this picture of Leyna at the park with a little girl she met that day:

 

We must share an affinity for hanging on bars next to friends with curly red hair. Crazy!