A Really LATE (not-so) Wordless Wedensday

I wasn't planning on participating in WW today, but I just had to share these pictures.  They're grainy and not anything spectacular, but they pretty much sum up the reason why my heart beats.


Every night, Ryan and I each read Maeve a couple of books.  Henry's at the age where he will sit through half of a 5 page board book.  We've tried integrating him into the bed time story routine, but it just isn't working at the moment ;)  Soon, very soon, I'm sure he'll be crazy into books like his sis.

Anyways, I had read my two books, kissed Maeve goodnight and headed out into the kitchen.  I heard Ryan reading, (which is always so adorable to hear...) but when I walked past the room my heart just melted into a big pile of goo.  :)  Maeve was sitting on Ryan's shoulders resting her head on his head, and hugging his neck, listening to the story.  It was completely adorable.  I ran, grabbed my phone, and managed to snap ONE picture before she noticed I was watching... ;)

My life is so blessed! 

Hope everyone has a good night :) 

linking up with:

an award? :) YAY!

Yay!  It's always fun to hear that your bloggy blog got an award! :)

Libby over at the ELF blog gave me this cute, (yummy looking ;) award!

In order for me to accept this loveliness, I have to share three things that I love about myself, a photo and award this to a few other very cute, very deserving bloggers.  :)

So, three things I love about myself:

•  I'm a pretty good cook... and most of what I make or have made, I've learned on my own by trial and error ;)... when Ryan and I first got married, we had mac and cheese for dinner at least a few times a week.  It was when we had Maeve, that I decided I really needed to figure this whole cooking thing out.  While I'm not comfortable (or very good) at working with a lot of different meats, we've definitely expanded our menu.  This week we've had chicken enchiladas, baked ziti and chicken pot pie.  I am also a big breakfast cooker.  I usually make the kids muffins or pancakes at least a few times out of the week.  I love the feeling of feeding my family yummy food that makes them happy :)
• I'm frugal :)  I like to save money on normal every day things (such as groceries, clothing- I shop at 2nd hand stores, toiletries, etc.) and spend the saved money on vacations :)  It may not be the greatest financial move, but the memories we're making are worth more than the nicest car, house or clothes in the world :)
• I love my healthy appetite :) haha!  That's for sure... 

Okay... here's the photo I would like to share:

ahhhh sweet HAWAII :)  This was on our honeymoon... we had the most amazing time... and have I mentioned lately that I am so completely in love with the greatest guy on earth?  I love looking back at "old" pictures of us... I thought I loved Ryan so much on our wedding day (and yes, of course, I DID!) but through the years, making a family with him, seeing him hold our babies, wrestle with Mr. H, read stories to MaeMae, I love him more than ever.... :)  It's true what they say, that love just grows and grows with time.  :)

Okay... and the 2 bloggers I'd like to pass this award on to, are not only super bloggers, but they're also good friends :)  These are blogs that I read daily and that are updated with lots of pictures and funny stories. 

Manda over at The MiniVan Diaries
Leslie over at The Story Of Us

Great job blogging ladies! 

Happy Valentines Day 2011!

We are big holiday people around here.

I pretty much go all out for any and every holiday.  And we
start celebrating weeks in advance... I think it makes life that much more fun, right?

Valentines is one of my favorite holidays.  I love the pink, the candy, and of course, I love, LOVE :)

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to take the kids up to Auburn Hills for a night.  It had been about a year since we'd been to "The Rainforest Cafe" and I really wanted to see how Henry would react to the noises and sights.

We ended up getting a little bit of a dump for a hotel, (thanks Priceline negotiator...) but we still had a good time.

We left Saturday morning and spent the day at Great Lakes Crossing.  The kids had a blast- they rode the carousel, played in the giant kiddie land and ran like wild monkey's through Jeepers.  It was nice to be out of the house, doing something together, as a family of 4.  With Ryan working in Ann Arbor, its usually the kids and I.  Don't get me wrong, I love our days- and we do pretty well (besides getting stuck in our driveway last week :/) but its awesome to get out and have an extra "helper"...(aka dadda ;)

The highlight of the trip (for the kids) was definitely "The Rainforest Cafe."  The kids loved it.  Maeve surprised us both, when she reacted like a cat getting dipped in water, as we walked into the restaurant.  She was climbing up our backs, on top of our necks- completely terrified.  It took about 15 minutes for her to warm up to the place, but when she did, she was in awe.  Henry didn't really react to much- every once in awhile he'd let out a scream or shriek of delight, but he was more into the food.

Saturday night, we had high hopes for a good night sleep.  Afterall, the kids had had NO nap, and had been running like mad all afternoon.  Unfortunately, hotel rooms seem to hype them up.   And here comes the highlight of the trip for me... my kids snuggled together, eating popcorn and watched 15 minutes of a movie- WITH their arms around eachother.  Cue tears and a bursting heart :)

After popcorn and a movie, it was time for bed... the kids however, did not agree.  I have no idea how long they were up.  I lost track of the time.  All I know is that I'm pretty sure I saw every hour on the clock that night.  Henry would wake Maeve up and vice versa.  Around 7 AM, we were packed up and on the road back home.  Kind of lame... but there was no sense in hanging out in a hotel room with two wound up, overly tired, incredibly cranky kids.

Today (Monday ;)  is the "real" Valentines Day and even though we had celebrated over the weekend, I wanted to try and make it festive for the kids.  We had pink pancakes, heart sandwiches and (red) spaghetti ;)... We got each of the kids a little surprise that has kept them well occupied most of the night.   All in all, it was another LOVEly Valentines Day...

And I know I say this a lot, but I don't think I could ever say it enough... I am so blessed...so so so blessed.

the gift of time.

Gosh.

What a thought.

How did I get this old, that I'm wishing for time? Dreaming, scheming for time rather than those new jeans, or a new pair of uggs.

No, we're all fine- praise Jesus. Physically, we're all fine- besides a little scare with the gyno (which I'm not going to go into) we're happy and healthy.

I just got off the phone with my mom and dad. Our talks are so different now a days. We don't talk about normal, everyday "stuff"- instead we talk about time.

The time we have until we see each other, the amount of time we are spending in Florida, how much time in between visits, what we'll do with our time together, etc.

Time, time, time.

For Christmas this year, my parents got our family flights to Florida. And I couldn't think of a better gift. I don't want, nor do I need anything else for my home. The kids certainly don't need a single thing...

We're getting the true gift of time :)

We are blessed, that's for sure.

I have a few girlfriends who I regularly chat with, venting about how much I miss my mom, dad, siblings.

I know in reality, millions of families are separated from coast to coast and not able to see each other often... maybe not even at all.

When it starts to get dark here in Michigan, I'll think of my airplane tickets, and be thankful for the time I do have with my family.

ahhh what a night. ;)

i didn't know.

This time last year...
I didn't know that you'd love watching your sister play...

...I didn't know you'd stomp around like an elephant, and your nickname would be "Godzilla!" :).



...I didn't know you would sit so contently, and absorb the chaos around you.



I wished, prayed and hoped, but I didn't know you'd be your dadda's best pal. You are.

...I didn't know you'd have dadda's eyes, chin, hair, etc. etc. etc. (little clone:).

This time last year, I didn't realize how fast life flies by.

I didn't know that I'd blink and
you'd be standing.

or sitting...

this time last year, I didn't know how chubby your feet would be.

this time last year you were squished..

this time last year, I didn't know you had wrinkly, wobbly knees.

 

this time last year I didn't know....

that another man could so efficiently and swiftly steal my heart.

Now I know.  

 Now I know you have wrinkly knees, chubby feet, daddy's features.  I know you like to knock down block towers and throw balls.  I know that you love your sister more than anything.  Now I know what it feels like to love even deeper than I thought possible. 

I love you Henry!  3 weeks and we'll be celebrating your one year of life on this earth.  Mind blowing.

Halloween 2010!

OH MY :)

Best Halloweekend/Halloween to date in my book!

Starting Friday, we jam packed every minute we could into making the weekend as spooky and festive as possible for the kids.

I spent Friday morning googling Halloween recipes and getting a menu ready for the weekend. Later in the afternoon, our doorbell rang and this was what was there:

Talk about starting our festive weekend off right!

My grandma had ordered balloon boquets for the kids- and they were smitten.   Maeve was a tad hesitant with a few of the balloons because they were "too spooky."  But Henry dove right in :)  Actually, Maeve was good with her boquet of balloons- it was the walking pumpkin balloon that she was/is terrified of. 

(see the 2nd picture from the top:)- that pumpkin floats around our house.... kind of creepy- but cute.  Maeve finds no cuteness in it though- only the creeps!  She will be sitting on the couch and the pumpkin will float over to her and within seconds she's on top of me (or Ryan) begging us to "put the pumpkin away."  Henry on the other hand, loves it.  He bats at it and cracks up at the sight of it. :)  good times...

Here are some pictures post-balloon delivery... note Maeve's face.  SO not thrilled with the spookies...

and yeah, that last picture is capturing Henry sinking his chompers into the bag of m&m's... go figure :)



Friday night we had worms (spaghetti), a veggie skeleton (veggie tray...) and muddy brownies.  Good eats for sure.

                                                (note Henry's face in the background....)

-I also just noticed that I didn't compress any of these images... therefore, blogger is doing it for me, thus creating super crappy images... blah.

Saturday morning, I realized we had yet to get pumpkins...whoops.  We decided to take the kids trunk or treating at Meijer and then swing by that farm on Michigan Ave for some pumpkins.  It was truly, a great, great morning. 

Maeve decided she wanted to be Minnie Mouse (on Saturday) and Henry wore a shirt that said "Chocolate...GOOOOOOD."

 To be honest, we didn't get either kid a halloween costume this year.  Maeve has every Disney princess dress in her closet, and even though they had been worn a thousand times each, I knew if I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween, she'd say some princess anyway.  Henry's costume came from my mom and grandma... it's some sort of dinosaur or alligator- we're not sure- but its stinkin' cute.

We had so much fun with the kids at Meijers- Henry pounded each and every treat he was given- from the sugar cookies to the gummy worms (hey, it was Halloween, right? :)  Maeve was mesmorized by all the different costumes and activities.  Her favorite thing by far (and it might have been her fave. thing all weekend..) was the face painting.  FREE face painting (even better...)- she initially picked out a tiger face but the girl that was doing the painting wasn't the friendliest and told her it would take too long, so Maeve agreed to the standard butterfly that every other kid was getting :)

    
In case you didn't know- she is a clone of me. I can't tell you how many pictures my parents have of me, giving the camera that same look. In fact, I'm sure they're in Florida right now, saying "THAT'S ASHLEY!"

After Meijers, it was punkin pickin' time.  We had a good fifteen minutes at the farm... but we'll remember that two kids on a sugar high at nap time don't make for the greatest company.... eeek.

We carved the pumpkins Saturday night.... but having my hands full of goo (and kids) I slacked BIG time on taking pictures... I have ONE picture... and its stinky... but save-worthy I suppose.

Sunday morning, we woke up late- really- the kids slept until 9.  It was heaven.  Happy Halloween to US.  We needed a few things (ummmm like Halloween candy for our neighborhood...HA we procrastinated big time this year) so  we set off for the stores (Target to be exact:).  We got some picked over candy, a pair of cat ears and then, I somehow convinced Ryan to drive ALL the way out to Flavor Fruit Farms for some donuts.  He's not the drive kind of guy... but dang I wanted some donuts.  We were the only souls out there- but we snagged a dozen HOT, fresh donuts.  It was worth the 25 minute drive.... for SURE!

Sunday afternoon we lazied around... tried to take naps- and failed... Around 5 or so, we started getting ready for the big night.  I told Ryan to take the kids in the living room so I could get myyyyy costume on.  This woud be the 2nd traumatic thing that happened to my daughter over the weekend.

Apparently, momma in a furry vest, cat ears and whiskers, is not fun.  It's downright terrifying.  She wanted nothing to do with me- and then we convinced her to pet me.  So she did... and thus began the night of attacking momma the cat.

Along with the standard trick or treating and posing in front of pumpkins, we also had mummy pizzas and spent some time with Aunt Emi...

SO... that was our Halloween/weekend. :)  It was fab.  And I hope the pictures convey that...

Mom & dad- I know pictures aren't as good as the real thing... but I tried to capture everything!  NEXT year, we'll be together...