Last Day of Preschool

Elli's last day of preschool was last Wednesday!  I'm so proud of all she accomplished this past year and I'm looking forward to seeing her grow next school year!  

Last day 5/14/2014

And just for comparison sake….First day of preschool 9/9/2013

Connor wanted his picture taken also on Elli's last day!  Next year, I'll be dropping them both off!

 Elli and her teacher, Mrs. Grimm (we'll see if Connor gets her next year!)

 Elli and 3 of her friends

The girls….

 On Thursday, her preschool had a picnic at the park for all the kids!  It was freezing and it rained, but we still decided to go!

Mother's Day 2014

Mother's Day 2014 will go down in the books as being one of the most exhausting Mother's Day yet.  We started working on the house before church, went to church, came home and ate whatever we could find, and continued to work on the house for the rest of the day until probably midnight…..all while trying to manage 2 kids.  In fact, if people wouldn't have told me 'Happy Mother's Day' and if they wouldn't have talked about it at church, I would have completely forgotten about it (and did most of the day)….we were just that busy!  Scott kept saying 'I want to go to the store and get you some special food'….but I told him I'd rather us keep working!

This is the only picture we took before church!  We actually wanted to get a better picture later in the day, but we completely forgot about it!

Here's to a more relaxing Mother's Day next year with 3 kiddos!

13 years ago...

13 years ago today we went on our first date! We were talking last night that this past winter was probably our toughest season yet….I was sicker than a dog, trying to take care of 2 kids, and getting sick at the sight of water and everything else….Scott was busy with work and traveling a lot…and we were living in temporary housing.  Scott would get home and literally take care of everything that I had let go while he was traveling and not complain one bit.  He's pretty great!  So here we are….13 years later, 2 high school degrees, 3 college degrees, 2 apartments, 1.5 (almost 2) houses, 6 vehicles, 2.5 (pretty much 3) kids, lots of vacations, various jobs, and 1 dog!  I don't think either of us could have pictured we'd be living in this state/city 13 years ago, it's honestly been so clear to us as of late that we're exactly where we're supposed to be.  Here's to 70 more years….

Easter

Our Easter weekend included: Ivanhoes, 2 Easter egg hunts, painting airplanes, tractor rides (& a big tractor ride for Connor), a bonfire, hot tub swimming, playing with cousins, playing in sand piles, watching Frozen and fitting 3 people in a queen size bed (we let Connor skip his nap on Saturday….he was overly tired and the only way we could get him calmed down in the middle of the night is to let him sleep with us….we learned our lesson….no skipping naps).  

 I forgot how sensitive my skin is while pregnant.  I spent all day outside on Saturday and got toasted!!

 This was probably one of our best car trips back to Ohio.  We left after lunch/at nap time on Sunday and the kids fell asleep within minutes!  They were asleep 2 hours of the trip….we then put in Frozen and they were silent the rest of the way!!

Big Sister & Brother

I finally got around to taking a picture of Elliana and Connor in their big sister and big brother shirts.  Scott and Elli have felt the baby kick….Elli loves feeling the baby move and gets so excited.  Connor hasn't been patient enough to feel the baby (although he'll tell you he has).  

 Me at 22 weeks (taken 2 weeks ago).  I am now officially 6 months along and I feel really good….just days until my 30th birthday!

Cincinnati/ Birthday Weekend

This past weekend, Scott and I got to have a kid-free weekend in Cincinnati with our friends Travis and Sarah.  This is our 5th getaway with the Stampers and we always have so much fun with them.  I told Scott this is the only thing I wanted for my 30th (well…that and cake and ice cream every night this week) and it was a much needed break!

Dinner on Friday night

Saturday morning we went to the aquarium, ikea, and outlets.  We bought a house and are moving in a few weeks.  Travis joked that buzzers went off when we paid and Scott is still having a hard time grasping all that we got, but I'm happy to say the kids will now all have furniture in their rooms and Connor will no longer just be sleeping on a mattress!  We grabbed a quick lunch at ikea and I still can't get over that it only cost $4.00 for both of us to eat there.

We ate dinner at Crave after the outlets and then headed back to the hotel!

We ended the weekend with brunch and then went our separate ways!  We had such a good weekend; however, next year we're considering bringing the kids with us and doing a beach getaway.  Although this won't be as relaxing, it'll be fun to have all the kids together.  And the kids won't feel left out….they kept saying "Why do you have to go away?  Why didn't you invite us to your birthday?" Ha!  I assured them we'd celebrate this Friday on the actual day!

Florida Videos

The first 3 videos are of the kids dancing at the drum ceremony.  Video 4 is Elli doing her flip off the side of the pool.  Video 5 is of Connor dancing at dinner one night. Video 6, 7, & 8 are of the kids swimming (The last video cracks us up, as we can't figure out what Scott is doing in the water…)