Happy Birthday Jane-Rainbow Dash

It's been a few weeks but I am am playing a little catch up on the blog...I hate it when it happens but oh well! We attended Jane's Rainbow Dash Birthday party! It was so cute...the kids had a blast playing with their friends/cousins. It was a beautiful sunny day...Jane was turned 5!!!!!

 I can't believe Jane is FIVE!!!! It was a great party...she got so many fun gifts!!!! 

The cousins always have a good time together...we really have to work on Buddy's weird smile. LOL! 

 Me with my little's...;) 

Thanks Jane for inviting us to your special day! We had a great time! 

Easy baked chicken meal...

I love pinnning...who doesn't right!?!?! I really make it a point to attempt at least half the stuff I find. LOL! I have been looking for new fresh summer recipe ideas. I recently came across this one:

It calls for..

4-6 chicken breasts

small potatoes

green beans/carrots (most any veggie will do)

1 stick of butter

Italian season packet

1. put the chicken, veggies, and potatos (cut in 4th's) into a 9x13 pam

2. melt a stick of butter and pour over the top

3. sprinkle the season packet over the top 

4. place in oven @ 350 degrees for 1 hour

AMAZING!!!! It's so easy and quick for a summer fresh meal! Hope you'll give it a try! 

A Little Getaway- final post ;)

* I am sure you'll are tired of reading about our little trip so this will be the last post! Ha! 

Sunday after we enjoyed the sun for most of the day we decided to head back to our condo's and get ready. It was Cinco De Mayo so we planned to eat dinner and a recommended Mexican restaurant. 

Tyler was feeling a little left out due to the lack of pictures I had posted of him...we took care of that really quick! LOL! 

We pulled into Rocco Taco to find a ridiculus amount of people and we all four knew it wasn't the atmostphere we want. We decided on a little Cinco de Mayo sushi. ;) We had been told about a really nice place near another restaurant we had previously tried. 

We had someone take a group picuture...Mark had an Oakley shirt on (that I am pretty sure is designed to run in) that had reflectors on it. It makes for great picture taking! NOT! 

After dinner we went back to the condo and enjoyed the "quiet pool." There were some other guests in there as well. 

We all had a great time together before we headed to our condo. Kelley and Tyler came to our place too! We played our current favorite game "Monopoly Deal." 

We loved spending the last evening relaxing together! Monday morning we got up early and took a few pictures together...

Then we checked out and loaded up our stuff! We stopped at a few places as we headed to the airport...

One of the places we stopped was IKEA!!! We just couldn't stay away. LOL! 

We had such a great time with our friends. Mark and I enjoyed our time together as husband and wife too! It was just what we needed. We missed the kids terribly but we knew they were in great hands (Thanks Eesie and Poppie!). 

One evening we even got to facetime them. It was so cute and fun! Wyatt loved it and Sissy just wanted to jump thru the screen and get me. Ha! Mom said she stopped crying pretty quick after the conversation though. Phew! Thank goodness for modern technology! 

A Little Getaway (pt. 2)

Saturday morning the weather was looking pretty rainy. ;( We decided to kill some of the "rainy time" with the outlet mall. It was a GREAT plan! It was a great place with lots of great stores. (It was so great our luggage was 4 lbs. over on the way home so Mark had to STUFF his carry on FULL. LOL! ) The outlet was just a few mins. from the condo so we loaded up and shopped till we dropped...

The boys had a great time as well...

(Though don't let this picture fool you, they both found some "great" deals!) 

The sun started peeking through the clouds so we headed back to the pool! We didn't want to miss any chance to soak up the rays. ;) 

I am so blessed to call her my BFF! God truly knew what he was doing when he moved Kel's family to STL! We couldn't ask for a better set of friends to raise our children with!!! 

After we had enough sun for the day, I don't know if that's possible...but we got ready and visited downtown Disney! *LOVE*

It's such a fun place! No lie...the warm fuzzy feeling is there! Dreams do come true, at least Wyatt and Sloane's did. Ha! We had been gone for a few days and were REALLY missing our little's, for not being on the trip they got some pretty fun prizes! 

We had dinner at Planet Hollywood (because we had a giftcard) and then walked around all the fun stores! There were lots of people but we still enjoyed being around Mickey for a bit! ;) 

Sunday morning we got up and the sun was shining!!! They boys didn't think they could lay at the pool all day so they choose to go see IRON MAN 3. Kelley and I met at the pool. We enjoyed lunch and a few drink poolside! It was pure BLISS! 

We relaxed for a while and even had lunch a the pool we had been visiting the entire trip. 

The guys called and said they were headed back so we decided to change our location to a place closer to our building. While we were walking from one pool to the other we met a friend...

(Sorry Kel, I had to post it!) 

The guys met us at the pool and we enjoyed an afternoon together! 

When we reached the end of daylight we decided to call it a day! I finished my second book of the trip and we were all super hungry! 

*"A LITTLE GETAWAY" final post coming soon*

A little GETAWAY!!!!!

I had so many posts last week I didn't get to post about our fun little getaway to Orlando, FL! It was an adults only trip and we had a blast! The Dumey's joined as well. We are so blessed to have such great friends to spend time together like we did! Relaxation was the key word to this vacation. We left early Thursday morning and headed to the airport....

Yes, I made them stand and smile like we were some crazy tourist people! They hated every second of it and I didn't care...and still don't! ;)  We were in Orlando by early afternoon. We checked in and headed to an early dinner.

Yes, pure bliss! It was AMAZING! This was the view of our pool.

We enjoyed an awesome Mexican dinner at Cantina Laredo! We even had some amazing guacamole that they made fresh right in front of us. 

It wasn't long after dinner my gall bladder (or lack of gall bladder) decided to get the best of me. I spent the rest of the evening in our condo with the bedroom door closed. ;( Mark was able to spend the evening with Kelley and Tyler in their condo. Phew...glad we had friends so he didn't have to be stuck in with me on the first night of vacation! 

The next morning I felt like a new woman! We were ready to hit the pool and start soaking up some sun...

We sat until the boys couldn't sit any longer and we headed back in to get ready for dinner. If there are 2 things we did right they were soak up the sun and eat amazing food! 

A few snapshots before dinner! 

Jillian (a friend of Kelley's from college) lives only a few hours from Orlando so she met up with us for the evening! She was in Kelley's wedding so I had met her before. We all had a great time. Thanks Jillian for hanging out!

 We ate dinner at Bravo, which consisted of ordering every appetizer on the Happy Hour menu...and a few drinks of course! 

After dinner we headed to World of Beer. It doesn't serve food, only beer (which wasn't that cool since I am not really a fan of beer) but I did find one that wasn't bad! We had a great time visiting and just enjoying the atmosphere. 

After WOB we headed back to the condo. We just sat and talked. The girls "caught up" while the guys enjoyed the back porch. It was a great Friday night! 

*more posts to come about our trip*

Happy Mother's Day

I am linking up with Amy @ Not Your Average Crazy for a 3 part linkup for Mother's Day. I think it will be fun to do this! There are 3 parts...the first questions were for myself on May 5th, then today is for my mom, I also asked Mark's mom as well, then for the kids (May 19th) -aka Wyatt. ;)
Today is the 12th so....

(Mother's Day 2012)

First are the answers from my mom:
1. How did you feel the moment you found out you were pregnant with me?
-Excited mostly but so many emotions wrapped up together.  Then, sick to my stomach, literally.  Haha!

2. Was I a wonderful surprise or carefully planned?
-Carefully planned

3. What was the most challenging time in my childhood? Why?
-In the beginning, I really just didn't know what to do with the baby. There were a few situations in early elementary that were difficult but we made it through.

4. Did you worry more about me as a child or now that I am an adult?
-I worry much more now than I did when you were younger. 

5. What is one thing that you thought was deeply important when I was a baby that you now realize did not matter at all?
-That's a tough one. Just off the top of my head and I may change this but which food to start with and the progression of baby food to table food.

(Mother's Day 2012)

Second are the answers from Mark's mom:
1. How did you feel the moment you found out you were pregnant with Mark?
- I was elated when I found out I was pregnant with Mark. The Dr also accidentally slipped and told me he was a boy! Then I was so excited he and his older brother would be close buddies . 

2. Was he a wonderful surprise or carefully planned?
- We were wonderfully surprised but planned! We were also  completely surprised how quickly we found out.  
   
3. What was the most challenging time in Mark's childhood? Why?
-Marks childhood challenges were he saw things differently,very creative very much sensitive to his spirituality at a very young age. He needed to do things his way, but not in a strong willed way.. Extremely tender hearted for others .His compassion allowed him to be a very loyal friend to many still in his adulthood

4. Did you worry more about him as a child or now that he is an adult?
-I probably worried more about him as a child . Worries change in life, now I worry about him for different reasons. But he has a wonderful wife and children and is extremely happy , so I am happy.

5. What is one thing that you thought was deeply important when Mark was a baby that you now realize did not matter at all?
-Mark had night terrors often. And it worried me that he would be troubled later in life. But realizing creative compassionate people have night terrors in common, he eventually grew out of them.  


It goes without saying that I have an AMAZING Mother! She is an awesome example what of a Mother should be! Thanks Mom for always being there for me and helping guide me along the way. I am so BLESSED!!!

I also have an awesome MIL! Our relationship has grown so much since Mark and I got married and even more after children. I am happy to be apart of this family and so blessed to have such a great supportive MIL, one who is ALWAYS there for us and helps us in every way she can. Thanks Denise for always being so willing to help and loving it along the way. ;)

*Today we will get to see Mark's mom and grandma! Due to distance, we will get to spend a day with my mom later this week. I pray my children (and their significant other) make it a point to see me on Mother's Day when I am old and grey. The thought of it not happening makes we sad...so I won't even think about it! ;)

Happy Mother's Day! 

Some are sliver and the other gold...

A few weeks ago some friends from home made a trip to STL. While they were here we made plans to meet them at the zoo! It was a warm day and the kids had a BLAST! We always love the zoo. 

 As soon as we walked in there was a lonely little duck. Wyatt squated down and was using his finger as he said "come here duck, come here now." A bit bossy?!?!?! 

We got there a little early so I had them post as a tourist. ;) 

Marci and I grew up together...our moms were best friends so we were together ALL THE TIME! I have soooo many childhood memories with Marci. 

It was super crazy when Marci and I found out we were pregnant at the same time. God knew exactly what he was doing. ;) It made my heart so happy to be with her and her little girl. We had such a great time as a big group. Wyatt thought he was super cool showing off all the fun stuff at the zoo. I think he already has the place memorized. Ha! 

Despite the power at the zoo going off a few times while we were there we had a great time! We can't wait for another play date with Marci and Averie!