Aunt Meem Came To Meet Lydia Mae!

On Wednesday June 25, 2014, Anne Marie made the trip back to Metamora to visit us and to meet Lydia Mae. Mom was out of town and Dad was gone for work reasons so Anne stayed with us for the two nights she was back. The kids were so excited!!!!

 

She got into town Wednesday evening and headed straight to meet the baby. Then Mary, Anne, and Lydia came over to our house to have a slumber party!

Sweet Lydia. Look at that crazy hair!

Lydia looks scared.

I feel like she is saying, "Are you sure you know what you are doing?"

On Thursday we had a great day. We played. We ate. We spent the day just being together. Anne went to see a few friends and Mary went home to shower while the kids and I watched Lydia. Thursday night we had a reunion with the Pizzuti girls and Jessica and Brenna. Anne, John, and I met them at Bernardi's for a fabulous dinner. It was delicious. It was so good to catch up.

 

Then Anne and I came home. We had a nice little photoshoot in the yard...

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then we went on a bike ride. Anne had never pulled a trailor with 55 lbs of kids in it. :)

It was quite the work out.

How cute are those two????

They look a BIT scared.

We continued our fabulous slumber party. Charlotte LOVES Aunt Mee Mee and couldn't have been happier that she was here to spend time with her. (Sawyer loves her too but Charlotte is OBSESSED.)

 

On Friday morning we woke up and Anne and Charlotte were in charge of breakfast.

 

yummmmmmmm.... she feels it is a delicious masterpiece!

 We ended Anne's visit with us by heading to lunch at "Mr. Joe's" place....AKA Main Street Café.

It's a crowd favorite.

Gigi and her babies....clearly Sawyer was too buy eating to be bothered with a picture.

 

Super hero Sawyer!!!!!!!!

 

Love all of these people.

The Weber girls....minus Charlotte.

 

It really was a great few days. We miss Anne so much and wish she lived closer. Sometimes five hours is just too far. We wish she was just around the corner so we could do stuff like this all of the time. Thanks for coming to visit, Anne. It was nice that Mom and Dad were gone most of the time so you could stay with us!!!

 



Old Settler's Week!

Old Settler's Day is in town!!!!

 

You know, when I was in grade school and even high school, Old Settler's Week was always the best week of the year. We would basically live up at Old Settler's Days from Wednesday to Saturday. Rides, food, friends....what more do you need during a Midwest summer????  I've spent so many birthdays up at Old Settler's Days celebrating. It's the perfect way to celebrate in my book.

 

Now that I have kids and have moved back, I now see Old Settler's Days as a parent. Hot. Chaotic. Money. :) I get it now :) But we still went to feel the magic of Old Settler's Days. We went during Friday's wrist band day. I was smart enough not to spend a million dollars on a wrist band for my kids but I did buy a few tickets. We met my fabulous friend Jenni and her beautiful baby girl Ivy. We started our first ride on the carousel.

 

A picture before the ride starts!!!

He was so proud of sitting on this horse.

It all went downhill after the carousel started turning. Charlotte started screaming hysterically. HYSTERICALLY.  She didn't even make it one lap. She was clawing at me. It was just so bad. So, she vetoed any other rides.

 

The next ride we did was the Amtrak, choo choo train ride. Sawyer LOVED IT.

He was the smallest guy on it. See him? Third one from the back?

Charlotte's stance during the train ride.

 

So we headed over to something they could both enjoy. The germ infested blow up jumper.

They LOVED it and even made friends inside.

We had a pretty successful trip to Old Settler's Days.

Ivy is just beautiful and we had so much fun with her and Miss Jenni!

On Saturday morning, my birthday morning, I got up early and headed to do the Lincoln-Douglas 3 mile race. No better way to turn 32 than running 3 miles at 7 am. I walked it last year with Dad, Dale, and Mary. This year it was just me. So, I ran it. I ended up running with my friend Maegen. We finished together so that was nice. We were like 6th from last but we still finished.

 

Then, I came home to surprises from my kids and my babies' daddy. They were so sweet. The house was decorated and everything. I am just so lucky.

 

After that we met Mary and we headed to the parade route to enjoy the parade!!!

Charlotte hates parades. She hates humans dressed as animals or weird things. She clung to Mary quite a bit during the parade.

 

Lydia's first parade!!!!

It's my birthday!!!!!

See where Charlotte stood????

Sawyer loved it. Tractors, trucks, lawn mowers, random people throwing him candy.

 

What more could a boy want???

She would run out and grab candy and glare at people then run back behind Mary again.

The dancing people. We see them everytime. How cute are they? They don't advertise or represent anything other than dancing older people. They are a crowd favorite.

Who are those dancing people?

 

The redbird. The man that made my child fear parades.

Our favorite....Salon Seven. They handed out popsicles.

Brilliant girls.

Sneaking in some candy...

A quick picture with his favorite twins.

The parade was a success and Charlotte came out at the end and watched all of the random tractors. We then ate lunch and headed over to Aunt Bare's baby shower/Lydia's meet the baby shower.

Courtney did a great job. It was perfect.

For that night, Grandma and Katie came up to watch the kids so we could go out for my birthday. I am so lucky to have a grandma that would drive almost five hours round trip to do that for me. Grandma, Katie, and Melissa came up after Mallory's baby shower. We ate pizza and got ready. Alex got home from work. He bought me a car for my birthday. Yes, a car. What a guy....

 

We met up with Jodi and Derrick and headed up to the square to hear Jake Maurer play and to hang out outside on a beautiful summer night.

We took our own drinks :)

Party girls!

When the crowds cleared, we posed for pictures.

 

So appropriate at a family event.

Love these two and the fun we had on my birthday.

We had planned to be back around 11 and didn't get home until 2 am. It was a bit rough. We all felt pretty terrible the next day. We cancelled our plans to go sit in the heat at an STL game. It was 90 in St Louis that day. Sawyer spent the morning with Papa. Charlotte spent the day with Ella. Grandma, Katie, Alex, Mary, Liddy, Melissa, Katie, Sawyer, John, and I all went to lunch at Bernardi's for my birthday. It's just the thing I needed to ease my stomach after a night of fun.

Our sweet girl. She had a rough while at the restaurant but once she settled down, she was perfect.

Mary. Taking it all in with a colicky baby :)

 

 

It was a perfect week of Old Settler's fun! Our goal for the next one, Charlotte to make it half of the ride before freaking out. Weirder things have happened :)

A Week In June

Mary, Chad, and sweet Liddy girl came home from the hospital on June 9. Charlotte, Sawyer and I ran to the grocery store and filled them up on groceries while Gigi stayed at their house and cleaned. By the time they got home from the hospital, the house was clean, the cupboards were stocked and lunch was on the table.

 

The welcoming committee greeted them at the driveway.

There were presents hanging around to be opened and the all three of them needed a good nap!

But first, Charlotte needed to steal some time away with the baby....her new obsession.

On June 11, we celebrated Mary's birthday. Gigi, Papa, us three, and cousin Melissa went to Mary's for dinner and cake.

How awesome does Liddy look in this???? Those eyes kill me.

Clearly Papa is obsessed with his time with his sweet girl.

 

 

We sang Happy Birthday to Aunt Bare since she never really got to celebrate.

Holding the very best present of all.

Clearly there were tears...

The lead vocalists of the choir.

On Father's Day we all spent a big part of the day at Mom and Dad's house. We grilled out and ate delicious food. John ,Mary, Chad, Liddy, and all of us were there.

The kids gave Daddy their gifts.

Charlotte helping explain Daddy's gift to him.

 

Playing outside on a beautiful Monday evening.

This guy right here and his long hair.

How cute is this face???

Someone was busy cooking and cleaning the house. :)

"Hewwoooooooo!!!"

 

We had a great week! I had more pictures from Father's Day but I have no idea where they are. It was a beautiful week weather wise and we loved getting to help Aunt Bare with Lydia as they both adjusted to new life! It's just a beautiful day....