Memorial Day Weekend

8:15 a.m. Memorial day started out gloomy and rainy but that didn't stop the boys from getting the ribs into the smoker .

They sat out in the garage with their coffee and doughnuts all morning and watched this thing...man was it exciting....yawn....

Thankfully the weather cleared up in time for lunch! 

Trouble One and Trouble Two.

We headed down to the park in the afternoon and stopped by the lemonade stand on the corner. Those little ladies were making a killing that day! $45.00!!! Geesh, I should just quite my day job and start doing lemonade...

Phoebi has gotten a little chubby over the winter so we have been trying to get her out exercising as much as we can. She runs for a bit and then just plops down in the grass and refuses to move.

There is a bridge near the park that Sawyer and his friend Josh like to go to....mostly because Bill lets them climb up underneath it and jump off! 

Chillin' at the playground.

Josh giving Sawyer a lesson on pumping his legs on the swing.

Why yes, let's climb to the highest point on the playground a jump off. Whoooo-eeee, the apple does not fall far from the tree! :)

Side Note: If any of you are looking for a good umbrella stroller once your kiddo is out of their huge infant monstrosity one, I would HIGHLY recommend this one. It's the Joovy Groove Lightweight stroller and we LOVE it! Most umbrella strollers feel flimsy and you feel like you are pushing a doll buggy. But this one is super sturdy, light weight, has a huge sun shade, seat reclines all the way back, sippy cup holders that sit next to the child for them to reach and it's pretty decently priced! We wanted something that we could use day -to-day and would also do well on our trip to Brazil. I love it!!

Ok, I'm off the Joovy Groove plug. We had a great long weekend with friends and celebrating the freedom that so many men and women gave their lives for!

Oh Say Can You See...

Sawyer's Kindergarten class has been practicing the National Anthem all year so they could sing at the opening of the Storm Chasers game at Werner Park a few nights ago! He has been talking about this baseball game since like the second week of school-he was very excited about it being at NIGHT. He was going to be singing at NIGHT. 

Oh say can you see.....Sawyer? See him? Nope? Me neither! He was in the very back row and we couldn't see him at all! Nevertheless, they belted their little hearts out in various octaves and tempos and it was great! 

Nana and Papa came and so did his little friend from Day Care, Dane. 

It was nice that all the Kindergarten families were all seated together so the kids could run a muck while sky high on cotton candy! You never remember how sticky and messy cotton candy is until you have seventeen kids covered in it.  

The Pals.

The proud parents.

The Ham.

And his good looks got him on the Jumbo Tron!

The celebrity. 

These two had bottomless pits for tummies, so on to Wendy's after the game! 

Like for real, Sawyer eats like a billy goat. It is never ending. He is always hungry. Always. He and Dane EACH had a cheese burger, four chicken nuggets, fries, a drink and a chocolate frosty. On the way home: "What are we having for dinner?"

A Whirlwind Weekend

Next month, Raylan and I will be traveling to Brazil to spend a week with my mom as she closes out her time as the First Grade teacher at PACA. (sad!) So we needed to get a ton of paperwork done at the Brazilian Consulate in Chicago in order t travel. We were going to bring Sawyer with us, but he had a school feild trip, Spring Fling, a soccer game and a Birthday party that he would miss and so he decided to stay with Nana and Papa instead. So, Thursday night, well actually early Friday morning about 2:00 a.m. Bill, Raylan and I headed off to the windy city! 

You only have a sort window of time during the day to get all your paperwork turned in at the consulate so we made it by the skin of our teeth! We were able to sign for Raylan's Brazilian birth certificate, apply for his Brazilian passport, got approval for him to travel without Bill, register my Brazilian voting card and renew my Brazilian passport! Phew! 

We got out of there just after lunch and headed to our hotel.

Raylan had done quite well up to this point after being in the car for eight hours and then in his stroller at the consulate for another three.....he and Bill had also come down with this horrible sounding cough too. Needless to say, Raylan was very excited to be able to get out and crawl around the hotel! 

We were able to score a great room at the Marriott Hotel right on the Magnificent Mile, just a few blocks from the consulate! It was so great being able to walk right outside the hotel and be on Michigan Ave! 

We hit up a little Tai place for lunch...

Raylan LOVES playing with chop sticks but I know one of these days he's going to poke my eye out...I can just feel it.

Oh my goodness, the flowers were in bloom! 

The streets were lined with these GORGEOUS flower beds, just plum full of vibrant blooms!!! 

Shopping....oh the shopping....if any of you haven't been down the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, you must go. It is a mile of the best shopping your little soul could hope for! It was so fun to meander around all these stores that we don't have in Omaha....everything was ridiculously expensive but it was fun to just look! 

After walking around till our legs were numb, we took the little guy back to the hotel for a swim. Now he just loves bath time so I was sure he'd get the biggest kick out of swimming! Weeeeell, I wouldn't say that he loved it. He didn't hate it, but I'm pretty sure he was wondering why the bath water was a little chilly!

He was so content to sit on the side of the hot tub, dangle his feet in once in a while and smile at everyone that passed. 

What a little flirt! 

We had heard of this little Italian place, called Volare that was close by so we decided to try it out. Raylan was sound asleep in the stroller from a very long day and his cold, so it was just perfect! Until he woke up. He was in no mood to sit nicely. He was coughing, had a little bit of a fever and just a hot mess. So we got our food to go and had a little picnic in our hotel room and watched Duck Dynasty. Not quite the romantic evening out that we were hoping for, but a close second! 

Saturday morning came all too fast and we had to get our car out of the garage before they charged us another $44 for parking! On the way home we stopped off at the Tanger Outlet Mall for lunch and to look around for a bit. "I don't wanna be here a long time, let's just look really quick and get going." said Bill. Well, after being in Chicago and feeling like we couldn't afford anything, being at the outlet mall and seeing their prices kept us there all afternoon! 

Raylan slept all the way home. Nice.

Sunday morning my friend, Amanda and I ran the Papillion Half Marathon! The first few miles were great, we were feeling good and at a good 8 min pace. Mile four, I stepped off the curb wrong and twisted my ankle. Are you kidding me?? For the next four miles, I cried and contemplated calling Bill to just come and pick me up. Mile nine, decided to suck it up and just finish the dang thing. I finished with a time of 2hr. 35min. I was pretty disapointed with my time because I had run it before in 2hr. 5 min. but with my ankle the way it was, I guess I should be proud that I finished at all! I can't even imagine doing this x2 in September when we do the full! 26.2 miles........uugghhh. 

Ya' know what? Let's not think about that right now! 

All in all it was a fabulous, l-o-n-g weekend!

The Festivities Continue...

Saturday night Bill's mom, Kathy threw the most wonderful bridal shower for her daughter, Danielle. Now, this was no ordinary bridal shower.....no lace doilies, corsages, tea sandwiches and ho-hum games. It was high heals, cocktails, hilarious-nearing inappropriate games, delicious appetizers, heart warming speeches and gifts! We can't forget the gifts! (I gave Dani the sign that I had made for her dessert table at the wedding and she was so surprised and totally loved it! *sigh of relief*) It was a wonderful evening with family and friends as we wished her well in new life as a married woman!

What mom doesn't just LOVE Mother's Day? A whole day dedicated to you and your wonderfulness! While I was at the bridal shower, Bill and Sawyer were busy little bees in the backyard planting me some flowers! ( I know the picture looks like we buried a family pet, but in a few weeks, there will be gorgeous blooms in that very spot!) Sawyer's class had made cookbooks with recipes from each Kindergarten family and then this little book about "My Mom"

I loved the last page. Pretty as: a flower. Sweet as: an apple. Smart as: my dad (What?!) Special as: Me

LOL Oh Sawyer.......you're the best, buddy!!!!! I just loved the handmade gifts! 

Stopped at Starbucks on the way to church for a little coffee treat. (Simmer down Mom, this wasn't HIS, he was just having a little taste!)

After church, we had a great lunch at my in-laws house and then spend most of the afternoon outside enjoying the absolutely GORGEOUS weather! 

Raylan kept conning people into pushing him around the yard in his new car....

Daddy and Raylan working on their tans...

Sawyer and Daddy trying to give Mommy a heart attack on Mother's day...

More gifts! Bring on more gifts!

Raylan would not set one foot in the grass. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the last time he was in it and then got hives allllll over his little body.....but he jumped up and down on this chair and thought it was great!

We played basketball in the driveway and who was it that won knock-out? hmmmmmmmm.....oh yeah! It was MEEEEEEEEEE! Go me, go me (imagine me doing a really good victory dance). 

It was a great Mother's Day! Only like eleven months till the next one!

Let the Festivities Begin!

Look at that face! Don't you just wanna smear some Nutella on it and eat right up? No? Well I do!!! This little guy isn't so little anymore! His new car seat arrived the other day and as you can tell by the look on his face, he LOVES it! I think he feels like such a big boy in it. 

I took it out to the car to install it and Raylan kept getting into trouble (surprise, surprise). Crawling underneath one side of the car to the other, rattling the trash cans, eating grass and washing it down with rain water from the roof drain.....sigh.....so into the car seat box he went! Just as good as a Pack N' Play! 

Friday night Bill's sister, Danielle came into town from New York to get some things in order for her upcoming wedding in September! It's always such a treat having her here. We were able to catch up over delicious Mexican food and jumbo size margaritas! 

(Somehow I don't think the drink the Papa and Raylan shared was quite as tasty! lol)    

Daddy and the Birthday Boy*

May is a busy month for our family, celebration wise. We crammed Raylan, Alex and Nana Kathy's Birthday's all into one evening! After dinner we headed back to Nana & Papa's for cake and gift opening. Raylan got this really cute ride on car, among other things and he just thinks it's the cat's meow! We spent most of the night taking turns pushing him around the house in it.

This might not look like that exciting of a cake.....but let me tell you, I think it was the best cake I have ever had. In my life. Kathy is going to be making the wedding cake and so she's been trying out different recipes on us for the past year :) This apple pie cake from "The Milk Bar" in NY is the triumphant winner! It is aaaaaaamazing. Lucky for those of you who get to have a taste in September! This was day one in a three day party stretch :)