The Cow and Cabbage Patch Doll

Meet: Tristen the Cow! 

Haha...oh goodness :)

Meet: Aubrey the Cabbage Patch Doll!!

This outfit was a borrowed item from her cousin, Evie. Last night I spotted it and spotted a big thing of yarn in my yarn basket and was inspired to quickly put together a Cabbage Patch costume....I absolutely LOVED it!

This picture totally cracks me up!! Haha!!

 

We had a super great evening with my brother, sister-in-law, niece Iylah, my parents, grandma, and 2 aunts and uncles! It was so fun to spend time with family :) We did go to the Nursing Home this afternoon and then spent the rest of the evening at a restaurant with family :)

 

It's NOVEMBER tomorrow!! Wow....unbelievable! Our November is extremely busy but I'm excited for the change of pace. Lots and lots of family time, Thanksgiving holiday, Aaron's 30th birthday, a good friend's wedding....it's going to be a good month :) Although, I'm SO not ready for winter....I'm already feeling just a tad bit cooped in with a toddler that needs room to RUN! This week is trying to brainstorm winter activities that will get us through the next few months!

Have a great first day of November!

Being Spontaneous

Some of my favorite memories are spontaneous moments when my friends or I would get a brilliant idea, run with it before thinking it through, and have fantastic memories because of it. One such instance was seeing a dead goose alongside of a road. My roommate Tiff and I stopped the car, found a piece of cardboard in her trunk, picked up the dead goose, and delivered it to someone's door step as a prank. HA! It was a completely spontaneous act and a great memory now. (and, thankfully our friend who we delivered it to found it quite funny)

Well, today I was sewing ears on Tristen's cow costume and I decided to try Aubrey's costume on her and fix it in anyway possible. It just didn't fit her right...didn't look amazing on her and beside the fact, she looked like a boy in it. THAT can't happen to my little girl.

At 6:00pm, I started thinking. A spontaneous, last minute costume for tomorrow is what I needed to come up with. And suddenly, my adrenaline kicked in and I thought of "THE costume" that would be perfect for Aubrey. Grabbing my hot glue gun, I glued together some pieces and came up with a completely different costume for tomorrow. The best part? It was spontaneous and I'll have a great story to tell Aubrey someday :)

What is it? Well, stay tuned and hopefully there will be pictures! And, if it suddenly doesn't work (because, no, I haven't even tried it on her since she's sleeping away!), then I suppose she'll settle for a boyish looking bumblebee :)

I'll leave you with a few pictures....another spontaneous moment that happened yesterday. Everyone in my household had an off day yesterday but in those moments, I grabbed my camera and had a very impromptu photo shoot with Tristen. It was his only 20 minute happy spell all day...and one of the first times he has actually looked at the camera and smiled!

 

What a kid :) SOOO glad that today was a better day for us all!!

Halloween this year

Halloween is in a week and this year, I'm not going all out :) FAR from it but I'm at least having fun putting together costumes and treat bags for my kids! Tristen will be a cow....he is in LOVE with cows and was staring at his costume last night and saying, "Cow?" He'll be wearing pajamas with a white cotton cow pattern over his pj's....SO simple!! Now to figure out the headgear for the cow...hmmm...I have a few ideas but I don't know how he'll do with something on his head :)

Last year I found out I was pregnant with Aubrey a few days before Halloween. So, I picked up a Bumblebee costume at next to nothing after Halloween so I wouldn't have to worry about a costume for a baby again. She looked a little like a boy in it so I threw together a tutu and made it a little cuter with a few added touches.

Last year I completely forgot about a treat bag (we don't do actual trick or treating....but instead go to the Nursing Home and visit the residents there. They LOVE seeing little kids in their costumes and I think it's a great alternative.....plus we can still get dressed up but we don't have to deal with the scary costumes that many kids in our neighborhood wear trick or treating) Sorry, way long side note but thought I would preface that to let you know WHY I would forget a treat bag! :) So, last year I forgot one and ran out the door with an Easter basket because it's the only thing I could find last minute! Haha!

This year, I'm prepared for our trip to the Nursing Home with two homemade treat bags for the kiddos! They were SO easy to make and I whipped them up yesterday afternoon during Tristen's nap! Felt is a girl's best friend during Halloween season :)

So, I'm pretty much done with Halloween prep this year....mine and Aaron's costumes are a secret but we didn't want anything that we would need to MAKE this year....just not going to happen with two little ones! So, instead we thought up a fun idea that requires no sewing whatsoever.....all we need is cardboard :) Go ahead, guess away. You won't figure out our costumes this year :)

Teething??

 

My sweet baby girl will turn 4 months next week.

 

I think she's starting to teeth.

 

Fingers in her mouth CONSTANTLY, drool running down her face (which, is pretty stinkin' cute I might add!), gnawing on everything in sight.

 

She's growing up right in front of my eyes!

 

Tristen got his first two teeth at 5 1/2 months and Aubrey's cousin, Iylah, got hers SUPER early so we'll see if Aubrey continues with the trend and gets teeth earlier than later.

 

Update on her: she's been SOOO much fun lately and loves rolling and bringing her feet to her mouth. At the moment, she'll go to anyone and everyone, just as long as you smile at her and hold her, she's a happy camper :) What a gem :)

 

It's hard to put her to bed at night because I want to spend more time with her but she's quickly adapted to the routine at our house and goes to bed at 7:15 and wakes up around 6am. SO great but I wish I could spend more time with her during the day!

 

Speaking of nighttime, Tristen has been sleeping in his toddler bed for a month now and we haven't had a single problem with the transition! Another week or so and they'll start sharing a room! Exciting!!

 

Hope you're all having a fantastic week!! 

This "Sweet" Time in Life

I miss my husband. It's just a fact of life right now. Things just aren't the same without him home as much as I try to be the jungle gym for Tristen and the father who can get Aubrey to giggle just a certain way. I just can't replace his presence but I try my best to make up for it by being "all there" for my children day in and day out.

The hubby and I chatted it up for a few minutes this morning and he told me about his night. He's rotating staying with family and old friends since many are still in the Minneapolis area. Last night was one of his best friends from high school and Aaron sheepishly told me they stayed up until 3AM talking! 3AM! I could tell it was a great time and needed for both of them.

It got me thinking of my own "3AM talk" with my sister-in-law a few weeks back when we met at my inlaws house for a few days. We forgot we were moms for two nights and stayed up late talking the night away. I came away refreshed and energized to keep going in life. Keep being a mother and wife and giving it my all.

Although I miss my husband, I believe we have a unique opportunity at the moment to reconnect with old friends and family and be encouraged by their support. Our families have been so helpful with the kids and just listening to us talk about the intensity of Aaron's classes. I also believe we have the opportunity to find ways to  make this time in life "sweet".

The flowers that were delivered to my doorstep last week are a prime example. It was such a sweet gesture from my husband to let me know that he loved me and missed me. I've been trying to write more HANDWRITTEN notes to my husband (although, I must admit I've been bad in the last two weeks!) to send with him.

I want to look back at this time and remember it as being a sweet time in life. A sweet time for our marriage and a sweet time for friendships.

And I believe that if we keep making the most out of this opportunity, we will indeed look back and remember "this sweet time in life".

Some "sweet moments" we had a few weeks ago:

Lindsay, Evie, Tristen, Aubrey, and I went to a park and had a picnic......it was SO fun :) 

Apple Orchard Fun

The hubby checked my blog a few days back and said, "Wow, you haven't blogged much lately." There has been SO much to blog about in the last month or so but life right now doesn't give me much time to just sit down. But, this is my attempt at getting caught up.....and if nothing else, here are a few pictures for our family members of our recent adventures.

We visited an apple orchard with the Johnsons and had so much fun! Tristen, Adelaide, and Aubrey had fun despite the cold :)

Umm, we didn't know HOW cold it would be and forgot Tristen's gloves. Thankfully Daddy's gloves sufficed :)

 

Adelaide was tired and went right to sleep in the wagon...it was too cute :)

 

 The corn maze!

 

My kids are awake and the break is over....thanks for tuning in. Hopefully more updates to come but I can't promise anything :)

Beautiful Weekend

Almost 7 years ago, I became engaged and started planning away at the wedding of my dreams. Aaron and I thought of ways to personalize our wedding and within just a few months, we had pretty much everything nailed down and decided. Almost everything in our wedding was a remembrance of something from our story. One special thing we planned was a footwashing ceremony in our service. During our dating period, Aaron washed my feet as a symbol of his wanting to serve me. We wanted to incorporate this special time in our wedding service so after we said our vows, Aaron washed my feet....the first thing he did as my husband. It was INCREDIBLY special and one of the highlights of my wedding :)

I have never seen this at a wedding since.

Until yesterday.

 

A dear friend from college got married yesterday and the whole wedding was beautiful!! I had goosebumps pretty much the entire wedding and one of those times was during the footwashing ceremony in which her new husband washed her feet. It was such a powerful display of love and brought me RIGHT back to my wedding. *sigh*

 

Since Aaron had a gazillion things to do yesterday, he wasn't at the wedding but my former roommate, Jennie, was the perfect date for Aubrey and I! Many of my friends from college choir were there (including my choir director!) so of course we rounded up all the former choir members at the reception and sang our "family song"- a beautiful song that we closed out every concert with. It was perfect.....and I loved every part of yesterday :) But now I miss college :(

 

I'm back to reality washing and ironing clothes and saying goodbye to the husband for yet another week, but holding onto yesterday's sweet and beautiful moment. Just like I have said before, life is a journey of BOTH the mountaintop experiences (like my wedding and yesterday) and the everyday walks in the park (like this mundane week). But through it all, God is good.

 

Hope you all had as great of a weekend as I did!

 

My date, Jennie! :)

Miss Aubrey and I-her flower went over her face right when we took this picture and Jennie said she looked like a unicorn....HA! I slightly agree :)

Congrats to the beautiful couple!!