Friday Five

To wrap up this week Im going to do the Friday Five- I saw this on another blog so its basically just 5 things that were great about this week or something to look forward to!

1. my mom being here since last Tuesday. We've done alot of fun things and the kids are in heaven! Even if we are just sitting out back letting the kids get dirty in sand and water thats the best!

 found a great orchard nearby! I see lots of trips here to pick our own produce.

 Trip to the library!

2. Date night with Jeremy. Last night we went to dinner and a movie. A movie? I cannot tell you the last movie I saw. There is nothing better than movie theater popcorn and a diet coke. Yes, I splurged. I gave up diet almost 2 months ago. It was much easier than I thought- but I had to splurge. The two just go together! We saw Now You See Me. GREAT movie. I highly reccomend it!!

3. Our short, but sweet weekend getaway tomorrow! We are staying downtown at a hotel off the strip in Old Vegas but I dont really think I would have cared where I stayed to have a small getaway. Im going to be sitting by a pool in 117 heat and hopefully love it!

OUCH! these temperatures just make me feel hot right now!

4. this precious little boy is a walking pro and just gets bigger and better everyday! I cant even stand it sometimes. Obviously they all grow too fast but gosh its been fun watching a one year old again! He is all boy and gets into everything he possibly can!

 this kid could eat avacado for every meal- he loves it!

 those cheeks and those lips...delicious!

 he has a new cheese face he does, and its a big huge toothy grin!

he was so mad he couldnt get IN the water table!

5. We have so much planned with all our friends and family when we get back to Louisville next week. We cant wait to see all the people have been so supportive. All the people who have checked in on us and, kept in touch with us and just sent all their love and support. I have more lunch dates & play dates planned than I can even count! Big 90th birthday party for my grandmother, a baby shower for one of my sweetest friends, pedicures with the girls, brunches, and just spending quality time with everyone. Im also going to enjoy knowing where Im going when I drive :) Then the beach following our KY trip- I cannot wait!

 Have a great weekend!!

hello summer!

summer is here and it really does feel like summer vacation is starting! my mom and nana got here on Tuesday and Hannah has been in heaven ever since :) Its SO great to have the company, the kids are so happy and it just been so fun to spend quality time together. I think Jeremy is just happy he can take all the naps he needs!
We've been on wagon rides, to the kids museum, had some In n out and even went to the "Pawn Stars" store! We have some more fun things on the agenda then we head to Louisville in a week and a half, then to the beach- I cannot wait for this beach vacation!!

 so tired!

 kids museum!

 Pawn Stars! It really wasnt that impressive inside but neat to say we've been in there!

 went to Jeremy's course for lunch and Owen posed as the next superintendent!

He has the cutest little cheese face!

And someone is walking and cannot be stopped! He walks more than he crawls now and has the frankenstein walk going on- I love this stage!!

 this face and this sweet baby makes me want 5 more but that'll never happen :)

 he just makes my heart MELT!! he is developing such a personality and I could just sit and watch him and Hannah interact, laugh, and smile all day long!

the circus, baseball, and fathers day!

we had alot going on this weekend but I like it that way! I bought a groupon the other day for a kids indoor play place near us so we took the kids to Child's Play on Friday then grabbed a bite to eat. These kids are hard to wear out. For some reason they have been waking SO early. I thought we'd all be sleeping in past 7 but no such luck. Hannah has been waking at 5:30 and Owen not too long after...so we do everything we can to wear them out. It didnt really work this weekend but Im getting used to the early wake up calls.
Saturday on a whim, we bought tickets to the circus, knowing right afterwards we were going to the baseball game for Jeremy's companys Family night. We were willing to risk it and just knew we'd wear them out! Disney on Ice didnt go so well so we had a long talk about behavior at the circus :) It did help, Hannah was really good. Owen was so squirmy, I have no idea how we are going to do flights with him. But she loved the circus and the animals- she was really happy!
Then we headed right to the baseball game where she had even more fun with some kids were sitting near. The heat wasnt too bad and it was nice meeting some of the people who work with Jeremy!
Sunday, Hannah was up at 5:20....ouch! But we really enjoyed a day of doing nothing but celebrating Jeremy. He is the most amazing dad I could have ever imagined and for that I am forever grateful. We ate and played and ate and played, and watched alot of golf. 3 out of 4 of us didnt get out of our pj's. I call that a successful Fathers Day :)

 enjoying the circus!

 thats my hannah!

 she picked out some rocks for us and loved the hat from the baseball game! :)

We have some really fun things coming up! I dont want to wish this summer away because it is fulled with lots of fun things! My mom comes Tuesday for 2 weeks! Jeremy and I are getting a night out while she is here. I dont remember the last time we we've done that, so that is exciting! We are going to stay somewhere here in Vegas so thats a bonus to living here. Then we head back to Louisville for 4th of July, celebrating my Grammy's 90th birthday!, Hannah gets to spend some time in Owensboro, then we head to the beach where Jeremy will be meeting us! FIRST family vacation in a long time and the first time Jeremy will really get to see the kids at the beach. Im BEYOND excited! Not to mention all the catching up we will do with friends and family. Long overdue!!

oh southwest, you're so sneaky.

so we literally purchased 10 plane tickets yesterday. We got an email about their 72 hour sale and I was all over it. I know the dates we are wanting to head home so I felt like a crazy person stalking their website for the best deals. I was finding flights for $129 one way- that is unheard of! Thankfully my dates can be pretty flexible but I am always trying to find a way to make sure I have someone to fly with. Im no supermom- Im pretty sure Id be the lady on the airplane crying because one child wont use the airplane bathroom, southwest wont have the right snacks, and the other child will want to crawl or hopefully walk up and down the aisles. I pray for sleep :) Its inevitable that I will have to do some of these flights alone. The flights from LV to Louisville wont be as bad- they are 3.5 hours nonstop. The flight home is almost 4.5 hours. Those are the flights I dont want to do alone but if the kids could at least sleep for an hour or two I think I can do it. Anyways....we are heading to Louisville in October for a wedding I am in and luckily it is my moms fall break so she gets to fly back with us. I found those flights for $140!!! Seriously- that is a steal. So I booked my flight with my rapid rewards number and got the $140 price. Logged in as Hannah so she gets the credits for her Rapid Rewards number and the price had ALREADY gone up. Literally, seconds. From $140 to $225. So I call, thinking they will give me the same rate. Of course not. Little did I know I should have bought two tickets and put her rapid rewards number under mine. Didnt know that!

 Here's the thing for anyone who is looking at plane tickets and waiting for the price to drop- with Southwest she said they have about 20-30 tickets in each price range. Once those sell out, they go up to the next tier. Now, thats not to say they wont run another special but thats the jist of it. So when they are low like that, buy them that second! We found the same priced flight a day earlier so I booked those the right way. 

I also learned the hard way when I saw Jeremys flight to the beach for $184. Seriously, $184 for a flight from Vegas to Charleston, SC. What a deal! He was golfing so I waited til he got home to get his rapid rewards number and it had already gone up to $278. I just knew it would go back down right. NOPE. Bought it last night for $313. Ouch- that one made me a little sick cause I knew it had been $184. I guess its a wash with the flights we are getting for $129 and $140 but now that I know their game, Im not waiting!

I bought tickets for me and the kids to Louisville for Thanksgiving for $129. Thats just a miracle! Now if I can just muster up the courage to bring them back home from Thanksgiving alone- then I can get another $129 flight...I guess I shouldnt wait too long though....

Ill get off my soapbox but they are having a great sale! Ill leave you with a couple of my favorite faces!

 guess who got ahold of my phone!?

 he just steals my heart!

 cause going down would be normal! :)

 the girl loves to run!!

golf and carpet cleaning

I bet that title really made you want to read this post, right? Well... thats pretty much what our weekend consisted of. Jeremy got out to golf on Saturday and I bought a new carpet cleaner. Dont be jealous of our crazy weekend! :) It was HOT. (Im going to apologize now for always talking about how hot it is for the next 4 months). Jeremy says it doesnt feel that hot, one hundred and NINE is just plain HOT. But we survived. I dont want to take the kids out in it so we really just stayed inside. Which drives me crazy, so thats probably why I was driven to cleaning carpets. ha ha! Owen turned 13 months this weekend, no clue how that happened so fast and is back to waking up almost every hour after 3:30 in the morning. I dont have a solution for this. Other than for him to cry it out. Which I hate hearing him cry but if I put him in bed with me- he just jabbers away and rolls around like its party time. The hardest part is that his crying always wakes Hannah up. So since Jeremy leaves so early I end up in bed with Hannah. I hate that her sleep is disturbed too- she needs her beauty rest! :)
I just dont have an answer. Im hoping once teething subsides then things will get better. I can see his fifth tooth bulging so I know its coming. I can only assume thats what is happening. And maybe when he has any interest in walking one day, that will wear him out. Lazy boy!

Hannah started her Summer Camp program today- she surprised me and didnt even cry! We talked all morning about how she was a big girl, and was going to have so much fun and I would be there to pick her up. She walked right in with her backpack and didnt look back! Im glad she has this time with other kids- she definitely needs it.

A week from tomorrow my mom comes- YAY!!! Jeremy cant wait to sleep again and nap whenever he wants and I cant wait for the company. I hope this week flies by! We have some fun things planned this weekend so Im ready for that too. Of course, its only Monday.  I have a bad habit of pinning kids crafts on Pinterest and only sometimes making them so I went to the store today and bought some things I hope we can do. I want to make the most out of this summer- my first summer off with the kids. What a huge blessing! I hope I can juggle both of them at the pool cause I see lots of pool time in my future! Hannah doesnt swim yet and gets really clingy so Im not sure how I can do both of them but we'll try it once and see how it goes!!

 we let Owen play with dolls while Jeremy was golfing...he knew right what to do with that bottle!

 and we did some of this. Its all fun and games until Owen falls out!

 This is just heaven on a plate. Seriously WORLDS best cinnamon roll. If you are having company or just want a yummy breakfast one morning make these. You can find the recipe HERE

I found the cinnamon rolls in the freezer section at Walmart. Also, use the large box of COOK pudding, not instant. Heaven, I tell ya! My new favorite breakfast is egg whites scrambled on a tortilla with provolone cheese, avocado, green onion, spinach leaves and salsa with some salt and pepper. So worth the work! And Ive also been sneaking in spinach to smoothies for Hannah....but she always wants to push the button so I have to divert her attention when I slip the spinach in. This morning I had her running upstairs for some funny things! She cant tell so thats what matters!

 My big 13 month old!! Not walking yet. Standing alone but no steps yet. Eats everything in sight, and loves to follow his sister around! They are best friends!

 these two are something else! I LOVE watching them interact everyday. Some days Hannah squeezes Owen a little too hard or you'll just catch her walking over and kissing him on the head.

 One night Hannah wasnt listening (well that seems to be every day!) but we put her in her room for time out and you could tell she was upstairs doing something so like 10 minutes later she came down with her boots on and told me she had to go to work. Thats one way to get out of it! Whats really funny is that this girl hates anything tight. Tight shirts, tight shorts and especially tight shoes (if you can only imagine the battle I deal with everyday getting her dressed) well I know these boots were too tight. They are a size smaller than she wears now and from last fall. STUBBORN!

 A HOT morning at the park....we didnt last too long. She had to bring her baby with her!

I will say we do have the best selection of parks around here, that is for sure!

recipes and such

Im not one who likes to cook but I do like to find yummy recipes if Im going to have to stay in and cook. Pinterest is my main source and I have found some delicious ones!

Yesterday for lunch I made this really yummy salad with a really good homemade dressing. See, I could eat mexican food for every meal. Every single day. I just can. So any type of mexican or southwest recipe I will try.
I made this yesterday with a few of my own additions to the salad but the dressing was great! Im not going to lie- I like to grab my dressing out of the fridge but I felt so much better making my own and knowing what was in it. Cilantro Lime dressing- yes please!

 You can find the recipe HERE


I am also LOVING this salsa from Kroger. It might not be everyones taste but it is delicious and doesnt taste like it has a bunch of weird things in it. I put it on my egg and cheese breakfast burrito this morning with avacado and green onion- YUM!

We made this recipe the other night and it was great as well. I think you could also just use the meat (which turned out really good) and use it in tacos instead of making the burritos. It wasnt alot of work but tacos would be great. See- I love mexican food! Find the recipe HERE

 Last night we finally got out of the house and had some fun with some new friends! It felt so good to go to dinner with some new faces. There is a salesman that works with Jeremy that is around our age and his fiance has a 5 year old daughter so we thought the girls would have fun playing together. Sounds crazy but Red Rock Casino out by us has a childcare center inside. Its actually really neat.  I know it sounds like you just drop off your kids and go gamble but there are lots of restaurants, a theater and a bowling alley inside. So we dropped Hannah and Avery off at Kids Quest and they played and played. Owen came to dinner with us and we were able to have some adult conversation! We will definitely be getting the girls together soon!

We will be trying to beat the heat this weekend- 111 on saturday! whew! I guess the summers here are like winters at home. People dont get out too much during the hot, hot summer. Im not sure I can keep these two kids inside!