Hello! I am back for my monthly update! I honestly don't know where the time goes! So, once again I will leave you with one LONG post...to make up for the month long lack of posting! Hopefully, I can get back to my weekly posts one of these days! Anyway, here are the highlights of our month...

1. Meeting Lauren Paige Rouse!!! She was such a little angel! We felt so blessed to have spent part of Lauren's first days at home with her! The little princess is getting so big...we can't wait to see her again! Way to go Jamie and Kyle...she is such a cutie!!!
2. Having fun, modeling Monica's sunglasses, at the Fareway Picnic. Lots of people, food and fun!

3. Watching little miss Mia for a few days while her mommy and daddy went on vacation. We had SOOOO much fun with this little cutie (as you can see)! She was unbelievably good for us! I don't know who had more fun with Mia....Andy & I...or... Alaina?!?
4. Celebrating Alaina's 2nd Birthday!!!! Even though Alaina was feeling a little under the weather, we still had a great time celebrating a special day! Grandma and Grandpa came to visit on Alaina's birthday (and took her out for Happy Joe's pizza and ice cream). Plus, we had cake and "Pin the Tail on Swiper" on Sunday with Alaina's Aunt Kim and Uncle Tim. I'll try to post more pictures of all the birthday fun later!

5. Finishing my little project: Alaina's big girl bed! Here are the before and after pictures. Thankfully, Alaina is very proud of her big girl bed :-)!



6. Cheering on the Vikings. Football season has arrived, and to Andy's pleasure, Alaina has become his little cheerleader.

Hello! Does one BIG post make up for my lack of posts this past month?!? I hope so! We have been keeping so busy, enjoying the rest of summer - I haven't taken the time to blog. So, here are some highlights from the month!

We took advantage of our local library's museum pass, and took Alaina to the Children's Museum. We had so much fun! The featured exhibit was the Blue Man's Group exhibit from the Boston Children's Museum. The exhibit brought together science and art with the fun of music. Alaina has always liked music so, she definitely enjoyed making music here as well! We will have to go back again soon!

Learning about sound waves...

Speaking of learning...Alaina also learned a little something about patience this summer as she planted some flower seeds (as well as tomato seeds) and waited for them to grow. Her great grandparents sent the flower seeds to her around Valentines Day and they bloomed this past month. Andy and I grew tomatoes for the first time (in a topsy-turvy and 5 gallon buckets) and Alaina helped plant, water, and pick those as well! It's been a lot of fun and a great learning experience...for us all!

Oh..and we got the opportunity to see a Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus at the I-Wireless Center as well! It was quite an experience! Alaina's favorite entertainers were the horses and the stuntmen on the horses - we must have been too amused with Alaina's excitement to get any good pictures of them! Haha. Here are a few other pictures we did manage to take though.

The swinging acrobats were definitely another one of Alaina's favorites. I can only imagine what was going through her little mind as she watched this! She was quite impressed!

And most recently, I finally made salsa with some of the tomatoes we grew, watered, and picked! Yum...there is nothing like fresh salsa! Wish you all were here to enjoy it with me =).

Family Fun

Happy Wednesday! Once again, my post is going to be short and sweet (with lots of photos). We've been keeping super busy enjoying our summer. This past weekend some of my family came for a fun-filled visit! Alaina had a blast playing with her cousins, and I enjoyed catching up with everyone! Unfortunately, Andy had to work a lot over the weekend - but he was sure to enjoy the time he did have! I posted a few pictures of the kids enjoying Little Bear Park as well as pictures from family fun night.




Last night, our community hosted a family fun night at the park with lots of great food, games and entertainment. I think our favorite was definitely the petting zoo. The bunnies were SOOO cute (Alaina wasn't the only one wanting to take one home). My least favorite was the DNR with their snakes! There were also demonstations with the police dog, animals from the humane society, jumping houses, inflatable obstacle courses, little train rides, music, snow cones, ice cream cones, malts, games and more! Family fun was definitely had by all.

A few words on "Wordless Wednesday"

A night out bowling for Andy's birthday (and lots of fun) - $9 First corn on the cob - $0.40

Stretching with daddy and

a lil spontaneity . . . priceless

4th of July Fun

I can't believe that the fourth of July has already came and gone! With the long weekend we decided to go 'back home' for an over due visit!
It was so nice to see our family! Everyone kept saying that they could not believe how much Alaina had changed. I thought..yah I know. But I didn't realize just how much she had changed until I accidentally came across this picture from last July. It is truly amazing how much our children change in just one year!

Alaina had so much fun playing with her cousins, hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, and simply exploring!
There was so much to see and do! Alaina's aunt Barb even whipped out some festive confetti works. I don't know exactly how it worked...but i know that the kids absolutely loved it and it made a HUGE mess!

Alaina and I helped Bapa clean up a whole lot of confetti off the driveway! We got to see some old friends from Manchester, the fireworks over the lake, our nieces and nephew's modeling talents as well as lots of family fun! It was a great weekend. We definitely can't wait so long between visits! Thanks to our families for all the fun and hospitality!

Summertime

It's been a little while since I last posted (I was a kinda a bum last week as I was feeling under the weather), but for Alaina the fun went on! We got Alaina's pool out one incredibly warm evening, and boy did she LOVE it! Which was a good thing, as we somehow locked ourselves out of the house (yikes)!

We also took part in the local Relay for Life event, which was incredibly touching, as always! Alaina & I walked for the MSB team. Pictured below is a dear friend from work, who we walked with. She is lighting the luminaries in honor of her husband, who is currently fighting lung cancer. The Relay Committee did a great job with the event planning, and their hard work definitely paid off! It is always nice to take the time to remember those who have fought, honor those who are currently fighting, and pray for a day that no one else has to be told to fight that fight.

I couldn't resist ending with this picture that Andy took shortly before I came home from work the other day. Ha ha. Andy was cooking supper and found Alaina like this...

Happy Anniversary

It is so hard to believe that Andy and I were married four years ago on June 18th! So much has happened since then, and we have grown immeasurably! Andy was so sweet to plan a little getaway in historic Galena, and we had such an amazing time! Andy's brother and his fiance' came to our house, spoiled Alaina rotten while Andy and I spent a little quality time together.

We spent our little getaway checking out all the unique shops in Galena, which there were many. Some of our favorite shops were the Galena Candle Company, where we made a soy candle, The Great American Popcorn Company, where the popcorn was AMAZING, and Galena Garlic Company. Oh...and there was one store that Andy particularly enjoyed the Men's Time Out room, where there were chairs, TV, and a mini fridge stocked with complimentary pop, beer, and water.

After supper we saw horse drawn carriage tours through downtown, and could not resist. Cheesy...I know. Ha ha. But we had fun! We then headed back to the hotel to check out the live entertainment. We stayed at the Irish Cottage which we were very satisfied with! Every room was named after a county in Ireland and we stayed in Kerry. The hotel's three section pub, lobby, and library were created by Irish craftsmen and designers and reassembled in Galena. The pub featured Irish dancers and live Irish music. Unfortunately, we missed the Irish dancers, but we thoroughly enjoyed the Irish music! There was even a 25,000 square foot Faerie Ring outside (According to Irish legend, it is said that if you walk three times counter clockwise around the stone circle and then make a wish, your wish will come true).

We ended our little trip with a couples massage, which was amazing! Thanks to Andy for planning a fun little getaway and thanks to Tim and Kim for making it all possible! We were away from home just over 24 hours, but we had so much fun. It was great to get away...and it was great to come back home to our lil 'princess'!

Mia

Two posts in one day? Impressive...I know! We are going to be super busy these next few days, so I had to post these adorable pics, today! Our friends, Jessie and Scott welcomed their first child into this world on Saturday...and last night Andy and I got to meet Mia Rose McMaster for the first time. We loved every minute of it! Mia was born on Saturday measuring in at 7 pounds and 20 inches (I think), and has since been giving all kinds of love to everyone in the NICU. We are so happy for Jessie and Scott, and can't wait to see them grow as parents! They are going to be great...and Mia...she already has everyone wrapped around her little finger with those adorable little cheeks and sweet personality!

Andy and I were thrilled to be able to hold this little angel... truly one of God's greatest gifts! She seemed so little! It is amazing how fast they grow, and how easily we forget how little they once were! Mia is quite the blessing and we are so happy for Scott and Jessie! We keep the McMasters in our thoughts and prayers! Hopefully they will be able to go home this Father's Day weekend!

Naperville

We took a very short, but great trip to Naperville over the weekend to visit friends. We had a great time catching up and seeing Jamie's cute little belly (and the baby in action)! I'm pretty sure that they are going to have a little soccer player on their hands!

The guys had a great time playing the Wii Saturday night...and I had a great time watching them! I particularly enjoyed our Rock Band session...with Kyle as the lead vocalist! Ha ha. I was horrible on the drums, but Kyle and Andy were definitely rockin' it!

Sunday, we did a little sightseeing, and went on the Naperville RiverWalk. It was awesome! I loved every minute of it. It actually reminded me of my short stay in Minneapolis...it made me miss the cities! We stopped and played at a park along the walk, which Alaina loved.

I couldn't resist including this picture of Kyle, the Good Samaritan, trying to contact the rightful owner of a cell phone left on this park bench. For those of you wondering, he was successful...he even waited for the owner to come pick it up! There are good people everywhere, EVEN in the cities! We ended our trip with Chicago style pizza at Giordano's in downtown Naperville. It was amazing! Chicago style pizza never ceases to amaze me. We can't wait to go back for more...and more so we can't wait to go back to see Jamie's growing belly and their bundle of joy!