Family Weekend

This weekend we had beautiful weather. We got up early on Saturday and headed to the zoo.  Jeremy was able to get some tickets through work so we saved over $30!! The zoo is expensive here. It would regularly cost our family of 3 close to $60!

 Our first stop was the stingrays. 

They were very playful. This one tried to bite Jeremy. We think it wanted to be fed.  

C was not into it. But Jeremy and I enjoyed them.

When we came upon the monkeys this guy was chilling by the glass. Everyone was taking photos with him.

I tried to thank him with some kisses.

The temperature was barely 80*, but the misters still felt great. I can only imagine how crowded they are in the summer.

We let C have a camel ride.

She thought she was a real big kid to ride by herself.  She was not scared at all.

I got to pet one. It was trying to nibble on me. All I could think was "don't they feed these animals at this zoo?!"

C was very excited to ride her colorful flying dragon.  

She got to ride it twice.  Once with daddy and then again with me. I don't know why Jeremy didn't take pictures of me on the carousel with our girl??

We saw lots of animal and then made a last pit stop at the petting zoo.  We had already been at the zoo for  almost 4 hours. So I sat this round out.  I was hot and tired.  But I was told how she got to brush all the different goats.

Happy girl.

We came back and Jeremy and I took naps while C played in her room. That evening we went swimming and cooked out. Most evenings after dinner we all take a walk on the trails. I had a headache and sat this walk out.  But C was eager to go and use her flashlight on the trails.

Jake loves living here. He is so excited to go on our evening walks.

Jeremy is brave and lets him walk off the leash. If I tried that he would run away and not come back.

Best friends.

On our golf course.

I love how they love each other and are good play mates for one another.

And can you spot C?

A Belated Mothers Day

This year C was in FL on Mothers Day.  I was a little sad as I would have loved to spend the day with her.  Jeremy did his best to make me feel loved despite C not being there.  I was very excited when C returned to us and told me I could open the gift she got me.

Her art-work wrapping paper. She did a similar picture on the other side. She said it was a picture of me, rainbows and flowers.

Sparky and Uncle Pat helped her make this for me. It is so precious. I about cried reading it. The last line made me laugh! It is eye-opening to learn how your children see you.  

I am so thankful to be C's mother. She is a sweet, kind, loving, outgoing, beautiful girl.  I am so happy and blessed that she is all mine!

Our Week

One day last weekend C was having quiet time and came down dressed like this. Don't judge that she was  still in her pajamas in the late afternoon.

She told me she was a Minnie, princess, superhero.

Jeremy got me a small cake for Mother's day last weekend. He decided to wait until C was back from FL to get the cake. 

She sure was happy to help me eat it.

On Tuesday I took C to play at a park. It was only about 9am and not too hot yet, but we were the only people there. 

 She tried to play by herself, but was not having much fun.

So I decided to take her to Chik fil a and let her play in the play area for a bit.  After not living near one for over 2.5 years it sure is nice to have them again.  I let her play for over an hour and she had lots of fun.

Most mornings I let have breakfast in her playroom while I get ready. Of course if food is involved Jake is always near by.

She got to enjoy her first Popsicle of the summer. She looks pretty little in this photo. I think it was b/c she  has her hair back and no shirt on.  

On Thursday we went to the mall to attend our 1st meet up event with the moms group in my neighborhood. It was a bust. There were over 100 moms and their kids there and I could not recognize anyone from the group. C and I were both disappointed. So we left the kids event and headed to the play area at the mall. I let her play for over an hour and she was happy when some little girls came along and she could play with them.

As were leaving a man working a kiosk booth gave C this balloon. C was so excited. I love how she appreciates the little things.

On Tuesday afternoon we hit the grocery store. When we were bringing the bags in the house, the garage door to the house slammed on C's middle finger. I could see it all happening in slow motion.  It was bad. She screamed and cried for a long time. Her finger developed a big bruise and the skin at the tip all turned dark red/purple.  

I got her settled in the play room with some tv and an ice pack so I could put the groceries away. When i went to check on her about 10 minutes later this is what I found. I was so surprised as she has not napped in over 2 years.

Yesterday after work we all headed out to run some errands. C was not so excited we were shopping in Home Depot as there were no fun things for her to look at.  

She did enjoy playing on Daddy's iPhone though.

And I think she enjoyed his kisses.

Even though we don't have any friends here we have tried to stay busy.  C has finally adjusted to the time zone difference and has been sleeping well at night.

Her friends too.

Our Swimming Girl

C has always been a fan of swimming and pools. But living in IL we only had access to them for 3 short months during the summer. She is so happy that she now has her own pool.

Right before we moved I asked her if she was sad that we were selling her swing set. And she said no because she will now have her very own pool.

She has been swimming at least once a day every single day since she  got back from FL.  

One evening we went for a walk and when we returned we were hot and sweaty.  I told her to just take off her clothes and she could swim in her underwear. She thought that was the coolest. And now she asks to do that all the time.  Let's hope she never finds out about skinny dipping!

She really improved on her swimming since last summer. We are so lucky that Pops and Sparky have a pool and she was able to swim everyday in FL as well.  There is a new swim session starting up in June.  So we will hopefully get her into a swim class.

Here is just a small video of her swimming. I was very impressed with her. But I have to admit that I am much more nervous watching her do this than Jeremy is.  That might be because I can not swim very well.  Pretty sad that my almost 5 year old swims about as well as me!!

Picture Catch Up

Before we moved to AZ I sold our swing set to a sweet mom friend who has 5 children. I was sad we were not taking it with us but happy it was going to such a good home where it would still be loved!

I organized a surprise lunch baby shower for my friend Stephanie at Olive Garden. Stephanie thought it was just a lunch but we brought some goodies to eat and goodies for her to open.

We played a fun game called "my water broke".  One of the girls froze plastic babies in some water. The object was to get your baby all the way out of the ice cube. You could use any means possible. Which was funny because we were in a restaurant.

I tired rubbing the ice between my fingers. Gail thought she would melt it in her mouth! It was pretty funny!

Me and Stephanie having one last dinner out before the moving truck came. Her baby is due on C's original due date of July 18th!

Jeremy traveled a lot the week before we moved. I took C to dinner out at IHOP. I let her order whatever she wanted.  She was determined to use her knife and cut her own pancakes.

She couldn't really cut them as the knife was pretty dull but she was still proud of herself.

The day before Mother's day I went to get a pedicure. I talked Jeremy into getting one with me.  Although I have to admit it didn't take much arm twisting.

At first he was uncomfortable and making lots of jokes. But he finally started to relax when she started the massage portion.

It sure is hot here. And I am told that this is nothing. So we went ahead and tinted the windows in my car. We went as dark as "limo tint" which is the darkest you can go. At night I can not see out my back windows!!  

What is this?  That would be my pinky toe nail! I had stubbed it awhile back and it was loose and black and blue. Well I stubbed it again today.

 This was the result! I was amazed to see that a new nail had already started growing underneath the dead one. Oh and I tried out the Crackle nail polish when I got my pedi.  I like it and think it is fun for summer!

We take walks most evenings after dinner. This is the golf course we live on. 

This is a shot of the workers putting up our pool fence.  I was impressed they had it up in less than 3 hours.

This is after. To me this photo almost looks fake or like it should be on a postcard. But I promise you that is part of our backyard.  I hope to get pictures of our whole house and yard up sometime next week. We just have to hang a few curtains and add some decor to the walls. But they will be coming soon.