Family Vacation

This week we took our first-ever, official family vacation.  We have had several visits to see family, but I consider this our first official vacation because: 

                        1) We stayed in a hotel. 

                        2) We ate out (or in the hotel dining area) for every meal. 

                        3) We did fun things every day. 

                        4) It was just the 4 of us!

We left Wednesday morning, July 4th.  The girls "helped" me pack my bag: 

Our destination was Grand Rapids, Michigan.  My husband and I both lived there for a time before we were married, and it had been over 5 years since we had seen a lot of the places we used to frequent.  Our first vacation destination was....Cornerstone University/Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.  Boo refered to this as "Daddy's Pastor School".  :)

It was HOT!  Baby Cakes relaxed in her stroller with Diggity Dog.

We took a family picture.

Daddy was showing his mad pole-climbing skill as two little girls screamed in terror.  :)  They did NOT like him doing this.  He came back down just after this picture was taken.  No bell-ringing that day!

Boo got over her terror and tried to climb the pole herself.

They're just so cute.

We had some time to kill before hotel check-in time, so we headed to the mall for awhile.  Boo rode her favorite ride...

And even let Baby Cakes join her for awhile.

Boo enjoyed staying in a hotel for the first time (that she can remember).  She loved having this big bed to herself, and she did pretty well staying quiet so that others could sleep.  She told us she wanted to live there.

The girls loved sitting in this chair and being spun round and round.

On Thursday, we went to the zoo.  We saw monkeys...

Baby Cakes liked the penguins.

The favorite for both of the girls seemed to be the bears though.  I loved hearing Baby Cakes growl at them .  Soooo cute!

Boo named one of the bears Cabela Bear (after her beloved stuffed bear), and Daddy named the other Mike.

With Cabela Bear:

The girls banged on the drums...

And Baby Cakes LOVED that.

Boo showed off her balancing skills.

And we visited the children's area.

Did I mention how HOT it was this week?!  Baby Cakes would not let this cup out of her hands.

Friday we went to Rockford.  This is the Rockford Dam.  This place will always be special to me, as this is where my husband proposed - 6 years ago, July 30th.

We sat on "our bench" (which has since been relocated a few feet) and Boo took our picture.  Pretty good for a 3 year-old.

6 years ago, I never would have guessed that the next time I would be back in Rockford, I would be with my husband and 2 little beauties.  So blessed.  And how cute is this?!

 We went to a second mall on Friday.  Boo got to ride on a frog.

 And more fun rides.

The girls enjoyed Taco Bell.  Boo had her first-ever taco, and Baby Cakes enjoyed a cheese roll-up.  Mmmmm...Mommy is so excited to share my love of Taco Bell with another generation!

 We had a lot of fun just relaxing and enjoying the places in and around Grand Rapids.  We swam in the pool.  We ate lots of good food.  We took naps and even slept well at night.  (This is quite an accomplishment with two little ones in one hotel room!)  It was a nice change of pace.

Mostly, we just enjoyed having Daddy with us all day for 3 days and spending time as a family.

Hair Bow Organizer

I joined Pinterest a few months ago and am in love with it.  I have found so many fun crafts and ideas since joining.  Now the only problem is...I need time to complete these projects!
I love hair bows for my girls.  I have made a few that were inspired by Pinterest.  But I needed somewhere to store these bows, so I found an idea on Pinterest (of course). 

This idea originally came from The Frugal Girls.com.  I liked their idea of using a picture frame and ribbon, but their bow organizer seemed a little small to me.

I searched in my attic for old frames, and I remembered a frame I had from an old mirror in my first apartment.  The mirror broke in a move, but I liked the frame so much that I kept it.  It was perfect for this project.

Then I started thinking about what scrapbook paper to use as the background.  The mirror frame was a little too big to use scrapbook paper, so I started thinking about fabric I had "for later".  I remembered an old scrub top I had been given a few years ago.  I liked the pattern on the top, but I never actually wore it.  I wasn't a big fan of the bow in the front.  Again, perfect for this project.

I found some ribbon I liked at Walmart, and I set to work.  All I had to do was cut the front off the scrub top, position it on the back of the frame, and tack the back corners down with some hot glue.  The back of the frame is not pretty, but nobody will ever see it, so it doesn't matter.  Then I tacked the ribbon on the back with some hot glue, clipped the bows in place, and hung it on Boo's wall.  Ta-da!  A beautiful bow organizer, ready for some more bows:

Merry Christmas!

A few weeks ago, I decided to do a home photo shoot of my girls.  I wanted to put a cute picture of them in our Christmas cards for our family and friends who do not get to see the girls all the time.  I thought this would be fairly easy...but maybe I should have recruited some help from my husband.

I ended up with a few pictures that were good of Princess Boo but not so flattering of Babycakes:

Some that were good of Cakes but not of Boo:

One that captured a cute sister moment, but neither was looking at the camera:

And a smiling Boo holding a grimacing Cakes, who seems to be clinging to the rocking chair for dear life...

So we finally ended up with this photo to send in our cards.  Notice the wet spit-up mark on Cakes' dress?  So typical.  Love my girls!!!

Merry Christmas!

Life at the Funhouse

I have some time to blog!  Babycakes surprised me with a nap, so here I am!  She is still doing well with her sleep schedule.  It varies from day to day, but she is generally taking 4-5 naps during the day and sleeping 12 hours at night, with a feeding somewhere between 3-5am most nights.  Sunday night she actually slept 12 straight hours!  That was awesome!

Babycakes is growing so fast.  She has already outgrown her 0-3 month sleepers!  Her 2-month checkup is next Wednesday.  I will be interested to see how much she weighs then.  I think she is somewhere between 12-13 pounds right now.

She continues to gain head control and strength, and she spent some time in her Bumbo seat for the first time this week.  She LOVED it!  Of course, she can only tolerate about 5 minutes at a time at this point.

Last week was our county fair.  We went on Thursday and Babycakes looked about like this the entire time.  Poor baby!  She pretty much slept the entire day Friday to recover from it.

Princess Boo had a great time looking at all the animals with Daddy.  She loved the horses again and liked the rabbits, but the rooster noises scared her. 

Boo wanted to ride the carousel, so we got her a ticket and Tim took her on.  Watch the progression via photos:

At least she rode on the bench!  Maybe next year...

We are doing Potty Training Take 2 this week with Boo.  I had it in my mind that we would be able to pick up right where we left off when Babycakes was born.  No such luck.  We are back at the beginning again and have had 3 accidents and no successes in a day and a half.  Poor Boo!  There is no turning back though.  We will conquer this thing.  J

That’s the Funhouse for now!  I hope to update again after Babycakes’ checkup next week!

Life as 4: Week 3

I am not sure how much time I have to write this post, as Baby Cakes was lulled to sleep by the sound of the dishwasher about 2 hours ago.  She could wake at any moment!

Baby Cakes is growing like a weed.  She had her 2-week checkup on Monday and weighed in at 9 pounds 6 ounces, so she has more than gained back the goal of her birthweight!  We had a 2-day stretch this week where all she wanted to do was nurse...around the clock...  Thankfully that ended last night and we all enjoyed our sleep.  She has moved out of newborn clothes and into 0-3 months now.

This past week was full of more “firsts” for Baby Cakes and our family of 4.  Saturday we enjoyed a visit from my brother and his family.  Baby Cakes was spoiled by being held all day, and the princess was overjoyed to get a new Cars toy.  (It’s the simple things.)  We enjoyed seeing my brother and his wife, Cousin B, and my sister-in-law's growing belly!  We are excited to welcome another nephew to the family in August! 

Sunday was of course Father’s Day.  The girls wore matching dresses to church and even coordinated with Daddy’s outfit.  Too bad one kept gouging at her eye and the other had a difficult time keeping her finger away from her nose and mouth.  This is the best picture we got! 

Of course they looked great in the pictures without Daddy:

After church, the princess and Daddy enjoyed looking through Daddy's Mixbook. 

We all took naps in the afternoon and then decided to venture out to Pizza Hut in the evening for Daddy’s Father’s Day meal.  We figured we would go somewhere a little more “safe” for little kids, just in case of fits and crying.  The girls did great!  The princess was highly entertained by crayons, and Baby Cakes slept the entire time. 

Other firsts:  I tried my BumGenius 1-size diapers on Baby Cakes, and they fit!  She is now a cloth diaper girl along with Princess Boo.  And I now do laundry quite frequently.  J

The girls continue to get along well, and Princess Boo loves to play with Baby Cakes and entertain her.
 

 I asked Boo to pick out one toy for Baby Cakes, and this is what we ended up with:

That pretty much sums up our week!  I continue to try to get out of the house daily with the girls.  I have found that it works better if we stick around town where Baby Cakes can be worn in a ring sling.  She is not a fan of her carseat, mostly because she spits up a lot, but she loves being worn in a sling!  Most stores are about 30 minutes away from our house, and venturing out usually requires at least one stop to nurse along the way.  I am impressed with Princess Boo's patience at those times.  She just plays with toys and waits cooperatively.  What a great sister she is!