Happy New Year!!

Well, Happy New Year everyone! Our NYE was very eventful... we were all up at midnight (all, except for Grace) throwing up! We were all fine at the beginning of the night, having a blast hanging out with Rick's family, but, by the end of it, all stomach bug hell had broken loose. What a great way to start 2017...

Anyway, I was reading some blog posts from when Quinn was a baby and decided one of my new year's resolutions, besides the usual eating better and working out, is to blog a little more. Even if no one reads this, I love looking back and remembering my girls at different ages. Speaking of ages, little Grace is almost 16 months old! How does that happen? And my Quinny will be 3 and a half at the beginning of March.

A little about what they're up to these days:

I wish I had a freeze button so I could freeze Grace at this age forever. It's just my favorite! She's so smart and hilarious. She loves wearing bows these days as well as hats, and loves to have shoes on. She doesn't talk much yet (at least what we can understand), but she can definitely tell us what she wants (usually in the form of a shrill scream), and she is starting to say more and more words lately. She says momma, dada, baby, hat, book, more, uh-oh and more that I'm forgetting. Other than that, we don't know what language she's speaking, but she babbles constantly. Grace is so much busier than Quinn was at this age. She can destroy a room within two minutes, and she especially loves to grab all my makeup and makeup brushes and scatter them throughout the house. Yesterday, I found her brushing the toilet with my blush brush... seriously gross. She loves baby dolls, looking at books, dancing, her light-up seahorse and her beloved pacis. She is soo mischievous and yet so dang cute that I can't be mad at her! She's still not cuddly, but every night before bed she'll finally wind down enough to cuddle with one of us in her rocker. She makes both of us re-think whether or not our family is actually done, but we will for sure be waiting a few years to decide that...

Quinn is seeming so much older to me lately, she's such a big girl, and yet, I have to remember that she is still little! She is so smart and picks up on EVERYTHING. She will either be the sweetest little thing or a complete brat, there's really no in between, ha! I'm pretty sure she is my mini-me. Apparently, I was the same way as a child. We can finally take her out to eat or shopping with us and she will behave. She is a social butterfly and loves to be the center of attention (I think b/c she likes to boss people around!). She loves books, loves babies, and loves to sing and dance. I really need to sign her up for a dance class this Spring. She is a horrible meal-time eater but will eat snacks for days... She'll be going to pre-school this Fall and she's already so excited for it (so am I!!).

As for Rick and I, we are in the market for a new home! We're really hoping that 2017 will be the year we either build or buy our "forever" home, or, at least the home in which our kids will grow up. There is really NOTHING on the market here right now and I'm sure there will be lots and lots of competition this Spring when it gets busier... but I would love to be in a new home by the time 2018 rolls around! Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Happy New Year!

Birthdays!

So, now that it's Fall, I should probably do a post about the girls' birthdays... We celebrated both of their birthdays at the end of the summer, and they had so much fun!

Miss Quinn turned 3 on August 31st! She basically had a week-long birthday celebration starting on Wed (her actual bday). We had a low-key celebration where she opened presents, ate a family dinner and then went out for ice cream. 

Comparison pic: Quinn at age one, age two, and age three!

Making cupcakes with her new playdough!

Walking to get ice cream!

The following Friday night, we had a family birthday party out on our back deck. I made cupcakes with pink frosting and we had a "Paw Patrol" themed party. 

Quinn loves castles and her Great Grandma Kieda drew her this picture of a castle in Germany! She is so talented!!

Saturday evening, we had one final party for our three year old up at the cottage with our cottage neighbors! Rick's mom made Quinn a "Paw Patrol" Lookout Tower cake! She absolutely LOVED it!! 

Close-up of the cake! How awesome is that?!

Little Gracie also had a birthday at the end of the summer. She turned ONE on September 8th! 

Another comparison: a few minutes old vs. one year old! Love the cheeks!!!

We had a party for Grace on Sept. 10th! It was turqouise, coral, and gold themed.

Smash cake that was originally twice as thick, but it got stuck to the pan so I had to cut it in half, lol! I'm not the most talented baker ever...

Some stats... still can't believe my baby is one!!

Cutest lil' birthday girl! She even kept the headband on for the majority of the party!

Quinn's face... ha! Three year olds do not love having their picture taken.

She LOVED her cake. 

About a week or two after her birthday, Grace started walking and now she is walking all over the place! 

Doesn't time go by SO fast!? These girls are growing up so quick!! Slow down!

Happiest of birthdays to my little loves!

It's Been SO Long

So... I'm finally getting around to writing a blog post. About time! The last post I wrote was on March 1st!  Well, it's now the end of July and we've been keeping busy this summer! 

Warning: this may be LONG

Update on the kiddos:

Grace is now 10 (almost 11!) months old! I kind of can't wrap my head around the fact that she will be ONE soon. The past year has been a whirlwind, but I wouldn't trade it for the world! She is at SUCH a great age right now, and she is so funny!

She crawls like a maniac everywhere and pulls up on absolutely everything. She has a mouth full of teeth (even molars already!) and smiles the biggest smiles that show them off- it's hilarious. She is either shrieking, babbling, or growling at all times and says the words "Mama" and "Dada". She knows how to wave and how to give kisses too.

Our dog is a saint.

She LOVES to eat basically anything. She HATED real food up until she was about 8 months old, and all of the sudden she loved it. I swear, she eats more at one sitting than an adult man. Our grocery bill is going to be outrageous if she keeps it up!

She puts everything in her mouth, especially anything she can find on the floor that she isn't supposed to be eating. The other day, I was on a phone call in the kitchen and Quinn says to me, "Mommy, Gwace did make a mess!" So I walked into the living room and found her ripping up and eating a Kleenex. Later, Quinn confessed, "I did give Gwace dat Kleenex for her boogers"... Geez Louise.

Freakin' Hilarious

Grace HATES getting her diaper changed and getting dressed. She whines and tries to roll every single time, it's so frustrating! Getting her fingernails cut may be the thing she hates most of all. She screams bloody murder, and I literally have to pin her down to do it. It's insane. So if anyone ever wonders why my baby has claws... now you know.

Beautiful baby!

She is an AMAZING sleeper. We never have to get up with her at night. If she does wake up, she'll find a paci (she's got 7 in her crib with her, since she likes to whip them) and go right back to sleep. Even when she had croup, a double ear infection and conjunctivitis last month, she still slept great. She is very schedule oriented and takes two naps- one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Makes it hard for us to go anywhere though, because napping in the carseat is much harder for her. I took the girls to Traverse City a few weeks ago and Grace screamed the majority of the way home. She's not a fan of the carseat.

At the splash pad in Traverse City

Quinn will be turning 3 at the end of next month! She has developed SUCH a personality and is the sweetest thing, although she does have her moments.. ha!

Feeding the giraffe at Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park (this was SO COOL!)

I think I can FINALLY say that Quinn is potty trained (PRAISE THE LORD JESUS!). Although I"m sure I'll regret writing that, lol! She hardly has full-on accidents anymore (never accidents with #2) and doesn't have to be reminded every half hour to go potty anymore either. If only I would have known it was going to take over 8 months to be able to say that... *sigh* Anyway, potty training is by far the most frustrating thing I've ever done in my entire life. The end.

Quinn's first sparkler on the Fourth of July

Quinn is still so good to her little sister. They LOVE each other so much right now, and it's amazing to see them start to play together. Quinn can be in the middle of a meltdown and will see Grace and perk right up. It's hysterical. My favorite thing is when Quinn goes to greet Grace after a nap. She'll walk into her room and say in the most high-pitched voice, "HI GWACIE, HI WITTLE BABY, HI CUTE WITTLE NUGGET!" Ha!

First time in the Costco cart together

Some other things Quinn loves:
-The powk (park)
-Playing in the sand
-ICE CREAM (pretty sure she loves ice cream more than anything on the planet)
-Making "nests" (throwing blankets, pillows and toys into a pile and then laying on them)
-Fruits and Veggies- we've been growing our own "matoes" and cucumbers in our backyard and she LOVES to pick them and eat them
-Having her hair in a "bwaid" (unfortunately, I am the worst braider ever, and it doesn't help that her hair is so thin!)
-Jumping and doing "fwips" on every couch or fluffy cushion she sees (we're going to put her in gymnastics this Fall, hopefully)
-Taking "snapchap" photos/videos

A recent Snapchat gem.

Possibly one of my favorite pictures ever!

 Some things Quinn doesn't love:
-All kinds of meat or basically any dinner I cook
- Being told "No"

We've had a great summer so far. It's definitely harder to do things with two kids, especially when one of them cannot walk yet. We've been to the cottage most weekends, which has been fun, but even going there is difficult with a baby who dislikes being on the boat and can't go in the sand cuz she'll eat it... So I've been trying to make time to do a few fun things with Quinn so that she's not just cooped up with all her energy. We have been to two zoos this summer. One of them was interactive, so we were able to feed some of the animals (giraffe!), which was such a cool experience, even for me! I also took Quinn to her first movie in the movie theater- "Finding Dory", which was adorable. Quinn did great, even though she kept asking me if the movie was over yet, lol. Afterwards, she loved it and wanted to watch it again.

Rick and I have been finding the time to do a few fun things, just the two of us, as well. At the end of May, we saw "Phantom of the Opera" (which was amazing), and, the next morning, kicked off our four-day vacation to Florida. We had so much fun exploring Ft. Myers, Naples, Cape Coral, Sanibel Island and Captiva Island. The islands were our favorite. We went on a high-speed dolphin boat excursion on Sanibel and then ate at an awesome restaurant right on the beach on Captiva. We also did a bit of shopping and lounging. It was a blast.

Seriously amazing. 

Ready to see some dolphins! We saw so many and were soaked by the end of the boat ride!

On the pier in Naples

Some other things we've been up to this summer:

• Almost putting an offer in on a new house... then getting all emotional about leaving the house we're in now, so we decided not to make an offer.
• Running-ish

We ran a 5K a few weekends ago. As usual, running is not my strong point! Proud of my husband for doing it though!

• Taking the girls on an impromptu road trip up north

• Eating lots (and lots) of ice cream

• Fun date night in Grand Haven

Grand Haven sunset over Lake Michigan- beautiful!!

Is it really almost August?! Summer never lasts long enough! Hope you enjoy what is left! Thanks for reading :)