apple pickin’

Posted on September 30, 2016 by tandem in love

we had a wonderful day planned! we were getting up early to go apple picking at a fun orchard up north. well, who knew it would be sooooooo dang warm? that was a recipe for disaster!

we had been to royal oak farm a couple years ago and really enjoyed our time there. this time was such a sweet disaster! haha! one, we weren’t dressed right for the oh so hot temperatures. two, olive had multiple meltdowns. three, hc refused to wear the ergo, so he was carrying ellie {not having your hands free when you have two kids is not a smart thing, especially if you are able to avoid it}.

we ate lunch first but the food they offered was very fried, sugary, and limited. the flies and bees were ridiculous. i mean RI-diculous! they were all over us and the food. my mom didn’t want to eat, thuy didn’t want to eat and was a bit grumpy, and we were ready to just go pick apples. although, olive was hilarious about the bugs. she kept giggling, screaming, and saying, “shoo, shoo bug! shoo!”. it was very, very cute!

we got into line to purchase our bags and we all herded onto the hayride towards the orchard. olive thought it was fun and really enjoyed being in the wagon being pulled by the john deere tractor! we arrived at our destination and began apple picking. oh my goodness, it was so hot! it was 90 degrees and the sun was beating down on us! my mom and sister wanted green apples but they weren’t ripe yet, so we kept walking around trying to find green apples. hc didn’t want to hold ellie anymore so he left to go get the stroller. while hc was gone, olive had a few meltdowns and wanted me to do this, that, hold her, she cried, mumbled, and did a bunch of things i couldn’t really help her with because i was holding ellie…sweating in the sun!

he finally made it back to help but olive was on a roll. every time the hayride came by, she wanted to get on it and we told her no and she cried and cried and cried. she didn’t want to pick apples, although i did, we were super hot and sticky, and it was just a bit crazy.

well, in the end, we got our apples, we took some marvelous pictures, and we were ready to go home! i know, what you just read probably sounded like a disaster of an outing but it was a great day despite the hot temps and the tantrums displayed by olive and her mama! ha! yes, if it was cooler, it wouldn’t have been so intense but i still loved that we did it and spent some crazy time together. we were soooooooo ready to go home and shower though!

well, next year we will make sure the temps are low so we don’t melt in the sun when we go apple picking! i am super excited to use the apples to make apple pie and candied apples this coming month! more fun activities to look forward to!

[sweet girl who’s ready to have a few meltdowns. eep]

[having lunch with grandma]

[apples available to pick!]

[wagon riding to the apple orchard]

[ellie’s first wagon ride]

[thuy and mom on the wagon ride]

[thanks auntie thuy for the cute family pic]

[it was sooooo stinkin’ hot]

[ba with ellie]

[olive apple picking]

[auntie thuy chillin’ while we pick apples]

[mom and dad]

xoxo

bouncy birthday party

Posted on September 23, 2016 by tandem in love

we were invited to mila and nolan’s birthday party!

it was a beautiful, perfect day ~ weather wise. as we were walking towards their house, kevin happen to be outside to greet us and olive immediately laid eyes on a paw patrol bouncy house!!! whoa! she looooooves paw patrol!

the party was in full swing when we arrived. hc’s family was already there and we joined in of the fun. olive immediately ran towards the swing set…she had to get comfortable with the idea of getting into that bouncy house first. she really took to a little blonde girl there and it was so sweet to see her interested and wanting to play with her.

it was great visiting with everyone…i said hello to kevin and ryan’s mom, hc’s parents, sister missy, nephew daniel, girlfriend rachel, grace, and a few other folks. we just hung out, had drinks, and i took a gazillion pics of olive.

after an hour or so, olive asked to go inside the bouncy. no wayyyyyyy! i was excited that she wanted to. she can be a bit afraid of other kids and especially, boys. boys tend to be too loud, crazy, and rough for olive’s taste and she’d prefer not to interact…she’s too demure! i asked her again and she said she wanted to go inside! jane decided to take her; she took off her shoes, and helped her inside the bouncy house and boom! olive took off! she giggled, screamed, and had the time of her life! i was in love! my heart was so full watching her have so much fun! she was a pro…she bounced, fell, bounced, giggled, fell, and repeated every step. we couldn’t get her out! it was such a joy to see her so happy!

after a few hours, we ate, they served cake, and we continued to mingle. honestly, we thought we would be there for an hour or so but we ended up being there for over four hours! we had such a great time. we loved catching up with everyone, especially ryan…hc’s cousin who recently moved out of town. olive had a blast and by the end of the party, we were all tuckered out!

we said our goodbyes and headed out. both girls were zonked out in the back seat and we were all happy campers heading to our home sweet home.

[i love this girl]

[silly girl]

[shining star grace]

[nice hair ellie]

[gramma and papa]

[yup, she’s like, “whaaaaaa? more pictures mom?!”]

[cousins]

[she was so independent and excited to be in the bouncy house…first time! she was smiling at gramma!]

[birthday boy]

[birthday girl]

[what a beautiful group of kids]

[yay! ice cream]

[toy story cake]

[ready for cake]

xoxo

pink aunties

Posted on September 16, 2016 by tandem in love

yay! we finally met up with karen and kt!

it was a lovely day…on the warmer side but no matter, we couldn’t wait to see my girls! of course, i was on time and i am usually late with juggling these two girls! karen and kt were a half hour late…thank goodness my dollies are well behaved! a half hour is an eternity when you have kids.

when they arrived, lots of hugs and squealing ensued. we ordered our food and sat down. it’s always a challenge for me to keep my thoughts straight when the kids are around. you feel so discombobulated. i had to keep ellie calm and keep olive entertained or basically, make sure both girls are well behaved and not screaming inside the restaurant. hahaha!

karen and kt are soooooo stinkin’ good with kids and they kept olive going. she was so enamored with karen but karen is soooo good with olive. she loves kids and it totally shows. she was olive’s bestie and olive just adored her.

we yapped and yapped and yapped non stop. i was so beyond excited that kt is engaged. i am so proud that i had set them up! who knew?! i was beyond persistent in setting bobby and kt together. something just told me it was right and now look! one year later they are engaged to be married and i couldn’t be happier for them!

we talked about life, relationships, weddings, kids, babies, work, you name it. we were there for a few hours but time seemed like it flew by! while we were visiting, bobby and his partner katie stopped by to say hi! it was great to see them! i was so glad i was able to see bobby and see the happy couple together.

it was such a great afternoon! i had a wonderful time, i am happy we were able to meet up, and i was glad that they were able to see olive and ellie. i love these two sweet ladies…definite staples in my life.

happy day lovelies!

[waiting patiently for her pink aunties to show up]

[she’s so funny]

[she looooooved looking at the desserts]

[my pretty girls]

[she’s such a doll]

[yaaaayyyyyyyyy kt’s engaged!]

[two of the cutest ladies]

[having a blast with karen]

[me and my girl]

[bobby paid us a surprise visit!]

[pink auntie karen]

xoxo

oh kids

Posted on September 13, 2016 by tandem in love

last time kim and i met up, it was at the zoo, and it was a bit of a debacle. well, we decided this time around to head on up to kim’s abode to chill.

i made a few wrong turns driving up there {helloooo, so silly}, and it took freakin’ 20 more minutes to get to her house than it should have but alas, we made it. olive fell asleep five minutes before we got there but i was surprised she pleasantly woke up and willingly came inside the house. of course ellie was out! she was on a sleeping marathon.

once inside, i see the little people play set and knew olive would only play with that the entire time! and i was right. she did. brady was being energetic and it overwhelmed olive. awwww, poor girl. she kept staring at brady like he was entertainment and she was super intrigued. brooklyn was napping but when she woke up, she was just super cute {as usual} and minded her own business. these two kids are so stinkin’ cute and they seriously are twinsies! they soooo look like one another…so handsome and beautiful!

well, the kids played and kim and i became engrossed in our conversations…we eventually had lunch and continued on with our play date in fun fashion. i love hanging out there, it’s fun, relaxing, and always a great time. it’s always a hit or miss with these toddlers. near the end of our visit, olive became possessive over the little people toys and didn’t want brooklyn to play with them. oh my goodness…it’s so hard to get toddlers to understand that they need to share…it’s so hard to get toddlers to understand a lot! olive kept crying and i tried telling her that they were not her toys and that brooklyn was letting her play with them. tears and meltdowns ensued. ugh.

it was finally time to leave {without a few meltdowns, ellie waking up right when i was about to walk out the door, the dog barking like crazy, and kim’s brother in laws popping in right then} and after a few glitches, we finally got out the door and headed on our way home.

we had a really great time…the hiccups and craziness make it all the more fun being moms of two kiddos each. i still can’t believe our personal journeys have been so parallel and i am so fortunate kim has become such a great friend to me. love this girl! well, until next time…i always look forward to our play dates!

[yes, quite the odd pic…brady and olive were playing ‘doctor’. hahaha!]

[she’s such a doll]

[yummy caesar salad for lunch]

[she was content playing by herself…eep!]

[i was seriously stupid taking this selfie. i couldn’t look at the camera…hahaha!]

xoxo

lunch time date

Posted on September 9, 2016 by tandem in love

it had been forever since i last saw jodi. there were a few times we tried to get together but those dates fell through but not this time!

we started our morning in the backyard on the play set. olive wasn’t so keen with jett yet but then again, she’s kind of like that overall. she likes to observe first and then interact. it only took ten minutes or so for her to finally play with jett! they both started on the swings but jett and olive wanted to play kick, so that is when they starting to talk and play! woo hoo! after that, they were non-stop and it was so stinkin’ cute.

after a half hour or so, we headed inside. jodi and i talked, caught up, and the kids played and baby ellie slept and slept and slept! she was tired! i prepared lunch for the kids and then had lunch delivered for me and jodi. unfortunately, our fridge recently broke and i couldn’t store any food in the house for our get together, i had potbelly deliver their tasty sandwiches, chips, and cookies! yum!

the kids tore up all the toys and had such a blast playing in olive’s room. they were jumping on the bed like monkeys and being so darn cute with one another. it was so sweet to watch. jett is a sweetie and olive was having fun with him! i wanted to take a million pictures of their cuteness together!

after a few hours, it was encroaching on nap time for everyone, so we gave hugs and kisses and said our goodbyes. jett gave olive a sweet little kiss and her look was priceless. you’ll have to scroll down to see the capture. it’s hilarious. jett is so happy and proud of himself and olive is like, whatevs. haha!

anyhoo, it was awesome to see all of them! we were just missing matt! love that hubby of jodi too! we had such a great time hanging out {i just needed to chillax and let the kids be messy…ugh, my ocd is terrible}. i hope that it’s not too long before we see them all again! love this family!

[jodi and asher]

[isn’t jett so darling?!]

[she was super super shy at first…]

[enjoying the play set]

[isn’t he so cute?]

[so olive finally warmed up to jett!]

[that frown…so cute!]

[lunch time]

[jett just kissed olive…not impressed..hahaha]

xoxo

city folks

Posted on September 6, 2016 by tandem in love

we were so excited to have aaron and olivia come out to visit! i always love my time with these two beautiful people. it’s always fun and entertaining.

they came over early afternoon for a late lunch. hc and i just came home from shopping and we bought a few good eats from our local grocery store and decided to make it a casual lunch.

as soon as they arrived, of course hc had to show off the new car to aaron and olivia went straight inside to say hello. i was running around, doing my typical br stuff, when she walked in. she greeted olive first and then i came running around the corner to let her know i was just putting stuff away and i would be right out.

we hung out in the kitchen and immediately started chatting up a storm. that’s a big connection between me and olivia…we talk like it’s going out of style. we can gab like there is not tomorrow. i love that about us, our friendship. of course we didn’t even notice how long the boys were gone or when they even came in, we were too engrossed in our conversations.

we offered them some tasty libations from our stash & olivia brought over champagne as a baby gift. that cracks me up. it’s sooooo olivia to give me champagne as a baby gift. i love her. i love how quirky she is in the most awesome way. her gift giving is always so unique and thoughtful. of course we had to pop it open and imbibe it! it was absolutely dry and delicious!

we served lunch, we sat around, we talked, laughed, and enjoyed our silly subjects that were grotesquely funny and very non pc…mainly coming from mr. aaron himself. his creative mind cracks me up!

anyhoo, their main purpose was to see baby ellie…well, that little nugget slept up until they left! the little baby woke up right when they were about to leave and we were able to squeeze in a quick crying pic before they walked out the door!

well, nevertheless, it was an amazing visit as usual. i love hanging out with these two! it was a lovely afternoon indeed!

[my cheerleader pose]

[love these two]

[nuts in a cup…]

[baby ellie was not a happy camper…she was HUNGRY, but we had to squeeze in a pic before they left!]

xoxo

simple afternoon

Posted on September 1, 2016 by tandem in love

it was a casual afternoon spent at the in laws. we had grace for the weekend and i asked hc if he wanted to visit his folks since we had to drop grace off on sunday. so, we headed on up to dick and jane’s place for an afternoon of fun.

his sister missy, nephew daniel, and aunt wendy were over as well. aunt wendy grilled burgers and hot dogs and we all just chillax’d and hung out. nothing special, nothing over the top, just good ol’ relaxing. we sat around, talked, did nothing, hung out, doted on the baby, and chilled. a perfect, simple sunday afternoon.

olive had a blast hanging out with daniel and his girl rachel. rachel is so sweet to olive and olive felt very comfortable with them. she hung out with them quite a bit downstairs while everyone was watching t.v. it’s always cute to see other people be so sweet to your kid…you always are {obvs} but it is very heartwarming to see people do the same. maybe i am saying this because most people don’t take to kids or other people’s kids and it’s refreshing to see the opposite. especially when it’s genuine, you can definitely tell when someone really likes kids because as a parent, you always think your kid is da bomb and it’s sweet when someone else thinks the same.

of course we had to take a zillion pictures of olive and ellie. how can you not?! i bring my camera everywhere and have become a total mamarazzi! i can’t help it. i have always wanted a fancy camera to capture moments like these. i think it’s been the greatest gift to date…or at least the most used!

i love casual days like these and i feel like we never have enough of them! cheers to many more sunday fundays!

[auntie missy]

[such a cute pic of her!]

[papa with ellie]

xoxo

play date with liam and parker

Posted on August 29, 2016 by tandem in love

our friend jaime is a teacher and she reached out to me and pam on when we could get together before she started school again. we finally settled on a date but it was not without obstacles. one, we wanted to go the arboretum but there was rain in the forecast. two, pam and i had the worst nights before our scheduled get together.

pam was up all night with chase as i was with ellie. plus, i wasn’t feeling well at all. i had the shivers and my breast were feeling unbelievably painful. i was worried it was possible mastitis but it ended up fading away the next day…phew! we struggled through and ended up at my house for our date {we threw out options like kid town and lunch somewhere but pam and i felt best if our get together was low key and easy}.

i ordered lunch, the kids played, and pam, j, and i chit chatted about life. i was pleasantly surprised by olive. she really took to the boys…wild and all. hmmmmm, she really took to liam. she really loved his wild side. they ran around, screamed, jumped their way throughout the house. it was really cute to see. i love watching her grow, mature, and become more socially open to others! it’s the best thing to see as a parent…seeing your kids developing certain skills is really heartwarming.

pam and jaime were amusing. they were so worried about the boys destroying the house but i was not. they are such good parents and they didn’t let them go crazy in our house and it was too cute to see them interact with one another when it came to food, toys, and personal space. after a few hours…i think jaime and pam had enough…they packed up their belongings and we said our goodbyes. they kept apologizing for their kids tearing up the place but it was too easy and quick to clean up, i was not worried. i was just super happy to have had them over and they were able to see ellie and i was able to see chase!

although our playdate was short, it was a very good time! i had a blast with my girls and olive had a grand ol’ time with boys! it was great seeing everyone and hopefully we can make it to the arboretum on our next meeting and enjoy the great outdoors!

[baby chase]

[really olive?]

[liam and parker]

[olive really enjoyed lunch time with the boys]

[jaime and ellie]

fresh48 sesh

Posted on August 10, 2016 by tandem in love

fresh48: it’s something i thought about doing with olive but didn’t but i decided to do this with ellie. i love the idea of capturing the baby right after she was born, hence the name fresh48! our photographer, tricia, used to offer fresh48 sessions but decided to drop that option due to her kids and schedule.

i decided to book our fresh48 with lemonade stand photography, a photographer i was originally interested in when i was pregnant with olive. i had researched several photographers for Olive’s newborn pics and couldn’t decided on who to go with…a friend recommended stephanie and another friend recommended tricia. i loved both their work but it only made sense to book with tricia with her being in chicago and us being in chicago {stephanie’s studio was too far away}!

anyhoo, with tricia not doing fresh48 sessions anymore, i contacted stephanie and she was available! i was very excited! i couldn’t wait to work with her. well, the day had come. i went into labor and contacted both my photographers…one for the fresh48 and the other for the newborn pics, i get so darn excited over pics!

stephanie confirmed she would be out to the hospital on sunday {36 hours after ellie was born} to capture the sweet pictures of our newest baby girl. i was so excited and nervous…again, over olive cooperating! who knows how this babe reacts in these situations. usually she becomes very stubborn and fussy…

well, stephanie arrived right at 10am. the rain and darkness had cleared and it became a much brighter, sunny day! phew! just in time for pictures! of course, as i had thought, olive was soooooo fussy. she was not having it.at.all. she didn’t cooperate, screamed, fussed, and didn’t want to take any pictures with ellie. ugh. i was sweating. she has been this way since her freakin’ newborn pics! she still holds the record for being the longest newborn session with tricia!

anyhoo, stephanie was so patient and great to work with {no surprise, since they deal with kids as their profession}. she was calm and tried her best with olive, although olive totally gave her a run for her money, i was so incredibly pleased with our pics! she captured so many great moments between all of us and managed to snap some sweet pics of olive and ellie.

i absolutely loved that we were able to document our newest addition to our family, sweet little ellie, just being 36 hours new! memories captured that we will cherish forever. welcome to our world beautiful baby girl!

[name banner by hooray everyday]

[sweetest babe]

[sisters]

[that smile]

[i love this family pic]

[another favorite]

[she’s so sweet]

xoxo

marina’s visit

Posted on July 28, 2016 by tandem in love

i was super excited when marina texted me she was in town and wanted to meet up. pam had contacted me a few days prior to see if i could do lunch but i could not, so i was glad we were able to meet up outside of those initial plans!

marina said she could swing by to say hello before she headed on over to an old neighbor’s house for a bbq. i told her if her neighbor didn’t mind, i could go there instead so our time wouldn’t be rushed and too short. it worked out perfect! olive and i got ready and headed on over.

it was a lovely evening weather wise. olive and i walked up and immediately ran into ben, marina’s dad! we talked for a bit but i could tell olive was really interested in the bouncy house. poor thing didn’t have a swimsuit but she really wanted to go in. funny thing though, the closer we got and the more wild the kids became, she opted out. ha! she was like no way…i am not going in. she changed her mind, turned around, and walked away. that’s my girl.

i connected with marina, elva, and a few other people. it was fantastic meeting up! i was so glad that ended up being our plan. it was low key, relaxing, and it was wonderful catching up with the rodriguez’s and other folks at the party. everyone is so darn nice and olive was such a good girl. she’s so stinkin’ sweet. i really had a great time! oh gosh, how i miss these people!

well, i am hoping to catch these folks in the future sometime soon. i know it would be hard with ben and elva being in arizona and marina and family now living in boston! i definitely will take the random moments i can get with these wonderful families i have known for sooooo long! cheers to good times with friends!