family day

Posted on June 22, 2015 by tandem in love

we had planned a day where carol and ted were to come over for dinner. it started out early for us, carol wanted to beat traffic and head out to our house in the early afternoon. well, of course olive was completely off schedule that day! she didn’t nap the day before and she went to bed late that night. well, she woke up super early the next morning {6am} and was exhausted by the time 8:30am rolled around. she crawled up onto our bed, insisted on nursing, and fell asleep for another four hours! baby girl didn’t get up until almost 1pm! holy cow!

so you can probably imagine, that threw my whole morning off! i did a whole bunch of stuff around the house {which was great! cleaning, organizing, ya know…all the good stuff i love}. what i really needed to do was go to the grocery store and pick up food for dinner that evening and i can’t do that with a sleeping baby!

olive finally woke up and i needed to feed her, get her dressed, get myself ready and head on out to the store {plus, i hadn’t had my coffee du jour and i was dying}. carol was already on her way but thank goodness she said she could stop by a store while i did some shopping. but ugh, i felt so rushed. i hate feeling rushed. i really do. i buzzed through the grocery store {with the feeling like i was forgetting something} and rushed home in hopes that carol wasn’t at our house for too long.

we were actually minutes apart. she had just arrived at our home as i was pulling up. purrrrfect. i still can’t believe carol has three kids! shelby, the newest addition, is sooooo stinkin’ cute. love that little baby.

we just did our thing. we talked and talked and talked about life. and in-between that, we catered to our kids. man, it was interesting to see olive with other kids in her territory. she’s at an age where she doesn’t understand how to share. if you coax her and ask her, she will eventually relent but it’s hard when other kids don’t have that patience and thought process. overall, she was pretty good about giving and taking. mackenzie is only a few years older and she did her best to share but travis, being six, was so good to her. he really was so sweet with miss olive, he was constantly sharing and giving her things. so nice!

[reading to olive // olive’s shirt by tinytribeapparel]

[i snuck in a little shelby time here and there]

[olive smile, olive smile! olive smile…oh forget it]

after a few hours of hanging out, hc and ted finally arrived together, hc picked ted up at the train station with his jeep. hc walked ted around the property and the house, i never realized that ted has never been to our place! after the tour, i prepped a nut mix and cheese cubes as an app and hc started dinner on the grill.

[daddy and shelby]

[cheeseburgers, corn on the cob, and veggies]

[parents – happy, kids – not so happy]

[the kids loved using the shed door’s as a slide]

we had dinner and dessert and we hung out all night {many libations later!}. i bathed olive, all the kids got into their pj’s and ‘destroyed’ the living room. the couch turned into a trampoline. haha! it was pretty awesome. love them, love their family, and we are so happy we were able to hang out with them while they are in town.

carol and ted are a pretty awesome couple with a few cutie kids. we are thankful to know them and have them in our lives.

xoxo

dad’s day

Posted on June 21, 2015 by tandem in love

happy father’s day!

oh boy! i would have posted this one sooner but this darn wordpress site wasn’t cooperating with my iphone, so i couldnt make any edits! argh! well it’s working now, thank goodness!

i wanted to do a shout out to the amazing dads i know. first off, my dear father. bless his heart for everything he’s done for us, for our family. he has always been selfless, loving, kind, and giving. my dad has done everything he could for our family to always be in a better situation, whether it was always working overtime, keeping things in order for us to move to the next, or providing love and care for us. i will always be thankful and proud of all that he has given to us

next up, is my husband. he is a wonderful father to olive and grace and an amazing husband to me. he does his best to provide a wonderful home to our family and humor with love. he’s quite the goofy dude and he is so sweet to our little girl. he finds something comical in almost everything olive does; he has such great patience with her that i am always in awe and admiration over it.

i have to give props to mr. terry. he’s such a good guy. as good as they come. i must say that we are fortunate that we {us siblings} have married into some pretty awesome families. terry is super nice, caring, loving, and supportive. he is such a sweet dad to his two little boys, reagan and bennett.

last but but not least is mr. h. also known as dick, dad to junior. he is so loving and kind {notice the common theme here?}. no joke, one of the kindest people i know. no judgements here, we only get love and support at all times from him {them}. he is hc’s best friend and confidant. they are also super grandparents to miss olive, well, we are so blessed that both sets of our parents are super grandparents!

i am proud to call all these dudes dad! i love every single one of them and feel so fortunate that they are a part of my life. happy, happy dad day everyone!

xoxo

shelby’s baptism

Posted on June 19, 2015 by tandem in love

yay! carol and famille are in town!

our first outing with the fam was at shelby’s baptism. it was up in lake forest at a church ted’s family worships at. as usual, we were running behind, mainly because olive was still sleeping {late} and we didn’t want to wake her. we finally got ready and were on our way to the church {of course, not without a starbucks stop!}.

the church was packed and there wasn’t any parking! ugh. we were so late! we finally created our own spot and scurried on in. we weren’t sure on how to get inside the church, we spied some doors and heard the ceremony going on inside. we almost busted through the aforementioned doors, thank goodness this gentleman stopped us and redirected us to the end of the hallway! when we were finally seated inside, i saw that the doors that we were going to bounce through were actually right next to the altar and we would have been walking in through the front, smack dab in the middle of the baptism! that would have been embarrassing!

anyhoo, we totally caught shelby’s rite of baptism and sat peacefully through the rest of the service. olive was entertained by her surroundings and i was at ease. when it all ended, we headed towards carol and famille to say our hello’s. it was so great to see them and little shelby is soooo darling! what a sweetie. we snapped some family photos and went on our merry way to ted parent’s house for brunch.

[there they are!…carol is in the long green dress]

[watching the baptism // hair bow by lilrouxbarbsgarden dress gapkids]

[star of the show]

[my little moment with the baby…we hid this from jelly olive]

[mackenzie entertaining shelby with sophie]

when we arrived at john and nancy’s beautiful home, we snapped some more pictures out in their gorgeous backyard. so green and pretty! after this photo sesh we escaped inside to the cool house {in ted’s words: “i feel like i’m in a turkish bath house right now”}. yes, it was quite humid outside. hahaha!

[the beautiful family]

[kagann/johnson’s]

[such a sweet shot of mackenzie in her lily pulitzer dress]

[looooove this pic of them]

[olive obsessed with travis’ birthday balloon]

[look at that pouty face!]

inside, we were greeted with bellini’s and brunch. carol made an amazing baked french toast concoction with challah bread {deeeeeelish}, there was fruit, croissants, quiche, and a few other decadent dishes being served. i couldn’t stop noshing on carol’s delightful entree. it was so yummy…did i mention it was good?! hehe.

[shelby in her lily pulitzer]

[my precious cutie]

[longtime friends]

[fruit, french toast, and quiche]

[i die over this! she was staring out the window and i realized that she matches the curtains! hahaha!]

[god bless shelby indeed]

after brunch, cake was served. we relaxed, mingled, and chit chatted with the group. it was so great to see everyone! ted’s parents are always so welcoming and sweet. it was great to see perry, krista, their kids, leslie, and colin too! definitely a fun bunch of peeps.

after several hours of hanging out, we called it a day. olive needed a nap and only a car ride would suffice in fulfilling that void! overall, it was a beautiful day…we were happy to have witness shelby’s baptism on this gorgeous day, to have hung out with some wonderful people, and to finally see carol, ted and their lovely family! cheers!

xoxo

late brunch

Posted on June 17, 2015 by tandem in love

i was waiting for the day to come when jodi and kt were stopping by for brunch! it had been awhile since i have seen them both, so i was looking forward to this! it was a cloudy, rainy day. i was hoping it was going to be sunny so we could sit outside and eat but alas, the weather decided against that.

jodi arrived right on time, as usual. she is always so prompt! oh, jett…he’s is just the cutest! what a handsome little dude and he is oh so sweet! olive doesn’t get many kids her age in the house {jett is about nine months older than olive}, most of them are much older, so it was interesting to see how she would interacted with jett.

kt, of course, was running behind! she totally lost track of time and had no idea that she was suppose to be at our house at the time she finally hit the road! ohhhhh, kt!

well, while jett and olive played {chaperoned by jodi} i started our brunch. on the menu were scrambled eggs, with cooked onions, cream, salt & pepper. crispy bacon & hash browns. fruit. toasted bagels with butter, jam, and cream cheese. juice. coffee and a donut tower centerpiece!

as i was finishing up, kt finally arrived! yaayyy! we prepared the kid’s plates and sat down for a scrumptious brunch. we talked, and talked, and talked. olive and jett were not interested in eating at all. they totally took a few bites and scurried away to go play {again}.

[my doughnut centerpiece…definitely not too sweet to eat!]

[cooking up some eggs]

[jodi entertaining the kids while i cook]

[on the menu: savory bacon, seasoned scrambled eggs, crispy hash browns, bagels with butter, cream cheese, or jam, and fruit. not without mimosas, watermelon juice, and coffee]

[the kids entertaining themselves]

after noshing, we cleaned up a bit, and plopped into the living room to chill. the kids were so crazy! we tried to put a movie on but that captured their attention for two seconds, they were more interested in the toys…which was perfectly fine! jett loved the minnie mouse vacuum that gramma and papa had given to olive for christmas. they played with the blocks, puzzles, games, etc. until everything was scattered everywhere! olive was a bit tepid about sharing but overall she was pretty good. they both really wanted the ‘phone’ {again something gramma and papa gifted} but olive would eventually share it. thank goodness! it’s so hard to teach them how to share at this age!

then they discovered jumping on the couch. the end. haha. ok, no, but it was crazy. they had such a fun time plopping around, falling backwards, and landing on their butts all over this couch. a bad habit to learn but they sure did have a great time!

[okaaaayyyyy, a year and a half later, i still have crazy, crazy baby hair from the pregnancy!]

[this cutie]

[so then they learned this…jumping on the couch!]

[what’s up with my hair?! i look like i have a pageboy ‘do! haha!]

[olive jumped onto her rocking horse and jett loved the rocking chair]

[this cutie patutie!]

[oh!]

[my pretty ladies]

[love this girl!]

after much eating, talking, and caring of these wild kids – it was time for them to go. jodi was timing out jett’s nap as well, knowing that he would sleep on the car ride home.

xoxo

may snapshots

Posted on June 15, 2015 by tandem in love

yay! somewhat on time this time! hahaha! may brought us warmer weather and a lot of rain! isn’t suppose to be april shower brings may flowers?! it was like april coldness brings may showers :p

well, we celebrated mother’s day this past month, as well as our mom’s birthday! every few years, my mom’s birthday will fall on mother’s day or right around it, so sometimes it’s like a double celebration in one! we had a wonderful time on mother’s day, we hosted my family and my brother in law’s family at our house. it was sweet, relaxing, and a blast to decorate for. it was a fun time, indeed.

there was a lot of hanging around outdoors. we ate a bunch of dinners alfresco, we were able to go to a flea market we have had our eyes on for a bit, we had brunch with our friends at restaurants with outdoor open dining spaces…so many fun things to explore when the weather is nice!

as you can tell, my most favorite thing to do is eating outside when it’s warm at night and ONLY if there are no mosquitos. when we were in the city, it was so easy to do so, because there weren’t many, if any mosquitos. but here in the ‘burbs, they thrive so it’s a challenge and a battle to be able to sit outside and relax without getting bit!

anyhoo, please enjoy our may snapshots:

[i love this photo of her checking out the lady next to her!]

[peek a boo under the pillows]

[antique shopping]

[my dad’s favorite way to hold her]

[the classic oh baby olive look]

[she crawled into bed with me and fell asleep by my side. *sigh*]

[holding terry’s hand at a point where she wouldn’t hold anyone’s hand]

[eating alfresco]

[observing the scene]

[goofing around with her cousin]

[this cutie waking up from her nap on mother’s day]

[these two cuties!]

[mmmmm, waffles]

[dad’s birthday]

[sleeping away]

[hc and me!]

[her first starbucks drink! vanilla bean frappucino]

[hanging out with her favorite sister]

[me and my soeurs]

[hanging out at target]

[ahhhhhhh!]

may was a blast and i can’t wait to share all the joys of our month of june!

xoxo

flashback friday

Posted on June 12, 2015 by tandem in love

today takes us back to may 2012…

i love this picture of matt, hc, and me! we are at the bellagio in vegas. well, we just booked our trip to vegas {a week or so ago} and it is making me excited! i love vegas. it’s such a fun place to visit for a weekend. it’s got everything for a fun time. everything is 27/7, there are soooo many great restaurants, and it’s seriously the best people watching evah! there’s something so relaxing about vegas for me. i don’t know if it’s the amazing hotels and service or the spas or the pools or the relaxed attitude of everyone? i love the room service, i love the environment, i love the craziness of it all. it’s so over the top and nutty and that is what makes it so enticing.

my favorite part of vegas are the pools. we love renting out the cabanas and being lazy all day long. you get a ‘private’ pool, personalized service, and a great tan! since only a few cabanas share a pool, we love chatting it up {and maybe getting a little tipsy} with the other cabana folks!

the last few years, we have been going with our dear friends matt and johann. matt’s wonderful sister, liz, lives there with her husband and two kids and we love visiting them every time. matt and johann are the best traveling buddies…they are laid back and flexible on what we do and want to do. ditto for us. we are pretty open when it comes to our schedule and what we will do…we are just happy to be there {with them}, anything is possible!

anyhoo, i can’t wait until we go. it’s going to be a fabulous time no matter what. what trips do you have planned for this summer/fall? any favorite places you just love visiting? well, lovies…i hope y’all have a fantastic friday and weekend! muwah!

xoxo

eighteen months

Posted on June 10, 2015 by tandem in love

my baby girl is a year and a half! waahhhhh! time is flying by. she’s losing her baby status and it is giving me anxiety! i look at her baby photos and i desperately want to cling onto those precious moments. but as they say, let your babies prosper and grow. hmph, i’ll hold onto her forever!

{photo taken on 5.28}

weight: 23 lbs 16 oz.

height: 33 inches

there are so many things miss olive is doing now. she surprises me everyday and i love, love watching her personality grow and her communication foster. she loves to repeat almost everything. so, that is now where hc and i need to watch what we say around her! i love teaching her words. it delights me when she correctly repeats what i say!

another adorable moment? one day, i was sitting in bed with her. she had just nursed and we were laying around. i sneezed and out of nowhere, while she was playing with her toys, she casually says, “bess gou”. i just about died. bless you?! she just said bless you?! i die. my heart almost exploded!!!! it, so far, has been the cutest moment to experience!

when i reprimand olive or she knows i am upset with her, she does this thing where she hyperventilates! yup. she looks right at me with sad puppy dog eyes and starts gasping for air. oh my goodness. she gets me every time. such a smarty pants. i can’t stay mad or upset with her! i give in and give her a hug or a back rub and start apologizing. yup, i am a sucker. she’s got me.

she loves to snuggle. period. need i say more?? she’s a snuggler, cuddler, and the best buddy to lay around with.

olive is still nursing. yes. who knew it would go on as long as it has?! we are throughly enjoying it. i keep telling myself that i am going to stop but every month, it’s the same story. i keep thinking it’s going to be next month, and then next month rolls by and i am still nursing! we are both happy and happy to be doing it so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. but seriously, i think next month will it! harharhar.

she does say a few vietnamese words! she says water, eat, oh no, dad…just a few. my parents love teaching her! it’s too cute. who knows? we will see how many more words she will learn and understand!

she’s obsessed with shoes. she has learned how to put on her shoes! she mostly gets the shoe on the wrong foot but of late, she’s nailing it. she’s putting the right shoe on the right foot. i get super proud and excited when she puts both shoes on the right foot! i let her know that every time she gets them on. what a fast learner!

another cute, cute thing?! the last few weeks, olive has learned how to say hug! i completely melted when i was sitting around one day and olive walked up to me and said, “hug?!”. wow. my heart did cartwheels. she proceeded to put her arms around me and squeezed me and patted my back. what a freakin’ doll!!!!!

olive’s eating habits have completely changed. natch. she used to be a trooper {eating everything given to her} but then she had to go and form an opinion! well, overall she is still a pretty open and good eater but it comes down to when she’s interested and not distracted {e.g. playing is usually the culprit}. we do our best to always eat with her or when she does eat, she eats with somebody {whether it’s grace or other kids}. another thing she is crazy about? spicy. this baby girl loves hot, spicy foods!! she craves it. she loves noshing on it. kung pao, spicy chips, peppery flavors, you name it, she will consume it! eeekkkkkk.

she is still an amazing sleeper. we have been so blessed with this. i can only imagine that our next child will be a terror with her sleeping habits!! yikes! olive sleeps through the night and hardly ever wakes up. she will, once in a blue moon, cry out at night where i just have to rub her back and tell her to go back to sleep and she always does. what a sweetie.

well, there ya go lovies. olive in all her glory at eighteen months! she is sooo wonderful, sweet, and loving. we love you so much and can’t wait to see your progress at your next big milestone…two years! oh my! {well, we might sneak in another update from now until then 😉 }

xoxo

sun, brunch, and ice cream

Posted on June 9, 2015 by tandem in love

i was hoping to see my friend andrea again, while she is on her maternity leave, and we were able to make it happen. i’m so glad we did because this lady {who is a traveling fool} was jetting out {again} and wasn’t going to be home for the rest of her leave!

olive and i started the day with her wellness check up. it’s so cute, just so cute. everything about her. i love her. she is the most precious thing on earth. my heart just melts looking at her. she gets so scared by strangers and clings to me…and i just melt over her cuteness. i love being her momma and i love protecting her.

she did just fine this time…every visit gets better and better as she becomes more aware, wiser, and knowledgeable. she got the thumbs up from her wonderful doctor and we went on our merry way to andrea’s house.

[my sweet baby girl]

[my heart melts for her]

it was such a beautiful, perfect day. i was super excited to hang out with andrea and annabelle. after we arrived at andrea’s, we set out to walk the neighborhood and find a place to eat. i love wicker park…it’s such an eclectic, artsy area.

we decided to eat at milk and honey on division. we nabbed a seat outside and enjoyed our delicious meal. the avocado and smoked gouda sandwich was ah-maze. after we finished eating, olive wanted to be out of her highchair, so i let her roam around the table. she is always so good about staying close, it amazes me that she does that {so far…}.

after brunch, we did some more walking. we headed towards the actual wicker park to hang out. as we cruised there on this beautiful sunny day, i soaked in all the city goodness. i love the craziness, the people, the scenery, the energy of it.

[olive checking out miss annabelle]

[the beautiful baby girl]

[mmmmm….juice]

[such a sassy lady, ootd: shirt by shop childish, shoes by target]

[no selfie shtick]

[this avocado and smoke gouda sandwich was deeeeeeelicious]

[her interest in annabelle peaked and waned]

when we arrived at the park, we found a spot where i could nurse olive. i figured she would be so distracted that she wouldn’t nurse that long and i was right. she ate for a bit but then she wanted to explore her unfamiliar surroundings.

as we walked towards the playground, olive was tagging behind us {and the park was not crowded}. she was, maybe, 15-20 feet away from me {with my eyes on her the entire time, constantly calling for her} when this women on a bench yelled out “she’s too far away from you!”. ummmmm, ‘scuse me?!!! i proceeded to yell back at the women. she said it again and i said, “too far away?! too far away for you. i’m her mom and you have no right to tell me what to do or how to watch my child! how ’bout you MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS?!!!!”. well, i was seeing red and i’m sure what i said came out something like that! as i retorted to this nosey women, another passerby chuckled at our exchange of words. by that time, olive was standing by my side and we moseyed along to the park without a flinch. hahahaha.

[she looooooves the swing]

[and the slide]

[and the tunnel]

[and the stairs]

as we were leaving the park, andrea suggested that we stop for ice cream. yay! hooray for ice cream! duh…i can never say no to ice cream! they had just opened up a jeni’s on milwaukee, so it was the perfect pit stop. olive was too stinkin’ cute drinking her root beer float. i ordered myself some sorbets and we were happy campers noshing on our afternoon treats.

[at jeni’s splendid ice creams]

[intense root beer float drinking]

after delicious brunch, a play in the park, and a sweet stop for ice cream, i’d say it was the most perfect, sunny afternoon! i had such a great time with andrea and annabelle. it was so gorgeous out {great weather is the best!} and we had the most wonderful time walking around. we love you andrea and annabelle! muwah!

xoxo

april snapshots

Posted on June 8, 2015 by tandem in love

oops, i totally forgot to post my april snapshots. i mean, like i never even bothered. i didn’t remember. i never realized it until about a few days ago, so i thought, eff it, i’m going to post one anyways. only because i love to keep order and document everything!

it’s so funny to type about easter and such, because it feels like it was soooo long ago! my how time flies by. it was a fun month of trips, holidays, and get togethers. a few of april’s highlights were our trip to antique archaeology, visiting andrea and jamie to see their newborn baby girl, easter, and hc’s birthday!

we also hit the first anniversary of buying our house! what a milestone for us. it’s been an amazing journey buying & living in this house. it’s had it’s ups and downs {the remodeling drives me bananas!} but in the end…it is our home and there’s nothing better than home sweet home.

anyhoo, april was a busy busy month for me and olive. we had non-stop activities, lots of photo sessions, and plenty of play time together {hello pto!}. i love spending my time with this sweet baby girl. well…here’s our april in rewind!

[it’s blurry but i love this pic!]

[bubbly bath time]

[sipping water and watching the telly with dada in our hotel room]

[her easter basket]

[little chunker watching her favorite movie]

[in-between her photo sessions]

[our beastly, only pretty in spring, bush]

[i love this little bugger face]

[baby annabelle grace]

[visiting our favorite antique shop]

[one of my favorite pics of late]

[she makes my heart melt]

[lunching with dada]

[hc’s birthday]

[opening up her easter baskets]

[nom nom nom…strawberries]

[black and white theme]

well there, my april snapshots are done. haha…now it’s time to post our may snapshots! i swear, i won’t post it in july! or maybeeeeee. april was a great, fun month full of lovely activities.

xoxo

happy doughnut day!

Posted on June 5, 2015 by tandem in love

it’s national doughnut day! yay!

yesssss, we love doughnuts. so, this is also a flashback friday because i’m going to reminisce about our trip to nyc. on one of the days that we were there, i really wanted to go to the doughnut plant.

while we were in nyc, we literally walked everywhere. it was the best exercise and so refreshing to absorb the city that way. we were quite fortunate that the weather was so agreeable. every day, it was in the 70’s, sunny and perfect.

i was super excited to have an anniversary breakfast at this yummy doughnut shop. we arrived and it was doughnut overload! the decor was fun and crazy and i couldn’t stop drooling over the menu. we selected some yummy combos of doughnut flavors, got coffee, and juice and we were set.

i love visiting new places. it’s always so exciting, novel, and fun. soaking in the experience is everything and doing it with your best friend just tops it all off. traveling for your holidays is just awesome and we definitely don’t do it enough.

[super ecstatic to be at the doughnut plant]

[my sweet hubby]

i’m excited that it’s national doughnut day! doughnuts are seriously the best combination of goodness. it’s breakfast, it’s dessert, it’s a meal, it’s sugary sweetness all rolled into one. my favorite doughnut is simple: glazed. but i don’t deny many, i wouldn’t say any because i don’t care for creme filled ones. i’ll eat ’em but like i said, it’s not my favorite. it’s rare for me to find a creme filled one that’s done well…most of the time, the filling is not yummy!

anyhoo, happy doughnut day everyone! i hope y’all have a doughnut or two or three. eekkkk, i started early…i had a few doughnuts last night. Eeeepppp!

xoxo