father’s day 2020

father’s day was relaxing, casual, and perfect.

during a pandemic…you try your best to be cautious, celebrate in a safe way, but still have fun! we decided, since it was the first father’s day without papa around, we kept it intimate with just hc’s side of the family.

for lunch, i ordered from a local bbq restaurant in the area. there’s no better meal for hc for father’s day! of course he had to go pick it up in the chevelle! gramma, missy, and grace came by to visit!

before we sat down to eat, hc and i gave grace her graduation gift, as we never see this girl anymore! i said, ‘lucky you!…the only daughter to get a big gift on father’s day!’ LOL

well, since the girls saw grace getting a gift, they felt it was fitting that hc opened up his presents too! so they grabbed his gifts and were excited to see him open them up. you know how kids are…they love watching anyone open up a gift! they gave him an amazing dad book, an old fashioned tee shirt, cubs masks, and a box of rocks. literally. they painted them for the garden! so creative and fun! that was a gramma driven gift!

after lunch, we just hung out and talked. hc took his sister and mom for a walk around the house to check out the garden grounds and then we hung out on the front porch for a bit and chatted. while we were doing that, grace needed me to take a few photos of her in her graduation gown for school. of course i happily obliged.

we had a low key and good time together. being with family is always best. happy father’s day hc! you’re one in a billion and we’re so thankful to have such a wonderful person in our lives.

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[we finally saw grace, so we gave her a graduation gift]

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[a new laptop!]

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[daddy daughter duo]

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[eager for dada to open up his gift!]

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[chicago cubs masks]

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[garden rocks painted by olive, ellie, and grace]

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[ladybug by grace]

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[catering by mission bbq]

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xoxo

every day’s a sundae

our casual ice cream outing turned into a mad mess. LOL

i thought, oh – we should head out to every day’s a sundae! it’s so warm out and an ice cream treat would be perfect! hahahaha!

because of the limited number of people allowed inside the shop, we waited outside for a bit. so there we were, waiting in line…tick tock tick tock. it really did seem like a long time! then we read that only three people were allowed inside at a time. there was four of us, so i relented. i wasn’t feeling it for some reason…and i was the one who wanted to get ice cream! LOL really, it’s for the girls…it’s always for the girls.

anyhoo, it made sense for hc to go inside with the girls and let them pick something fun and yummy. after a few minutes, out they came with their cool treats! we decided to walk across the tracks to the fountain so the girls could enjoy that while eating their ice cream.

right as we got to the train crosswalk, a freight train came roaring by! it was so fun to watch and feel the energy and power of it whizzing by. the girls thought it was so cool!

we finally made it to the other side and that’s when all the ice cream craziness broke out. hc’s ice cream was spilling over the edge of his cup like it was running water. it dripped everywhere! out. of. control. i kept yelling ‘unprofessional’! i said to him, the first thing you do with a full ice cream cup is to scrape the lip of the cup and get all the ice cream that could melt over. he kept telling me he did. shyeah.

then ellie started dripping her ice cream everywhere! oh em gee. so i took over and was feeding her the ice cream. while i was scooping ice cream up for ellie. olive was like, ‘uh oh’. i turned around and she has tried to place her cup full of blue ice cream on the ledge but ended up putting half of it on the edge and it flipped over onto her dress and all down her leg and shoe. gahhhhhhh!

what. a. disaster. hc and i had to laugh. a scenic thought of getting ice cream on a warm summer day turned into a war with melting ice cream. haha! well, regardless, they finished their ice cream, we wiped our hands down, and proceeded to walk around downtown and soak in the gorgeous weather.

indeed it was a beautiful evening.

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[she’s so silly!]

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[enjoying some ice cream with dada]

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xoxo

a day of chill

we had a long overdue date with dana and famille. it was a cold and dreary day in chicago which called for a cozy day date with this beautiful family. we traveled north to their abode to hang out, have some lunch and catch up.

dana and scott are pregnant with their second b o y! such exciting news…we are so excited for them and can’t wait to meet him. it’s pretty amazing to think about our journey together. i met dana yearrrrssssss ago…maybe 12 or 13 years ago? we were single or kind of single and years later, as the circle of life happens, we are married to wonderful men, and have the most beautiful children. we weathered good times and really bad times and have stayed close together through life’s crazy ride!

the girls were so excited to see the toys…LOL naturally! ellie loved rosie, the dog, and they settled in quickly as hc and i were happy to be there and spend some time with these two lovely people.

the boys grabbed some strong libations while us gals caught up with each other. after some time, we decided to grab some grub from a corner eatery down the block. we gathered everyone together and took a short walk to the restaurant to grab some food to go. we debated on eating at the place as it’s not spacious and there were so many individual people on their laptops scattered throughout the place, there wasn’t a conducive spot for  a large group like us. no matter…we were happy to go back to their place to eat and relax in a comfortable environment!

as we spent the afternoon at their abode, dana’s parents stopped by to drop off some things! we were so happy our paths crossed and we had a chance to say hello and hang out for a bit with the rubin’s!

after several hours of fun, we said our goodbyes and headed home to our sweet home. it was a perfect sunday spent with wonderful friends.

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[little abe]

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[love this family]

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[the girls loved abe’s toys!]

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[he’s so cute!]

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[the girls goofing around at the corner eatery]

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[scott and abe]

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[goofy girl]

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xoxo

never enough zoo time

when you buy membership to somewhere…you use it when you can!

we love having a family membership to the brookfield zoo! there are year round activities to do and the kids just plain love it. my favorite time to go is when it’s about 70 ish degrees. i do not like walking around when it’s so darn hot outside and that temperature is the perfect zoo day kind of weather.

it was an impromptu move to go. we didn’t have anything planned and my sister was off of work that day, so we thought…why not go to the zoo? it was a beautiful day out and, of course, the girls would love it.

it was a pinch to get there and parking was easy. we started exploring and decided to go to tropic world first {of course, not without seeing all the animals along the way!}. the monkeys were front and center and very active and fun to watch. we stayed there for awhile, as we had front row views of the cute creatures doing their thing…like nursing, scratching, and hanging around. LOL

when you go anywhere with little kids, it typically takes foooooooooreverrrrrrr to get to one place to the next. we love going to the zoo but we can never ever make it very far! every time we’ve gone, we’ve had intentions of seeing their lego exhibit and that’s been a failure each time. hahaha!

so, we were there for a couple hours and only made it though a corner of the zoo! gah! we spend a gazillion minutes at tropic world, a gazillion minutes at the play area, a gazillion minutes getting their face painted, then it was time to go home. bahahhaha!

speaking of face painting, the girls wanted to get their face done {ohmergawd…it costs a fortune at the zoo. like seriously…so much moolah and it washes off the face in two seconds}. this was ellie’s first time ever getting her face painted! what a moment! she has always resisted in fear before this. so, i was so excited she was game on! of course she chose the most colorful and detailed design. LOL she was so stinking cute while she was getting her face painted! proof in pictures below!

we had so much fun at the zoo. our on the fly decision of going was a great one! it was a perfect day, we spent the right amount of time there, and had so much fun the rest of the day {we did dinner at shake shack, shopped at the mall, and hit up target on our way home! yay!}.

cheers to having fun sisters who make amazing aunties! built in besties and PIC!

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[look at miss extra olive]

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[i love her]

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[children and water…always a fascination]

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[literally monkey see, monkey do with these two!

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[she wanted this monkey sooooooo bad]

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[getting her face painted for the first time ever! she was so cute scrunching her eyes shut]

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[she’s sooooo darn cute]

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[so darn cute]

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xoxo

first day of school

it was olive’s first day at school. wow…i was sooooo excited but my heart was crying a bit because my first baby is getting so big. she’s growing up and i am so proud of her, so full of love for her, and absolutely blessed to be her mom. this girl is like a ray of sunshine in my life and i am beyond thankful for her presence.

she’s becomes such a strong, silly, fun person. she’s so respectful and listens so well. she has a heart of gold and is the best big sister to ellie. a few things about her: she loves to make friends. when she sees another tot, she is immediately drawn to them. she’s not shy about that. she will slide on up next to the kid {boy or girl] and make eye contact, smile, and tries to seamlessly join in on their play. it’s the cutest thing to watch.

this girl has a pretty amazing memory. for example, we will see a toy store at the mall and i will tell her we are not going in there now and say to her, “we can go in there after we finish our errands.” she will politely and obligingly say, “ok”. after a couple of hours of shopping and letting this mama finish up what i need to get done, olive will then say, “ok, now we go to the store!” as in the store with the toys. hahaha! i think to myself…how do you remember?! she does this all.the.time. she doesn’t forget!

she’s become a bit opinionated about her clothes but not so much where she takes the reigns. i am still the dictator in the is department but i think it’s adorable when she wants in on what she wears. she usually listens to my opinion but i love that she adds in her fashion twists.

she’s become a bit more open with eating different things. i love that she will take my advice on trying things once. i told her that she needs to try something once and if she doesn’t like it, i won’t make her eat it but it means a lot to me if she tries it. i will totally admit that i am a sucker and i give in to her wants…i can’t help it!! she’s so darn cute! you want peanut butter and jelly? okaaaaaayyyyy. lollipop? suuuuure. whatever you want sweet girl.

anyhoo, on her first day of school. we rustled her awake and fed her a breakfast of fruit {grapes and strawberries} and cinnamon waffles. i got her dressed, hc dropped ellie off at my parents, and we took off to school. the week prior and leading up to that morning, olive seemed excited at the idea of school. we parked the car and her little face dropped. she looked concerned and somber. as we were walking from the car, she asked if i could hold her hand. of course baby girl. i am here for you! i held her hand and i could tell that she was taking in everything, observing it all. she was so calm and serious. we waited outside the classroom amongst all the parents and kids, waiting for mrs. finley to open up the doors. once she did, we walked inside and olive’s face lit up when she saw all the toys!!!

yes, toys make this girl happy. we greeted mrs. finley, walked around – checking out the classroom, dropped off our supplies, and watched olive play. after a bit, mrs. finley called the kids to sit down and the parents to gather around. she went over their every day schedule and a few rules and expectations. i really, really like her. she is sweet and seems so concerned with their well being.

olive already had homework! she needed to color an apple and bring it back for their tree. we took home some more paperwork and after 40 minutes or so, we left the class. we checked out the bathroom {it was so cute with all the mini toilets and sink}, we stressed to olive that if she needed to use the washroom, she needed to remember that she needs to pull her pants down and up on her own, and pretty much be independent. i think that’s the only thing i worry about right now. no one wants their kid to have an accident!

after we walked around the school for a bit of exploring, we then took little miss olive out for breakfast. our first and her second one of the morning! there this girl mowed down her mickey mouse pancakes and a plate of bacon. she cracks me up! gosh, i love her spirit.

well, olive’s first day of school was a success i must say! she was a bit nervous but everything for her, and us, turned out great! i was so looking forward to this day and it was absolutely perfect. i am so proud of my munchkin and i am looking forward to a fabulous school year!

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[first day of school]

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[a slight look of concern]

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[she looks so much like me here]

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[she got real serious here]

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[putting her bag up]

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[excited over the toys]

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[dada helping her raise her hand]

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[with mrs. finley]

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[grabbing her backpack]

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[such a big girl]

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[treating my girl to breakfast]

xoxo

dim sum sunday

my sister, thuy, suggested the idea of dim sum on a sunday morning. hmmmm, ok. maybe. hc and i were super tired. i won’t openly admit that having two kids makes me tired. or taking on too much makes me tired. or always saying yes makes me tired. or being a type a makes me tired. or that my brain runs at 100 mph makes me tired. ’cause it doesn’t…hahaha! anyhoo, we weren’t sure if we were up for it – going out. well, we talked ourselves out of our rut and decided to go out for dim sum and, boy, we were glad we did!

we said to one another, what else would we do? why shouldn’t we take advantage of this beautiful day? we need to get out more often and voila! our trip out turned into a wonderful day.

we met my family at chinatown and walked our way to the restaurant. the wait was looooong but it honestly flew by or the wait time was shorter than expected. what i loved the most was that we had our own room! it was quiet, private, and it had a t.v. in there! olive was smitten! to her, it was the best room ever!

we ordered copious amounts of delicious food and i was super excited olive wanted to try a few different things. i am totally at fault for not being more adventurous with her palate. i succumb to her wants versus encouraging her to try different food items. i have to say, though, that recently, i have asked her to try it once. i say to her, that if she tries it once…and doesn’t like it, i won’t make her eat it. most, but not all, of the time…she does like it! definite baby steps!

during dim sum, ellie was being more finicky than usual {i think she was very tired but couldn’t fall asleep aaaaand we forgot her paci} so, i didn’t get a chance to sit down and enjoy my meal. i walked around with her, fed her food, held her, nursed her and she was not having it. after hc finished eating, he ran out to the walgreen’s {right next door} and bought a paci! woooo hooooo! it helped calm her down but she didn’t fall asleep. at least she wasn’t fussy anymore!

after eating, we walked around to explore the shops on this gorgeous, sunny day. we waited in the long line for tapioca smoothies and perused all the kitschy shops. olive was having a blast discovering all the store’s fun toys and stuffed animals. she’s so sweet! she would say, “ohhhhhh, how cute!” in her soft, sweet voice. i could eat her up!

oh, what a day! we were so glad we got off our lazy arses and went out. i know those moments when you aren’t feeling it, you just want to be in pj’s and chillax, you just want to be lazy, maybe take a nap, but i always find that living up life, regardless of the exhaustion, sometimes has better benefits. i always say, life is too short, enjoy today because there might not be a tomorrow. at the end of the day, it was fun, relaxing, beautiful, and time with family is always time well spent! cheers to life’s lovely moments!

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[entering into the realm of china]

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[dad waiting for my mom…she just randomly stopped at a store while we were all walking towards the restaurant]

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[sweet, sweet babe]

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[me and my babe]

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[olive and grandma]

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[checking out the flowers]

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[these sweet babes! they had a tv in the private dining area…genius! it kept the kiddos preoccupied, not that they needed it, they are so good anyways!

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[ma seour]

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[yum, yum, extra yum]

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[i love tchotchke things like this!]

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[the looooong line for joyyee tapioca smoothies]

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[her trend…walking away with some sort of stuffed animal]

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[mom waiting for us while we get smoothies]

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[oh this sweet face]

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[climbing the stairs]

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xoxo

mom’s day

what a beautiful day.

the weather was just perfect! the sun was shining and it wasn’t too warm. i was super excited to host mother’s day brunch at our house. it was a last minute affair! my family wasn’t sure what we were doing for mother’s day. we usually head to the city and have brunch somewhere downtown but this year, we let our planning slip by and before we knew it, mother’s day was upon us and we had no plans! so, i suggested to have it at our house! we love hosting others at our home!

well, that gave us barely a week to plan a menu, conjure up decor ideas, and then actually going out to get all the food and supplies! oy! life has already been so busy and lately, i totally feel like i am strapped for time but we did it!

hc cooked up a storm! i chose the menu items and he brought it all to life! he’s so darn good and sweet! he insisted on cooking {i always opt for catering} and really pulled through with the delicious food. hc made 4 different kinds of quiches – red pepper, mushroom, bacon, and onion quiches. they were all so darn delectable! he made savory, seasoned breakfast potatoes, crispy thick cut bacon, and yummy buttermilk waffles served with sweet butter and maple syrup! wow! we were all so impressed.

we set up tables outside. how could you not?! the weather was simply amazing!

i had a calligrapher draw up menus, place cards, and station notes for our party! i love little details like that, it always adds a lovely touch to any party. i decorated our tree {aka the photo booth}, put flowers everywhere {thanks to kim!}, and created a dessert and mimosa table. i also bought little potted flowers for all the moms to take home! everything was so last minute but it all turned out so darn pretty {if i do say so myself!}.

everyone trickled in around noon and soon the party was in full swing. we all enjoyed hc’s divine brunch buffet, created our own mimosas, and soaked in the warm sun outside. after brunch, we all just relaxed here and there. i think that was the best part of the party, we all just chilled and enjoyed each other’s company. the kids played in the yard, hc took, almost, everyone for a ride in his newly assemble jeep, and we celebrated all the moms.

being a mom is the best gift, best journey, and best thing that has ever happened to me. i am thankful and so blessed to have my two little girls in my life. nothing prepared me for this miraculous role called motherhood and i can’t thank God enough for this amazing privilege to be their mom. cheers to all the mothers out there who love, give, and sacrifice so much for their kids.

hooray for moms!

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[celebrate mom]

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[table spread]

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[a pretty pot of flowers for our lovely mom’s to take home]

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[mimosa bar]

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[make your own mimosa!]

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[family]

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[the sweetest nephews]

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[sweetest souls]

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[we sure do love our moms]

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[dessert table]

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[the colors are like a unicorn cake!]

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[i love a pretty dessert table]

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[siblings]

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[with ba]

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[after a few hours, i finally poured myself a mimosa…soooooooo yummy!!!]

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[with our wonderful mom]

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[i kept saying, “olive, get in the picture…olive get in the picture!” and this is what i got. bahahahaha!]

xoxo

simple afternoon

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!

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[auntie missy]

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[such a cute pic of her!]

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[papa with ellie]

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xoxo

ellie’s visitors

we were so blessed to have our friends and family visit little baby ellie!

first off, in the hospital, we had my family come say hi. kim, terry, and the boys stopped by to see miss ellie {although the boys couldn’t come in}, terry and kim said hi to the new babe! they brought little miss olive with them {they watched her all weekend while we were in the hospital} and she got to say hello for the first time to her new baby sister! it was the sweetest thing to watch! it totally melted my heart to see her intrigued, excited, & shy about the whole thing! you can see it in her face. my favorite picture is of her holding miss ellie! too precious!

we then had dana and scott {fresh from their honeymoon!} come to the hospital and visit us! we were so excited to see them. they stayed for awhile and brought the cutest gift for the girls. i laughed because it was so dana to get me a balloon that said ‘you did it!’…she seriously cracks me up with her quirky humor. she bought olive a cute little teddy bear, one for ellie, and flowers for me! how sweet are they?! love these two so much!

while dana and scott were visiting us, my sister thuy showed up! we all hung out in the hospital room together, talking about the baby, their honeymoon, the wedding, future vacation spots, etc. it was pretty awesome to have them all there.

once we got home on sunday, my family came over and reagan and bennett were able to meet their new cousin ellie. it was so sweet to see them excited to hold her! my parents were over, along with my sisters and terry.

the following day, we had rich’s parents, dick and jane along with grace come say hi. grace brought me flowers and dick and jane brought ellie a cute little gift. it was so sweet to see them with ellie! their new granddaughter and grace’s new sister!

we then had rich’s sister missy, nephew daniel, and rich’s aunt wendy come say hello! missy always brings the best gifts, especially for olive! she brought her a peppa pig set and she absolutely loved it! or loves it…because she still loves playing with it! well, if anyone knows olive, they know that her most prized possession in this world is her bunny blankie. a gift from her aunt missy. well, missy found another one and gifted it to miss ellie! i really hope she loves it just as much as olive does!

we also had lan, pete, and avery come visit! i really didn’t get a good pic of them holding ellie but nevertheless, it was pretty awesome to have them come by to say hello. they were over along with my family, again, and my brother dan finally made it over to see ellie. thank you so much for the awesome gift you gave olive! we call her dr. olive now! she absolutely looooooooves it!!!!

we then were blessed to have kim come visit us. we were so excited to see her! i love catching up with this lovely lady. she is just the sweetest and it always feels like there is never enough time between us! we always have so much to talk about and before we know it, it’s time to do something else, get somewhere, or time is just plain up! she also brought the cutest gift for ellie’s room. thank you so much for such thoughtfulness!

well, there ya have it. ellie’s first week and a half of visitors. we were so happy to have so many special people come by and say hello to our new baby girl in this world. thank you to our friends and family who were able to make the trip out to us!

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[she wasn’t sure what was going on]

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[look at her cheeky look]

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[how precious is this? my heart is melting!]

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[how beautiful, my sister kim with her niece ellie]

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[dana {and scott in the background} and ellie]

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[cutie pie on her way home]

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[having fun with the presents]

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[dying over the balloon dana and scott got me…plus flowers and a gift for olive, so thoughtful!]

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[olive loves the song, ‘the wheels on the bus’ so naturally she said, ‘shhhhh, shhhhh, shhhhh’ to baby ellie as she cried!]

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[cousin reagan and ellie]

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[sweet bennett really wanted to hold ellie]

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[grace and baby ellie]

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[love the laughter and love shared between these two]

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[papa and gramma loving ellie]

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[flowers from grace]

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[as usual…the baby is crying in auntie missy’s arms]

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[vera bradley bunny lovie…hoping ellie loves hers just as much as olive does!]

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[she was totally into the peppa gift from aunt missy]

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[a gift from aunt wendy]

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[cousin daniel with ellie]

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[lan, pete, dan, and family visiting ellie & each other!]

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[beautiful kim saying hello to miss ellie]

xoxo

hb dan!

we all got together to celebrate my brother dan’s birthday! my little brother dan is super sweet. like the sweetest guy ever. he’s quiet, calm, loving, thoughtful, polite, and just a wonderful human being. he was always the baby of the family…the last of the kids and the one we always watched after. i love him bunches.

my sisters decided to get together for his birthday and coordinated a little dinner get-together. they chose to go to a place called pizza barra. hc and i were one of the last ones to arrive. the fam had already ordered some apps and started with one order of pizza. we all settled in, ordered drinks and perused the menu to order some more garb to eat. we ended up getting plenty of apps, a pan pizza and a thin crust pizza to go around. yum. their calamari there was deeeeeeelish! nom nom!

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[nice smile reagan!]

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[why do i look so surprised?!]

as usual, olive was bit grumpy when she first got there. she’s always so cautious and shy when she’s in a new environment, even she knows the peeps! of course, cousin reagan is just the sweetest to her. he always takes care of her, dotes on her, and does his best to make her happy. oh he is just the cutest with her! i love watching them together, it just melts my heart.

our food arrived and away we ate. i love that about life. i love the simple things in it. i really do. i love my family. i love getting together with them and eating. i love the time we can spend together. i really do cherish simple, sweet moments like this together. my dad has always taught me that family is number one. sometimes it might not seem like it in the moment, but in the end…they will always be there for you and that is the truth.

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[addicted]

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[ma pere, mere, & soeur]

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[my brother and brother in law]

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[yummy]

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[best pic we could get with olive]

well, happy birthday dan! you are the such a sweet, awesome brother! we love you and we hope your birthday and every day is just as amazing as you!

xoxo