Kim's Wedding in Pittsburg

Last weekend Alex and I attended his cousin Kim's wedding in Pittsburg. Not only was I excited to celebrate her big day but also to visit Pittsburg for the first time. It was a short trip, we left Saturday morning and drove back Sunday afternoon but we had a wonderful time! Weddings are so much fun after you have your own :-)

Alex and I on the trolly to the ceremony.

inside the church, it was amazing!

here comes the bride

Alex dancing with his Mom

showing off our babies of course! 

 first dance

Life Updates

Surprisingly enough all of my life updates deal with me lately instead of the kiddos, imagine that!

1. I got a job?!? I know ... i know... it was the right place at the right time kind of thing and everything just fell into place so easily. I am now working just a few days a month as a nutrition educator in one of the local elementary schools. I am really really excited! I will be teaching 7th and 8th graders which is definitely going to be challenging but I am hoping it will be a great experience. Any middle school teachers out there that can give me some advice it would be much appreciated :-)

2. Since we moved back to Pennsylvania i have done dessert catering once in a while. Over the last few months I have gotten more and more requests for orders so i put up a Facebook page to have a landing site for everyone. It has been so much fun making so many yummy treats for people.



http://www.facebook.com/pinkballoonsweets

peanut butter cup .. i made these for our fantasy football draft party last week 

caramel macchiato .... Alex loved these, just like the starbucks drink 

pumpkin with maple cream cheese 

"burger" cupcakes with sugar cookie fries, i made these for Alex's Aunt birthday two weeks ago

Caramel Apple 

chocolate covered strawberries and cream ... these are the cupcakes i made for my birthday this year, so yummy!

Lemon Cream, always a big hit! 

Banana Cream Pie, adorable! 

Mississippi Mud ... oh my oh my.... chocolate cake with chocolate frosting topped with mini marshmallows, pecans, coconut and chocolate drizzle.... wowza! 

.....and now i photo dump.....

So we all know Lucy grew a little faster then anticipated which resulted in her wearing boys Christmas pj's a few nights....

A few weeks ago Jer invited us over to his families farm to show Liam some tractors... he had a blast and is still talking about Jer letting him drive the tractor! 

Confetti Mac (steamed mixed veggies with Annies Organic Mac and Cheese) = lucy's heaven

high pony with a bow...where'd my baby go?!?

Fall shopping at the Goodwill on 50% off day...scored some GREAT things for the kiddos!!

Just posing cause thats what we do...

only one month left to fill in until the big 1st birthday!! i just love her book :-)

Fro-Yo party with the kiddos

The band... Alex playing drums on a tin can, Liam on guitar, and Lucy the singer/dancer 

Liam got a pumpkin from the farmers market this week and wanted to "draw eyes" on it, i think he did one heck of a job making his first jack-o-lantern!

Lucy at the farmers market eating some falafel and tabouli 

Liam Land.... his personalized version of candy land 

Okay....now i debated big time on sharing this one but decided in the end to share because EXACTLY one year ago today this was me (any Lucy).... 

A few weeks ago i shared that I was doing P90X, with the program you take pictures on day 1, 30, 60 and 90 ... here are my day 1 and 30 day pictures .... i was just pumped to see some ab definition with two kids two and under! Thank You Tony Horton and your awesome butt kicking workouts :-) 

Happy 11 Months Lucy

Dear Lucy,

     I can’t believe I am writing your last monthly update letter before you turn a year old. Just one short month left before the big first birthday is here.  This month just flew by!

   This month you have fine tuned many of the developmental milestones you started doing last month. You are able to pull up and get down very easily (thank goodness, life got some much easier when you were able to get down from standing gracefully). You are crawling superfast! You are chatty chatty chatty and say “what’s that” no less then a hundred times a day. You repeat a  lot of words but don’t have any new ones this month that you use on a daily basis.

   You are still a little foodie and have tried and liked everything you have had this month. You still only dislike streamed green beans and mashed potatoes. Your favorite foods are mac and cheese (and confetti mac with lots of vegetables), brocooli (you are so my kiddo), peas, blueberries, whole wheat pancakes and waffles, peaches, pears, pizza, and ice cream. We went to a church bazaar over the weekend and you threw the biggest fit when the ice cream was all gone. You literally turned all the way around in your stroller and screamed with huge crocodile tears all the way to the car because you wanted more ice cream.  You are only taking one bottle a day (before bed), you drink your “milk” our of your sippy cup in the morning and then drink water throughout the day. You prefer to have a splash of juice in your water just like Liam does. I don’t think we are going to have any problem getting rid of your bottle when you turn one because you are not attached to it at all.

You are only taking a morning nap maybe once or twice a week now but always take a solid afternoon nap around 1-3 and then are in bed for the night around 7:15 and get up around 7:30. You love to sleep with your head on your bumper, I guess you are trying to tell us you want a pillow. You wake up every morning when Dada turns on the shower to get ready for work but usually play in your crib for a solid 30 minutes before we go downstairs to start our day.

You LOVE cookie monster!!! You have a little cookie monster book that you have loved for a little whole now, you just light up and crap and smile the whole time we read it. Last weekend we were at the store and we spotted a little stuffed cookie monster and I handed it to you to see what you would do. Well….you hugged that cookie monster so tight and had the biggest smile ever on your face. Needless to say cookie came home with us and you have been inseparable ever since.

You have become quite the "daddy's girl"this month, you are crazy for your Dada and get SO excited when he comes home from work. You immediately start yelling "DADA!!!" and then do just about anything to get his attention. You are so ticklish (especially on your neck and palms), we take advantage of this because you have the best laugh, you are so loud! You like playing peak-a-boo...with random things like your dress or an empty plate. 

You are wearing size 18-24 month…this created quite an issue this month because you outgrew almost all of your clothes and I had to break into the box I had put always for, what I thought would be, next year…..and you very well may have worn boys Christmas pajamas to bed … more then once. You are right around 25 pounds and just growing growing growing.

   

Summer Happenings

I blame the lack of regular blog posts this summer on having a few too many 'project balls' up in the air at the same time. So i thought i'd just do one big post from the last few weeks to get caught up. Since i am currently working on updating Lucy's baby book i know all too well how important keeping the blog updated is!

Along with working on Lucy's book i've also started party planning for both her 1st birthday party and Liam's 3rd! Lucy is having a Milk & Cookies party and Liam, of course, is having a monster truck party. He asks me frequently to "i go on pinterest and look at monster truck cakes, please" hahahaha.

About five weeks ago I started doing P90X and oh my goodness i LOVE it! I had been working out hard twice a day (cardio in the morning and weight training in the afternoon) for 12 weeks and just did not feel like i was getting the results i had been working hard for so i switched over to p90x and it was the best decision ever. I am kind of obsessed with this man....

i should also mention he is 54?!? yeah....eating good and staying active is the way to go folks...proof right there! 

He is going to be in Atlantic City next month and you can go to a workout with him.....if there was any way to swing it i would so be there!! Single leg wall sits...making Fridays super fun :-)

Lucy has been talking up a storm lately! It is so different since Liam was kind of a late talker. She loves cookie monster and wrestling with pillows (she dive bombs pillows and snuggles with them). She loves to walk holding hands and is so good at kicking a ball when she is walking. She even swings her leg back and hard forward to kick it....future olympic soccer player right here :-) She is also getting so fast a cruising along the couch and even turning and reaching for something else to walk to. She is still my rockstar eater, girlfriend will eat almost anything (except mashed potatoes and steamed green beans), it makes meal time SO SO SO easy! The weather has started to cool down and i've had to raid her closet for the random bigger sizes i have stored away. Last year at this time i never would have thought to buy her 18-24 month clothes?!?! Oy..... luckily i had a few stored away that i thought she would be wearing NEXT fall.

Mr. Liam is doing great too. He loves cars and trucks and playing with them most of the day. He love imaginary play with his cars and trucks. As i type this he is making engine noises and racing his cars around. It is amazing how much his language has exploded this last year and so neat to be able to have an entire conversation with him just like he was another adult. He loves baseball and playing in the yard with Alex and running the bases after Alex's softball games. He is the teams entertainment at each game, his amount of energy always amazes them. One of Alex's dreams came true this last month when Liam learned to hit a pitched call, he wanted Liam to be able to do it before he turned 3 and he did. We are still struggling with Liam's picky eating, we are just hoping the tides change soon and he starts opening up to trying new things. Liam has official attached this last year to one of his stuffed animals. Baby Bunny goes almost everywhere with him and the poor thing is showing the signs of all the loving.

Liam's new kicks...

 Baby Bunny

 Friday night movie night! It has been so fun having a new weekly tradition with my boys.

Both kids have been loving having tea parties together....although i am pretty sure Lucy is just in it for the snacks :-) They even "cheers" together .. adorable!