dinner at the garver's

Mike and Becky and their two girls, Bree and Kate, just moved into this beautiful home in Westfield! We joined them for dinner last night to play and get a tour of their new house! Bree and Sammi are the same age and seem to be better friends every time they play together! They are adorable!!! (Kate was in bed when we took the above photo...we stayed up way too late!!!)

Buddies. :)

Hugs!

And some wrestling too! So cute!

Dan trying to control the girls for a photo...yeah right!

Ring around the rosy with Mike!

...and we all fall down!

Finally under control!

We ALWAYS love hanging out with the Garvers and we feel so blessed to have gotten to know them over the years!!! Poor Mike and Dan...they are a little outnumbered! (But they both love it!) Mike, Becky, Bree, and Kate, thanks so much for having us over for dinner!!! Let's do it again SOON! :) Next time we're buying dinner!!!! Love you guys!!!!

weekend with sarah b

For those of you who grew up with me, you probably remember Sarah B! We've been friends since 2nd grade girl scouts, and because there were so many Sarahs growing up, she answered to "Sarah B". What can I say but- it stuck! 

Sarah lives in Dayton now with her wonderful husband, Josh. She came to visit us this weekend, and Sammi made a new best friend instantly! Sarah is amazing with all kids---the reason she is a teacher---and she always has a way of making Sammi feel ever so special. (Natalie was with us all weekend too---but Sarah didn't get as much Natalie time because Sam clung to her like a monkey all weekend!)

They crossed the bridge at the playground together...

Sam taught Sarah how to slide...

(How to slide fast...) :)

They swung together...

Skipped rocks at the lake together...

Ate all of their meals together...

Sam would even pose for photos for Sarah! (This is one of hers.)

They danced together while waiting on us at the baby & toddler expo Sunday...

And Sammi even got a new pair of shoes to wear while Sarah wasn't wearing them!

Sarah B... thank you so much for coming to visit us!!!! We all absolutely love you and we miss you already!!! Sammi says please come back soon, Miss Sarah!!!! XOXO

what would you choose?

As I was vigorously vacuuming my staircase at 10:45 tonight (I was also sweating and wishing I had downloaded music onto my iPod for this occasion) I was daydreaming about how nice it would be to have a housekeeper. (Back in the days that I had a "corporate job" and was pregnant, we had one, but it's not in our budget anymore.) I mean, I HATE cleaning. I was thinking, if I could choose ONE special thing to have every week, it would be that. And I started wondering what anyone else would pick.

Let's say there was a contest and YOU won and got to pick your prize.... COMPLETELY taken care of, paid for, done every week, what would it be?

a.) Massage
b.) Day At The Golf Course
c.) Dinner Out With Your Mate (Kid-Free)
d.) Housekeeper
e.) Manicure & Pedicure

f.) Personal Trainer

...or something else?

Mine would be D. Someone to scrub the sticker remnants off of my kitchen floor, to wipe the nose prints from my dogs off of the sliding glass door, to get the stains out of my carpet......so that when I walk in the door, I can breathe..... I can relax.... I can feel the calm that a clean home brings.... I can just be.

So I'm curious....... What would you choose? It sure is fun to daydream about. And it makes the vacuuming go faster. :) :) :) :)

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!!

dan's day home

Today is my day at work, and I just received two emails from Dan. Here they are:

#1

"Look what we did! Notice the different color for each hand. That's what the princess required. By the way, how do you get nail polish off of skin , like a cheek or something?"

#2

"Ummm... How do you get nail polish out of carpet?!"

I am laughing my tail off. Hope this makes your day too! And by the way....does anyone know how to get nail polish out of the carpet? Seriously?

sammi's fourth 2009 easter

Dan and I thought about our Easter egg hunt for Samantha, and we decided that we would do it this Sunday, one week after Easter, because we 1. wanted to, 2. already had it all planned and ready, and 3. because she doesn't know the difference! :) It is our only day off to spend together as a family and we thought she'd have a ball. She did!

The Easter Bunny came to visit during her nap. Her basket was waiting with gifts inside and eggs were hidden everywhere! She was so excited to find eggs that she didn't even go through her basket until after the hunt!

This picture cracks me up! Some of the eggs were hard to open, but she tried with all her might!

She found sunglasses in one big egg!

She's very particular about putting things into an order!

Wearing her new cheerleader outfit, eating a Starburst.

Mommy and Daddy being silly with her new pom-pons.

Sammi playing with her new Playdough!

Here is a video of Sammi searching for eggs!

We hope you had a great weekend! We had a fabulous wedding on Saturday and spent today hanging out as a family (and doing a little editing.....we have to break our no work on Sunday rule for a few weeks until we can get our heads above water...) :) Thanks so much to my parents for taking the girls all day Saturday and overnight!

Have a great week!!!!! XOXO

natalie's medicine

Well, last week we doubled Natalie's medicine. Here is what happened...

This was Natalie 80% of the day before her reflux medicine doubled:



And this is her now 80% of the day:



Okay, so I know it seems mean to take a video of a screaming child instead of picking her up, but without her medicine this is what she did almost all day no matter how much we held her or what we did. Last week we doubled her medicine, which also doubled the hefty price tag to $300 a month (our insurance pays half), but IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!! She is a different baby with her medicine and we are so thankful that our doctor has worked with us to help her!

And, as you can tell in the video, she is starting to grab on to everything!!! She is also moving like crazy! The other day I put her in the swing without buckling her in (oops), and when I came back in, her bottom was on the floor and her head was still in the swing (double oops). She often moves across her crib when she's napping too...she'll be crawling before we know it!!!!

We love that our little bebe is happy now....at least 80% of the day now!!!! :)

happy easter weekend

Happy Easter! Sammi's been doing a lot of spring artwork at school lately, so I thought I'd show off some of her cute projects!

Sammi's Hand Butterfly...

This week she made this adorable chicken hat & her class planted their own flowers!

Our fridge is full of new artwork every week!

On Saturday my parents picked Sam up early to go to their neighborhood egg hunt. We met them at their house for their own egg hunt and Easter dinner later in the morning.

Natalie loved her Easter basket from Grandma and Grandpa Sherman!

She also loves hanging out with her grandparents!

Sammi loved running around the house finding eggs full of presents!

I unfortunately don't have photos, but my parents had the girls make the CUTEST Easter presents for us last week one evening while they were babysitting for us. They had the girls make hand prints in clay and also decorate coffee mugs for us. They were such a fun surprise!

Sammi likes to wear her Dora sneakers at the Shermans' house...they stay there so they are a special treat when she visits!

Jordie and Ashley gave Sam and Natalie a huge basket full of goodies!

Adult time while kiddos were sleeping...

On Sunday morning we drove to Fort Wayne to have another Easter celebration with the Brand family! We started at Uncle Ed & Aunt Vi's house for a fabulous Easter dinner. Every year Ed and Vi do a huge egg hunt for all of the grandkids and it is so thoughtful and just so nice!!! 

Natalie stayed inside while Sammi went running around looking for her eggs, candy, and presents!

We had to "guide" Sam....she was so excited to find Easter stuff that it seemed like she overlooked most of it without our help! :)

Surprisingly she was excited to fill her basket and didn't mind that we didn't let her eat all of the candy at once! :)

What a beautiful day to spend together!

Some of the older kids liked helping Sam, especially Simon!

...And then.....my camera died! Oh no!!! What a terrible photographer! :) But, we hung out with the entire family and later our immediate family all went to Grandma & Grandpa Brand's house where the kids got wonderful Easter baskets full of goodies! We ate a fabulous dinner made by the ever-amazing cook, Kathe! It was so nice to see the family and have a day of rest and peace. 

It was also a busy weekend full of visiting and traveling, so by Saturday evening I was a little stressed about getting everything done for Sunday. The original plan was to also have an Easter egg hunt for Sam at our house before leaving for Fort Wayne. I reeeaaally wanted to do it, as I had already purchased everything and was so excited to put it all out, but I also got home late, had to make dinner for us, make a dessert for Sunday, stuff and hide all of the eggs, fill her Easter basket, clean the house (because we'd be taking photos of course) and think about getting some much needed sleep too.....so Dan suggested we do our Easter Monday morning. 

I agreed and was relieved, but now it is Tuesday and we still haven't done it!!! What do I do with all of the goodies? Take them back? Still have the hunt? Does it matter that it's late? I feel like a jerk taking Easter stuff back after Easter. But the girls got so much for Easter from their grandparents and aunts and uncles that they definitely don't need more.... I'll have to think on this a little... :) What a weird mommy situation! 

In other news, our first wedding of the year is this weekend! I am so excited but so nervous too! You'd think I wouldn't get nervous anymore, but my body is still so weak from my pregnancy and it is so much physical strain to carry the equipment and hold our cameras for that many hours!!! And, I always get butterflies before every wedding! Oh well...this will be my first attempt at getting back into shape!

Sammi started her Mommy & Me gymnastics class last week! She is having a ball & I will post photos very soon!!! 

Natalie is "talking" up a storm these days! She's been a very unhappy baby lately so as of yesterday we doubled her reflux medicine. I hope it helps. If it does, it will be worth every penny. If it doesn't, I'm wondering what our next step will be...

Dan is doing soooo well at his diet and exercise and he looks amazing!!! He's lost 23 pounds since late February and I am so very proud of him! And our families---Orlie, Steve, and Krystal are also using "Lose It" (an iPhone app) to lose weight, Jenny is running the mini this weekend, my parents are always off to some exercise class, Kathe is always cooking healthy meals these days, and I only wish their motivation would rub off on me! 

On the few days it was nice out, I started running again, but I hate working out inside and haven't made it to the gym to sign up yet. I have to get a move on it!!! I think I love junk food too much to lose weight on diet alone, so I MUST start working out. If you have words of motivation for me, please pass them along. I really want to be in shape, just not bad enough to do the hard work I guess----but I really do want to!!! :) Oh my gosh, I just realized that I don't know if I have a suit that fits for this weekend's wedding!!!!

We've been working hard on our business makeover, and will have a new product list, pricing, marketing, and website up soon. We can't wait to complete our building with our new business plan too!

This post is getting long, I'm past my bedtime (that I always miss), and I have to go raid my closet to find a suit!!!! :) So... goodnight for now! We hope you had a fabulous Easter weekend!!!

lazy sunday

Sammi has really been enjoying her chore of filling the dog bowls! I was at the store the other day and Dan called to ask me if I would find a small broom for her because she kept trying to sweep the kitchen floor and our broom was too big for her. I found this adorable cow broom at Target and she loves cleaning with it! 
We didn't do much today on this rainy, lazy Sunday! On Saturday Kathe watched the girls for us and Dan and Orlie worked on the studio while I designed albums all day. We were all tired today! Steve and Krystal came over and we grilled a fabulous lunch despite the rain. :) Then we spent the next few hours just hanging around and being entertained by Sam.
Natalie is such a sweetheart when she's not screaming in pain! I'm going to talk to the doctor about doubling her medicine. So far our other changes are not making enough of a difference. Poor baby!
Tonight Natalie had a rough night and Sam was being sooooo sweet to her!!! (Yea!!!) Natalie was crying in her bear seat, so Sam took a cup and pretended to give her a drink. She thought she might be "thirsty"! Later we were upstairs and Natalie would not stop crying. Sam kept leaving the room and bringing back things to her saying "This will make you feel better, Natalie!" She got gas drops first and then tried a pacifier. 
Sam got her bread cut into fun shapes at grandma's last visit, so grandma sent the bunny cutter home with her. She loves asking for "bunny bread" now... kinda funny since there actually is a brand name of that too!
She is required to stay in the kitchen when she has a snack (or in this case a cookie), so she always goes to the very edge and as she watches us, slowly sneaks backward to see how far she can go before we notice and then she giggles and runs back into the kitchen. Silly girl!
We have a full week ahead so it was nice to have such a wonderful lazy Sunday! Have a great week!!!! XOXO