What Happened To Summer Vacation???

When I was a kid Summer break was such a carefree time and all of the regular schedules and agendas didn't matter much. We stayed up late, slept until noon sometimes and basically did whatever we wanted. Ah, those were the days! Now that I'm a mommy, life doesn't stop for Summer. I wouldn't trade it for the world but running a household can be exhausting sometimes. I can hardly remember those days when I could lounge around all summer and bask in the sun! With that being said, we have been non-stop busy lately. It's crazy!

On Sunday we took Brooke to see Toy Story 3. It was a blast! John's mom watched Adrienne for a couple of hours and John and I REALLY enjoyed the one-on-one with Brooke. It had been over a year since I had done anything alone with her and I know that she felt really special. We went the day before the movie and bought special candy and juice boxes and I tried to tell Brooke that it was a "secret" because they don't like you bringing your own stuff in. So when we went up to the counter to order the popcorn and my drink she said, "Mom, remember, I don't need a drink because you have your juice box in the bag with the candy." Lol. I could hardly contain myself. The girl didn't say anything to us because really, what's she going to do... Call the candy police??

We've had company over for the past 2 nights for various reasons so I have spent many hours in the kitchen as of late. I love to cook so much and I'm always happy to be able to feed people. It's just crazy when you have 2 little girls that also want your full attention. Brooke likes to "help" me most of the time but Adrienne just goes to work on destroying the kitchen the whole time, making the clean up 4 times worse. Oh the joys!! :-)

My addiction as of late has been coupons. I get on my spurts where I'm into coupons and then get tired of them but the amount of free stuff I have gotten lately has me encouraged enough to keep going. At our grocery store this week I have gotten 3 free deodorants, free foil, free laundry detergent, free Windex spray, and free Glade spray. When I say "free," I mean like tax only and not a dime more. Who wouldn't want to get that stuff for absolutely nothing??!?!?!??!?! I've also been addicted to CVS for the Extra Care Buck deals and have been getting crazy amounts of stuff there for free also. It's so much fun to save money. I'm constantly thinking of my next deal. Maybe that's sad?? Lol

We finally got our pool opened and I'm excited for the girls to be able to swim more often. It's a lot of upkeep and expense but I think it will be worth it. We also got a bunch of landscaping done this week and put in a small vegetable garden with tomatoes and basil. I've always been into my flower garden but I'm a newbie when it comes to veggies so we'll see how I do!

Nothing else is really new around here but I just wanted to give a quick update. I hope you are all enjoying your "vacation" as much as I am!

Less Baby, More Toddler

Adrienne has been so many "big" things lately. I just can't believe how quickly her vocabulary and comprehension have taken off. It's pretty amazing to watch! Here's what she's up to...

*She is learning to say quite a few words... dog, ball, shoe, baby, Daddy, Mama, Brooke, Papa, Grampy, all done, kiss, woof, moo, hi, book, no, yes, ha ha, bye-bye, and sheep. Her little voice is so precious and not quite as raspy as Brookie's ever was.

*She can get you an object when you ask her to. If you say, "Adrienne, where's the ball?" or "Go get Mommy a book" she comes back with the appropriate item.

*She knows how to jump (not very high, trust me) and thinks it's hilarious when she jumps for us on demand.

*She eats absolutely NOTHING now, making feeding her quite challenging. Brooke went through this at this age but then again, she never ate (and still eats barely anything).

*She has just started throwing mega temper tantrums... Especially when I put her down against her wishes or when she's being put into her car seat. She arches her back, screams, shouts "no, no!" and sometimes throws herself on the floor. Hopefully this isn't a sign of a strong-willed child??? Yikes!

*She can sign "please" now along with her other signs and we've been working on "thank you" but it just hasn't happened yet.

*She has a grand total of 10 teeth now. It's weird because she got the molars next to her eye teeth already. On top of those she has her 4 top and 4 bottom teeth.

*She FINALLY has enough hair to put a little bow in. We're slowly phasing out her headbands.

*She loves reading books and spends much of her time passing me book after book. It's so sweet:-)

*She follows Brooke around and already wants to do anything that big sis does. Brooke just eats this up, too, and it's absolutely precious to watch.

*She hates her bath now and spends the entire time trying to crawl out of the tub. Talk about challenging!

*She is my social butterfly who charms onlookers with her smiles, waves, and kisses that she freely blows. She is fearless and afraid of nobody! This is something new for me because Brooke is VERY introverted around strangers.

I just got done telling John that Adrienne is so funny and entertaining but man alive, she is A LOT of work right now. She's into everything and requires constant redirection (which she REALLY doesn't appreciate). It is so hard to believe that a year ago she was a tiny, helpless newborn. Where has the time gone and WHERE IS MY BABY???

We're Back!

We got in last night from our wonderful little trip and I must admit, I'm sad! It ended far too quickly and I miss the time of fun with my family. Brooke cried when we left the hotel yesterday and said, "But I really wanted to stay here for a long time!" Poor girl... She's already learning that all good things must come to an end!

Our hotel was everything it was supposed to be and then some. It was absolutely amazing and the indoor pool was incredible. The girls loved it and we had a blast letting them swim. Apart from swimming and lounging we went on a horse and buggy ride (which was awesome!), ate lots of great food, did some shopping, and went to a petting zoo. Everyone got to do something that they enjoyed!

Here are a few pictures...

I'm Out of Here!

Life has been crazy lately so we decided to plan a little family getaway to Lancaster, Pa! I know it's weird but I would just assume go look at the Amish than do just about anything. Lol. I am truly intrigued by their simplicity, their work ethic, and their crafts, foods, gardens, homes, etc... We leave tomorrow when John gets home and we aren't coming home until Tuesday. It should prove to be interesting because I'm going to be doing the driving for the 4 hours trip while he sleeps. All I can say is that I hope he really does sleep instead of peer over at my speedometer. My fellow cop's wives out there can most likely identify with me on this one!

We were initially going to plan our trip for next week because tomorrow is Father's Day and all but that would put us there on a weekend when it's far more busy. We see our dads often enough and they know we love them so we don't feel too bad sneaking out. I hate to miss church (I'm the pianist) but it's rare that we do so everyone understands. Honestly, we spend most of our holidays juggling all of our family and hopping from one house to the other so I'm looking forward to a low key holiday with just the four of us.

I am SUPER excited because John snagged us an amazing hotel! We got a BRAND NEW Marriott for $60 a night on Priceline. How did people afford to travel before Priceline????? It's gorgeous and it has a wonderful indoor pool and we plan on spending lots of time swimming. The girls are going to love it!

I am most excited to take Brookie on an Amish horse and buggy ride. John and I went on one before she was born and it was really awesome. An actual Amish guy took us on the ride and he said that we could ask him any questions we had about their way of life. Trust me, there was so much I wanted to know but at the risk of being annoying, I only asked a few questions. I didn't want to be that nosey, rude person who asked embarrassing questions. Lol. I'm telling you, these Amish are so captivating to me!

I'm off to finish packing and getting a few loose ends together. It's so much work to travel when you're the mommy! We'll be back on Tuesday evening and I'll be sure to update with pictures and all!

Smiles!! :-)

I know that this is blurry and it's only a cell phone picture but BOTH of my girls are smiling at the same time so I just have to post it! All you mothers out there know how hard it is to get two (or more) kids to smile in unison. I should totally win an award for this or something! Don't ya think?














This is their favorite place to sit in our house. I'm not quite sure why. I love it because I have always used that bottom step to put Brooke's shoes on before leaving the house and now that Adrienne wears shoes she brings me her shoes, sits on the step, and patiently waits while I put them on her. SO precious! She wants to be just like Brookie... And who could blame her???

I Love A Bargain!

I got all of these things for $7.64 at CVS.... PLUS, I left there with $5 worth of Extra Care Bucks. I could have spent them and got even more free stuff but I decided to hang on to them to apply to next week's Extra Care Buck deals.

The best deal out there, in my opinion, was the Gillette body wash. They had them on sale for $4 (which is a rip off all by itself) and if you bought one you got 4 Extra Care Bucks. However, I had this wonderful BOGO (buy one, get one) coupon from two papers ago so they gave me $8 in ECB for "buying" 2. Can you believe it? I made three separate purchases to maximize my use of the CVS bucks. It takes some extra time but I'll do anything to save money!

It's amazing how much you can maximize your grocery budget simply by clipping coupons and watching sales! As a stay-at-home-mom I try SO hard to keep costs down (when I can help it) and this is just one of those ways that I can do just that!

Mowing with Brookie

I try to stay on top of mowing the lawn just so it's one less thing that John has to worry about with his busy schedule. We have a large yard and only a push mower (which is fine by me!) and it generally takes me about an hour to get the job done so I can fit it in during the girls' naps. Today I especially wanted to get it done because John had to qualify with his weapon for the year (meaning he was shooting in the hot sun all day in black BDU's!) and I thought it would be refreshing for him to come home and see it done.

I had one major setback though.... Miss Brooke couldn't sleep! When I put her in her bed she said that she wasn't sleepy but I insisted that she take some quiet time. After mowing a couple of strips in the backyard I got to worrying about Brooke so I checked on her. Those big blue eyes stole my heart so I told her she could come out and play while I mowed. What I didn't realize is that she would actually want to mow with me... The ENTIRE yard. It was hot, too! I thought that after ten minutes of it she would get tired or bored but she refused to quit. She stood in front of me and pushed that mower for at least 35 minutes or so. Holy cow!

Now I love Brooke and I love that she thought she was helping me, but oh my goodness.. It added many minutes to that job. When John got home she was SO proud to tell him that she had mowed the lawn and in that moment it was worth it! I'm wondering if this will become a regular part of our routine? She's such a sweetheart to want to help:-)

The Perfect Day

We had such a wonderful family day today and I would not have changed one thing about it! We stayed in our small town (which believe me, there's not much of anything to do here!) and took a picnic to the park for lunch. We took Brooke to the store before that and let her pick out juice boxes and chips and she thought that was a lot of fun!

After lunch we walked down to this quiet little creek and let the girls throw rocks in the water and play. John even succeeded at teaching me how to skip rocks!! In the almost 7 years that we've been together he's never been able to get through to me until today. Lol! It was just picture perfect... There was nobody around but our little family of 4 and it was so quiet and tranquil. It's so nice to be able to go right down the road from our house and be able to still "get away."

As we walked back from the creek to the park there was a large pasture full of cows and John said, "Look at the cows, girls!" Do you know what Adrienne said?? "Moo!" Isn't that profound?? Haha! We've been trying to teach her what a cow says and finally she's learned!

As I was watching my girls today I was just amazed at how they are their own individuals. Brooke got splashed with a rock that John threw and cried, "I'm messy!!" And there sat my Adrienne covered from head to toe in dirt, mud, and water. Oh yes, and she was trying to eat the rocks and flipped out on us when we tried to stop her. I wonder if they'll always be like this... Brooke the girly girl and Adrienne the Tom boy. Hmmm... I suppose time will tell?? Whatever they turn out to be will be fine by me:-)

I have been so content with my family lately. I'm not saying that I haven't always been that way but right now I feel like I have the perfect family. I'm insanely in love with my husband (of course!) and my girls are the best of buddies and they keep us laughing and smiling constantly. I am finding, more and more, that the small things that we do together are the things that mean the most.

Grow Up and GET A LIFE

To the rude person who left an anonymous comment on my last post, seriously, grow up. 1) You're not my parent and I don't need you to tell me how I can drive and 2) if you have a problem with me, SAY IT TO MY FACE. For the record, I don't text and drive and I don't need you to ridicule me for something I don't even do. I'm a successful, mature adult who, believe it or not, does not need random people watching over me. Yeah, I graduated from kindergarten about 20 years ago. I repeat... GROW UP.

Ugh. People get to me. Sometimes I HATE living in a small town where people know me and think they can intrude on my personal life.

Yes, I'm Still Here.

I can't believe that it's almost been a week since I've been on here. I attribute much of my absence the the 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that John got for me last Friday. Yeah, I was COMPLETELY addicted to it until this afternoon when I finished it. Now that it's done life can resume as usual!

We have all been so sick here. It's awful! We caught some crazy cold and I was the first to get it. I've been sick since Monday and everyone else followed on Wednesday. I feel particularly horrible because I also have nasty allergies on top of it and my asthma is always super bad when I get a cold so it's awful. Adrienne hasn't been sleeping well thanks to this lovely cold and the lack of sleep has been rough. As for Brooke, she has been running a fever and I'm pretty sure that it's an ear infection so she'll go the doctor in the morning. John's sick too but he's pretty tough so he's been great! Needless to say, I look forward to getting everyone over this.

Despite everyone being sick I have really enjoyed the past few days. It's been rainy and cold here (which is actually my favorite weather) so we've been lounging around the house doing the puzzle, baking, and playing. It's so nice to have lazy days at home with our little family and just enjoy doing nothing. Don't get me wrong, I like to be out and about, but I feel like the best moments happen at home.

The girls are doing so awesome despite their colds! Adrienne never crawls anymore and is walking like a pro. She can go SO fast now and it's hilarious. She kind of walks like a penguin. Lol. Brooke got her first big girl bike on Sunday night and we've had a lot of fun letting her test it out (when the weather has cooperated with us). I can't even believe how well she's doing and mostly, I just can't believe how big she is.

John's been off for the past few nights and tonight he goes back in. I know you can't live for the weekend but I'm already counting the days until he's off again!

Slacking

When the weather is nice you can rarely find us inside and especially NOT behind the computer! Seeing as how we live in cold Upstate New York we have to capitalize on the nice weather when it's here. It's been GORGEOUS lately so we've been working in the garden, going to the park (often multiple times a day), taking walks, and cooking out. We also love hanging around on the back deck and letting the girls play with the sand box and some water toys. They have a blast out there! Our pool isn't open yet but once we get it up and running I'm sure it will get tons of use.

This is such an incredible time of year, isn't it? Just watching my perennials come up and seeing them grow bigger each year will never get old. I also love to mow the lawn and to hear the birds chirping once again. I hate living in this cold climate but having lived down south before, I can attest to the fact that you really appreciate the warm weather more when it's so rare! I must admit though, I'm already dreading winter. One day at a time, right?? Lol

I feel like I'm falling behind on all other areas of my life right now that involve being inside. My house is usually so clean but right now I feel like I cannot stay inside long enough to clean it. I'm also falling behind in laundry. Who wants to fold laundry when the sun is shining? That all can wait but the warm weather will not!

The one downside to this weather is my allergies. I think I'm the most allergic person known to man. It's ridiculous. I take 4 medicines a day and get 2 allergy shots a week and still deal with itchy, runny eyes, a runny nose, a scratchy throat, and constant sneezing and wheezing. I have horrible allergies year round and Fall is the worst time of year for me (with Rag Weed and Golden Rod) but this time has got to be a VERY close second. I'm starting to think that I should be in a bubble or something. It's the pits! It just makes me feel so groggy and nasty constantly. I am so desperate for a "cure" to feeling this way that I'm trying to think outside the box with ways to treat it but so far I've come up empty. Does anyone have any allergy relief that works?? I would seriously try anything.

Alrighty, John's heading back to work tonight after 2 wonderful nights off. It's always hard to send him out the door:-( I better go send him off with a kiss...

One Year Stats

I took Adrienne for her one year checkup today! She weighed in at exactly 21 pounds and she is 28 inches long... Which is the 50th percentile for both categories. Just for comparison's sake, Brooke was exactly 20 pounds and 29 inches long at one year. They're running pretty similar to each other! While we're on the subject of comparing my daughters, here's a picture of Brookie at one. They look a lot more alike than I thought they did!














I started slowly incorporating milk into Adrienne's diet about a week before her birthday and she began having diarrhea. Not only that but she would act uncomfortable so it's obvious to me that it's just not setting well on her stomach. I thought that maybe it was a fluke and that she could possibly have a bug but after stopping and restarting her on milk, I'm positive that that's what it is. I talked to the doctor today and he had me get her a whole milk called Lactaid, which has an enzyme in it that will help her digest it better. Brooke has a dairy sensitivity but I have pretty much solved her problem by switching her to skim milk (which is easier on the belly). The doctor said that I shouldn't do that with Adrienne because she needs the extra fat to help her brain develop. I plan on nursing Adrienne for however long she wants so I'm not quite as concerned about the milk as I would be otherwise. I just want to do what's best for her!


Oh yes, and it's important to note the doctor gave Adrienne her first lollipop! She must REALLY be getting big. Maybe I'm a mean mommy though because I took it from her. My baby old enough for a lollipop???? I just don't believe it! Lol