Fun Date

Greg and I went out on a date last week and it was so fun. We got a very first paid babysitter, and we went to a shooting range and I finally got to shoot a gun!

First, we had Mexican. I had authentic tacos. Up until just a couple years ago, I'd never had them before. They are so good now that I've actually tried them! I can't believe I was missing out for so long.

 Before we left, we had to take some dumb photos too. It wouldn't be a date without it.

Then it was off to the shooting range.

Greg and I had tried this whole "shooting range" thing before we had children, but it didn't go very well the first time. We went to an indoor place up in Michigan, and I had been having a hormonal, emotional, crying morning that particular day. And women, we all know that if there was already crying that happened in a particular day, crying is more likely to happen at some other point that day. Anyway, Greg was going over the gun safety rules wiht me while we were in our lane when a very large gun went off that scared me half to death. I jumped out of my skin, and then before I'd fully recovered, it went off again. Next, I burst into tears and buried my face in Greg's chest until it was done. Needless to say, I didn't shoot that day.

It took me more than 6 years, but I was ready to try again, under the agreement that we'd try an OUTDOOR range this time where the sound wasn't trapped in a concrete room.

Once we were there and ready to shoot, we had to wait for a cease fire so we could put our target out on the range. While we were waiting, a man walked up to us to say hi. It was the father of one of the kids on Hunter's soccer team that we're coaching. Wouldn't you know it that out of the 5 other people at the range, I had to know one of them.

We rented a .380 for me to try. I was scared to death a bit nervous at first because I just didn't know what to expect for the kick, but I think I did quite well.

Here I am ready to shoot, and standing absolutely ridiculous because I was still getting used to standing comfortable with it. Also, you're not mistaken. That's a look of sheer terror on my face.

After a while of shooting the .380, I decided to step it up a notch and shoot a .40. I had his glove on because I was afraid of the kick, but I ended up doing fine.

I guess I was feeling very brave that day (and I couldn't let my husband think I was a baby) so I even got up the nerve to shoot a .44. 

Greg predicted I'd be done after 3 rounds but I shot 10, and even aimed pretty well with it! By the 10th, my hand was getting sore, so I stopped there.

Here's a video of me shooting the .44.

Here's the hubs looking all hot and stuff, but that's nothing new. This time, he just has a gun in his hand while doing it.

It was so fun!!! I can't wait to go again!

11 Months

My sweet boy is almost a year!!! More and more every day, he is starting to transform into a toddler. He's (finally) pulling up on things...

although it took some coaxing and helping from us until he got the idea that that's what he's supposed to do. He is in to everything now too! I definitely ahve to watch him way closer than I did the other two, because he's probably getting into something he shouldn't be!

In just a couple weeks (because this post is so late,) I'll be making a birthday post!!!

Until then, I leave you with a sweet photo of my baby boy.

Love These Babies!

First Haircut

While I probably shouldn't quit my day job, at least his hair is out of his eyes!

Kylee's 2nd Birthday

Kylee has been 2 for over a month now...but here's the details from her party a few weeks ago.

We had a Minnie Mouse party. Here were the invites:

I bought black cardstock and fun polka dotted paper and a spool of ribbon for the bows. Tada!


For the party, I made Minnie ears for the girls,

and Mickey ears for the boys.

 I used this tutorial except I didn't cover the foam in felt.

Since it was supposed to be like Minnie's Bowtique in her show, I wanted bows everywhere. I bought a big pack of multicolored foam and cut them into an hourglass shape like this:

And then we (as in my mom, Jenny, and I) wrapped the end behind, stapled it, and hot glued different kinds of ribbon on the center. I used acrylic paint to decorate some of the bows too. Then I bought dowel rods, we painted them pink, and attached the bows to them and they went in vases with tissue paper in the bottom for support. We placed the bows everywhere, and even attached some to curling ribbon and hung them in different places!

 In the end, I think we counted 53 bows!

I plan to hang them all over Kylee's room now that the party is over and her room can have a Minnie theme!

Instead of cake, we did cupcakes!

 Regular and mini Oreos, with a Fruit by the Foot bow!

We also did Minnie and Mickey marshmallow pops!

 I bought a package of pink Wilton's Chocolate Melts, and we dipped the tip of the marshmallow and rolled it in sugar (pink for Minnie and red for Mickey.) I used a bit of the melted chocolate to act as glue to hold up the ears, and the Minnies got a bow just like the cupcakes.

 I made a Minnie wreath the hang above the food table. I got the idea from this blog, except I cut up a black tablecloth into strips and tied that on, instead of using ribbon. I used the end of a pink tablecloth for the bow. The wreath is now hanging above Kylee's bed.

 Kylee had SUCH a wonderful time and was so excited during party preparations when we were turning the house into a Bowtique. She kept running around pointing all of them out!

Thank you to everyone who helped make this sweet girl's birthday so wonderful!

 ...If you have any questions on how I made anything just let me know!...

10 Months

I know I keep saying it, but for real, I can't believe how big my baby is! 

He is FINALLY crawling! And with that, he is into EVERYTHING. And he's so strong that he'll just go up to his poor sister and take what she has. Having a crawler with older siblings is tough becuase I can't childproof EVERYTHING, and the older two get frustrated when "The Hurricane" comes and destroys their train tracks they're playing with.

He still loves to eat, and frequently eats more than Kylee does. He's almost exclusively on table food and is doing so well with it.

He is a GOOF ball. He imitates silly faces we do and is so silly! I can't wait to watch his personality unfold even more.

 I couldn't decide which photos to post, so I hope you don't mind me just posting them all. :)

 Don't worry...he will be getting a hair cut before he's 11 months!

 Momma's little stud muffin :)

8 and 9 Months

Ok so I totally missed blogging about the 8th month ... :-/ 
It was 10 days before Christmas so time just got away from me. I didn't forget 
the picture though! Here it is:

And already, my baby is 9 months old!! He is SO big. We go soon for his check up to see just how big he is but seriously, people are shocked when they find out he's only 9 months. And we FREQUENTLY get people asking if he and his sister are twins when they're in our double stroller! 

He is still super smiley and super happy all the time. :) When he's sitting and you make him smile, he bounces up and down on his bottom out of excitement. I love it! 

He is our first baby that really took to rolling to get around. He's been everywhere in the living room from rolling for a while. But as of last night, he's a crawler! He finally figured it out and has taken no time off from practicing his new trick! 

 We took his pacifier away at 8 months, but apparently should have waited a bit longer. He's found his thumb in the last couple weeks. We tried giving the paci back but he's forgotten what to do with it! 

He eats absolutely anything we give him! When we first started giving him bits of table food, he giggled in between each bite since he was so excited! This boy definitely LOVES food. 

I've had to break him of waking up to eat at night a few times, but it's been nothing like it was with his sister. And he's been on a good streak of sleeping until at least 6, and then after feeding, will sleep a few more hours. 

He is so big, and I know his first birthday will be here before we know it!

Here's the 9 month pics :)