we went this past weekend on a family trip with ryans side of the family. it was so much fun and Lucy had a blast with her cousins and she loved her giant lollipop as wella few things i have been inspired by lately:

the movie eat pray love…..saw it last night and loved it.

if i had been able to play this as a kid i would have been in heaven….how creative!

i have been browsing around here

i just read this book and loved it-hated for it to end!!!!

i can’t wait to get lucy this and these and these

some friends came over and we made these-they were really tasty. we all gobbled them up and super healthy too!!!

made this last night….super yummy

thinking of getting this….does anyone have a good rec. for a double stroller that is not huge?

maybe one of the craziest months i have ever had! i think i have cooked dinner maybe 2 times this whole month. here it is in a nutshell

we went to the lake for july the fourthwe had so much fun and some of our best friends came out to playi realized maybe i was late, so had ryan stop and get some tests on our way home. sure enough to our SHOCK they said i was pregnant. we could not make eye contact for the rest of the day. our initial response was “how are we going to do this. Michael Anne and baby #3 will be 13 months apart”

then we started getting excited – that week i spent cooking up a storm for 13 boys that ryan had out to the lake the next weekend for our friend King’s batchelor party.

the next week i went to the doctor for my 6 week visit and was told there was no baby there. Maybe it had stopped developing in the earlier weeks and i had just not miscarried. I was told to come back in a week but start thinking more in terms of a DNC.

we were pretty let down – we had friends from san antonio coming into town

so we were at the lake once again. i am so glad they came because it got my mind off of the baby that i thought was growing inside. we had an amazing time and it just went to fast.

when our friends left on sunday, we were cleaning up and ryan stepped on a 3ft water moccasin (he did not see it) and it bit his leg. after 2 emergency room visits and 4 days in bed he began to show signs of improvement. it was a long week to say the least taking care of everybody on my own.

i went back to the doctor so they could do another ultrasound and sure enough they saw nothing again. my hcg levels were still rising, but no baby. i was told to come in on monday for a final check and schedule of the DNC. my body was acting like it was pregnant…..i was tired, had morning sickness, just no baby

that weekend we flew to austin and dropped off the girls with my mom while we went to our friends wedding

we came home and i went to the doctor for the final time and sure enough to my SHOCK again…..there was the baby with a strong heart just beating away. the doctor and i were in awe and just sat there and laughed.  so i am pregnant! strange 3 weeks that was! I called ryan and he was SHOCKED all over again as was the whole family.

lucy and i left behind ryan and michael anne and flew to santa fe for a quick trip. my brother got engaged and we went to surprise his fiance. it was a fast and furious trip lugging lucy through the airports on my own, but we had a fantastic time. i cannot wait to have her as a sister in law!at the farmers market: lucy could not have been happier-snowcone in one hand and a monkey balloon in the other

that weekend ended the month of July – we flew home on Sunday August 1st – my baby girls birthday. I cannot believe that she is 3 {where does the time go} the next post will be dedicated to her…..my precious little love!

so that wraps up the craziest month ever known to me: friends, fun, pregnant, not pregnant, pregnant again, weddings, batchelor party, snake bites, engagement, birthday

oh and here is a picture taken by lucy!!!!! she LOVES my little camera and took this on my iphone-pretty stinkin cool!

ok, so they will not be doing the butterfly from one end of the pool to the other, but they do know how to hold their breath, go under water, swim to the edge and have fun!!!! Lucy was the scaredy cat of the class….this seems to be her year to be afraid of well…most everything. it was a wonderful week of fun. on graduation day we had all our families (i think their were about 20 people) come over to see their tricks and have a good ole american hot dog dinner.

at one point lucy had a cupcake in one hand and a bag of cheetos in the other…..she was in heaven!they chased the cowsthen yelled at them to come back…….they didn’t listenthey all attacked ryanand he would chase them around the yardhe’s looking pretty tired!!!!what a fun time and great group of friends!!! we are blessed!!!

do you remember moments from childhood, that were not necessarily groundbreaking moments? i don’t remember learning to swim, and i don’t remember my first day of school, but i do remember:

the first time i ate an artichoke ~ it was on a ski trip with my dad. i loved it so much that we ordered 8 more in a row. {by the way, what a special dad for not being inpatient and letting me order my new found food 8 times in a row just to see my delight}

the first time i jumped off the high dive ~ {i peed in my swimming suit on the way down}

i DONT remember driving my car for the first time at 16, but i DO remember riding in my older brothers car for the first time when he turned 16 {i felt really special}

isn’t it funny the little things that stick with us………i bought these shoes for lucy when i was just a few months pregnant with her. she was only an inch in my tummy when i picked up a size 7 shoe. how old is a little girl when she wears a 7? i was not sure, i payed for them and i hoped one day she would love them. i guess its a secret wish of mine. when i was a little girl, i DREAMED of having ruby slippers just like dorthy. what i would have done to have those magical sparkling shoes on my feet. now she is almost 3 and wears a 7. she has never seen the wizard of oz, so she cannot relate to the feeling i would have had, but she loves them……and that’s all that matters. i wonder what little moments in her precious life she will remember?

lucy had her first swim lesson with friends at our house yesterday. she was a bit snooty and reluctant to swim with her teacher. lucy is as bullheaded as they come. this proves to be challenging as a parent, but will hopefully serve her well later in life. our friends stayed to play after the lesson and they all had so much fun running around together. the clothes came off, the sprinkler turned on, tricycles were buzzing and little naked babies were running around the yard. i got to sit with my friends and enjoy the summer night.

these all came from my garden and i love it!!! squash, tomatoes, peppers, basil……i feel proud everytime i go pick something off the vine. its a great feeling.my super healthy super yummy lunchi love this- i love simple things. when things are simple i focus better and i love counting down to things. you could use this all year-countdown to a birthday, or christmas or any special event. there is always something to look forward to.

have you seen this? quinoa pasta-what a great idea for mac n cheese. its an extremely healthy grain and now its a pasta. i must try this for our family!

he has been called dee-da for over a year(daddy backwards). daddy and dad are slowly entering the scene. i am getting sad thinking of the day when that name will be no more. i often refer to him as “d” and yesterday we celebrated him. we all sat in bed and gave him prezzies and singing cards. i am so lucky to have married a man who is totally in love with his girls. the minute he walks in the door from work he is ready to play until the minute they shut their sleepy eyes. he has dreams for them, he has plans for them, he wants them to experience life with daddy by their side. i love his zeal for them and i am so thankful of all the everyday blessings we get to share together as a team! here’s to you D, your a remarkable dad!

no pictures today…..all the girls in the house are recovering from a fierce 24 hour bug. it all started with me about 4pm yesterday. i was feeling a little nauseous. my in laws were coming over for dinner and i was also preparing a dinner for a friend who just had a baby. before i knew it, i was hugging the potty. i put myself to bed and everyone cooked without me. sweet lucy kept coming into the room and snuggling up with me, “oh, poor mommy-i’m sorry your not feeling good” she would bring me a passy, bring me a goldfish, anything she could think of she brought it to me to try to make me feel better. then she would run out of the room and tell everyone i was sick “poor mommy, is spitting up like a baby”. then she started running out of the room saying her tummy hurt. everyone dismissed her as having sympathy pains for me. she kept trying to tell everyone her tummy hurts, but we all thought she was playing it up since i was sick. then the madness hit.

the both of us were throwing up one after the other.  from 6pm-5am it was non stop. every bed in the house was soiled. i think i did 6 loads of laundry today. sheets, towels, clothes all soiled. Lucy could not make it to the potty and would just spit up in her sleep. poor thing! So it has been a slow, sick, TV watchin, 7up sippin kind of days. my in laws were so wonderful in taking care and helping us. the first time lucy spit up was in the kitchen- all my drawers were open and she spit up in everyone of them. my father in law not only cleaned all the dishes from dinner, but wiped down drawers full of vomit. my mother in law rocked lucy and bathed her numerous times. it was a C-R-A-Z-Y night…despite the craziness, my little lucy was so sweet saying,” i’m sorry i spit up, hold me mommy,please and thank you have never flown so easily from her mouth.. her little limp body resting against mine. it was miserable yet beautiful at the same time…..now ryan is not feeling well, looks like we have another night ahead of us. here are a few links to share……

~ i think lucy would have so much fun with this and great ideas here

~i really liked this post

~ i am a reader of her blog, and this has me in tears. what a beautiful little girl- and i cannot imagine the longing this mother has to hold her just once more.

~i can’t wait to try these and i signed up there to receive weekly emails of “thinkfood”

~maybe i should get this for lucy

~i have a thing for dishes and everything here made my heart beat a little faster…in fact i think i am going to buy this mug. my coffee would look so beautiful in this creamy white beauty

this past weekend we celebrated milk! it was the annual diary festival parade, hot air ballon rally, &  ice cream freeze off. this coming weekend one young lady will be crowned the Dairy Festival Queen. it is a very small town event, but one of my favorite of the year. Saturday morning started with me running a 5K(my second one ever) I finished 3rd in my age group, and needless to say was proud of myself. Went home and packed up the family to head to the parade. there were….hot air balloons, tractors, floats and queens, big rigs, milk trucks, fire trucks,candy and a man on a potty….what?????

Lucy did not like the fire breathing hot air balloons. she was literally shaking-you could feel the heat and the sound was just too much for her to bear. quite a stressful moment in the parade.

we then went home and all got in the pool…..tried to escape the heatthat evening ryan watched michael anne {what a sweetie!} while i took lucy to the ballon rally. again she was terrified, hiding mehind my legs, but by the end had a great time! it really was quite magical…..i would say there were maybe 20-30 balloons and we were in the middle of them all being blown up. they looked like huge colorful pillows. oh…..and the potty wheelchair made an appearance againsorry for the lack of posts……here is a summery of my past week and a half

~ryan was out of town for 4 days – leaving me with 2 precious {tiring} little girls

~i left my camera outside on a bench for 5 days {can we all say heart attack!!!!}

~lucy finished potty training

~lucy moved to a big girl bed

~my mom came into town

~lucy left town for one night

~michael anne is sleeping through the night

~michael anne moved out of my room to her new room

~dairy festival packed weekend

~and no internet connection for about 5 days now…..lovely!

so with all that being said, i have been camera less, daddy less, internet less, and tired……so therefore have not had a post:)

i love making these recycled t-shirt skirts for lucy. they are so comfy and easy to wear. i found this shirt at tractor supply {for adults} and thought hmmm… that would be a cute skirt for lucy. she loves to play animals and she loved the skirt. you can find out how to do it here.

here is our dinner last night….hot off the grill. lemon pepper chicken, grilled red peppers, grilled asparagus, jalapeno poppers {not in photo because we ate them so fast..so yummy!} and double mustard potatoes. hardly any dishes used, easy prep and cleanup, healthy food, and happy family. The baby was asleep, lucy was playing in the sand, and ryan and i got to catch up and enjoy the beautiful evening.