A Day at the Zoo

Last week Jonathan had the idea to take Adalyn to the Louisville Zoo on Saturday. (It's the zoo he grew up going to.) We don't usually do last minute things like that because we're planners. (I realize that it wasn't like it was same-day-last minute...it was week-of-last minute. But that's still a big deal for us.) Jonathan called his mom and sister to see if they wanted to join us since they live in L-ville so we ended up having a family day. When we pulled into the parking lot there were signs up that the park was closing at 2pm that day. We were upset since we had driven in for it and only had about 3.5 hours to spend in the zoo including time for lunch. We felt like we were sprinting through the different exhibits just to have time to get around the entire zoo. But we were able to see a few animals out and about. We had to skip the splash pad but by 2 Adalyn was melting down anyway. And the 90* day had worn us all out. It was BLAZING!!

Adalyn spent the day in her wagon and was happy about it. She loves that wagon and never wants to get out when we're done with walks so a whole day in the wagon was happiness for her! Also, this was her first time in pigtails. Jonathan said she looked way too old! So cute!! I love that her hair is long enough for them!

 Watching the elephants with her grammy and her cousin Sammy.

 Checking out the camels.

 She wasn't sure about the petting zoo.

 She would not touch any of the animals!

She slept the entire way home. She was exhausted. Lexington doesn't have a zoo so next trip will be to the Cincinnati Zoo maybe even later this summer. Last summer we went to the Toledo Zoo (the zoo I grew up going to) but with baby Cayden coming this year, we won't be making a trip up there this summer so she'll have to wait for the Toledo Zoo for either the Lights before Christmas or next summer. Although a lot of the animals were hard for her to see or pick out in a field, I think she had a good time and enjoyed the animals she could see. She liked waiving to the monkeys!

Belly Pics: Weeks 31 and 32

You all! I have 8 weeks left of this pregnancy. Less than 60 days. Crazy!! We had an ultrasound and doctor's appointment yesterday. Both appointments went well. Baby Cayden is growing well, but unfortunately is breech. Hopefully in the next 4 weeks he will flip! For the first time, he actually let us see his face in the ultrasound. We got a couple profile pictures and the tech even switched to 3D so we could see his little face! We got a couple partial views of his face but he kept putting his little hands over his face. It was so cute! The pictures that we did get looked a lot like Adalyn's 3D pictures. I wonder if he'll have the same big cheeks that his sister had:)  I now start appointments every other week for this next month and will have another ultrasound in 4 weeks. I remember last time that once appointments start every-other week and then weekly that the weeks seem to fly by even faster! I know these last 8 weeks will be a blur!

31 Weeks

 32 Weeks

And because I feel like I was standing at a weird angle, here's another 32 Week pic. 

Memorial Day

So this post is about 2 weeks too late, but better late than never right? We went to my parents for Memorial Day and had a great time. My extended family has a tradition (since my mom was a young girl) that we all go to a park and the men grill out breakfast for all the families on Memorial Day morning. And all the guys try to out-do each other with their food, dress and table decorations. Last year Jonathan and I joined in the tradition for the first time since we were married and had a great time (here was a recap with tiny pics of Adalyn!!) so we decided to do it again this year.

Of course we had to get as much fun packed into the weekend with my parents as possible. It's been a while since we've been to visit them. Jonathan relaxed in hammock out back and Adalyn had fun in the neighbor's swing. My mom and I did a bit of shopping (of course I ended up only buying stuff for Adalyn...Gymboree had 30% off even their clearance. SCORE!) and we spent all day Sunday at my aunt and uncle's pool with my cousins and kids. We also squeezed in two trips to ice cream stands and made s'mores on my parent's back patio. It was a fun weekend. It makes me sad that we don't live closer. Having family around is so special!  Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Adalyn loved the hammock too!

 Sunday morning before church in her red,white and blue!

 Swimming for the first time this summer! She wasn't sure about the cold water.

 She had fun splashing!

 Memorial Day breakfast! (It was blazing hot that morning!)

 Sharing her juice.

 My dad grilling our breakfast.

One of the girls I went to grade school through high school with was on vacation with her husband and older kids so her mom was watching her youngest that week and brought her to the breakfast. She and Adalyn are the same age and it was so good to finally see her in person and not just in facebook pictures. But it was difficult to get two 18 month olds in a picture at the same time!

 One of my cousin's beautiful daughters. Adalyn loved all the attention!

 After a picnic lunch at my parents, we were headed back home.

 Adalyn loves her papa and grandma!

Adalyn's First Year Mixbook

I decided to post a link to the Mixbook that I've spent a billion hours making. I figure I put in enough hours making it that I should put it "out there" for our out of town friends and family to see.  It came in the mail this week and I LOVE it! I highly recommend Mixbook if you're looking to make a digital scrapbook. The book I ordered is the 11x14 so it's huge and the quality of printing, paper, binding is great!  You can usually find a Groupon (if you search all cities) for a $50 Mixbook for $15! Oh and printing/shipping was super fast! This is my 7th book I've made (although all of my other books have been about 25 pages instead of 91) and I've been happy with all of my books.

Adalyn's First Year book.

Tomorrow is Adalyn's 18 month picture session with Jes. I can't believe how fast time flies. Guess I'll be making my 8th Mixbook soon... I've gotta make sure all of her professional pictures don't just live in the computer but are in print!


(I wish Mixbook knew who I was and would sponsor me for giving my review, but they don't and they don't. So I seriously am saying this because I believe in the product so much!)

So hard to say goodbye...

Typing out that blog title made the Boyz II Men song run through my mind. Honestly, I've kind of been dreading writing this blog post.  I know it needs to be done, but I had to give myself some space from the actual "goodbye" to when I wrote this post so I could be a little less emotional about it all.  Two of our best friends and their kids (who are like our own) were transferred multiple states away. I'm thrilled for them in this next chapter of their lives, mainly because they will be near family which I know was a huge priority for them. (And I don't blame them. It would be nice to live close to family!) But it doesn't make the sting of having them gone any easier.

The weekend before Memorial Day Billie and I hosted a goodbye party for the Taylor family. We had such a great time together at the party, but it was so very bitter sweet. Earlier in the day Lindsy's church friend hosted a baby shower for her so we had a full day of celebrations! But it also reminded me of the fact that our boys won't be growing up together. ::tears::

Tim, Lindsy, Jonathan and I go way back. We became friends on the volleyball court and softball fields before we were even married, so we've been through so much together. Since none of us have family in Lexington we were each others' family and aunts and uncles to each others' kids. (I've told Billie, my other "sister", that she better not leave me!! I know I couldn't handle it if both of my girls left!) Because I'm hormonal and nostalgic I thought I'd post a few old pictures...

Jonathan and my wedding.

Fireworks in the rain.

First of our babies to be born. Kennedy on her birthday.

Girl fun!

We surprised our husbands with a weekend away and tickets to their favorite teams who were playing each other!

Can't believe how young Kennedy was. Precious girl!

At the Mad Potter making a plate for Billie's shower.

 Billie's shower.

Adalyn just born.

 Avery on her birthday! (It hit me the other day that when Greyson and Cayden are born, they will be the first kids of ours that Lindsy and I don't go see in the hospital. Although since we are due the same week we might have been at different hospitals delivering our boys so we might not have been there anyway. Either way it hit me and made me sad.)

 Our girls 16 weeks apart.

 Our girls dressed alike last summer. I love this picture!

Avery's 1st Birthday!

The kids together on Easter

 16 week belly pic

So much fun to see our friendship throughout the years in pictures. Wow have we changed and grown up. I'm so bummed that we didn't get one last picture of our families together at the going away party, but we were having too much fun enjoying each other that we didn't take the time to get family pictures. But here are some pictures we did capture. (Thanks to Lindsy and Janine for the pics since I didn't take any!)

What we did... (Eat, socialize, and take belly pictures with Janine - she's also due the same week as us!)

What our kids did...

 It was fun to see them all playing together! So cute the older they get!

 Bubbles!

Love this pose:)

 How many kids can pile in the gator? That toy was the HIT of the party!

We really had a fun day of enjoying each other and our kids. It's crazy how our whole group of friends have grown from our days of playing softball and volleyball and going canoeing without a care in the world to having multiple kids (there were 8 kids at the party) and 3 more on the way!! Wow. We make jokes about the fact that when we have get-togethers everyone is taking care of someone else's kid. Its like whoever is closest to the kid that needs help or wants to be held takes care of him/her. Love that we are that comfortable together. Seriously like a family. We really are blessed to have such friendships.

The day that Lindsy left town, she attended our last MUMs (Moms Understanding Moms) group meeting and after our meeting it was pretty ugly when we said goodbye. (It doesn't help that we both have crazy hormones right now.) We had to get one more belly picture together before she left town. I mean seriously, how often do you get to be the same number of weeks pregnant as your girlfriend? Had to get belly pics of that!

Wow. The difference between the first picture in this post (from 2006) and this picture is quite comical!

I know through this many years of friendship and sisterhood, we will continue to be friends. It may be harder to just pop on by to stop in for a visit. But we won't let those 7 hours between us scare us! We'll be planing some family vacations soon!  Love you girl and miss you like crazy!