American Girl

My Mom took us to The American Girl Cafe while we were in Minnesota.

My Aunt Suzy came to spend the day with us too. 

I loved it when we went last year and the Mall Of America store was even better.  The place is HUGE, two stories of pink and flowers and dolls galore!

We told Josie she needed to choose between a new doll or going on rides.  Lucky for us, the rides were right outside the window of our booth and ended up being more appealing then another doll.  Not to mention a fraction of the price!

Poor Old Baby was left at the house.  In fact, she ended up with a one way ticket.  

Baby Sarah got to go to the Cafe AND come back to Georgia.  I won't lie, I begged her and almost cried when she decided to leave Old Baby at Mae Mae's.

I have to admit though, Baby Sarah is pretty cute!

Gabe did awesome, but like any 18 month old, started to get a little restless towards the end of lunch.  Lucky for us, my Mom and Suzy have some killer dance moves that Gabe found hilarious!

Josie and I hid under the table!

We spent some time in what I will always call Camp Snoopy even though they sold out to Nickelodeon.

The kid's eyes were the size of saucers the entire time.  

It was a Kiddie Wonderland!

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, we left the mall and went to my brother's kickball game!

Such a fun day!  There is nothing better then a Summer Night in Minnesota!

Not For Us

The past couple months I have been trying to convince Andrew that taking a long trip in an RV would be an awesome vacation.

I was so sure that we would love roughing it and making memories on the open road.

That was before I attempted to sleep in a RV with a 4 year old and an 18 month old.

I spent bedtime, and numerous hours after, playing Musical Beds with Josie and begging Gabriel to lay down and go to sleep.

The kids did finally fall asleep around midnight and were my bright eyed alarm clock when the sun rose.

Needless to say, I don't see RVing in our immediate future.

The sleepless night was well worth it though. 

It was a small price to pay to spend two days with my awesome Grandparents!

These are my Dad's parents and I only get to see them once a year.

It was thier first time meeting Baby Gabe and, as I should have expected, they were both smitten.

Especially my Grandpa.

Gabe sat with him pretty much the entire night and then spent the next morning playing with him. 

It was adorable.

We had a fish fry for dinner that was out of this world and then hung out by the fire until my kids just couldn't take any more excitment.

The next morning we hung out at thier house, then hit all our old stomping grounds.

It was so fun to go around with my brother and retell stories from all the weekends we spent up at the lake.

 Thanks for a great visit Grandpa and Grandma!  Can't wait to see you in Florida!

WIWW

I finally got dressed enough days to warrant a What I Wore Wednesday Post!

This month has been so busy that I've actually only gotten in a few pool days.  I'm hoping August brings back my golden tan that has all but left me.

Family Date Night

Navy Dress - Gap

Brown Belt - Franchescas

Diaper Bag - Coach

Navy and Brown, my newest favorite

White T - Gap

Jean Shorts - Ann Taylor Loft

Headband - Mattie Fran Designs

Amy is running a new featured Mattie Fran product every week now.  She can customize anything so go check her out!

Dress - Franchescas

White Tank - Target

Black Shorts - Banana Republic

Scarf - Local Boutique

More Days Then I Should Admit

I learned how to do a Fishtail Braid and I LOVE IT!  Not sure Andrew loves it quite as much but it's perfect for hot days when I want to look like I put some effort it.  It's this or the totally messy bun so this is good!

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy

We Made It

The 10 days are finally over!!!

We Made It!

And no words can describe as well as this picture exactly how happy we all are that Gabe can finally be Gabe.

Forever and ever, Amen.

Dealing

Over the past few weeks I've come to the realization that I am a part of one seriously awesome family.

This past couple years have been laced with pain and fear and sickness. 

Caring for my Grandpa was a fulltime job with pleanty of chances for worry and weariness to creep in.

But everyone stepped up to the plate and cared for him exactly the same way we know he would have done for each of us.

After his Memorial Service, we all headed back to The Cabin to spend the day together.

Sometime after lunch my Grandma disappeared and when she reappeared she had us all laughing and once again remembering why our family is so amazingly awesome.



She told us how everytime she got discouraged or felt too weary to go on, her friend told her to "put on her Big Girl Panties and deal with it."


So she did.


And any Grandma that can handle all that life has handed mine and deal with it with nearly as much grace and poise as she has AND look this good in her Big Girl Pants is pretty awesome in my book.

I can't imagine how hard losing my Grandpa is on her.

I know the level of pain and longing I feel and I know her's must be multiplied exponentially.

But I also know how strong and brave and wonderful she is, so I know she will be OK.

I hope she knows just how much we all love her and how greatly we appreciate the way she cared for my Grandpa.

The way she cares for all of us.

I think if I end up being 1/3 the Wife, Mother, Grandmother, and GiGi that she is I'll be amazing too.

Love you Grandma.

Thanks for teaching me how to Deal.

Jordy Is Crafty

A couple months ago, I met a super sweet and totally adorable new Bloggy Friend.

Meet Jordyn:

See, totally adorable, right?!?!

Not only is she super cute, she is also pretty darn crafty.

She makes these cute hair accesories and teeny tiny baby booties!

She sent Josie one of her hair clips and we love it!

And for the rest of the month (only a couple of days people!) she's offering 15% off your entire order!

Those baby shoes are almost too cute to stand and would be such an original baby shower gift!  Head on over to Jordy Is Crafty to get yours!

Together

Last Tuesday, we headed up to The Cabin to honor our Papa Moose.

The service was Perfect-o.

My Grandpa had told my Grandma over 20 years ago about the music he wanted played at his funeral.  And beyond all odds, we were able to find the man he was talking about and he agreed to come sing at the service.

It was amazing and emotional.

After the service we spent the day just like Papa Moose would have wanted, together. 

 And playing Smear in his honor.

The day was filled with alternating laughs and tears and sharing memories.

But above all else, it was spent together.

And I'm learning more so everyday that together is a great place to be.

Lake People

I grew up taking baths with White Rain Shampoo in Love Lake.

My brother and I would spend entire weekends in the lake.

Hours were lost trying to balance on a large inflatable Shamu Whale toy.

My parents would have to drag us out of the lake at night.

Somewhere between ages 13 and now, I realized lakes are filled with nasty weeds, dead fish, and worst of all, leeches. 

I'm no longer a Lake Swimmer.

When I mentioned that Josie had never swam in the lake my brother rounded up a crew to make sure we took care of that right away.

And while I may not be a Lake Swimmer, my daughter is 100% a fan of nasty, weedy, fish water.

I found it half ironic/half hilarious that I let her swim in the ocean without any kind of floatation device, yet felt the need to wrap her in bulky lifesaving devices for the totally calm lake.

The girl loved it.

Turns out she's just as much Northern as she is Southern!