Reese turns 4!

FOUR. That was sure a FAST four years! My little girl is growing up, and we had the best birthday weekend celebration. My parents came out Wednesday afternoon, so on Thursday (her birthday) we hit up the Indy Zoo (one of her favorite spots.) We saw the dolphin show, a lot of of the animals were out, and she even got her face painted. Kyle's parents arrived Thursday afternoon, so we swam and hung out, while she opened presents after dinner. Kyle's brother, his wife, and their two girls arrived late Thursday night, so everyone was here when Reese woke up Friday. We lounged around Friday morning, then I took the girls to get their toes painted at a nail spa close by. They had fun. Then we swam all afternoon- the weather was great. Friday night we took Reese out for dinner at her favorite Mexican restaurant. Saturday was party day. The girls played all morning, and after nap, it was party time. She had so much fun. We had about 15 kids here, along with their parents. The weather was great, everyone swam, and they all loved the ice cream "bar". Her theme was ice cream this year, so I made a whole set up of ice cream with all sorts of toppings. It was yummy and everyone had a great time! We set off some fireworks last night before bed to put the finishing touches on her birthday weekend. It was so fun to have all the family out, and Reese had such a great 4th birthday. Here are some pics to re-cap the weekend.

Birthday morning, she woke up to this on the table!

Birthday breakfast- a cupcake!

 All ready for the zoo

Face paint at the zoo- it was SO cute!

 

Opening presents the evening of her birthday

 New clothes from Aunt Krista!

Pedicure with her cousins

Time to party!! (Saturday)

Ice Cream Bar- lots of toppings to chose from 

Birthday girl!

 

Opening presents

Singing Happy Birthday to her, somebody was embarrassed ;)

Preston enjoying his own dairy free ice cream.

Reese and her friends (Avery, Kensley, and Lillyanne)

Pictures I took today of her outside in the nice weather

A great ending to a great weekend. 

 

Happy Birthday Reese Isabelle

What are you?

Time to try something new. It's called what are you? A little look inside our lives as a busy, family of 4 and things the family, and I, have been doing lately.

What are you...

Eating: I have been SO into making grilled tilapia once a week. I have this yummy, easy 5 min prep recipe I have to share with you!
Grilled Citrus Seasoned Tilapia
2 tbls. butter
2 tbls. lemon juice
2 tbls. orange juice
1 teas. seasoned salt
1 teas. parsley flakes
1/2 teas. black pepper
1 lb. tilapia

Melt butter. Mix everything in with melted butter and brush on tilapia. Grill for 13-15 minutes or until fish flakes easily.

Watching: I'll be the first to admit, I am a sucker for reality tv. And right now, my reality tv is on fire! We are in the final weeks of the Bachelorette (Go Josh!) and I am deep into Big Brother as well. My DVR fills up weekly, and I try to catch up when the kids go to bed, or flip on a show if I can while they nap.

Reading: I just finished the 2 books series of Honeymoon and Honeymoon 2 by James Patterson. GREAT books. I am now onto The Husband's Secret. And I always HIGHLY recommend Defending Jacob by William Landry, best book I've ever read to date.

Listening: Hmm, Mom of 2 young kids, who are always in the car when I am....yup, you guessed it, kids music. We are listening to Reese's cd she got a VBS on repeat (I'm ready to throw it out the window most days.) I need to figure out how to slip a different CD into our rotation :)

Working on: I am right in the process of refinishing the gold metal around our fireplace. I am over the gold, time to make it black. My sister did this last summer to her fireplace, so I had a helper to tell me how to do it :) I'll post pics once it's complete.

Doing daily: I always get the question, "so , what do you do all day?" Well, glad you asked. ALOT! Playdates, grocery shopping, appointments, laundry, naps, cleaning, playing, errands, swimming, going for walks, going to the zoo/splashpad/Children's Museum, playing with neighbors- that's what we have been doing. Soaking up summer and not making any sort of agenda. Doing whatever we feel like we want to do when we wake up each day! Loving it!

Loving: I am LOVING that we have done alot of "firsts" lately. Reese had her first lemonade stand a few weeks ago with our neighbor girls. It was so cute. They were so excited and did great! Reese was a little entrepreneur and was a selling machine! We also just went to one of Indy's top rated ice cream shoppe's last night. It's only about 10 minutes north of our house, and it was so worth it! The best custard I have ever had, delish! Reese also had her first real sleepover last night (with our neighbor girls who are like family to us.) She loved packing a bag and she had a great time. While we only had Preston this morning, we ventured out to Tim's Bakery, a place Kyle had heard of known for it's donuts. And oh my word, best donuts EVER! They were fresh and warm and melted in our mouths. YUMMY! It's dangerous now that we know this place exists. The line was 30 people long, out the door, but worth the wait!

Looking forward to: Reese turning 4 next Thursday! It's hard to believe that sentence when I type it, but it's true. Four years old. Our family will be traveling out next weekend to celebrate, and it will be her first birthday party with friends next Saturday. She is excited to have all her little friends over for her birthday party. I am excited too and hope we have good weather for it so the kids can all swim!

Dog days of summer

We have not been experiencing the true "summer weather" one would expect for July. With temps in the 70s last week, we didn't get in the pool once. But, it warmed up yesterday and enjoyed swimming all weekend. The best man in our wedding, Pete, along with his two daughters and niece came to visit yesterday and today. His wife was busying studying, she is in nursing school, so he brought the kids out to Indy (they live by Champaign, IL) to give her a quiet house. Marion and Trinity are 13 and Phoebe is 3. Reese and Phoebe are only a month apart, so they got along great. The kids swam for close to 4 hours yesterday afternoon and then again this morning before they took off. We had a blast. Swimming, s'mores, a bonfire, corn on the cob, and sparklers- the true meaning of summer. Poor Preston was feeling a bit under the weather, so I took him to the minute clinic this morning, only to find out he has 5 blisters in his throat :( I thought he had a possible ear infection with his loss of appetite and not sleeping well, but turns out he has a viral infection in his throat :( We just have to let the virus run it's course, but if he is not feeling better by Tuesday, I need to take him in to the primary doctor.
Reese is starting a summer camp tomorrow through the parks and rec department in Fishers. Its Water,Wheels, and Automobiles- she is pretty excited.
Izzy is doing well. She got spayed last Tuesday and I take her back on Wednesday to get her stitches out. Poor dog has had more stitches than a 7 mo old puppy should ever have, but she is doing fine and her hair now is finally starting to grow back on her leg! She weighs 13 lbs now- probably going to be between 15-17 lbs full grown.
Here are some new pics I have taken lately:

Got the camera out to take pics of Izzy, but he had to get one first :) 22 months old.

Yes, I know this is from May, but I forgot it was on my camera!

Quick Update

First of all, Happy 4th of July! I wanted to check in for a quick update while I have a few moments. We are back in Illinois, and are at Kyle's parents today, heading to my parents tomorrow. Julie (Kyle's mom- had to work today, Reese stayed with her cousins last night, and Preston, Kyle, and Gary (his Dad) are running errands, so that leaves me in a house by myself :) Its pretty quiet and enjoyable :) So a quick update is needed.

Izzy had her final vet check up last Friday and is all cleared. She can finally be a normal puppy again, and is loving it. Her leg is completely healed and the plate will stay in her leg for life. She is back to normal.

Reese and Preston has summer camp 2 weeks ago at our church, and I think it was the fastest week of my life. I tried to do things I can't normally enjoy doing when I have them with. I think I might have spent two hours grocery shopping one day, just taking my time up and down the aisles. It was amazing. I honestly took one of the days to do nothing. I came home from dropping them off, picked up a book with my coffee, and sat outside reading for a couple hours. They attended from 9:30-1 and it was the perfect amount of time. Preston did great his first time being away from me (besides Sunday school at church) and he did fantastic.

Last weekend, we had my Pearl City high school friends out for the weekend, .We had a blast. We got to hang out, go swimming, and the adults had a night out on Saturday night. Kyle, yet again, had to head over to Germany then last Sunday, not what we expected. So he was there from Sunday until Wednesday, and then we drove back home yesterday. Quite a whirlwind of a week for him. I hate to say it (again) but he is hoping this was the last time for a while. They finally have a negotiated contract with the company they are trying to buy in Germany, but who knows until the documents are signed. We can only pray the closing goes smoothly and he wont have to go back anytime soon.

We plan to relax this weekend, possibly see fireworks tonight or tomorrow night, and maybe sneak in some pool time at my parents if the temperatures warm up a bit- it sure does not feel like the 4th of July! Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!