15 Things I Will Miss About Summer

1. Seeing my girls in adorable dresses! 
2. Going for walks in sunny days during my lunch break.
3. Taking the girls to the park.
4. Hanging out outside at Mom's. 
5. The idea of sipping coffee outside on a beautiful morning. (I never seem to do it, but the though relaxes me!)
6. Iced coffees, cappuccinos, lemonades, etc. 
7. Eating ice cream doesn't make me cold. 
8. How great water can taste. 
9. Wearing flip flops. 
10. Just walking out the door instead of stopping for coats, hats, boots, gloves, a shovel, etc. 
11. Clothing at bedtime is optional for all - some nights it's just too hot to consider. 
12. The smell of baby sunblock (but I won't miss the greasy-feel of it all over my kids!0
13. Sunshine staying up past 8pm. 
14. Yard sales. I just love 'em. 
15. Stopping for frozen yogurt on a whim. 

I stole this idea from Smacksy.

Vacation Long Weekend & Engagement Photos

[ Preview of our engagement/family photoshoot ]

This weekend was amazing. 

On Friday night, two of my best friends arrived, one of them with a 4 month old baby in tow that I was just getting to meet for the first time. Oh how I love babies. Friday night was a low-key night of chatting, eating Chinese food and hanging around home. We were all in bed before 11 o'clock. We're old folks now, folks. 

Saturday morning is when Eric and I left with the girls to get our pictures taken. Mom was awesome and met us at the photoshoot location to watch the girls when we took pictures of just us. I haven't seen all the pictures yet, but I love the preview ones. (I'll post more at the bottom) 

Mom took Chloe when the left the photoshoot, and we took Madi to be dropped off with Eric's Mom. 

Then we were childless. 

We had our dinner, bought some booze and headed home. Slowly, our friends all started to arrive. Drinks were poured, and the BBQ was fired up. BBQ'd burgers and potatoes are some of the best foods you can eat. 

Later on we even had some cake to celebrate "everything", aka my engagement, the birth of a baby 4 months ago, another friend's pregnancy (she's 26 weeks), the birthday that just passed of a friend. 

We had more drinks, played guitar outside on the deck, and played some cards. We were probably all in bed around midnight (old folks) but it was still an amazing night. 

We all had breakfast together Sunday, then got in our cars and went back to our hometown, where Eric and I met up with the girls again for a beach afternoon. When we were through with the beach, we went back to our (free) hotel room and went to the pool almost right away. Eric convinced me to go down the waterslide once (I'm not a big fan) and we went in the hot tub for a bit. 

We ordered some room service and watched Big Brother and ended up in bed at a decent time again. 

We had our breakfast in the morning then met up with Mom, our babies, and my nephew to go to a water park. The same one we took the nephew and Chloe to last year. Everyone had a blast. Madi is like a fish. She's not scared of the water at all, so I'm sure she drank half the pool. She was constantly losing her balance or just throwing herself in the water on purpose, and we'd have to pull her back up but she'd always be laughing. 

Chloe was obsessed with the waterslide, but she was only big enough for one of them. Mom helped me out by catching her at the bottom, and I'd run her back up to the top and send her down again. 

We were there for more than 5 hours. We had tons of snacks and and we were so thankful for the frozen water bottles Eric's Mom sent in a cooler with Madi. Apparently it was crazy hot yesterday, but we never felt it because of being in the water and shade constantly. 

Despite the sunscreen we all wore, Eric still got super burned. 

I could've stayed a lot longer, and the girls probably could've too but it was a long drive home. Madi slept most of the way, Chloe only slept for a little while. It was nice to get home. Today I'm back to work, and back to reality. But not for long, because I'm taking tomorrow off to spend it with friends again. 

Annnnd.. here's more engagement/family pictures. 

Just a bit of summer disappointment.

This might be a bad time to write, as I'm a little disappointed with something right now, so I'm wallowing a little bit. 

The past few days have been great crazy. Within the next month and a half, all of my friend will be home from.. well, all over the world. There's one from the other end of Canada, and even one who's been living in the Dominican, plus a couple more that don't live nearby anymore. 

We might even all be able to get together at my place on July 13th to have a reunion/baby shower for my friend who had a baby in March. 

It's all pretty exciting, but I'm disappointed. 

The last weekend in June we were supposed to go off-Island to visit friends. Eric, Chloe and I, taking another friend with us. I knew it was a long shot that Eric would get the time off work so last minute, and on Canada Day weekend, so I shouldn't be as disappointed as I am that he can't go that weekend. 

We can't change the date of the trip without missing out on seeing other friends, or having to go without the friend who was travelling with us. Still, I'm really sad to go without him. 

In the past couple of months we've had one day alone together, and one night. Not at the same time. We couldn't do much the night we were alone together because he worked that day, and first thing the next morning. The day we had off together we spent doing groceries and errands, and couldn't make real plans because we had to pick Madi up just after supper. Time alone just doesn't really exist. 

This will probably just be the first of many disappointments over the summer. Anything we want to do together we always need to find a babysitter for Madi, since she can't sleep at her Mom's. Every other weekend we'd also have to find a sitter for Chloe, on the weekends she's not with her father. 

It's like we'll never have any time together to do anything over the summer unless it's with the kids. 

I'd love to have just one weekend away, but I don't even want to think about it, because it would probably never end up happening anyway. 

Happy freaking Tuesday. 

Things That Make Me Happy

I am cranky today. Just ask my boyfriend. 

Why I'm cranky? Well because it's our second snow storm of the week, but I made it to work this time. It's supposed to snow all weekend, so my plans for the weekend are probably ruined. Oh, and money. I have money. So now, instead, it's time to list some happy things. 

[ via ]

- I made a half coffee/half hot chocolate at work with my own hot chocolate powder. It's not as good as Tim Horton's, but I almost drank it all so I'd say it's good enough. Maybe I'll start saving money that way. No coffee = pretty bad headache. 

- It's almost the month of April, and that means real spring is almost on its way. So far, I don't like the spring that we're getting. Two huge storms during the first week of spring? Unfair. 

- I love Instagram. I don't always upload daily, but I like seeing what other people upload. It seems so much more personal than just reading a blog sometimes. Sometimes I post things on there that I don't on the blog. Simply because if there's a way for me to save my Instagram photos from the website to my computer, I still haven't figured it out. 

- Madi let me try almost her entire summer wardrobe on her Wednesday night. It was to the point that she wanted to keep trying stuff on when we were done. Mostly just to rip the tags off, but whatever. I got a few cute pictures, but this one by far is the best. She is too stinkin' cute. All the clothes fit, except one pair of brand new shorts that I'm going to exchange for the next size up. They fit, but barely. Chloe isn't as interested in trying on her summer clothes, but we're getting there. 

- Summer. The idea of summer coming makes me so happy I could cry. Walking barefoot in grass. Beaches. Swing sets. The smell of sunscreen. Baby hats. Flip flops. BBQ. Sitting on a deck after dark listening to the crickets. It all sounds so amazing. 

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- Coffee is good for me. And I love coffee. 

- Boyfriend and I have somewhat of a hobby together now. Next project? Our daughters' names. 

- Chloe. She's cute and I love her. 

What are you happy about right now? 

Summer Fun for the Kiddos

Me and Chloe stayed with my mom from Tuesday morning until Thursday night. My nephew, B., who is four, stayed with us the entire time too. Because we could, we packed the trip with as much fun as we could. Tuesday night we took the kids to the park, Wednesday we took them to a water park and Thursday we took them to the beach. 

There's not a lot I could say about the week, except that it was fun for everyone. I'll just let the pictures do the talking. 

Have you done any fun summer activities lately?

Baby's First Pool Party

At the spur of the moment, I packed up our things and we drove to my mother's house when she brought up the idea of buying the baby a little inflatable pool to play in. It was a beautiful day with absolutely no plans so I was more than willing to drive the hour, just to have something to do. We went to Wally World and bought her a tiny pink pool with a shade. 

When I brought her outside and put her down on the grass, she crawled over and had to test the water herself. 

Then I threw her in, gave her some toys and she was good to go. She loves the bathtub, so I knew she wouldn't hate the pool. Still, she didn't exactly love it. She splashed a little, sucked on the little inflatable toys that came with it, but soon enough, she was trying to climb back out. 

Still, very much worth the $15 we spent on it (and it's cute!) and hopefully we can try it out again tomorrow before we pack it up to take it home with us. It's a great way to get outside and keep her cool at the same time. 

I just wish it was big enough to fit me too! I'll keep that in mind the next time we get an inflatable pool.