Summer Break with Cousin Maddie

My mom finally made it back from Michigan last week and she brought my niece Maddie back with her.  She's on summer break and my mom wanted to spend a couple of weeks with her and so did we.  The timing was perfect so that Mom and Maddie could join us on our beach vacation next week and we can't wait! We've been staying very busy since they got here last Thursday, the beach, pool, little dippers, Mickey D's etc...

Savannah has loved having Maddie around, there's a 6 year age gap but Maddie is really great with her and they seem to get along perfectly.  Almost makes me want another one, almost.  We are very content with our 3 person family :)

 Leaving the airport

 First stop? Chick-fil-a

Checking out Maddies Ipod

 And wearing Maddies glasses

 Maddie brought Savannah a little princess outfit and she was loving it!

 Friday at Little Dippers

 Savannah is really doing great with trying to swim

 Pretending she's sleeping, trying not to laugh

 At the Cape Beach, in the lovely black water.  So gross.  We tried out the pool the next day and it was like bath water in the steaming hot sun.  The kids didn't mind either way but my mom and I couldn't win

 At Mel's for Maddies favorite- chocolate chip pancakes and bacon

Mommy in training

 Mom took the girls so we went out for a belated bday celebration for Shane

Shane has loved aggravating Maddie and since she wants to look at each picture after we take it, he decided to cut her out..she got him back later when she took a picture of the 3 of us

Ps. Look at how grown up my little girl looks here. ugh.

 Helping me bake a cake

 Thought we'd give Ford's Garage a try for dinner last night... way too long of a wait so we ended up some place else

 Acting like a tourist

 Cuties



July 4th 2013

We had a great day.  I was watching my friends son all day and Shane was off so we decided to take them to Little Dippers for the afternoon.  We had planned a beach day but found out the day before that there was some bacteria in the water and the beach was closed.  Either way they had a blast.  We stopped at Wendys for lunch then home for Savannahs nap.  We were going to do hot dogs and burgers on the grill but I was still full  (and guilt ridden) from my lunch so I skipped another unhealthy meal.  I made the kids some turkey dogs and Shane ordered a pizza.  We thought about picking up some fireworks but I was beat from the day and Savannah was in bed right when it got dark so we'll start a fireworks tradition next year.

I have pictures from little dippers on my phone, but I havent downloaded them to the computer yet.  But I did have to get one picture of her in her adorable 4th of July shirt before the day ended.  Her pretty red ribbons have been pulled out, her hair's a mess and she doesn't have her shorts on.. oh well.  This is about as real as it's gets... (and she's all about screaming cheese when she spots the camera)

Through the years ...

wow.

Change of mind...

Lately Shane and I started to discuss me going back to work full time.  Doing what I used do, office work. Fun, fun, I know. But the money is decent, you have a set schedule and Shane and I would be back on the same schedule.  The big "BUT" however is, Savannah would have to go into full time daycare.  And to be quite honest, is something we never wanted.  From the moment we started to plan to have a child, I knew that I wanted to be a stay at home mom.  In my mind, if we plan to bring children into this world, we should plan to be the ones taking care of them.  It's my personal opinion. So when Savannah was born, I decided to quit my "regular" job and stay home with her.  When she was around 6 months old, I decided to go back to working nights serving to supplement our income (and to keep my sanity) Being a SAHM is one thing, but you do need to get away every now and again.  For the most part it has worked out great, except for the fact that this particular job is extremely seasonal, so once summer hits, the money comes to end. 

So with Savannah now being 2 years old, and going through another slow summer I thought, maybe it's time for me to go back to work; regular work that is.  Savannah will have to go into daycare and we'll just deal with it, so I thought.  I updated my resume and started sending it out.  And the more I sent it out the more real it became.  The thought of working 8-4 or 5, not getting home until after that and between getting dinner on the table and everything else, I will only get to see my daughter for a couple of hours.  And those couple of hours probably wont even be any sort of quality time. I despise that entire scenario.  Savannah would be spending more time with strangers then with me and our daily life would be nothing more then constant rushing.  I understand others arguments of "well you get the weekends with her" or "at least you'll be on the same schedule with your husband" But you know what? It's just not good enough for me or for us.  Shane is on the same page of not wanting to put her in full time day care (thank god).  She is still the most important thing, she's just 2 teeny tiny years old and the best people to care for her is us.  Before you know it, she will be starting school and then it's a done deal, we have no choice.  She will be in school until she is 18 years old. 

So for now I'm going to be selfish and selfless all at the same time. Im going to do what I feel is right for myself, and our little family.

Disclaimer: I am not against daycare and

do not feel that by putting your child in daycare makes you a bad parent. 

Fathers Day 2013

Pictures to come....

My 33rd Birthday

I can't believe Im 33.  I don't care for the number but honestly I felt better on this particular birthday in so many ways then I have in long long (long) time.

I can't remember the last birthday spent without Tony & Laura :)

Catching up yet again...

Lots of beach time so far this summer

 time for her 2nd hair cut

 Another beach day

 So happy 

 We've been going to Chic fil a about twice a week lately, she LOVES it!

Shane and I squeezing in a date night of bowling

Im back.

Just when I thought I was done with blog- totally over it,  thinking "anything I would put on the blog I can just put on Facebook" I realized the blog is like an online photo album but much better.  I recently had to use our blog to search back 2 years to find certain pictures that were not transferred to our new computer.  The blog was the only place I had those pictures.  And since I had to go back so far, I got a chance to "walk down memory lane" so to speak.  I must admit it was pretty neat.  So Im going to continue the blog for that very reason.

After her shots last Monday, I decided to take her to McDonalds for a treat and a little playtime.  She's now at the age where the doctor is scary to her,  she was a very sad little girl and my heart broke for her.  It was awful to watch.  BUT this made it better :)

 A little later, looking so pretty...

It's so neat to watch my little girl playing with my Barbies from when I was a little girl.  I knew I saved them for a reason.

A beautiful evening for a bike ride...

And to play catch in the front yard....

 Dinner with Mimi...

At the eye doctor for her Stye.  She's all ready to go! This appointment wasn't half as traumatic, thank god.

Another gorgeous day for the park, THIS is why I LOVE being home with my munchkin, we get to have fun together!

Chick-fil-a Family night with the Rice's.  Checking out baby Ethan....

This morning when I went to get her out of bed this is what I found...but she was also sucking her thumb lol

The things you do for your kids... She wanted me to wear her glasses and then she proceeded to take my picture...

Life Lately...

It's about that time to show the blog a little love....

I only have a few before I need to get Savannah and I ready for gym; speaking of the gym- SkinnyCandi is still in the works, although I was definitely side tracked through the move.   Trying to squeeze a workout in, all while packing, driving back and forth from new to old house, cleaning as I go, all while taking care of Savannah's needs and before heading to work at 3:30- just wasn't happening. But I did continue to weigh in every Friday to hold myself accountable and to make sure I wasn't gaining...and you know what? I didn't!! I've actually lost 3 lbs in the past month, which Im super happy about.  Those 3 lbs put me right at a total of 30 lbs gone! As of this week Im back to my regular routine; back on my mission of losing the last 20.

The move is going great, we're getting settled in and really enjoying our new pad! We have so much more room and I can't tell you how much I love it! I know for Shane the closing on our old home was a little bittersweet. He build that house 10 years ago, it was his first home after moving out of his parents and it was a huge accomplishment for him.  It was also the only home we lived in together, it's where we brought our daughter home to and where we had a billion memories. But like most of us, as your family grows you tend to outgrow your home and you have to make the tough decision to move on.  And unfortunately sometimes you have to take a few steps backward in trying to move forward.  Which is the decision we made when deciding that a short sale was our best option. It has been a huge step for us, but in the end we know we did the right thing.  Savannah has been great with all of it also, she just goes with the flow, easy peasy that child of mine.  Love her to pieces.

Shane and my Mom are still working on getting their business up and running, they were on a roll then something came up with the license so we're just waiting on one issue to be taken care of and we should be good to go.  All three of us couldn't be more ready for this, but especially Shane, I know he is so ready to get back to what he's best at and what he loves doing.

My job is ok, season is coming to an end so I'll be working less and less.  I took last summer off but I won't be able to do that this year so we'll see what happens there...it's kind of up in the air right now.

I think that about catches us up on most everything.. So I leave you with some pictures :) Enjoy!

 Last day in her old room..

 "Helping" us move...

 Breakfast break on last day of the move...

 Birthday present from mommy & daddy... Yay!!

 Putting it together...

There is never a moment where she doesn't have an accessory on; shoes (or shoe) headbands, necklaces, sunglasses, hair ties, bracelets, etc.. and it starts from the second she wakes up, like in the picture above...

 New outfit!

 Friday lunch at Mickey D's ... We've gone the last 2 or 3 Friday's together; she loves it and so do I :)

 Date night...

 Shane took last Monday off so we took Savannah to Lakes Park...

 Watching Free Willy...

 Cheezin' before bedtime...

Riding the train at Wal-mart.. Choo Choo!!