Rowan's 3rd Birthday Party...

...was Minnie Mouse themed! I will admit, I chose the theme, and she had no problem with it at all. I found cute red and black Minnie stuff online (etsy.com, an obsession of mine) so I went with it! Turned out pretty cute, although I was a bit sad that we couldn't decorate much outside because it was a bit too breezy. But oh well. I was just thrilled it didn't rain!

That being said, the weather was perfect but a bit hot and humid. But it was better than rain and being stuck inside. Especially since we finally decided to go ahead and purchase the inflatable water slide for the kids to play with. I went back and forth for a few days, and in the end, it was worth it. And I think it will pay for itself over the next few years! (If anyone is interested in purchasing one, I might have an extra one, long story)

We played some "Pin the bow on Minnie". I would have to say that Amelia was the winner! She covered up Josh's bow, but I am pretty sure he cheated. Amelia put her's in that spot fair and square.

Then we sang Happy Birthday and had some cupcakes, adorned with Minnie and Mickey ears! (Yes I made them all!)

Then, the indestructable homemade pinata! Made by Ed. And made for he-man or she-man to break. But Amelia (yes, again) sure put a dent in that thing. And the rest of the kids helped out afterwards.

Then came a ton of awesome presents. Spoiled once again! 

And the little brother! Complete with his Mickey shirt! Rowan had a Minnie shirt that was similar, but she had it soaked within minutes, so we were showing off the Minnie suit sooner than expected. No biggie. Of course Eddie was spoiled by many in attendance! Got to meet his Great Grandma Audrey for the first time too.

Great Grandma Goldie visited Neenah for the first time too! 

Can't believe I got in 2 pictures today! Usually all the pictures are of the kids! Here is Andi (due at end of August with a girl), myself, Crystal and Jennie!

The party was a hit! I think everyone had a good time, hopefully everyone didn't melt! Rowan got a ton of nice things, and had lots of fun with her friends!

still so close...

but not rolling over yet!

1st Rice Cereal

and he say's, "No Thanks!"

Not only does he push it out like expected, but he gags too! Hmmm... Guess we will wait a few days before we try it again.

party prep

The last week or so has been devoted to preparing for Rowan's Minnie Mouse Birthday party! I took advantage of downtime at work this weekend to accomplish a few tasks. Also, definitely put Grandma Pam to work while she was here to watch the kids as well! I am very thankful that Ed decided to take over the pinata! So him and Rowan started that project tonight as well. She was quite the mess when she was done, but she sure had fun! Sorry, no more info for now, have to wait for party pics this weekend!

19 Weeks old

Mini Bday party

Tonight was more than some play time for Rowan and McKenna. It was party time too! Since McKenna and her family are unable to attend Rowan's birthday party, Angela (McKenna's Momma) got a little cake for the kids to enjoy while Rowan opened her gift! Started rollerblades and lip gloss! Honestly the bag coulda been filled with lip glosses and she woulda been thrilled. I haven't ever bought Rowan any (it gets messy) so she has only been exposed to it via McKenna, and she is hooked!

Thank you so much Freier Family! Hope you have fun in Georgia!

patience...

...is not something you find in our household.

Therefore the fact that our desktop computer had died after only 4 years (or due to a storm) really isn't sitting well with me and my blogging life!

Needless to say, don't expect much anytime soon. Need to become one with the laptop now more than ever.

More swim time

Another day of fun in the sun in the backyard with McKenna! Nice to spend some time outside with others! The babies enjoyed themselves too!

Mason's Steamer

I made my first road trip alone with both kids today. I was very undecided at first, but we were invited to Mason's 4th birthday party, and I also needed to get my poor dog home too. So I had two reasons to make the trip. And it went well, although the outdoor party was a warm one! Thankfully Lisa had plenty of water entertainment! Just hard when you are one person for 2 kids, one of which wants to be outside in the water and the other that should be inside where it's cool. We survived though, as did several other Mommy's with multiple children.

It was nice to see Lisa, Cora, Amy, Heidi, and Isa and their kids too! Jillian (in green) is 8.5 months, Abby (bottom right) is only like 10 days older than Eddie. Clearly smaller though (as girls should be? Right?)

When the party was done, we headed to Pewaukee to pick up Gizmo. Poor doggy has been gone for a week and a half. Karen and Doug were nice enough to watch him for us while we were in Michigan, and it was easiest for us to drop him off when we were in town the weekend before and today worked to pick him up. I say 'poor dog' but he was probably treated like a king the entire time he was with them. Would probably rather stay with them then come home and be tortured by Rowan. Although she did miss him!

3 Year appt

Rowan's 3 Year Stats

Weight: 29 pounds 8 ounces (45th percentile)

Height: 37.25 inches (60th percentile)

BMI: 15.09 (30th percentile)

Pulse: 80 BP: 82/40

What to say about this little girl?

*Wearing 3T clothing and size 7 shoes (some size 8)

*Pretty much potty trained although she has an accident here or there (generally when playing or outside) Wears a pull-up when sleeping, but does wake up dry many times

*She really has a wide variety of interests. Of course she loves all things girly, princesses and dolls, but there isn't one princess in particular.

*Likes puzzles and matching games

*LOVES to be outside! Swinging, swimming, riding bikes, chalk, bubbles, you name it, as long as it is outside she is there!

*likes every Disney movie she has seen, including the Disney channel (thus explaining the Minnie mouse birthday party coming up)

*Will be attending Preschool in the fall at the YMCA

never alone

i can never get Eddie's picture alone on monday's.
the only time Rowan is willing to smile at her own free will.

18 Weeks Old

almost...

Eddie was so close to rolling over tonight. I guess he was just too tired to get those thighs to follow the rest of his body!

Beach, Fountain, Lunch and home!

Since we didn't make it to the beach yesterday, we were out the door by 10am to enjoy it today. We started by the beach and water, which was a bit cold for my liking, but the kids loved it. Eddie hung out under Aunt Molly's new umbrella! It worked perfectly!
And of course there was plenty of sand time too. The kids were covered in it. Grady was eating it! I guess you get used to that when you live so close to a beach! Not me.

When we had had our share of the sand and water we headed up the beach to enjoy the fountains. They were lots of fun. They were able to rid themselves of the sand too.  Eddie fell asleep in the stroller and slept for the entire fountain experience. It was quite warm in his little cave, but he didn't mind!

After the fountain fun we headed back to Blayne and Molly's to eat lunch, clean up, pack up and head back to Muskegon to get on the boat! For some reason everyone else getting on the boat was there way before us and therefore we essentially just drove right on the boat, and therefore had crappy seats for the ride home. Only crappy in that we were stuck between two different sets of people that had to move for us whenever we needed to get up with Rowan. Not ideal at all. But it was what it was. We survived and made it back to Milwaukee. Then we drove the rest of the way home and the kids slept most of the ride.

We got home at about 8pm, unloaded the car, and pretty much went right to bed. It was a fun warm weekend filled with fun and not much sleep. So we were ready for some good sleep! I am so jealous of the summer fun they have in MI!

another fun day in MI

Well, after not so much sleep last night, we were up and outside playing this morning. Rowan had a rough night, it was warmer than we are used to in the room we were in, and 3 of us in the queen sized bed wasn't working so well last night either I guess. But Rowan was whining and crying lots of the night. Ed even tried driving around in the car with her to get her to sleep. We were upstairs and downstairs trying to get her comfortable, finally she and I fell asleep in the bed upstairs as Ed snored away downstairs on the couch.

We had originally planned to go to the beach and fountains this morning, but after our later start and plans to be on the road to Portage IN after lunchtime, we decided to just play around the house! And it was just as good for the kids, and us as well. And we lucked out, Blayne and Molly got a new bike trailer and were looking to get rid of their old one, so we snatched it up. Now we just need bikes to pull it with!

So after lunch we headed to Portage IN for the Smith Family Reunion. It was held at a hotel, so we brought the kids suits along for entertainment! Eddie got some time with Great Papa, and Papa too. And of course spoiled by many other Aunts and cousins too. The bottom left is Eddie and Griffin (Tara's 4th boy) who was born a couple weeks before Eddie. And they are about the same size, thankfully. Must be a Smith thing! Eddie is a bit more solid that Griffin, but they are almost the same weight!

Then came the swimming, actually it started just about right after walking in door! But it entertained them for quite some time. If only it wasn't so warm in the pool area for the non-swimmers. They had a great little kids area as you can see.

Here are many of the Smith great grandchildren playing and enjoying each other. And that is only about 1/3 of them on the bottom left.

We stayed for dinner and some raffle fun and then we were on our way back to St. Joseph to relax!

Friday night fun

We arrived at Blayne and Molly's house just seconds before Dusty and Julie, and Nana and Papa arrived shortly thereafter. We hung out for a short while outside catching up, then we headed to downtown St. Joseph to enjoy the Venetian Festival that was going on. We all planned to get together tonight to celebrate Rowan and Kieran's birthdays, and we thought they would love the festival, so that is where we started.

Of course it wouldn't be right if we didn't start with the food. The kids shared a huge corndog, very nicely I might add. The rest of us had fried mushrooms, fried veggies, gyros, and some beef and potatos. We found a place in the grass for the kids to dwell while we all shoved our faces.

Then we headed for the rides! Molly had previously purchased wristbands for the kids for rides. We thought they would be good all weekend but turned out to only be good for friday. But they still went on enough rides to pay for the wristbands and more! Didn't know how daring Rowan would be, but she wanted to go on anything and everything. The mini rollercoaster might have been a bit iffy again, but both she and Kieran just had a huge grin plastered on their faces the entire ride. Not sure if it was because it was so much fun, or fear? Molly and I were able to take them down the Giant slide too! Nana and Papa played a few games with them, so each of them left with a toy of some nature!

Finally we were able to tear the kids away from the rides, and the adults away from the beer and we headed back to Blayne and Molly's house for cake and presents! Molly got a sheet of ice cream cake (I didn't even know they came that big!, but she thought we would want left overs for the weekend! Always thinking!) and we all endulged! The kids were both spoiled rotten by her Nana and Papa and Aunts and Uncles! Rowan got a new bike, a seat for her doll for her bike, some barbies, some clothes, foam bubbles, and a Mud Pie Center! So much fun!

I think Grady was busy snuggling with his dad and Eddie was a bit exhausted as well. He did sleep a bit at the festival, but it was past all of our bedtimes for sure. Although that Michigan time change does screw us up a bit!

MI here we come...

...on the Lake Express High Speed Ferry (thanks to Nana and Papa!)

So I am going to preface this post with this statement, The boat ride was a great experience and we are grateful to have been able to ride it, but it isn't something we will do again any time soon! Only because it didn't save us anytime (provided Chicago traffic isn't bad) and Rowan is at the age where she wouldn't sit still for more than 10 minutes. Luckily we had seats and a table by ourselves therefore we weren't bothering people everytime we were up and down with her, but we did have to pass Eddie back and forth as we took turns chasing her around!

Here is how our day went, we left home around 10am to head to Milwaukee where the Ferry docks, the ferry left the dock at 1230p. We arrived in Muskegon MI around 3pm (4pm MI time), and we then drove to St. Joseph to Blayne and Molly's house arriving around 6pm (because of stops we had to make) Therefore it was a full day of travelling. And we were happy to arrive!

Oh, and forgot to mention that Rowan has not had any interest in going on a boat lately, not sure why. So, I was in line to board the boat with both kids while Ed drove the car on. I had Eddie strapped to me in the Bjorn, and ended up having to carry Rowan on the boat too. And up a flight of stairs! Not ideal. Not to mention it was sunny and warm so I was trying to keep Eddie covered up from the sun and all at the same time!