Week 24: Texas Sheet Cake!!

"Schoooooollll's out for summer!"

Sean's new song he walks around the house singing.  I guess he was ready for more mommy and daddy time and less daycare.  Weren't we all, Sean?

Last Wednesday started my first day home with the boys, but unfortunately Scott had to work.  I took the boys to the library to meet up with Nana, Sydney, and AJ.  We got our summer reading packets for the boys and they got to decorate paper cut outs of worms with their names to kick off the program.  Love the library out here!

Thursday, we all officially celebrated our first day of the summer together!  Scott and Sean went swimming at the rec center and I took Evan to the mall to do some shopping at all those semi-annual clearances.  We met up at the mall for lunch at Olga's.  Yum!

Friday, I had a play date in the morning with some high school friends and their kids.  It was such a beautiful morning!

It's so much fun now that all my friends are having or have had kids to be able to all get together and do fun kid-oriented things.

Saturday started the Father's Day festivities!  Saturday was Scott's day.  I brought him lunch from The Bread Basket so he could finally try the best Reuben ever (according to everyone I work with).  I think he was impressed.  I also set up a twilight tee-time for him and his two buddies.  The wives and kids all stayed at our house for a pool party.  We ordered pizza, let the kids go in the kiddie pool in our backyard, and tried to keep these 3 kids happy and entertained.  It was a great night!  I just wish the boys weren't little stinkers about going to bed...

The boys made Scott a golf footprint card I saw on Pinterest.  We bought him a Detroit Tiger's fabric cooler filled with an 18 pack of cold beer for the golf course, golf balls, tees with a cute tag that says, "You are a tee-rrific dad!", a gift card for golf, and snacks like beef jerky and sunflower seeds.  I figured he'd appreciate the time away to golf and the cooler can be used for the Tiger's games we go to.  A win-win!

Sunday I made blueberry pancakes and bacon and let Scott sleep in.  He picked a good day to get to sleep in since Evan decided to start the day at 6:30am!  We headed over to Troy in the afternoon to celebrate Father's Day with my dad.  My mom set up their kiddie pool and it was another afternoon of swimming and BBQ ribs and chicken she made!  Yum!  Evan loved all of it...the chicken, corn, watermelon, and green beans.  Sean held out for the Oreo ice cream cake!

We had the kids paint a birdfeeder we bought at the Farmer's Market a few weekends ago and had their handprints on each side.  We also made him a canvas print with the 3 generations on my Dad's side of the family with some Scrabble stickers that spelled out Son, Dad, Grandpa.

It was another gorgeous day!  We could barely get Sean out of the pool long enough to eat.  My parent's neighbors behind us have two children that are 7 and 12 and they have cousins who are 3 and 5.  They happened to be outside running through a sprinkler, so Sean had to join in.  It's the second time he's played with them outside this summer and it's so funny to me to see him playing with kids that live in that house considering my best friend grew up behind me until we moved away to college.  Now Sean has friends that live there!  How weird!

Our Father's Day celebrations came to a close last night as we drove out to Troy again to celebrate with Scott's dad and family.  Nana also had her kiddie pool set up so we let the kids swim in their undies/diapers since we didn't bring their suits.  It's so fun to watch Sean play with his cousins and I can't wait for Evan to be old enough to join in.  We knew we wanted them to have a close relationship with their cousins and they really do!

I spent the night at my mom's house and Scott took the boys home for the night.  I had an appointment with a general surgeon today to schedule my surgery to have my umbilical hernia removed.  It was fun getting a night away to visit with my best friend, Trisha, who now lives in the same subdivision as my parents.  I also got a chance to catch up and talk to my mom while we soaked in the hot tub!  Poor Scott and Evan had a rough night.  I think little guy is cutting his top teeth.  Luckily, the boys went to daycare today for their one day to hold their spot for the fall, so Scott was able to go back to bed and catch up on sleep.

Anyway, my recipe for this past week was a cake I made for the last day of school.  We always have an ice cream social in the cafeteria to end the school year with staff and this year a few of us decided to bring in some baked goods too since we all love to cook/bake!  I decided on a Chocolate Coca-Cola cake that's similar to a Texas Sheet Cake.  This was my first time baking something called a cake that had more of a consistency of a fudge, but it turned out delicious and I only had a few small pieces left.

preheat oven to 350, and grease up (I like Crisco) a 9×13 (or so) pan.

mix:

2cups flour
2cups sugar
1/2tsp salt
1tsp baking soda**
1/2tsp cinnamon

** note: I have made this with baking powder or soda – Either way works. “powder” is what was listed in the recipe I got it from, but soda is slightly better results.

in a saucepan over medium high heat stir this up good until it boils:

1 cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup coca-cola (from bottle is my preference!)
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
1/2cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup coca cola

Now take off heat and add that to the flour mix & whisk until combined.  Mix, put in pan, bake it for about 30minutes. 

When cake is nearly done make the glaze by mixing in saucepan:

once that boils, remove and slowly stir in 4cups of confectioners’ sugar until nice and smooth. Then add in about a cup of chopped pecans, and give it a stir.

once cake is done and out of oven (toothpick should come out clean), pour this warm glaze right over the top of the hot cake!

let it set… let it cool for a few minutes at least…

enjoy warm or cold. (next day/etc. feel free to microwave for a few seconds to warm it up… so good)!

I was a little stressed about this recipe because of the debate between baking powder or baking soda.  I ended up following the directions of this particular recipe and mine came out perfect.

I didn't have any issues like a lot of people commented on with the frosting pouring over the sides of the cake and it being a mess.  I put mine in the fridge overnight and brought it to work the next day letting it side out until lunch time when we served it.

Yum!

Time to go get the boys from daycare...

Summer Vacation Bucket List 2013

We hit the ground running when school let out a few days ago and haven't come up for air yet.

 I don't know what it is about the first week off.  Both last year and this year I have scheduled 200 things in the first week off of school feeling like we have to do it all right now.  But, in an effort to spread out all these fun activities over the next two months, I've come up with a list of things we'd like to accomplish this summer as a family.

1.  Toronto!!  We leave in a week and will be gone for 5 days of fun!  Can't wait.
2.  Up North to Scott's parent's cottage for the 4th of July!
3.  Belle Isle Nature Zoo - never been
4.  Ann Arbor Botanical Garden - so much fun and FREE!

5.  Domino Farms - a must visit on Sean's list

6.  Jungle Java - thank God for Groupon's to this place.  It's such a steal and a great place to let off some steam.  Plus, I live for their yummy drinks.

7.  Tiny Town - another Groupon and literally 5 minutes from our house.

8.  Nature Center in Troy - never been

9.  Troy Aquatic Center - a throw back to my youth

10.  Bowling - a great, cheap activity during the afternoons

11.  Go berry picking - this is a must for me.  I've never done it!

12.  Take the kids to a movie.  I'm holding out for Planes in August!

13.  Music in the Park in downtown Plymouth  - Scott and Sean accomplished that tonight!

14.   Go to as many jungle gyms and little spots off Hines Drive

15.  Go to a fair - probably the Plymouth Art Fair in July

16.  Baby Story Time at the library for Evan

17.  Home Depot Kids Workshop the first Saturday of every month - we need to make it to one of these finally!

18.  Putt-putt golf with Sean

19.  Fly a kite

20.  Make "mud" play doh for Sean to play with his trucks

 21.  Make "moonsand" for Sean's dinosaur sensory bin

 22.  Make 4th of July shirts with their handprints

23.  Create a bird feeder from peanut butter and other various ingredients
24.  Make truck footprints with Sean for his playroom

25.  Create oil and water sensory bottles with Evan filled with various sparkly things so it will look like "an ocean"
26.  Camp in the backyard one night with Sean
27.  Mix food coloring with bubbles and blow them onto paper to create some cool art
28.  Teach Sean to ride a bike
29.  Make a blanket fort
30.  Let Sean and Evan decorate cookies with frosting and sprinkles for the 4th of July
31.  Play in the sprinklers
32.  Make a "zoo passport" for Sean to cross off animals as he sees them at the zoo
33.  Make use of the scavenger hunt card I made for Sean on walks
34.  Go on a picnic at Splash Park like last summer

35.  Play in the rain
36.  Take care of the caterpillar we found last night and watch it turn into a butterfly
37.  Teach Sean to read 2 or 3 letter words
38.  Play Candy Land with Sean
39.  Go fishing
40.  Wash the cars
41.  Teach Sean some of the states in the U.S.
42.  Make snack necklaces and watch a movie
43.  Make homemade popsicles
44.  Make sun tea
45.  Get Sean to love Splash Park this summer
46.  Get him to wear his Puddle Jumpers life jacket in the pool and let go of us
47.  Play yard games like bean bag toss

And some for me...
48.  Get a deck
49.  Get some patio furniture
50.  Lay out in the sun and read on my new deck while the boys nap.  Time for me to get a tan!

50 things on the bucket list.  Think we can do it?! 

I sure hope so!  Here's to a great summer with my family!

Week 23: Mozzarella Cheese Sticks!

Why hello there, summer vacation!  I'm so glad you've finally arrived!  No more alarm clocks (my kids will be the replacement alarm clock), grading papers, frantic morning routines rushing to daycare, or sassy teenagers (just a sassy toddler instead)!  Bring it on!

I started my summer vacation off right.  A trip to the grocery store.  Yup, that's right.

And it was glorious.  I didn't have to take either of the boys.  There were hardly any other shoppers.  I could stroll down each isle and carefully choose each item.  It also helped that I had our AT&T rebate card to pay for the groceries.

I made sure to spend my time during finals carefully planning out next week's lunch and dinner menu at home full of yummy things I had pinned on Pinterest during the school year.  I can't wait to stock the freezer up with easy side dishes for Sean like his favorite broccoli patties I make and sweet potato fries!

My recipe this past week was a fail.  And I'm bummed.  It was a pin from Pinterest I've had for quite a while  and I had my hopes up that these would taste just as good as restaurant Mozzarella Cheese Sticks.  My first mistake.

It was supposed to be simple.

String cheese cut into thirds.
Milk.
Breadcrumbs.
Marinara Sauce.

The recipe claimed that you dip the cheese into milk and then coat with bread crumbs.

It looked promising.

Bake at 425 for 6-8 minutes.

Epic fail.

I'm not sure if they baked too long at too high of a temperature since the cheese completely melted.  Or, if the milk wasn't enough to keep the bread crumbs on.  I could also blame the fact I was hungover on this fail too (story to come).

Either way, they still tasted pretty good, but not what I had in mind.

Next time, I'll be trying them dipped in egg first, then with panko bread crumbs that have been toasted in a skillet, and then I'm only going to bake them for 3 minutes at that temp.

Good thing it was a quick recipe with minimal ingredients.

Anyway, these were the end to my weekend that started off pretty strong, so I can't complain too much.  Saturday morning we laid low at home since Evan was on an antibiotic for some chest congestion.  The mere threat of him needing to be hospitalized AGAIN for early pneumonia was enough for us to break our tradition of going out to eat and swimming at the Rec Center on Friday night and going to the Farmers Market on Saturday morning for muffins.

But, the consolation prize was pretty sweet.  Snuggles and play time in our jammies until we actually had to be somewhere.

Man, a whole summer of these guys.  I can't wait for it to be official tomorrow!

Sean and I left for Troy after his nap in the afternoon.  I had the New Kids On The Block concert with my friend, Kristen that evening and a play date with Sean Sunday morning at the zoo so it made sense that we stay in Troy for the night at my parents.

Kristen and I went out to dinner and headed over to the Palace for some tailgating in the parking lot while rocking out to some classic NKOTB songs.  We went to our seats and watched Boyz II Men warm up.  One of my other friends, Anna, texted me to tell me that she could get us in her company's suite on the 100 level, so we quickly rushed over there in time to see 98 degrees perform.

Open bar + full spread of delicious food + extremely close seats = me overdoing it on the drinks, but having the time of my life.  This includes an in-depth conversation with a pediatrician that I met in the suite, as well as, one of the crew members for NKOTB outside of the tour bus where I begged and pleaded he let me and my friend in to meet the band.  Let's just say I wasted 45 minutes of my life thinking I was smooth talking my way onto that bus...

Sunday morning started off a little rough, but my mom's pancakes and bacon did the trick.  Sean and I headed over to the zoo on a beautiful morning to meet a friend I've been talking to through thebump.com and now facebook since we were both pregnant with our first babies.  Her daughter Parker and Sean were born in October of 2010 and we both happened to have our second babies in September of 2012.  How crazy is that?!  Needless to say we have a lot in common and it was finally time we meet.  Sean and Parker were so cute together!

The polar bear was the best part at this zoo trip!

I'll be taking the boys to the zoo again on Friday to meet up with some friends from high school and their kids, so I'm hoping the animals are just as exciting to watch.  Not to mention it's Father's Day this upcoming weekend and I have some fun things planned for Scott (post to follow)!

Evan is 9 months!!

9 months old!

18 lbs. 12 oz.

28.5"

Well, I was going to start by saying something along the lines of "man, time needs to slow down", but I think a more fitting thing to say this month is "man, Evan needs to slow down"!  Once he figured out the whole crawling thing the middle of May, he hasn't stopped since.  One day he was crawling, the next he was pulling up to stand on everything, and now he's...wait for it...cruising on furniture and walking with the push toys.  I can't handle it!  He's seriously into and curious about everything!  I leave the room for one minute, he's suddenly right behind me when I turn around.  He sure loves to follow his mama.

It's amazing to watch these transformations.  He doesn't seem like a baby to me anymore.  He's eating table foods, trying to drink from sippy cups, entertaining himself and playing with toys, loves to be read books, and babbling away.  Although, still no "ma-ma's" from this boy.  He'll be late to say that one special word, just like his big brother.  But, that will just make it that much more exciting when he does say that, right?

We're still trying to figure out his whole MSPI issues and eczema.  His skin looked miraculous for one solid week in May.  It was when the weather was unusually warm.  Thinking back now, I can't remember if we tried to give him any dairy products during that week.  Whatever was going on was working, but now we're back to horrible rashes on his face, neck, and back.  We had started transitioning him to bottles of regular milk based formula starting last week.  Last week he had one bottle a day of milk based formula and this week we started with two.  We have yet to see blood in the stool, but his eczema flare-ups have me worried.  The more I read, the more the two are linked.  Talk of allergens like eggs and nuts being linked to severe eczema also have me worried for what's to come.

I think our best route is to take him back to the allergist when the school year is over and have them officially do a scratch or blood test to rule out the 8 most common allergens and go from there.  It's hard to plan for finger foods and meals for him when I'm not sure what he can and can't have.  And to be honest...the daily routine of lotions, ointments, body washes, etc. is becoming very cumbersome.  I can't even explain how many prescriptions and doctor appointments we've had to try and manage his eczema.  Poor thing...thank goodness for programs like Lightroom that help clear up those rashy cheeks.  He's too darn cute for all this!

On a positive note, he also sprouted two teeth this month!  He welcomed his first tooth after being awake for four hours in the middle of the night only wanting to be held.  Just when I thought we were going to be told he had another ear infection, a little tooth came through the gums.  And about 10 days later, the other bottom tooth, but with less theatrics.  Now, the drool is on full force and I'm sure he's working on his top teeth.  Look at those teeth!

He'll probably wake up in an hour or so just as I'm trying to fall asleep, so I better get to the stats for this month:

• Size 3 diapers.
• 12 month summer clothes, still fits in some 9 month stuff depending on what it is.  He's too tall for it, instead of too big.  Some 6-12 month too.
• He still takes 5 - 6 oz. bottles during the day totaling 30 ounces.
• 3 solid meals of a mixture of purees and finger foods. The kid is addicted to puffs already.
• Up once a night except for his random week of sleeping through the night.  Man, I felt like a new person.  We'll get there...I know we will.
• 2 naps: 9:30 am and 2:00pm.  I'm hoping to merge this to one nap this summer or at least his afternoon nap at the same time is Sean.  Am I crazy??  Probably...
• Bedtime has creeped more towards 7:00pm.  The crawling must be wearing him out...

Favorites:

• Finding his mommy!  Seriously, he can't get enough of me.  I love it though!
• Playing with Sean's toys.  Trouble-maker...
• Toys that he can play with while standing (the table with all the things he can play with and make music, the play kitchen, etc).
• Playing in Bailey's food and water bowls.  Ugh...I hate that phase.
• ART!  The boy loves art at school.  The pictures they send me are PRICELESS.
• Puffs!
• His hairbrush from the Body Shop.  Thanks Grandma!
• Splashing in the bath tub.
• His "boy bits" - seriously...
• Sean's blankies.  I wish this was a joke.  He loves to steal them and wave them around and make Sean mad.  
• Being outside - the bubbles, the grass, walks in the stroller, the swing.
• Being tickled.  His inner thighs and by his rib cage make him roll in laughter.  I love it!

Well, my little man is battling some chest congestion and on an antibiotic.  Hopefully it clears up in time for our trip to Toronto this month!  I'm so excited to spend the whole summer making memories with him and Sean!

 

Week 28: French Bread Pizzas!

Life has returned to summer speed.  Meaning, we aren't traveling.  We aren't over-planning.  Well, I'm trying not to at least.  Mostly, we're just trying to enjoy the simple things that summer has to offer us.  And that includes the meals I've been planning.  With us home for breakfast, lunch, and dinner I've really had to get creative with what we're eating.  And so, I've gone back to the basics.  Things like homemade chicken noodle soup for lunch, grilled cheese sandwiches, taco salad, homemade spaghettio's (I'll post this one soon!) and even french bread pizzas!

I'm always one to check out the clearance section of the bakery at Kroger each week.  Sometimes they have bread that I can turn into bread bowls for soup for less than a dollar each.  Other times they have a delicious looking coffee cake that we can eat for breakfast.  And almost every week I'm able to pick up sub buns, loaves of french bread, or even dinner rolls on clearance.  Thank God we have another freezer in the basement.  It's filled with Costco portions of meat and bread from Kroger.

So it's simple:

2 loaves of french bread
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Toppings!

Since this was made in an effort to do some freezer/fridge/pantry clean outs, we didn't have a ton of fresh produce for toppings so we stuck with pepperoni.  You can't go wrong with just cheese and pepperoni!

Baked at 350 until the cheese was melted and then put under broil for a few minutes for the pizza to brown.  Yum!  We cut it into pizza strips for Sean so that he could dip them in ranch.  Look at the habit Scott started with him...ranch on everything.  At least we had some fresh fruit we could serve with it.

This was one of our lunches last week.  Which was much needed since the boys were at daycare on Tuesday and Scott was under the weather.  And by under the weather, I mean he actually chose to drive himself to urgent care to get antibiotics.  Poor thing had strep throat.  Luckily, Nana was able to pick up the boys from daycare and take them home with her so they would be out of the house for the next 24 hours while Scott's meds kicked in.  Considering the boys seem to come down with everything under the sun illness-wise, I thought it would be best they stayed clear of this germ.

Wednesday I was busy making toddler food like apple turkey loaf and broccoli patties, doing laundry, grocery shopping, and making some important phone calls.  We're in the process of selling Scott's Dodge Charger so that we can lease a Chrysler Town and Country mini-van.  Yup, it's time.  In case birthing two children wasn't validation enough, a mini-van will officially seal the, "I'm a mom" deal.  And what better time than to consider shopping around for new auto insurance.  I'm hoping we'll have this all arranged by the time the new school year starts.  And full-time daycare starts back up again...

Thursday, Scott was feeling better and the kids had been back home since the night before.  We started our morning off by going to the Rec Center to take the boys swimming, but we didn't read the calendar right.  The pool was being used for swim classes and it was a little chilly out so the splash pad wasn't an option either.  We were able to take them to the "tree fort" at the Rec Center.  Even Evan was able to do some climbing up the tree fort and exploring.  After their afternoon naps, I figured I needed to redeem myself so, I took the boys outside to play in the pool for a while.  While it wasn't exactly the Rec Center's pools, our little whale tub did just fine.

Friday, my mom came out to go to Art in the Park in downtown Plymouth in the afternoon.  We let Sean nap at home with Scott and took Evan in the stroller.  It was fun!  I got the boys an autographed copy of the book, "M is for Mitten" (an alphabet book about Michigan) and I got the cutest sign for the hallway upstairs that I'll have to post about it when I get it hung with some pictures.  My mom took us all out to eat at Hermann's and took Sean home with her for a sleep over.

Saturday, all the fun festivities began!  My best friend, Trisha, was turning the big 30 on Sunday.  Her husband had planned a surprise birthday party for her on Sunday at their house so he put me up to the challenge of taking her out Saturday night so they could set up and keeping her out of the house all the way through Sunday at 1pm.  Considering she's 7 months pregnant, going to the bars weren't an option.  So, I convinced her to spend the night and we made a whole girl's night out of it.

We went to dinner at Chili's (bottomless chips and salsa with their strawberry lemonade, yes please!) and then went to the last video store standing: Family Video.  We rented Safe Haven, ate some chocolate, and gossiped until close to midnight (late for us mothers).  We woke up Sunday morning, headed over to Big Boy's for the breakfast buffet, and over to Wondernails in Livonia for a pedicure.  I had to stall on the way back to her house at Kroger since we would have gotten there about 15 minutes early.  She never seemed like she suspected anything, but she had to know something was up.  By the time we pulled in her driveway and she spotted the 20 cars parked in the street, she was in full-blown panic mode.  Surprises aren't quite her thing.  But, boy did her husband, MG, have quite the surprise planned for her.

He worked with a friend of his and made, from scratch, a bedroom set for their 19 month old daughter, Reese, AND a bedroom set for Trisha and MG's bedroom.  Unbelievable!  He had a whole slideshow put together showing her the process of making the pieces and then unveiled the bedrooms to her.  It was so special!

I really enjoyed spending the time with Trisha this past weekend, as it's so hard to find quality, uninterrupted time like that once we both had kids.  I think we both reminisced about high school and college and commented on how nice it was to just feel young again.  It definitely reminded us both of the importance of kid-free time!  Happy 30th birthday, Trisha!!

I couldn't wait to scoop up Evan from my mom's house and get back home to my boys.  We're off to another week filled with 4 play dates at all kinds of local spots like Greenfield Village, the zoo, the aquatic center, and the hands on museum in Ann Arbor.  So much for keeping it low key and enjoying "summer speed", right?  :)

Week 22: Smashed Red Skin Potatoes

It's amazing how a short week of work can still feel like the longest week ever when it's the end of the school year.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm grateful for a day off, but jeez...this school year needs to be over.

Scott grocery shopped last Monday.  Yes, my husband grocery shops.  And secretly, I think he likes it.  Who wouldn't?  It's a chance to escape this land of looney tunes for an hour!!  And as an amazing wife, I have my lists completely organized by the location in the store and in detail.  It doesn't get any easier than that.

That being said, it was one of those weeks where I wanted to do a pantry and fridge clean out.  You know?  Out with the old...in with the new?  I've had this pinned on my food board on Pinterest for a while now and it just so happened that I had about half a bag of red skin potatoes left.  Perfect!

An adapted recipe from Pioneer Woman, these smashed red skin potatoes were delicious!  We grilled some turkey sausage, had some fresh corn from the farmers market, and of course...watermelon!  Any meal this time of year is not complete without watermelon.  Or so my toddler thinks.

It's a very simple list of ingredients:

• 12 medium sized red potatoes
• 3 or so Tbsp of olive oil
• kosher salt
• pepper
• dried or fresh herbs (I used rosemary)

Fill a large pot with salted water. Add potatoes to the water. Be sure there is enough water to cover the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and boil until fork-tender. It should take around 15-20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 450 while they boil.  Drain water off potatoes and set aside.

Drizzle a baking sheet generously with olive oil. I would say you need at least 1½ Tbsp.  Place cooked potatoes on the baking sheet, spacing the out evenly on the sheet, 3 rows of 4 potatoes.  With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Think of making a crisscross shape on them like you do with a fork on a peanut butter cookie.  Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with the remaining olive oil. You can use more if needed.  Sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and herbs.  Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

I had a slight problem with the potato masher part.  I don't know if I pushed down too hard, but some of the potato stuck in the masher and basically split the potato into a billion little pieces.  I mushed it back together with my hands, but as you can see in this picture here, mine aren't quite as pretty as the original blog.  Maybe I'll use a fork next time?  Either way, they still came out great and I love that by simply changing the herb, you can change the entire flavor of them.

A simple meal for a challenging week.

Seniors were taking their finals at school and most of my classes were taking their last chapter test = lots of grading!!

Sean came down with some weird bug that left him with a low grade fever (still questionable since they've changed their definition of a fever?) and no appetite.  I ended up bailing on my 3rd hour on Friday to come and pick him up from daycare since he was laying on the floor on pillows in his room trying to sleep at 10am.  And doctor's visit confirmed he had a mystery virus.  We skipped our dinner out and pool on Friday so Sean could stay home and rest.  Poor guy...

Saturday, we headed out to Troy to celebrate with our friends who recently got engaged.  See Sunday night's post for more details!  It was great to see good friends and eat and drink at two of our old stomping grounds in Clawson.

Sunday, by the time we got home, we just ended up lounging around and playing with the boys.  A pretty low key end to an eventful week.  

Considering it's Tuesday already of the last full week of school, I can safely say this week isn't off to a smoother start.  Sean still has no appetite and has no resorted to epic meltdowns at dinner time.  Evan is clingy mcclingerton (that's an official word).  I hope he's cutting his top teeth and doesn't have another ear infection.  We'll find out Thursday at his 9 month well-visit - post to follow!  

Here's hoping this week turns around...

If that smile doesn't do it, I don't know what will??

Sunday night ramblings...

I'm sitting here typing this feeling completely elated.  Our good friends, Kristen and Jeff got engaged last weekend while in Niagra Falls.  These are two people that we've both known for a long time.  Kristen and I went to high school together, two years apart, and met while working in Kid's Shoes at Nordstrom on our summers home from college.

Jeff and Scott went to the same high school as Kristen and I, but became close in college when they lived in the same dorm and then the following year, the same house.

Here's the crazy part.

They met at our wedding in 2009.  Jeff was a groomsman and Kristen was a bridesmaid and I paired them up to walk down the isle together.

Jeff was at the final stages of his divorce from his first marriage and Kristen had brought a date with her to the wedding.  Jeff's ex-wife was at the wedding and Kristen's date was my maid of honor's brother.  But, none of that mattered.  They met.  They hit it off.  They danced the night away.  And four years and some change later, Jeff proposed to Kristen.

It's an absolutely beautiful story.  And one I'm quite proud to have played a part in.

It got me thinking...

When one door closes, another one opens.

Timing in life is everything.

Love has no boundaries.

Scott and I met up with Kristen and Jeff this past Saturday to celebrate with them.  We couldn't be more happy for them!  They've both been such good friends to us over the years and are truly some of our closest friends who, despite us moving out here and having two little kids with little free time, have stuck by our sides through it all.

In all of this excitement, they asked the both of us to stand up in their wedding.

They also asked Sean to be their ring bearer.  I can't wait to see the little guy in a tux!

As they are working on the details of their wedding, they are hoping to book their wedding at Cherry Creek, the same venue we got married at, since it would be where they first met.

They're also looking into January 4th as a date.  We were married on January 24th.

This year will be our 5th wedding anniversary and the possibility of Scott and I walking down the isle again together in Kristen and Jeff's wedding, with one of our boys right in front of us at the very place where we said "I do" just seems so cosmic!  Like all the stars aligned on this one.

I'm excited to be a part of their special day and I can't wait for all the festivities to begin!  I hope they enjoy this romantic time in their lives!  May they live happily ever after!