Our Weekend

Our weekends tend to be centered around children these days. Jeff and I don't mind too much because we are completely and utterly in love with our real and "adopted" nieces and nephews. I say adopted because "3rd cousin once removed" just doesn't have the same ring as "aunt." haha We are as close to these kids if not closer than most aunts and uncles anyway. Friday I heard that Kelly was in town for the day with Nolan. Well I haven't seen that little stinker since what I call the "shaping of his life" babysitting I did MONTHS ago. I got off work early and headed over to Matt and Stephanie's house to see almost all the little Gessner grandchildren. Eli never had must interest in me until Friday. He hung on me the whole time. I had NO complaints about that at all... Just look at this little face! Nolan is one awesome kid. I busted up laughing more than once at his cute little faces he makes. Kelly said he wasn't feeling the best, but that sure didn't stop him from showing us his awesome walking moves. Stephanie calls him the pirate because he walks like he has a peg leg. It is a must see walk for sure!!

Owen has such a great big brother attitude these days. He is beyond precious and you can tell how good of a helper he is with his little cousin and all the other kids. Nolan would run his toy into the wall and before you knew it, Owen was there turning him around so he could walk across the floor again.

After we left there, Jeff and I went to Greg and Mariah's house. Jeff's parents were in town so we spent a lot of time with them and Davis this weekend. Once again, you don't hear ANY complaints from us having to hang out with another baby! =) On Saturday we had a birthday party for the recent birthdays. Jeff, Davis, Myself and Nancy all have birthdays in March and April.

The youngest was supposed to blow out the candles, but Davis decided to take a nap, so we had the oldest blow them out.

You may be thinking... Now Sherman didn't get any love this weekend. You couldn't be more wrong! Don had the Sherman lovin taken care of. That dog just melts when he sees his Grandpa Mueller. I honestly think he is the dog whisperer!

Davis had his first big outing at our house on Saturday! Here are a couple of pictures of the big event! =)

All in all a good weekend. We are headed for a 1st birthday party this weekend for Ethan! His birthday is actually today. Jeff and I can't BELIEVE that child is already 1. It is mind blowing.

And then there were seven!

Today Jeff and I added number 7 to our list of nieces and nephews!! Davis Reid was born this morning at about 10:30.
I was just waiting all morning by the phone to find out if it was a boy or girl. If there is one thing that Jeff and I have in common, it's our absolute love for our nieces and nephews. I have talked to Mariah for the past couple of months how she just HAD to have a girl because 8 people (that's right 8) we love last year had boys. Deep in my heart, I had no preferance of boy or girl. In all reality, Jeff and I already had 4 nieces and only 2 nephews. Adding one more nephew just fit perfectly into our family!

We got to visit the newest family in Hendricks tonight.
The second we got in there I was in love. Honestly, I fell in love with that little monkey the first picture I saw. Just look at that little cheek action going on. He is precious!

Mariah asked if we wanted to hold him. Being nice I asked Jeff if he wanted to, but he totally knew I was DYING to put that little guy in my arms. I am pretty sure he already loves me more. hehe

Here is proud uncle Jeff with Davis. He slept the whole time, we were there.

I couldn't get enough pictures of him.

Just before we left I snapped one more picture for aunt Christy. Davis waived bye bye to us. He is already so advanced!!

Needless to say Uncle Jeff and Aunt Janelle are stoked to have a nephew born today. Not to mention celebrating Jack's birthday today as well. These two little guys share a birthday! If I do this much bragging about my nieces and nephews, can you imagine how we are going to be with our children!?!? haha

A Double Date

Last night Jeff and I had a double date with Joe and Amanda. It was a different kind of date being they live in Florida. Amanda and I arranged to have a game night via Skype. I must confess, I was looking forward to it all week! First of all we really love hanging out with these two. Second, how fun is getting to play games with people hours away from you.

Joe and Amanda sent us a text after they put Ethan to bed saying they were ready to Skype. We call them and this is what we see...
Mikey and Minnie were waving at us! hahaha

Then we got down to business.

In between games, Joe wanted to show us what he got E on his recent trip.

and then we got an AWESOME puppet show!

We played Scattergories for about an hour and a half. I was in heaven because that is my all time favorite game!

Hmmmmm what should we write down?

Having video chat really makes it a lot easier to keep in touch with people who live farther away. We have been really getting into it lately.

After we got off the date last night Jeff and I were talking about how much fun we had with them. I was super jealous that they were able to wear shorts! Oh how I miss that weather. I can't tell you how many times this Winter Jeff has mumbled, "When are we moving to Florida?" Watch out Joe and Amanda, you may have some neighbors soon! haha

We can't wait for our next video double date!

Friends

In case you can't tell... That is our little black dog on that dark brown pillow. Sherman LOVES Cooper and Cooper doesn't know what to think.

Coming up for air.

Lots have been going on around here! The days are getting longer and the sun is shining. I have been getting the spring fever and haven't even had a chance to sit down and blog! Here are some random pictures of things that have been happening.

I got to meet Amanda's baby Oliver! I am super excited that we were randomly put together has roommates our freshman year of college. Ollie slept the whole time. I had the magic touch I guess. hehe
I also got him this little shirt. Long story short, Amanda and I call each other hussy and any boy who can grow chops (side burns) is called a dandy. This is the closest thing I could find. It is going to be awhile before he can fit in it though.

This weekend we went to mom and dad's house. Sherman is really interested in being friends with my parent's dog Rusty, but Rusty has a bad attitude about it. The dogs are either barking at each other or ignoring each other. I have tried many times to get a pictures of them together but that never happens! We were playing games on Saturday and I said, "Where is our dog?" I go to the living room and see this!

I guess they made friends for the moment. There were too many good soft pillows and blankets to pass up!

Sunday we went to Scott and Caroline's to celebrate Lily and Sofie's birthdays. (*side note. Between February 27-March 16 Jeff and I have 4 nieces and nephews birthdays, Jeff's birthday and one more niece or nephew to come at the end of this month. LOTS of partying for us! hehe) I can't believe I am saying this but Lily is 9 and Sofie will be 7 this week. 9 AND 7! I just can't believe it. I thought this picture was super cute of them.

Here are the girls with their birthday gifts.

Meanwhile, Sherman and his best friend Cosmo played and played and played. Sherman was so covered in slobber that he got a bath the second we got home last night.

I will be putting this picture in a frame for sure! Comso is by far Sherman's best doggie friend =)

I have saved the best picture for last. Last night I was looking through my old pictures and I found this.

I wonder if Caroline knows... hehe It made me smile for sure.

Have a great week!

You're Late... and Smell

So it happened. Our dog, who is a total flight risk, ran away. Don't worry, this story has a happy ending, although, I was ready to see him run for the hills after what he put me through.

We rescued Sherman. The rescue farm had found him wandering around town. We already knew he was a flight risk. I got gutsy with him. Jeff was reluctant, but when the snow kept falling and Sherman kept just staying in our yard, Jeff was on the wagon too! The snow has since melted, the rabbits are still living under our deck and there are MANY fresh smells for a dog.

I was right on time for work. Sherman went to the door this morning instead of his cage so I let him out. He sniffed around the deck like usual. Then he went over to Louis' (our neighbor) yard. We know him, so I followed through the back yard yelling his name. Sherman sniffs, trots along and doesn't come near me. Off to the next neighbor's house.

I have no idea who they are.... I go through their yard. Sherman hops along and decides he would rather see the front of everyone's house. I follow.

Sherman spots a young doggie lad across the street and doesn't want to be rude. He goes over to say hello. I follow.

Sherman realizes he had to go to the bathroom. He goes to a nearby lot to relieve himself. I follow.

The dog is super pumped to see Sherman, so he goes back over to have a conversation. I feel bad at this point for going through everyone's yard like an intrusive cat. I had Jeff on the phone and in a panic asked what I should do. I couldn't go through one more yard. The neighbor is outside and yells for me that I can come get Sherman. I walk in yet another yard.

She is holding him until I get there. I state that he will forever be on a leash from this point on. I pick him up and hold him against my bright white shirt and walk through the piles of doggie doo in my black and white striped zebra shoes.

I remove the shoes when I walk around to the back of our house, still carrying Sherman.

I put him in his cage, change my shoes and suddenly I am 20 min. late for work. Too bad I don't drink coffee. If I did, I would be making it Irish this morning.

The verdict is still out whether the shoes will make it through this tragedy. The life of a dog owner is never boring.

Have You Been Shopping on Etsy?

The answer to that question is yes, but not recently. If you aren't familiar with etsy.com then I suggest after reading this blog you mosey on over there. WARNING... You will be there awhile!

Below are the results of bad weather and an antsy girl! Only one of the projects was planned.
Last week I was snowed in for 2 days. Every time I went outside I would fall. (Serious.. it hurt) So, since I was on temporary house arrest because of old man winter, I decided to do some crafts. This one took me about 15 min. The cost: $0.00. I already had all the supplies.
The are just little paper roses. Which, even if you don't have a craft mind. You can do this craft. If you are interested message me and I would be happy to give you directions. Which is like 2. ha! Lily, my soon to be 9 year old niece, made these ALL WEEKEND!

We collect box tops for education for our nephew Jack. We keep them in an old cashew container. I was really tired of staring at it, so I jazzed it up.

I tried to make it look like an actual box top. This project also cost me $0.00. It took me about an hour, but no cost! haha

Because of a co-worker, I have been using Stumbleupon lately. This is probably one of the greatest inventions since the Internet. Basically you put in your likes and hit the "stumble" button and it takes you to a random website based on your likes. When you are tired of that one, you "stumble" again. I have gotten a TON of great websites from there. Below is actually a product of stumbleupon.

Jeff and I have been planning out our week of dinner on Sunday evening. We have found in doing this we go out less because we know what we are making. All I did was buy a picture frame, some stickers and a dry erase marker. A nice addition to our kitchen and a fun place to write our dinner plans. This picture is actually our dinner for this week. Thursday I have a date with Jodi, so Jeff gets leftovers! haha Total cost of this project: $3.00

Caroline and the girls came up for the weekend. We ALWAYS have fun when they come. Caroline and I were busy making the boutonnieres for the wedding. (Picture in a min.) While we did that, I bought canvases for Lily and Sofie to paint with the colors I use in my kitchen. Lily's is on the left. Something super cute about these is yesterday when I was hanging them up, I noticed that Sofie put a small hand print on hers. You can't see it in the picture though.

total cost: $10.00. (I had paint, but decided to buy washable paint. good thing because we found some on Jeff's shoes later.)

Also on Stumbleupon, I saw this cute tutorial for floral headbands. Once again a superduper easy project. Each headband took about 10 min. Serious. I made one for me and the girls. Caroline requested a button so I did! Say hello to our accessories for Valentines Day!

Sofie sporting hers. Please be mindful that we spent the whole day in our PJ's working on the big project. This is why our hair is crazy!

I took an up close and personal picture of mine so you can see the detail. Total cost of this project: $5.00

Finally, the pride and joy of our crafting extravaganza! I saw in a Bridal Magazine how someone did button boutonnieres (by the way, this is the hardest word to spell. The person who invented these should be kicked in the shins for the awful name.) If you know me, I LOOOVE buttons and polka dots. Caroline makes a lot of jewelry so I told her my idea and she said she could totally do that. The ones I saw were cool, but not AWESOME. I did some research and found pieces from three different ones I saw and we put them all together.

Our table was full of buttons.

I was most excited about this organizing thing I bought for all my buttons. I am so lame!

My colors for the wedding are black and white. The color comes in with the girls' shoes. Each girl has to pick a different color shoe. So technically I don't have a specific color, which I never thought I would love as much as I do. I don't have to stress at all if it is the correct green or not.

Here is Jeff's on his suit. His is yellow, not because of my shoes (mine are blue) but for a different reason you will have to see the day of the wedding!

Here is a picture of all the boutonnieres together. Aren't they awesome?!?! I can't stop staring at them.

The one on the top left is Lily's She was upset we didn't use any of her creations so Jeff agreed to wear that one on our rehearsal night.

Total cost for each one came to about $6.00. This is a $4.00 savings from what the florist quoted me to use real flowers. I chalk that up as a success!

Everyone we made we would say... "ooh this is my favorite!" Honestly.. I can't choose. They are all so unique in their own way. I can't WAIT to see how snazy all our men look in these on our wedding day! I am, as Caroline puts it, "PUMPED!"

No, I haven't bought these things off Etsy, but Caroline and I joked that we should start a shop. No thanks, then it is work and not fun!