a baby shower

Sam, Ali & my mom put together a delightful baby shower for me last week.  It was full of wonderful friends, delicious food, fabulous décor & fun. {I wish I would have snapped more photos of the wonderful people who came!}

When you have a baby that is a new gender, it’s amazing how much you don’t have.  Even though we have all of the baby basics it was so fun to get lots of girl stuff for our little lady.  I was SPOILED.  Friends and family were so generous and thoughtful – can’t wait for her to get here!

This little girl is very lucky to have two fabulous aunts that live around the corner.  They both put together the most generous gifts full of fun girl stuff – I am glad my kids know them well.

And my mom is wonderful . . . she hosted the event and is always so thoughtful with her grandkids.

It was a wonderful evening!

{Sam and I had a running joke for a few weeks leading up to the shower.  Most of the time, especially during the summer, people are busy and a handful can’t make it.  Sam only got 1-2 no RSVPs!  It was pretty funny – everyone just kept saying yes!}

Nate’s first day of Kindergarten

Nate’s first day of Kindergarten was a much awaited day.  He’s been asking about it for a very long time and the first day did not disappoint.

We met his teacher, Ms. Maclean, on Friday night at the Bartlett open house.  She’s perfect.  She’s got 20 years experience of teaching at Bartlett and this is her second year teaching all-day Kindergarten and she says it’s the best.  She’s super nice and kind but also makes sure rules and order exist in her class.  A perfect combination in a teacher if you ask me.  A funny thing to remember about this night is we had been playing at a splash park for a lot of the day so Nate needed to take a shower.  He showered, got out & put on a very nice outfit to meet his teacher and did his hair.  Like I said, he was pretty excited about anything Kindergarten!

I explained to Nate over the weekend that now that he was a big Kindergartener he needed to get up, make his bed, have breakfast and get completely ready to leave before we watch TV or play with anything. {This was a must to ensure a somewhat peaceful morning!}  He woke up earlier than usual on Monday and went right downstairs.  When I saw his door open I peeked in there only to find a completely clean room and made bed.  Love this boy.

He was very excited to get his lunch packed & in his backpack.  He got completely ready & then asked about every 2 minutes if it was time to leave yet.  Wes, Ryan & I took him to school early so he could play on the Kindergarten playground for a bit before school.  He had his backpack, big ol’ bag of supplies and a little gift for his teacher and he walked through the gates and didn’t look back. 

When Ryan and I went back to get him at 3:21pm, he came out of his classroom beaming with a huge grin.  I asked him how it went and he said . . . “I loved it!”

It’s going to be a good year.

{Of course Ryan had to get in on some first day photos, too}.

10 years

On August 16th . . . Wes and I have officially been married for TEN years.

Craziness.

We went on a simple date that night . . . dinner at Maggiano’s, an Italian restaurant down on the strip that I had never been to & we stopped for dessert on the way home.  It was a nice evening out to celebrate.

I can’t believe that 10 years have already gone by.  It’s been a great journey & look forward to many more years to come! 

THEN & NOW

Our little lady in 3D

It’s always fun to see your baby while you’re pregnant.  My doctor doesn’t do a ton of ultrasounds (especially without maternity insurance) so when I saw a cheap Groupon for a 3D ultrasound, I snagged it.

I really wanted a confirmation that we were in fact having a girl.  I’m used to seeing boys on the screen and it’s always super obvious it’s a boy. 

So Wes and I took the boys to the ultrasound and it was pretty fun.  The 3D thing usually is a little creepy to me but we had fun!  The ultrasound tech knew I was looking for a gender confirmation and it only took her about 2 seconds to be able to confirm GIRL.

Ryan was absolutely hilarious while we were in there.  He was well-behaved but just as quirky as he can be.  The ultrasound lady thought he was so funny and kept mentioning that our little girl was going to have fun with her big brother.

She is constantly moving in my belly so it was hard to get her to hold still enough to get a good look.  And she was eating her hands the entire time.  But we were able to snap a few of her little face and chubby cheeks.  I think she looks like Ryan.

We’re excited to meet her.

Nate’s 6th Birthday

{all photos courtesy of Aunt Sam}

Naters turned 6 on August 6th!  Can’t believe this rascal is getting so big.

We had a fun day.  Nate & I dropped Ryan off at his little co-op playgroup and we headed to my parent’s for party set-up.  I totally put Nate to work for his own party and he was super helpful!  We had time for a quick birthday lunch date at Port of Subs before we had to grab Ryan and head back to Grandma’s for his birthday party.

His party turned out well – it was another pool party in Grandma and Grandpa Marz’s backyard. 

We swam, had snow cones and fruit, sang happy birthday, opened presents and the biggest hit was the slip-n-slide!  The kids had a great time.  A successful, low-key party for Naters.  There’s NO way I could have pulled it off without my mom and sister’s help.  They were rock-stars willing to do absolutely anything.  As always.

After the party, we took Nate to Metro Pizza for a birthday dinner and then met my family back at my house for ice cream cake and family presents.

Nate had a great 6th birthday. 

Date Nights with Nate & Ryan

On Wednesday night, Kiley called me laughing to ask me a question.  She asked if Nate and I wanted to join Kiley and Hadley at the One Direction concert on Friday night at Mandalay Bay.  Her cousin gave her 4 tickets and we decided it would be a fun outing.  And it was!

We took Nate & Hadley to California Pizza Kitchen to celebrate their 6th birthdays.  They each brought a birthday present for each other and thought it was so cool they each got a present.  They also loved their birthday sundaes.  Kids had a great time together and I always enjoy time with Kiley!

Off to the concert we went.  We had floor seats!   While floor seats are great, it was a little loud for Hadley.  Not only are concerts just loud but adding in the extreme girl fan screams right around us and it wasn’t her favorite outing.  They do put on a good concert, though!  Nate really liked it.  Once the grouchy bouncer told the kids they couldn’t stand on the seats I was happy to leave early because holding an almost-6-year old with a belly like mine is not comfortable!  We picked up treats on our way out and went home.  Fabulous night with our friends!

Ryan filled up his good behavior jar and earned an extra fabulous night out with dad.  They went to the putting green, Chipotle with Aunt Sam, Chuckee Cheese & an ice cream cone.  Dad’s sure know how to go overboard, that’s for sure.  Ryan loved it.

We heart date nights with our boys.