Volleyball, vests and visits!

We had a wonderful weekend that involved the perfect mix of productivity, family time, and a parents night out.  We kicked it off on Friday night with the USD volleyball game with my dad. {My mom was in Colorado visiting my sister Jen and her husband Ryan and their sweet new baby Emarie.} One of my favorite things about living in a college town is access to so many games! We got into volleyball last year when the team was phenomenal so we'll likely get season tickets this year because they are a blast to watch! Duke flirted with some other fans when he saw they had chocolate wrappers in their cup holder and volunteered to clean the chairs and floors when he got bored watching the game. He also tried to wash his brother's birth mark off...

We got home late on Friday after a Coyote win and everyone had super late bedtimes. Thankfully this meant we all slept way in on Saturday morning after Dennis headed to work. Duke helped me organize clothes as we swapped out sizes for Theo {he's a giant so I'm getting everything out from 9-12 mos} and we did laundry and played until Dennis got off work around 1:30. Duke found a new vest in one of the loads of laundry and insisted on wearing it all morning. 

We packed an overnight bag for the boys, got our cowboy boots on, and headed out to drop the boys at my parents house. We met up with my sister Michelle and her husband Kyle and headed to Sioux Falls for Garth Brooks! 

We got to see him in concert 2.5 years ago when we lived in Denver and I was pregnant with Duke. He is so awesome in concert and he played for hours! His opener was also great and I need to go look up his name and download some music.  We had a yummy early dinner before the show and maybe made a shameless Taco Bell run after the show because it has been about 7 hours since dinner and we were starving! Plus, something needed to soak up the beers in my belly. 

While we were in Sioux Falls, my mom and sister Jen were surprising my dad and all the kids with her arrival and, most importantly, baby Emarie's first trip to the farm! She decided to make the trip back at the last minute and they'll get to spend the week here which will be awesome. We will miss them when we head to Colorado Wednesday night but we'll get in a lot more time with them this way!  We headed out to see them Sunday morning after a gloriously slow morning after a rare night with no kiddos. Next time they stay at my parents, I'm opting for a full brunch before we pick them up 😉 

We hung out and swapped babies around all day before taking in an early dinner and a fun tour of my sisters new river house. Next summer is going to be ah-maze-ing!  Duke was being a less than stellar dinner companion so I took him outside and put him to work cleaning my car...

After we got home, it was time for baths for all 3 of our littles, bedtime for the babies and ice cream for us. Wins all around! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! We are looking forward to a short work week before we take off for Colorado and get ready to see Dennis' little brother get married! 

-T-

Friday Favorites | All The Things

Happy Friday! Happy September! Happy Labor Day Weekend! Today is the 1st of the month and you all should know by now that's one of my very favorite days! Combine that with a Friday and a 3-day weekend and I'm elated.  I wanted to pop on today with a few fun things going on in our world these days.

Last weekend we got a sitter and went to Sioux City to celebrate my sister's birthday with dinner and the Alanis Morissette concert! It was amazing and we all had a fantastic night out.

This weekend will be a fun one too!  Dennis' mom and stepdad are currently driving from Denver to come visit us for the weekend! We are so excited to see them and hope to cram a lot of fun quality time activities into this weekend.  Pool time,  a golf outing, and possibly sneaking over to Sioux City for an art festival all seem like doable options.  We'll probably grill out at my parents on Sunday night and I plan on trying to take advantage of the extra hands on deck to sneak out on some solo errands and get our house in order.

Speaking of order...

We hope to have found our dream college student housekeeping helper.  Dennis and I met with a lovely girl this week that seems eager to help us keep our lives together. :) Please wish us luck because this could be a game changer for my sanity which should have a positive impact on the world. Ha!

I'd love to blame the constant chaos we live in on the two youngest members of our family and while that's not totally fair, a certain someone takes the cake for creating chaos.  Duke is in a super fun stage of throwing any clothes he can find over the upstairs banister and onto the stairs. If we have to spend more than 10 minutes upstairs with him out of the confines of his crib, we can plan on finding 47 toys in the bathtub, clothes everywhere because what's the point of dresser drawers, all of Theo's pacifiers taken and hidden in various rooms, a random cup of water dumped all over the floor AND more often than not, everything smells like whatever body spray he found and sprayed all over the floor and himself. I sort of wish I was joking...

D-man is now 22 months old. So close to 2 I could cry.  He is growing up fast and thankfully still sweet as pie. The other morning I walked into his bedroom to find all 4 of his stuffed animals wrapped in blankets and napping in each corner of his crib while he sat in the middle and sang to them. Dennis said his newest nighttime routine is lifting up his shirt and trying to nurse them before he goes to sleep. hahahahahaha  He is so observant and definitely fascinated by this whole breastfeeding business.  The love and sheer obsession with his baby brother is growing by the day.

Theo, 5 months old(!), loves chewing on his toes, being tickled, peekaboo (Or Theoboo as my niece calls it), grabbing fistfuls of hair, spitting up on my work clothes, and snuggling.  He's been wiped out after daycare these days after watching and playing with all of the big kids and usually won't even eat before he crashes on my shoulder for a good snooze.  Nursing is still going really well and he takes a bottle like a champ.  I'm trying to wean him off of night feedings again because I think he's back in the routine phase of it versus really needing the extra feedings so here's to hoping we get a full night sleep again in the near future.  He and I are taking off a week from today to finally meet my niece Emarie!

September will include 2 Colorado trips, 2 events for my awesome R+F business, a Garth Brooks concert, and a ton of activities at work, including hopefully moving in to our newly renovated office! At least we won't get bored...

Hope you all have an amazing day!

-T-