Dallas Trip

We went to Dallas for Dan's sister Becca's wedding! There are going to be a lot of pictures and explanations....just a fair warning!




Opa with his two great grandchildren



Oma and Pierce!

First I have to say a great big shout out of THANKS! My grandparents came out to help us...and boy what a MAJOR help they were! As many of you know (and if you don't know can imagine) young children and weddings do not especially mix. Sitting still in a quiet church is just asking for trouble...for even the best 19 and 2 month olds :) Dan and I were both in the wedding so we needed someone who could tag along and be our "nanny" for the weekend. We asked my Oma and Opa and they graciously accepted! They rode down to Dallas with us and stayed next door in the hotel. They helped so much! There were several times when I had to leave both of my children screaming with them...and they just smiled and said, "have fun". And because of their amazing help....WE DID! THANK YOU!!!!!!




The front part of our car on the way out to Dallas!



Saffryn and I sat in the far back together!

We left Thursday evening after dinner thinking the children might sleep the whole trip. Well Pierce did..almost..LOL! Saffryn stayed up and played for most of the trip. Right outside of Dallas Dan got pulled over for speeding. When we stopped the car Pierce started crying, which woke Saffryn up and she started to get upset. Dan was trying to find everything and the cop just looked at us and said, "I'm just going to give you a warning." Pierce totally saved the day...LOL!!! Got into the hotel at 1:30 am...phew!

Friday the girls had a bridal brunch! It was so beautiful and fun for us bridesmaids to get to meet each other and/or say hello! Both mothers were there as well as grandmothers! It was so fun!




The beautiful table and bride to be going around introducing everyone!



A close-up of the flowers!

Last picture of all 4 Mahoney girls...now one is a Tochman! :)

Then we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner to go to. The plan was for Saffryn to be the flower girl and whatever happened happened. Well.....even that laid back of a plan didn't work. She was ALL over the place...and when she wasn't all over the place she was crying because she wanted to be all over the place. LOL! It was pretty crazy. After that we went to the dinner and ended up having to leave really early because both of our children were screaming at the top of their lungs...(at least it felt like it to us)! Oh man was that crazy....

Dan's parents and sister were so AMAZING! They could not have been more understanding and let us make the call for her to not come to the ceremony after all. Dan and I both felt like she just wasn't ready and couldn't handle it after seeing the rehearsal. I don't know if there ever existed a more peaceful and easy going bride. THANK YOU BECCA!

Saturday...wedding day! We spent the day getting ready. Becca was stunning! The ceremony beautiful and touching! Dan's parents really did a wonderful job putting this wedding together. It was the perfect blend of elegant and fun, solemn and celebratory! Saffryn got to join us for the reception. She LOVED the dancing! It was so cute!

The most BEAUTIFUL bride!

Daddy and his daughter!



A little blurry but so sweet of them together!




"Are we all good?"



LOVED the dress!!!



The bride and groom got to travel in style!




Becca getting ready to head to the ceremony!




Dan and I getting ready to go to the ceremony!




Dan and Saffryn at the reception! Yummy food :)



The head table!



The dance floor!




I thought this was so cute! She had her own name plate!!!!!!!




Abbie giving her amazing toast to the bride and groom....had everyone in tears! GREAT JOB!




Cutting the cake!




The bride and Saffryn (oh toddlers...never looking at the camera smiling)!



Saffryn dancing with her daddy! So sweet

Then Sunday was our drive home...after an awesome family brunch! It was so fun getting to see Dan's family and family friends at the wedding! There were a few crazy parts (traveling with young children will do that to you), but so worth it! We also got some awesome bonding time with my grandparents! Both of my children enjoyed spending so much time with them!

Told you it was going to be long :)

Look who...

Look who has come out to play!!!!




To say I am excited is a bit of an understatement! While growing up my sister and I played with dolls and barbies extensively! And I L-O-V-E-D every second of it!!! I honestly think my sister outgrew playing with them before I did....and she is several years younger than me...haha! So when I found out I was having a girl I started dreaming of the day we could play dolls and barbies together. Little did I know it would come so quickly!!!

Saffryn is only 19 months old and is interested...hip hip hooray! :)

Now to be fair it is VERY basic play still. She mostly wants to dress the dolls (with my help) and put them in and out of their cars and drive it around. But I love getting to play with her....lets be honest...she will probably outgrow playing with them before I do!

I LOVE MY DAUGHTER!

Gymnastics

I am so far behind in blogging that I am just picking a subject and going with it! Here we go...GYMNASTICS!

So I really want Saffryn to have some exposure to other children and structured activities without actually going to a childcare setting full time. I have found a couple of activities that fit that criteria. One of them is our story time at the library and the other is gymnastics! There is a chain of gymnastic places around the country called MY GYM.

I heard about it from one of my new mom friends at story time and was so excited to try it out and see if it would be a good fit for us! I was SO happy with what I found. The teacher is amazing!!!! Saffryn is so shy especially when first going somewhere. The teacher was so patient and let Saffryn do things at her comfort level while at the same time encouraging her to try new things! There are so many things for Saffryn to climb on, jump on, roll, hang, spin, run...you name it!!!! I also really love the structure. There are times of free play that the kids just go to whatever suits their fancy, but there are times when they are asked to sit in a circle for about 5 minutes to sing songs and listen to the teacher. Great practice for preschool and kindergarten! Also they are willing to let me bring Pierce with us. He sometimes gets fussy and they are so okay with that!

So after our first (free by the way) trial class I think both Saffryn and I were sold! We decided to make it a part of our schedule and come once a week!  We have been to a few classes now and at first she was super shy and didnt know the rules but now she is such a pro! She goes to the circle right away and stays till its over. She is so adventurous now and tries new activities! I have to drag her away!!!! We are both so glad I found this place! It will be fun for Pierce when he gets a little older, too! Here are some pictures of a few different times of her playing!



Saffryn having fun at Gymnastics!




Saffryn getting brave and climbing everything!





A picture of the climbing structures!



Ramps and stairs!



so much to do and see!




look at all those 'big balls" as Saffryn calls them!




Climbing up this neat ladder!




Sweet baby!




Pierce relaxing on the floor watching the kids play!



hmm...what is over this wall????



Look at all those balls...a girls dream come true! :)




The music scared him...poor baby!




Showing the teacher the animals she found in the tent!



A new swing to try! So fun!

We love GYMNASTICS!!!! YAY! :)

late

shame. on. me! I have not done a good job of keeping this up at all. I know, I know I have two kids...but this is one way for me to share and store memories and if I don't keep it up I may forget sweet sayings, activities, pictures and milestones we go through!

so the last few weeks we have been sick. yes ALL of us, even baby Pierce! it was not fun to see my little 4 week old get so sick. he had a fever and lots of congestion. the dr. said it was only an upper respitory infection and all we could do is wait it out. I got the same thing and lost my voice. let me tell you it is a big challange taking care of a toddler without a voice. however we are all finally healthy!

in other news Pierce is already 6 weeks old! holy cow!!!! don't worry I haven't forgotten his monthly photos just haven't blogged about it yet. it will come though. he is a really really sweet boy! he is super chunk however..LOL! he is wearing 3 month clothing already...but more on all that in the next post!

we are finally all adjusted to having another member of our family. there were several rough weeks. Saffryn started acting out and really craved my attention. I was tired (newborns will do that to you) and snippy and those things combined just made for some really long and discouraging days. but I feel like we are have gotten the hang of things! I feel like I have my sweet little girl back! she is doing great! also Pierce is sleeping 5-7hr stretches which gives me more patience to handle the juggling act!

Is having two as hard as every one says....yup. Is it as wonderful as everyone says...YUP!!!! this is so cliche but really it feels like Pierce has always been here.

so anyway more posts to come. but that is a bit on what has been happening around here!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.5

Painting revisited

We tried painting again! This time it was much more successful and super duper fun! We made a big mess...oops! But at least we had fun doing it :)



She was so excited to start painting!




Such a good painter!




So interested in painting!




Finally got her to look at the camera! :)




Of course it progressed into finger painting!



So focused on her painting!

We love art projects!!!!

life with 2

What does life with two look like????


Sometimes life with two looks like this:



Poor baby!



Poor baby #2

Sometimes it looks like this:

Who is the real dog???? hehe!

A lot of times life with two looks like this:

Sink full of dirty dishes...among other messy places in my house!

Shopping with two children looks like this:




At Walmart picking up a few things!


Sometimes life with two babies looks like this:



Fun times with Momma!!!



fun times with Momma!

But the absolute best part of life with two is:



My two loves!!!!



My two loves!

There you have it! My life summed up with 2 children!!!! :)

Seattle Visitor

My dad (grandpa Darren) came to visit us for the weekend from Seattle! We had a blast! :-) We had really nice weather and did some fun things!

Saturday afternoon we spent a lot of time outside! Saffryn got in her swimsuit and played in her water table and also helped us wash our cars! She was a big help :) Grandpa Darren helped watch Pierce and play with Saffryn.



Grandpa Darren and baby Pierce!




Daddy filling her water table to play with while we got ready to wash the cars!



Playing with her water table while we got ready to wash the cars!

Grandpa Darren bonding with our newest family member!



little Pierce!




A bucket full of water and bubbles...could life get any better??? LOL!!!



Grandpa Darren relaxing with little Pierce!



Helping daddy!



We had to stop and have a Popsicle break...yum!

We grilled pork chops and had corn on the cob and pasta salad for dinner! It really felt like a summer day...except for all the wind!

On Sunday we spent some time at the zoo! It was fun watching Saffryn run around like a crazy baby..hahah :)

Looking around with Grandpa Darren.

My Dad had to leave Sunday night. We loved having him come out and felt very special that he took a weekend to meet Pierce and reconnect with Saffryn. Looking forward to seeing him again!!! Love you Dad!