Union Station/Photo Op

While visiting family for Thanksgiving I took a little time out to take some pictures of my sis and her adorable family. But now I understand why real photographers charge so much...it is a lot of work to get a 3 year old boy to sit still and smile ;) I think its about time I take a photography class so I can capture what I want better. I just loved the place we went to take them and couldn't resist posting a few of the beautiful family and decorations that adorn Union Station in KC.

Cute family

 Sweet mother daughter moment

 I told them to stand in front of the tree and smile...looks like a little dancing was in order

 Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary sis, love you guys:)

 Union Station has this sweet model train exhibit set up all over right now and LB loved it! He seriously could've stared at the trains all day.

Just a tiny portion of what was set up

Checking out the trains with Mimi and his cousin

If you live in KC or plan on visiting I highly recommend going down to Union Station. It is full of wonderful little restaurants and cafes and has some really neat activities for the kids.

Where is your favorite place to snap a family photo or two? I am always a fan of pictures in front of a Christmas tree...something about the lights and decorations make it so magically to me.

Life {wisdom from the aged}

 I'd like you to meet someone. 

My beautiful Gramma, who turned 90 in April. A milestone I am sure she knew passed in her mind but couldn't communicate with the rest of us. See my Gram has had Alzheimer for the last decade. She has gone through so much in these last 10 years...triple bipass surgery, diabetic comas, more heart issues, broken hip, and the list goes on. But in spite of all these things she is still so loving.

One our latest trip to visit her in Ohio, we got to introduce her to LB. It was a joy to see a smile come across her face as she got to see a baby. If LB left her sight she would tell us "where'd that baby go? bring me that baby". LB loved her and they spent many moments "chatting".

Even though, this latest visit was not one of her happiest, she still made us laugh. A 90 year old strong willed woman suffering with a disease that makes you lose your memory still can bring laughter to a room full of people. She has a way of doing that. A quick witty comment thrown in just to remind us that she indeed is with us. I remember the first time W got to meet her. The first half of the visit she spent cussing him out in Slavic and the second half she spent telling us how handsome he was and how she wanted him to come over and give her a kiss. Hilarious. 

At this moment she was telling LB to sit still...good luck on that one Gram ;)

One of the biggest lessons this woman has taught me is how to love. How to really love with all our hearts. How to be passionate and not let the hardships of life change our love of the Almighty. She lost the love of her life when she was in her 60's. She has spent the last 30 years without the man who made her heart pitter patter. I could not imagine that, yet she didn't let that change who she was. She still was able to give out love to everyone around and make all of us laugh. I remember many days of my childhood were spent on her lap hearing stories of when she grew up and her sharing the wisdom of the Lord with me. Those are memories I will forever cherish. Hearing about when she was a little girl how she would spend many days at the railroad tracks behind her house smashing pennies and chasing trains. I will remember the hymns of old and how she would sing them softly in my ear when I needed to feel loved. How she would let me sit on her lap and talk for hours about nothing simply because she wanted me to be able to voice my opinion in a house full of chaos (i am the youngest of 4 strong willed loud mouthed kids and thats before you count in my half-brother and step-sister).

Even though she is in the final stage of life, I will forever be blessed by the life and joy she radiates. And if any of you were wondering, yes she is the one I get my sass from..it comes honestly ;)

Fall

Fall is upon us friends! This last week we were away having a mini family vacay to visit my extended family in Ohio. I loved the break from routine and LB did so good traveling. I almost don't want to tell you all about how well he did. Let's just say he slept 11 hours each night in a pack 'n play with no fussing. Granted, we missed out on many nightly family activities but it was worth it to get some alone time with W and have LB behaved during the days. 

To celebrate the beginning of fall here are a few pictures I took on vacation when we visited the fair. 

LB with his cousin (who doesn't need a picture in a pumpkin head)

Checking out the giant pumpkins

Love the colors of fall

Have you all got out and had a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks yet? I had my first one yesterday morning while it was in the 50* and it was so good. The only thing that would have made it better is if I could have shared it with you or you.

Word(less) Wednesday {Man Chant}

W has taught LB to chant men. They do this all day long whenever they complete a task deemed "manly". LB loves to clap at the end of the chant. During our family photo shoot we found a sign to the men's restroom, so of course W decided they should have their picture taken by it while chanting men. 

{photo credit}

Word(less) Wednesday

We had some family shots taken a few weeks back. They turned out fabulous. Here is one of my favorites. LB looks like one tough toddler ;)

{Photo Credit}

Our 4th

This year we traveled around to see family in our home state. It was wonderful and full of lots of time in the car. Now that LB is a toddler traveling was much easier. He played with his new car toys, ate snacks, and napped. He napped almost the whole 4.5 hours back home. It was bliss. Wish I had more time to write about all the details but the laundry and our overflowing with mess pantry is calling my name. So here are some highlights through pictures.

I didn't steal your cookie mom, I promise

The start of the weekend was spent canning before leaving town. I didn't want to let the food go to waste

Walking around the lake before the firework shows began

Eating corn straight from the cob before it was even cooked

Spending some time chatting with my namesake

Having a very meaningful conversation with his favorite doggie ;)

Hope you all had a fun and relaxing weekend. What is your favorite part of the 4th of July? Hubby's is lighting off massive amounts of fireworks, mine is watching them all from a safe distance :)

Embrace the Camera

So this week I decide to do pics from W awesome canoe trip. Since it takes me so long to convince him to get on here and guest post, even though he promises one soon on gardening I figured I give you a glimpse into his life embrace the camera style. I wish I could describe what was happening in these pictures but I wasn't there so just imagine with me what was going on :) 

And don't forget to link up yourself. Head over to Buggie and Jellybean  to link in this week.

W and his dad

One of the big fish W caught

Waterfalls they went to see in Canada

Beautiful scenery they had

While daddy was gone LB and I did alot of this...

Hope you all have a great week.

Family Shots

My amazingly talented bff shot some family pictures for us while we were in KC. It was so fun to walk to the park with her super cute family and then spend some time hanging out while she snapped pictures. Loved it! Here are a few of my favorites. Don't steal them as I don't know how to watermark and stealing is bad. 

 Daddy was tryin to be serious

Love this one..note the stick in LB's mouth ;)

Family slide

LB is a ham

And one more of me with their super cute lil girl!

This was the most fun photo shoot I have ever had. Thanks, Amanda! I also want to say that LB did awesome considering right before we came out he fell and cut his lip open and was bleeding everywhere. He is such a trooper. 

LB with C's dad sharing her teether after he cut his mouth open.

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. We started off celebrating in KC with my family and extended family who flew in from Ohio. It was great to see them all and catch up on their lives. Too bad I failed to take one single picture. Hopefully my Aunt will post hers to facebook soon so I can take them off.  

After our stay there we headed an hour west to see W's family. LB did so good with the car ride this time. Normally he is a feisty little guy in the car so we were expecting lots of hard times on the road, but he amazed us and slept the whole time. We were so thankful for that. Especially because it meant W and I got to catch up on life during the drive. It is amazing how little we get to sit and dream together now so those car rides are precious for sure. 

Seeing W's family was wonderful. It is always nice to sit down and catch up with them. I love that his whole family knows and loves the Lord so many conversation revolve around how great our God is. There is something so peaceful and calm when we are with his family and I love that. Not that I don't love being around my family but we are a loud Italian family so sometimes it gets a little hectic as each of us tries to talk over one another all the time. But there is nothing like Sunday dinner with my family. Abundance of food, eating off each other plates, chatting consistently, and never ever a dull moment. But back to W's family. I really just enjoyed the calm of Easter there. The time to reflect what Easter truly means and to just sit back and relax.

I wish someone would have taken pictures of the Easter egg hunt. I may have been a little competitive this year, but only because last year I failed miserably all big and pregnant so I felt the need to redeem myself. Plus I was getting eggs for 4 people so I had to be quick. W and I ended up with lots of chocolate which is just what this mama needs ;) 

Here are a few pictures of us all dressed up. It was fun to have a reason to put on a dress and actual get ready. I hardly ever do that. Let's face it we are lucky if I have my hair and makeup done by the time W gets home from work. Most days I have an internal fight about if I really have to put on anything but workout gear. 

Sweet family shot. 

My man is smokin'

Love his face here...

Stud

LB and Gigi

That pretty much sums up our Easter. LB was such a stud in his little suit! I wish I had a reason to dress him like that all the time. He melted my heart and pretty much everyone who saw him. He also did the cutest thing at church. Anytime a worship song was being sung he would hum along or sing really loud in babbles. It was absolutely adorable. This kid loves to sing. Many nights we hear him over the monitor humming to himself to get back to sleep. He also sings all the time in the car. I think we have a little musician on our hands.

Travels

LB has a toy and his favorite button to push plays a song that goes like this; "busy busy, busy busy, there's so much to do..." That song pretty much sums up our past few weeks. Sorry to be so MIA from blogging, I have been reading your blogs just couldn't comment most times because I had a little toddler climbing all over me or getting into something he wasn't suppose to, but hubs had a work trip that we tagged along with.   We were gone one week then came back for a weekend to get LB's ears checked (long story but praise the Lord we do not have to do tubes yet for him) and then were gone again for another week. I.am.exhausted! Who knew mini-vacas would be so much more work with a kiddo.

I am so grateful though for the time we had in KC. We were able to spend some much needed time with our family and friends there. But LB did not like being in a hotel and they are not baby friendly one bit. Especially for a kiddo with a 30-second attention span and whose favorite toys are cords and outlets. We spent most of our days and nights out of the hotel room, which worked at well since we were in a place where we knew so many people. But LB did not sleep at all. He does not like sleeping in his pack and play so many nights were spent in bed with us. The funniest part is that him and his daddy sleep exactly the same. So most nights I ended up with one of their elbows in my eye. Even more nights were spent with me watching the two of them sleep. Melts this mamas heart to see that. Seriously wish I could have taken some pictures without waking them. They sleep exactly the same. So precious. 

My heart is rejuvenated. There is nothing like seeing family and dear friends. I love that the Lord has blessed us with many close friends. We are able to pick up where we left off with them like no time has passed and it is so refreshing to hear how the Lord has been working in their lives. God is moving. And I love being reminded of that each time we sit down and talk with people. Even though the sleepless nights were hard traveling it was well worth it because we were able to see so many people dear to us. 

I do though now have a mountain of laundry to wash and an even bigger mountain of clean things to put away. Even though we cleaned our house right before we left it is in need of another good cleaning. And of course our a/c went out last night as the temperature hit 90*. So I am thinking today is going to be a busy one. 

But I will soon have many fun updates to come. 

Like how our Easter was. LBs outfit was adorable and I can't wait to show you all some of those pictures. Even though the poor thing had a fever and a oozing ear infection he still posed for pictures for me. He is the best! And I may be a bad mom for making him sit there and take pictures but I didn't know he had a fever until later in the day or that's when I noticed it. 

I also have a fun post of beautiful family shots we got done from my super talented and amazing best friend. She seriously is great y'all and took some awesome pictures for LB's first birthday card. (I wont be showing you those ones though until his bday, which I can't believe is almost a month away!)

I will leave you with this though. My husband is amazing and for Mothers Day/my birthday/our anniversary (they all fall within a month of each other) he got me a super awesome camera! 

 I am in love. I am pretty sure you all will now be overloaded with pictures each and every post. But seriously, could a mama ask for a better gift. LB was so excited when I got it. He was smiling real big and laughing. Could be because I was freaking out excited. This may be a new obsession of mine as yesterday alone I took over a hundred pictures. But the weather was beautiful and my subject was in a great mood so I was snap happy. So there will be quite a few post to come featuring pictures from this beauty. But for now I must clean while it is still cool enough in our house to function.

Embrace the Camera

Some of my friends have been joining in this fun linky.

I figured it was about time I checked it out and joined in the fun. Seems pretty simple. Add a picture of you/your family then link up. Totally doable. So without further ado I give you some pics from this week.

First picture with our new camera, pre-makeup and uncombed hair but LB is so stinkin cute in this one

This one cracks me up for so many reasons, mainly W in the background eating.

Nothing like a nice nap outside on daddy

Someone figured out how to get the toilet paper off the roll...we are in for it now ;)

Hop on over to the anderson crew and join in on the fun too.

Sunshine and baby cakes

*Edit because I wrote the recipe wrong...oops. So if you did make them with the 3 cups of oatmeal I apologize for your non pancakes pancakes ;)* Yesterday was beautiful! It got up to 70* and melted all the snow finally. Although we are expecting more snow Monday, but I will just enjoy the taste of spring we had. Today and tomorrow are suppose to be in the lower 50*, still nice for February but I can't wait for the sunshine to stay for good. LB had so much fun outside going on walks, playing on the deck, and seeing the sun dance around on the trees and grass. I took a few good pictures of him in the sun and can't wait for summertime to really get shutter happy with him...maybe even by summer W will get me the camera I have been drooling over. 

 LB soaking up the sunshine

See it was so nice I even wore a tshirt and squinted my eyes. Please spring stay with us

Awww...yesterday was so wonderful. I loved getting outside with LB and letting him see the trees and grass and feel the wind blow across his face.

Lately LB has been only wanting to eat finger foods and things he can do himself.  I guess with his 6 teeth now he wants to be mister independent. Anybody have good foods to make for him? He still isn't great at meats but he loves peas, carrots, puffs, and these baby pancakes I have been making up. I figured I would share the recipe with you all and they are so good even W will eat them and not complain that they don't contain sugar. Granted he covers them in maple syrup but they are good even without it. One of my friends gave me her recipe and I tweaked it a bit and removed the egg and sugar. I really am trying to avoid sugar and salt in things for LB and so far he hasn't seemed to miss it, probably because he hasn't ever had it ;) It also has really been helping W and I be more healthy. And I think cutting down on our sugar and salt intake has really helped me lose all my baby weight, I am even down 2 lbs from when I got pregnant with LB. Which is amazing. Probably helps that I am not eating dairy either. We will see if it all stays off once LB stops nursing and I go back to dairy. LB is getting up so I better focus and get this recipe typed for you all :) 

Baby Cakes 

makes about 2 dozen

3  1 and  1/2 cups oatmeal

2 cups rice milk (or skim milk or whatever milk you like)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 Tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup pearsauce (or you can do more applesauce if you don't have pear)

1 mashed ripe banana

1 teaspoon cinnamon (LB loves cinnamon in everything, but if you don't like it don't add it)

Mix together the oatmeal and milk and set aside.

Combine all your dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add vanilla, applesauce, and pearsauce to the oatmeal mixture.

Then mix the dry ingredients into the wet.

Here is the step I can't do but luckily W is a master pancake maker. So he does the griddle work for me. 

If you plan on making up the whole batch I line a baking sheet with parchment paper and after they cool I line the pancakes up and freeze them on the try. Then after they are frozen I take them off the tray and put them in a storage container so that I can just take one out at a time and not have a big frozen clump of pancakes.

Hope you all enjoy and please share any good finger food for baby tips with me :)

Its been a while..

Sorry about that! I didn't mean to ignore all my fans out there ;) This past week has been beyond crazy.

2 Fridays ago, I got a call from my mom saying that my brother had a stroke. I didn't know how to respond at first. I was shocked. Beyond shocked, I was in disbelieve. He is only 26. I was also in the middle of a youth event so I had to gather all my things together and leave. Anyway, we get back to KC that next morning and find out that they did not think it was a stroke after all. But he had completely lose of movement on his left side and couldn't speak. We stayed in KC with him for a day then had to get back to Omaha. Well on Tuesday we get a call that he had multiple seizures and was back in the ER. We finally got back to KC again on Thursday. He is able to talk better now but still unable to walk or feel his left leg. The doctors still don't know what is wrong and he is undergoing some more neurological testing this upcoming Tuesday, so if you think about him be praying that they will figure out what is wrong and how to fix it! Thank you all, my brother, his family, and our family greatly appreciate all the prayers.

On to a lighter note, it is officially fall in Omaha! This morning we woke up to a brisk 36*. Wow! I forgot how cold it got in the Midwest so early. Time to bust out my scarfs and invest in some cute fall boots :) Yesterday, we made a trip out to Vala's Pumpkin Patch and it was wonderful! I love the sights and smells of fall and this place definitely screamed fall. We rode a hayrack ride to the pumpkin fields and picked out our very own pumpkin.:) We also partook in fresh apple cider slushes, caramel apples, kettle corn, smoked turkey legs, fresh roasted corn, and so many other things! I even got to pick up some fall decorations for our dining room table!

Oh and today is Wade's birthday! I am beyond blessed to have him as my husband! He really is the best thing to happen to me, next to Jesus. I could not imagine sharing all the ups and downs of life with anyone else. He is my rock and he blesses me each day. Even this morning on his birthday he got out of bed first, turned on the floor heater and warmed up the room for me so I wouldn't have to get up in the cold. He is such a stud! I am so glad God put him in this world 25 years ago today just so I could have the pleasure of calling him my husband! :)

Have a blessed week! And I will try not to be such a slacker on this blog :)