BIG weekend!

This past weekend was a BIG weekend for all of us...mommy went out of town...overnight! So Jillian and Jason had some daddy/daughter time! When I came home on Sunday everyone was all in one peice so it is safe to say it was a successful weekend!

My weekend plans: This past weekend was my good friend Anni's bachelorette party! She is getting married in December and what a great weekend away for me...to party with some girlfriends! I started my weekend by meeting my cousins Laura and Kim to check out Broadway Paper's selection of wedding invitations. Laura is getting married in April and we think we found the perfect invitation! Then we had a nice lunch at Palms! After lunch I headed down to Dekalb for the party festivities! It was a much needed weekend for me so I was very excited. Here are some pictures of the night!




Jason and Jillian's weekend plans: Jason planned on keeping Jillian as busy as possible! So first thing Saturday morning they headed to the zoo. Daddy even packed a lunch for Jillian so she could eat there and have a longer time at the zoo!


Jillian fell asleep on the way home from the zoo, I guess they had a great time. After she woke up they hung out and played. Jillian went to sleep easily for daddy and he was able to watch a game or two on TV. In the morning they were up and ready to go to early church service. I made it home to a very special sight, Jillian asleep in daddy's lap! What more could a mommy ask for than the two most special people in her life having a great moment (although I have to admit I was a little jealous, I wanted to scoop her up right then and there cause I missed her so!)

Our week in review...

This past week was very busy and a little crazy for us. We had some extra friends over to the house a couple of days this week. Jillian was pretty good, although she is going through her "all I want is mommy phase...", having extra friends at the house is probably a good thing for her. Here are a few pictures of our crazy week and some details for you...
Monday we had Nolan. He was still recovering from his cold (which Jillian gave him in the first place). He was a little more needy as usual, which was totally understandable. So I juggled my day between two babies who wanted and needed my attention!

Tuesday we only had Cole. Jillian is getting closer to only taking one nap so she tends to be kinda cranky in the mornings. Cole and I decided some outdoor air and playing at the park would cheer her up. So we headed to the park to play in the morning.

Wednesday we had new friends, Aiden and Abby, over to play in the morning. Abby is 3 so she played great with Cole. Aiden is just shy of 1 and crawling! They go to our church and we watch them in the nursery on occasion...Aiden tends to cry there. But thankfully he was happy as can be and we all had a lot of fun! I even felt brave enough to take all 4 kids to the park down the street!




Thursday we had our friend Broderick over for the day. His mom had to drive to Minnesota to buy a new car...so Broderick was hanging out with us for the day! He was a trooper and really was a good boy. We decided to go to play group and the kids got to run around some and I got some mommy relief. Here are some photos of the twosome playing.


This is Broderick...isn't he cute!

Which brings us to today...Friday, and all that is planned for us (Jillian and I)is to just hang out...just us! Jillian even slept in! (she slept 13 hours last night...hooray!) We took our time eating breakfast and getting dressed. By the time we were both dressed and ready to go, it was almost 11! So we decided to go on a little fall walk around the neighborhood.




We hope you enjoyed our week as much as we did!? Have a great weekend=)

Warm October Days...impossible!

This past weekend was BEAUTIFUL out and how can you resist not enjoying being outside. Jason and I actually had NOTHING on the calendar and enjoyed some home time. We took Jillian for a little bike ride on Saturday and had a picnic, it was a nice day. We packed up the bike trailer with a blanket and cooler full of picnic goodies. We all got on the bikes and headed out. Jason had spied a park off of Bluemound near Miller park so we headed that way. Jillian was thrilled to be at a park. She just loves the swings and now really enjoys the BIG slides! We played for a little bit then stopped for lunch.


She ate quickly and very little, she had to get back to the playground.

After the excitement of this new park wore off we jumped back on our bikes and headed towards Miller park (they have an awesome kiddie park near Healfer field, didn't know that).


Jillian really enjoyed the slides here!

It looks like daddy even had a good time!

What a great way to spend family time...outside!

Phillips, WI

Jason's family has a hunting cabin up north in Phillips, WI. He's been going there for years to hunt in November. A few years ago Jason took me up there to see the cabin in the winter and it was pretty cold! So we decided to go up there now to see the fall colors and be there before it was too cold for Jillian. It is a good 6 hour hike for us (mostly because you have to stop every few hours to let Jillian run around or you have to stop and buy a portable DVD player to entertain your daughter!). Jason took Friday off and we headed up there in the morning. Like I mentioned earlier, it took us all day to get up there but we finally made it! When we left Milwaukee the temperature was a comfortable 70 degrees and as we pulled onto the cabin drive it was a chilly 50 degrees (and that was the warmest temperature all weekend!)! Jillian was very interested in what was in the cabin and as you can imagine a men's hunting cabin is NOT baby proof! As Jillian roamed around the cabin (me following close behind) Jason did all the things he needed to do to get the cabin up and running (start the fire in the cabin, start the fire in sauna and many other things I have no idea about!).



So we finally got settled and started enjoying some family time in the warm cabin. We got Jillian ready for bed and put her down relatively easily. Jason and I finally got a chance to eat dinner, watch a movie and take a nice warm sauna! As we were settling into our sleeping bags (around 10:30 or so) Jillian awoke and not very happily! I planned on it being colder in the cabin and dressed her in a long sleeved onsie, socks, fleece jammies and her sleep sack. But Jason was doing a great job with fire it was pretty toasty in there! Needless to say, she was hot! We took off a few layers and calmed her down but it took a good 45 minutes before she was back to sleep. At that point I was ready to get back into the car and go home! But Jason talked me into sleeping on it! We woke up bright and early (to our human alarm clock, Jillian)which gave us time to go for a walk. Well Jason and Jillian went for a walk and I stayed back to make breakfast.


After they got back Jason and I sat down for breakfast (Jillian ate earlier). We hung out for a little while in the front porch of the cabin. Jillian was so tuckered out from her walk with daddy that she went down for a little nap (thankfully!) so Jason and I took advantage of some quiet time and curled up on the couch as well. When Jillian woke up we decided to go out for a little family walk. The colors are so beautiful up there this time of year! Jillian did a pretty good job walking on the gravel road. But we did have to pick her up and carry her, otherwise we would still be walking out there!


We decided to head back and have some lunch. After lunch we went for a drive to see more colors. Jason headed towards town and over to Solberg Lake. On the drive Jillian fell asleep, which was good so we could see more of the colors=) We headed back to the cabin after Jillian woke up (2 hours!)and fed Jillian some dinner. As we were hanging out a little doe found its way out of the woods. Jillian was not very interested but Jason and I watched the doe for awhile. She just stood there and munched on the grass. We watched a little tv (Baby Signing Times...over and over and over again!) and then put Jillian down. Jason had started a bonfire so we headed out there and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire. It was so clear and every star was shinning. It was an unbelievable sight! That night Jillian slept through the entire night (phew)! We got up, had breakfast and Jason took Jillian for another walk as I cleaned up. We finally hit the road just after lunch around noon. It was a great weekend and we all survived! Here are some random pictures from the weekend.

Cozy Nook

Last week Jillian, Cole and I visited the Cozy Nook Farm in Waukesha. We went to pick out a few pumpkins and see the animals on their farm. That morning they had two calves born and a big school group coming...so needless to say they had their hands full. Good thing we didn't need much and enjoyed just walking around. The weather was beautiful and the animals were active! Here are some pictures of our farm adventure:



Those were some big pumpkins!



Here little goat...I've got a leaf for you...yum!


A cow says "Moo"


Jillian had so much fun she just tuckered out on the way home!