Fun Family Visits

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Ours was jam packed starting on Wednesday (ok, so Wednesday isn't really the weekend, but when you are on maternity leave you can pretend that everyday is the weekend especially when you are having so much fun!)

Dan's parents, his sister Kim and her two sweet little boys, Gray and Cannon came to visit us from Kentucky on Wednesday. We had a nice low-key evening taking the babies for a walk around the neighborhood and chowing down on some pizza. Thursday morning we were up bright and early to head to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Wrenn and Gray loved it! Wrenn was super pumped about the monkeys and the polar bear. She loves these videos from our trip and asks for "ah-ahs" (what she calls monkeys) and "bear" every time she sees my phone now.

Before leaving the zoo, we decided to take Wrenn and Gray on the carousel. Dan and I thought for sure Wrenn would love it since she is a total daredevil and loves to spin in circles. WRONG...she hated it and cried almost the entire time it was moving. Gray on the other hand seemed to love it!

All smiles before the carousel started moving.

And hating it once it started moving.

Friday morning, we tried to get some photos of the all the babies together before Dan's family headed home, but it pretty much turned into crazy town.....

Notice how Gray is M.I.A.? He wasn't having it. And Wrenn is clearly over it. Ha! 

 Bubble Guppie trance

 Wrenn wanted to hold Gray's hand, but he said "no way, I'm outta here!"

Handsome little nuggets! 

Later Friday afternoon, my sister and Hattie arrived for the weekend. We headed out to the park so the girls could play before bedtime. Love these photos of Wrenn and Hattie!

Sleepy ride home

We took the girls and Parker for a walk Saturday morning, then it was off to the pool!

Look out pool, here we come! 

Parker caught some zzzs Saturday afternoon while the girls played together, drew pictures and worked on sharing.

This little guy loves to sleep!

After Ginger and Hattie headed home Sunday morning, Dan and I took Wrenn and Parker to a small petting zoo in the neighborhood. Wrenn made a beeline for the chicken and then waved to the pig saying "hi, pig, hi" about a million times. Parker slept through it all :) 

Hi pig! 

It was a crazy fun "weekend"!

Lots of Love,

-Jessica

Happy 4th of July from the Other Twister

I just love this holiday.  We spent ours going to a parade and snapping some pop-its. It was a rainy day so a lot of our planned activities including making smore's and watching fireworks got cancelled, but we still had a great day!  My favorite part was snapping these cute pics of the twins playing outside. 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!  

What did you do to celebrate? 

Lots of love,

 

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July! We spent the day at the park, grilled out and watched fireworks from our back deck on our new lounge chairs. It was a great day! 

Lots of love,

Jessica 

Parker Reece

Introducing Parker Reece 

Born: May 24th

Weight: 7 lb 13 oz

Height: 21 inches

Big Yawn

Ready to head home

Home

Friday Playlist

Happy Friday!  I'm ready for the long weekend minus the less than stellar weather we are suppose to have for Memorial day celebrations.  To kick things off I created a fun playlist on grooveshark.com to get me through the Friday afternoon.  Hope you enjoy as much as I do! Have a Happy Safe Memorial Day!


Lots of love,

 

Spring and Summer Collide

Happy Spring. Happy Monday.  Spring has finally arrived and I think Summer is knocking at it's door.  I am so excited.  I love Summer.  Remember my post about Fall and how it was my favorite season? Yep just as expected now that Summer is coming up, Summer is moving into first place.  For now I'll continue enjoying this beautiful Spring, which was disguised as Summer over the weekend.   We cooled off outside in the kiddie pool and I couldn't resist snapping these pictures of Hattie in my summer hat.  I tried to get some shots of Harper too, but that boy doesn't stand still long enough!



 



One of my all time favotire photos.

Lots of love,
 

Spaghetti-O's Anyone?

I started my maternity leave this past Wednesday and have been loving hanging out with Wrennie Pooh full time. I mean when lunch time goes likes this, how can you not have fun?

 I'm so thankful to be able to spend time with Wrenn before the little guy is born and we become a family of four. I'm still not sure if she knows exactly what is about to happen, but I'm confident that she will love her baby brother to pieces and will be an amazing big sister!

Happy Monday!

XoXo,
-Jessica

Overpriced Coffee - Yes Please!

I had to travel for work again last week.  If you know me at all you know that I’m not a particular fan of traveling because of the process.  First you are herded like cattle in line after line to get through security (and don’t even talk to be about the grossness that is taking your shoes off) and then you have to sit on an airplane for hours with a bunch of strangers.  On this trip three of the most common traveling annoyances happened to me.  1) When merging two lines (you drivers out there that don’t know how to merge this is for you too) the order goes like this: person in line A, person in line B, person in line A, person in line B.  It does not go like this or any other variation: person in line A, person in line A, person in line A, person in line A, person in line B squeezes through, person in line A.  2) When boarding an airplane you should never stand in the aisle and sort through your luggage.  Always place your luggage in the overhead bin and sit down immediately so other passengers may take their seats in a timely orderly fashion.  If you have items that you need during your flight, be sure you put them in a bag that you can easily store under your seat.  3) Never ever under ANY circumstance eat Tuna on an airplane or any other such item that has a less than pleasant odor to it (this also applies to bodily functions.  Hold it in.) To the guy sitting in the row next to me, I have two words.  Epic. Fail. (on the tuna, not the bodily functions, but it’s pretty much the same thing)

Other than the actually traveling part of traveling I did enjoy my trip to Seattle.  If you have not been you must add it to your “oh the places you’ll go” list.  It is an absolutely beautiful (and clean) city.  I love how environmentally self-conscious the city is with their recycle bins and five cent bag tax to cut down on unnecessary shopping bag usage.  I also love the fact that there truly is a Starbucks on every block of the city, what can I say I’m a sucker for overpriced fancy coffee drinks.  

Seattle Skyline from the water

Seattle's Great Wheel

Sleepless in Seattle house it's the blue one on the left.

 

 Mt. Rainier view from the airplane leaving Seattle.  Mt. Helens was on the other side.

 

Lots of love,

 

Try It Out Tuesday - Super Quick And Easy French Bread Pizza

I found this super easy recipe on Pinterest (via the blog What's Cooking with Ruthie) and since pizza is never turned down in this household, I figured I would try it out. It literally took me about 15 mins total to have the pizza ready to eat. And it was delicious! Here are the super easy steps for a quick lunch or dinner.

Super Quick and Easy French Bread Pizza:

1. Take one loaf of french bread and slice length wise.
2. Place on cookie sheet.
3. Spread 1/4 - 1/2 jar of pizza sauce on each slice.
4. Add pizza toppings of choice.
5. Add cheese.
6. Bake in oven at 500 degrees for 5-7 mins until cheese is melted.
7. Enjoy!

Told you it was easy!

-Jessica