Grandma's Party

 

We celebrated Grandma Edith's birthday in July. Doesn't she make 80 look great?!

Quite a bit of time went into planning the party and it all turned out just perfect. The weather was great, the shelter was nice and nearly all of the family was able to get back and spend the day with Gram.

In addition to the family party, I put an ad in the paper for a card shower. By the time of the party, she had nearly 40 cards and I imagine there were more trickling in the following week.

Mila did pretty well during the quick trip home, but she was cutting teeth and had a few rough moments. She did alright with the crowd, but she sure gave Gram a hard time. She definitely does better when there are fewer people around.



Grandpa Dave & Grandma Sally
Todd, Jess, Me, Mila, Jens

Grandpa Dave with Mila. He stole her heart by letting her play with his cell phone.
She's still a sucker for technology!

Cousins meeting for the first time. Briley Jo is the newest addition and
Mila fell in love with her photo before she even met her in person!

Grandma with her grandkids and their spouses.



Great grandma and crew.



Banana cupcakes, made by Jens.

Lemon cupcakes, also made by Jens.



Gift table and decorations.



July is gone!

July went by incredibly fast... so now here we are, August 1st and I'm finally attempting a recap. Here goes!

Fourth of July weekend:
We spent most of the weekend playing with the Wilson family. We met up on Friday night at the Adel winery for some "refreshments" and entertainment. Ironically, the band playing was named Hot Tamale and the Red Hots. I say ironically because it describes the weather that weekend! July has been a steam bath and this day topped 100. By the time the band started at 7pm, it was actually tolerable and we couldn't have asked for a better night. There were shade canopies and a nice wind picked up to keep us cool. Admittedly, the wineritas helped cool off the adults and the buckets of ice chilled the wine and kiddos (as well as entertaining them).

Saturday morning kicked off the swing-set build on the Wilsons new lot. They are building a new house in Adel and wanted to have the new swing-set ready for the kids before the house is finished. Realizing it was a large project, Jens offered to help out. So, while the guys were building, the girls were playing… err, watching the kids. It turned out to be a gorgeous day, so we decided to make our way to the pool. Camden, Kade, and Mila all LOVED their time at the pool. I learned quickly that Mila is a brave one. She loves to jump right in the water, so you’ve got to keep a close eye on her.

Here’s a fun little picture of the three kiddos during one of the pool breaks:

Next up, Okoboji:

Before the trip up North, Mila spent a few days with Grandma Lori and her cousin Caitlin in Lake View. I can't even tell how spoiled she was by the time we got there! Meanwhile, Jens and I spoiled ourselves: dinner and movie, dinner date with Jess & Todd, movie night in... It was crazy, full movies and dinner without interruption.

Don’t worry, we only had a few days and we snapped right back into parent mode. Well, sort of. We took Caitlin along to Okoboji, so it we were easing back into it! Mila and Caitlin got along great and it was nice to have a helper with us.

We also had a few guest join us for a few days. Cherri and Camden left Kade and dad behind and joined the fun. Among other things, we went mini-golfing at Treasure Village, spent a little time at Barefoot bar, went swimming at the Bridges Bay Resort, and played a Arnold’s Park.

It was a wonderful trip away and relished every minute of it.

See this face? OMG, she couldn't get enough of the carousel. Her jaw was dropped and her hand was waving the entire time!

So that gets us through the first half of the month... but it's well past my bedtime and I think this is a great stopping point. I'll try and update further over the weekend. I've got a ton of family pictures to go through from Grandma Edith's 80th birthday party and then some fun pictures from the balloon festival, so you'll have to check back later!

Weeeee!

When mom is away, dad & Mila play! We all survived my trip to Chicago. In fact, I think Mila had more fun while I was away than when I'm here. How's that work?

Jens and Mila took a trip to Lake View to spend some time with grandma, grandpa and cousin Caitlin. From the pictures and everything Jens had to say, I think Mila had the time of her life.

When I got back on Tuesday, Mila was in a super lovey mood. I had my mommy's girl back... it felt great to be home!

When I got home from work, we took a little trip to the mailbox. May have been the longest trip ever... looks like I've also got my little helper back!

Another zoo date

A few weeks ago, Jens had an all-day work meeting over a Saturday, so Mila and I took the opportunity to make another trip to the zoo. We meet up with our dear friend Sandy. Sandy has loved Mila since the moment she was born, and Mila has finally opened up and returned the love!

We went a little later than normal and the zoo was incredibly busy, but we enjoyed our time none-the-less. Mila walked on her own for most of it and she held both of our hands the entire time. We took the little train that goes on the backside of the large cats and camel rides and she seemed to really like the “choo-choo”!

After the zoo, we went for lunch. While it was Sandy’s birthday week, she came with a gift for Mila. It was an adorable, crazy-colored, stuffed elephant (we now call Elphie) and she fell in love with it. She had such a great time that she was socked out in her seat (with her gift bag and Elphie) just minutes after we left:

Thriller!

Mila experienced her first 80’s party, and she loved it!
Here’s a little snippet of her dancing to the Thriller:

My friend from work had a 40th birthday/Kicking Cancer party for his wife and it was an all out 80’s theme. The costumes were great. We saw everything from Miami Vice look-a-likes to side ponytails, leggings and pumps.

We (Jens) made cupcakes for the event. There were Pretty In Pink Champagne cupcakes, Madonna’s Mocha Not Quite Virgin (with Kahlua frosting) cupcakes, and some Walking On Sunshine Golden Vanilla mini cupcakes. Mila did her part by filling the cupcake tins with liners. She’d fill ‘em up, dump ‘em out, and do it all over again. It was enough to keep her occupied for a little while, and she looked cute doing it!

We had another celebration that weekend, Father’s Day! Todd’s family invited us to celebrate with them and it was a great day. The sun was out, the food was amazing, and it was an all-around great day. It’s really nice to have an extra family close to “home”. They’re always so welcoming and Mila loves the extra attention!

This weekend, Mila and Jens are getting a little extra daddy/daughter time (and I get some “me” time). I am off to Chicago for a design conference and will be gone Friday through late Monday night. Mila will do daycare like normal today and Monday (with help from Aunt Jessie for drop-off/pick-up). Over the weekend, Jens is taking Mila to Lake View to visit grandma and grandpa. So, in the end, I think this little trip will be good for all of us! (And I know I’ll be anxious to see them by Monday!)

June, off to a great start

June bring us to 19 months. It's been a great start to the month so far. Mila is over her croup/ear infection and she's been our happy, lovey little lady again.

She's still growing and learning so much every single day. I love watching her interact with other kids around her age. We've had a few gatherings with friends over the past few weeks and all of our kids are finally at ages where they can all play together. What a great feeling to send them "off to play" while the adult sit in the background and talk about things other than ABCs and 123s.

She also likes the change in weather because she loves being outside. And when she's not outside, she loves looking out the door and windows and keeps saying "ow--ide?". We took her down to The Sands this week to watch us play volleyball, but that didn't go as well as we planned. She loved running around and playing until we actually got to the sand courts. She lifted her legs like we were about enter hot lava, it was pretty dramatic. Jens ended up taking her home as soon as we started playing because she was really upset about the sand! 



This is Mila's new car companion, Cammy the camel. She was a gift from Uncle Todd and Mila just loves it. It might be the way the camel's neck bobs to her music, or just because its soft and cuddly... who knows. She's got a special place in her heart for Jessie and Todd. Right now, she loves saying "Todd", but "Jessie" isn't as easy to say. It comes out a little different every time!

 Today was a great day for a trip to the zoo. Mila was in such a great mood and the weather was just beautiful. Plus, Jens wanted to go and check out the dinosaur exhibit they've been advertising. Interestingly enough, he commented that this exhibit reminded him of the one he saw in grade school... only it seemed much more impressive then!

This was taken right outside of the dinosaur exhibit. I think she was dancing to the dinosaur roars!



Inside the dinosaur exhibit, Mila's not really sure what to think. But she and dad both say "cheeeese!"



Ok... T-Rex really isn't that cool. Let's move dad!

Hide-and-seek, where did Mila go?

The monkeys kept her attention for quite a while, but they weren't all that active today.

The giraffe was nice and close today!



18... months?

Mila turned 18 months on May Day. A year and a half already? It hardly seems possible!

She's quite the little girl. Every day seems to bring something new. Here are some of her favorites:

• Animal sounds: "Quack!" "Mew" and "Moo"
• Sing along: Old McDonald "Ee-igh, ee-igh, oh!"
• Numbers: 1-2-3 (She holds up her #1, and says "doo, dree!"
• Food: "Cheeese!"
• Drink: "Mi-mi" (milk) and "Ri-ri" (water)
• Name: "Mom. Mo-om. Moooo-ooom" (is it too early for this??)

We've been working a lot on "please" and "thank you" and she's been picking them up really well. In fact, she has her own sweet twist to "thank you". She says "dah do" and then holds her hand to her mouth and kisses. It's really cute.



Now that the weather is getting nice, we're spending more time outside. She's had her pink "cozy coupe" since her birthday (thank aunt Jess!) and we've got bubbles and some balls, but it was time to get some toys that would hold her interest a little longer. We got her a little water/sand table with farm animals a little tractors.





She was pretty anxious to see what dad was building, so she stood and waiting patiently while dad built the farm.

With just one side filled with some water, and she was hooked. All the animals became swimmers and the wagons became cups. Good thing it was a nice hot day, because things went from dry to soaked in no time.