Landscaping/Weekend Recap

Emma has another ear infection. We have been averaging about 1 every 2 months, which is a little ridiculous. Her doctor says that if she has another one before this fall, then we will have to talk about putting tubes in the ears...super.

So, anyway, on Thursday/Friday Emma was running 101 and 102 degree temps, so I took her to the clinic and got her started on some amoxicillin. John stayed home with her on Thursday and I stayed home on Friday. By the middle of the day Friday, Emma was starting to feel better and come around.

Playing with her dollie and stroller

Starting to feel better

Saturday, we went to lunch with Jim, Barb, Jeff, and his girlfriend and then walked around the zoo together. It was a wonderful day outside, so it was awesome to visit the zoo, but it was very crowded. We spent the evening at Kristina and Johnny's for a BBQ. Emma did really well there, and we were even able to put her to bed there in a pack-and-play so that we could enjoy the fire and visit with everyone.

Sunday, we spent most of the day planting bushes/perennials in our landscaping. All we have had since we moved into this house was the rocks and edging, so we decided to finally plant some shrubbery. Most of the plants we got from Barb from her greenhouses, and then we bought a couple bushes at Lowe's. It was a lot of work getting in all the plants, but I think it is going to look awesome once they are more established.

John hard at work landscaping

One side of our house, sorry I didn't take many pictures of the landscaping, I will post some later when I have them

Our patio with all our potted plants :)

More landscaping

Keeping with the outdoor theme on Sunday, we also tilled the garden and mowed the lawn.  We also brought Emma to a park for a while and then finished the day with some Frozen Yogurt.

Kinda unsure of the sand

But she loves Frozen Yogurt

It was a great weekend, but like every weekend it was over in a flash and then back to work. I have today off and Emma has her 12 month check-up, which means more shots. So, we will see how that goes. 

Enjoy that sunshine everyone!!

Father's Day!!

What an awesome weekend we had. The weather was beautiful, and Emma's party was a blast, and then we got to spend a fun day celebrating Father's Day!

Emma and I are very lucky to have such a special guy in our lives. John is the most patient, kind-hearted, handsome man a lady could ask for. He has become such a great daddy as well. He loves rough-housing with Emma, but melts as soon as she snuggles in for some cuddles. She has him wrapped around her little finger.

With my crazy work schedule, he has to spend a lot of evening alone with Emma, taking care of her and putting her to bed, and he does such a wonderful job! It's nice to know I don't have to worry about them when I am at work for the night.

I also am very lucky to have an amazing dad, who has always been there for me, supporting me in everything I do. He is always just a phone call away, and comes to visit us here in Sioux Falls whenever he and Mom can get away. Happy Father's Day to one of the best dads out there!

We started Father's Day off with a trip to church, and then we headed to the zoo. It was pretty hot and crowded at the zoo, so we hit the high points and then headed to the air-conditioned mall to shop for John. We gave him a gift card to the hat store Lids, so John picked out a new baseball cap.

After the mall, we headed out to Jim and Barb's to get some more planters for our patio, and to pick up the perennials we are going to finally plant in our landscaping. Hopefully sometime this week we can get to that...

We also went out to eat with John's family, and then headed home. Man was I beat when we got home. We had such a busy weekend, but it sure was a good one!!

Happy Father's Day to to my best friend and such a great daddy! :)

P.S. I would post the picture of John and Emma that I took at the zoo, but I took it on John's phone and he never emailed it to me like I asked him too, so sorry, no photo available...

Hope everyone else had a chance to tell their Dads how much they love and appreciate them!!!

Emma's First Birthday!!

Emma turned one today! Like I said before, I cannot believe how fast this last year went. Last year at this time John and I were just getting settled into our delivery room at Avera, and about an hour and a half later Emma was here!

Today started out rainy, windy, and chilly. I thought for sure it was going to stay that way with how cloudy the sky was. But luckily, the sun peaked out at about 11:30, just in time for the party.

Unfortunately, Emma has been pretty sick all week with one heck of a cold (these aren't supposed to happen in the summertime!!). She has been snotty, had a bad cough, and just really tired. I mean, REALLY tired. Like, she has been going to bed at 6:00pm and sleeping until 8:30 the next morning, which is not normal for her. So, anyway, we didn't really know how she would handle the big party.

John and I spent the rainy morning setting up the garage and getting last minute preparations done. Emma spent it playing with her toys and looking adorable (as usual). And best of all, she seemed to be feeling a little better.

At about 12:30pm, the guests started to arrive. We had a great turnout as most of John's side of the family was able to make the party. We served pulled pork sandwiches, fruit, baked beans, chips, and cupcakes. Emma handled the crowd pretty well, she had a couple crabby moments, but overall she did really well for not feeling 100%.

And of course, we had to have a smash cake for her. She didn't get too wild and crazy with her cake, but she actually ate a few handfuls of the cake, and seemed to really enjoy all the sugar! Then for fun, I put her pacifier in the cake to see what she would do, and she plucked it right out and into her mouth it went. After the cake mess, we went straight to the tub, had a bottle, and then it was lights out for Emma for a couple hours.

While Emma was napping, the rest of us played some beanbags and hung out in the beautiful sunshine. The day was about as perfect as could be. It was sunny, around 80 degrees, and just a little breezy.

Once Emma woke up, it was time to open presents. And boy, did she get spoiled.

Emma with all of her presents!!!

After presents, everyone visited for a while and then headed out. After the guests had left, us three went to the backyard, and Emma played in her kiddie pool for a while. We also went for a nice long stroller ride around the neighborhood before turning in for the night. 

It was such a fun, but exhausting day. We were pretty much busy all day, and spent a lot of time out in the sun. Even though she didn't feel the best, Emma had a great first birthday. We feel so blessed to have such great friends and family to help Emma celebrate her first birthday!!

The beautiful birthday girl and one proud momma :)

Rainy Weekend

Well, it's been a rainy, cool, weekend. Doesn't quite feel like it's June outside. It rained all day yesterday, and today shows no signs of stopping either. I appreciate the rain, especially after the lack of rain from last summer, but where is the sunshine already?

My mom came to babysit Emma yesterday since I had to work and John had a wedding to shoot. Mom had a ton of fun with Emma, but I think Emma wore her out. She just goes and goes and goes right now. She is so close to walking, so she's only going to get more active!!

This next week we are getting ready for Emma's 1st Birthday Party. Holy smokes I cannot believe it is approaching this fast. Time really does fly!! I am really looking forward to having this party for her though, hopefully she tolerates the party well.

I am really looking forward to making her smash cake, I am not entirely sure what I am making yet, but hopefully she's adventurous enough to attack her cake at least a little bit.

So, that's my agenda for the next week, cleaning the house, baking, and decorating for her party. Hopefully the weather is better than it is right now. I hope to see some sunshine soon!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Ribfest!!

It's that time of year again. Ribfest! John and I got a babysitter, and then we headed out to the festivities with some friends. Unfortunately, the weather was not the best. It was cloudy, about 67 degrees, and very windy. Nothing like April weather at the end of May.

Anyway, the food was amazing like always.  There were about 7 different vendors available selling ribs, pulled pork, chicken, brisket, corn bread, and much more.

The entertainment was also pretty good. We saw Dustin Evans, who is from Sioux Falls and is a pretty good country singer. We also saw Neal McCoy, who was a pretty famous country singer back in the 90s.  He sings "You Gotta Love That", "The Shake", and "The Wink". These are just a few of his bigger hits. He was fun to listen to and a great entertainer.

We left pretty cold, but we had a great evening with great entertainment and good company. This was our third year in a row going to ribfest, and I am never disappointed.

Hope this summer gets a little warmer though, today is June 1st and it is only supposed to get up to 54 degrees today, windy, and cloudy. Where is summer???