Outdoor Project #1

We are on vacation this week, but we are not heading out until tomorrow, so we decided to get some things done around the house. First up on our list was to paint the doorway to the garage. The paint started to flake off, and it had started to look pretty shabby, so we decided to repaint.

Of course it is never that simple. First we had to scrape all the old paint off, and then sand it nice and smooth, and then paint over it. And of course we waited until late morning to do this, so it was about 81 degrees and sunny, and hot. But now it is done, and it looks much better.

The before...

The after...

Next on our home improvement list is our deck, and fixing our fence. We didn't have quite enough time to get these done before our vacation, so they will have to get done sometime later this summer/fall. The joys of owning a home :)

Now, just some packing and house cleaning, and then tomorrow we are Minnesota bound!! 

Pool day!

It was hot and muggy today, and we are on vacation right now, so I decided to take Emma to the pool. John was busy mowing the lawn and doing some outdoor work, so Emma and I headed to the pool. She did really well. We were in the water for about an hour and half, and she seemed to really enjoy herself.

After all the swimming, we went to the park for some fun swinging action. I really wore her out, and now Emma is napping away.

On a side note, I did finally take some pictures of the landscaping we did a couple weeks ago.

Front of the house-Hastas, and two bushes (I don't remember what they are called)

Lillies by the patio

Hastas by the basement window

Lilies- these are my favorite ones

Aren't they pretty?

And here is our garden this year-beans, peppers, and tomatoes-pretty simple

Last but not least, we finally bought a window well cover. We have been talking about doing this since we moved into our house, but we have just been putting it off. We decided that since Emma will be even more mobile soon, we better get it covered up once. It was sorta an expensive purchase, but it was necessary, and it's nice to not have to worry about it anymore. 

We have a couple more home projects to get done, and then it's off to Duluth for us :)

4th of July

Wow, 4th of July is over, which means summer is half over. How did this happen?

Luckily, I had a the 4th off this year, so John and I spent the morning at home playing with Emma and enjoying the holiday. We decided to eat lunch at Perkins. Usually when we eat at restaurants we just give Emma some food off of our plates, she eats it, and it's no big deal.

Well, yesterday John gave Emma some eggs off his plate, and we found out that Emma has quite an allergy to eggs. Emma freaked us out pretty good. About 15 minutes after eating her eggs, she got a bright red rash across her chest, around her mouth, and her right eye was red and starting to swell. It was really scary because it kept getting worse. But, we made a stop at Wal-mart, bought some benadryl and anti-itch cream, and Emma was pretty much 100% better after her nap (which was a nice long nap with the benadryl in her system).

So, we learned a couple lessons yesterday. No eggs for Emma, and no new foods on a Holiday!

After the allergy scare (and Emma's nap) we headed out to John's grandma's farm place to celebrate. We started off the afternoon by shooting clay pigeons. I didn't shoot any though, I was too busy chasing Emma around and trying to keep track of her. She tolerated the loud gunshots really well, they didn't really seem to faze her at all.

After all the shooting, it was time to start the grill and get supper cooking. We also had the annual beanbag tournament, in which Kristina and Tyler won. Then, it was time to watch little boys light fireworks and visit into the evening hours.

John took me fireworks shopping for the first time a couple nights ago. Growing up in Minnesota, we could not buy fireworks (at least nothing bigger than sparklers). So I had the experience of going into one of those trashy looking trailers to shop for fireworks. It was ok. It was super busy and we dropped $75 without even trying. But it was fun.

Emma finally went to sleep in her pack-n-play around 10:00pm which is really late for her. That allowed John and I to light off the stuff we had bought. It was a really fun day, but it got really late, and it's going to make for a long day at work today. Even worse, I am on-call all night tonight, so hopefully I get some sleep :)

John and I didn't really take any pictures yesterday during all the festivities, we were too busy keeping Emma entertained and visiting with family, but I did get some adorable pictures of Emma earlier in the day yesterday.

We had a great 4th, it's too bad it flew by so fast. But, we have just one more work day to make it through, and then it is Vacation time for this family.

Hope you all had a great holiday!! :)

Catching up!

Wow, I have been slacking a little bit in the blogging department. I hate how summer can get away from a person. Is it really half over already??

Well, since I have last blogged, Emma has gotten over another ear infection. I hope that is it for ear infections for a while.  We also have been busy watering all our landscaping we spent so much time planting a couple weeks ago. So far, everything is still alive (and I still haven't taken any pictures...sorry).

Last weekend we brought Emma to the pool for the first time. We went to the Pizza Ranch in Tea for a birthday party, and then hit up the pool afterwards. It was not the best day in the world for a day at the pool, it was cloudy, windy, and only about 75 degrees, so it was a little chilly for Emma. Plus, it was her nap time, so she did well for a while,but pretty soon she was cold, tired, and crabby so John and I headed home.

Sunday we spent the day bumming at home. Emma was super crabby in the afternoon, so it was an early night for her (and for us).

All I know is that summer is flying by way too fast!!!

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 :)