Weekend Update + Miscellany Monday

I started to type Weekend Wrap-Up, but quite frankly Weekend Update just reminds me of SNL and cracks me up....that's a good thing on a Monday morning.  Linking up with Carissa here.

Here's how our weekend went down...in short sentences (can they even be considered that?) and very few capital letters:

[Friday Night]
shower prep at courtney's:  drink wine.  check out horses (tank and sue).  pick wildflowers.  drink wine.  vent about life.  drink wine.  make egg soufflé.  drink wine.  enjoy 'girl time'.

[Saturday Morning + Afternoon]
more shower prep: bake scones.

operation distract liza while mom bakes.

get ourselves dressed.  get our babies dressed.  pack up a few things.  drive to court's.  do some last minute decorating (aka make poufs).  throw a shower for our dear friend, cathy.

cathy and her sister - they're both preggo with baby girls!

watch our crazy babies play and laugh together (priceless, btw).

i melt.

enjoy more 'girl time'.

court and momma-to-be cathy

e and nat - pardon our sleeeeeepy children who are about to have a meltdown.

clean up  from shower. put crazy, tired babies down for a nap.  put ourselves down for a nap.  clean up around the house.

[Saturday Evening]
E + JW's House: buy JW iPhone.  get takeout from applebees (hello wonton tacos).  play games on iPhones.
Nat + B's House: grocery store marathon (with the rest of town, apparently). roast fresh veggies, grill steak, enjoy a bottle of wine that leads to two on the deck resulting in lots of chatting. guilty pleasure 'american reunion' movie, feel like it's 1999 all over again.

[Sunday]
E + JW: liza and momma waffle-making.  liza napping.  grocery shopping.  burt lake bound.  nature preserve hike.  cool off with a swim.  end-of-the-dock afternoon.  snoozing on the pontoon.  awesome dinner.  dq stop on the way home (ice cream is a must on the way home from the lake).  liza sleeping.  house cleaning.  catching up on life-ing.
Nat + B: bottle in bed = 6AM snuggles, family walk along the waterfront, Mama and Connor errands to Lowe's, Subway, new flowerpots, blowing bubbles outside, daddy golfing, dinner at cottage, dissertation writing.

needless to say, it was a great weekend.  time to catch up with friends and with life.  what are you all doing to beat the heat?

p.s. we're planning a giveaway of a beautiful handmade wooden cutting board and some other 'up north' goodies this week?  become a follower so you don't miss any of the action!

Wednesday Loves.

Holy hotness.  What is up with this 90 degree weather in Northern Michigan?  Good thing we both have family cottages nearby and can escape to the lake on the weekends!

Anyway, we're linking up with Jamie today (a momma-to-be) to share our loves!

[1] The lake.  Like we mentioned earlier there are tons of lakes nearby.  We're lucky enough to have family places within 45 minutes that we really do use as an escape on the weekend.  Cool breezes, campfires, lots of family time, and even some swimming time have made this heat bearable.

[2]  As always during the summer months we're loving fresh, local produce from our CSA and our garden.  Being able to feed our peanuts and hubbies good food always puts a smile on our faces!  Recipe for zucchini brownies coming TOMORROW.  So awesomely delicious and pretty good for you!

[3] A momma-only, baby-free half day of shopping...even though I bought a bunch of clothing for Liza-lou.

[4] Nuk sippy cups.  Liza and Connor both love these guys.  They're great for transitioning from a bottle to a sippy cup (especially since L used Nuk bottles).  Check out Liza's new ladybug cup!

[5] Wedding Season. Two weekends, two weddings. Natalie is working hard to perfect her role of bridesmaid this summer. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it! Two words: Dancing machine.

[6] Of course, we're loving our husbands and littles ones, too!

C rocking the sunnies!

Happy L!

Nat & B

Liza and JW

Raspberries.

First local raspberries of the season.

Liza's dinner...in a diaper.

Love.

Happy Friday!

What We're Loving Wednesday...

It's Wednesday already?  Here's what we're loving for our sweet little ones this week...

[1] Summer Time.  It's so nice to be able to play outside with our kiddos, take them swimming and boating, and just enjoy some sunshine with them.  Plus our babies are getting bigger (can we even call them babies anymore???) which means actually romping around in the grass (or putting it in their mouth).

Liza snoozing on Grandpa Patty's lap on the pontoon

[2] Gardening & our CSA.  We are health-conscious mommas so knowing that we're putting good food in our families' bellies is such a good feeling, especially since our kiddos are eating more and more real food (even though Liza has ZERO teeth still!!). Recipe coming tomorrow from some CSA goodness.

Our CSA box from Coveyou Scenic Farms

[3] Floppy sun hats.  Both Connor and Liza have ones from Patagonia that we got at Bear Cub Outfitters, but you can also find them HERE.  We love them because they keep the suns off our little ones, but they're also reversible and have velcro to keep the hat on.  Liza quickly discovered how to untie other hats that I had for her.  Even my peanut of a nephew, Reed has one and the little guy's only 7 weeks old!

What are you loving this week??

Linking up with Jamie!

Working Momma iPhone Apps

We love our iPhones.  Quite simply, they're handy little buggers when you're busy as all get out...which we just happen to be.  We both work full-time and go to school on the side (Nat's getting her doctorate, teaching courses, and becoming one of the most educated people I know, while I'm completing my second master's).  On top of that we're trying to be great mommas to our little ones, great wives to our handsome husbands, making our houses homes, and making sure our families eat the best food available (and within our budget).  Keeping all of that in mind, here are ten of our favorite iPhone apps.

POSTAGRAM/SINCERELY INK.  These are LIFESAVERS.  Need to send a thank you but run out of stamps?  Need to send a birthday card that you don't have time to pick up?  Postagram and Sincerely Ink (same companies) allow you to do just that.  They actually send the postcard or card directly to your recipient for $0.99 (postcard) or $1.99-$2.99 (cards).  Pure awesomeness.  Oh, and if you have addresses saved in your contact book on your phone, it's a breeze to import that info!

BABY SIGN.  Connor and Liza go to the same daycare where they work on signing with the babies and toddlers.  In an effort to reinforce this at home, we picked up Baby Sign.  I believe we bought the additional pack (which may have been like $4.99) but it's well worth it.

WEE SING.  I'm not a huge fan of giving Liza my phone or having her watch videos, but when she is beyond fussy in the car and we can't get her to settle down, this app works like a charm.  It sings the alphabet song or you can go through the alphabet where they have sentences like "Benny the bear plays the banjo" and little jingles to go with them.

NIKE+.  We try to stay healthy and so when you're trying to squeeze in a quick walk at lunch or a run in the morning before you head to work, it's nice to keep tabs on how far and how long you've gone for.  It's motivation and it works.

FOODUCATE.  This app is great and scary all at the same time.  Trying to choose between different cereal bars?  Fooducate allows you to scan the bar code for a certain grocery.  If the item is in the database (and most name brands are), you'll get a 'grade' for that item and some reasons it was given that grade.  Fooducate also offers better suggestions.  Although we don't use it for every single item, it's a great way to check in on the food you're eating.

DIRTY DOZEN.  You've probably heard of the 'dirty dozen' and 'clean fifteen' in regard to when to buy organic or non-organic produce.  Despite many attempts, I can never seem to keep it all straight.  This app does just that.

DROPBOX.  As a momma on the run, I'm frequently using different computers/devices.  Between iPads and a MacBook at home, an iPhone, and a desktop and MacBook at work, it's SO helpful to use Dropbox to help sync documents, videos, pictures, and presentations so I can access them anywhere.  I can even use Dropbox's website if I'm not on a device I own.  Added bonus?  It's a great way to share pictures with friends and not worry about overloading their email.

BUY ME A PIE.  Despite its name, this is actually a grocery shopping app.  Its layout is simple and easy to navigate.  Items are color-coded based on the section of the store you'd find them in.  Unlike other apps, this one isn't FULL of sponsors which I definitely liked.  Another bonus?  You can sync across multiple phones as long as you have the same account - no more texting my husband a list, we simply create ours as the week goes on and then either of us can go to the store with the complete list.

BABY BRAIN.  This is an awesome app for when you have a newborn baby and are suffering from 'baby brain'.  It allows you to track sleep, diapers, bottles or boobs.  In fact a common phrase around our house during the first few weeks was 'can you add a boob' (meaning add on another nursing session)?  Though I don't use it nearly as much any more, it's great to help you remember 'what side', what time the little peanut ate last and how many wet/soiled diapers they've had.

What are your favorite iPhone apps that you come back to everyday (or almost everyday)?  We're always looking for more to add to our list!

Miscellany Monday.

UNO.
The weather in Northern Michigan has been un-REAL.  As in we spent the last week in the upper 80's/low 90's.  Because of said weather, JW, Liza-lou and I spent last week at the cottage.  JW still had to work but we were able to spend the days in the water and tons of time playing with family.

DOS.
Liza-lou is moving like CRAZY!  She LOVES walking holding on to JW or my hands and is getting in to things around the house faster than we can keep her out of them.

TRES.
We ordered one of these bad boys last night.  Pricy?  Yes.  However, after watching some YouTube videos and reading some reviews, we felt like this is something we can use for quite a few years. And since we have Cabela's credit cards, we were able to use a boat-load of points and only pay about $75 for this thing (not bad considering it was listed for $230).  JW and I enjoy hiking and snowshoeing and many of the trails we hike just aren't stroller-friendly...even though the BOB is pretty rugged.  As for the Bjorn, talk about a sore back when you try to do much more than a basic walk with a 20 pound baby.  We'll be sure to include a review as soon as we get it and try it out!

CUATRO.
We're on a mission to do a better job of keeping this blog updated and this time...we're going to hold ourselves to it.  Get ready for lots of momma stories and thoughts as we stay on top of our game!  Plus, we've recently had a few friends asking us where the new recipes, DIY projects, stories, and thoughts have gone and we clearly can't let them down.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.  Anybody tried out a baby carrier for a 'bigger' baby?

Linking up HERE.

Dear Baby Girl (9)

Dear Liza,
You were a rockstar when you slept for 7.5 hours straight last night!  Even though you were wide-awake at 4:47AM, I didn't mind because your sweet smiles are awesome.  But I have to tell you that when you cry as I walk out the door to head to work it makes my heart break a little.  I love that you know your momma and you don't like it when I go (a feeling I'm sure I'll wish for when you're a teenager and I'm so not cool anymore), but it sure does make it hard to walk out the door.  Anyway kiddo, hang in there for 2 more work days.  Then we get to play in sunny Florida for a week.  Your dad and I can't wait to show you sandy beaches and an ocean of salt water (though I'm pretty sure you'll like our unsalted Burt Lake water better)! 
Love,
Your Momma

p.s. we've been slacking on our 40 posts in 40 days...but hopefully we can make up for that soon when that whole Masters/Doctorate thing slows down.