Fun Weekend!

On Friday night we headed over to the Hillins' to catch up after their trip to MN.  Grandma Pauline brought out the Pooh toy and Ashley had a lot of fun riding around and around the kitchen island!

Poor Grandma's back!  We gotta get Trevor to push her around...gently of course!  We'll have to take out our riding/walking toys at home for our little princess!

That evening Trevor ended up having an impromptu sleepover at Grandma and Papa's house!  He was so excited and luckily we had packed Skip It in the bag for the car ride home.  Although, he was so excited that he probably wouldn't have even noticed that it was missing if we didn't have it.  They had a lot of fun and Trevor slept all night by himself in his room.  In the morning they had bagels with 'frosting,' planted flowers, went to fire truck park where a kids birthday was being held complete with a bouncy house, and went to Peter Piper Pizza before coming home to nap around 1:00!  Trevor is already planning his next sleepover at Grandma and Papa John's!  What did Brian and Sara do without their son?  Well we got a lot of errands run Saturday morning (amazing how quickly you can go in and out of a store with just one kid who is still in her infant carrier and has no interest in the toy section!).  That allowed us to have the rest of the day free so we spent time in the pool!  Ashley liked playing peek a boo with Dada....

...practicing swimming and floating...

...smiling....

...and just looking cute!

Trevor had a lot of fun too but once and a while he got out and bundled up in his towel.  To some Arizonans it may have been a bit chilly to swim, but we really enjoyed it!

Ashley sure is a ham!  When Mommy started taking pictures she started waving hello to the camera! 

What Ashley probably liked the most though were Trevor's diving torpedoes that he dives down to get.  Anything that is his, she loves! 

And one last picture of Daddy and his two water babies!

On Sunday our friends from MN, Barb and Don came to visit!  They arrived in AZ on Wednesday and spent a few days in Sedona celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary before coming to our house for a night!  We were so excited to see them and catch up!  Trevor thought they were pretty fun too...especially when you have a willing participant at the doctor game :)

They spoiled the kids with presents.  And what is probably a first for Trevor...he didn't want to open the gifts right away.  They probably sat on the counter for 5 plus hours before he was ready!!

The adults had a lot of fun chatting and eating and drinking...a lot of wine...and staying up too late but it was all worth it!  It was hard to say good-bye in the morning but we'll see each other again sometime!

Trevor has been very into eating breakfast (always cinnamon/sugar toast) with a tray.  He must feel pretty special with that tray!

And when Dada got home Monday night they tried out one of the gifts Barb and Don brought...mustaches!   Our silly boys!

Ah, Trevor is growing up right before our eyes...mustache and all!

The dress! (Updated)

On Nana's last full day in AZ we dressed Ashley in the dress Sara wore on her ride home after being adopted a few days shy of being 4 months old.

Nana Jeanne said it was Sara's first store purchased clothing item.  It was from JC Penney's and was for size 18lbs - 23lbs.  Ashley isn't quite there at almost 11 months and Sara certainly wasn't there at close to 4 months but Nana had written down 17lbs when she got the call so that's the size they got. 

Ashley must have known it was a special dress because she crawled a lot off of her tummy when wearing it.  She has such big blue eyes!  Same color as Trevor!

The back of the dress was pretty cute too.  They don't make them like this any more!  Or maybe they do but we haven't seen any!

We took her outside for a little photo shoot but Miss Diva did not like the feel of the grass!  She held her hands like this the whole time!

Not sure of the fake spiky stuff!

Really Mom?  Can we go in now?

I can't even see it's so bright out here!

More and more people say that Ashley and Sara have the same face...which makes Mommy smile since everyone thinks Trevor is Brian's spittin' image!

No matter who she looks like, we're just thankful for her.  Our happy, smiley baby who looks so cute in her Mommy's first outfit!

 And here's Mommy wearing it :)  Check out Nana Jeanne and Papa Steve too!  They haven't changed a bit!

Nana Jeanne Visits!

 Nana Jeanne got an awesome deal on a flight down to AZ so we got to spend a whole week with her!  Everyone was super excited!  We were so excited and immersed with our time together that we forgot to take pics the first few days but that's okay.  We were busy living!  Busy  being the key word!  Wednesday after we picked her up around 1:00pm we got settled at the house and then did a little grocery shopping so that we could have a delicious pasta dinner before watching one of Nana's many TV shows she follows (he he!).  On Thursday Sara took Trevor to his dentist appointment in the morning, then we ran some errands and did a whole lot of food prep and cooking!  That night Brian was on a business trip so Nana Jeanne and Sara held down the fort just fine...can't go wrong with some wine and reality singing shows!  

On Friday when Trevor was at preschool Sara and Nana ran around like crazy people finding home decor items.  Both Grandmas are so much better at decorating than Mommy :) We did so much running that it wore our little princess out!

Friday night when Daddy got home he did his special trick with Ashley making her practice her balance skills. She loves when he does that!

 And guess what we did after that?  Friday night....calls for bull riding!!  Trevor was so excited to sit in the front row to see everything up close!

 Nana was excited to see her first rodeo since we've talked so much about it!  We saw a lot of good rides and some scary moments but all in all was another great rodeo!

 On Saturday Brian needed to focus and fix our pool pump so Nana and Sara took the kiddos to LaMars donuts.  The best donuts around!  Seriously! 

 After that we took back all of the home decor items that didn't work out (which was most of it) and stopped at McDonalds for Trevor to play in the dinosaur playground.  He loves it there!  While the kids napped that afternoon Nana and Sara put out our Fall decorations.  Still a little weird to see Fall leaves and other ornamental things when it is 90 degrees but we go with it!  Saturday evening we made a bunch of appetizers and enjoyed dinner outside!  It was just perfect out!

 On Sunday we went to early mass and Ashley broke out one of her cousin's summer dresses for probably the last time. Even though it is 90+ degrees, people here don't dress in summer colors much anymore!  Oh well, she does look pretty cute - bed head and all!

 Ashley is pulling herself up to standing on furniture now....

 ...and is daring enough to let go to get to another piece of furniture!

 While Daddy was outside putting up the Halloween decorations, Sara and Nana Jeanne were busy inside sorting the close to 200 beanie babies for donation in Kendall's name.  Trevor thought they were all for him...he was so excited!  Luckily, picking just three sufficed for him :)

 It's great when Nana is around because she is in constant education mode.  Sara is like a sponge watching and listening to all of her tips and tricks.  Ashley definitely knows some baby signs but still isn't using them herself.  Nana was on a mission to get her to use more during her time here!

 On Monday Nana volunteered to be the parent helper at Trevor's school!  She had a lot of fun and Trevor really liked showing her off to his friends and teachers.  While Trevor stayed for Lunch Bunch and even tried out Discovery Time, the three girls went out for lunch!  Ashley was great as always...flirting with everyone around and eating her crackers and food!

 She also had a blast when Nana was letting her sip from her straw.

 When Nana took off her glasses to clean them Ashley was admiring her different self.  When she realized it was still Nana she gave her a big smile!

 Ashley has just started giving kisses when asked!  It's so cute when she plants a wet slobbery kiss on you!

 Big girl even prefers to drink out of a cup!  That Nana is always making sure she hits her milestones!  Love!

 On Monday evening we met Nicci and boys at the famed Peter Piper Pizza where the boys played and played (and got a ton of free tickets from an employee) while the ladies chatted away.  Mike was working late and Brian was working at home on trying to figure out our Internet issues (thank goodness by the time we got home he had it fixed.  He really is Mr. Fix It.  Double love!)

 On Tuesday we headed out to the train park for Ashley's first choo choo ride.

 She wasn't sure what to think when it first started out...

 ...but she got very into it!  Pointing and laughing and just taking everything in!

 The only part she wasn't so sure of was the tunnel...which is pretty dark and the kids all scream.  This was taken at the end of the tunnel near the light.  Poor girl wasn't havin' that tunnel!

 After that was the carousel! 

 Ashley wasn't a big fan of the round and around and around so we showed Nana the little train museum.  Trevor couldn't get enough of showing Nana how the fire station worked when he put his hand up to the signal.

 Tuesday late afternoon was soccer where Trevor proudly showed off his mad soccer skills!

 And then we went right to swimming lessons where Ashley showed off her mad
 'I'm learning to stand' pose while big brother was in the pool behind her.

 Our last night was spent with some reading...

 ...and puzzle making!

 On Wednesday we snapped a quick picture of Nana and her two AZ grandkids...

 ...before Nana took Trevor into school and said goodbye because then it was time to take her to the airport to go back home.  Sad :(

But it's more like 'see you later' because both Nana Jeanne and Papa Steve will be back before we know it for the kids' birthdays!  YAY!  Thanks for all of your help and fun Nana!  We always enjoy every second of our time together!!  See you soon!