Milan's Birthday Party

This was Milan's Golden Birthday and last hurrah in Omaha so we had to make it good.  We planned a drive-in movie party with a sleepover.  

We started with her favorite dinner, Sausage Tortellini, cheesy broccoli, and rolls then headed outside for a Silly String Fight.  Silly String ran out after a couple minutes, but they had a blast!  It was pretty dang hot, so we were excited to head inside for cake and presents.  Milan received some very generous gifts like a new swimsuit, Target gift card, money, and a handmade wall hanging.  We were about to leave for the drive-in theater with the truck, comfy blankets, popcorn, and treats when we got a text that the movie was cancelled due to wind.  I was so bummed, but the girls didn't seem too bothered so we decided to hit up the splash pad.  They had SO much fun being together and throwing water on each other for hours.  The best part was they were pretty tired for the rest of the night and willing to go to sleep at 12:30 before the forewarned "mean mom" had to come out. 

The next morning we had more playtime and breakfast then sent these cute girls on their way.  We of course needed a little downtime from all the late night partying!  

10 Year Old Pictures

Milan's birthday was the day before her party so we enjoyed 2 days of birthday festivities.  We kicked off Milan's birthday was early morning snuggles in our bed.  This year, Eden and Cora both bought Milan their own gifts so everyone was up early and excited for gift time.  Milan opened up Magic Pens, Legos (from Eden), an American Girl bead kit (from Cora), Beados, and a gift certificate for pottery painting.  Dave got her a motorcycle helmet and Calvin and Hobbes book, but they arrived later.  After gifts, Milan graciously shared her Magic Pens with all the girls and they created forever!  Next up, we went to a ward bbq, then Dave took them to a old school soda fountain in downtown Plasttsmouth, and we ended the day with some birthday pictures. 

Milan's birthday pictures were so fun!  She picked out her outfit, I picked out her hairstyle, we drove a couple miles down the highway to the perfect empty lot/ drainage ditch area and snapped away.  

I am so glad I got to capture some of Milan's beauty, but more importantly, she is an amazing kid!  She is such a big helper, usually willing to play with Indie, help with a quick chore, or lend a helping hand when she can tell I'm stressed.  She is the peacemaker in our family and can usually solve disputes with a fun inclusive game.  As a mom, I obviously love these parts of Milan, but that's not all.  She has adopted Dave's sarcasm and can be pretty funny.  She is fun and has a great group of friends.  She is super smart and is often hiding out with a book.  She is inclusive of people that are different than her.  Dave and I are both proud of Milan and can't help to pat ourselves on the back a bit because she's turning out so awesome!  (Let's see if we can keep it going haha.)

More Summer Fun

I wish I could bottle up all this summer goodness, but I have to make do with pictures and memories.

Eden and I worked on her llama sewing project and it was her new favorite for a couple days.

We have lots of play dates with the Fiddlers and it's always a crazy good time.  This year, Cora has started playing with Charlie, she's a little bossy, but he doesn't seem to mind.  One of our favorite activities is splash pads!   

One night, I handed Indie off to Dave so I could take the girls night swimming.  We drove to Plattsmouth just to find the pool closed.  It was a bummer, but we made up for it with a new splash pad, field full of dandelions, and a rescheduled late night pool date at Dowding with tons of friends!  

And....more tickle monster.  

Indie {18 Months}

Indie's personality is really starting to come out and she is more fun every day.  She laughs when she hears others laughing, waves hi and bye, plays peekaboo with her shirt and hands, throws her water cup on the floor every single time she is done drinking, cries when I leave her, hates waking up from late naps, pats my back when I hold her, LOVES books, yells baby jibberish in public, loves signing "down" then knocking block towers over, and the very best part is that she is TALKING.  She has tenish word approximations that she uses consistently and appropriately! She says "uh" for up, da-da, ma-ma, "da" for down, "da" and hitting her belly for dog, "ma" for more, "mmmm-k" for milk, "all-da" for all done.  I get so excited thinking about Indie becoming a little talker!  

Indie is getting stronger and has been standing independently for a 10-20 seconds.  Every time she does it, we clap for her and she is SO proud of herself!  It's one of our favorite games.  She has also started walking only holding one hand and pushes whatever she can get her hands on.  Less noticeably, Indie is developing some strong OT and pretend play skills.  I even let her feed herself with utensils some of the time and she is doing pretty well.  

Indie seems 100% recovered from her infection, but still has her PICC line for another week and a half.  I have started wrapping her leg in Press n' Seal for splash pads, which she loves, but I think she will love the pool even more.  Only 1 1/2 weeks!   

Water Fight!

We spent the morning at a walk sponsored by the Scottish Rite, the organization that funds Indie's awesome speech therapy at Munroe Meyer.  It was way too hot, but I was glad we were able to show our support and we got to chat with some friends.  

The real highlight of the day was a water fight at Lucy's house!  The girls played and laughed for hours....now that is the perfect activity for a hot day!  

Daddy Date

We were talking about Milan's birthday party next weekend and Eden decided that she and Cora got to go on a date with daddy.  They scheduled it for this evening so of course Eden talked about it non-stop, and even put on a special outfit for the occasion.  When dad got home, he threw a big kink in Eden's plan by inviting the entire family to an ice cream shop in downtown Plattsmouth.  Eden reluctantly agreed as long as she and dad got their own table haha.  

It turns out that the ice cream shop closes at a ridiculously early hour, but we had a fun time walking around the cute downtown area, ran to HyVee for some Drumsticks (with sprinkles which was a total score) and headed to the park to play for a bit.  I even let Indie have an ice cream cone at the park, which was BIG hit, but a little messy.  We ended the night with lots of Underdogs on the swings.  

I was talking to Eden right before bed and she said she had secretly hoped she could go to the park too and couldn't believe she got to do everything on her list.  Yay for a happy sleepy little bug!    

Strawberry Pick'n

We have been to Bellevue Berry Farms a couple of times, but this is the first time we did it right!  We visited right as strawberry season began so that we could enjoy cool weather and lots of strawberry choices.  After we filled our strawberry buckets, we stayed and played with the Fiddlers for hours!  The girls had a blast playing at all the random play structures, exploring unused Haunted Houses, and adventuring all around the grounds.  Another beautiful summer day in the books.