Busy as bees!

We've been so busy over here that I can't believe it's been nearly a month since my last post. I have lots to say and definitely plenty of pictures so grab a cool glass of lemonade (preferably strawberry) and let's dive in!

Father's Day weekend was particularly busy for us, as it is every year since my Dad's birthday generally shares the weekend and quite often, the actual day. This year his birthday was on the Friday so K and Nana made him a cake and a pan of her famous lasagna. It was very tasty. K has become quite proficient at helping Nana make cakes. We'll have to start introducing her to some other foods in the kitchen or she'll turn into me and only enjoy baking ;)

On the Saturday of Father's Day weekend my brother, sis-in-law and the Princess came out to celebrate Dad's bday and Father's Day and then we all headed over to our aunt and uncle's house to celebrate our cousins 5th birthday. It was a pool party and all of the girls did REALLY well in the pool.

E had so much fun!

Already learning to splash Daddy

On Father's Day we went to church and enjoyed a waffle breakfast sponsored by the youth to make money for their summer trip. After all the craziness of the weekend, we ended up just going home afterwards and relaxing. The girls and I gave Daddy his gift: a gallery wrapped 16x20 canvas print of them I took in the backyard. It turned out cute but of course I couldn't get both girls to smile. This is the picture:

No smiles from the world's smiliest baby. Figures!

I finally got around to taking a picture of the girls in their Big Sis / Lil Sis matching shirts which is a good thing because that onesie on E was really stretching to fit.

There are those famous smiles =D

This past weekend (starting Friday the 22nd) was another busy but fun weekend for the JAKES + N&P. On Friday we (my parents, the girls and I) drove into the city to go to the aquarium because it was free admission for the whole week and we wanted to catch it before it was over. When we got there we had a picnic in the park area right near the aquarium. The weather was amazing!

The girls enjoying our picnic lunch under the shade of a tree.

K wanted to hug the tree and even gave it a kiss. That's my girl!
I even have a onesie for E that says "Future Tree Hugger".

When we walked over to the aquarium we noticed a REALLY long line near a side entrance. We asked a nice woman if this was the line to get in. She informed us it was the stroller line. I was feeling pretty good about myself right then because I had decided to carry E in a front carrier instead of bringing our stroller so YAY, we wouldn't have to wait in that line. We moved around to the front of the building and saw another line that was three times as long. Yeah, there was no way we were going to the aquarium. After the hour or more wait just to get in, I'd be a nervous wreck with the girls in that size crowd. Plan B! Thankfully the Natural History Museum is right next store so we were able to go there and see the dinosaurs. It wasn't free, which was a bummer, but it was still a lot of fun.

Papa, Nana & K in front of the Tyrannosaurus Rex

Comparing femur sizes.

On Sunday we headed up north to the Strawberry Festival. Being a strawberry lover I'd always wanted to go to this fest but always ended up missing by a day or a week or something. Not this year! We grabbed some doughnuts on our way and got there shortly after they opened. It was a cool 78 degrees and it wasn't too crowded - perfect!

The beautiful butterfly bench in the Artistic Garden.

However, as the day wore on, the heat and the crowds increased. By the time we left it was 90 degrees and we were all ready for a cold drink. However, K had a blast and enjoyed her third pony ride.

We didn't know this pony's name so she named it after herself, much like all of her toys at home.

This was an inflatable "money grab" machine but with balloons instead.
It could have used more balloons in my opinion but K still seemed to like it.

We had to improvise and use Daddy's baseball hat to keep the sun off of E. You can see the heat in my face.

With these busy weekends in addition to our normal busy weekday schedule (Mon: ballet, Tues: summer craft program at the local toy store, Wed: ballet, Thrs: library story time, Fri: bowling) we are definitely taking advantage of all the free activities and fests around our area. Tomorrow is K's little recital for ballet so I'll be posting a video of that. I can't wait! Then we'll rearrange our schedule so that bowling will be on Mondays, her next class, ArtRageous Fun will be on Wednesdays and we'll do Park Day on Fridays. We've been trying to hit a different one of the 22 parks around our area each week. So far we've done three and they've all been very nice. I really miss the splash pads we had out in OH though, especially when the forecast calls for 102 degrees on Thursday. Ugh!

As a last note, today is the day, two years ago we lost our little A. It's unbelievable to think it's been 2 years already. We still miss her and think of her regularly however the loss is lessened by the joy of our little E. We are so blessed and thank God daily for our families and our health.

I hope you all are having a great summer. If you want, leave me a comment and let me know what you're up to and if you think I'm crazy with all of these activities.

So much to say, so little time.

I think the title says it all. So much happens everyday and it just seems like I can never find the time to make a post. I am so in love with our precious kiddos but I had no idea how much more work it was going to be with two than it was with one. I'm sure at some point when they can actually play together it will get a bit easier but right now, when they both want 100% of my attention 100% of the day, it's REALLY tiring. I *still* have stuff in boxes in pretty much every room of the house and I don't think that's going to change unless I can get a weekend to finish the unpacking already. It's making me nuts. I really don't like not knowing where our stuff is located and just general disorganization is my number one enemy.

Let's see, since my last post several cool things have happened. One of the big ones is I've switched from disposable diapers to cloth diapers and I totally love them! Some very good friends of ours gave us a ton of their old diaper boxes when we were moving (and thank goodness for them!!!) but as I surveyed this huge mountain of diaper boxes I thought to myself, "that's a TON of money" and they were only up to size 3 diapers. I started thinking about how much money we spend in diapers from birth to being potty trained and the numbers are staggering. Plus there's the environmental factor of all of those diapers going into the landfills. The plastic lining on those things never biodegrades. Anyway, I did a TON of research trying to figure out what kind will be the best for us and our situation and I tried a few different kinds. I ended up going with the Bum Genius 4.0 snaps and I really love them. They have a soft, waterproof outer fabric and are lined on the inside with fleece to wick the moisture away from baby's skin. A microfiber insert fits into the fleece pocket and holds all the liquid. This past weekend we went to visit with family and friends and stayed with my father-in-law. I decided not to bring our cloth diapers because I would have had to wash some of them while we were there and God bless him, he has his hot water heater set to "inferno hot". I was concerned the diapers would get ruined in those temperatures so I used up some of the size 3 Huggies we already owned. It seemed so strange to be back putting disposable diapers on my girl. For me, putting actual cloth on my baby is so much nicer than the paper-feeling disposables. There is definitely more of an up front cost (each diaper costs $17.95) and there is an increase in laundry (I have enough that I can go two days before I have to do wash) but it's so worth it to me. And seriously, they look super cute on her tushie ;)

**UPDATE**
Here is a link with information about our cloth diapering experience.
Here is a link about using cloth baby wipes.
Here is a link to a comparison between the BumGenius 4.0 One-Size Pocket diapers and the FuzziBunz One-Size Elite Pocket Diapers.


Next we celebrated Mother's Day - my first with Little E and my fourth with Kbear (that hardly seems possible).

Me and my girls :)  I'm wearing my new Mother's Day necklace. It has all of our names around the circle and a pearl
hangs in the middle to represent the June birthstone for our little Angel Baby.

The Mommies

The Daddies (except for the Hubs who had to stay home and study for his test)

We've also joined (for the second year) "Kids Bowl Free". It's a cool program that allows the children to bowl two free games every single day for the entire summer. Last year I think we only went twice because the bowling alley where we signed up never had the ramps available for us to use and even the lightest ball is still too heavy for Kbear to roll it all of the way down the alley, even with the bumpers up. This new alley is great and we have had a ramp every time we've gone so far, which is twice. We'll go again tomorrow. It's been really fun because after we bowl we go out to lunch together and it's very nice having a lunch date with my big girl. I'm so proud of her =D

Setting up on the ramp.

Giving the ball a good hard push.

Smiles for the camera :)

Little E is growing by leaps and bounds. She is very capable of grabbing her hanging toys, flipping over (especially from her back to her stomach when I'm trying to change her diaper), and scooching on her back, backwards, halfway across the great room (and believe me, it's a big room!) She is as smiley and beautiful as ever and her big sister loves her so very much. We are truly blessed!

She has learned she has feet and is very fascinated by them.

Smiley girl

She has always had very strong neck and core muscles so she has been able to hold her head up from
day one. She is the only baby I know who actually enjoys tummy time.

Thanks for stopping by!

A bit of catching up to do

I've been a bad blogger. I've been meaning to post night after night but I always end up choosing sleep over posting. I'm sure you understand. Anyway, I decided that tonight is the night to finally share some cute pictures of the girls that we've taken lately. I have a bunch more (big shocker, I know) but I'll save those for another post.

For Arbor Day this year we went to, very appropriately, an amazing Arboretum near our house that was having a very
cool kids program that day. Let's just say that before we went home, we ended up becoming members. It's a cool place!

K did her part in helping plant a tree that we can come visit every time we go to the Arboretum. Each kid got to shovel
on a scoop of dirt and sprinkle in a watering can of water. There were a lot of kids there but she waited patiently.

The guest of honor was none other than Curious George! He is obviously a fan of lambs because he scooped up Lilly
and gave her a hug. I wasn't sure what K would do about that since that is her VERY special lamb but she must have
been ok with it because she gave him a hug (once she had Lilly back safely) and by the time we went on the Nature Hike
K was by his side, holding his hand, the entire time.

The following day we went to another beautiful park to celebrate Earth Day (which was kind of funny since the actual
Earth Day was a week before this celebration, but whatever.) They had free pony rides there and K went twice!

The last time we encountered the chance for a free pony ride she was a bit too nervous to try it so I wasn't sure if she
would want to this time but she absolutely loved it! She rode Lucky once and before we left, hopped on Thunder for one
more go around. I'm so proud of how brave she is becoming as she gets older.

E's wonderful aunt sent us a very sweet package of adorable clothes and she was wondering if the smallest outfit would
still fit her. This is proof that it does (and that we love it!)  I never get over how expressive our sweet little girl is already.

And while things aren't always all sunshine and roses...

...it's very rare that we see her without a smile on her face.

Easter Beauties

This Easter we spent a nice relaxing day at home with Grandpa. With all of the craziness of packing and getting ready to move, the Easter Bunny almost forgot about hiding eggs and getting K's basket together. Thankfully the Bunny remembered in the wee hours of the morning before anyone else woke up and was able to get everything all set. After K found her eggs and ripped through her gifts, Grandpa came over for a relaxed dinner of Bistro Chicken, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, salad, bread and raspberry brownies. It was really nice to spend so much time with him and to have a day where we didn't have to worry about packing. Here are a few pictures of the girls in their Easter outfits:

Hunting for Easter Eggs

Smiling for the camera

Sweet sisters in their matching yellow outfits

Our smiley little girl

Grandpa and E checking each other out.

Grandpa and K modeling the latest in Easter eyewear.

Friday Family Fun Night 3

This past Friday we had our third Friday Family Fun Night. Our first FFFN consisted of eating pizza in our bed while watching a movie of K's choice: Toy Story 2 (I wish I had taken some pictures of it. Oh well.) Our second was camping in the living room (seen here.) For our third FFFN we let her pick the restaurant of her choice for dinner (Red Robin) and then set up the ball pit. It used to be set up in her playroom but as we've accumulated more and more toys I took it down since it takes up quite a bit of space and she wasn't playing in it much. She saw it folded up in her closet that afternoon and wanted me to set it up for her. I didn't have the chance to during the day but thought it would make for a fun FFFN for her and us.

All smiles while playing her MobiGo in the ball pit.

We were having ball wars with her throwing the balls out and us throwing them back in at her.

She also really liked standing on the ottoman and pitching balls into the top hole.

Trying to capture one of E's beautiful smiles in a photo. I have some better ones on my phone that I have to download.

Looking very serious. I would be serious too if I had to dodge balls being thrown by my big sister ;)

Mommy and E pooped out after an entertaining Friday Family Fun Night.

Our 2nd Friday Family Fun Night

As I type this, K and A are camping.. Never mind that they have indoor plumbing and there are no spiders in the showers, or that the stars are being projected by Edward the Turtle. That's right, the tent is set up downstairs in our living room and I haven't seen K that excited about something in a long time.

To start off our second FFFN (Friday Family Fun Night) we had hot dogs cooked on a Foreman grill instead of an open fire and S'mores made in the microwave instead of flaming on a stick. No matter, they still tasted great, especially since the only big marshmallows we had were the strawberry flavored ones and they were quite tasty with the chocolate. Then K and I went up to her room to pack her backpack full of all the things she would need for camping. Aside from her toothbrush, a pair of jammies and a Buzz Lightyear flashlight, the rest of the bag was packed with stuffed animals. Our kiddo has priorities, man! While we were doing that, A was setting up the tent. When I came up with this idea I had no idea how huge this thing is and that it would take up almost our entire living room. From the moment he got it standing, K has been in it jumping around like a crazy child hyped up on too many S'mores. Because of A's back issues I didn't want him sleeping on the ground so we carried our super comfy futon mattress down and a huge number of pillows. With our trusty Coleman lantern, sub-zero sleeping bag and Daddy's guitar, they were all set to start their camp out. I'm actually quite bummed not to be sleeping down there with them but I didn't want Little E or I to keep them awake with multiple nighttime feedings. At least we were able to pray together via Skype. Ahh, camping at its finest! Now if only I had bought some Tang...

They found the perfect site to pitch the tent.

Super excited to be jumping around in the tent.

Dancing to Daddy's campfire songs.

All snuggled up in the sleeping bag.

Too fast!

I can't believe how fast kids grow up. On the 22nd Little E turned one month and on the 23rd K turned 3 1/2! I am constantly amazed at how incredible these girls are.

K absolutely loves to sing and dance. I'm shocked at how many songs she knows (mostly thanks to Daddy) and how she can actually sing along with the pitch and rhythm. Plus, she cracks me up with how she will dance to any music she hears, whether it's the song from E's bouncy seat to a jingle on a commercial. I really want to get her into some dance lessons because I think she would absolutely love it.

E is really starting to look at things and follow with her eyes. She is incredibly strong and can easily lift her head and turn it from side to side. She will also smile now when we play this little kissing game with her. It's SO cute!

K absolutely loves her little sister. She asks to hold her on her lap all the time and loves to snuggle with her in her bed. Yesterday we decided to instate "Friday Fun Night" (yeah, we're copying off our friends). For our first FFN all four of us snuggled up in our bed and watched Toy Story 3 while eating pizza. Next Friday we're going to set up the tent in our living room and "camp out". The Friday after that I want to set up a big obstacle course. Hopefully we'll be able to come up with some fun ideas each Friday.

Here are some pictures I've taken the past few days:

This was taken when E turned one month. Mom wants me to take one on the quilt each month to see how much she
grows. As you can see, she's a little over three squares now.

There is this photographer named Adele Enersen who took all of these fun photos of her infant daughter imagining what
she might be dreaming of. This is my attempt at a photo like that. It was supposed to be E counting sheep but of course
the moment I set her down she woke up so it didn't quite work out the way I wanted but I still like it.

I couldn't decide which one I liked best so I included all four. It warms my heart so much to see how K loves E.