Wordless Wednesday

Just a swingin'!

Perfect Sunday

Today I let myself have the ever so rare lazy day! We didn't even go to church, which was bad of us, but it was so nice to just be home with the family today. When we woke up I decided to make a yummy homemade breakfast for everyone (it's been a while since I did that). I made french toast with fried bananas and banana whipped cream, and bacon. Maddie even got in on the action with some egg yolk-only french toast. She was "bananas" for it! For the first time ever she didn't cry when she was done eating and we had to clean her. And almost immediately afterward she took a 2 hour nap...in her bed! Glory be. I may feed her french toast every day.
After that we took our new dog, Dixie, to Petsmart for a collar & other dog supplies. She is a 3 year old yellow golden retriever, and I'm officially in love with her. She's exactly what I was wanting.
The best part of our day, though, came when we played in the sprinkler outside as a spur-of-the-moment thing. I put the girls in their swimsuits and out we went. We tried playing in the sprinkler with Maddie in June and she hated it, but this time she absolutely loved it. Dixie came outside to play and she loved it too. She went wild playing in it, trying to bite the water. So funny.
Then I made a delish chicken cacciatore from The Throwdown Cookbook. It was amazing. In a few weeks, I am going to start working every other Sunday, and I'm pretty bummed about missing those days with my family. It's what we needed to do after some number crunching though.

MIA

Where the heck have I been? In a nuthshell: moving into our first house (!), chasing a very active and naughty seven month (!) old baby, and sending my big girl off to first grade! It's been a busy month here at the Brewer house, so sorry for the lack of updates lately. I will do a quick run through of what's been happening in our lives.
As I said, we got our house, and we love it. I had forgotten how nice it is to live in an actual home. It still needs a bit of work, and it feels like we're uncovering more things that need done every day, but it's getting there. Pictures soon, I promise.
Maddie recently turned seven months old. She is such a little stinker. She started crawling on August 1, and now you can't stop her. She has also started pulling up on everything she can get her hands on, and she does a bit of cruising on the furniture. I love this age. She is so funny and into everything. She absolutely loves playing with all her toys, as well as Kiley and Delilah's toys.

She loves splashing all the water out of Delilah's bowls

Holding the third door stopper she pulled off in one day

She still eats extremely well-she eats yogurt, oatmeal, peaches, pears, apples, plums, mangoes, bananas, pineapple, green beans, peas, edamame, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, and is now starting all the various finger foods they have for babies-puffs, wagon wheels, and lil crunchies. So far the only food she doesn't appreciate is still rice. Can't say I blame her, I don't like rice either.
As for my big girl, we sent her off to first grade on August 15. She is doing great so far, but I sure miss her. I said all summer that first grade was going to be harder on me than kindergarten was, and so far that has proven to be true. She is doing great though, and has even made a "BFF". Thursday is her school's open house, so I get to go see her classroom setup then. Can't wait!

Little miss sassafrass on the first day!

So now that life has calmed down a bit, I am going to start updating regularly again. Thanks for being patient!

Be back soon....

Maddie turned 6 months old today, so I will do a proper posting on that later. Why later, you ask? Because in mere minutes we are leaving to go here:

for 5 whole days. Ah, the lake! Boating, beaching, hot tubbing, relaxing, etc. See you later! It's vacation time!

Happy Birthday!

Just a quick note to say Happy Birthday to my amazing husband, Casey Brewer!

I had to go back to January 2010 to find a picture of just the two of us-eek! Rx: Date night, stat!
Anyway, I love you C Brew, so happy happy happy happy 27th (not 26th, seriously what happened to that year of my life?!) birthday!

Wordless Wednesday

Kids will be kids, no matter the age:

Some Firsts for Maddie

Maddie had some big firsts last weekend:

her first Fourth of July

Of course she and Kiley had matching patriotic outfits

her first two picnics

Enjoying some dinner on the St. Edwards lawn

her first fireworks show

St. Edwards puts out the second largest show in Nashville

and she started sitting up solo!

Chilling at the pool

We had a great holiday weekend, as you can probably tell. Sunday the third we went to mass in the morning, then to the store for some foods for the cookout, then back out to St. Edwards for the picnic/fireworks show. It was a great time again (our second year going). We ate lots of delicious food, and I got to try a new (to me) food truck, Fleur de Lis flavors. Oh man, they are good! I am all sorts of craving them now. In fact, I tried convincing the hubby that we just had to go there today before his mom's birthday event, but I don't think he agreed. Sigh. Anyway, Kiley played like crazy on the playground while we waited for the fireworks to start, then when they started she came and sat down. They were gorgeous! Maddie actually nursed through about 95% of the show, and didn't even seem to know anything was going on, then she got up for the grand finale. I covered her ears but let her watch, and she loved it! So precious.
Monday the 4th, we had a pretty low key day. We thought about going to a neighborhood parade and the hot chicken festival in East Nashville, but we were all feeling pretty tired out from the night before, so we stayed at home. Luckily, the rain that was predicted stayed away, so in the afternoon we went swimming with Casey's mom and sister. Maddie was in a particularly good mood, so we got to stay at the pool for over 2 hours! Amazing. She spent much of the time doing this:

While Kiley spent the WHOLE time doing this:

What a little mermaid she is!

Then following the swimming, we had another cookout with more delicious food. I love having a grill. Best investment of the summer. After our dinner, we ate my firecracker cake:

How festive! And yummy!

Friday

{the delicious sweet biscuits @ Tasty n Sons}

1.   My plans this summer include       going to the lakehouse for a week, and a (surprise) Selena Gomez concert & trip to the Atlanta Aquarium!

2.  The best summer I ever had was    oh that's a tough one. They've all been pretty good, but I'd say this one HAS to be the best because we have Maddie now, so our family is complete.

3.  Summer is    grilling out, swimming, lazy days, and firefly catching.

4.  My favorite summer food is   currently...grilled vidalia onions marinated in Sweet Onion dressing. OMG. So good.

5.  The best way to quench a summer thirst is with    ice cold water. Mmmmmmm.

6.  My summer uniform consists of       longish shorts, sleeveless tops, rainbow flip flops.

7.  The best thing about summer is       that it gives me time to spend with Kiley and Casey, since they don't have to be at school all day. Love.

Wordless Wednesday

More Fourth of July pictures to come later!

Musical Petting Zoo, and a Trip to the Real Zoo

We had a great, event filled week last week. On Thursday, we went to the library, where the Country Hall of Fame was there doing a great (free!) event for kids called a Musical Petting Zoo. Basically, they bring a bunch of instruments-auto harp, dulcimer, banjo, mandolin, violin, guitar, plus lots of little ones like bongos, washboards, maracas, etc-and they demonstrate how to play them, then let the kids all have a chance to play them. It was crowded, but so worth it. Kiley's favorite instrument was the mandolin, although I loved watching her play the violin the best. We spent about 30 minutes in there, and I think Kiley played each instrument they had for as long as she could. And at the event, workers from the museum mentioned that they often do free kids events during the summer, and if you go you get discounted admission to the museum for everyone-so if we got to an event, all four of us can get in for $24-that's usually the price of one adult ticket. Needless to say, we will be doing that.

Kiley on the mandolin

My favorite-the violin

Got this one for Papa-Kiley picking on the banjo!

Maddie got in on the action too

Then Friday, we headed out to the zoo. It was a nice morning, not too hot, and miracle of miracles, the zoo wasn't crazy busy! I only say that because every time we go to the zoo it ends up being a mob scene. We didn't stay all day because I wanted to go swimming in the afternoon, but we still managed to see all the animals. I just had to promise Kiley that we'll go back soon to ride the carousel and play on the jungle gym.

Kiley is in there popping up like a meercat

Girls & me at the petting zoo.

Maddie loved the petting zoo part! There was one goat named Amber who was out of the enclosure and she was just laying around letting all the kids pet her and brush her. Well, Kiley loved her so we spent a good deal of time with her, and Maddie wanted her so bad! Casey had the camera at the time, so there are no pictures (why is it that husbands aren't picture crazy like wives?). But it was adorable. We had to practically drag Kiley away from the little goat. So sweet!

Love their flamingo exhibit...you can get so close

Kiley mimicking how a flamingo uses its bill to eat-pretty cool

I don't know if we were just lucky or what, but a lot of the animals were really close up this time! We stood practically on top of the flamingos, then the giraffes and elephants were right up by the fences too

Maddie actually managed to stay wake through most of the trip this time-she finally pooped out on the way out of the elephant exhibit. We stopped off at a misting tent, and she didn't even wake up when the water was hitting her

After we got home, she was up and raring to go from her power nap! We went swimming, where she did the best in the pool she's done so far. Today is our church's fourth of July celebration where they do a huge fireworks show with a symphonic band. We're pretty excited about it, so I'm sure I'll have some pictures to share from that!

Fill in the Blank Friday!

1.   The best news I ever received was       finding out I was pregnant. Nothing beats that feeling!

2.  Something I'm looking forward to is    our lake vacation. Between work, general family life, and this house buying stress, I need a break!

3.  Something I would never do is    go on those crazy rides on top of that hotel in Vegas...here's what I mean

4.  If I could choose someone to be my life coach (famous or not, living or dead), I'd choose   Nancy Botwin. She gets stuff done.

5.  If I had to put a label on my style it would be    Mom of 2. LOL.

6.  One should always       enjoy life while it's happening.

7.  I want to       know we're getting this house for sure! I hate the not knowing.

Wordless Wednesday

It didn't rain today! Thank goodness for some sunshine!!!!!!!! We enjoyed it:

Opryland Hotel

Casey and I are on a kick of trying to get in shape this summer. When its nice out, we walk almost 2 miles with the girls in the morning. However, it's been so yucky in Tennessee the past two weeks that we have had to miss a few days. On Sunday after church, I was lamenting the fact that once again we couldn't walk, and Casey suggested we go to the Opryland Hotel. First of all, let me just say that when my family first moved to Tennessee, my parents would drag us to this hotel whenever anyone came to visit us, and my brother and I despised it. Now that I'm an adult, I get it. It's an amazing hotel, and a great way to spend the afternoon. We walked around in there for two hours, and I'm quite sure we didn't see everything! The girls both loved it.

My precious girls

Kiley and I loved this table and chair set! Looks like an enchanted tea party area from Alice in Wonderland

Sorry for the poor picture quality, we forgot the camera, so these are all cell phone shots. But as you can see, we had a great time! Next rainy day we are planning on going to the Tennessee State Museum, which I am totally nerding out about. Can't wait for that!

FitBF

1.   The last thing I ate was      Chicken nuggets and french fries. Yeah, real healthy.

2.  The next thing I'd like to eat is    Braised short ribs over mushroom risotto. Yum.

3.  The best things     in the world are the members of my family. Love my days with Casey, Kiley, and Madelyn

4.  Something that makes me supremely and utterly happy is   days off with the whole family, where we go on a fun outing.

5.  Sports are     a mixed bag. Love hockey, like college football and nfl, like soccer, the rest....meh.

6.  I miss       sleep. Sad to say it, but sometimes I do.

7.  Right now I am       waiting for Casey to get home so we can start grilling out some dinner. Yum.

Father's Day

Sunday was Father's Day. I always try really hard to make Father's Day super special for Casey, since he always makes Mother's Day great for me. I never feel like we do enough, though, but I always leave everything up to him, so maybe he just enjoys having a lazy day? Ha, I am never really a fan of a lazy day-I take about one every three months, if that. This year, Kiley had the idea to bring him breakfast in bed, so we did that-super fluffy pancakes with cinnamon cream and bacon. Then we gave him his gifts-a nice new shirt and a grill set. After that we were lazy for a long time, then we drove Kiley out to see the neighborhood we're hoping to live in by the end of July, then off to Five Guys for dinner, yum! We love Five Guys, and could probably eat there every day. Oh, and I made Casey some old fashioned banana pudding, his favorite dessert of all time. I rarely make it, and I don't know why. I build this mythology in my head that it's really time consuming and ridiculous, but it only really takes about 30-45 minutes start to finish, and its easy. Oh well. Maybe I'll start making it more.

Maddie loves being able to sit in high chairs now!

Daddy and his girls

Maddie at 5 months

I said it with Kiley, and I'll say it again with Maddie-5 months has got to be my favorite age! She is so much fun now, but she can't get anywhere to wreak too much havoc yet. The perfect age :)
Let's see, at 5 months, Maddie now: eats sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, pears, oatmeal, and applesauce. We are starting peas tomorrow, and hopefully she'll love them as much as she's loved everything else so far! She is a food maniac. When we go out to eat we have to fight her away from our food. Silly girl.
She rolls over both ways, frequently.
She can sit up for just a few seconds on her own.
She can stand holding on to something (what strong legs!)
She is wearing 0-3 months all the way to 6-9 months clothes. It's pretty nice. There are very few things which she's outgrown.
Still sleeping in her own bed every night, and sleeps until at least 5 am usually, although today she slept until 6:30.
Wants to play all the time. I love it!