- L&D Weddings x 2! -

Ohhhhhhh my gawshhhh...

ANNA AND LAUREN ARE MARRIED!!!

[Not to each other, of course.]

These glamour girls were two of my very first friends when I was a brand spankin' new grad on labor and delivery, and they saved me from being eaten alive as I was learning the ropes of nursing!  They quickly escalated from "first friends" to "BEST friends," and the rest is history! :) But seriously, they've literally been right.by.my.side through each and every one of my huge life moments and milestones [I mean LITERALLY right there: chugging beers at my bachelorette party, handing out programs at our wedding, and standing 1-2 inches away from my vagina as Harper made her grand entrance into the world! So yeah, you see what I mean...], so it goes without saying that Brian and I were SO very excited to be there for their special days as they each married the man of their wildest dreams!

So much love in the air!!!

Anna's mini-shower came first:

...and then the wedding day!

They had this awesome "Fish Eye Fun" photo booth that we didn't have fun at at all...

^^ L&D nurses taking the floor by storm!

The reception got even better when we noticed there was a large delivery of White Castle Crave Cases...! We left with full tummies and lots of memories knowing the next L&D wedding was only a month away!!!

...Then that month passed and voila!  

Here comes the briiiiiiiide!

Lots of love and laughs and [of course] more L&D shenanigans...

Congrats to both of the beautiful brides.......now wives!  

May your marriages be even more beautiful than your weddings were! Love you guys!!! xoxoxo

- When you're the offspring of a beached whale... -

...you're basically destined to mature into a beached whale as well. 

[Sorry, Harp!]

Last week, Grammy's friend Suzanne graciously welcomed us to her backyard pool [wowza!!!]; so of course we plunged in on on the offer! I wasn't sure what Harper would think, since last year she was NOT a fan of being submerged in a huge body of cold water:

But whoop! whoop!, she managed to dip a toe in this year without squealing her brains out!  She really liked riding the dolphin, considering she could escape the water basically completely:

...then every once in a while she was brave enough to stick an appendage under the fountain waterfall!

When it was all said and done, we went out knowing what we knew when we came in: beached whales go' be beached whales fo' LYFE!  #likemotherlikedaughter ... #minusthetwotonbuddingbabybelly

As we were walking to the car, overheard was:
Grammy: "So Harper, which did you like better: the pool or the dogs?"
Harper: *no hesitation whatsoever* "DOGGIES!"

So thanks, Suzanne, for sharing your pool...and your dogs!!! ;) :)

- Princess Party -

Calling allllllll princesses! 

Harper's super great [Great] Aunt Stephanie registered her for a Princess Party this weekend and -- *bibbidi-bobbidi-boo* -- whaddya know -- we turned our little ragamuffin into a sparkling Bella Belle and whisked her off for a magical night at the YMCA!

There were crafts and inflatables and photo opportunities with princesses of all shapes and sizes...

...and EVEN horse-drawn carriage rides outside the building!!! Harper wasn't too fond of getting on the carriage but turned her frown upside down super soon as the horses began trotting off.  #princessstatus

I wasn't sure if she'd warm up to this whole "princess" idea; she's still a Minnie Mouse lova' for lifeee and we haven't really graduated to the classic Disney movies, but she came right out of her shy shell and marched right up to each princess to get her book signed and a photo taken!  Luckily we had this hand-me-down dress [or is it PJs/nightgown? I'll never know...] from her big cousin Fiona and she fit riiiiight in with the glitter and glamour!

What's a party without a snack and a story?! This place had it all figured out! ;)  

After lots of, "Momma, got wait our turn!" while standing in lines with her hallmark sassy-pantsed raised eyebrow,  we finally saw alllll the princesses and maneuvered through the entire YMCA. [Confession:  We did stray far far away from one booth called "BEAUTY STATION" ...mostly because I'm a fun-sucker of a mother and didn't feel like scrubbing spray glitter out of our couch, sheets, and carseats for the next three months!]

We were just about to exit the mini-Disney World when Daddy saw a sign that said "OPEN GYM!" And holy molyyyyy, this little princess/monkey loved it!!!

We ended up closing the place down and walking back to the car with a bag full of goodies and a ton of great memories!  

Thank you sooo much for this, Aunt Stephanie!!! It truly was magical experiencing it all through the eyes of a two-year-old! :-* 

- SO MANY Strawberriesss -

We've been scarfing strawberries from Aldi lately which is all fine and well, BUT!  I just found these throwback pics [from late May, oops!] and my mouth is salivating all over the keyboard just thiiiiinking about how delectable these homegrown, fresh little red beauties were!  Huge shout-out to Kern Family Orchard in Raymond, IL; the family friendly U-pick atmosphere is amazing!  We planned to go for blueberry U-pick and missed it, but I heard the peaches are still in season and I'm hoping we can find time to go again in the next week or so!

 But anyway, these strawberries...

Harper enjoyed picking for about five minutes before she realized she was also permitted to sample the crop...

...and the rest is history! 

Good thing Grammy is an expert farm girl ;) and could replenish the gathering buckets much quicker than Harper could deplete them!

Strawberries for days!  I wish I could say I went home and washed these up to make a strawberry pie or cobbler or shortcake, but nope!  These are legit; and legitimately the BEST strawberries around, so we just ate them right off the stem! *nom nom nom*

Count us in for next season; we'll be bee-lining to U-pick fo' sho'!