Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Aspen's First Swim Class

At exactly 2 months old, Aspen had her first swim class. Hubbard Swim offers free baby splash swim classes from 8 weeks old through 5 months. When Everly was born they actually let them start baby splash at 4 weeks old which I posted about here. I'm not sure why they changed it to 8 weeks but it would have been hard to get there any earlier anyways. Things were much more simpler with just one! Aspen did great during her first class. She really didn't fuss or anything. Of course, she is not really learning how to swim right now, but it is great for stimulation and getting them comfortable in the water....and did I mention, it's free! Kind of a no-brainer! Everly played around in the lobby area where they had snacks and a little jungle gym and was very well-behaved. My mom also came to help out with her so I could take lots of pictures. Everly loved her swim classes here and both of my nephews swim here and love it so if you have a Hubbard by you I highly recommend them! We have never had an instructor who wasn't great.

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My nephews and the girls all each have their own personalized pottery barn towel. It is kind of a new baby tradition in our family now. 

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Big sister being silly! 

Saturday, November 22, 2014

2 Month Update

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Last Sunday Aspen turned 2 months old. That means just a couple more weeks until I go back to work. This past month has been full of lots of activities. Aspen celebrated her first Halloween and went to a couple pumpkin patches and a carnival. She is currently 10 lbs. 6 oz. and in the 12th percentile for her weight. She is in size 1 diapers and mostly 3 month clothes but still some 0-3. Everly was small until about 6 months so I am not worried but I do love a good chubby baby so I won't mind if she starts putting on the pounds earlier. Aspen is still sleeping through the night great and even taking a long afternoon nap in her crib. She is still nursing well and usually goes 3-4 hours in between feedings. She has also gotten her ears pierced and had her first swim class which I will post about later. We don't do a ton of tummy time, but her neck strength seems to be pretty good, probably because she prefers to be held upright instead of rocked like a baby. Thankfully she still takes a bottle great so I am not worried about her primarily on bottles when I go back to work next month. In this next month we are looking forward to a great Thanksgiving, a smooth transition into day care, and baby's first trip to Disneyland! Can't wait!

Friday, November 21, 2014

Imagination Avenue

My sister had bought a groupon so last week we visited Imagination Avenue for the first time. We got there on a Friday shortly after it opened and none was there and the place was very clean. That was nice because for a while they had the whole place to themselves. Even by the time we left there was only like 3 other kids there. It is basically like a little village perfect for imaginative play for kids. They had a grocery store, kitchen, fire dept, doctor's office, bakery, home depot, and a space ship. There was also a little fenced off area for babies under 1. My sister took Aspen in to play for a second and look at herself in the mirror. The space ship is kind of on a second story and there is a slide they can go down to get down from it. There is also a little cafe with very reasonable priced food, or you can also bring in your own food and eat it there. They also have a separate room with lots of wooden puzzles and games and books, although we didn't use it. They have a room for you to have birthday parties in as well and it definitely seems like it would be great for that. On Sundays they are closed just for birthday parties. Everly and Teddy had a blast and it was nice to let them make a mess and not have to worry about cleaning it up, although my sister tried to pick stuff up and I had to tell her to stop. If you live in North Phoenix with toddlers I definitely recommend taking a trip, especially if you can find a groupon!

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Teddy being sweet to Aspen and Everly on an important phone call. 
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cuties sharing 

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Happy Anniversary!

Today is my 4th wedding anniversary. I am so lucky to be married to such an amazing man. He is a great father and I couldn't ask for anything better for our girls. He is an even better husband and I can't wait to celebrate with him this weekend. When I think back about the time before we got married I can't recall ever questioning if it was the right decision to marry Justin. It always felt like the right thing and seemed like the next step in our lives together. We knew before we even got married that we would try to have kids right away and were blessed to have Everly before we even celebrated our first anniversary. Now with Aspen things are definitely a little more busy but I am glad to go through this stage with Justin. We knew having kids would not be easy but I think we are doing pretty good. We don't hate each other and I think we are both on the same page most of the time. Sure, it would be nice to have more time by ourselves and do some of the things we used to (like seeing Dave Matthews Band 9 times in one year) but we have some pretty cute kids so we are happy to spend our time with them right now while they still like us (I am already scared of the teenager years). Next year we plan to take a little trip for our 5-year anniversary and I am already excited about it! Happy Anniversary Justin!

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The moment he signed his life away...just kidding...but not really. 
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One of my faves.
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Justin hates his smile (???) and rarely smiles for the camera so I love this one. 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Craft Day #5

Last week was my week for creating a craft for our craft day. I stuck with the thanksgiving/fall theme and we did some toilet paper roll crafts. We made two items: toilet paper roll turkeys and toilet paper roll apple trees. The turkey's didn't require a ton of work from the kids so that is why we did two projects. For the turkey's we had them paint the toilet paper roll brown because they loved to paint. We traced their hands on construction paper and cut them out to make the feathers and then cut out a beak and gizzard and drew on some eyes. They turned out cute. For the trees we put glue on a piece of construction paper cut out like a tree and let them glue on apple jacks to look like apples. Everly had never had apple jacks before and now calls them apple cheerios. Teddy continues to sneak to his project and eat the apple jacks off of the paper (even a week later) dried glue and all. That kid! They did actually do a really good job of gluing the cereal on at the time, however, and they had fun so it was a win!

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Baby Aspen was happy at Craft Day as well! 

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Happy Birthday Justin!

Today Justin is 31! Just typing that still looks weird to me. I am sure it will be less weird when I am 30 also. This is always a busy time of year because Justin's birthday is 2 days before our anniversary and then Thanksgiving is just around the corner but I still wanted to make sure we let Justin know how much we appreciate him. He is a pretty special guy. He is a great husband and father and for some reason he doubts that a lot but he shouldn't. We love you, Justin! Happy Birthday!

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Our little family
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Justin and his baby girls (Everly on the left, Aspen on the right).
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Us, pre-wedding and kids. I love my kids and all, but I also miss these days, too! 

Monday, November 17, 2014

Veteran's Day Zoo Day

Last week we took advantage of husband's off work on Veteran's Day (and are thankful to everyone who is currently serving or has served) and took a trip to the zoo. My youngest sister also had a break from classes so she came with us as well. It was crazy busy at the zoo. We went last year on Veteran's Day as well and I don't remember it being that busy. The kids still had a great time, though. We even took advantage of the great weather and let Ev and Ted go on the paddle boats (we lied and said Teddy was old enough). We also got to catch a glimpse of the new baby orangutan but were there a day or two before they put out the new cheetah's so we will have to go back soon! We are definitely going back for zoo lights soon as well and I can't wait to see how much fun they have this year! Hopefully the girls get a renewed zoo membership for Christmas so that we can continue to go again throughout next year.


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Thursday, November 13, 2014

Weekend in Review

Last weekend we did a lot of little things and there were some cute pics of the girls so I wanted to share it here. On Friday night we met my family at a park before running into Target. Yes, we go to Target as a family. My mom had a 5% off coupon so we were going to use it and I was getting a Christmas present for the boys. Target took forever and was funny but we survived and rushed to Paradise Bakery after for dinner.  Saturday morning 2 of my sisters came over and we ran 6 miles which is my farthest run yet since I had Aspen. I still wish I was faster but I feel good when I run so at least there is that. After that I took Everly with me to meet my mom and sister and brother-in-law at the movies to see Big Hero 6. Everly had seen a preview of it and got really obsessed with it so we wanted to take her. Also, we pretend she is still under 3 so she is free. It was nice to get some time with just Everly because that doesn't happen much since I nurse but thanks to a great husband and a pump we made it happen. She loved the movie and I thought it was super cute too. Saturday night after church we went to my sister's for game night and diy pizzas. It was fun and it has been too long since we had a game night. On Sunday the girls got in their matching Cardinals gear and supported the team while I went to my soccer game. After soccer we had my family over for fajitas which was the perfect ending to a great weekend.


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Almost 2 months old and 3 years old. 

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she kept putting random stuff in her cart and no there is not a baby in that carseat. 

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Heading to the movie!

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Chilling with her grandma. 

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Imagine If...

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I would say these are the 2 cutest cardinals fans but they are in a tie with their cousins. 

Weekend in Review

Summer is basically here and we are already in full on pool season. On Friday I had the day off so I spent some time with Aspen and took he...