Friends and Ice Cream

We recently just had our first houseguest! Jazz is finally back from her time in Russia and we could not have been more excited to see her. I took a couple of days off work, we made a list of activities we wanted to do, and I enjoyed catching up. I got to visit a ton of places I hadn't been before and we had ice cream nearly every day... that's what I call a good staycation!

The first morning, we walked to downtown Wyoming and got some donuts from the Pastry shop. We had a little donut picnic in the gazebo and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

The first place we went to was The Cone.  I hadn't heard of The Cone until Jazz suggested it... then a couple days later I was at work with Ben and we passed by. I love the giant building and all of the fun 'touristy' type stuff they have there. We caught up with one of our friends from college and enjoyed some soft serve.

We also headed to Green Man Twist for a small treat.  Cora loves their green man twist kids cone and was very excited to hear that strawberry was the flavor of the week (she's always asking for strawberry ice cream). Ida is also a huge fan of ice cream.

We also went on lots of walks at parks, cemeteries, and just hung around the house catching up (will share more pictures of all our adventures soon). I'm so lucky to have a friend that loves my kids.

The girls weren't always the easiest to deal with, but Jazz took it all in stride and was happy to help carry them, strap them in the carseat, and just hang out when the kids were tired. The girls loved hanging out with Jazz and Cora had to be by her side constantly.  She was the perfect guest and my family loved having her around.

Walks With Cora

One of my favorite activities to do with Cora is going on evening walks together.  She loves to look at all of the sticks, rocks, acorns, and leaves on the sidewalk and always picks a treasure to carry in each hand.  Yesterday, we shared our evening walk with Pops and his neighbors.  We reached this field during golden hour and took the opportunity to snap a couple shots of Cora and her friend.

Birthday Weekend Adventures

Jazz came in town for a visit so I took off Friday to do something fun and prep for Cora's birthday.  It has been a little over a year since I'd seen Jazz, so it was really nice to catch up face-to-face and just hang out.  We ended up having to do a lot of birthday errands, but we still got a couple Cincinnati-themed adventures in.

Thursday night, we had our favorite Indian food, Krishna, then ran some birthday errands.  We hit up Michaels for some last minute crafting supplies and Target for balloons and cupcake mix.  We spent the evening hanging out, making cupcakes, and playing with Cora.

Friday morning, I woke up early and finished some birthday crafts and iced the chocolate cupcakes.  When everyone was awake, we had breakfast and set our game plan.  Jazz, Cora, and I headed down to Findlay Market.  I'd never been before, so it was fun to see what everyone always talks about.  We stopped by Dojo for some gelato then headed outside to eat and chat.

We walked around some more.  I also got a gyro for lunch and some hummus for the birthday party.  We stopped by Eden Park to eat, take pictures, and spend some more time outside.

We ran more birthday errands then headed home to make some carrot cupcakes and finish getting ready for the party.  The party was so much fun!  Cora had a great time.  She loved the cupcakes and watching her older cousins play around.  I'll have some pictures to post later this week, but here is a little teaser from Jazz:

photo credit to Jazz

Saturday was a lazy day.  We made some pancake breakfast and chilled around the house all morning.  Jazz left around noon.  Cora, Ben, and I spent the rest of the day napping and doing absolutely nothing.

Sunday, Cora and I made our rounds of Cincinnati.  We stopped by my parents for hanging out and lunch, visited Margaret and her family, and visited my Godmother before she leaves for the summer.

It was a great weekend and I'll be back later this week to share some more birthday pictures.  Also, check out some of Jazz's pictures from the weekend on her blog Coffee and Cleveland.

Friends & Zoo

I know I am super late on posting this, but I've been kinda busy with work, crafts, and generally living life.  I wanted to share some pictures from the super fun weekend we had last weekend.

Saturday, I met up with Margaret for a long lunch  then hung out with Sammie in a perfectly timed switch-off (seriously, as soon as Margaret had to leave, Sammie was walking up to meet us).  Sammie and I were going to go to the zoo, but there happened to be some kind of walk and it seemed incredibly crowded and the parking was bad.  Instead of the zoo, we went down to Eden park and walked around Mirror Lake a couple times just catching up.  Before we knew it, it was 5 o'clock and I figured I should get my baby home at some point.

I was right about needing to get Cora home because she fell asleep as soon as we got home and slept 13 hours!!!  I wish I could sleep that long.  Ben and I got to enjoy some dinner/tv/hangout time while Cora was sleeping.  I also was able to cut out some strips for the quilt binding (more on that soon).

Since Cora and I didn't get to go to the zoo on Saturday, we met up with my parents on Sunday and had a zoo-filled morning.  It was complete opposite of the day before and there was barely anybody there.

the many faces of Cora

Mama lion and her cub

Cubs

Cora and Grandma

After the zoo, we went over to my parent's house for lunch and the Bengals game.  Afternoon naps.  Indian dinner with Margaret.  And the weekend was over.

DIY Silhouette Thank You Cards

I am so blessed that I had a weekend filled with baby showers, so I needed lots of thank you cards.  A while ago, I purchased these Thank You cards from Michaels (a set of 8 for $1 each).  I wanted to come up with a unique/artsy idea to make them a little more fun.

Needed:
+Thank You cards (or card stock to make your own card)
+printed pictures of silhouette
+decorative paper
Total cost of each card: $0.13

1. take pictures of your silhouette
2. resize the image to fit onto the card
3. print off and trace onto paper or card (I used pages ripped out from National Geographic)
4. cut out silhouettes (exacto blade was easiest for me)
5. adhere silhouette to card

Here are some pics of the final cards:

Baby Shower Weekend

I'm still winding down from last weekend... and feeling a little spoiled.  I had two baby showers and some friends and family that came in town so there was a lot going on.  I took Friday off of work to hang out with Jazz.  We went out to breakfast, hit up Ault Park, and relaxed around the house until we had happy hour at my parent's house.

Saturday, Jazz and I took Clove to the dog park, chilled around the house, then went to my first baby shower.  This shower was a combination of my high school and college friends.  The shower was full of great food, fun games, cute decorations, and good company.  I wish I would have gotten more pictures with people at both of the showers, but I forgot to ask.  (All Saturday photos are courtesy of Jazz.)

Tissue poms, paper straws, mimosas (not for me), toddler picture of me/morphed picture prediction of the baby/toddler picture of Ben, and strawberry lemonade.

Fruit skewers and the best carrot cupcakes ever!  ...seriously.  I won't even admit to how many of those I had.  This was just some of the good food that was there.

After the shower, we hung around at my parents for dinner and a little sleepover.  Everyone went a little picture crazy in the evening... people love the baby bump!

Colleen, Margaret, Me&Baby, Celia, and Jazz

Mom, Celia, Me&Baby, Vicky, and Kathy

My Mom's friends threw a shower for the baby on Sunday.  There were lots of people there.  That shower also had great food and company.

Me&Baby with da Momma

Welcome Baby!

I had a great weekend and feel so blessed that my baby is already surrounded by people that love her so much!  Less than a month to go until we finally meet our baby...