Tally and Pipi Espinoza

Some good capoeira friends got married last weekend!  I remember when they first started dating... and how hush hush it was... but Momma knew :) Anyhoo, the wedding was on the east side of the state and it was an adult reception so my gracious mother watched the crazies while Norah came with us!

My handsome handsome husband

We got there WAY faster than I anticipated, and I thought the wedding started earlier than it actually did... so we took a quick tour of Howell and got some coffee at the local coffee shop.  It was little date :)  Everybody was so enthralled with Norah and her adorableness... I can't blame them really.  We had time for a nice little while to finish our iced chai and then get to the wedding!

I love Norah's face in this one haha

I love this moment together

Momma and Norah!

The Woodland kids :)

I was really excited to go to this wedding because of all the people that we were going.  Lots of friends we don't get to see nearly enough and what a better way than a celebration!  The ceremony was beautiful.  The venue and the weather were absolutely perfect.  :)  Norah and I walked around in the back while the beautiful union of our friends happened.  It was very them.  They had a berimbau dedication song which was a surprise for Tally, from Pipi, it was very sweet.

I put all the photo bombed ones up

Love this 

They are A-Married!

The happy newly weds

The reception was really nice.  We had nice table guests and there was an open bar (hence the adult reception part).  The food was really good, which is definitely not the norm from our experience.  Gaetan was a champ and wore Norah for the first little bit because it was clear that she was tired and just needed a bit of a snooze.  After that though, we hardly had to hold her til the end.  Most everybody wanted to to hold her and love on her chub!

Laura and Chris... they wanted to hold her all night...

Love her

Old friends

Being silly!

It really was just a nice evening.  Got to get all dressed up with my husband and hang out with friends.  We did a little bit of dancing and after Norah had passed out while Gaetan held her, we decided we should go home.  Mom put the kids to sleep, which, I think, may have been the first night that Gaetan didn't put the kids to bed.

We are so very excited for Tally and Pipi as they embark on this adventure together.  May they always keep each other first and remember what drew them to each other in the beginning.  I always like going to weddings together because it is such a nice reminder, as we watch the others, committing and making the vows that we made and how we've kept them.  Its a nice little reminder of how far our relationship has come and grown.  We like being married.  :)

JVG

Spanish Rice

When we went to Grace's parents house (the last time) they made this DELICIOUS spanish rice... so, of course, I had to get the recipe.  It's FABULOUS.  We have made it twice in the last little while and even our neighbor wants the recipe!  It's really easy and pretty fast to make... we add a healthy half cup of currants (or golden raisins) and we don't use a full serving of the cumin.  Highly recommend!









JVG

Sandy Pines

We got invited to go hang out with our friends the Nawrocki's!  They have this little place for the summer and they invited us to hang out with them for the day.  It was a lot of fun!  I always like hanging out with them... Gina loves our kids! And Tristan loves hanging out with them because they're older and include him in things.  :)

At the splash pad

Maison 

At the top of the slide

Dude's first time down the slide... but not the last!

Goose watching big brother go down the slide

On the way up... AGAIN

Gina, Aidan, and Goose... Gina is way cute!

Aidan showing Goose its OK

Maison and Dude playing sharks

Gina playing games with Goose

We got there and headed to the pool.  Sandy Pines is like a little community full of families and golf carts!  Even though there are a lot of people there there are a lot of 'rangers' watching out and keeping people safe, so that was really nice.  It had the potential to be really stressful because of how many people where there in such close proximity but most of the people there were families and there was ton of staff.  The pool had a little splash pad area, a slide and, of course, a pool.  The rules are that you always have to have a life jacket on, even in the 1 foot area of the pool, which was good!  Lucy was a little nervous about it but she eventually let Gina take her farther in.  Dude LOVED the slide.  Gaetan had to take him over and over again... Lucy tried it once but didn't love it.  She was more interested in the splash pad but the water through there was FREEZING.  We eventually left the pool because the kids got hungry... so off we went!

This was their baby size... it's huge!

Classic Asian signs

Goose and her ice cream

We had classic picnic food and the kids did great!  Michael and Gina got to hang out with Norah for a little bit and we did some catching up.  They had gotten a little dog since the last time we'd seen them... Guinness.  Sweet little dog as far as little dogs go!  :)  The kids weren't thrilled about it, but they eventually petted it.  Then, the kids had a great idea of getting Ice cream!





Poor Norah at this point was exhausted.  She fell asleep for a little bit while we were at the pool and I had her in the backpack, but she was definitely exhausted and just wanted to sleep.  While we were riding the golf cart to get ice cream she did fall asleep... sweet thing.  On the way there the kids were just telling silly joke upon silly joke.  Dude LOVED it.  They got this ice cream called play-doh... blue moon with bits of colored cookie dough.  Gina said it would turn their pool fluorescent green... Oh boy.  Of course, that just made them want it more!  Gaetan got coffee and Lucy actually liked that more than her play-doh.  Crazy girl!  She did some swinging while the boys ate their ice cream and played on the playground.

The kids had so much fun while we were there but we had to get going because Norah had had enough and their family had to get ready for the work week.  Looking forward to seeing them again this summer!  :)

JVG

The little things

Yesterday was a good day.  I don't think that anything exceptional happened but overall, but was just a really nice day.  The weather was what every summer day could hope to be... It was warm enough to want to be outside but not so hot that you melt into a puddle and it saps your energy.  After the kids rest time we took them on the trails.  We told the kids that if they did a particularly good job with rest time then we could go out afterwards.... well, Dude did not do a particularly good job.  :(  So, while I dropped Gaetan, Lucy and Norah off on the trails to enjoy the beautiful weather and walk a bit Dude had to stay in the car and run errands with me as his punishment.  If he did well with that then we could meet up with them and walk trails.

The errands I had to run involved testing out a few gyms.  My plan is to start running again come winter time... because lets face it, I hate running in the hot and I'm just not ready to start that crap up again!  Also, because I know if I started right now I wouldn't last the training til spring... haha.  Anyhoo, the biggest stipulations for the gym that I would choose is that they have to be 24 hour (due to the kiddos) and their treadmills had to have some sort of way to entertain me (like a TV).  I remember the place that I went to before had both of those things but it was REALLY expensive.  The per month wasn't bad but it's the start up fee that gets you.  The first gym I tried was the Planet Fitness about 1.5 miles from our place.  The facility seemed nice enough and the month to month was unbeatable, but the TV's were set to specific channels that you couldn't change... and they looked like channels that wouldn't interest me.  The second one I tried was this family fitness (which only came up on the radar because I saw a groupon for it) which has big TV's but the guy said that I could change the channel if I wanted :).  The per month wasn't bad and the start-up was $100... eek!  Anyhoo... If I signed up today then they would waive the start up fee, so I wouldn't have to pay the $100... and they said that I could start my plan in the winter time like I wanted.  :) This also means that I can take their exercise classes so I can try Zumba if I want.  Whoo!  So, I joined that gym and felt really good about it!

While I met back up with Gaetan and the kids we hit the playground for a little bit so that I could feed Norah and let them play.  While we were there we ran into these two kids that we used to see all the time, Samantha and Brian.  It has probably been a year to a year and a half since we've seen them last... turns out their parents got a divorce (a very amicable one) but that meant Mom was working a lot more and that meant there was less time for the library and the playground.  I also found out that the Mom, Lisa, just had neck surgery so she was going to be out of commission for a little while, so I offered to make her a meal.  I don't know if she'll take me up on it, but I know that it can be rough being 100% and being a single parent.  Add having to take time off for neck surgery, and that means you're immobile too.  I felt like that was the least I could do... I hope that she takes me up on it.  And it was really good to see the kids.  The boy has grown up so much!  It was crazy... I almost didn't recognize him!

Papa and the Ladies ready to embark

Lucy taking off like she always does

Seeing deer on the trails 

Classic Lucy.  Sassy glasses with sweet pink

One of our favorite spots

The kids got to walk on the trails and they enjoyed it as always.  Lucy is such a machine when it comes to it.  She walks/runs miles at a time... and its impressive with her short legs!  Anyhoo, by the time we got home from our adventures and errands the kids wanted a quick snack before bed.  Once they were in bed I made Gaetan and I some dinner.  There was a new recipe I wanted to try but didn't know if it was going to be to spicy for the kids (turns out it wasn't) and it was DELICIOUS.  I blogged about this delicious fried chicken earlier.  So, another score for me!  I think finding such awesome recipes like that really makes my days... haha.

We also watched the movie Wreck-It Ralph.  We had been meaning to preview it for Dude since he loves saying, "Fix it Felix! Fix it!" but I think that this movie is still a bit old for him.  We thought it was hilarious though.  The different games that they highlighted in it and the jokes they made... oh man!  I would watch it again... and probably will when Dude gets older :)

And to end the night Ben and Jerry's was on sale so we got some tasty treats... and my wonderful, smart, brilliant husband finally beat that horrible level on Candy Crush that has had me stuck for DAYS.  It was so frustrating I honestly couldn't see how I was going to beat it ever... turns out, I just had to have my husband do it!  Suck it level 410!

All these little things made my day.  And to top it off, Suits aired.  What.

JVG

Norah 4 months

I'm pretty sure I will start every check up post like this but I will say it again... I can't believe that she's already _____ old!  But it's true.  She's such a sweet heart.  Anyhoo, I took her to her Dr's appointment this time and even though I hate watching her get shots its just easier for me to take her because I can calm her down by nursing her.

The plan was to take the crazies along and drop them at the children's museum during the appointment. We figured they just had a little time in the morning to prove that they would be good and go, but in that little amount of time they proved just the opposite.  They were HORRIBLE.  So, poor Gaetan ended up staying at home with them while I took Norah to her appointment and then I visited with a high school friend who just had ankle surgery.

Sweet Norah did well at her appointment.  Our healthy little chunker is 20 pounds, 26 inches long and her dome is 41 cm.  She is off the charts for weight and in the 99th for her height.  She had to get the oral vaccination and then three shots :(.  She did fine for the first round of shots but when they had to do the last one she was UNHAPPY.  Poor girl.  And on top of that she is teething so she had that to deal with.  She calmed down fairly quickly and actually fell asleep.

She is such a happy baby and loves to laugh.  Is a rolling machine and it seems like she is very close to crawling.  YIKES!

Dude loving the veggies!

After her appointment I went to visit my friend Molly.  She has two little ones... 16 months apart!  And she just had ankle surgery so she is staying with her parents while she heals for help with the little ones.  It was really good to catch up with her and see her little boys.  We were comparing baby rolls... her youngest is 2 months older than Norah but was as HUGE baby when he was born!  9 lbs 9 oz!  Ouch! He isn't much of a sleeper, so they are having a bit of an adjustment period coming off this surgery.  She is going to be immobile for about 6 weeks... and I can totally relate with that!  It's so nice/helpful that she is able to stay with her parents during the week, while her husband is out of town working, and then they get to spend the weekend together.

The kids love to jump on the pads at capo

She gets some serious air

CHECK Dude out

I am hoping to be able to go over and visit again while she is at her parents.  It was nice catching up with her and talking about various people from school that I don't keep up with regularly.  She gave me some beautiful vegetables from her garden and the kids loved it.  :)  When I got home I got to go to capo class and got a great workout in too!  It was a full day, but it was a good day.

Our sweet girly after 12 hours of sleep... I had to wake her up!

I think this face is hilarious

Big time sleeper... still sleepy

Our happy happy babe

JVG

30 Day Challenge

It's AUGUST people!  Can you believe it?!  This marks the beginning of a 30 day challenge my friend Amy and I said we were going to start together... the squat challenge.  I think that it will be something good for me to do, and since I have a friend doing it to keep me accountable I probably will end up doing it!  :)  This is also coming off the heels of it being colder out so I had to put on some jeans and I fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans!  Whoo!  They are a bit snug still but I couldn't wear them without feeling like I couldn't breath.. small steps :)

Since today was day 1 we only had to do 50 squats.  I was about 25 in and thought, "this isn't so bad"  And then about 35 in I was thinking, "thank goodness it's only 50!"  haha.  I was starting to feel the burn.  The nice thing about these challenges are they shouldn't take that much time, so I can't use that as an excuse.  Looking forward to sleek sexy legs/butt at the end of the month!  :)  I encourage all of you to try and do it too... here is the schedule we are following.

I also decided that I should get rid of the last of the baby house.  I took some pictures today of my belly (it was not pretty) to see if I can really see a difference at the end of the month.  I'm not gonna lie... the sit-ups where the hardest part.  Gaetan was doing it with me (bless his heart) and the first sit-up I tried to do I couldn't make it to the top... I fell back down.... oops.  I did finish my sit-ups (eventually) and the rest of it wasn't bad.  Crunches, planks and leg raises.  I had been doing leg raises because I heard that is what helps get the abdominis rectus (the ab muscles going up and down in the front) back to normal after baby... those are the ones that get stretched out to accommodate the baby inside.

Looking forward to seeing the progress and getting these challenges done!  HUH!  (Arm flex!)

JVG