Father's Day trip to Holiday World

We had been talking about going to Holiday World for a couple of years now, and finally decided to go on Father's Day this year, with hubby's sister, her mister and kids.  We decided to take sweet pea with us, but left the baby with my MIL.  For those of you that don't know what Holiday World is, it is a medium sized amusement/water park in Santa Claus, IN.  The reason it is called Holiday World is because it is divided into 4 holidays, Christmas, Halloween, 4th of July and Thanksgiving.  There are gift shops and food in each section appropriate to the holiday.  They also have 3 large wooden roller coasters and then various other rides all throughout the park.  What was really nice is that they had a kiddie section in each holiday for the smaller kids.  This park also offers free soft drinks and sunscreen, which keeps you from spending too much money on food.  You just walk up to the various coke fountains located throughout the park, fill up your cup and go on your merry way.  

The other great thing about the park is that you may come and go as you please during your stay there.  We decided to take our own lunch with us, so once we got hungry and had finished with the regular park, we just got our re-entry stamp, headed out to the car, ate lunch, changed into our bathing suits and headed back in to enjoy the water park.  Both parks are connected so it is very convenient!

Sweet pea was such a trooper the whole day, and had a blast!  She even rode some rides by herself, which I was shocked about.  Her favorites were the swimming salmon ride (picture below) and the merry-go-round.  The weather was a little overcast that day, so the park was not overly crowded, which made for almost no wait lines.  The only bad thing was that a storm came through about 45 minutes after we got to the water park, which caused us to have to leave early, but we had already been at the park for about 4 hours so no one was too bummed.  Next time we go, we are gonna do the water park first and the roller coasters last.

All in all it was a very memorable trip, and we look forward to returning with both girls in the future.  If you live near Santa Claus, IN and have not yet checked out this park, I suggest you go, you will not regret it. (It is about 1 hour from Louisville, in case your wondering)  Until next time, BYE!

Strawberry Pickin'

Since I haven't posted lately I am going to be playing catch up, so I apologize in advance for blogging overload.  A couple weeks ago, the girls and I went with my mother to a nearby farm to go strawberry picking.  We of course picked the hottest day of the year so far to go, and boy did we sweat A LOT!  We had heard of Gallrein Farms in Shelbyville through some people at sweet pea's school, but had never been, so we decided to check it out.

They had a free petting zoo which was awesome for kids, a duck pond, and in the fall during pumpkin season they have a horse drawn hay ride and a corn maze.  They also had a huge greenhouse full of the most amazing flowers I have ever seen, and the best part was that all their annuals were buy 1 get one free the day we were there.  My mom was like a kid in a candy store!!

Sweet pea had a blast, but since it was so warm (like 93 degrees people!), we were only able to stay for about an hour and a half.  I made sure to wet the babies clothes and hat pretty good, so she would not get over heated, but I still felt like a terrible mother for dragging her out in the heat. :(

So what did we do with our delicious berries you ask?  Well I made my very first strawberry pie, and it was a pretty good first attempt if I do say so myself.  Sweet pea actually just polished off the leftover berries at my mom's house the other day, and you would swear that they were candy by the way she was eating them.  She definitely is a strawberry lover!

I love forward to going back in the Fall for pumpkin picking, and hopefully hubby can go with us this time.  Below are some pics from the day that I took with my phone.  Hope you enjoy!

Easter 2013

Easter morning was pretty dreary but sweet pea woke up to find that the Easter bunny had come to visit her and Ellie and she was super pumped!  After opening her basket she played with a few of her new things (and had some candy of course), before having a little breakfast and then heading to my MIL's house for lunch.  It was a pretty low key day filled with yummy food and basketball watching (GO CARDS!), which I was glad about because we had only been out of the hospital for a few days.

Once the weather broke I took a couple pics of sweets outside in her Easter duds, and then her and her cousin had a small egg hunt.

The day ended up being beautiful and the company was just as great!  Hope everyone else out there had an awesome Easter as well. Until next time, BYE!!

A New Addition!

My sweet baby Eleanor Jane "Ellie" finally made her arrival into the world on March 25.  She weighed in at 6 lb 7 oz, which was 8 oz bigger than her big sister.  My labor came on hard and fast and she was born in no time at all.  People were not kidding when they said that your second comes way faster than the first!  She has been such a joy and a wonderful addition to our family.  The adjustment from 1 to 2 children has been pretty difficult for me, but we are slowly getting through it.  The best part about having her is how much she is loved by her big sister.  Sweet pea has been such a big help with Ellie and is so sweet to her.  It's very special to watch and I hope that their relationship remains as close in the many years to come!

St. Patty's Day 2013

The weather here on St. Patrick's Day was rainy and cold so we never actually left the house (well hubs did once), but we still made the best of the holiday. When we woke up the leprechauns had turned the milk green and sweet pea thought that was pretty funny! To go with our green milk, I whipped up some rainbow fruit kabobs, green pancakes and bacon. Sweets also dined on a small cup of lucky charms, but really just ate the marshmallows. :)

After breakfast we quickly jumped into our green gear to be sure we didn't get pinched! Once we played some and watched a bit of TV, it was time for lunch, so hubs ran up to a local deli to grab some sandwiches. He dined on a reuben in honor of the day, but I stuck to my trusty turkey and cheese.

Later in the afternoon after nap time, we watched a movie as a family for the very first time. Sweets is just now able to sit still for long periods of time, but she still only lasted about 30 mins. We watched Tin Tin which was not as kid appropriate as I thought at times. Hubby and I enjoyed it though and sweet pea liked the dog Snowy.

The rest of the day involved more playing and TV watching until it was time for dinner and bed.  All in all it was another fun day spent as a family of 3, but we are still waiting anxiously for our new little bundle to make her appearance. Hope everyone else enjoyed their holiday as well. I can't believe Easter is right around the corner!

Happy First Day of Spring!!

Family of Three

First of all I want wish everyone a Happy St. Patty's Day, I will be back later with a recap of our green festive day. I also apologize in advance for the poor quality of photos, these were all taken with my phone. With the exception of today it has been beautiful here lately and we have been taking advantage of it for sure! Friday night was gorgeous and sweet pea wanted to take a walk really bad so we loaded the whole fam up and headed to our local outdoor mall.

I don't think I have talked about it at all on the blog yet, but hubs and I are expecting our second baby girl any day now, so we had been wanting to do something special with sweets before the baby gets here. We decided to take her to Build A Bear and let her make a new friend as a gift from her baby sister and in turn she also made one to give to baby when she arrives.

I thought the picking process was going to be way more difficult for sweets seeing as she has a slight obsession with all things stuffed, but surprisingly she made her decision quickly and stuck with it. She decided on a white kitten for herself and a bunny for baby sister.

They were pretty busy that night but she waited in line so patiently to stuff her new friend. When it was her turn she had so much fun stepping on the stuffing peddle and then placing the hearts inside both friends. Her smiles were priceless.

After both kitten and bunny were stuffed we of course had to give them a bath before paying and boxing them up in their new little homes. She of course wanted to carry hers once we left the store and held it the whole time we walked around the mall.

After shopping a bit and trying to walk this baby out :), we stopped for some dinner at Zoe's Kitchen before heading home. It was most definitely a perfect night celebrating some of our last moments as a family of 3, but were are so very excited and anxious to become a family of 4! We are so ready to meet you baby sister so you can make your debut any day now!!

Until next time, BYE!

Valentine Gift Ideas

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!  I wanted to share the treats that sweet pea and I whipped up for her teachers and classmates for this festive occasion.  First up are the teacher gifts.  I saw the idea of making a hot chocolate basket over at Amanda's blog Dixie Delights, so I can't take credit for this clever idea.  I made a trip to the Dollar Tree and picked up 2 mugs (instead of baskets), basket filler, marshmallows and some treat bags.  The hot chocolate packets I already had on hand, and then I whipped up some stirring spoons with things I already had as well, so this project only ended up costing me like $1.50 per mug!!

We attached one of her Valentine's to the bag, and viola there you have it!

 For her classmates we decided to make heart shaped rice krispie treats.  When they were cooled and cut, I dipped them in white chocolate and then sweet pea decorated them with some Valentine's sprinkles picked up in the dollar spot at Target.

I packaged them in clear cups from Dollar Tree, filled with basket filler and cupcake liners also picked up in the dollar spot at Target. (I love me some Target dollar spot!)

 Then they were placed in the treat bags and tied with dollar spot bakers twine and a Valentine.  Aren't they cute!!

Sweets was so excited to go to school today and hand out her treats.  She has had a cough for the past couple of days, so I was back and forth on whether or not to let her go, but I just couldn't break her little heart.  Hopefully she doesn't cough all over everyone!

Hubby and I have plans to go to dinner and see a movie tonight, so I am really excited.  Mom is coming  over to spend the night with sweet pea while we go out, so of course sweets is pumped to hang out with Nana.  Hope everyone has a wonderful love filled day, and I will be back later with a recap of our Valentine's celebration.  Until then, see ya later!!

Linking to:

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesdays

A Little Sprinkling of Valentine's Cheer!

I don't normally do a lot of decorating for Valentine's Day, but this year I had fun putting together a little table scape in sweet pea's playroom.  The garland on the window is just a pack of flat heart cards that I found in the dollar spot at Target.  I hung them on a piece of string with tiny clothespins.

I took some inspiration from the ladies over at At the Picket Fence to make these adorable little envelope chair backs.  The only thing I had to purchase was the dish towels which came in a pack of 2 for $2.50 in the dollar spot at Target.  I have been eyeing the chair backs at Pottery Barn Kids for a couple of years now, but am glad I saved myself some money by making my own.

With the help of sweet pea I also put together this little runner for her table with some leftover drop cloth from a previous project.  I just cut it to my desired length and width then let her help me make hand print hearts. I also cut out some felt hearts and glued them on, then got out my trusty puffy paint wrote the word "LOVE" at both ends and traced around the hand prints to make them look more finished.  It's not perfect by any means but she and I both love it!

Here is what her envelope will look like all stuffed on Valentine's Day. She is gonna be so excited!

I picked these flowers up at the grocery store the other day to add a little Valentine color to the kitchen.  I just used some ribbon I picked up from the dollar spot and taped it around the mason jars.  I think they turned out pretty cute, and they make me smile every time I walk into the kitchen.

Does anyone else out there do much decorating for Valentine's Day?  I am looking forward to next week because sweet pea and I have some fun treats to make for her class and teachers that I hope to share with you.  Until then hope everyone has a blessed day, BYE!

Linking to: Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style