Apple Orchard Visit!

Recently we visited the Minnesota Harvest Apple Orchard with our friends Jenny, Eric and their son Noah (who is only 2 months younger than Julia). We had a great time in the beautiful fall weather picking tons of apples. The kiddos were never without an apple in their hand the whole time we were there. It was so much fun!

Honeygold apples

I think these are Haroldson apples

Strolling with daddy down an orchard lane

Eating apples with her bud, Noah

Noah and his mommy picking apples

Julia and mommy picking apples

Julia loved eating the fresh, sweet apples. She probaly ate about 5 total the whole time we were there!

What did we make with all the apples? Apple pie, apple crisp, apple donuts and apple sauce! All very yummy and we still have a lot of apples left for eating.

Someone's 2!

I am very far behind in my blogging. So much going on! We celebrated Julia's 2nd birthday on October 2nd with a party at our house. Everyone had a great time! The theme was Dora, of course and Julia was just speechless when she saw all the Dora decor and party favors.

Fun on the swings with Cousin Ainsley

A family photo before the party began

Julia in her birthday dress

The Dora and Diego cake. Yes, I splurged on the cake. I could not find one I liked and Kowalski's had this cake that I thought we so neat.

Yes, Julia is a spoiled little girl when it come to celebrating her birthday (actually, she is spoiled all the time!)

We sang "Happy Birthday" to her three times! She just loved it and kept saying "more, more". Since then, we sing "Happy Birthday" at least once a day. Sometimes it is "Happy Birthday" to a school bus, mommy, daddy, or the neighbor dogs. Since she loves the song and we are beginning to potty train, we have used it to celebrate her going potty on the toliet. We sing "Happy Potty To You" when she goes and do a little dance! :)

Julia got another cake on her actual birthday (October 6th). This time mommy made the cake and frosted it in her favorite color, yellow, and used the previous cake decor to jazz it up more.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Two years ago today at 6:34pm, you blessed our lives and turned it upside down

Never, ever did we realize that you could love someone so much whom you just met and have her fill a hole in your heart you never knew was there.

The first 2 months of parenthood were definitely not what we expected and you gave us quite the scare, but at the end of that road was healing. You were so little, yet so strong; you made it through and defied the odds.

1 year birthday

Over these 2 years we have learned so much about you and about ourselves. We know our strengths, our weaknesses and when we can be total suckers for a cute, little girl with big brown eyes.

You have grown to be such a smart, beautiful, sassy little gal and we love every minute of being your mommy and daddy.

May God bless you over the next year and many years to come. We love you SO much and are so happy, proud and privileged to be your parents.

Happy 2nd Birthday Julia!

Our little stinker;

Our coco-peanut-banana;

Our pumpkin;

Our cutie-petutie;

Our brown-eyed girl;

Our honey-bunny

I'm Retiring....

from scrapbooking.

I scrapbooked our wedding; took me three years to complete it. I said I would NEVER scrapbook again, but then Julia came along with her miraculous healing from a never-seen, stump all the medical professionals, lung issue. Well, there was no pre-printed baby journal/album that covers sections to memorialize the aformentioned event, so I said I would scrapbook her first year. As a new mommy, that was a bold statement and well, it took me almost 2 years. I am happy to say I completed her first year book before she turned 2. It took me 6 nights of marathon designing, cutting, pasting and Cricuting (from a Cricut machine) to get it done before her second birthday. I was bound and determined to display it at her 2nd birthday party. So, I am now retiring from scrapbooking. Will I ever come out of retirement? Don't know; depends on what life brings. I will follow Brett Favre's lead; maybe I will go back, maybe I won't.

Not sure what I am going to do with all the leftover paper, embellishments, ribbon, cutting tools and stickers. I have already found a use for my Cricut machine in making posters for nursing conferences and work-related items. I may just put all the stuff in storage and see what the future holds. Maybe I will meet a diehard scrapbooker and give her all my lovely leftovers.

How will I document all of the rest of Julia's life? Maybe I will try this:

Or, I will just create photo books on Shutterfly or Kodak Gallery.

Everyone says I have set myself up for needing to scrapbook our next child's first year. To that I say, no. Maybe there will be another; maybe there won't, but I can say for sure that I won't be scrapbooking his/her first year unless they have a dramatic first year like Julia. Let's pray that doesn't happen!