Grandpa Lewis

On Sunday Grandpa Lewis made the trek from Virginia to meet baby Reese 

and spend a few days with our family.

We had a wonderful visit and it was a delight to observe the girls interacting with their Grandpa.

On his first evening with us he presented each of the girls with darling jewelery boxes.

Each play a different tune by winding the knob in back as you can see Aspen doing above.

My Grandpa Lewis was in the Air Force and so my Dad lived in various countries during his growing up years. He lived in Africa, Korea and Germany to name a few. 

He spent some time quizzing Brinley on her geography and teaching her about different parts of the world on this map he sent to the girls several months back.

We spent one morning at a local indoor playground. 

The girls could be heard yelling "Grandpa look at me, Grandpa look at me" the entire time and he was a great sport to do just that for a couple of hours. 

Aspen was so excited that she peed her pants and I had to
duck out for a bit to make a run back home and grab a change of clothes.

Grandpa enjoyed holding the babe and was able to put her right to sleep
several times and she dozed happily on his chest. 

He also participated in bedtime stories, scriptures and prayers with a smile and then was up at the crack of dawn when the girls would come barreling down the stairs to greet him.

It was heartwarming to see the girls get to know their Grandpa 

better and we are so glad that he came to visit!

We love you Grandpa Lewis.

Butternut Squash

In an effort to feed my family more vegetable based meals I have been picking up hearty vegetables that I am unfamiliar with and trying out new recipes.

Butternut squash has become a fast favorite!

I made this beet and butternut squash salad with goat cheese, pecans and poppyseed 

dressing for lunch last week. It was pretty much incredible if I might say so myself.

THIS soup is also very, very DELICIOUS!

Pop over HERE to check out another cute post my Mom wrote up about the girlies!

Happy Valentines Day...One Day Late

Oh how sweet life has been since this little Valentine joined our family!

Her gift to Mommy on Valentine's night was a solid 7 hour sleep.

Outfit compliments of Angie!

Friends, Food & Fun

My dear friends Angie and Amy came in from out of town to 

meet baby Reese 

and reunite for a weekend just like old times.

Here is what we did:

Ate out for breakfast with friends Keren, Dana and Charlotte,

ate out for dinner with friends Heather, Nollie, Debbie, Heather M., Ellie,
Amy K., Rachel, Britni and Lacey.

drank green smoothies that Dana made for us with her new Blendtec,

talked and talked and talked some more,

 took turns holding the little darling,

(Britni, Amy, Angie, me)

ate out for lunch just the four of us,

shopping, shopping, shopping
and boy do these mamas know how to find a good deal,

took pictures with i-phones...oh wait, I'm not in the i-phone club, 

but my ever so cool friends 

took pictures with their i-phones.

Then we met up with friends Mary and Erin to catch up

and finally we listened to Reese cry a bit after being a top notch tag along.

  
We even made it to church after our deliciously wonderful 

few days of togetherness.

It wasn't however what we did during our time together 
 but the friendship we share that makes 

spending time together so cherished.

I have dozens of fond memories of Angie being there for me in times of need.

Like when she rushed me into the hospital when I thought I was going into labor 

with Aspen and Cody was on call.

Or when I could not get all of the children out the door for school in time when Aspen was a newborn

and she would show up on my front porch to pick up Brinley and take her to school.

Angie took a red-eye from her new home in California and flew on

three planes throughout the night to make the most of her available time here. 

A big shout out to Cory who took time off and cared for their 4 kiddos to make this trip possible!

Amy hauled her entire family, in their car, from St. Louis to be here.

Both Amy and Angie endured more than one heart to heart
about the idea of baby number four.
I still remember one defining conversation
we had in the driveway of her house in the dark of night.

Thank you thank you dear friends for coming back to visit...
it almost makes consider forgiving you for leaving me.

Aunt Kelty

On Thursday evening Aunt Kelty flew in and took over where Grandma left off.

Her playful spirit draws the girls want to spend

every waking second by her side.

She got right to work by helping the girls create and record an imaginary 

play, complete with face paint and costumes.

There were also a few subsequent face paint sessions.

 The girls quite enjoyed creating these masterpieces on their faces and Kelty joined in by painting her face too, which the girls thought was pretty darn cool!

 She played games with the girls,

took over in the morning so that I could sleep in, 

helped with bedtime routines,

sent Cody and I out for a date and 


even took a dreaded, or should I say blessed trip to Petland to hold the doggies
(Grandma Ginger and Auntie Yvette can sympathize with that). 

In the meantime Reese mostly did this, which is a wonderful thing for a baby to do.

A big thanks not only to Kelty, 

but also to Duane for managing the home front and 

little miss Rella to make this trip possible! 

And a thanks to Rella for sharing her Mommy with us.