Everyone loves a little ice cream...

Even this guy!!

... and to top off the weekend, a little waterpark action!

With Grandma Elaine <3

...and the best little nugget in the world!

(Oh yeah, and Lidia's in a swimsuit top and a diaper only, why?? Who knows! Leave that to a Grandma to do!! She was in a swim diaper and bottoms at one point, I swear!!!)

He liked it... so he put a ring on it!! (plus my convo with Lidia)

and in exactly one month from today...

I will have a husband?!

I love my man and our family with all my heart and I can't wait for our amazing day!!

Now... 

my conversation with Lidia today while at work!

(straight from Matt and I's AIM conversation... and yes, we still instant message like cool kids! We gotta stay young somehow, right??!)

My Love 1:39 pm (Matt)

how are the girls?

specs1236 1:40 pm (Me... cool screen name, huh??)

good! omg i literally had a 5 minute convo with Lidia... here is how it went...

me: hi baby! what are you doing

lidia: ughsieufjlskj

me: oh yeah are you being nice to your sister?

lidia: jlkmwelk sissy jklsjeio

me: i love you!

lidia: dlkjeios

me: do you love me??

lidia: YEAH! (then she laughed)

me: (dying laughing) you love me??!? do you miss me???

lidia: iuwelkjfslmdlksfj

me: oh ok ill see you soon crazy girl

lidia: sdljeisldkjflskd

me: are you crazy???

lidia: YEAH!!! (laughing again)

What I'm loving Wednesday!

One thing is for sure! I'm NOT loving this picture... I'm back to work after 9 weeks off. Blahhhhhh. My first day back was yesterday and let me tell you, it was super hard! It's wayyy worse going back with two little ones on your mind all day! But they are in good hands! Tuesday/Thursday they are with my sister and Wednesdays they are with their grandmas!! What does this mean?? Mondays and Fridays they are with ME! I'm loving those days...

I'm loving my sweet baby Carly who is 2 MONTHS OLD TODAY!! Happy 2 months Carly! You are our sweet, cuddly, smiley, quiet baby and you complete us!

I'm loving this little cowgirl! I found these sassy cowboy boots a week ago in her toy chest. Durr... why would they be mixed in with all her toys and not on her cute little feet?! This little monster is growing and growing and so are her teeth! She is getting five teeth in right now! EEK! Not a happy camper, considering four of them are molers!

I'm loving Lidia and I's pedicures! She got her first pedicure and loved it!!

I'm loving sleepy time. Mainly because I lack sleep but also because it's quiet time around the house for at least a little bit! Also, I love sneaking in on both of them and creepily staring and taking pics! Only a mom can do that!

I'm loving football season! Iowa Hawkeyes and New Orleans Saints baby!

I'm loving our Expedition. I feel big and bad in it and apparently so does Lidia!

I'm loving how alert Carly is getting and I'm loving her smiles!

I'm loving these flower girl shirts I made for the girls for the reception at our wedding! I know they won't want to be in fancy dresses all day long, so why not make a t-shirt to go with a cute skirt?? Very proud of myself :)

But of course I'm still loving their flower girl dresses! They match!

and... I'm loving Lidia's first haircut! Actually it wasn't a real haircut, she just got her bangs trimmed but it counts for a picture at least right?? Thanks to by bff and maid of honor, the awesome hairstylist Lindsey, for cutting the first (of many) haircuts to my beauty's hair!

Little girls love Usher too!

Labor Day Weekend!

... and it was the first game of the season for the Iowa Hawkeyes!!!

... and of course we won!!

So we got up early that morning (with our hawkeye gear on of course) and headed to Clear Lake with Matt's family. (In less than two months... they will be mine... how weird!) It was only two hours away but it was still a nice getaway. As soon as we got in to town, we headed to "The Other Place" to watch the game and eat some pizza before we headed out on the lake for the evening.

We rented a pontoon for a few hours and it was very nice and relaxing. Then we headed to this spot on the lake with a little tiki bar and spent some time there before we went back to the place we were staying for a bbq. I played with my baby on the hammock and stole a smooch from my other love in a phone booth :)We got up the next morning to this...Drama Queen! Actually I'm totally kidding! Carly was such a good baby the entire trip... especially it being her first vacation and she slept for almost 6 hours straight that night!!! Maybe we should go out of town more often??? Anyway, we got up the next day and went jetskiing!! The water and weather were a little cold but totally worth it! Then we spent some more time sitting out by the lake before we headed home that evening. It was such a great getaway!Now just a few random pictures. The next few are of Carly in an outfit that I remember Lidia in when she was her age. Brings back so many memories and I love it!!

... and the last two are of my constipated one year old. They are hilarious but I feel so bad for her! This poor little girl has had hard poop for over a week now. I've tried everything! Prune juice, raisins, fiber bars, etc. Anyone have any other ideas because nothing is working!!!!!!!!

Evil Wal-Mart? OR Evil Children?

So let's talk about my adventure to Wal-Mart last week.

I wake up Wednesday from a night of no sleep... weird. Lidia usually spends a few hours on Wednesday mornings with her dad. This gives me a day during the week that I can run errands, sleep, do whatever I want with only one child. More specifically with the one child that isn't a crazy toddler! Wellllll, she didn't end up spending the morning with him but I already had my morning mapped out (and she was down to one diaper... yes ONE!) so I ventured to Target with them. I get into the parking lot of Target, get the babies in the cart, and realize my wallet isn't in my purse. Awesome. So I put them back in the car and head home. Instead of driving clear across town to Target again, I head to Wal-mart which is five minutes from our house. Why I chose to go to Wal-Mart, I'll never know but I do know that I won't do it again!

Now, going to the mall with two babies? I've done that a few times and it seemed like a piece of cake. So WHY oh WHY was Wal-mart so evil to me? Numero uno... I only had room in the cart for the two kids. That should have been my first clue to leave but I kept on trucking! When we got there, Carly was asleep and Lidia was being pretty cute. She kept saying, "What is that?!" and just making me laugh.

Then... dun dun dun... we turned the corner!

"BALL! BALL! BALL!"

Good ol' Wal-Mart had a huge bin full of balls and isn't it my luck that Lidia has a freakish obsession with balls! Since I love watching her do things that make her happy I of course got her out of the cart and played ball with her... right there in the middle of Wal-Mart for a good ten minutes. She wanted a different ball every 30 seconds, she would throw it and chase it down several isles, screaming with laughter! Granted it was fun but it was time to move on from the balls... and Carly woke up. So as I'm trying to calm Carly down, Lidia is chasing these balls and I had to get her back in the cart. I think you can see where this is going...

WATERWORKS!

I'm telling you it was ridiculous! She cried forever! And this is where my adventure begins. I tried to bribe her with snacks but she kept throwing them on the floor. Then she would scream because she threw them on the floor?? She knows the sign language for more and please so she would throw those in there... just to be cute because she's so dang smart. In the midst of this Carly is crying so I'm trying to feed her and the list goes on...

Then I realize that one of Lidia's shoes is no longer on her foot. I start searching for the shoe of course but give up after... wait for it... we run into ANOTHER BIN OF BALLS! Are you kidding me? Who does that to a mom???? I run past that bin of balls like a it's noone's business and finally let Lidia out again in the baby section. She's roaming (ahem... running) around that section like a mad woman and Carly thought that it'd be the perfect time to tell me her feelings too. So I try to grab what I can real quick but wouldn't you know that Lidia knocked down a whole row of sippy cups as she was trying to reach for one. Thirsty much? I'm thoroughly embarrassed and I almost leave my cart there and walk out but instead I make my trip worth it and head to check-out.

I start to pay as Lidia knocks down a magazine and I realize HER OTHER SHOE IS GONE! Both girls start crying again and the 16 year old boy checking me out (poor guy) asks, "How's it going?" Now you'd think I'd just be my typical sweet self and say, "Good" even though I wasn't good. But somewhere around aisle 6 the sass came out in me and I said, "What do you think buddy????" (as my two kids are screaming and everyone is looking at me and I had a whole hour of a fiasco minutes before him asking me that.)

WHO DOES THAT??!?!?!

Me. Apparently.

The poor little guy tried to brush it off, but you could tell he was probably going to take a cry break after that. I felt terrible. I almost went back the next day with cookies or something! Anyway, a week later I'm finally not traumatized about the whole thing (totally kidding) and can look back and just laugh at myself! (and my kiddos) What doesn't kill you DEFINITELY makes you stronger... can I get an amen??!

What do you think? Who's evil? The store or my children? Well, it can't be these precious ones!