**BLAST** In Hanover!

We did in fact have a BLAST* In Hanover this past weekend. Exhausted is an understatement of how we feel today... even little Aiden had a hard Monday :( We need to get a GOOD nights sleep tonight!

{no Hanover trip is complete with out a new stash of koozies and coolers...god I love that place! ha!}

Getting out of town Friday night was a bit of a debacle but once we got on I-70 it was smooth sailing. Mike's client is in Topeka right now so that's where he goes every day. It was just easier for him to stay in Topeka and me swing through and get him on the way. Worked out just perfect... he had to wait for a bit longer than we had thought but he found a bar and had a couple drinks while he waited.

I grabbed Mc D's for Aiden on the way out of town, he devoured a cheeseburger and immediately passed out! ha!

{About the time I got on the highway I realized I had forgot my camera. Seriously, I was devastated!! I almost cried... I just HATE when Im stupid and unorganized and forget things!! (which happens A LOT) So all pics in this post are with my phone :( }

I was under the impression we were headed straight to bed once we got there {at 10:30pm} but Mike had other plans... so we pretty much dropped Aiden off at Don and Linda's to go to bed and him and I headed into town. Tyler and Cami were having people over for a poker night and Mike def wanted to play. {SO GLAD we went... he ended up winning it ALL!! woop woop!} I had a good time as well just catching up with some girls!

We headed to Snappers for some drinks afterwards and headed home around 2am. Aiden was up at 6am making for a very short night for us. Thank god for grandma Linda, we both slept a little longer while her and Aiden played. Mike had golf plans at 8am so he left and Linda and I just sat and drank coffee and played with Aiden. We headed to Washington around 11 to spend the day with Brooke and Ava!! After a yummy lunch we met 4 other moms and their kids at the pool. It was SO much fun!! The Washington pool was perfect for the kids and Aiden had a blast!!

After the pool we headed home for NAP time! Mommy and Aiden both enjoyed a little snooze :) We ended up missing church because we woke up right as Don and Linda were leaving... but Aiden getting a good nap was crucial since it was going to be a late night out for him.  Mike and Ron got home from playing 36 holes of golf {he is absolutely CRAZY!!!} right when we were done getting ready to they showered and we headed to Grandma Shirley's {aiden calls her "miss grandma" ...its the CUTEST thing! ha! } for dinner before the fireworks. In years past we just go straight to the grounds because they sell food up there but it was just TOO hot this year... we needed to stay in the AC as long we could.

The fireworks don't start til its DARK DARK so we headed up around 8ish and they started at 10:00pm. Aiden was having a good time walking around with Mady and her little friend Adrea and getting spoiled with popcorn and Cotton candy but he was SO tired by the time they started.

{there was an abandoned car in the middle of the field where the fireworks were... they announced numerous times that it needed to be moved and no one came forward... so they blew it up!!! Hilarious. Leave it up to those PFB pyros!}

So sad this one was blurry, it would have been good!

The fireworks show was ABOVE and BEYOND what I thought it'd be. Absolutely amazing!! I have never seen so many unique and beautiful fireworks in my life. The show was about 25 minutes long and he coordinated it to 4 songs. The "theme" was Elvis's "Burnin Love"

Aiden did really well. He was exhausted by the time the show started so he just sat on grandma's lap and watched.  He kept saying " this is scary! no this is fun! this is scary... no this is fun!!" If you ask him now though he says its scary. He also kept saying "they're falling down!!" and " I need sunglasses!!" It was cute... he was ready to go home as soon as it was over.

Mike and I stayed and hung out for awhile at the dance then we all headed to Snappers! {SO excited about my Snappers t-shirt!! thank you krista!!} It was SOO packed in there but it was great to see everyone and catch up, we had a lot of fun!!

Sunday was lazy and we headed back to KC around 2... it was such a long drive home. Aiden slept 2 of the 3 hrs and the last hr he cried the WHOLE time because he wanted to go back to grandma's... good thing we'll see them again this weekend.

They are coming up to watch Aiden because we have a VERY busy weekend ahead ... Im already exhausted just thinking about it...

::Friday night::

Deloitte's "poker night"- a work event for Mike's company that we're going to

::Saturday::

 Me- Work and Kenny Chesney concert

 Mike-oil change and Warrior Dash

::Sunday::

Buffy's bridal brunch

Should be fun :0)

Sorry again about the phone pics....

Here are a couple videos of the fireworks... VERY VERY pool quality, again thanks to my phone, but you can hear the music and see how they coordinate with it... and if you listen good you can hear Aiden and his comments :)

{Grrrrr... I can NOT get the other one uploaded :( It has all of Aiden's funny comments and my FAVORITE Fireworks. boo!! Too tired to keep trying}

Good night!!

We're Outskies!!!

As of 5pm this evening we are hittin the highway and heading to Mike's hometown, Hanover, KS!

Im SOOO excited!! We use to be in Hanover all the time when we lived in Manhattan but not that we are 3 hrs away instead of 1, we just dont get back enough :( Makes me so sad... I really enjoy that town!!

Mike's best friend and old roomy Pat is the creator of PFB Pyros and him and his crew put together ridiculous amazing firework displays. Each year they put on a show in Hanover and people come from all over to see it. They always do it before or after the 4th so it doesn't compete with the holiday weekend.  He coordinates it all to music!!! I've never seen anything like it or remotely close to its awesomeness ;)

There is always food and a dance after and we have SO much fun each year!!

Im anxious to see how Aiden does.... seems like he's afraid of everything these days...
I have a feeling he'll do just fine and usually he can barely keep his eyes open by the time the show starts.

We're going to get there pretty late tonight but I wanted to have ALLL day tomorrow to be there.
Brooke and Jeremy just moved back from Auburn, AL and we couldn't be more ecstatic.
Mike and Jeremy are golfing in the morning and me and Aiden are spending the day with Brooke and baby Ava!! I think we'll be meeting up with other friends and their kids at the pool as well... FUN!!!!

Mike's mom had scheduled family pictures with his side of the family for Saturday afternoon. I was excited for us all to be back in Hanover together and really excited to get a good pic but she ended up canceling them this week. Its just going to be too hot!! Im kind of glad because they were at 2:30 in the afternoon and I would have been a red, schweaty mess... i dont even want to know what my hair and makeup would look like. Linda and Alissa felt the same way and honestly the boys weren't too thrilled either, since we're wearing black and denim, so we'll hold off and try again in September!!
Of course Aiden is soooooooo excited to go to Grandma Linda and Grandpa Don's!! I made the mistake of telling him yesterday that we were going today after school, but first he needed to clean his room. He said "okay mommy, I cean my room!!" {that def did NOT happen,btw}  so when we got home and I took my shoes off he had a total meltdown!! "NOOOO mommy put ya shoes on, we goin  gama's house!!!!" and then I had to remind him that we weren't going til today and he continued to scream and cry and throw himself on the ground. {his school report from the day said he was "very emotional today" ummmm yeah, I see that!ha!}  Nothing a capri sun and an episode of bubble guppies couldn't fix but he was READY to go last night!  Sweet boy loves his grandparents. :0)

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend!!!

What Im Lovin Wednesday

I decided to try something new and link up with Jaime over at http://littledaisymay.blogspot.com/ for her What Im Lovin Wednesday posts! {I did NOT know this existed when I started my "Things Im Lovin" posts! just sayin... }
WoOp WOop its Hump day folks!!! Im SO LOVIN that its Wednesday already!! Im sad that this is my first time linking up and Im drawing a complete blank on things im lovin... these will have to do!

I'm a banana bread baking FOOL lately!!! I found a yummy recipe over at The House of Smith's blog and I've made it twice in the past week! It makes 7 mini loaves so I brought some into work and taking some to my sis's tonight. Like I said they are MINI so they dont last long. Here is the recipe... its SO easy and SO yummy. This last batch I added walnuts to a few loaves and one I just sprinkled the top with the walnuts.. of course that one was my favorite and I only had on loaf. Im sure ill be making more soon!!!

{source}

This  absolutely by far my FAVORITE bath soap for Aiden!! Omg I could just DIE over the smell. I love and hug on him constantly after a bath because I just can't get enough of it!! :) We couldn't use anything scented on his skin for the first year of his life. WIth his extremely bad case of excema and his super sensitive skin we had to use un-scented/ free and clear EVERYTHING :( Now that he's grown out of all that we can use any lotion or soap and I love it :) I think I'll use baby soap on him his whole life :) ha!

While shopping at Hy-vee last night I saw this in the cereal aisle. Im always looking for a quick, healthy breakfast to eat on our hectic mornings. There were tons of these little boxes on the top shelf of the oatmeal section but this one was the only one with no sugar and only 100 calories. I was a bit skeptical that it'd be really bland but it wasn't at all! I REALLY liked! My biggest problem is finding something that keeps me full for longer than an hour,  since I eat breakfast at 8 and dont go to lunch til 1/130.  This did keep me full for  a few hrs which is good... but I usually end up needing a mid morning snack around 11. ha!

{sorry I just noticed that the theme of todays post is FOOD! ha! such a fat kid...} Im not sure if Im lovin Sushi or if Ill even like it but Im LOVIN that I get to spend tonight with some of my favorite girls!! We're meeting at RA for a little mid week din din/catch up time! I don't like fish and I've only had california rolls so we'll see if I can find something to eat there that I like ;) I might be hitting up tbell on the way home. ha!

Enough about food already right??!!

I'll leave you with some DIY Im lovin...

Hope everyone is having a great week so far !!

Cars 2

Since we had such a BUSY 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July we had a pretty mellow 4th of July this year.

We ended up taking Aiden to see CARS 2 that afternoon!

We knew for awhile that this would be Aiden's first movie we took him too and we were all excited!

The only movie time that worked with our schedule was the 4pm 3-D showing. We ended up having to wake Aiden up from his nap to go... so he was a little out of it and defnitely wasn' t having my pictures.

He was decked out in his Cars shirt and hat!

{still a little tired}

Of course we had to do the whole sha-bang and got him the kids pack! he was SO excited for that and his POP! Duh :) The kid LOVES sprite and root beer...

If you ask me I thought the whole experience was OKAY. Mike feels differently...:)

I think our first mistake was the 3D film. He refused to wear the glasses and without them the movie was extremely blurry. The poor kid couldn't watch because he couldn't see! So for the first half his popcorn and fruit snacks kept him pretty occupied but once those were done, so was he.

The second mistake was the pop... he had to go to the bathroom THREE times. Sheesh.

But like I said it wasn't completely horrible and I think we all had a good time. We know what we'll do different next time and I already look forward to the next movie we can take him too!

Although Im NOT a fan of Winnie the Pooh, I think the movie looks super cute so maybe that'll be next... we'll see :)

Has CARS taken over anyone else's home besides ours?? Between Walmart and Target {both have CARS merchandise EVERYWHERE!!} and me being a huge sucker for anything that makes my baby happy, we've somehow accumulated...

The Cars movie, 2 Cars t-shirts and a Cars hat, Cars sippy cups, Cars pajamas, Cars bottled water, marshmallows, fruit snacks and cereal,  Cars coloring books, Cars cars, Cars pool raft and beach ball, Cars toothbrush and shampoo, a Cars blanket, Cars water bottle, a Cars big wheel, tricycle and bike helmet and even the pull ups and wipes have Cars on them.

O.M.G thats embarrasing. ha!

Wedding Weekend

We kicked off 4th of July weekend with some wedding festivities!!

Mike had his best friend Matt's wedding in KC and I had my best friends wedding to attend in Manhattan! It was really unfortunate that they had to be on the same day :( I was sad to have missed Matt and Genie's and I'm also sad Mike missed Ramey and Greg's.

Mike's parents were coming for Matt's wedding so Aiden stayed in KC and spent the weekend with them. Mike was the best man in the wedding so he was busy busy. Im so proud of Mike because he wrote an amazing best man speech. He did the perfect job of making it sentimental but funny at the same time, it made me cry... but what doesn't ;)  It was perfect, he did so good!!

 He said the wedding was an absolute blast and the pics I've seen definitely prove that!!

{best buds}

{groom and best man}

{two cutest boys e.v.e.r :0) }

{speech time!}

{wedding ceremony}

{wedding party-GREAT pic!!}

Ramey and Greg's wedding was perfect. As always I bawled like a baby... like a sobbing mess, seriously. I just get so emotional seeing my friends so happy, its everything you've ever wanted for them coming true at that very moment, and I can never keep it together. ha!

We had SO much fun and no matter how much time and distance comes between our group of friends, as soon as we're all together, its like we never left. We pick up right from where we left off and its the greatest feeling. I laughed, cried and could not stop smiling for 3 days straight and it was so good for my soul. I LOVE THOSE GIRLS.

Ill let my pics tell the rest!

{the happy couple!}

{I was obsessed with their wine glasses, thought it was such a cute/funny idea!}

{dancing with Greg's son}

{greg dancing with his daughter}

{our  "dance routine" from HS to "Everybody" by the BSB, its awesome dont worry about it}

{a cupcake in a koozie... brilliat!!}

{sparklers!}

{love them!!}



We couldn't be happier for Ramey and Greg and Matt and Genie!! Congrats you guys!!