Saying Goodbye in the Best Possibly Way

Saying goodbye to the girls and my hubby for three weeks might have been one of the hardest things I have ever done :(. I mean these little people and their daddy are my everything! So we spent an afternoon and evening doing a few of our favorite things as our way of saying goodbye!

After our naps, we headed to the mall to ride the carousel and do some last minute shopping!

I was focused on taking them all in; their smiles and shrieks of joy, their unique little personalities, Eberleah's cheeks and chubby thighs, Emma's bright blue eyes and her questioning mind. All afternoon, I just kept reminiscing on how blessed I am to be their mom!

Little sister pushing big sister is their new favorite thing- toddler independence at their finest!

We headed home for dinner and then thanked our lucky stars that there was finally a dry night and headed out to a concert at the Levitt!

This girl and her smile and her five teeth and her dirty face - ahhh, I just love her!

They were horsing around while their daddy was 'stealing' their noses.

Once the concert started, they ran around, dancing in circles and stepping in every muddy puddle they could find!

Nothing makes me happier than seeing these two play and interact with each other :).

I can't think of a better way to say goodbye to the people that I love the most :). I know they are in good hands, but I am already counting down the days until I get home and get a chance to snuggle them again :).

Kon'nichiwa from Japan

Kon'nichiwa (or hello) from Japan! It has been an eventful 24 hours since I have arrived, but I am happy to report that we are safe and sound following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit off the coast of Japan.

After a 14 hour flight, we located our bags and caught a 2 hour bus to our hotel - the glamorous life of traveling (it is not all champagne and movies as pictured above).  We checked into our hotel, went out to grab some dinner (Italian if you are wondering) and headed back to our hotel to call it a night.  I had received an email from Wes letting me know that him and Everly were awake (there is a 14 hour time difference, currently) so we did a quick FaceTime chat before I was going to head to bed. About ten minutes into our call, I noticed that it sounded like there was some wind and creaking.  It subsided after about 30 seconds and no less than two minutes later came back with a vengeance.  I showed Wes the shaking and swaying that was going on while saying, I think this must be an earthquake (I had never been in one for sure, so I wasn't positive).  A few minutes later, the loudspeaker confirmed what I was thinking - there had been an earthquake!! It was a crazy experience, and I can't believe Wes was on the phone with me to see it unfold.

There will be more posts to come about my time in Japan- we had one free day today, but here are some of my observations thus far.

... they drive on the other side of the road compared to the US

... anything goes as far as dress code; they do not put an emphasis on matching

... people wear smog masks even though the air quality appears to be really good

... there is a Tokyo Disney World - I really wished we had time to go there! We drove by it on our way in and they even have the Cinderella's castle!

... there is water everywhere; oceans, rivers, canals

... there are buildings as far as the eye can see - we got a chance to go up to the north observatory at the Government Building and it is insane to see how big this city is (much more to come on this!)

... this goes hand in hand with the buildings, but there are also people as far as the eye can see; they congregate in masses

... you can smoke most places here, even in restaurants

... the city is remarkably clean and seemingly safe

... there are Starbucks on every corner (this makes my coffee loving self incredibly happy!)

... their Central Park is my absolute favorite place that we have visited thus far!
... the toilet seats are warm (amazing!!!!)
... the sun starts rising at about 3 in the morning and sets at 7 in the evening, must remember to start closing my blinds every.single.night because it is getting old to wake up at 4:30 in the morning!

Hang in there with me over the next few weeks; I will try to keep you updated on my trip while mixing in some posts about the girls (it may get a little wonky and out of order!).

Summer Kick Off

Ahhhh... Memorial Day, the official kickoff for summer where the day typically culminates with bar-b-que and a dip in the hot, sunny pool! We had bar-b-que and a dip in the pool, but not hot and sunny weather more like rain and thunderstorms followed by more rain, but we still had a great time!

Emma has been wanting a watermelon for the last few months; however, I can not bring myself to pay $8.99 for something she will devour in just a few short days. Bobbob had gotten a watermelon and shared with the girls when we were over at his house and Emma had been marching around our house stating, "my mom never buys me any watermelon, only my Bobbob buys watermelon; this is terrible.". So needless to say, I was feeling pretty bad about myself so I told her that over Memorial Day weekend, I would be sure to get her a watermelon. She saw it the instant I brought it to the car and insisted on holding it on the couch because she wasn't quite ready to eat it yet- shocking, I know! Well no less than 10 minutes later, she told me that she was ready to eat the watermelon now, so I told her to bring it to the kitchen; to which she replied, 'all my strength is running out'. I burst into laughter. This girl.  Anyways, I digress... back to Memorial Day.

We had invited Austin, Craig, Theodore, Ally, Travis, Bobbob and Colleen over to have lunch so we started the morning prepping for their arrival including cutting fresh flowers straight from our yard!

Aren't they beautiful! I just love hydrangeas and the fact that ours bloomed this year (they haven't bloomed for the last two years!).

We got out the plates and cups that were leftover from Emma's 3rd birthday party and when I told Emma she couldn't line all the plates and cups up around our house, she decided it would be best to put them behind the TV, so Eberleah wouldn't find them ;).

It was now about 10 in the morning and our guests weren't due to arrive until 11, and the girls were dying to go swimming so into our swimsuits we went and stepped in the chilly water!

Freezing cold selfies with the girls!

Moments like these make me glad that we have a pool (most of the time I think it is a bit of a hassle).

Once they were done swimming, Emma insisted on getting back into her clothes and taking Tiger and her goldfish outside on the front porch in order to greet our guests!

But not without taking some mama - Emma - Tiger selfies :).

Making our scary tiger faces!

Yay! Some of our guests arrived. Our littlest guest, baby Seodore, fell asleep on the drive over so we horsed around on the front porch until he woke up.

Of course, Emma was right by his side as soon as he woke up! Helping Uncle Craig carry him inside.

Bobbob got a chance to hold baby Seodore and Emma got a chance to once again practice her smooching skills :).

Six months in and baby Theodore is still overwhelmed by Emma's love. It's a fierce kind of love buddy, so we all understand!

Here is a closer look; I think this might be my favorite picture of these two ever!

I zoomed out so I could get Bobbob in the picture too- Big T was still making the same face!!

Since I had the "good" camera out, we should we would try to get some pictures of baby Theodore; however, he would only smile for his Bobbob! Love this picture too!!

We ate a wonderful lunch of Wes's pulled pork, spicy corn dip, coleslaw, veggies and watermelon! After we were finished eating, we headed outside by the pool and Emma was still full of smooching!

Me and my sisters sticking our feet in the freezing cold pool!

Eberleah was pretty happy to be back in the swimming pool.

I just love it when she is so happy!  Can you see her teensy underbite?

Then, my favorite part of the afternoon, Wes turned the heater on in the hot tub so it made it manageable for us all to get in and swim! I told him to come over and take a picture of us for the blog and my sisters all put our hands in the pool splashing them up saying party emoji (do you know the one I am talking about??).

And then, all the sudden, Emma chimed in chanting "party emoji" and making all of us, herself included, bust out in laughter!

There is no one I would rather spend my Memorial Day with than these hooligans ;).

Our Happy Place

Outdoor concerts at the Levitt are our happy place. We love love love these concerts and look forward to them from the beginning of each new year until they finally start on Memorial Day weekend.  Without fail, every time we ask Emma if she wants to go to the outdoor concerts, she always says 'yes!'. And the kickoff night was no exception. She was elated to be carrying her own chair ;).

Lots of room to run around, her own chair and endless snacks - this is her happy place! I just love her real smile!!

Poor Evsie's does not have her own chair (yet!), but she loves this place too!

They enjoyed dancing to the opening act (Eberleah's tongue!). A funny note about their dancing; their favorite dance move is spinning in circles over and over again until they get dizzy :).  I don't understand, but I just try to let them be little and dance spin to the beat of their own drum!

My girl was trying to convince me that she needed some cotton candy for her nighttime 'nack. I will take it if it means kisses, hugs and smiles from one of my favorite girls ;).

Their convincing worked after we snapped this picture (all three of us looking at the camera!); we were off to acquire some orange cotton candy!

I told them, 'show mommy your cotton candy for the picture' and I love how Ev's is slowly showing me her cotton candy while Emma is taking the biggest bite known to mankind.

Everly's smile! She was all kinds of proud of her cotton candy!

She even snuck in and gave Emma this kiss :).

This girl was a hot mess and enjoyed every second of consuming her cotton candy and then running around like a crazy woman!

We had every intention of attending the concerts Saturday and Sunday night as well and were sad when they were moved to a smaller location due to the rain. We can't wait to attend several more concerts this summer - this is our happy place!