the countdown is on.

Boxes have taken over our house for a little while.  But the countdown is officially on.
We have 3 nights left of sleeping at our first home as a family.  3 more nights of tucking Quinn into her bed in her first bedroom. 3 more nights of being cozy in our living room.  3 more nights left in the home where we established our family, the home Lucy bounced around in as a tiny kitten, the home we came home to when we were married and brought Quinn home to when she was born.

As sad as we are to say goodbye to this home that has been so good to us and we love so much, we are ready for our new start in our new home. This little girl is getting bigger and she is ready for some more space to run around and play. :) So, in 3 days we are officially moving out. And in 7 days we officially close on the new house!! YEA! Our official move-in date has not been determined yet, there are a few things we want to take care of at the new house before we move-in. But things are moving right along and happening quickly. We truly could not have asked for a smoother process and the timing of how everything has fallen into place. Todd has the next 12 days off, so perfect time for us to be making this big transition.

a jam-packed weekend.

The weekend before last we had lots to celebrate. Our nephew, Aidan, turned a big six years old, prompting a trip up to Wisconsin for his birthday party. AND there was a big family gathering of my Dad's family while my parents were in town, with everyone and all of my cousins kiddos now too. :) A weekend jam-packed with lots of fun and family.

I was able to spend a full afternoon with this special 6 year old on the Friday before for a day at the waterpark (just Aidan and I :)), so much fun.  We kept him here for an overnight at Zaza and Todd's house that night too.

All of the family kiddos.

Such a fun weekend!

This recent past weekend was quite different, just a quiet weekend at home just the girls (myself, Quinn and Lucy).  Todd was at U of I for a camp for the weekend.  We are glad he is back home though. :)

cousins.

As I had previously mentioned, amidst the busy last two weeks we managed to squeeze in a quick photoshoot.  It was quick and it had some quick planning.  But we managed to still get a few good shots of these adorable little cousins. 
Aidan (6), Liam (3), Quinn (1) and Brynn (8 months)

These babes are pretty cute!

Of course with 4 kiddos you are bound to have more bloopers than good shots.  And our little Quinn was the ham of this show...she is in the "always on the move" toddler stage.  Here she appears to be shaking her booty for us. :)

This one of my beautiful niece and nephews was priceless and I made this for my sister. ;)

To see some more of our cousin photoshoot adventure Click Here.
Or click the photography link at the top of this page.

Enjoy :)

Extra squeezes for our little babes tonight after such a sad and horrible day of loss in Colorado.  Our hearts go out to all of the families and friends of those who were lost and to all of the victims involved.  Life is so precious.

a little baker.

Grandpa and Grandma came in for a full jam-packed week of birthdays, get-togethers and well they even helped pack up some boxes for us. :)
Before they arrived though, we needed to bake a yummy treat for our guests.  Quinn was all about it. :)

Our little baker whipping up some yummy chocolate chip cookies.

This delicious little baker is 17 months today! Such a big girl.

6, 3, 1, 0...busy, busy, busy, busy.

The last month has been a bit of a whirlwind for us...well the whole summer really. It feels like Memorial Day weekend should have been a week ago! Needless to say, it has been nonstop and our time has been jam-packed around here...but all good things. I have many many posts to catch-up on. In the meantime, we will be moving out in 10 days and then hopefully moving into our new home in the beginning of August (all is on track and looks to be that way). Amidst the chaos, we squished in a quick photoshoot with all of the cousin kiddos and here is one of our cutie-patooties. :)

number shirts made by grandma :)

Many more pictures...many more updates...to come (hopefully) soon!

Lots of love,
               Lisa

mini-me and a few updates.

Guess Who?

Alright, so the dated tint and faded image may give it away a little. My mom sent these pics to me recently...I think there is no doubt Quinn is my daughter. :) We couldn't believe how much these pictures look like our little Quinn.  Her hair is exactly the same right now too. :)  I am so amazed when I see these pictures.

House update: 
Well, it took no time at all to find a tenant to rent out our property!  In one week, we had many showings, lots of interest, and two applications in right away!  So check that off the list, we were thrilled to have that taken care of and we received the amount we asked for so double bonus.  It is official we will be moving at the end of this month.  (Thank goodness for Grandma Ginny who will be taking us in during the interim time before we move into the new house.)

Blogging:
It is always good to get back to blogging.  Writing, editing pictures, organizing my thoughts, recording our life events, it all is a good outlet for me.  While things are going to be pretty crazy this month, I will be trying to record all of the process here (for us, and for you).
Lucy was pretty excited to have us home after our long vacation...and this is what blogging often looks like for me during one of Quinn's naptimes.

Oh, our sweet little Lucy...she has no idea what is in store for her in the next month. We will definitely be trying to make the transition as easy as possible for her.

florida.

For the last 2 weeks of June we journeyed down to sunny Florida for time with grandma and grandpa.  Todd was scheduled to work an 8 day volleyball tournament in Orlando, so it worked out perfectly since my parents live about 45 minutes north of there.  Quinn and I soaked up lots of relaxing days with my parents, Todd had fun meeting new people in the volleyball world and working a big national tournament and with the 60 matches he squished in he made some good extra cash. 
We took advantage of the fact that Quinn can still fly for free as a lap child and we decided to fly.  We also didn't have much time to in between Todd's work days to make a long drive, nor were we really up for it with Quinn at 16 months compared to her at 4 months (where she slept the entire time!).  So, with her requiring much less baby supplies this time, we ventured out on her first official plane ride.  She did great!  She slept some of the trip out there, was able to hop back and forth between our two laps and stay pretty entertained for the most part.  On the way home bringing a portable DVD player which we thought would be a big help, ended up biting us in the butt as ALL she wanted to do was hit the buttons and hit the buttons and repeat, repeat, repeat.  Oh well, we learn as we go. :)

Here are a few pictures from our adventures in Florida:

Always a great time with grandma and grandpa in Florida!

the fourth of july.

The Fourth of July...Our Family Through the Years...

2008 - Dating 2 months

2009 - Our Wedding Day

2010 - First Anniversary

2011 - Quinn (4 months)

2012 - Quinn (16 months) & Third Anniversary

Little girl dolled up in her little flag Americana dress...does it get much cuter?



We even busted out the sparkly red "Dorothy" shoes for such a firecracker day. :)



Speaking of firecrackers...



Unfortunately, today is not quite her day.  Running nose, stuffed up, watery eyes, extra whiney...we are thinking those 2 year molars are working their way in.  But 16 months has also brought on it's little extra ounce of attitude around here as well. :)



Happy Fourth of July!

Love,

Todd, Lisa & Quinn

home.

For many reasons June has flown by with few blogposts.  And one of those reasons was 12 days of June were spent in Florida.  Amidst the hustle and bustle of the start of summer, a new house, renting this house...we jetsetted out on Quinn's first plane ride and headed for sunny central Florida (well, when tropical storm Debby isn't around).  Lots of time with grandma and grandpa, and another post to come soon about our trip.

Today, we are home.
Morning came very early as we were up and going after a late evening and long day to get out the door for a house inspection.  After we picked up our Quinny from playing with friends (my friends are amazing, more on that later too), grabbed some Taco Bell and headed home to finally be at home.
Instead of unpacking suitcases today, we just had some fun at home.  I was inspired on another blog that following family trips, you take time to just be home and together and celebrate being home.  Which is so up my alley these days, I'm all about taking in each moment, no rush to move to the next thing if we don't need to.
So, three suitcases still zipped up and packed sitting in our bedroom await us for tomorrow.

But for today...

well, more important things were calling us. :)

and it is early to bed for all of us.

more posts to come...