My first weekend of October

The weather is getting cold! I love my Saturday mornings, I really look forward to them. We wake up, normal time of course (7am) get the kids up and head downstairs for breakfast then we sit around or clean up a little before we head out the door to ballet. I love my ballet Sat mornings with Bella. It is just the two of us. We get ready, go get coffee, then walk to ballet together hand in hand. I love this because I know it is something we will be doing for years. I could be completely wrong but I do think Bella is going to love ballet or dance for years to come or maybe it's just my dream :)

Afterwards we say goodbye to all the sweet mommies and other dancers and head home to Curt and his potty training session that should be taking place. I wonder how much Curt hates his Saturday mornings? 

This past Saturday the girls were recovering from a cough so we kept them in for most of the weekend. Curt and I bought tickets to a food and wine festival in Silver Spring with my sister Travis but it was really lacking both food and wine. They still of course had fun together then we went to Rock Bottom for some actual food and one more drink before we headed home. The girls were with their babysitter and Brooke my niece came to play with them for a few hours. 

We ordered a delicious pizza from Mama Lucia and watched TV for the rest of the cold windy night!

I love how there are so many scary movies on TV now that it's October! 

On Sunday we just stayed home and relaxed the whole day. I love lazy weekends!

I took Bella to CVS with me and she found a scary friend. Am I traumatizing my child? :/

Making homemade applesauce

Last weekend we all got in the car and headed to a local farm to go apple picking. We had a great time and we got about 20 apples so today I decided to make applesauce. 

First I washed the apples

Then I took the skin off of them. I peeled about 15 of them and cut them up into wedges cutting around the core of the apple. Then I put them into a big pot on the stove.

Then I turned the stove on medium heat and added one cup of apple juice. I wish I had cider but it might not have made a difference.

Then I added:

one teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Freshly grated nutmeg

A pinch of allspice

And 1/2 cup of brown sugar to give it that beautiful brown color.

I mixed it a little and then put the top on. 

I let it sit for a good 20 min while the kiddos and I started decorating the house for Halloween then checked on it and it looked like mush. Perfect. Turn the stove off.

I let it cool for another half hour or so then got my mini food processor and started making small batches of applesauce. I added about a 1/4 cup of apple juice to get the right consistency and it was done!! Best applesauce I've ever had hands down!

And....

This will last us for maybe a week if we are lucky!!

Have fun making your own now! 

My sick baby loving her applesauce

Gender of baby #3!

It's a boy! 

We are so excited to welcome baby boy Cannon into our home in January. We couldn't be happier! I have been nesting already, buying sweet little baby boy outfits and making things for his room. I can't wait to see another crib in one of our bedrooms! People must think I am crazy because we have three cribs in our house, however one is a toddler bed :)

I feel bad that I haven't blogged in over a month. It's not that I don't have anything to write it's just that I feel like I never have time for myself. I am trying to make more time but sometimes it feels impossible. Vivi has officially dropped her morning "rest" time so now while the girls are napping in the afternoon I am finally eating lunch, folding laundry and making dinner. I am going to try harder this month to blog during nap time!

Here are a few pictures from the last week of August when we went to the beach in NC! More pictures to come...

We drove to our beach house in Emerald Isle in NC the last week of August before school started.

Thankful for September!

I am so thankful for September, it's been nice getting back into the flow of things. I had a great summer with the girls but now life seems a tad bit easier not having to plan daily activities!

Taking Bella to school for her half days has been a blessing. I have been getting more and more tired with this baby boy growing inside of me so it's nice to have a few hours each day spending time with  Vivian. 

I am thankful for the patience that I have on my good days to potty train. Bella was much much easier to potty train so this has been a challenge but I am not going to give up! I am determined for this girl to be potty trained come January! I love you Vivi but this experience has been trying. Thank you for being a good girl and trying to go pee pee on the potty every day for me. 

I am thankful for my body. I thank God for an amazing body to be able to nuture my baby every day. Every night I am amazed to see my baby moving inside my stomach and realizing that there is a sweet baby growing in me. This is the most precious gift any woman could experience and I am forever grateful. 

I am thankful for this beautiful weather we are having this month. The temperature is cooler and it feels so nice especially while being 6+ months pregnant! I am thankful to live in maryland to see the leaves changing color and being part of all that fall has to offer. 

I am so thankful for my parents who are always there for us when we need them. I love living across the street from them and I love having their support. 

I am thankful for my sweet smart Bella. She is learning more and more each day she is away from me. She makes me laugh daily and even makes me cry. I love her to tears and couldn't be more proid to be her momma. I love how every morning she wishes she was going to ballet instead of school. I love that she recites her prayers in the car and sings our national anthem before bed. 

Lastly, I am thankful for my husband who has been so thoughtful recently with me. He has been loving and more patient with the girls. He comes home early because he knows I need help at dinner and I want him there to eat with us. Also thank you for taking me to Ruth's Chris last Saturday night for an expensive steak because I was craving a fatty steak which is something I never ever crave! I love spending time alone with you it makes me think about how loved I am and how I am so excited to raise a boy that I hope will be just like him. 

Going on a walk with Bella collecting leaves

Flower picking with this sweetie

She loves being on a farm & loves the outdoors :)

Our bouquet of flowers collected on the farm

Picking apples with my sweet family this weekend

My sweet dad with Vivi. He is in love with these girls!

Thankful for this sweet face who helps momma in the morning. We were making brownies and cookies for my cousin Jade who just started college this year! 

I am also thankful for this hairball who desperately needs a hair cut asap! He makes us laugh ;)

Until next year September! We will be a family of five!!!!! 

Thursday! One more week!!!

We only have to wait one more week until we get to find out the gender of our sweet baby #3! I am soo excited! I am equally just as excited to see the baby and watch her/him move around on the big screen. These are some of the best days of my life and most cherished! I love being pregnant when I get to live these beautiful moments in life. 

This week has been pretty low key. We haven't done too much because the weather hasn't been that great until today. It was in the 70's this morning and it already is starting to feel like fall in August, but I can't complain because it does feel pretty darn nice out. We ran a few errands this morning, went to the park then grabbed lunch. I have been trying to potty train Vivi but she is having a pretty hard time. I might stop and then try again in a month. I'm not sure if she is completely ready yet because when she does go in the potty I feel like she doesn't really know what just happened. Bella was potty trained a few weeks before her 2nd birthday and it took me one week straight. I am preparing Vivi for the same experience so hopefully we will be okay come October :)

Making puffy paint tee shirts

Best time ever at the grocery store

Lunch outside today since it was lovely out

Final product from the artist!

Long weekend and rough Monday morning

We did a whole lot of driving this weekend. We went all the way to Oneonta, NY which is about a six hour drive for one of my best friend's wedding. Erica and I were roommates in college. She was such a sweetie and we got along so quickly and became best friends. It was a fun night hanging out with her family and friends on Friday night. Saturday morning we all woke up early, showered, ate breakfast and started getting ready around ten o'clock which quickly came. We got our hair done and our make up, it was such a relaxing day. Then things started getting crazy at 3:00 an hour before the ceremony but everything went smoothly and Erica looked beautiful. She was definitely a little wound up though which is probably pretty normal seein as how she had to plan the wedding herself along with her sister and her mom. After pictures were taken and she had a few drinks she finally calmed down and had a great time. 

Curt and I were really torn about what to do because we needed to be home by Sunday morning.  We decided it would probably be best if we left the wedding after dinner so we could drive to his parents house spend the night and then wake up early on Sunday to make it home in time. That is what we ended up doing. As much as I wanted to stay for the whole wedding it just didn't make sense for us. I was also pretty tired and couldn't drink or stay up late so it just made sense to leave early. 

We drove home at 5:45am on Sunday and made it home by 9:00. We were exhausted! Luckily I was able to nap during their nap time then take a shower. We wanted to do something fun with the kids since we had not seen them for two days so we took them to the mall to get Bella new shoes for the school year and then we went to the Rio in Gaithersburg. We walked around, fed the ducks and fish, had dinner at Rio Grande then got some ice cream and candy! 

Today I am beat! The girls have runny noses so we are staying in on this hot code orange day to make chicken noodle soup and play inside. Maybe tomorrow we will all be feeling better and ready to go to the park or the pool.

Here are some shots from this weekend. 

Sunday afternoon back in Md.