fun

Halloween Wrap Up // 2016

November 16, 2016 by Rachel 2 Comments

Hey! Remember Halloween?? You know, that pseudo-Holiday two-ish weeks ago? Well, as per the norm, life went off the rails. And I forgot to ever post any pictures of our Halloween shenanigans. But if there are no pictures, did it really happen?? Haaaa! Of course, I kid!

But for real.

We had family in town for the weekend of Halloween, so Chad and I both took that Friday off from work. So after we picked up my sister-in-law from the airport, we headed back to our hometown to see the family (for those new around here, Chad and I both grew up in a teeny tiny town, and both went to the same teeny tiny high school, but just a few years apart).

The whole crew — all seven adults and 8 children — went out to lunch. Surprisingly? It went totally fine. No joke. The kids were good, the adults were happy, and all was well.

Post-lunch we headed to Patterson’s Fruit Farm. No joke, we had the most beautiful weather. Warm and sunny for the last weekend of October!

It’s been years (decades, even) since I’ve been to Patterson’s. I had no idea what kind of spread to expect, but this place was gorgeous! Pumpkins galore, playgrounds, and so much amazing food!

Ari (quickly) became obsessed with the wagons and the pumpkins. Between chasing after him and trying to get THE perfect picture of Remy (spoiler — it didn’t happen), I was exhausted just from these shenanigans!

Still, I was in pumpkin heaven! And the apple fritters! Ohhhh, the apple fritters! I wish I had snapped a picture before I ate this amazing — and huge — apple fritter! But guys – I was hungry!

Post-pumpkin patch fun, we headed to Chad’s cousins house for a bit of a family party. It’s quite unusual to have this many of Chad’s siblings at home at one time. So we (naturally) used it as an excuse to snack, sip, and laugh!

The next day was, well, exhausting! However, I did take the kiddos to our dear friends house for some pumpkin-carving fun! Ari requested a Batman pumpkin. Although I have some artistic abilities, freehand drawing on pumpkins are not in my scope of creativity!

Lucky for us, one of the other adults was able to oblige! After our pumpkins were carved, we headed to my mother-in-laws hours for trick-or-treating! For this first time ever, Ari was completely and totally down for some trick-or-treating!

It was wonderful to have the cousins there with us! And Remy was a total gem throughout this whole process! Also? Cutest. monkey. EVER. Am I right!?

I’m honestly surprised we made it an hour of trick-or-treating. It’s longer than we ever have. And, although I had plans to take Ari to the neighbors for trick-or-treating when we got home, it just didn’t happen. We were all exhausted and ended up in bed at 7:30PM. No joke. All of us.

Thankfully, these fun and exhausting weekends come but once in a blue moon! I mean, it was SO exhausting that I wasn’t able to even recount it for TWO WEEKS! Ha!

So Happy Halloween? JK Merry Christmas at this point…

Thirty-Two //

October 8, 2016 by Rachel Leave a Comment

Ohhhh, thirty-two! To think… not long ago I was terrified of turning 30. Now? Now I embrace my age! Even though the last several [okay… many…] birthdays ‘meant’ nothing, I was still somehow hung up on getting a year older.

And even though this years birthday came and went without fanfare, there was something extra special about it — for that very reason!

Per my request, we slept in (….ish). And then headed to Maize Valley Winery for some family fun! Yes, it’s a winery (and brewery!), but they also have a huge corn maze, hayrides, pumpkin picking, pig races, and (my personal fave) “Pumpkin Chucking.”

Both kiddos did remarkably well. I even ran into fellow blogger, Jacquie, from Cleveland Kiddos! (but, of course, we were ‘bad bloggers’ and forgot to get a picture together).

♥

♥

♥

♥

♥

After our fun day at the winery, we went dinner, came home, gave the kiddos baths,and put them (and ourselves) to bed. It was totally ordinary and totally amazing.

If Wednesday was any indication of how this year will go, I’m totally ready. Ready for the chaotic, ready for the crazy of two kiddos at events, ready for the meltdowns and exhaustion, and just plain ready for this new normal.

My life may not be exciting, but it is ordinarily perfect! Thank you all for the birthday love!

Weekend Wrapup //

September 27, 2016 by Rachel Leave a Comment

Guys! [Yes, I realize I start a LOT of blog posts with “guys!” But, to be fair? I actually say that a LOT in real life.] This weekend was mostly the bomb dot com.

Let’s recap, shall we?

Saturday was set to be such a wonderful day, weatherwise. I mean, perfection of Fall. For serious.

Chad stayed home with Miss Bea while Ari and I went to Lowe’s for their monthly Build and Grow Workshop. Normally, these workshops go like this: we check in, grab our kit, and Mommy builds while Ari tries to wander away.

But this time was different. This time, Ari was super interested. So interested, in fact, that he actually used the hammer to nail his boat together.

I’m amazed at how much this kiddo has learned in preschool. It’s especially apparent with his ability focus and follow directions. He did great building his boat at @loweshomeimprovement Build & Grow workshop this morning!

A photo posted by Rachel (@itsahero) on Sep 24, 2016 at 8:22am PDT

I credit his new found concentration from preschool! I mean, it has to be, right!? That’s truly the only thing that has changed. So, thank you, Miss Shannon and the YMCA preschool for helping Ari concentrate and focus his way through building an amazing wooden tugboat toy!

Afterward, I took Ari home and picked up Miss Bea. She and I went to the local Hike + Bike trail to go for an interval run. Yep, you heard right! For the last 3.5 weeks I’ve been back to running! (More on that in a post this week!)

Girlfriend did great, considering! I mean, she loves the stroller. And she loved it for the first 25 minutes of our run. And then? Not so much… she fussed and fussed and fussed. Until she fell asleep. Thank goodness she fell asleep — OMG. And even though my run was over, I continued to walk until she got a decent nap in.

Post-run, we went home and played in the park with Ari. I seriously count my blessings every single damn day that we have a park (and playground!) in our backyard!

And then — yes even after this amount of excitement! — we ended up at our local celebration for our First Responders! Ari was able to climb into a SWAT vehicle, see a SWAT camera, witness the jaws of life, and get his very own bicycle helmet.

So, basically, a little boys favorite things. Right!? But for serious. It was the perfect way to wrap up our day.

And on Sunday, we did nothing except nap and clean. It was perfection. And it rejuvenated my Mama Soul, friends! For reals!

Kentucky Round Up!

August 23, 2016 by Rachel 1 Comment

Hey! Did you know we went to Kentucky (or as Ari calls it ‘Tucky) three weeks ago!? Yep! We did! And honestly, the last two-plus weeks haven’t been hard. We’ve just been busy. And I’ve had a hard time concentrating on pretty much everything (helloooooo, three different to-do lists that need to be condensed!).

But Kentucky was our first real/kind of vacation as a family of four.

It took us EIGHT HOURS to make a 5.5 hour trip (#ThanksRemy). But we made it.

We had to stop about an hour from home because Remy had pooped and wanted to eat. Yayyyy infants. 🙁

She seriously screamed the entire drive… which was super fun and not at all anxiety-inducing… Sigh.

But we made it. And when we got there we settled in and ate (a very late for us) dinner! To be honest, the whole sleeping situation was even more rough. Not because it was uncomfortable; but because our children are sleep demons. Ari and Chad slept in a queen bed and I slept in a room with Remy. She, of course, hated sleeping in the pack and play. And woke up frequently.

Thursday morning my mom and Ari made pancakes for everyone — and it was totally cute. The pancakes were very heavy on the blueberries! Ha! 😛

After our delicious breakfast, Mimi and I went to get pedicures! I’ll admit – I’ve had very few (if any?) indulgences since Remy was born; but Mimi wanted to treat me and my little piggies to some pampering! A little girls time was just what the doctor ordered!

We ended up spending the rest of our day relaxing before grabbing some dinner at this incredible Ethiopian restaurant, Queen of Sheba.

Traditional Ethiopian food is served ‘family style,’ and without utensils! The spongey-bread is the only utensil you need! Surprisingly, the kiddos did awesome. Not surprisingly, we l-o-v-e-d our amazing meal. Seriously. We need to find an Ethiopian restaurant nearby in Ohio!

Other items of note during our trip — Ari got to play with Legos. Like, a lot. I mean, I know that’s business as usual for him. But we ended up finding this Lego resale shop that specializes in minifigures. It was totally cool. They even do birthday parties! If we were local we would totally be having his fourth birthday party there.

Oh! Chad and I got out for a date day without the kiddos! Okay, so it was really like three hours. But still! It was fabulous!

We went to a neighborhood in Louisville called NuLu — which is very Ohio City-esque (if we’re comparing Cleveland to L-ville!). They happened to be having a neighborhood block party.

We wandered around, in and out of little boutiques. Being in bourbon country almost made me want to drink bourbon. Almost. 😛

We ventured into a crazy antique store that was… trippy, to say the least. But there were fun-house mirrors! :O

How fun! Post-fun-house/little shop of horrors, we grabbed some (Nashville) Hot Chicken. Add grits, slaw, and potatoes to the mix? Hea-ven.

For reals. We LOVE this food. Love it.

Later that night we all — meaning me, Chad, Mimi, Poppy, Ari and Remy — all went to downtown Louisville to walk the bridge over to Indiana! It was HOT. And our kids were straight-up losing it. But the views were incredible (even if we did bribe Ari with ice cream — real talk, friends).

To be honest, the rest of our trip was spent just lounging around. It was really nice to visit. And I’m seriously surprised I was able to post this update before our next trip to ‘Tucky! :p :p

Weekend Wrap Up //

June 15, 2016 by Rachel 1 Comment

It was another one of those weekends. The kind of weekend that makes my heart pitter-patter. I went to bed SO full of happy on Sunday night. Seriously. I was just… happy!

My mom and dad arrived around noon on Friday. We got them settled in and then headed to lunch over at Retro Dog. Retro Dog has long-been one of my favorite fast-casual spots. Well, because, it’s hot dogs. Obvy. But it’s not just any hot dogs. It’s Sahlen’s Hot Dogs… a freakin’ Buffalo tradition!

Seriously, friends. These natural-casing hot dogs are amazing. And my dad feels like he needs to go to Retro Dog every time he’s in town! Which is totally fine by me.

It turns out Fox 8 was on-site filming a segment for New Day Cleveland. The owner knows us (because we share a strong love of hot dogs, root beer, and Buffalo).

The owner came right up to me and said “Oh my gosh this couldn’t be more perfect timing! They don’t believe that our best customers happened to *just* walk in!” and threw us a Retro Dog shirt to put on Ari!

The camera crew came over to film us and Ari started cheesing in the worst way. Seriously, THE worst. They said they are going to use the footage, but seriously it’s of Ari shoving hot dogs in his mouth and making funny faces at the camera. Ha!

Post-Retro Dog we headed out to get Ari a new pair of shoes. I know that sounds lame, but it seriously made him SO happy! And we were even able to squeeze in a quick swim at the wading pool with Mimi and Poppy!

Friday evening we all headed out to dinner and then to bed early. Thank goodness!

Saturday morning was rough. Remy had a really rough night and I was desperate for a break from her. I ended up powering through the morning, some way, some how.

My mom and I took Remy to the Freedom Trail and went for a run. Meanwhile, Chad, Ari, and Poppy went to Lowe’s for their Build & Grow workshop. Afterward we all met up in Kent for lunch at Fresco Mexican Grill. Think Chipotle, but locally owned and wayyyyy better. That’s Fresco!

We also had a chance to walk through Haymaker Farmers Market! It was our first market of the season and it was a beautiful day for it! Ari and Chad shared a popsicle from PopSmith (rhubarb or something?)… and we walked and enjoyed ourselves.

Oh, and we stopped by the newly-opened Peace, Love, and Little Donuts!

They had a super impressive spread of little donuts! And the most impressive part? Was the fact that they made these beauties right in front of us!

When we asked Ari which flavor he wanted, he replied that he wanted just plain ol’ chocolate. Kiddo! For real?? But we made sure to get a bunch of different flavors to try out. And they were all delicious! My dad (half-) joked that he was going to go get a dozen just for himself. He didn’t (this time), but he likely will next time he’s in town.

And Saturday evening we headed to Mimi & Poppy’s hotel for a quick swim in the pool. I mean, Ari wouldn’t stop asking to go for a swim in the pool at the pool. Of course, when we got to the pool, he was terrified to go in (I knew he would be). I somehow convinced him to come in with me and he did great!

Post-swim we headed back to the house for a cookout. Chad made amazing burgers and cucumber salad while Ari played in the backyard with Poppy. Mimi snuggled Miss Remy Bea and finally got her to settle down (thank goodness for Mimi!).

Everyone passed the heck out after that kind of day! And I was lucky enough to have had a chance to sleep next to a very lovey toddler instead of the very-clingy baby! No, she didn’t take a bottle; but Chad just brought her in once or twice to feed, and then took her right back out! I was so grateful to have had that time with Ari (and a bit more sleep!).

I definitely needed every second of that.

On Sunday my mom and I cleaned the whole house. Well, almost the whole house (Ari’s room is a disaster area. For reals.). Because I was hosting a little in-home shopping party for some girlfriends!

We had so much fun sipping sangria (even if I did forget one fairly important ingredient!), snacking on finger-food, and shopping LuLaRoe!

Mimi left in the middle of the party (but not before purchasing seven — yes SEVEN — items!) to go home to Kentucky [insert sad face]. But after the party the kids and I picked up right where our busy weekend left off!

I decided to drag the kids on a solo trip to the Keyser Barn for their first of the summer concert series! While it was a short trip (thanks, Remy, for that meltdown), we did have some fun!

And with that, our weekend is totally, completely, wrapped up! So much fun!

Weekend Wrap Up //

June 9, 2016 by Rachel Leave a Comment

I mentioned yesterday that I got really sick on Friday afternoon. Truthfully, I was feeling a bit ‘off’ on Friday morning. I thought it was from just lack of sleep. Turns out, I had a ‘bug’ of sorts.

I took both kids upstairs to my bed and turned on the TV. I thought if I could just get Ari to relax and watch a movie and get Remy to nap, I would be OK. But Ari wouldn’t stop talking. And Remy wouldn’t stop screaming. So I called in the big guns — Chad. I kindly asked begged him to come home early from work so I could dry-heave in silence.

He obliged. Thank G-O-D. Seriously. If I could have told Ari to shut up, I would have. But he would have told me “We don’t say that! That’s a bad word!” Truth, kid. Truth!

So I spent from 1pm Friday through Saturday morning in bed. And even then, I wasn’t feeling 100%. So I woke up late. I handed Remy off to Chad for a little while. And then when I finally woke up, we all headed over to Home Depot for their kids’ workshop.

Ari usually makes Chad do all of the work for him, but this time he actually used the hammer himself!

It was adorable. Straight up… adorable!

And then we napped. Cause, exhaustion.

Post-nap we gathered the kids and went to a graduation party. I still wasn’t 100%, but I was feeling OK-ish enough to go.

PS. I totally didn’t believe my husband that Bob Seger was at this party. He was at another party with us (3 years ago) and I was like “haha, yeah. Ok.” and he said the same thing this time. And I was convinced he was messing with me. I thought “OK. It’s just a dude with the *name* Bob Seger, right?” But no. It’s the actual Bob Seger. I guess the first time I just didn’t know I was meeting Bob Seger. Cool, right? Well, my mom thinks so. 😛

Regardless, Ari wore himself out. Completely.

And we were all asleep by 8:30. #MomLife

Sunday we didn’t do a darn thing. Except, of course, go to Earth Fare.

We love Earth Fare. We especially love Earth Fare when they have BOGO deals. And Remy loves to be worn at Earth Fare.

We did the BOGO deals hard, friends. HARD. And then we passed out (well, everyone else did. I, on the other hand, made meatballs at midnight and cleaned the whole house.).

Regardless of illness, it was a glorious weekend. Truly, glorious.

And yes, I realize that it’s now Thursday and I’m posting my weekend wrapup. But, hey,… life, ya’ll. Life.