We took L camping for the first time this weekend with my in-laws and had a pretty good time.  It was really nice to get out into the middle of nowhere and just be.  We stayed at a family-friendly camping resort that had several things to keep little ones like L entertained.  She got to ride her first horse and swim in a lake, when we discovered that she hated sand.  However, that didn't stop her from being excited to be at a "beach" and hunting for "seashells." We got rained on Saturday night, but we had already had all of our fun for the day, so it wasn't really a big downer. It was so nice to snuggle into bed and read a book as it rained.  I can't remember the last time I did that. 

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

When I found out we were going camping, I thought it would also be a good time to do a social media break.  I wasn't sure if I could do it, honestly.  However, the campground had really sketchy Wi-Fi, so fate must have been telling me to take a break.  I couldn't even access the stuff if I wanted to!  I didn't really miss it, which surprised me.  When we got back on Sunday, I got caught up and realized I didn't miss much.  I will probably do this again in a few months when I am here at home with accessible Wi-Fi.  We'll see how it goes then. 

I have three or four posts planned for this week and I am also getting ready for L's birthday party on Sunday.  I've posted a few pictures of things on Instagram, but expect to see more because I am tackling a DIY project for it this week that I am pretty excited about.

How was everyone else's weekend?
Have you ever taken a social media break before?  How did it go? 

  

I am back from our road trip to Arkansas for a wedding.  I was ever so glad to sleep in my own bed Saturday night. We did a lot this weekend and L did really good.  She was a real trooper and I am really proud of her.  She's getting to be such a big girl!

We left Thursday morning and pretty much battled rain for half the drive to Northwestern Arkansas.  What is normally a six hour drive, turned into being almost eight or nine due to the weather and a toddler who discovered that if she told the adults in the car that she had to potty, they would frantically look for a gas station (which my toddler also added to her vocabulary this weekend) and she would, in turn, get to get out of her car seat and ransack every gas station from Illinois to Arkansas.

We got to our hotel about 8 in the evening, let L release some pent up energy in the indoor hotel pool, and promptly bathed her and put her to bed.......until she decided that she didn't want to go to bed until MIDNIGHT.  She had a brief moment in time where she was upset.  She wanted her bed and she missed Daddy and she wanted to go home.  It was very hard to make her understand why we couldn't just drive back home.  So.  I did what any mother who is delirious from a car ride with a toddler would do...

I proceeded to jump on the king sized hotel bed her and I would be sharing.  I told her that the best thing about trips is that we get to do things we normally wouldn't do...like jump on the bed.

She bought it.  Hook, line, and sinker.  I have video of my toddler jumping on a king sized bed in a hotel in Arkansas and I am proud of it.

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We woke up Friday morning with time to kill  before the wedding that evening so we took L to Build-A-Bear to build her a new bear.  Well, she chose a Princess Kitty...ya'll this thing is so sparkly....and she promptly named it "Kitty".

We went back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding (I'll have outfit deets later) and left with enough time to stop and let L see some "choo choo twains" before we had to be at the wedding.  She enjoyed the heck out of herself there and then we went to this beautiful chapel  and participated in a very intimate wedding.

We left the wedding, stopped for a bite to eat, headed back to the hotel, and promptly passed out.  It had been a long and exhausting day and I was more than happy to crawl into bed at 10:30.  Ha!

The next morning we got up, packed up, and left so we would have enough time to stop at the zoo in Springfield, Missouri so L could see some "ephants, jaffs, and hoppos". She had a blast and wore me the heck out!  I slept a lot on the way home while she slept, snacked, played on her LeapPad, and asked to stop at "gash shations".

We got home about 7 in the evening on Saturday and then I immediately got her in the tub so I could put her to bed.  After she went to bed, I had to assess the damage that The Hubbs had to deal with while L and I were gone.  Our basement sprung a leak while I was gone and he had to shop vac a bunch of water out of his man cave and the storage room next to it.  We spent Sunday cleaning up and moving a lot of stuff out to the sun porch  to be taken the curb on trash day the next two to three weeks.  We didn't lose anything valuable, monetarily or sentimentally, so we are thankful for that.  However, now we have to figure out what to do with a leaky basement. :-/  Joy.  Thrill.

And that, my readers, sums up my weekend!  I'll back tomorrow with another beauty post and the last post in my five key pieces for spring series will be coming later this week.  Be sure to be watching Facebook and Twitter for new post alerts!

Sooo, this post was supposed to go up yesterday as a weekend re-cap, but it didn't.  Instead, it's going up today as a whats-been-going-on-around-here post.  I spent most of yesterday feeling like I was running behind, but I was truly just trying to catch up from the weekend.

L making a card for Daddy.

My "perfect top" cupcakes. It never happens, so I had to document it.

L adding the "special sprinkles" to Daddy's cupcakes.

The finished product.  Nice, huh? I was worn out by the time my head hit the pillow Friday night.  I signed up for my first 5k on Saturday morning.  I will be walking in The Color Run this year! Next year, I plan to run.  Wish me luck!  Saturday evening, L went to spend the evening with The Hubbs' parents and we went out to eat with my sister-in-law and her boyfriend at Lotawata Creek  We ate too much (but it was sooo good) and we came home and vegged on the couch for the rest of the evening. We slept in on Sunday, went to lunch with The Hubbs' parents for his birthday at Red Lobster, and came home and vegged some more.  The Super Bowl was on, but we only watched for the commercials.  Ha! I always have to see the new Clydesdale commercial and both of the commercials did not disappoint! I spent yesterday catching up from the weekend.  We had to run to the store and pick up a few things before the next round of snow came in (it's now here...snowing it's butt off..ugh) and I did my first work out on my treadmill yesterday.  Last night, L had her first play class at one of the local gyms.  We had loads of fun!  I counted it as a second dose of cardio yesterday-we did that much running around. That just about sums up the past four days!  I'll be back tomorrow with a new recipe!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  We had some AH-MAZING! weather here in the Midwest this weekend and it made our plans all the more enjoyable!

Friday was a pretty lazy day.  L was up and down all night so neither her nor I got much sleep.  We laid around most of the morning and then we both went and took naps in our rooms from 1 till about 4:30 in the afternoon.  I don't know about her, but my nap was lovely!  Once we woke up, L had a snack and watched some Gnomeo and Juliet while I got her packed up to go to her grandparent's house for the next two nights.  We both needed a break from each other and to catch up on our sleep.

L was out of the house by about 6:30 and I got busy cleaning up the house, getting things organized, and pretty much just enjoying the peace and quiet.  I turn the TV off, turn on some music, and just do what I need to do.

Husband got home about 8:30 and we actually just hung out in front of the TV that evening and ate pizza.  By midnight, I was ready for bed.  If it is possible, I died when my head hit the pillow.  I slept straight through until nine the next morning and it was bliss!

Saturday I spent running errands and enjoying some me time.  I browsed some stores, took in some of the latest fashions (some that I am not so sure about), and just enjoyed the weather and the music that Pandora provided for me.  Later that afternoon, I started getting ready to go out to The Muny with some of my people's to see Mary Poppins.

Mary Poppin's was awesome!  I enjoyed every minute of it.  I am just that artsy and that nerdy that productions like that fill my heart up and make me feel good again.  Since L has arrived, I have put that part of myself off.  I am the kind of person that needs to sink into her very favorite things and have those outlets for when other aspects of my life are out of control.  I need that solace that my favorite things provide.  (More on this topic in a later post.)

Here is me waiting on my people's to arrive!  P.S. I bought myself a new shirt for the occasion.  I should have taken a picture of the whole outfit-I was pretty proud of it!



I got home Saturday evening (after getting lost in a not so great part of St. Louis-sigh-I know better.  I lived there for a looong time and I still went left instead right! Argh!) and I was exhausted!  The husband and I got caught up on each other's day and evenings and then went to bed.  We were both so tired!

Sunday morning we woke up early and got ready to go pick up L from the grandparent's house so we could travel down to my  parent's house to celebrate my brother's birthday.  L was excited to see us and she was able to catch up on her sleep (both nights, all night long!) and off we went on our two hour drive, over the river and through the woods (literally) to my parents house.

Watching a kite fly

And eating a fresh cherry tomato from Nana and Papa's garden

L also has become fascinated with rocks, so we all got rocks given to us at various points throughout the day.  She loved to put them in our pockets for us.  The three she gave me are sitting on my window sill above the kitchen sink. Daddy even helped L pick me a flower and she brought it to me, then when I went to grab it, she jerked it back and said, "No, Mommy!  Mine!"  That's typical! Ha! :)

We have spent the last four days going non-stop with all the festivities this past weekend.  Too much BBQ has been consumed, a lot of sun has been soaked up, and a lot of water has been played in.  So, while I continue to clean up the disaster area that is my house, (because who wants to clean after being out in the sun all day) I leave you with some photos of our weekend shenanigans!