Hoppy Easter...

This week was a bit lackluster in the McCulloch house. Nothing truly noteworthy to report. Laney is now staying up as late as her big sister, so that's a transition in our house. Bug used to go down at 6:30 every night. I think she just recently discovered everyone else is still awake and she's sleeping. So we're now a family that has a bedtime routine that doubled. One girl on the potty while the other is brushing. And switch. We read bedtime stories in Izzy's bed and then they go in their separate beds (Laney's crib is going to be taken down...soon). Crazy that this new routine is making me realize I no longer have a baby. Bug is 20 months. Where has the time gone?

Mike and Jason unveiled their first home brew this week, an Irish Stout. It is delish. He has brought a few bottles with him to dinner on Friday and then to his dad's on Saturday. He's very proud of his creation and I have to admit, I am too. Cheers!

 We had dinner on Friday night with the Falciones. It had been a few months and we needed to catch up. It's amazing that they only live a mile away and yet we don't see them but every other month! Good friends can pick right up where they left off...and we did just that. I'm sorry to say I didn't get a good pic of the kiddos together; they were running all over the place and it was hard to capture the moment.

 Katie made a delicious spread...

...and these cake balls were to. Die. For. Lemon, Devil's Food, German Chocolate, Carmel, Mocha. Oh. My. Goodness. They were amazing. And quite beautiful, too.

After my Saturday morning run and Izzy's ballet class we headed up to the Fort again for a long-awaited family portrait. Bob & Laura celebrated their 10 year anniversary last Fall and we were supposed to have a family picture at Thanksgiving to commemorate; however, the photo was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We rescheduled for yesterday. Photographing 15+ people was downright hilarious at times. If you don't believe me, check this out:

Even the photographer's face cracks me up. This was all the great grandchildren with Great Grandpa Cliff (and Laura holding up the girls behind-the-scenes!). There were bribes of cash and candy...and lots of funny faces and crazy noises coming from the people behind the camera!

 Aimee & 12 month old Maryn

Laura, Sister Sarah & Jake

 Mike with his home brew in one hand the champagne of beers in the other. Nothing but class.

 Aunt Susan with a sleeping Maryn

Laura took Izzy & 4 others to see HOP at the theaters while the rest of us hung out in the sun. Grandpa Bob got some serious snuggling in with Laney & Maryn:

Hope everyone has had a great Easter weekend!

Egg hunt, Vera sale & Bouncing birthday party...

We left town on Thursday after work heading north to the Fort. Laura and I wanted to hit up the annual Vera Br.adley outlet sale. Didn't take pictures this year; however, the crowds were more tame and the inventory was larger & deeper than last year. Got a lot of my xmas shopping done and we had a great time shopping.

After dinner out the grandparents hosted a little Easter egg hunt around the house for the girls (even though we'll be back next weekend they wanted a special hunt just for them - so sweet!).

 The girls were checking out their loot; Izzy would open the plastic eggs, dump the candy in her bucket, then place the empty egg into Laney's bucket. It was hilarious to watch unfold. Laney had no idea she was being robbed of her candy.

 Saturday morning we packed up early to head back to Indy for this:

 And we originally were going to go to Oscar's birthday party on Saturday; however, they delayed the party until Sunday due to cold and wet weather. Mike and I spent the entire afternoon and evening in the basement cleaning it out (the storage side). We made 3 piles: keep, toss, garage sale. My neighbor and I are looking to have a garage sale in the upcoming month or two and mama's ready to unload a LOT of kid toys and office supplies (both Mike and I used to work out of our house, so you can only imagine the fax machines, binder clips, et al we have waiting to get rid of). Feels GOOD to be so organized!

The girls couldn't wait to wake up this morning and go to Oscar's 5th birthday party. They did lots of this:

 And a little of this:

And when Izzy told Megan goodbye, she told her "This was the best day ever!" Every host should hear those words at the end of a party. And it was true, we all had a great time. We got to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, eat delicious food and bounce until it was naptime. Was a nice, long weekend. Now, back to the grind :)

AnyBUNNY ready for Easter?

This little girl is:

Izzy even came home with an Easter egg she dyed at school yesterday. She was so excited to eat it, until we reminded her it's an egg (which she does not care for). Izzy girl tired it. And remembered she didn't like it. Onto the next. Bring on the Easter candy!!!

Spring Cleaning

 It's Spring. I can feel it. I can smell it. I've worn summer dresses and flip flops this week. And sunglasses for about 5 straight days. Bring. It. On. We had zero plans over the weekend...so this gave us ample time to enjoy the weather. We rode bikes on Friday. We bounced on Saturday. We played for hours outside today. I'm ready for more weekends spent outside. Yes. Please.

 The Fellers stopped by on Saturday for an impromptu bounce date in the neighbors' yard. Luke has the drop-sit down pat.

 And Laney is becoming more and more comfortable jumping and being bounced around by the bigs.

 Sunday morning the girls and I went to the indoor pool for a few hours while Mikey got his long run in. Speaking of which, I was elated to be able to run in shorts on Saturday morning. To not have to wear tights, a jacket and gloves was more than welcome. My 12 miles felt really good...only thing that could have made it better was a partner :(

 Today we ate lunch outside and spent several hours in both our front and back yards. Also, Laney has gone potty almost all weekend on the big girl potty. On her own accord. Her prompting us. We are shocked and quite honestly pleasantly surprised. Had no idea this was in store for us. Yet another welcome surprise to top off the weekend.

 Mike and Jason were able to finally bottle their first batch of Irish Stout. They filtered it several times over the past few months. And now the beer just has to sit in the bottles and age until carbonation occurs (um, I have zero idea what the technical terms of all this is obv). After they bottled a few cases, they started brewing their next batch. They are even journaling the recipes and what they did so as to make the next batch even better. Love listening to them in the kitchen giggle while they are learning this process. I can tell they both really enjoy it.

So there you have it; a weekend filled with a lot of nothing. I did manage to perform my annual window-washing extravaganza (my least favorite household chore, but not behind cooking). Oh, how I loathe cleaning the windows (inside and out) and the dirty sills. I laid to rest more than several dozen of last season's lady bugs. Gross. Spring cleaning at its finest.

Florida Vaca 2011

The family has been planning a vacation for about a year...to celebrate my sister's & Mike's graduations. We wanted warm weather and that's what we got...in FLORIDA!!! Mike and I packed up the girls early last Saturday morning to make the 12 hour car trip to Destin. We left the house at 3am and arrived around 4pm. The girls took a total of 1 hour naps. Each. Let it be known we did attempt the Ben.adryl trick and that just doesn't work. In any dose. But we tried. Even survived. We watched about 12 movies. And ate a lot of snacks. But we made it. In one piece.

My dad, step-mom, sister and niece/nephew drove down a little before us, staying over in Alabama the night before we left. They had a stop at the emergency room late Friday night as my dad was in severe pain from what they learned was a kidney stone. They gave him an i.v. and some hefty dru.gs and sent him on his way. We read the headlines a few days later that 9 people died in Alabama hospitals due to i.v. bag contamination. Scary Mary.

I took over 350 pictures over the course of the 9 days we were gone. It was hard to decide which to post, as I love them all. But here are a few of my favorites. Be warned: there are a LOT of pictures in this post. Which, btw, is my 401st post!!! I can't believe I've been blogging for 4 years now...love it!

 As we drove we watched the temperatures rising and were thrilled when they reached near 80. Windows were down baby.

 We unloaded the car and grabbed a drink...and headed directly to the beach. We just couldn't wait. On the way to the beach (which was a 400 foot walk from our house) we told Izzy we were finaly going to see the beach and the ocean. She said, "I don't know the ocean." Well hold onto your hat, girl, because your world is about to be rocked!

 Starting Sunday morning, we fell into a routine that lasted the entire week: Mike and I going for our daily runs along the coast, loading up for a few hours at the beach, come back for lunch and naps, another few hours at the pool, cook dinner and then drinks & games. We had weather in the 70's & 80's the entire time, with a little rain one morning. Was the best. For reals.

 This was a banner that was being toured across the coast (for all of the Spring Breakers, I'd imagine) and I HAD to take a picture. It's dedicated to Mike's relay team (the RILFs).

 I attempted to fren.ch braid Izzy's hair one afternoon (two of them, one on each side) and I'm hoping my mom will be proud of this attempt! She looked so stinkin' cute!!!

 Sisters are the best!

 All the grandchildren:

 The drive home was (almost) seamless. Izzy was complaining of her tummy hurting (she sometimes does this to score herself some T.ums) and after more prodding, we finally pulled over and let her have a potty break among the cows. We were there for 10 minutes, so thankfully we stopped (we were in the country and had nowhere else to stop). I'm glad I had the forethought to pack the travel potty, as it was a HUGE lifesaver. And you KNOW I had to take a picture of this...Izzy will wring my neck one day. But until then...

We're home at last. Laundry is nearly done and bags are almost all unpacked. Can't say I'm all that happy to be back, as the weather is chilly here. Leaving some sand in my shoes for the memories. And we cannot wait to do this again next Spring!