What I Did On My Summer Vacation...

Hola Bloggerinos!
For the past week we took Nate on his first vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  North Carolina is a very special place for me and Kurt for several reasons.  We lived in NC for about 2 years, it's where we got engaged, where Sammy was born, and where we started our life as a newly married couple (with Sammy in tow).  We were so happy to have been able to bring our little boy to the state where it all started (but were sad that Sammy had her own "vacation" for the week back in NJ).  We took the trip with Nate's Grandma, Pop-Pop, Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Jon, Kate, & Anna (and, of course, Mommy and Daddy).  Like thieves in the night we left at around 8pm hoping to arrive before Nate woke up and we were successful (both on the way there and back).  We had a fantastic time with the family and Nate got his first few beach experiences under his belt.  Check out the pictures below for a look at some of our adventures:

check out my fancy swimsuit!

I spent most of my time sleeping on Mommy in the sun tent

meanwhile, Kate was making a sandcastle with Pop-Pop and Uncle Jon
(Sun Tent in the background)

...Anna helped with the sand castle too

Doesn't hurt to have an engineer/architect help build the sand castle

my monkey enjoyed the tent too!

having fun with Aunt Carolyn!

Love spending time with Grandma and Kate!

First family beach outting!

Daddy about to put my feet in the sand (I screamed my head off)

Hanging out with my cousins!

Moomy and me at at the lighthouse

Best way to beat the heat...get naked!

Favorite part of our trip...the porch swing!

Now I'm a total beach bum!

Surprise! Auntie Jess and Jon stopped by for a visit!!!

On my way home...monkey jammies, monkey blanket,
monkey straps, and my monkey lovie.
Does anyone else love mokeys as much as me?

 Hope you all have a most fantastic week!
xoxo, Jilly

and, of course, our weekly family shot

Playing Catch Up!!!

Sorry Fellows!
As it turns out being a good mommy (or at least trying to be) means being a bad blogger.  I am constantly surprised at how many people actually read this thing or care at all about the things I find funny or interesting, however, every time I skip a posting I am harassed by my "adoring fans",  Actually, you all are probably Nate fans and you accept my musings as a way to gain access to him...am I getting close?  Soooo, even though I haven't really made a post of any substance since Nate was born (apart from a bunch of cute pictures of the little bugger), I am just going to post a bunch of pictures and little notes about what they are about this week again.  Sorry, this is the best I've got for now. Here we go, highlights of the past 2 weeks:

As promised, Shayla the birthday girl!!!

Nate and Mommy at Shayla's Birthday party!

Holding hands with my future wife Jordana...

...and here I am making my move (can't blame a guy for trying).

Hooray!  Took a trip out to Philly to have lunch with Aunt Jessie!

"Babysat" my cousins with Mommy and Daddy

Here is Nate hating his bath (as he is prone to do)

Just hanging out with Daddy before bed

Had a playdate with Andrew and Emily!!!

Mommy makes me do tummy time every day...it makes me angry

The Hagel/Jahanbani Crew came to visit!

And (finally) liking my bath!

Sorry that there aren't pictures of Sam this week, but she has an entire post that will be devoted to her antics coming up soon.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!

xoxo, Jilly

another family shot throwback...we need to get a third party photog to be around and snap shots of us every week!

Nate's Birth Announcement

Hey All!!!

So the birth announcements went out about a month ago, but here they are (front and back):

We debated putting Sammy's name on the front of the annoucement, but we thought about the future implications (when grandchildren look at the announcement we didn't want them to think we had another child).  Anyway, Sammy made the cut on the back of the card in the family photo.

Hope you like them!
xoxo, Jilly