Reese Leora Quint

Our friends' third beautiful baby girl had her very first photo shoot yesterday!

So pretty!

Family of 5

Hush Little Baby

... and this one is one of my very favorites!  Congrats again Heather and Jason on your gorgeous family!

Good day!

Zoo trip and play time outside!

(forget that for the 2nd day in a row, naps have been completely screwed up)

Doesn't really matter, today was a good day!

Some snaps to share!

Sometimes I think she's so pretty it makes me want to cry!

Showing her sister how to shovel snow into the wheelbarrow

Cute eh?

So tired from her busy day!

i heart faces: A slice of Life

Lila taking our "new" used double stroller for a test drive on the porch!

Elle watching her big sister be her crazy self!

My house, a total mess, even though I just cleaned on Saturday.

Yep, this is a slice of our life!

Check out the other great entries this week at iheartfaces.

A relaxing weekend

The weekend was a pretty chill-out, relaxed one.

Visit with friends, clean up the house, hang with our family, and play with our kiddos!

Not too bad.

Not too bad at all!

Cleaning, baking, playing on Saturday morning, then a visit to our friends in Mankato in the evening!

Heather, Jason... it was, as always, great to see you!  And miss Reese is so precious! I can't wait to see you this week!

 

She wasn't too sure of playing "Beauty Shop", but got the hang of it!

Ellie just kind of sat back and watched!

Me and sweet baby Reese!

The newest Quint!

Sunday was spent lounging around, watching Disney movies and visiting with my sister!

Alex, thank you so much for always being willing to come and hang out.  The girls love seeing you! 

I love you!

(oh, and thanks a million for tackling the dogs nast-o chompers!)

Ryan left EARLY this morning to catch a flight out to California.

Normally he really likes these trips, but he's feeling kinda cruddy with a head-cold,

so this may not be quite as enjoyable for him.

The girls and I plan on having a nice week here, maybe a zoo trip squeezed in!

Have a great week!

Because it's funny!

Had to share this little clip of Elle.

She's taken to doing this little tongue wiggle thing, that gets me giggling every time!

She kinda reminds me of a lizard!

I managed to catch it on video this morning, too funny!

Hooray for Friday!

Is anyone else excited that it's Friday???

Anyone?

I'm sure all 4 of you that read this are thrilled ;)

Anyway, I'm so happy it's Friday!  This means I'm now off work for a whole week!  A whole week

to spend with my loves! Well, my girls anyway... Ryan will leave on Monday for 4 days for work travel. Blech.

Regardless, I'm SO HAPPY!  This could also be amplified by the fact that it is 8am and Lila let me sleep 

until 7:20 and Elle is still sleeping! Aaaaaaaaaahhh, sleep is good!

Just a happy little photo to start the weekend!

Happy Friday!

Smooches from my Baby

I am so thankful to have been blessed with a happy, healthy baby girl!

A baby, that won't be a "Baby" for much longer...

Such a good walker!

Sweet Elaina, 11 Months Old!

she'll be 1 in less than a month!

EEK~!

Oh... I love her SO much!

I know it's grainy and blurry... but it's still one of my favorites!

Sunday Cinnamon Rolls

Lisa's service was on Saturday morning and it was both better and worse than expected.

The service itself was really wonderful.  It was obvious how much Lisa was loved and how much support her family will have.  But, watching her family, especially her children sit there and grieve... it was almost too much to bear.  We left Ellie with Ryan's parents and took Lila with us.   Lila was always Lisa's "tweetsie-pie", and we just felt like she should be there.  As I watched the tears roll down Lisa's sons' face, I couldn't help but cling to Lila.  To thank God that I have my baby and she has me.   

Lisa, we miss you.

Sunday morning I decided to make cinnamon rolls from scratch to share with the neighbors.  We're a tight bunch, and it was a rough day on all of us.  I thought starting a new day out on a sweet note, would be appreciated by all!  They were delicious, and gooey, and just plain cinnamon-ey goodness!

Starting the dough

Lila had fun helping me punch it down!

Butter, sugar, cinnamon...

can you say DELICIOUS?!

They smell even better than they look!

Topped with a little maple coffee icing - GLORIOUS!

I really should have taken a picture of the completed, finished product... but Tom and Brad came over for breakfast and coffee and I bundled the others up for the rest of the neighbors before I thought about it.  Ooops!  You'll just have to take my word for it, they were divine!  I think everyone really appreciated them, so that made them that much sweeter!

The rest of yesterday was really nice.  We finished our taxes and as dismal as that sounds, we actually ended up in a much better position than we anticipated.   We then booked our plane tickets and rental car, as Ryan and I are taking a 5 day trip to Florida in the beginning of May! Just the two of us!  

We made chicken tacos for dinner last night and both the girls were in bed early.  All in all, it was a great Sunday.  I'm hoping that it sets the tone for the rest of the spring!

Welcome Baby Reese!

Remember this Belly?

Well, the gift inside arrived on Friday at 12:06pm!

Heather and Jason, welcomed their 3rd baby girl, Reese Leora to their family!

Congratulations to you all, we can't wait to meet her (and of course, take some pictures!!!)

Love to you all!

Darks and Lights

I'm taking a "pass" on this week's project 52.

It's been a long week.

I'm uninspired and have zero desire to pull out my camera for something I just know I won't be real happy with.

This week the theme is Darks and Lights.

I feel that this is fitting.

Dark and Light could be a great metaphor for how I've been feeling lately.

Somedays just really Suck.  Somedays, well.. not so much.

Lisa's memorial service is tomorrow morning and I'm anxious about it. 

I want to try my very best to spend tomorrow remembering all the great things about her.

All the humor, and fun, and love she shared with me and my family.

For it to truly be a Celebration Of Life.

I'm ready for everything to lighten up.  

Silly Baby

What a funny girl!!!

Like the mohawk?? Cute eh?

Lila's first swimming lesson

Last night Lila started in swim lessons!  She did pretty well, and mostly enjoyed herself!

She wouldn't "blow bubbles" in the water, and accidentally took an underwater dive at one point, but recovered quickly and had fun!

We'll work on the bubble blowing in the bathtub and see if we can't conquer that task by next week!

"Say Hello to Lila, to Lila, to Lila... Say Hello to Lila, say Hello!"

Daddy helping her float on her back.

"whatcha doin' Mom?"

Splish Splash

getting to go down the Caterpillar slide at the end of class!

God's Plan

Sometimes it's harder than others to believe.

Like when you spend your morning helping an amazing woman bring her stillborn baby girl into the world.

No obvious reason, no tangible answer for WHY?

Why did this sweet baby go to Heaven before her parents had the chance to know her?

Why did these wonderful parents have to endure such pain?

Some days are harder than others

to understand God's Plan.

Today is one of those days.

Ryan's week

It has been one of "those" weeks for Ryan.

One of those weeks, where you just think... "what the hell?"

I get a call from Ryan on Wednesday morning around 7am.

Ryan: "So guess what I did this morning?"

Ana: "what?"

Ryan: "Oh, I locked the kids in the car with the car still running and still in DRIVE."

Ana: "WHAT?"

Ryan: "Yep, I managed to forget to put the car in park, then got out and shut the door while it was still running, so the door automatically locks when it shuts again."

Ana: cue laughing....

So he managed to keep his cool, get a wire coat hanger and some other stuff from our lovely daycare provider and jimmy the window open and free our children!  The husband of mine that his is... he of course snapped a picture!

notice the back door open, no worries... he took the picture AFTER the kids were free!

Then yesterday, I'm at Cub getting a few groceries after picking up a shift at work (yes, a DAY shift, gasp!) I get a call from Ryan and hear this...

Ryan: "I'd really like it if you picked up the girls from daycare."

Ana: "Uh, okay. Why?"

Well, this is why...

See that?

Hahahahahaha!!!  Ba-Hahahahah!!!!!

Went to take a step up at work and SPLIT!

I guess he didn't want to chat with our daycare lady with his boxers hanging out of his pants!!!

Haha, what a week!  And I'm back to work this weekend, what will happen next?!