Thursday, January 30, 2014

3rd Anniversary Weekend

The print I had made for John -
our wedding song (Adele To Make you feel my love)

John and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary all weekend long with some family time and a quick overnight trip to Branson. Sawyer had gymnastic Saturday morning and John hadn't gotten to see him participate yet, so we started our weekend at his class. He did even better than last week and John loved  getting to see him do the obstacle course and flips.
We have been dying to check out Copper Run Distillery and thought this would be a perfect opportunity. After Sawyer's class, we headed to Copper Run for the tour, tasting and cocktails. We ended up meeting some awesome new friends who invited us to sit with them and try some specialty drinks. We invited them to join us at Stone Hill Winery for their tour and tasting and then to finish the evening at Cantina Laredo for dinner. John and I had reservations at Chateau on the Lake for the night. We decided to head back after dinner for a mean game of Uno at the bar hotel. Thanks to John's mom and step dad (and Cindie) for staying with Sawyer, he had such a fun time!

Sawyer at gymnastics 

getting his sticker
First stop...Copper Run, whiskey tasting
signing the guest book 
The Moonrise was amazing (made with Moonshine)
on to the Tour of the Distillery
Copper Still
Owner and Master Distiller showing us the process
different stages of aging
met a furry friend, or maybe he wanted my Moonrise
Our new friends 
Second stop....Stone Hill Winery
Third stop.....Cantina Laredo on the Landing 
Our home sweet home for the weekend...Chateau on the Lake
such a cool place, will definitely have to bring Sawyer back
Final Stop....some champagne and a game of Uno
We almost got kicked out of the hotel bar for bringing our own Champagne

MEANWHILE AT HOME...... 

Sawyer was being a very helpful older cousin

He even got to see the Turtles at Bass Pro

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Ooh I like that: Kale Smoothie

Jokes on you Sawyer!
I am always trying to think of ways to incorporate veggies in an indiscreet way for Sawyer. He is going through a phase of judging food by its cover (lettuce looks like grass so it is yucky!) I decided to invent my own kale smoothie with some high nutrient dense ingredients to see if he would like it and to my surprise, he did. Looks like I was able to pull a fast one on our smart little guy so he can still get the fruits and vegetables he needs, score!
It may not look pretty but you could always add more blueberries to hide the green.

INGREDIENTS
(for 1 smoothie)
1 cup Baby Kale (cleaned, de-stemmed)
1 banana
1 cup blueberries
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup milk/almond milk/soy milk (your choice)

Looks so pretty!

DIRECTIONS
- put all ingredients in a blender and blend, easy peezy!

Enjoy!

Friday, January 17, 2014

Sawyer: 23 months


Who is 23 Months? This guy!
Sawyer is definitely ready to turn 2. From his massive vocabulary, terrible tantrums and constant need to ensure that everything he does is "his idea", I am now confident I understand why they are called "the terrible two's". And we still have 1 month left :) This was my most struggling month as a mother thus far. All my limits were tested (did I mention he punched a waitress?) But still at the end of each day, I would forget how bad it was because he knows how to show me love just as much as he knows how to test me. I think that is what makes a parent's job so hard. With a little kiss and an "I love you", it's like they can do no wrong.
I am sad that I only have 1 more update for his 2nd birthday and then I will retire from monthly Sawyer posts. I will most likely just update every few months or with big changes. I can not believe how fast this has gone and thanks to all our family and friends for keeping up with our little guy. Hope you have enjoyed our updates.
xoxo

STATS
Weight32.3 lbs., he actually stood on the scale

Height: 34 inches (estimate doesn't see Dr. until 2nd Bday)

Eating: Eating a lot less lately, sometimes doesn't even want dinner. His favorites right fruit snacks, animal crackers, pizza and hamburgers.

Sleeping: He has started to sleep in until 8:30/9 am on the weekends even though he still goes to bed at 7:30/8. Loving it!

Clothing2T  and some 3T in shirts. 2T in pants, size 7 shoes

Diapers: we went up to size 6 because of capacity :) they are a little big

watching videos with his animanls
Playing: Loves trains, puzzles and flash cards. Also has gotten a few stuffed animals he is especially fond of that he names (louie his cardinal, melman his giraffe, figgit his fixit felix doll, ralph, sally his dog, stewart his minion, elmo and bear ). He has become obsessed with certain youtube videos like "gangnam style", "what the fox say", "what the cards have" and "linsey sterling's crystallize". He just stairs and dances over and over again. He also loves anything art (drawing, painting, etc) or music (drums, guitar, piano, etc) related.
made this all on his own at school
When he was done he sat down, said "cheese, more"
Teething:  All his teeth are in waiting on those 2 year molars...yikes!
happy boy
Talking:  I have stopped keeping track because he says everything. Some of my favorite/cutest phrases he says are: "Oh Doughnut" for darnit, "love you too", "I don't like it", "bye bye friends".
Every Sunday he wakes up and asks to go to Gailey's to see the harpist and eat eggs. He also is able to tell us how old he is turning on his birthday. One of the most impressive things he did for me this  week was he counted to 10 on my fingers, almost completely by himself (I had to help a tad). I learned at the last family night that he knows most of his friend's parents by name and greets them every morning, so polite :)
loves taking pictures and saying "cheese"

Potty Training: still very interested but not going consistently. He did sit on the potty with his clothes on a couple weeks ago and go #2 and came and told us. So he gets the idea but we just need to work on removing his clothes first.

MORE PICS FROM OUR FUN WEEKEND AT THE PARK AND POOL





swinging with Kaiden

kisses for Kaiden


Pool time at the Ozark Community Center



Friday, January 3, 2014

Low Key New Year + Christmas Round 5

This New Year was very low-key! I had a fun day with Sawyer while dad worked but I ended up getting a migraine in the afternoon.  I slept for a few hours and woke up to John and Sawyer playing and was even able to make it to midnight! John and I brought in the New Year with a bottle of champagne and the new series "Orange is the New Black". I was pretty bummed because I have spent the past 5 years with my bestie Megan, so this was the first year we didn't. We'll just have to pick it back up next year with our kiddos.
New Year's Day, we finally got together with John's mom and step-dad for our gift exchange. They got Sawyer some adorable clothes, books, bath alphabet set and his favorite...a Piggy Bank. They had been putting money into since they got it a few months back and all Sawyer wanted to do was take it out and put it back in. We got them a plaque with their wedding date since this year will be their 10 year anniversary!
Sawyer playing with his new 'puter from Grandpa Engel + Ann 
Breakfast with Stewart

He was very snugly all day
After my nap, I got to wake-up to these funny guys


Already learning to save
Sawyer is almost as big as Grandma!