Since you've been gone.....

...Er, actually, since I'VE been gone a lot has happened. Obviously it would take me forever and a day to update everything that we've done in the last 3 months, so I'll give you the quick rundown.

• I got another tattoo! Well, it's technically two (one on each shoulder) but I say one. It's a pair of swallows. I got them for the kids. Swallows represent loyalty and pride. They always come back home and I would like to think that I am home to Graycen and Parker.

• We got family pictures done by Emily Schnick, who happens to be an old friend of David's family. It was sort of a One Year birthday shoot for Parker/family picture day. We went down to Hidden Falls in Highland Park and Emily shot our pictures. She did a FANTASTIC job! You should go check her out!


• Parker turned one! Woo hoo and Boo Hoo all at the same time. My little baby is officially a toddler now and it's such a bittersweet moment. He started walking about a month after his birthday and now he's all over the place.

• Parker was officially diagnosed with food allergies. After a scary discovery that he was allergic to peanuts (I had to call 9-1-1 even) we had the allergy testing done again. Turns out he is allergice to peanuts, eggs and soy.  We now have to be very aware of what he eats and always carry around EpiPens. I'll write more on this one later.
• Our sweet niece, Ava Mae, was born to my little brother, Zach and his fiancee, Emma on June 28. She is absolutely adorable!
• Graycen went and spent the weekend up north with Grandma, Grandpa and Buttons. Now, Buttons is their dog and while up there those two created such a bond. She sure loves that puppy. This was her first time away from home so it was pretty rough on myself, David and Parker. Parker was so grumpy and whiney the whole time she was gone. Poor guy missed his sister. She had a great time though! There's another trip in the works, we'll just see when it will be!

• We made a trip to Como Zoo and the kids enjoyed it like they always do!

• As a family we went out to this mini family fun day at Arbor Lakes in Maple Grove. Graycen had fallen asleep on the way out there so she was a grump for the first little bit that we were there. She got to do a few little crafts, but her favorite thing was when she got "a tattoo" on her cheek. She sat till long enough for the lady to paint a tiger with a rainbow on her cheek. It was pretty cute.

• Graycen was a flower girl in our friends, Dino & Dana's wedding. She was adorable in her little dress and tiara. She wouldn't cooperate for pictures, but did so well walking down the aisle with Bobby (the ring bearer) It was a beautiful wedding and we couldn't have been happier to have Graycen in it.

• Graycen was asked to be flower girl in another wedding! Our niece, Katie, is getting married next August and her and Josh decided to ask if Graycen would like to be their flower girl. She was super excited when I asked her if she would like to. Of course we accepted!
• David and I got a night out and went and enjoyed Jason Mraz at the Xcel Center. He was amazing, as he always is. His openers were Bushwalla, K'Naan and G. Love & Special Sauce. The show was fantastic!!

• The whole gang made the trip to the fair. The kids were great and they both fell asleep in the stroller, which allowed more time for David and I to stroll around and look at more stuff (and of course, eat more!)

• I made Ambassador at school. In short, what this means is I'm kind of like an honors student/teacher's aide. I will be graduating with additional honors because of it. You're chosen based on your grades, attendence, behaviors and participation. I'm very proud to say I have kept my GPA at 3.89 and have only missed 2 days of school. Not too bad!
• We met up with my aunt Diane at the MN Zoo. Graycen instantly became her bestie and they hung out the whole time. It was a great time, the weather was perfect and since the fair was going on - we really had no traffic there!


• We tried to get Graycen into Head Start. Did you know there are income guidelines and waiting lists to meet to be able to get into this program? That's crazy to me, but whatever. Anyways, because I am in school we actually meet the income guidelines right now BUT there is a huge waiting list. There were 174 kids on the list ahead of where we would be had we chosen to put Graycen on it. The average wait time to get her in - 8-14 months. No thanks, we'll find somewhere else.. even if it means we have to pay to get her in there.
• Graycen turned three! We had a mini celebration at my aunt Rae's house last Sunday when they had a BBQ and we brought a cake and it turned into a little party.

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  Saturday was her actual birthday and Ma (David's mom) came down for the day. Our plan was to hit up Como Zoo after we went brithday hopping for the girl, but there was seriously no place to park over there. It was horrible. Change of plans - we went to Applebee's for some lunch and then went back home. Both kids fell asleep in the truck on the way home and Graycen stayed asleep. We waited awhile then woke her up so we could do cake and presents before Ma had to leave for home. It was a good day.

(don't know why the cake is sideways)

I'm sure there's more but my brain is fried for the moment. If I think of something I will add it in.