River Fun

I went to the river with my best friend (more like a sister) Haley this weekend. It was a spur of the moment trip. I felt so young again doing something carefree and unplanned. I really needed some me time. It was perfect timing, thank you Haley for kidnapping me this weekend. I had a blast! I love spending time with you and your family.





































































































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Sweet Summer Mornings

I adore summer mornings. Cuddling my two babies, is especially sweet on beautiful summer mornings. John will be six months on Saturday, it always amazes me how time flies when you have little ones. With John I feel so lucky to be at home and able to stay in the present with him. I know I will always look back at this time and truly cherish it.


Here's some pictures of JD playing this beautiful Monday morning.














Wishing everyone a wonderful Monday.

Love
Deena


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Sunday.Funday.

Paul made it home from his trip to Ohio late last night. After a crazy day of traveling. The record flooding in Chicago didn't make his trip home easy. Here are a few pictures from our week. Happy Sunday.




John jumping around in the kitchen while I cook.
















Love Deena

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Location:Park Ave,Brookings,United States

Hot!Hot!Hot!

It is sizzling in the Midwest today-so what better way to beat the heat then taking the kids to the pool!




In the shade of course!



Sleeping by the pool!

Now if they only served drinks for mommy! ;)

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JD

I fell in love with the James Dean cutout, at my moms resturant.Since then I have been thinking about what crazy cutout figure I want for the mancave!!!! So much fun!











Deena

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Homie home!

So grateful to be home after our month long vacation! The weather here-however is horrid-it's a suana outside! It's supposed to be like this for a whole week:(

So we are all trying to avoid the heat, so I downloaded this very cool app and am writing from the couch!! Way to lazy and hot to sit in the office right now!

Izzy loves the treehouse and has said thank you a thousand times! She has put practically her whole room out there! It's amazing how the heat doesn't affect kids from playing outside!

I am watching the US soccer right now- in overtime and can not watch-so intense!






Quick pic of the kids cuddling on our looooooong drive home!

Deena

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What I found in Idaho was my family

Well, we came to Sun Valley to do a number of things. Some of those didn't quite work out as planned, but I did come out with a massive plus - the four of us in our family got closer than ever.

I was pleased to be a house husband for a month and I now really appreciate what a wonderful job my wife does. Now I know how hard it is and I am so proud of my family.

I also know what a great home and family life we have made in Brookings and the little trials and tribulations that family life involves no longer seem as important or difficult. Our first major family trip away has really drawn us together - I love Deena, Izzy and John.

Deena didn't know that Izzy had copied her poses on the big chair....


We will soon start on the 3-4 day odyssey back. This time we are going to allow ourselves more time and plan to visit Yellowstone (I want to see Old Faithful). I am looking forward to seeing the dogs again and Izzy's new tree house.

I love my family

Dreaming of my family of five!

Paul and I have been talking about our family growing, pretty much since John was born. I said that once I got back into my size 24 skinny jeans that we could then start trying for another baby. I didn't want to be the mom that keeps putting weight on with each pregnancy, so I decided that once I was back to my pre-baby size we would start trying for another baby.

 Although the baby weight came off fast, getting my athletic figure back to pre-baby form took about five months. We started trying this month and I can honestly say that I will be excited to be pregnant again.

 I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and family. Paul is such an amazing father. When I stopped breast-feeding in order  to get pregnant again, Paul offered to start sleeping with baby John so that I could get more sleep before the next baby!

 It is these little things that make me so happy to be married to  the man of my dreams. There is nothing I feel that I can't ask Paul- yesterday while I was getting my hair done he took Izzy down the block to another salon to get feathers in her hair! I don't know to many men that would take their daughter to a salon by himself with the baby. 

Paul this last year being married has been the best year of my life. After all of the turmoil that Izzy and I went through in NJ, you came into our lives and completely turned it around- I personally feel as though you rescued us from such a dark place-for this I will always be eternally grateful to you. I may not be a religious person but I truly feel like we were brought together for a reason and I feel so blessed to have you in our lives. 

You are my best friend-my champion! I adore you and can not wait to bring another baby into this loving family. 

(I've been eating my yams-maybe twins) 

How could I not want another one- look how perfect John is- sleeping next me this morning while I work! 

Love this space!

Would love to build a playhouse like this downstairs in the red room! Paul wants a bar downstairs in this space but I think we should just build a nice wet bar upstairs ( close to our bedroom under lock and key-haha! We definitely exploited parents bars as teens)  and start to make the downstairs Kid Zone!

http://kidtropolis.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/sports-basement/

Such a fun space for the kids! We have such long winters in SD this would be amazing to have inside to wear out the little ones.

Love that you can hide the balls and have a stage for the older kids! 

I think I would go with a different paint and different more modern details! But such a neat idea! 

Deena 

Flying Trampolines and a Tree Palace!

When being a parent there is always a steep learning curve and Paul and learned a huge lesson last spring. When we first moved into our house in April we bought Izzy a huge trampoline and placed it  in the backyard. Izzy and I loved playing on the trampoline, until one very windy spring day when the trampoline landed on our (lovely-ha) neighbors roof! It was pouring outside and I saw the whole thing occur and had no idea what to do- so I called in backup (Paul and Darius)  who finally got the monster of a  trampoline off the neighbors roof! The neighbors roof suffered only minor damage but the trampoline as my favorite physiology professor would say "checked out." 

    At this point we decided that anything that we put in the backyard for our kids would forever be cemented, bolted, nailed or screwed down- as secure as possible. 

   So this is when the treehouse dreams first came to fruition for Izzy.  Paul and I have heard nothing but treehouse, treehouse, treehouse and it doesn't help that her friend across the street has an amazing one and as Izzy would say "it even has electricity"-she has come home on numerous occasions crying because she doesn't have anything in her backyard and yes she will always bring up the flying trampoline! 

Darius being the great "Uncle" that he is decided that he would start to build Izzys  treehouse this summer while he is dog sitting the pups while we are here in SV. We initially wanted to keep the project a secret so Izzy would be surprised when we got home, but as Darius sent us pictures of the project- no one could keep it a secret from her any longer.

 When she saw this first picture she cried! 

 My grandparents and father started to get involved and somehow the small treehouse turned into a

 8 x12 tree Palace! 

As Darius sent us more and more progress photos- I also started to get excited. I want a mommy treehouse now too- ha ha-maybe next summer! 

I can't wait to start all the fun decorating projects that I have planned for the inside of her tree Palace! We haven't decided on paint colors yet put I am sure it will involve certain amounts of pink and purple! 

What a lucky girl! 

Thank you, 

Darius, Bumma, Papa Dean and Papa Dan! 

Fun in SV!

We have been having a great time on our family vacation thus far. We all love the mountains. Izzy adores riding her bike here. John loves all the new scenery and has grown so much since we got here. He babbles and babbles and I know that some of his babbles are actually words. This week Paul officially introduced John to the world of soccer or rather football as he calls it. John will sit with his dad for hours watching the games. It is so sweet, he gets really excited when the crowds cheer. John is now five months old and is definitely the boss man. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it. I am sure Paul will write more later. 

Deena 

Photo Booth Vacation Fun!

Being on vacation for three weeks we have been having some free time to take goofy pics! We all have so much fun taking crazy pictures, it provides hours of entertainment. John has recently become our new subject!