I love us.

To say that the past few weeks, who am I kidding, months have been rough would be an understatement. To say that I've been shedding more than my fare share of tears recently would be another one.

It's been tough. Going 21 hours without seeing McClellan five days a week breaks my heart. I get up and am on the road long before she wakes up and don't see her at all until 5:00pm after I've raced out of work, broke the speed limit and taken some short cuts in order to get to daycare on time.

From there it's home to change our clothes and try to fit an entire day's worth of time together into about 3 hours.

So what I've been needing lately is some "us" time...just us, just the three of us. No friends, no family, no commitments...just us. And this weekend that's what we did ... had a weekend full of just us.

We started out our Us only weekend with making some yummy grilled pizza using our CSA veggies and veggies from our garden-YUM!! Sadly we ran out of gas so had to finish them in the oven but they were delish! Squash, onion, mushroom, tomato, peppers, basil and a really fresh mozzarella...I can still taste it!

Saturday we woke up early, made some lemon-blueberry pancakes and then headed down to the Botanic Gardens.

We visited the Children's Garden first and almost didn't see anything else! McClellan was fascinated by the gardens designed for children. They have small "stuffed" animals hidden around the area and she spotted one almost the minute we got in...as you can see, it was love at first sight.





Now that she's walking on her own, getting her away from this thing was near impossible. We had gently "guided" her away from the little beaver only for her to *run* away from us and back to it...yes, she's running now. She runs faster when it's away from us...laughing the entire time, of course.

Just when we thought that the beaver couldn't be topped, McClellan discovered the wooden blocks and the table and chairs. We were certain that she was going to just stay here forever and not see anything else. Who would have known that wood scraps would have captured her attention so securely?!?

She loved walking across this rickety bridge.

Digging in the sand pile and making quite the mess ... loving every minute of it.

Where there's water...there's McClellan. She and Matt were wading in the stream trying to cool off-it was insanely hot this day. Had I known about this we would have come prepared with bathing suits, swim diapers and a towel...good thing were members and we'll have a chance to to go again and do it right next time!

My two favorite people...I could watch the two of them play together all day long.

We had quite the morning at the gardens and decided that as we were so close, we *had* to go to LC for cupcakes! We all shared a lemon cupcake with blueberry frosting-YUM!! McClellan kept saying "Yum, Mmmmm" and "More peeee" .... but when three people are sharing a cupcake, it doesn't take long for there to be nothing left. Of course we had to take a couple home too. How could I be there and not get a salted-caramel and my favorite chocolate with vanilla icing?

After nap time we went to a near by "Sprayground" so McClellan could have some more fun and cool off. Needless to say, we'll be going back here too. She loved it!

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Yes, that's my daughter with the 1970's rainbow booty shorts outfit on. It makes me laugh and reminds me of when I was a kid. She's grown so much this summer I think this may have been the last time she'll get to wear it.

Loving.every.single.minute.

And there they are again...my two favorite people. I watch them together and I wonder if McClellan has any idea of how lucky she is to have such an amazing Father. I watch them together and I am reminded of how lucky I am to have such an amazing husband.

Soaking wet and nowhere near ready to quit.

And then eventually, McClellan was done slaying the dragon and it was time to say goodbye.

Sunday we followed our normal routine and went to the club and enjoyed the pool. We have a fish for a daughter and so she loves our weekly visit to the pool. Sorry, no pictures of that...I'll have to remember the camera one of these days.

This was exactly the weekend I needed. I needed to have every minute be about us, and it was.

I love us.

Canvas and Cocktails

What is that you ask? You need to go check it out and when you do and you're convinced that you too need to experience it, call me and I'll go back and do it again!!

http://canvasandcocktails.com/index.html

My Mom and Sister were here for the weekend and we had decided that this was something we definitely needed to all experience together.

It was challenging for me. I'm not going to lie. When you're Type A like I am, this is a difficult exercise. Resisting the urge to trash the whole thing and start from scratch about 100 times was really hard. BUT...I didn't and in the end, it was fun.


So...this is the palette that is the start of my "masterpiece."


And this is what that palette is supposed to create. (This is the instructor's painting)




Maegan and Mom in the early stages creating of their masterpieces.

Mom with her completed Red Rocks work of art.

Maegan and her finished product - her stage was the best!

My interpretation of Red Rocks. Not horrible - even for a Type A like myself. ; )

Our group shot at the end of the night - so much fun!! I can't wait for them to come back so we can do this again!!

Now, until they can make it back out here...who wants to join me at Canvas and Cocktails??

Punky loves her some Pesto! (recipe included)

I made some cilantro pesto this week and served it with grilled chicken, veggies and pasta. We all loved it...but McClellan went crazy over it!!





We've gotten quite a bit of cilantro in our CSA boxes the past few weeks so this has been a great way to use it up ... fresh cilantro is the bomb! We use it all the time so we're happy with the weekly bunch that it's in our CSA box.

"All gone?? Surely there's some my bib pocket caught...please?"

And afterwards ... McClellan pointed to her tummy and said "big" ... yep, she was full!

Love this little girl and her full belly!

Cilantro Pesto Recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/fabulous-cilantro-pesto/detail.aspx

Lincoln, Omaha and a Birthday Celebration-Oh My!

We decided to take a few days off and head to Nebraska over a long Easter weekend.


Yes. It was by choice. Yes. Nebraska.


I'm from Kansas, so really, Nebraska is almost like going home. Well, all except the part where they are Huskers and should be Jayhawks. And yes, that's kind of a big deal.


The best part of this trip was that my parents and Sister and her family were all going to be able to join us in Omaha to celebrate McClellan's first birthday and Easter.



Matt, McClellan and I headed to Lincoln for a couple of days first. We wanted to check out where Matt's company is headquartered. If there was ever an opportunity at that office we wanted to know if Lincoln was somewhere we'd want to live and more importantly, raise McClellan.


We made it to Lincoln on Wednesday and as always, McClellan was an amazing traveler! It was an 8 hour drive and McClellan didn't make a peep. We are so incredibly lucky!


While in Omaha McClellan got to experience swimming for the first time and to say that she loved it would be a HUGE understatement! She "jumped" right in and wanted nothing to do with being held, she wanted to "swim", had no problem going under water and was less than impressed when it was time to leave.






"Let's do it again Mommy!"

"Look Aunt Amy, I'm swimming!!"

We stayed in the Haymarket district in Lincoln - I'd describe it as the Lincoln version of Lodo, but much, much smaller.

There were art installations and sculpture pieces all over.

Somebody loves her Daddy ... make that two somebody's.

We liked Lincoln. It wasn't what I expected but we liked it. I definitely liked the slower pace; you could feel it almost immediately. We were able to have lunch with some of my friends one day and talk to them about the schools and family life in Lincoln-impressive. One night we had dinner with one of Matt's friends and were able to pick their brains about the housing market and job opportunities-also impressive.

On Friday we headed to Omaha to meet up with my family. We'd be celebrating McClellan's birthday, my birthday and Easter. We had a lot to do in a very short amount of time!

Maegan, Derek & Keeton starting out zoo adventure off a little on the wild side!

"Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!"

McClellan's favorite animal this time around were the monkey's ... she was fascinated!

I love this picture. I love that we do so much together as a family. I love that Matt is so involved in McClellan's life and enjoys these events as much as she and I do!

It may have been Easter weekend but it was pretty darn chilly in Omaha!

By far, McClellan enjoyed he carousel more than anything else. She was squealing and waiving the entire time!!

MiMi and Papa with their pride and joy.

McClellan had no problem playing the part of being eaten by the hippo.

The aquarium was amazing - sharks, sting rays, sea turtles swimming around over your head.

This is my personal favorite photo from the aquarium.

Then it was time to party. The first of McClellan's birthday parties.

McClellan loved being the center of attention.

The birthday girl with her Mimi and Papa. She is such a lucky little girl to have them as Grandparents!

McClellan and her personal stylist, Aunt Maegan. Her entire birthday ensemble was designed and created by her Aunt. Again, what a lucky little girl!!

For the birthday girl's cake we found the oldest bakery in Omaha, Pettit's Pastry. It was delish! http://www.pettitspastry.com/

We couldn't love our girl anymore...celebrating her birthday, although early, was so fun!

McClellan loves being sung to. She "sang" right along with us as we serenaded her with "Happy Birthday."

"Mmmmm...pure sugar."

Her birthday party was a HUGE success! Everyone spoiled McClellan and she definitely put on a show for everyone eating her cake and opening her presents. After the "party" we all headed to the pool and worked off some of the sugar.

The next morning was Easter and the Easter bunny found us in Omaha! As you can see, McClellan was super excited about it.

Easter brunch was how we wrapped up the trip. It was sad that our perfect weekend had come to an end already.

One last picture of McClellan and Keeton with Mimi and Papa...and then it was time to say "Goodbye."

The time in Nebraska was perfect and just what we needed. It was nice to have a few days for just Matt, McClellan and I in Lincoln before heading to Omaha to meet up with my family. The time we had with my family was perfect. My only wish was that these special times could happen more often.