Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Grandma came to visit!

Zack was in Utah for a few weeks in September so I convinced my mom to come out and play with us!  Even though she was just out here a few months ago when James was born, it was nice to have her here again because this time I hadn't just given birth so we could get out and go do fun things!

My mom always comes bearing gifts (like any awesome Grandma does!) and brought a book for each of the kids.  Elise loves hers and anytime we get it out she says, "Grandma go that for me!".  I love walking in and seeing them reading.
 My mom and James were good buddies on the trip.  It was really nice to have an extra hand with the kids after doing it solo for two weeks.
 We did awesome things like going to the zoo and having staring contests with the lions.
 Letting Elise play on the footsie wootsie.  I'm hoping that she'll never learn that it will turn on if you put money it in.
 Said hello to Molly the cow.
 Played on the tractor.
 And slid down an elephant's ear!  Grandma also paid to take her on a ride on the carousel too.  So spoiled!
 We also went to the children's museum.  I had actually never been before and we all had a very fun time.  I was so impressed with all the cool exhibits.  Elise could have stayed there all day. Here she is playing with the puppet show.
 There was another one that was a farm so naturally Elise was in heaven.  She wasted no time in grabbing the wheel barrel and getting to work!
 Harley-Davidson has a big presence here in Milwaukee and they had a fun area with a bunch of bikes and helmets and such. It was cool.
 One of the favorite exhibits for both of us was the grocery store.  No detail was left out and she had such a blast shopping, working in the deli and the bakery too.
 Capturing sweet story time with Grandma.
 One of the days we made our way out to Cedarburg!  We had both been before but my mom found out that there was a quilt museum there so we had to go again.
We had a fun time wandering the streets and shopping in their stores.  We had pizza from Tomaso's and then had dessert from the Creme and Crepe Cafe.   
 As you can see, it was delicious.
 The next day we went to Madison.  Neither one of us had been there before so it was fun to go someplace new. Madison is about an hour and a half away from Milwaukee. I love this picture because James is being so cute and smiling and Elise is so mad that I'm taking another picture.  Ha!
One of the biggest reasons we wanted to go to Madison was to check out the farmers market.  They have it rain or shine from April-November.  It is along the perimeter of the capital building and is really big!  Elise saw these girls "sliding" down the steps and had to get in on it.  She loved it. 
 One of the booths was selling honey and brought some of their hive along with them.  It was pretty cool to look in and see!  We got lots of fun things from the market like cookies, jam, tomatoes and some cute tote bags!
 When we were finished with the market we went inside the capital and looked around.  It is very beautiful on the inside and we had a fun time exploring. 
 After the capital we were all hungry so we went to a place called Ella's Deli.  It was recommended to us by some friends.  They told us it's great for kids and it was!  There was lots of these fun things hanging from the ceiling. 
 I so rarely get a photo of Elise looking at me and if I do, she is usually smiling like this.  I'll take what I can get, I guess.
 The best part about Ella's is that they have a carousel!  Elise was spoiled by Grandma and the ride attendant and got to go three times!
 Everyone was very sad to see the baby whisperer go.  Here she is rocking little James to sleep.  So sweet. 
It was a great visit!  As always, it was too short for me.  We had so much fun and got to do lots of really cool things.  My mom has now done more things in Wisconsin than Zack has.  Poor guy- med school takes up a lot of time!!  While she was here we also worked on some fun craft projects that I'll show you in another post.  Thanks for coming out mom!  We love you so much!

End of Summer photo dump

We had summer-like weather through the middle of September so we were able to squeeze in lots of fun outdoor activities before it got too cold!  Here are a BUNCH of photos from the last weeks.  If you aren't interested in seeing a bunch of photos of my cute kiddos then this may not be the post for you.  Otherwise, enjoy!
 
Sometimes I put James in bed with Elise. Usually she loves it. She giggles and asks if he can sleep with her.  So sweet.
 We went on a walk one night and Elise insisted on bringing her stroller and her baby.  Monkey see, monkey do!
 Zack had been on call and didn't get home until 8am so I needed to keep the kids quiet. I decided to take them on a lunch date to the mall.  Elise had a blast. She wasn't happy that I only let her have one quarter when there were so many possibilities.
 I let her throw a few pennies into the wishing well.  She then said, "Mom!  I want more money!!"  Me too, Elise.  Me too.
 We went to a play date out at Bradford Beach with several friends from the ward.  It was such a beautiful day. 
 She loved getting all dirty and digging holes.
 Here is a picture of most everyone who came!
 Our neighborhood park got a sandbox put in this year.  I have a love/hate relationship with it.  Elise LOVES it though so I guess that is what matters.  Here she is with Daddy burying some of her toys.
 I took Elise to Target to me and she kept hiding on the shelves.  Silly girl!
 Our friends, Max and Luke, turned ONE!  They had a big birthday party and all the kids had so much fun!  There were 3 pools and a slip n' slide set up. 
 Elise and Tinzley enjoying their cupcakes
 We went several more times to Lake Aizen for swimming.  It wouldn't be right without some Sprecher root beer!  Elise loves it!
 Elise went on her very first date!  She went with Dad to go get some ice cream from Baskin Robbins!  They both had a lot of fun!
 We took many walks to the park.  Well, I walked and Elise was pulled in this bad boy.
 I went to pull out the broiler tray in our oven and found this inside!  It melted a little bit, oops!  Elise yelled at me for "breaking" it but then decided it was still use able.
 I can't resist taking pictures of this smiley guy on our walks. So handsome.
 Elise getting buried in the sand.
 And finally, some beautiful chalk drawings at the park! 
We had so much fun this summer!  I can't believe it has already come and gone!!  My mind set was off a little this year since my goal was to make it to the end of May to have James. So it seems that the rest of the time has just flown by! 

Friday, September 27, 2013

Friday Five

Hello everyone!! It's been a looong time and I am overdue for a post, so here goes!!

-After having our car out of the shop for less than a week it started driving funny and even smoking!  We brought it back and they owned up to the problem- there was a faulty spark plug put in when they changed them last week.  I'm SO happy they were honest about it and didn't charge us more money.

-I bought all of these products as well as the Knot Genie brush hoping that hair time will be much more enjoyable in the Pugh house.  Elise barely lets me touch her hair and has THE softest head.  The reviews for the brush made it sound like magic and I'm hoping that's true!

-Zack is back!!  He took a vacation month to recharge and spend some time with his family back in Utah and got back this past Tuesday.  Elise hasn't let him out of her sights since!  We are all happy he is home.

-I was inspired after reading this post to kick up my efforts to teach the kids about the Gospel.  I'm going to try to d a short (like 2 yr. old short) devotional with the kids each morning.  I even ordered a Book of Mormon stories book to read through with Elise. I think we'll have fun singing some primary songs and seeing the pictures in the book. 

-Tomorrow is the General Relief Society Broadcast which is essentially a girls night out for my church.  We get to have a wonderful dinner together at the church and then get to hear some wonderful talks from some inspiring women! 

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Silver Lake

The Saturday after we arrived in Utah we went on a walk around Silver Lake with my dad.  My mom offered to stay home and take care of James while the three of us went.  I think Elise really enjoyed all the attention from both of us and had a great time exploring and walking on all of the "bridges". 
Walking with Grandpa
He made sure to stop and help her look for all the fishes in the water.
It was a gorgeous night!  I sure miss these mountains!

Not the greatest light, but proof that I was there too :)
Elise and Grandpa, or as she says, "Prampa".
 
We had a great time!  We love you Grandpa and are glad we got to spend some time with you in Utah!  We know how busy you are with work and being Bishop too!


Monday, August 12, 2013

Enderis Splash Pad

As I've mentioned, we live across the street from the park.  There are many great things about this but one of them is that we are in walking distance to a fun splash pad! It isn't open for very many weeks in the summer but we still had a blast when we went!

 Elise would make a buddy every time we'd go and would follow them around and copy what they would do.  She's so funny! The other kids were fascinated with this drain, so of course, she was too.
 
 Elise loves the water!! 
 
 Having fun running under the "rain"!
 
 It's already closed for the season
 but I imagine that when James is 1 next year we'll spend many more summer afternoons here!