Sold!!

It's official- the house on 15201 Smithfield Drive will only be home to the Vollmer family for about 3 more weeks.  With a relatively spur of the moment decision to put our house on the market mid-June, Nick and I were a little shocked when it sold in just three short days!!  So the house hunting began and we found a beautiful new house that has the space (and storage) that we need, and now it's just a matter of time before we call that house our home.

And so, the packing begins.  Not only do we find ourselves with just a few weeks to pack up, but I also go back to work from my maternity leave on Monday, so we definitely have our work cut out for us!  Luckily we have such wonderful friends and family who have already been generous in giving us helping hands:)

August 1st is moving day- wish us luck!!

The Sunshine State

To celebrate selling our house and having a little time left before going back to work, Nick and I took the kids down to Florida for a week at the end of June.  We went to Clearwater- one of our favorite places to visit as Mom and Ralph are always so generous to let us stay at the condo (makes vacation pretty affordable!).  The weather and a few other unfortunate events threw us a few curve balls this year, but we didn't let that keep us down.  We had a great time despite tropical storm Debby and her aftermath!

I loved spending this week with my 3 favorite people.  Can't wait for our next trip!

Lucy- 2 months

Today Lucy turns 2 months old!  It has been so much fun watching her grow and change over the last few weeks.  The recent favorites are her awesome smiles and the new coos and gurgles she is starting to make.  She loves her big brother and gives him a big smile every time he comes around.  Ben also loves her to pieces- always wanting to kiss her!

At her 2 month appointment, little miss weighed 10lbs 14oz, and was 22 1/2 inches long.  This is 50th percentile for weight and about 35th for height.  I love that she is getting chubbier and chubbier:)

I did the 2 month photo shoot this evening.  It's fun to compare to what she looked like at 1 month- you can check it out in the post from May 9th.  Hope you enjoy!  Here is my beautiful Lucy!

Summer Fun

With the beautiful sunny weather lately it is starting to really feel like summertime.  Not just the weather, but we have the blow up pool as a permanent staple in the backyard now, and at least 3 meals a week are done on the grill.  That is definitely a sure sign of summer!

It has been so much fun spending my days cuddling Lucy and also getting to spend more time with Ben than usual.  It will be so hard to go back to work in 5 weeks!  I am trying to soak up every minute of this gorgeous weather- and every minute with my kids as possible!!

Here are a few fun pictures of our recent summer days...

This is the face I wake up to every morning... she is all smiles for the first hour she is awake!

A summer staple- Corn on the Cob... Ben LOVES it!  

How sweet is this boy?!

Ben spends most of his free time running around in his swim trunks- apparently he was feeling a little restricted because he had them tugged down a little when I came around the corner the other day! 

A trip to the zoo and his very first ride on the carousel!  

The last few weeks...

We've been keeping busy over the last few weeks as we welcome the summer months and I enjoy being home on maternity leave.  With a busy life comes lots to blog about but little time to do it!!  So I thought I would do a catch up post and put up some of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks... enjoy!

 Nick and Ben planted some new bushes, plants, and an herb garden for me for Mother's Day.  Ben had a great time digging in the dirt with his Dad!

 He's all boy- wanting to get as dirty as possible:)

 On Mother's Day we spent some time up at my sister Allison's house- here is Ben with her girls Anna and Alexa.  To all my cousins who look at this- Remember those days of sitting at the "kid's table"??  What a big deal it was when we were finally able to sit at the adult table!!  

Here is one of my kind of failed attempts at getting a good picture of my kiddos together.  Ben is always talking and moving and Lucy looks cross-eyed every time I snap!  I'm still working on it!

 Ben and Alexa chillin in the world's largest purple bean bag.

I can't believe Anna is old enough now to hold Lucy without any help!  She loved every minute of it!

OK people.  I've had a boy for two years.  I need help in the bow department!!  Poor thing.  I'm sure I'll get the hang of it:) 

 Ben's best bud Owen turned 2 last week, so we went over to the Watts house for cake and ice cream!  We decided it would be less messy to just take the boys' shirts off and send them outside to eat cake:)  

We also got to spend some awesome time at Grandma G's this past week.  She is such an amazing woman- had 9 of her great-grandkids running around her house and it didn't even phase her!  

 Ben watering my herb garden with a little TLC and his brand new cow watering can.  

Lucy is SMILING now!  It makes my day every time.  She smiles almost every time I come into her view- love it! 

Okay- here is another, maybe better, attempt at a pic of the kids.  

Brown Sugar Goodness...

I tried a new recipe today and I would be very selfish if I didn't share this most delicious cookie with you! Seriously, it's one of the best things I've eaten in a while.  As far as cookies go, I thought I had tried about all there was to offer out there.  Standard chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, sugar cookies... you get the idea.  But no, my friends.  NO.  I hadn't tried it all.  Let me introduce:  BROWN Sugar Cookies.

Here is the link... Brown Sugar Cookies

This is a website/blog that my cousins Emily and Sara apparently use all the time- Thanks for telling me about this on your blog Em!  I have been loving it;)

As far as the cookies go- follow the recipe to a tee, no variations or shortcuts.  The only change I made was to cut the baking time to 10 minutes and they were perfect.

Hope you enjoy!!

Lucy- One Month

This past month has gone by so quickly!!  Lucy had her one month doctor's appointment today so I thought I would share some of the stats...

At one month, Lucy is 8lbs 8oz, and she is 21 and 1/2 inches long.  This is the 25th percentile for weight and the 65th percentile for height.  She is still eating about every 3 hours around the clock, maybe she has a four hour stretch at night every once in a while.  I'll be looking forward to that night stretch getting a little longer!!  And you will see from the pictures that she is just starting to smile- it always makes my day.

My friend Jess got me these adorable stickers for each month of the baby's first year that you can put on a onesie and take pictures with.  Lucy and I had a little photo session the other day.  Not the greatest pictures, but it's the best my non-professional eye can do with an iPhone:)  I look forward to giving these updates every month so you can watch her grow!