Summer...Summer...Summer Time!

after much consideration, i decided the quit my job to stay home with nicky for the summer.  i had been with the company for almost 7 years, and not only was it pretty dead-end, i realized that i was missing out on the most important thing in our lives...spending time with nick.  we've had quite the rocky road post-adoption - nick and i's bonding experience unfortunately didn't come as easily as expected.  we also realized that nick was going to need to start a medication regime for his recently diagnosed ADHD and anxiety, and i didn't feel comfortable relying on a stranger to update me on his progress/set-backs.  so...quit my job i did, and a fun summer we had!  we got to travel here and here and we had a lot of lazy days, hanging out with friends, and a lot of pool time.  what more could i have asked for?!

visiting daddy at the fire station

swimming lessons with best bud trevor

fun night grilling and hanging out with friends...

 church arts & music camp...                                                       more riding of horses...

quality time with girlfriend blair bear 

nicky & trevor ready to race their lego stompers...these things took about an hour to put together...3.7 seconds to fall apart!  but...they were fun for the boys none the less.

nick in a bucket...

 2nd annual 4th of july at the fc dallas game...

when ya gotta go...ya gotta go...

                                                                       

sun goes down...shirt comes off.  this kid's come a loooong way from the one who used to pull at his shorts legs to make them longer and the days of not even wanting to walk around the house sans shirt!

one smart little russky...chillin' like a villian with girlfriend blair while trevor gives them a ride around the pool

 the silly faces above definitely summarize the summer and it's awesomeness!  getting back into the swing of the school year was pretty rough.  most every day the first few weeks involved a nap as soon as snack time was over.  i don't know about the russky, but i'm so ready for the warm weather and swimming and hanging out with friends.  the daily grind of being back to work, getting up early and having the responsibility of school is a drag!  summer break 2012 can't come soon enough!

xoxo...liese :o)

B.E.N. to San Antonio Lately?

nick and his cousins, brenden and emily, are not only related, but they're good friends as well. it gives me the warm fuzzies to see him spending time with them, much as i spent time with my cousins who were close in age as i was growing up.  they have nick-named their little cousin club "B.E.N." {get it?  Brenden, Emily, Nicky...pretty clever of the short people i think!}.  since i quit my job in june to spend the summer hanging out with nicky, we had nothing but time to kill, and when uncle brent said they would all be at nana & pop's for a visit this summer, it was a no-brainer!  we loaded up the car and headed down for some fun in the sun, and some quality bonding time!

b.e.n. havin' a little breakfast...with brie and blitzer ready to catch anything that should drop to the floor...or lap...or corner of the table!

b.e.n. having a little lunch in the club house/tree house/fort/whatever it's called - we all call it something different, and each kiddo will correct you no matter what you call it.  silly adults...get it right!  {ps...thank you pop for building such a fun hang-out space for these crazies!}

miss emily ready to get her party on!

uncle brent's, emily's & pop's birthdays are all in a row at the end of july/beginning of august, so we always lump them all together into one celebration...but we all know who runs the show... yep!  pop's fave color is pink & he's quite the princess! :0)

em all dressed up like the princess she is

me & my fave little peeps hanging out at uncle edward's & aunt marsha's homestead 

b.e.n. with their buddy "sunny"...nick & sunny are old pals...if we had a bigger back yard, the russky would make it super hard for us to explain why we didn't have a horse in it

nick showing his mean face

other than hanging out in the club house, and jumping on the trampoline, b.e.n.'s fave spot is the pool.  they loved us to get in and lounge on rafts, while they pulled us around on "cruises around the caribbean" 

man how times have changed...he's listening to  brenden's ipod...which you can't even see. not that long ago the common listening device would've been the boom box, or walkman, or diskman!  dang these kids have it good today!  what will be next?  a chip in the neck that you can tune to your fave satellite radio station?!

what trip to SA would be complete without a visit to the rainforest cafe?  the kids love it and it gets us all outta the house for a nice lunch.

unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end, but uncle brent made sure we all went out with a bang.  cookie cake anyone?  complete with each of the kid's names spelled in their favorite colors and "BCF...best.  cousins.  forever."   can't wait to get together again!  {oh yeah...that'll be in less than 2 days when we all head to SA for christmas!  that's the best part about waiting so long to post about the trip...just as i'm reliving all the fun memories...we get to make new ones shortly there after!}

xoxo...liese :o)

Valentine's Day in Paradise

kris and i abandoned the little guy to take a trip to paradise last february.  i had pretty well recovered from my surgery and we decided to let loose!  we made a marriage pact before we brought nicky into our lives that we would always, no matter what, make time to take an "adults only" vacation.  i kinda felt guilty leaving the little russky behind since this was our first long trip without him, but i quickly got over that once i had a nice beverage in my hand {thanks to my brother who knows how to pick up visitors from the airport in style!} and the sand between my toes!


we hung out with family and friends, ate, drank and were merry for a week before we headed back to reality.  here are some snapshots of our craziness in st thomas, norman island {woo hoo for willie t's!}, and jost van dyke {where colbie callait began stalking us...seriously...we met her there & then she followed us was at dinner at the same restaurant as us that night!}.  i love to travel and altho it's not exactly across the pond, being in the british virgin islands is the next best thing to actually being in another country for now...plus...it's the beach...and who doesn't love the beach?!  we love it so much down there, we just planned our next trip for february 2012!


day one of fun...hanging out at the beach house...

 3 "men" on one paddle board...do i even have to state the obvious that there was copious amounts of adult beverages involved?

me taking my turn on the paddle board...what you can't see is kris behind my board...i'm afraid to be in the open water alone, so in case i fell my super-stellar hubby hung out in the water waiting for me <3

pop taking his paddle board turn...he actually went before me...i figured if my 63 year old dad could do it, i could do it!

 evening of day one...yummy food and then night at the fat turtle for some crazy dancing!

 my brother's friend travis, brother brent, & the hubby...hot men ready to party

me hanging with the gals before heading out

me & the hubster at the fat turtle.  as you can tell...i got me a little sun!  i had to resort to a ball cap & long-sleeved shirt for a lot of the rest of our sun time :o(

day 2...big beach house bash...

my "little" brother enjoying the fact that he can pick me up and pretend to launch me into the drink

my family all gussied up :o)

day3...boating to the british virgin islands...

 photo op at st john...pre "potty break"

high five after jumping off the willie t!  afraid of heights or not...i was gonna do it... after the 3rd time i kinda strained my neck, so that kinda ended that!

 view looking down sandy cay with tortola to the east

hmm...wonder what kris is doing waaaaay out there in the water all alone while we're all on shore? {jost van dyke} 

our first encounter with colbie callait...{soggy dollar bar...try the pain killer drink...trust me!}

at some point my silly brother commandeered my camera & started taking random pix...here are a few i can actually show :o)

um...i think travis, kris and i were pretending to be "charlie's angels"?  there are too many things i could say about that...

apparently kris & i had a great story we were telling

the rest of our trip was spent lounging at the beach and pool, soaking up the sun, spending time with family and with no worries about having to "parent" anyone.  don't get me wrong...we missed the little guy, but it sure is nice to take a break now and then!

xoxo...liese :o)