Aiden's First Birthday

This past weekend we traveled five hours to Indianapolis for Aiden's First Birthday party! Helaina couldn't have had more fun!!! The trip went rather well, but at about hour 4.5, Helaina literally couldn't stay sitting in her car seat any longer. Thankfully we arrived at the Archer's new homestead just minutes later.

The birthday boy, Aiden, and his proud parents, Katie and Ryan
It was a Dr. Seuss themed brunch complete with why yes, green eggs and ham!

Katie, also known after this weekend as "Martha Stewart", baked and decorated Aiden's cake.

She also had made Seuss themed cupcakes for each guest that tasted fabulous...just ask Helaina!

The kids at mealtime...Aiden, Helaina, Nolan. It was quite the production to have the 3 kids together for a play date/sleepover.

Getting their much needed night time bath

Playing so well together in Aiden's new car

The three of them would take turns riding in the car while the other 2 pushed. It was very amusing.

Auntie Katie let Helaina have the last bite of her ice cream. She wouldn't let that cup and spoon out of her sight. She was nice enough to feed Nolan a bite (which at this point was just watered down, melted, ice cream...yuck)

Sophie got a bite too

Too say that Helaina loved Sophie would be an understatement. We just can't get over how much she loves dogs. No fear, ever, no matter how big or small the dog. Giving Sophie hugs.

Today, before we headed back home, we stopped to visit Randy's brother Omar. He is completing a 4 week externship in the lovely city of Indy that we used to call home. It was great to see him and made for a weekend full of life long memories!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today Randy and I celebrated three years of marriage and almost eight years together. I was 20 when we met; Randy was 26. Hopefully this is only the beginning of our journey together. A journey that has already blessed us more than most, and a journey that we have vowed to take together...forever.

Chillin' on a Saturday

What a life this girl has...she's a little ham these days! Shortly after dressing her, we realized that her shirt was a bit small. Take notice of that muffin top she's got going on!
All smiles, on our way to visit Randy's parents and brother.

Days of Summer

We haven't posted in awhile...sorry about that. We've been in town the past few weekends and have enjoyed various fairs, festivals, the pool, the park, and the best place of all, our home! The kids in our neighborhood knock on our door daily to play with Helaina, and she loves all of them!

Today we took our monthly trip to the library to pick out a few books. We have no plans for the weekend and that's refreshing. We are looking forward to our upcoming trip to Indianapolis for Aiden's Dr. Seuss first birthday party. This will be the longest trip we've taken with Helaina, a little over 5 hours. It's been a perfect summer...we will be sad to see it go!

Birthdays and Swim Tricks

This week our family celebrated a special birthday, Randy's 34th! We've enjoyed a weeks worth of festivities. We had a nice dinner at Randy's parents home on Sunday night, the girls from work took Randy out to dinner Wednesday night, and on Friday I surprised Randy with a birthday shopping trip! This man likes to shop more than most women I know, so I made an appointment with a friend at Men's Warehouse, and he shopped till he dropped.

Daddy and Helaina

Helaina helping to blow out Daddy's candles

My parents are visiting us this weekend, and we spent most of the afternoon at the swim club

Swimming, swinging, sandbox, and slides...what more could a toddler want?

Our little fish hit another swimming milestone at the pool a few weeks ago. Whatever the big kids do, Helaina will imitate (although not always a good thing), this has been fun. She was with our cousin Alex and every time he went under water, Helaina would follow. After several times, she started opening her eyes underwater and pointing at him. So now we do this about 100 times a day while in the pool.

Hello, I'm a big girl!