Holy Hotness

Holy Moly Batman, summer is in full force! Today my car read 101 degrees, the news reported the hit index got to 110 degrees. The next couple of days will be the same or even hotter, craziness but it's summer and we live in the Chicagloland area where any kind of summer can occur. Claire and I are relaxing in doors, working on the potty training (which is still going fantastic), playing word games, coloring and watching her two (for now) favorite movies: Sherk and Cars. We already made two stops over to my parents for a nice refreshing dip in their pool. I think the pool will be seeing us a lot over these next couple of days! You know it's hot, when you get out of the pool and you don't feel cool or refreshed at all. I think I instantly started to sweat but hey, it's summer!
I think we all should soak up the hotness and try to enjoy the weather as much as possible, humidity and all because in a few short months the temps will start to drop and winter will be rearing it's head!

Claire LOVES papa and nana's pool!

We will be doing this a lot over the next couple of days!

Wordless Wednesday

Enjoying lunch on her new picnic table!

Claire's 2nd Birthday

Claire's birthday (and party) have come and gone and I still to this day can not believe she is two. Her birthday party was on her same day as her birthday, Sunday July 10th. We had the party at my parent's house again. Thank goodness we did, it was a true Chicago summer, 95 hot and humid! My parent's pool was the hit of the party. I think at one point there was close to 40 people in it. Besides the pool we had a small kids jumpy house, bubbles and a ton of toys for kids to play with. I made my sloppy joe, Eric grilled hot dogs and Eric's dad made his famous baked chicken. We also had a ton of sides and some amazing desserts. The food was a huge hit! The guest numbers totaled at right around 60 people! We have a lot of friends and family that love our little girl. It was an amazingly fun and memorable day, it couldn't have been better!

Here are some pictures of Claire's 2nd Birthday Party:

Wordless Wednesday

Claire's checking out the Avon deals with her Great Aunt Didi

Planning the Party

Claire's 2nd birthday is creeping around the corner. I'm still in disbelief that it's this Sunday. I remember this time last year, my good friend just gave birth to her little boy (Happy Birthday Bean). I was so overly jealous of her having her baby but I knew when Claire was ready, it would be my turn too. Now here I sit, two years from that day going crazy trying to make sure I have everything perfect for Claire's big 2nd birthday party. We are doing a Minnie Mouse themed birthday party so of course i had to make almost all of her decoration because everything at the local party stores are all the girl clubhouse characters! I truly don't mind, I enjoy being crafty and I love the fact that I made all the decorations myself. I really put my heart into her party! We are expecting a lot of family and friends atmy parent's house. They have a great yard, a refreshing pool, we got a kid jumpy house all in all, I think it will be a fun, memorable day for us. I'm just trying to tie all the final touches together, like making sure we will have enough food and desserts for everyone. I'm the type of hostess where I want there to be left overs vs. not enough food so right now, that's my biggest worry! I'm much more relaxed this year, then last. I'm just enjoying the moment and trying to make it a fun day for Claire!

Working Out and Feeling Good

I've been actually working out over the last couple of weeks every day, yes EVERY DAY. Claire's a great napper, at least 2 hours so I use up some of the time with a quick workout. I'm not an intense workout kind of girl but I enjoy a casual cardio or kickboxing set. Eric's parents have On-Demand through Comcast and they actually have a great exercise TV On-Demand channel. They have everything from: yoga, cardio, kickboxing, 10 minute work outs (which I love), etc...I love that I can chose something different every day and still get a nice little work out in. I'm one that gets bored very easy with repetition so this cures that. Plus it's nice you don't have to fumble with the DVD and fast-forwarding. I actually really like Denise Austen. She's great. Although a little hard to handle with her voice, Eric loves to make fun of her but I always answer with, "at least she makes us sweat"! I feel like I still have a work to do but I'm very picky with my body (basically I have bad body image) but I don't want to get too ripped or lose weight because hopefully soon we will be trying for baby #2 and I know being to skinny is not good for that. I just want to be healthy and somewhat in shape!
I highly recommend checking out your On-Demand, exercise TV! If you have 10 minutes, they have a workout for you!

Wordless Wednesday

Eric and I at our good friends wedding a couple weeks ago! It was fun walking down the aisle with him again!