Longest.Week.Ever.

We are just coming off of our longest.week.ever.seriously. Brian left last Sunday for a week-long business trip. This is only the second time he has been gone since having two kids. The first time was when Talia was only four months old, so it was a little easier to handle since she did a lot more sleeping then. Now, I have a very active almost-one year old and a pretty busy two year old. So, it's safe to say that it's pretty busy during the day around here. I long for my one hour I have a night where Brian takes over so that I can work out, shower, change out some laundry or start dinner. Pretty exciting stuff, I know. But since he was gone, I didn't get that hour. And it was hard. Oh, and did I mention that both my kids are not good with going to bed and sleeping? Oh ya, then there's that. Poor Tristan gets night terrors from time to time. And Talia still wakes up a few times at night. I don't know how moms who have traveling/military husbands do it. I barely survived the week with an average of 4-5 hours of interrupted sleep.

Okay, enough of the whining, there was some fun in there, too. We needed some fun (and caffeine!) to make the long days go by faster. We started the week by celebrating St. Patrick's Day. I decided to make corned beef and cabbage for the first time, and have to say that it turned out pretty good! This will definitely be a tradition in the years ahead. Although next year I may try shepherd's pie. I didn't get any significant pictures on this holiday, but both kids wore green so that they wouldn't get pinched from big cousin Emma!

The next day, Tristan, Eli, Talia and I went on a 3 1/2 hour walk/bike ride. We rode down to the neighborhood coffee shop for a treat and coffee, then ended the ride with a trip to the park. It ended up being a 3 1/2 mile bike ride! It's safe to say that Tristan and Talia were a bit wiped out at the end of the afternoon and took super long naps. Score for mom!


The last part of the week, Michelle and I spent the majority of our free time (ha!) getting ready for her cousin, Sammie's baby shower.

The beginning of the cookies I made for the shower - only 30 more to go!
Michelle has spent months planning and went above and beyond with the decorations - it was amazing! Brian got home late on Friday night and took over daddy duty with Tristan while Michelle, Emma, Talia and I got up a few hours before dawn on Saturday to drive to The Dalles to set up for the shower. What a wonderful day!







Sorry for so many pics, but there were too many amazing decorations and I had to share them all! As you can see, it was an owl theme and Michelle went all out! There were many comments that she needs to open her own business and I couldn't agree more!


My only contributions were writing on this sign and making these cookies. They were super fun to do!






Cousins Emma & Talia!

More cousins! Actually, they are considered third cousins, as these are the daughters of Michelle's cousin, Stefani.

The beautiful mama-to-be!



Sammie's dog, Madison, thinking all the new stuffed animals were for her. Uh oh.

The amazing quilt Sammie's cousin made for the new "Baby T" (they are not finding out the sex or disclosing name choices). The T in the center is from one of their grandma's pillows, as she also had a last name that started with T. Pretty special :)

What an amazing day! And a great end to a very long week.