We were able to spend the past few days with my sister, brother-in-law and niece and were so grateful they drove in town. We’ve missed them so much and after a lot of thought, we all agreed we felt comfortable spending time together at our house and on the lake since we’ve all been adhering to social distancing protocols for more than two months and restrictions in our respective states have lifted a bit. I know that with the loosening of some of the restrictions in various states, many people are making decisions right now related to how exactly to introduce some normalcy back into everyday life while still trying to be careful and cognizant of everything surrounding the pandemic and we’re very much in the same boat.
We had a great time with family and soaked up every minute with Leslie, Ross, Callie and their chocolate lab, Kona. The boys were so, so excited to see their cousin this weekend and I cannot get over how much it melts my heart to see our trio of children together.
We majorly lucked out with the most incredible weather on Saturday and Sunday. It was sunny and gorgeous outside for most of the day, despite a forecast that called for rain nearly all weekend. The big foam mat Ryan gave me for my birthday proved to be the best investment since the lake was hoppin’ with boats all weekend and the high water in Lake Norman thanks to tons of rain last week meant the number of places to drop anchor near a beach were very limited.
Thankfully the floating water pad gave us the ability to spend time in the middle of a cove and still have a place for the kids to sit, play, rest and jump around.
We made sure to pack lots of snacks, water and sunscreen and were out on the lake for the majority of the day on Saturday and Sunday. The kids were incredible troopers and Callie and Ryder both took short boat naps in our arms that somehow powered them through our adventures.
After so much time on the water, we arrived home rather hungry both days and opted for pizza on Saturday night and grilled out on Sunday.
We also filled our time with walks around the neighborhood, ice cream, lounging in our screened-in porch and game nights after the kids went to bed.
Oh and the boys had the best time joining Ryan and Uncle Ross for an early morning workout on Saturday!
I love this pic of them imitating the guys after they saw them doing mountain climbers.
They clearly think Dad and Uncle Ross are the coolest!
Of course we also had to take a cousin picture to send to my parents featuring the kids in the t-shirts my mom ordered for them.
Cheeeeese!
Oh and one more thing to report from the weekend: The boys had their first brother sleepover! We’ve had them share a room with us a few times before when we traveled together when Ryder was much younger but this was the first time they’ve had a room to themselves overnight and they were so, so pumped! We wanted Callie to have her own space to sleep so while she stayed in Chase’s room, Chase bunked up with Ryder on a blow-up toddler bed air mattress and they did great!
It was adorable because on the first night Chase came downstairs about 30 minutes after bed time and said, “Mom, I just can’t stop talking to Ryder.” Oh the challenges of being a chatty 4.5 year old! Eventually the brother chatter, games and singing died down and they both slept through the night three nights in a row so we’ll consider that a win, despite the fact that they were awake and playing together by 6 a.m. every morning. There was a bit of a meltdown last night when we told them that they had to sleep in their own rooms again but Ryan and I both felt relieved knowing Chase and Ryder can share a room well together since that’s the plan for our boys after our baby arrives and is ready for his or her own room.
Leslie and Ross headed back to Florida yesterday around lunchtime and we spent the rest of the long weekend hanging out close to home as a family. We went on a couple of walks, dug into yummy leftovers, caught up on laundry and dishes and all that fun stuff. As for the week ahead, we’ll be sticking close to home as usual and I am hoping to fill the next few days with plenty of time outside, random activities around the house and work whenever time allows. I also have a peek into a week of workouts and a yummy recipe to share with you guys this week so stay tuned for those posts as well!
Thanks so much for making the blog a part of your day today!
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-1e3-7hOJ_U8Bg.gif\")
so nice to see you guys enjoying time with family again! i have an odd request for a possible blog post — can you do an update on your beauty/skin care products while pregnant? we are trying for our 2nd baby soon and, since we had out first, i definitely am more cautious about the products i buy especially face lotion, sunscreen, etc. i know about beautycounter products but wondering if there is anything else out there that i haven’t heard of yet! thanks!
I love this request! I actually recently shared my favorite beauty products in this post but still need to do one that’s more skincare-specific. Here’s the beauty post in the meantime if you’re interested: https://www.pbfingers.com/my-current-beauty-favorites/
thanks! i always love your beauty posts and have ended up using quite a few things thanks to your posts (witch hazel, rosehip oil, etc). i didn’t think to search to see if maybe i missed any!
what rowing machine do you have, and how do you like it? I have been thinking of getting one.
Looks like an amazing weekend, Julie! Have a great week!!
So happy you had a great weekend with your sister and her family. Seeing your boys with Callie is so fun – you can see the love between the kids. I’m glad your weather was so nice so all of you could enjoy being outside.
Our weather in the Chicagoland area was beautiful and we had a picnic with my niece and 2 great niece. It was so fun to finally be together again and we also captured some adorable cosinnshots of my kids (18 and 16) with my 2 great nieces (7 and 4).
Where are those shirts from?! Too cute!!
I know she ordered them in support of child hunger relief and I will ask for the specific charity’s info to share!
What a fun weekend! So glad you got to spend some time with family. In Boston, we’re still pretty locked down so I’m still awaiting the day we get the go-ahead to start seeing people in literally any capacity again!
Also, HOW is Chase 4.5?!?! It feels like yesterday that you announced you were pregnant with him!
That photo of the three littles together is adorable. So is the one of the boys working out. Ha!!
How fun! It’s so nice to see you all with family again! I love the group photo and the one of the cousins together – all so blonde and adorable! They could all pass as siblings!
Callie is so freaking cute! With her little pony tail and pink glasses. Omg girls are the BEST!
She’s seriously just the sweetest!! Her little ponytail gets me every time, too!
I was thinking the same thing I could eat her up! She looks so much like her daddy !?
What a fun weekend, and you all are adorable! Nothing like time with family, especially seeing your sweet kids together. I’m glad the weather turned out well for you all!
When my 2 first shared a room a few months ago, my daughter was just over 2 and my son 4 1/2. Our daughter was Chatty Cathy and big brother kept telling her to be quiet and go to sleep! Can you tell who likes their sleep?!?!?
Great call on having Chase and Ryder share a room over the weekend! When my brother was born, I had to move into my sister’s room, and let me tell you, it did NOT go well. I still remember having a temper tantrum so intense over it that I literally cried myself sick. My poor parents for having to put up with my dramatics, haha. I sincerely hope Chase takes the permanent move a million times better than I did!
Callie looks like she is Chase and Ryder’s sister! So glad you were able to soak up some family time! I have a random and sort of odd blog post idea. Have you ever thought of having Leslie do a guest post of some kind? I am such a long time reader I feel like I know her but would love to know more (I hope that doesn’t sound weird!)
Looks like an amazing weekend! I can’t wait until the lake is warm enough here to go pontooning :). The cousins are adorable, looks like they had a blast! It was a fairly rainy weekeind here in KC, but I was able to get out and go strawberry picking – so many treats since then <3
oooh! i love berry picking… and the fact that it always results in lots of cobblers, crumbles, pies and pancakes!