Best Friends, Babies & BBQ's

Happy Monday, everyone (said no one ever). Excuse the Debbie Downer in me, but I am dragging a bit this morning after all of our weekend fun. I feel like I need a weekend to recover from my weekend! As you can see below, our poor tot felt the same way this morning. She just wanted to be held and lay her head on my shoulder. It's mornings like this that I hate sending her off to daycare. I'd much rather spend the day at home snuggling with my girl.

But, alas, I'm at work, so let's get to it. Our weekend was phenomenal! It was full of quality time spent with some of our closest friends and family. Friday evening my sister, her four kids, and my mom came to see us (and do some shopping, of course). Our first stop was Target where we hit up the A-mazing baby sale they had going on. Even though I know jack about couponing, we saved $145 and got $30 in gift cards! I can see why people become obsessed with it though, because I walked out of there feeling like I had won the lottery! Girlfriend is stocked on formula (until we can switch to milk in just 10 short weeks - hallelujah!), and she should have enough diapers to last until Christmas! I cannot express just how elated I was (and still am) with our savings. This shopping trip alone would've made my weekend!!

After our mega Target haul, we loaded up the kids and headed to Bonkers (one of those giant, indoor, plastic play areas for kids). My sister has twin girls who are 15 months old, and they loooove their Baby Taylor. Watching the three of them play together makes my heart burst with happiness. Jake spent his time chasing my sister's two oldest kids through the tunnels while the rest of us hung out in the "baby" area. And out of all of the things to do in this activity center, Taylor's favorite was riding a mechanical safari jeep. She was sure to hang on to monkey to make sure he didn't fall out!

An hour later, we wiped down the tot, said goodbye to the family, and headed home. It was already past Tay's bedtime, and she was thisclose to letting us know it. But the good thing about our baby staying up late is that she is almost certain to sleep in the next morning. And she did not disappoint! Hubby and I slept in until nine o'clock Saturday morning! (For those of you that don't have kids, this doesn't happen. Ever.) Just another example of why this kid is awesome.

That afternoon we were off to a very special three year old's birthday party. You know how most people have those "couple" friends where you're friends with either the husband or the wife but rarely are you friends with both the husband and wife? Jake and I are extremely lucky because nearly all of his guy friends are married to my lady friends (and vice versa). The Franci are no exception. Jake and Morgan met through work and quickly became besties, while Cori and I became friends through a mutual love of beer pong and Natty Light (ahhh, true friendship). We have watched each other get married, have babies, and now we complain about how hard (yet rewarding) parenting is. And this weekend, we celebrated their baby's third birthday. Time. Flies. Cori did an excellent job planning this party. The set up was amazing! Our favorite? The photo booth, of course.

Happy Birthday, Sheriff Adilynn! We had a great time at your Wild West party!

The next day, we invited the Benkes, another one of our favorite couples (who we met in a similar fashion as the Franci), to our house for a BBQ and some swimming. They have a three year old girl and a little boy who is slightly older than Taylor. Unfortunately, the rain put a damper on our pool party fun, but the kids were still able to burn off some energy playing inside. We stuffed our faces with ribs and chocolate pie and then lounged around talking, laughing, and reminiscing. I love how effortless afternoons like that are. They're good for my soul.

All in all, it was a great weekend. We were able to relax and catch up with friends that we hadn't seen in ages. Lately, I've become increasingly aware how little time Jake and I actually have for ourselves. We work our tails off all week and then on the weekends, after we put Taylor to bed, we can barely stay awake long enough to watch a movie. And by the time we find a sitter and get everything ready, going out to dinner is more work than enjoyment (we are so lame, I know). But weekends like this keep me sane. They remind me that I'm not just a mom - I'm a wife, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend as well. And those parts of me are just as important as being a mom. Balancing it all can be tough, but this weekend reminded me that I need to take more time to enjoy the amazing people in my life (other than the hubby and our tot). I am so very blessed to have such a stellar group of friends and family. I can't express it enough.