Let the summer officially begin.. aka our first festival

(pretend this is being posted May 30th)

Summer has officially begun here in Erie. That's right we kicked it off with the Russian Festival this year! (If you remember our first summer here - thats about all we did .. attend festivals!)

And Im hoping we can make it to just as many this summer. (although it is already the end of June so summer is going by fast!)

While the parentals were here we took them out to see what an Erie festival is all about. Although they probably would have seen even more if we went Friday or Saturday night.. (because Cheelllooo there was a vodka bar.. I mean it was Russian fest) but instead we went on Sunday afternoon and we still had just as much fun.

Here are some pictures from the festival


no idea what that says.. nevermind here is the meaning


that over there on the right is the so called vodka bar. yes outside the church they enjoy shots of vodka.

dont you love festivals?

they had lots of great food but we just had lunch so we really didnt eat any. Next year!

and it wouldnt be a festival without dancing







this was the best dance by far:



its one guy in that costume doing the entire thing


they changed costumes so many times that day! and oh my gosh it was so hot. I felt so bad for them.






this is what River did the entire time. He was a craaaaazy party animal. I mean at one point I think he even undid the straps to his car seat! woo hoo!


ignore the grumpy face. the camera confuses him .. he really was happy to be celebrating the Russians.

then we went and played games. not realizing they were for the kids:


my brother, tracy and freeland playing games


jason picking out his prize

my dads prize




you cant tell but he was dancing to the music here

thats the lake out there. This festival was right by the bayfront - which made it so nice!
and then more dancing..



Russian fest was fun. It was our first time to go to that festival & I would definitely go again next year. Im glad our family got to enjoy an erie festival too! Oh and dont worry folks - greek fest is right around the corner!

now back to cleaning because did I mention.. my mom & nana are coming tomorrow!? Its River's first time to meet his great grandma! he couldn't be more excited.

if we were keeping score the dogs would win

Maddie & Oliver: 8
River: 1

That is the score that my dad kept while we were all out walking with River & the dogs. 8 times people stopped to ask about the dogs. Once someone asked about River. And that was because my dad kindly told the woman who was asking about our dogs that his grandson was right there if she wanted to see him too. ;)

It cracks us up.

I get it. People see babies all the time. They dont always see huge dogs.

(I only tell you this because even though River has taken over this blog - dont worry. The dogs are doin just fine & still getting a TON of attention.)

And dont worry - people do actually stop us and ask how River is too. We love how friendly people are in our neighborhood & Im thankful we have met so many of them because of our dogs! They are a great conversation starter I tell ya!

Anyway: here are some pictures from the other day for those who are having withdraws:







And for those of you who are interested in how the dogs are with River. Here is an example of how Maddie is with Henry:

She lets him do this:


and this:


and this:


and she even lets him do this:



seriously cracks me up. I love Henry's face!


Im pretty sure her & River are going to be best buds too.

Oliver on the other hand? The verdict is still out. He's absolutely fine with Henry. But Henry scares him. Yes a 20 something pound child scares a 200 pound dog. How does that happen!?

Now.. back to more post about River. ;)

I feel like I just won the lottery!

picture from Fabulous K's blog!

OH.MY.GAW

so last night.. while I was up at 3:00am feeding my son.. I happened to be checking twitter on my phone (thank goodness for my phone. It keeps me from falling asleep while feeding my son at 3:00am)

I saw that I had a mention. If you read twitter you know what that means. If not.. then you probably dont care.

this is what it read: fabkcreative: @brookeackley I just drew my winner & it was YOU!! Congrats!

background to the story: FabK had a giveaway on her blog for The Vintage Pearl.

At this point I let out a little (LOUD) squil and scared the poo out of River. Seriously - he pooped. Then he finished eating & went back to sleep. With a dirty diaper.

I, on the other hand, could not fall back asleep. All I could do was browse The Vintage Pearl website on my phone and dream about all the things I want to order & gifts I could get for friends & how beautiful a new necklace would be & how a DIAMOND is River's birthstone - lucky me if I HAVE to have a necklace with his birthstone!

(photo also from Fabulous K's blog)

So - do you see how I feel like I pretty much won the lottery!?!!?!?!? (Ive never won anything online before. (except the one time I THOUGHT I won something online and it was just Freeland tricking me!) but Ive seriously tried to win so many things online and either never remember to enter the contest in time or I just flat out dont win.) So this is HUGE people.

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH FABULOUS K! And if you dont read her blog you should - Im pretty sure she not only has LOTS of giveaways (YOU could be next!), amazing blog designs, but she also posts tons of eye candy everyday for you to enjoy.

And seriously - if you havent heard of Vintage Pearl you probably dont have the Internet (kidding) but seriously her jewelry is AH-MAZING. (so is her blog) check it out.

we are family .. all my brothers and my sisters and me

that song was stuck in my head as I finally went through the pictures from when my dad, tracy, and brother all came to visit.

It was seriously so nice having them here to meet River and help out. Have I mentioned that yet?

My dad & Tracy came early to surprise me on my birthday and then my brother got here on Saturday to help us celebrate Freeland's boards being finished! I wish I had pictures from my dad & tracy when they first met River. Since it was a surprise I didnt have the camera ready but it was a sweet moment. My dad cried. They both love him so much (of course) but I loved getting to see them meet him and love on him.

Here are some pictures from right when my brother got here before we went out to celebrate:


Jason holding River for the first time

side note: my brother is a wonderful uncle and absolutely loved River & was such a natural with him. It was really fun to watch. I cant wait for River to be older and get to play with him even more.


dad, son, and grandson


River with his family (he didnt get the memo to look at the camera in any of these pictures)




River staring at the ceiling fan.. its his best friend.


ackley family of 3

I'll upload more pictures soon. I just wanted to share those while I had a chance.

Freelands First Fathers Day

say that 3 times fast.. actually it isn't that hard.


River in his gangster outfit loving on his dad.

Freeland's first fathers day was wonderful (in my opinion) We tried to turn it into an entire weekend celebrating as a family. River kicked off the weekend sleeping in until 9:30 & 10:00 both days. (Freeland pointed out this was really a mothers day gift to me.. but still)

It occurred to me on Saturday morning that since Freeland is already at the hospital every morning when River wakes up he never gets to be the one to go get him out of his crib (one of my favorite moments every day) so when River woke up both days I made sure Freeland got to be the one to go in to get him because its so fun letting him wake up to see you with the biggest smile on his face. Im pretty sure it melted Freeland's heart.



and the rest of the weekend we spent as a family going on long walks, watching movies, smiling at River, grilling out with friends, sleeping in, roasting smores, hanging out in the backyard, eating donuts for breakfast, opening gifts and loving on Freeland.  



Freeland said it was the first time in as long as he could remember that he felt relaxed. So I would say the weekend was a success because getting Freeland to feel relaxed and put away his to do list is definitely not the easiest thing in the world!

River is crazy and got Freeland the most typical fathers day gifts. { 2 ties from Walmart and some cheap nasty smelling after shave.. along with a fathers day card all about golf} Free loved it.



Its crazy this time last year we had no idea I was going to be pregnant soon! So much can change in a year! I cant wait until the day River is actually able to understand Fathers Day and make cards in sundsay school to give him as fathers day gifts..

does this mean we are going to have a thumb sucker?

the good news - River found his hands.

the bad news - he wont stop searching for his thumb.


*all that noise is River kicking in his car seat.. oh and him sucking his hand

I mean seriously, the kids spits out his pacifier so he can chew on his hands.

Im praying this doesnt mean he is going to find his thumb.

and for those interested (family) here is a video of River talking to Freeland

boom!

our little "powder" baby (he's actually darker than I am. sad huh?)

Dear Friends,

Im sorry I turned my comments off. And that I left them off for so long. That was rude of me. To be honest with you it was very freeing to have them off. I blogged without thinking about what someone would comment or say. My inbox was also shockingly empty. It was strange.

And even though it was nice - I always felt bad.. not letting anyone comment. It feels very one sided to be honest.

So .. the comments are back on.

Yippeeeeeee!

Let me preface with this.. Im going to put LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of pictures of our son up on here... possibly even ones that are embarrassing to him because I love him so much & a little laughter never hurt anyone.. its all about building character, right? So please dont leave me comments about how Im exploiting him and he is going to hate me when he is older.. cause you know what? Its not going to keep me from doing it. Im going to exploit the heck out of him on here & if he doesnt like it - I will just ground him when he is older.

Thankyouverymuch.

Brooke

PS: my little rant had nothing to do with anyone that actually reads my blog. Im fully aware yall are all incredibly nice people & have never left me rude comments before! Thank you for that! But my friends have received comments on their blogs & so I just wanted to put it out there.

Im also fully aware that you could care less if my comments are on or off. so thanks for reading.

an update of sorts

Well for the first time in weeks we are all by ourselves again. (sing it with me: all by ourselves... dont want to be all by ourselves... no?)  My Aunt left yesterday. It was sad. We have definitely been spoiled with so many visitors! Having all this help has been amazing. This morning I didnt know what to do with myself!

Remember when I wrote that River was an amazing sleeper and blah blah blah.. well he hasn't slept well since that day. I think he forgot that he isnt a newborn. And we arent still at the hospital. And that its okay to sleep 5+ hours at a time. Either that or he is just more aware of whats going on around him and doesn't want to miss out on anything. Party animal I tell ya!

Freeland & I are starting a diet today. I very much do not want to do it. But I very much want to fit in my clothes again so it is necessary. Oh and do you want to know how necessary it is? We did our measurements yesterday - it was the most depressing thing I have done in a long time because Freeland and I somehow almost have the same exact measurements. Problem is - he is OVER 6 FEET TALL... and IM ONLY 5'2" (and a half) ... so our arms, waist, hips, etc. shouldn't be that close! That was a huge reality check for me.

Freeland wakes up at 3:30 every morning to get to the hospital by 4:00am. Its sick. Dont worry he goes to bed at 8:00-8:30 every night though.

When River cries and it sounds like he is crying "mooooooooooom" I love it. And secretly want him to keep crying just so I can hear him say "mooooooooommmmm" even though obviously I dont want him to cry.. I do.

Oh and in other news I am going to turn my comments back on this week. Sorry they have been off so long. Im a jerk.

PS: Dear Fabulous K, I think its time we get this blog updated. Agree? I will be adding my name to your wait list soon!

rotations

Freeland loving on River once he got home from the hospital

This week Freeland started his 3rd year of medical school.. which means he started his rotations! (remember he doesnt ever have class again!) His first rotation is Internal Medicine. Its actually his first 3 months (technically the first 12 weeks.. normally his rotations will only be 4 weeks long)

River & Freeland passed out after a long day

His first 2 days went well. They were definitely long days! And he was actually on call his second day! So we are jumping right into this season of life!

And even though Freeland is thankful to finally be in the hospital and learning more..

Im pretty sure he misses River like crazy during the day. (note: he said this was the first time he missed River even more than he missed me!!!) And we definitely miss him. Im really not used to him being gone all day anymore so its sad. But guess what? When he comes home at night - he doesnt have to study as much anymore so I will take that trade anyday!! Oh and dont get me started on how nice it will be to have weekends back too!

Im also super thankful to have my Aunt here this week helping out. She has made the transition much easier. And of course she is loving getting to hold & play with River all day!

I would have tried to get a picture of Freeland with his white coat on but I decided not to push my luck. Besides, I think him & River are much cuter than those pictures would have been.

Henry's 1st Birthday

We had a blast with my family in town! It was so nice having them here & getting to celebrate everything going on with them. I will post pictures soon. Freeland just started his rotations this week (pictures to come) and his first rotation is internal.. thankfully my Aunt came in town to help us through the adjustment of working & him being gone all day. Its a HUGE help.

In the mean time I thought I would (finally) post some pictures from Henry's first birthday party! It was a cowboy/western theme.. complete with ahhhmazing chili with all the fixin's you could imagine! I think I had 3 bowls myself it was so good! Here are some pictures:






Adam added the spider man to the smash cake since a rainbow was a little too girly! (giant eagle apparently makes you put a rainbow on the smash cake?)




of course Sarah & Drew came ready to party!

and then it was time for Henry to open his gifts.. it was cute watching him get involved and play with all the toys.. and mostly the wrapping paper.




Henry reading his birthday cards & thanking everyone for coming





River was out of control at the party.. and by that I mean he slept the entire time! Well he also pee'd his pants but then he just went right back to sleep.



and of course it wouldn't be a 1st birthday party without a kids first taste of pure sweetness (the cake)







Look at those big blue eyes:





I dont know if you can tell but Im pretty sure he LOVED the cake.






already knows how to share!

I loved the pictures of him digging into his cake so I edited a few. Here they are:





seriously those eyes are unreal. Watch out ladies!






I love that we got to celebrate with Henry & his family. I'm really thankful that we still all live so close so we can be apart of moments like this! Cam & Adam did a great job putting everything together. And it was fun getting to see Cam's parents again & introduce them to River. Soon enough we'll be celebrating Baby # 2 with them!! (PS - she found out she is having another Boy if you didn't already see that!!)