Summer Lovin’

Posted on July 11, 2014 by lksquared

I’m here, I’m here…not often, but I am. This little thing called WORK has been taking over my personal life & I LOVE IT! If you haven’t checked it out already, come on over and follow my LKSquared Photo business blog too, since that is hopefully where I’ll be spending most of my time! I can’t give up the personal blog … I’m sentimental like that, so I’ll be back here occasionally to keep my kid’s lives on record!

I’ve really been enjoying this summer! It’s been much different than last summer, with us being all settled in at the house, with a lot less wedding events for our loved ones, 2 little ones running around instead of one running and one sleeping all day….you know….small things!

We joined the pool, so most days Baby D and I hang out there during the day. It means a messy house stays messy, but isn’t that what summer is all about??? (Sorry Mister LK…the vote is with me…messy house = fabulous summer, unless I say it has to be cleaned up…then we better get on it!!!)

Miss A has been at camp for 2 weeks now and she is loving it!!! She has a great time with all her friends and this camp lovin’ Mommy is J-E-A-L-O-U-S of her days playing!!!!

The last thing we’ll talk about today is our annual Summer BBQ! We’ve been doing a 4th of July (weekend) BBQ for 4 years now, and every year we have such a great time with our friends & family! This year we had all the regulars plus Mister LKs childhood friend who happens to live 2 towns away! We had a great time with them & hope they come back again soon!!! We also had 2 visiting pups who got lots of love and attention & are always welcome back!

So that is a little bit of what we’ve been up to lately! I’ll be back with more updates this summer as we do lots more fun things!!!

xoxo

Love Was In the Air…

Posted on September 24, 2013 by lksquared

This past weekend was our marathon wedding weekend. Miss A has been looking forward to my cousin’s wedding for months. She told everyone she met all summer that SHE was marrying my cousin. When I would tell her that she was in fact NOT marrying him, and that he was marrying his beautiful fiance instead, she cried. And cried. And wondered “who will marry me????” Aren’t we a little too young to be worrying about this type of thing Miss A?!?!?!?!?!

Then…because my cousin and his fiance are THE nicest and most thoughtful people in the world, they asked if she would be a flower girl. Her life was made. She could wear “wedding clothes” and throw flowers and we read books about being a flower girl and this was her event of the year! We heard “can we go to the wedding now?” a billion times during the almost 4 hour car ride up to the Catskills!

This was just part of her excitement at seeing the groom….there was also a running leap into his arms which I captured but it was very fuzzy!!!

The bride got her very own running start hug too!

There was lots of fun to be had before the wedding even started!!!

We started off the day hanging out and playing games with our cousins…

Then we moved it over to the field for some games …

We also took a little nature walk down to the creek!

And to a pond…

This couple is really special. They make everyone around them want to be a better person. I was honored to be asked to give them a little marriage advice during their ceremony! There were many speeches before my little moment, and all of their friends and family are incredibly eloquent…they even did a choreographed dance routine…so the pressure was on, since speaking in front of a crowd is not my strongest skill, but they seem to think I’m funny and that I might have some knowledge on marriage 🙂 I hope Mister LK agrees!

I gave them my best advice I could think of, but I really think that these 2 have everything they need for a lifetime of happiness! Each other.

I hope that one day I am able to give their future children the happiness that they gave to mine! I’m not sure how I’ll do it, but I’m certainly going to try!!! They will really never know how much she talks about them and their wedding and how happy she was that she was a flower girl!!!!

My wish is that my kids turn out half as good as this beautiful woman’s….

My Aunt R is the most patient and loving woman. She is an amazing mother and I hope I can channel some of her calm and get my kids to be as good as hers are as grown ups!

Thanks for including us in this special day! It was great to be there to see you both so happy. I hope I can be there for the rest of the celebrations … you know … since we’ve already done the “born” thing together!!!!

Bris Baby…

Posted on July 13, 2012 by lksquared

My nephew Baby H is going to love me…he is going to adore me…he is going to think I am the coolest Auntie ever…until he finds this post 😉 He’s gonna really want to kill me that day! Good thing once that passes, he’ll love me again!

The bris was beautiful…Grandma R & Grandpa M made a lovely brunch. If anyone is wondering how we kept Miss A quiet and out of the mohel’s way….well it’s pretty simple with this girl…

Give the girl her games and movies on the IPad and she’s usually an angel! Even if we had to listen to Beauty & The Beast in the background!

I can’t wait to see this little man next weekend!

Cupcakes To-Go…

Posted on June 6, 2012 by lksquared

Tomorrow is our last day of dance class. Even though we haven’t been there in like a month due to a vacation and Miss A’s tendency to sleep in until 9am, fight me for 20 minutes to change her diaper, insisting that she get a hot breakfast and then refusing to get dressed, making it IMPOSSIBLE to get to class 25 minutes away at 10am! Like the true independent spirit that she is, she has decided it is time to be diaper free, so we have just saved 20 minutes off our pre-dance games, and come hell or high water, we WILL make it to the last dance class of the year! I’m putting a wee wee pad in the carseat in case she refuses to make peepee in the potty before we have to go! The class is having a farewell party & our contribution is thanks to this inspiration I found a while ago on Pinterest…

Since I am stuck in the house … or limited to things in a 10 minute radius from my house, I ran this morning to pick up a box of cake mix and get to assembling! Here is what we came up with!!!

Miss A tried one … you know … to make sure they weren’t poisonous!

They weren’t!!! I took a bite…it was yummy. Girls…get excited 🙂

Let Them Have Pizza & Cake…

Posted on April 28, 2012 by lksquared

A started asking for cake about 20 minutes into her party. After every bounce, every swing, every game I heard “Mommy I want cake”. I am pretty sure she smelled the pizza when it was delivered! She ran right over to the tables & said she wanted some pizza….so she started the eating part a little bit early…and alone…

Eventually – everyone joined in!

And finally…the highlight…the cake arrived!

A's Great Grandma A! Lookin' good for 94!

Who's satisfied?!?!

If you thought that was the end of it…You thought wrong! We had us an after party! Stay tuned 🙂

Totnastics…Oceanside, NY…Party Time

Posted on April 27, 2012 by lksquared

The first time I knew that Totnastics was the place for A’s 2nd birthday party was at her friend’s party there. A, as outgoing as she is, is normally very tentative and cautious around large groups of people. At all of her classes like Gymboree & dance & music, she has always just sat back and observed a little before getting into the action. When she walked into her friend’s party though, there was no waiting period. There were a lot of kids there and even more adults, I would estimate about 25-30 kids plus their parents. A didn’t even blink. She ran for the trampoline and got right on! Then she headed for the foam block pit and jumped right in! She really had a great time. Then at cousin S’s party, she acted the same way. Mind made up. I’d call & get the date set for her party ASAP.

I called their Bellmore location, put down a deposit & went in to sign the contract. When I called I told them this was for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. When I went in, A was with me and she’s clearly a 2 year old! The place is full service. You sign up, give them the guest list & they take care of everything else. I chose to do my own evites instead of their invitations so I could keep track of RSVPs there. They told me all along that they’d be calling the Monday prior to the party to get head counts & pizza orders. They did call to confirm & then that night I got a few more missed calls from them. After A’s bath the phone rang again and when I answered it was a nice girl from Totnastics. She said there was a mix up & they somehow didn’t note that A was turning 2 and booked her in the “big kid” part of the gym which was not exactly 2 year old friendly. My choices were to A) change the time of the party, or B) change the location to their Oceanside place. I had never been to the Oceanside location but they assured me that it was the same activities. I thought it was better to change venue since everyone coming had already made their plans for their day. They were nice and offered to call everyone for me, but I chose to take care of this and confirm with everyone myself. The owner agreed to compensate us for the mix up by throwing in a few things that usually cost extra, for free. We felt this was fair.

In the end of the day, only 1 family went to Bellmore, and they said their GPS sent them there even though they plugged in the new address! Silly GPS. At the end of the day, I think the Oceanside location was really a better fit for us since it is a bit smaller and we didn’t have a very large group of kids…so it was a lot more manageable. A had a blast. Her friends, & family … everyone was there to celebrate A & it was so adorable to watch them bounce. Even more fun was when the girls and I were able to bounce without the kids!

Lots of photos…

We got there a little early & Grandma jumped up on the trampoline with A!

Our friends got in on the bouncing too!

A's best friend is usually the shy one...she didn't stop going for a second! Plus she looked adorable 🙂

A is always so happy to see Cousin S!

It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to!

Uncle C getting in a little bike ride!

DF's perfect landing from the high bar....

They couldn't get A to let go of the rings!! They resorted to tickling her!

little girls & Grandma

Big girls turn!

A's favorite part of her party (Aside from the cake - which she started asking for about 20 minutes into the playing part of the party!) She got to FLY!

Thanks everyone for playing, bouncing, jumping, swinging & all the other fun stuff we did with Miss A for her birthday! Tomorrow I’ll show pictures of the eating…that was A’s other favorite part!

Party + Party = Present Overload

Posted on December 30, 2011 by lksquared

This holiday season brought lots of parties to the LK house. Perhaps it was a result of the fact that 1 year ago we were living with my mom while the house was undergoing some updates. Perhaps it was a result of the fact that once we moved in, we were terrified that the ants were going to carry everyone away if we invited them in. Whatever the reason, this year was the year of the PARTY!

We had to have 2 parties. Party #1 was on night #3 & was soooo much fun! Here’s a look. Warning…this post is crazy full of photos & might take a really long time to load!

Lots of friends and family! (and this isn't even half of them!)

A playing with Uncle C! How happy does she look? Silly girl!

1 phone isn't good enough....she's hoarding Auntie E's phone in her pocket too!

PJ Time! Just lounging in her new sleeping bag from Cousins J,D,I,R,&B while checking out her new coloring placemat from Auntie E!

A's sitting on Mommy's Hanukkah present from night 3! Love my new stool! Thanks Daddy!

Best pre-bedtime ... belly laughs with Auntie E!

Party 2 photos coming soon!

Back Breaking…

Posted on October 28, 2011 by lksquared

Yesterday I was wrestling my little darling on the floor to change her diaper and get some clothes on…so we could get breakfast in her, pack up the car, & get to dance class for our Halloween party!

Then I stood up.

Since then, I haven’t really been able to move quite right without being loaded up on Ibuprofen!

It seems that my baby girl has literally broken my back! Or gave me a pulled muscle, but it sure feels broken! The question is, how can I do the required “resting” when all she wants to do is…

Running as always!

We did make it to the party though…and we had so much fun!

The only spiderwebs allowed in my house!

Is that A??? Or Elmo???

Always wearing our tutu - shaking her maracas!!!

The Country Tour – Family Reunion

Posted on July 17, 2011 by lksquared

After a great day at Sesame Place, we woke up & got ready to go to my Aunt’s house! As a kid, when we went to Aunt R’s house, we got the “country tour”. They always lived in PA which to us New Yawkers was like another planet. A planet where they all pronounced words like coffee, ball, and particularly, Camp DeBaun…very very strangely! There were giant backyards, farms, vegetable gardens, and lots more fun things that were such a treat to go visit! We really also loved going to hang with our cousins who we got to beat up since we were 3 girls and never had boys who could rough-house with us!

A few years ago my Aunt & Uncle moved from the house I loved visiting…and this year they got all the family over to the new place for some fun with the new generation of kiddos! Their house is awesome! They did such a great job of decorating and making it warm and cozy & very very pretty! I didn’t take such great photos of the house….I should have…and will next time I’m there! My favorite new additions since the last time we were there…Master Bedroom rugs, living room rug, and my top favorite – a chalk drawing on a wall that was totally awesome, done by my Aunt and I think it’s the coolest thing ever! What a great idea!!!!

The kids had lots of fun playing with each other & the adults too! During this party I learned that I am so much like my Grandma. She apparently let her kids do anything without worrying too much….at least when they were babies-9years old….and on a movie reel….without sound haha! I’m sure we would have heard some yelling in the background if there was sound…but if there was sound, it would have been drowned out with sobbing from my mom and aunt. I’m sure of it! okfine. I would have been crying too.

We started off our day with a swim in the hotel pool while we waited to leave for the party…

Out for a morning swim!

"What is that funny noise?!"

"Daddy ... it's coming from your NOSE!!! I'll get it!!! "

Goin' under!

Now it's time to stretch!

Then it was time for the party!!!

kids (and biggest kid Mister LK) using the misting fan to blow lots of crazy bubbles!

A doing acrobatics with Daddy!

Time to eat - a whole bunch of grapes!

we found cousins in the toy box!

"Daddy.....what is THAT?!?!"

"ballloooooooooooonnnnnnssssss"

Posing with the hot air balloons! They got super close to us! Very cool.

I have this cousin IT. We had this thing when I was a kid…he’d ask me if I loved him & I said no way. He’d ask me if I liked him & I said no way. He’d ask me if I tolerated him…and well…I did! Apparently – A hasn’t learned to tolerate him yet –

The good news is that it didn’t take long for me to admit that I did love him!

Then A got over tired…..here are some examples!

just gonna lay down for a little bit...

a kiss for the floor?!?!

Thanks Grand Aunt R & Grand Uncle M 🙂 This was a great day!!!

Happy Birthday Auntie S!

Posted on June 29, 2011 by lksquared

On Friday it was Auntie S’s 30th Birthday! She came up to NY and on Saturday we had a little party with the family at my dad’s house. It was so nice to see her on her special day & A had the best time playing with her Aunties, Gramma, Grampa, cousins, etc etc….

Here are some highlights of the day!

A & Cousin S playing with the toy that Auntie S bought for A 🙂 Preparation for Gramma to take the girls to see the Winnie the Pooh movie!

Look who is soooo excited to be out of the house!!!!! Yay!!! Baby A2 makes an appearance!!!

Cousin S showing everyone how she swims!

A floating in the freezing water!

Little EG & KG - EG is the best 2 year old swimmer I've ever seen! She loves the water!!

EG being tossed in the air by Uncle P

Then it was A's turn! She told him to go higher....he was scared 🙂

Uncle P's mom brought the coolest bubbles for the kids...here's Mister LK showing Cousin S how it's done!

A blew her first bubble!

During lunchtime, A thought it wasn't fair that B didn't get to eat - so she did what she always does....feeds the doggie!

Ice cream time!!!

She ate this whole thing....

Except for the few licks she shared with Grampa

She was just casually eating her ice cream....nice way to relax after a swim 😉

Entertaining Grampa

Ice cream hug!

3 girls enjoying the ice cream!

Pretty Gramma....its anyone's guess what she finds so amusing!

Cake time!!!

What a family...

Birthday Girl & her hubs

Great weekend!

Now…A’s note to her Auntie S…

Dear Auntie S,

I hope you had the best birthday weekend ever. I’m so happy you came to celebrate with us & that I got to spend so much time with you. I had the best time swimming and especially going to the beach with you. You are so much fun to play with and always bring me great presents! I hope I get to come to Florida to see you soon! I hope you have the best 30th year ever. My mom says that it’s not so bad being 30! I love you so much!!!!!!

Love,

Baby A

LK squared's Blog

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