Welcome to the World, Aria Grace

On June 2nd, we welcomed Aria Grace Harvey to the world.  God blessed us with this 8 pound, 13 ounce beauty with a full head of hair!

#ariagrace #adoremyaria #sleepybaby

A photo posted by @harveyeverafter on Jun 4, 2015 at 11:26pm PDT

Little Prez adores his baby sister.  He is constantly making sure that she has a bottle and at least one pacifier and a blanket and a dolly and... (You get the picture.)

Baby Prez is an amazing big brother. Loves to make sure baby has her silly, pacifier, and blanket at all times. And loves to hold her hand. #lovemylincoln #adoremyaria #harveyeverafter

A photo posted by @harveyeverafter on Jun 7, 2015 at 12:24pm PDT

Labor Day at the Lincoln Children's Zoo

The Harvey family was blessed to get to spend time with both sides of our family over Labor Day this year.  The Johansens drove up to Nebraska from Oklahoma on Friday, and stayed until Monday.  Baby President was so excited to get to see Grandpa, Gramma, and Aunt Kiley!

The big event of the weekend was taking Baby Prez to the zoo for the first time.  After lunch, we all loaded up and headed to the Lincoln Children's Zoo.

We arrived at the zoo just in time to watch the Humboldt Penguins get fed.  Baby Prez had a great view from Daddy's shoulders.  Then we checked out the Amur Leopard!  Baby President wasn't sure whether he should be excited or scared, but Miss Coco was right there with him and they looked at the leopard together.

Miss Coco got to feed the Dromedary Camels and the Nubian and Pigmy Goats. And she had the chance to pet a Frilled Lizard, several different turtles, a rabbit and goats. She thought the lizard was pretty neat and wants to volunteer at the zoo next summer once she's old enough!  She also found a real bald eagle nest.  It was huge and pretty cool!

In the butterfly house, Baby Prez thought the rocks were way cooler than the butterflies!  We also saw a momma ring-tailed lemur with her babies hanging out on her back.  They were just adorable.  There's nothing like the love between a momma and her babies.

Feeding the goats was one of Baby President's favorite parts of the afternoon.  Gramma helped him out and showed him how to feed them. He was fascinated by the goats and was surprised when they ate the food out of his hand!  We also enjoyed watching the squirrel monkeys.  Daddy propped Baby Prez so that he could get a front-row seat!

We tried to find the lion, but it turned out to be a fake plastic lion that "eats" trash. Not cool.  Instead, we walked over to the aviary to see the Snowy Egret, Wood Duck, Tawny Frogmouth, Scarlet Ibis, and the Great Malay Argus Pheasant, where Miss Coco tried to scare the birds and then got scared of them herself.  Silly girl!  And Baby Prez tried to escape into the habitat by limboing under the rope barrier.  Silly boy.  (Later, he tried to jump into the koi pond, so this was a recurring theme).

Our first trip to the zoo with Baby Prez was a success.  I love the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, but the Lincoln Children's Zoo was perfect for our family.  (Luckily, we had a great navigator who loved reading the guide map.)  We got to see some great animals, and it was the perfect size for an afternoon with a toddler.  Baby Prez saw everything without getting too tired and cranky.  And it wasn't too busy.  Baby President walked around most of the zoo, and we only used the stroller a few times.  I would definitely recommend the Lincoln Children's Zoo to families with small children.  

Have a fantastic day!  Bye, bye!

Happy Easter from the Harveys

Christ is Risen!

Happy Easter from the Harveys!

Five Things I'd Do with One Million Dollars {My Life in Lists}

This week's prompt for the My Life in Lists link-up is "List Five Things You would do with One Million Dollars."  Thanks to If These Walls Could Speak and Team Gilbert for hosting!

So here we go . . .

1. Buy a house with some acreage (as soon as I find out where we will be moving next year).

I only need $1mm x 13 for Copper Beech Farm.  :)

With a library.

2. Get unlimited tickets to visit my family in Oklahoma and Kansas and wherever else they may live in the future.

3. Buy a trip around the world.  

4. Buy books for my library in #1 including all of the Nancy Drew books I'm missing from my set (and these bookends).

5. Invest.  I know, I know, this should be a fun list.  But I have to say it.  That's what I would do.  Spend a little and then invest!  Because I want more than a million dollars!

What would you do with $1 million dollars?

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Finally Spring! {Five on Friday}

This week I am so thankful that spring is finally here!  And I'm excited to share some of the things I'm looking forward to this spring!


1. Easter Outfits for Baby Prez

I've been thinking about Baby President's Easter outfit for awhile now and drooling over this adorable little outfit from Target. 

Need I say more?

Source: Target.com

2. Dyeing Easter Eggs

I need to pick up some egg dyeing kits this week so that we can dye some Easter eggs for Baby President's first Easter!  As he gets older, I want to incorporate more activities focused on Jesus's death and resurrection, but this year I'm focused on sensory activities.  Brightly colored Easter eggs should do the trick!  But there are so many options for Easter egg dyeing kits these days.  Of course, I'll go with Paas.  Because duh.

When I was growing up, we had the basic dye colors and if we wanted to do something fancy we drew on the eggs with crayons before dyeing them or used two different colors to make some cool colors like orange or purple!  Now in addition to the classic egg dye kit, we've got pre-made dye cups (cheating if you ask me), sparkling glitter kits (the little girl inside me loves this), tie dye kits (groovy!), sporty egg kits (Go Pokes!), 3-D explosion eggs (what?!), monster egg kits (I think an egg would make a great Mike Wazowski), volcanic eggsplosions, marble egg kits (this might be my favorite), neon Easter eggs, and even color snaps (which look easy and complicated all at the same time).

3. Walks with Baby President

Last summer, we were able to take Baby President to the Farmer's Market a few times!  It was fun to pick out produce there for his baby food.  When Baby Prez was 12 weeks old, we took him for the first time and bought acorn squash for his homemade baby food that week.  

Baby President's 1st Farmers' Market - 2013

Isn't he just adorbs?  

This year, we live close to two great parks!  Baby Prez has lots of swinging at the playground in his future!

4. Moscato

Specifically, Barefoot Moscato.  It's cheap, but so yummy!  Does moscato say spring to anyone else?

Source: Influencer.com

5. My Clothesline

Yes, that's right.  My clothesline.  When we moved into this house last fall, one of the things I didn't even think about was the clothesline in the backyard.  But then, our dryer plug didn't fit the outlet, so until we got the adapter, I used the clothesline.  In fact, I even line dried our clothes after we adapted the dryer!  And it's perfect for sunning Baby President's cloth diapers.  

And now, it's getting warm enough to head out to the backyard and pin our clothes up on the line!

Source: Wikipedia

What are you looking forward to this spring?

This post may contain affiliate links.

Baby Prez: 23 Weeks

Dear Baby Prez,

Weight:   You're probably near 17 pounds.  Growing all the time!

Health:  Happy and healthy!  Your Daddy got a cold this week, so we are trying to quarantine him to keep you healthy, but chances are that you've already been exposed.  Mommy is not looking forward to your first cold.

Sleep:  Sleeping from about 8pm to 7am with an 11pm dream feed and a feeding around 5am.  One morning you slept until 8:45am!  Mommy was so excited!

Social:  This week we took you to Happy Hour as usual.  You cuddled right up to Mommy's advisor's wife, Ruth, and fell asleep.  Then we ran home, packed, and went Mimi and Grandad's for the weekend.  You played with Mimi, Grandad, and your cousin all weekend!  You love playing with you cousin, who is turning out to be quite the babysitter.  And Mimi took you on a walk since the weather was still nice, and you were in awe of all the things to see.

Diet:  You're a big eater.  You drink bottles during the day as well brunch and dinner.  Brunch is still usually fruit and cereal and dinner is usually veggies.  This weekend you tried oranges for the first time.  Yum!  

Likes:   Toes, jumping, smiling, rolling around, people, walks, toys that you can shake

Dislikes:  Laying down for too long and being hungry.

This week you learned . . . 

to shake toys.  Before this, every toy would go straight to your mouth.  But now, you've discovered that shaking the toys usually means that it makes noise!

to make a zerbertz noise.  You've also learned a new sound!  This week you figured out how to vibrate your lips together and make a zerbertz noise.  It's almost like a raspberry, but you're not sticking your tongue out.  Regardless of what to call the noise, it's quite adorable when you make the noise.  What makes it rather funny is that you make the noise both when you are happy and when you are upset.  It is particularly awesome when you make the noise while eating and spray food everywhere (not!).  We will see how long this is your preferred noise.  It seems like whenever you learn a new noise, you make it nearly constantly until the next sound is learned.

Current Nicknames:  Linky Blinky, Fuss Bucket, Bucket, Bucket Man, Boyfriend (Mimi & Cousin)

Love,

Mommy

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Missed a week?  Watch my Little Prez grow!

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7 

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Week 18
Week 19
Week 20
Week 21
Week 22

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Favorite Family Halloween Costumes {Five on Friday}

In my search for my son's Halloween costume, I have found so many costumes that are fun and adorable! I highlighted 5 of my favorite baby costumes in this post.  This week, I am focusing on family costumes!  I love the Verizon Halloween commercial with the Star Wars family costumes!

#1 Adventure Time

My husband loves this TV show on Cartoon Network, so when I came across this idea for family costumes, I immediately wanted to share it.  It is cute and pretty simple to put together.

Sources: Rebloggy and Adventure Time Finn Backpack and Hat Costume Combo Set

#2 Lobster Baby and Cooks OR Fishermen

Sources: Natick Mall and Meaningful Mama

Get the costumes at: Lobster Baby Costume, Adult Chef Costume, Adult Fisherman Costume

# 3 Smores

Sources: Spoonful and Pinterest

Get the costumes at: Hershey's Bar Pattern and Women's Hershey's Chocolate Bar Costume

#4 The Incredibles

Sources:  J@Monkey and Costume Works

Get the costumes at: Mr. Incredible Costume, Mrs. Incredible Costume, Violet Costume, Dash Costume, Toddler Costume

#5 Hot Dog Vendors

Source: Project Wedding

Get the costumes at: Hot Dog Vendor Apron and Baby Hot Dog Costume