Life is Sweet*

Elijah is 3!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 02:46:00 +0000

Well, we have a THREE year old! Elijah's birthday was last Thursday and we've been celebrating all weekend! We had a blast surprising him in the morning with decorations and gifts, then played all morning long with his new toys. We spent the afternoon at Chuck E Cheese (which was hilarious - haven't been there in probably over 20 years!) and Elijah had so much fun - he loves games! We finished the day with ice cream and candles and singing happy birthday at home!

On Saturday, we had Elijah's birthday party with family and friends - 'Cars' themed! Elijah loves the Cars movies (and all types of cars really...) and had so much fun with everyone. (Check out the amazing cake my mom made!) It was such a great day - Elijah is so loved!

Now excuse me while I go cry myself to sleep because I can't believe my baby is THREE!

California 2017 - The Rest of Our Adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 20:09:00 +0000

We didn't spend the entire time at the beach, I promise. Here are a few of my favorite non-beach photos from our trip...

Airports & plane rides, selfies & bike rides, smoothies & tree hangs, hiking & zoo time, breweries & delish food, sunsets & flying home...

We love California so much. It holds a special place in our hearts, especially since we lived there for a short time. We try to go back as often as possible to get our Cali fix, so we aren't tempted to move back... ;)

And our next fix is coming soon!

Dear April, please come faster...

California, we're ready for you!*

California 2017 - The Sunsets!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 20:01:00 +0000

California definitely has some of the best sunsets in the country. That is a FACT! And every time we're there, we always make sure to run down to the ocean to catch them. Elijah even loves watching them - they really are magical...

"Do it before it's too late!"
My favorite bench in San Clemente :)

Up next - the rest of our California adventures!

California 2017 - The Beaches!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 19:57:00 +0000

Well, hello! It's been a while...

I tend to let this little blog of mine get pushed to the side these days because life with a toddler is CRAZY. But I do love this little blog of mine, mainly because I personally love looking back at it. Which is what always motivates me to come back... I want to be able to look back on all our amazing adventures and cherish them. I've been blogging here since 2009! Can you believe it? I've been documenting our life (on and off) for almost 10 years on this little blog, so why stop now!

Anyway, it's tough keeping up with a blog when you have a toddler running around, but I want to make a point to at least document some of our big adventures. Like our trip to California in September 2017. We stayed in San Clemente for a week and had the best time! We are heading back to our beloved Cali in April of this year, so what better time to recap our fun times from last year!

So, without further ado, here are some of my most favorite snapshots from our trip - first up, the beaches!

Elijah LOVES the beach! And it's a good thing because we do too.
Up next, the sunsets!

Rehoboth Beach - Part 2!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 12:00:00 +0000

A few more of my favorite snaps from our week at the beach...

We really had the best time. I love traveling with my little family!

Ready for our next adventure!! ;)

Rehoboth Beach - Part 1!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Ahhhhh - we had the BEST time at the beach a few weeks ago. One full week of uninterrupted family time - playing on the beach, eating delicious food, and lots and lots of funland rides. :) It was seriously perfect and just what our little family needed!

Here are some of my favorite beach snaps from the week...

Part 2 up next!*

My Best Friend's Wedding!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Hello & happy Thursday! It has been a quick week and I am not complaining because on Saturday, we are headed to the BEACH! Woohoo! This past weekend was amazing - my best friend (since birth!) got married and it was a beautiful day!

And on Sunday, we headed down to Open Streets Pittsburgh again and had a blast walking and biking around - and making s'mores on the sidewalk, ha!

Time to go pack for the beach!
See ya after vacation - cheers!*

Weekends at the Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 12:00:00 +0000

We've spent the past two weekends up at Edinboro Lake and it has been delightful. Brett's family gets a cottage there every year for a week and we always try to go up for a few days. There was plenty of sunshine, boating, water skiing, and family fun! And thankfully, great weather!

Elijah had so much fun playing with his cousins & digging in the sand!
Looking forward to next year!

And I'm also looking forward to THIS weekend because...
my bestest longest friend is getting MARRIED!
Cheers to a fun weekend celebrating LOVE!*

Life Lately!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Oh hey! Long time no talk - oops! Life has been craaazy busy (and FUN!) and I haven't had a chance to sit down and blog. We've been doing a TON of fun summer stuff and it's so exciting to experience it all with Elijah - he is having an awesome summer (we would know - he told us himself!) So here's a little peak at what we've been up to lately... enjoy! :)

Brett's Birthday!

We surprised him with donuts & spent the day at the pool :)

Hiking!
Followed by games & dinner at Mad Mex - so fun!

Running around downtown!
And getting delicious Jamba Juice smoothies afterwards

Mini golf!
Omg, this was Elijah's first time playing and it was HILARIOUS! He loved it!

Froyo!
There's no such thing as too much froyo :)

Elijah's first pets!
We got him 3 goldfish & he named them: mommy, daddy, and baby (heart melting!)

Summer cooking!
Fresh veggies, plus homegrown basil and oregano - yum!

Oh, I love this life with my people :)

Cheers to more summer fun!*

Fire Trucks, Biking, and a Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Adventures with my little fam are the best :)

Trax Farm

"Touch a Truck" event

Eli loved it! (minus all the loud sirens and horns)

Biking downtown and playing in all the spalsh pads!

(and then visiting my sister's arts fest)

My niece, Pari Joon's 2nd birthday party!

Here's to another fun weekend on the horizon - Brett's birthday weekend!

Cheers!*

4th of July "Staycation"!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Hello hello! I can't believe it's already Thursday! With the 4th of July being on a Tuesday this year, I'm all mixed up on my week!

We had the BEST long holiday weekend from Friday to Tuesday! I'm deeming it a "staycation" if you will - we were originally planning on going away for the 4th but then decided it would be fun to just stay home and do lots of fun stuff around Pittsburgh. And that's exactly what we did!

...Friday...

Coffee outside, morning runs, delicious froyo, and fireworks!

We didn't want to keep Elijah up late on the actual 4th of July since he had to go to daycare the next day, so we found a nearby town that was doing fireworks on Friday and he loved them (for the most part... not a fan of the big boom ones)!

...Saturday...

Pool day!

We spent the day at a nearby pool that had a ton of water features for little kids (and a huge sandbox!) and Elijah had the best time! And so did we!

...Sunday...

Morning runs, biking downtown, and more froyo!

We headed downtown and biked along the South Side/Station Square trail and Elijah loved looking at the river and watching the trains go by! He LOVES his bike seat - which is so awesome because we love biking! Oh, and do you like my new shirt? "Powered by wine" :)

...Monday...

Moraine State Park!

We had such a fun day at Moraine - we brought our kayak and rented a canoe and Elijah loved it! He kept saying "Momma, I on a boat! Momma, I on a BOAT!" He did SO well in the canoe. We met up with Brett's family too and had fun hanging at the beach on the lake. Elijah is definitely a water baby. :)

...Tuesday...

4th of july!

We started the day with a 5k race (which Brett got 3rd place in his age group!!) in Brentwood, which was immediately followed by their 4th of July parade. What a fun morning! Elijah's favorite part was most definitely all the fire trucks. :) And then we had my family over for a fun little 4th of July BBQ. Elijah and Pari (Eli's cousin) had a blast splashing around in the water and eating alllll the snacks. :) We didn't keep Elijah up for fireworks (since we saw them on Friday), so we just had a relaxing night at home after everyone left.

What a weekend! So fun!

I love SUMMER!

Cheers!!*

Open Streets Pittsburgh!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Good morning!* Drinking all the coffee over here today... so sleepy. I got stung by a bee on my foot on Monday and it has been itching like c-r-a-z-y and making it hard to sleep! So take that + getting up at 5am to workout = sleepy Wednesday.

Anywho, the weather has been so amazing the last few days (with the exception of last Friday when it literally down poured all day long)! On Saturday morning, I got outside early for an awesome 20 mile bike ride and then came home and made some delicious smoothies. Elijah loooooves smoothies. "I have smooie, mommy?" :)

While I was making smoothies in the kitchen, a certain someone hijacked my sunglasses and my phone and took these hilarious selfies! He cracks me up!

On Sunday, we headed downtown for Open Streets Pittsburgh! A few times every summer, Pittsburgh shuts down a bunch of main streets downtown and has a fun festival where you can bike, run, walk, skate, etc in the streets. We had a blast! And Elijah had sooooo much fun playing the drums (and he was actually pretty good for being the littlest one trying them out!). Future drummer on our hands??

Mondays I am home with Elijah and that is when we run all our errands like grocery shopping, etc. Elijah has had some birthday money saved up since March and finally cashed it in for his MacQueen truck. :) At this point, he pretty much has almost every Cars character. He's obsessed! And then we went to the park and he played while I did a little workout. Fun times!*

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Looking forward to the long 4th of July weekend!!*

Date Night Hike!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Happy FRIDAY!!

We've got some fun outdoor stuff planned for the weekend and I can't wait!

Speaking of outdoors, Brett and I went on a great sunset hike a few nights ago! Almost every week, Brett and I get to go out on a date night. My sister Brita comes over after we put Elijah down to bed and then the two of us head out for a date. Usually, we go to a restaurant or brewery for dinner - but this week, we decided to change things up and do a sunset hike instead! It was the first day of SUMMER + the longest day of the year, so we figured, might as well take advantage of the extra daylight! It was such a nice change of pace compared to our usual date night. :)

And let me say, I know how lucky we are to get to go on dates every week, with having a child and all. I know most people do not have that luxury. We are SO GRATEFUL that we have family close by that allows us to do these date nights. I think it's so important, once you have a kid, to make sure you still take time to be a couple. It's very easy to get caught up in the crazy world of parenting and forget about how important your marriage is. These date nights give us the time we need to be together, which then allows us to be the best parents we can be for Elijah. :)

HAPPY WEEKEND!!*

Couples Weekend in Columbus

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Hello and happy Thursday! As of yesterday, it's officially SUMMER!

This past weekend, Brett and I were lucky enough to sneak off to Columbus for a little getaway! My parents watched Elijah for a few days, so we could spend some time together without having to parent a toddler. :) We left on Friday afternoon and came home Sunday morning. We biked, we ate, we napped, we drank. It was just what we needed as a couple to relax and reset.

We stayed at this adorable little airbnb close to downtown...

On Friday night, we headed over to Pins Mechanical which is a bar but also has tons of games and duck pin bowling. It was SO fun! And then after walking around downtown for a while, we ended up at a delicious taco place for dinner.

On Saturday morning, we slept in until like 9:30am (this is sooo late when you have a toddler)! And then made our way over to the cutest little cafe for breakfast, where we had coffee, croissants, and macaroons. Yum!

And once we digested, we headed out for an awesome bike ride all around Columbus! They have some great bike trails in this city and the weather was perfect!

We were starving after our big bike ride, so we grabbed lunch at a local brewery (the food was good, but the beer was meh). And then we deemed it time to take a nap in the park! You gotta take advantage of this kind of stuff when you don't have your toddler with you!

After an hour or so, we eventually got moving and showered and headed out for the night! First stop was another brewery - which DID have delicious beer and an awesome mexican food truck parked out front! Their guacomole was sooo good!

After a few beers, we decided to make our way to dinner at a delicious italian restaurant downtown. Oh, and ended the night with some ice cream. :)

It was the perfect weekend getaway.

Cheers!!*

Let's Spend Every Second OUTSIDE!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Ah, it's another hot and beautiful day here in Pittsburgh!

Last weekend, we made our way down to the Three Rivers Art Festival again a few times (which apparently I took no pictures of...). And then on Sunday, we headed up to North Park for a day of fun in the sun! While Brett went mountain biking, Eli and I went for a run around the lake, followed by a little picnic in the grass. :) This kid can eat a whole container of Trader Joe's fruit by himself! And once Brett was done biking, the 3 of us headed over to the North Park pool, which was so much fun! Eli is definitely a water baby through and through!

One of my favorite family activities is HIKING! Any chance we get, we head over to South Park for a little hike and Eli loves it too! When Brett suggested an evening hike on Monday, Eli and I got our stuff together and met him over at the park for a nice 1.5 hour hike. Eli loves to pick flowers along the trail and give them to me and it melts my heart!!!

And then we went home and ate popsicles because it was NINETY degrees outside!

And now here we are at Thursday already - Brett and I are going on a little weekend getaway to Columbus tomorrow without Eli (my parents are watching him) and we are so excited!! But we will also miss him so much, it's weird when he's not around!

Have a great weekend, friends!*

1st Weekend of the Arts Fest - Summer is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Hi friends!* Happy Wednesday! I can't believe we're already half way through the week AND that it is already June SEVENTH. Whoa summer, slow down! I'm trying my best to make sure we spend looots of time outside these days. Elijah usually requests to go outside at like 7AM :) and most days I happily oblige. Coffee + early morning fresh air + warm summer weather = happy campers. I've also been biking at least once a week, which is one of my faaaavorite things to do. :)

This past weekend was opening week of the Three Rivers Arts Festival downtown! This is one of my most favorite times of the year in Pittsburgh. 10 days of FREE music, arts, and events! It's the perfect place to take Elijah - he's pretty much free to run around anywhere he wants & dance along to all the fun music. We went both Saturday and Sunday - and we plan on going back down this Friday and Saturday. Especially because my little sister, Brita, has an artist booth again this year! Can't wait!

We've also been getting in lots of runs on the trail and of course, froyo. Elijah loves froyo - obviously, because he is my kid... :)

I hope you are all having a great week so far and are planning some fun things for the upcoming summer weekend! The weather is supposed to be beautiful here - hooray!*

I'm Baaack!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 18:10:00 +0000

Ok, so wow - it's been some time since I last blogged here, huh? I moved over to tumblr for a little while, but honestly I miss updating this space. I have had this blog for years and I seriously LOVE looking back at past blog posts as a way to take a trip down memory lane. And I want to keep all of these great memories and adventures in one spot - so I'm back!! (I'm kind of bummed that there is about a 2 year gap, but maybe I'll do a bit of recapping here and there to fill it in!)

So, just a few real quick updates to get back into the groove of things...
-Eli is now 2 YEARS OLD (omg, how did this happen?!) and so much fun!
-I am currently working part-time out of the house and then I stay home with Eli part-time (and it seems to be the perfect balance for us right now)
-Our little family has been going on lots of adventures (here in Pittsburgh and traveling all over!) and I can't wait to share them with you now!!

Cheers!!*

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Tumblr!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 14:26:00 +0000

Come find me on tumblr!

So I've decided to start using tumblr as my main blog instead of blogger. It's just way easier to post to compared to blogger. I stopped blogging after Eli was born (as you can see from my sparse posts) since it was just too much of a hassle. But now, using my tumblr blog, I hope to blog much more frequently!

So come on over to tumblr and join me!

Cheers!*

He's Here!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 14:20:00 +0000

Elijah John Heher

Born March 1, 2015 at 10:58am

8 lbs 14 oz

20.5 inches long

We are so in love!!!

(I know this photo is burry but I don't even care because I just love it so much!

Elijah was only a few hours old when this picture was taken :) )

Also, oops -- I haven't blogged in over 2 months...

but for good reason of course :)

Hopefully I'll get back into blogging soon.

But for now, excuse me while I go snuggle my adorable little babe!

Our Last Weekend as a Family of Two?!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:51:00 +0000

...scenes from the weekend...

Chocolate chip pancakes while it blizzards outside

More screen printing!
(I am so obsessed with how the Hobbes ones turned out!)

I also screen printed this little gift for my mom's birthday!

And on Sunday, the whole fam went out to lunch to celebrate my mom's birthday!

This weekend was a good one. On Saturday night, Brett and I went all out and had a really great date night, including dinner at the delicious Salt of the Earth restaurant (which I forgot to take any pictures of!). We figured, this could be our last weekend as a family of 2, so we might as well go out to a fancy restaurant that we probably won't be visiting for a while once the little babe arrives! And now we are just waiting waiting waiting for baby boy to make his debut. My official due date is FRIDAY and we just can't wait any longer to meet this little guy!

Come on, baby boy!

We are sooooo ready for you!*

Valentine's Day Weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 18:41:00 +0000

...scenes from the weekend...

Brett came up with this delish recipe:

Mexican stuffed peppers with enchilada sauce - yum!

Ticket to Ride - we are kind of obsessed with this game!

Good morning from my Valentine's Day owl =)

Valentine's Day donut - yes please!

Doing a mini ice cream taste testing after our Valentine's Day dinner with friends!

(Too bad I couldn't also drink that delicious beer that Brett had...)

Making tons and tons of meatballs to freeze for easy meals after the baby comes!

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day weekend!!

Weekending at 9 Months Pregnant

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 18:25:00 +0000

...scenes from the weekend...

Game night (and this delish dessert) with the fam!

Finally got prints made for some frames around the house
and the little guy's baby book!

I've been on a roll lately with screen printing onesies - I just can't stop! =)

Chris Robinson Brotherhood concert at Mr. Smalls!
(I can't believe I actually stood for the whole 3 hours at 9 months pregnant!)

I'm just about 38 weeks now and we are sooo ready to meet this little guy!
We packed our hospital bags last night, so feel free to come any day now, baby! =)

A New Kitchen, Bluegrass, and Watercolors

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 16:07:00 +0000

...scenes from the weekend...

Pretty backyard sky (even though it's freezing!)

Our new and improved kitchen counters and backsplash

(courtesy of my awesome husband!)

Saturday = Bluegrass night at Mr. Smalls

Water-coloring!

(gotta start getting creative with things you can do at 9 months pregnant!)

Superbowl party at my parent's house with lots of delicious snacks!

aka the only reason I watch the game... =)

PS - It's FEBRUARY!

As in, my due date month! Ahh!! =)

Our Calvin & Hobbes Mural for the Nursery!!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 18:28:00 +0000

Happy Friday! I am officially 36 weeks pregnant, whoa! Only 4 weeks to go until my due date, but it really could be any day now from here on out!

Back when I was in my 2nd trimester, Brett and I started thinking about what we wanted the nursery to look like. We have both always loved the Calvin and Hobbes comic books and have almost all of them between the two of us. Well, back in October, when we found out we were having a BOY (!!), we just knew we had to use a Calvin and Hobbes theme!

And for some crazy reason, I decided to take it upon myself to actually paint a Calvin and Hobbes wall mural in the nursery. We figured out which picture we wanted to use and then I finally got around to working on it at the beginning of January. I sketched the picture on the wall in pencil and then had my mom and sister help me with the painting. All in all, it only took us two full days of work! And I seriously could not be more happy with it!

Here's the process of how it went from start to finish...

Annnnd finally finished!!

I am seriously so obsessed with it! Every time I walk by this room, I find myself stopping just to stare at it. I love it so much. And I really hope baby boy loves it too!! Now, we are just finishing up organizing the rest of the nursery with furniture, clothes, and all those other little details. Hopefully once it's officially done, I will post some pictures of the whole nursery! Hooray! =)

"It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy...

...let's go exploring!"

~Calvin & Hobbes

Getting Close!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 13:16:00 +0000

...scenes from the weekend...

Only a few more weeks of pregnancy mocktails =)

Soon enough I will be partaking in adult beverages again!

All the little guy's clothes are washed and put away!

And Brett put together and set up some of the baby gear!

Everything is feeling so much more real now!

We are counting down the days until we get to meet our baby boy =)