Our Weekend in Maryland

Good Morning!

We had such a wonderful weekend! Remember how our trip to Maryland ALMOST didn’t happen?! Well, we worried for no reason. Gabriella did PERFECT on the plane! I could not believe it…well, I should clarify- Craig couldn’t believe it 😉 I had faith in my girl & she totally pulled it off.

She ended up falling asleep almost for the whole plane ride BOTH ways. I kept saying that we need to get a plane engine sound machine in her room. 🙂 She didn’t even wake up when the plane LANDED, hello BUMP! And BOTH flights were pretty turbulent at some points- the drink service was even suspended! But my girl just slept through it all- I would swear she’s a world traveler!

One REALLY nice part of the trip is that we were able to use my nephew, Nathan’s, old car seat & various toys/swing/ bouncer/ etc. My sister in law, Stephanie & brother in law, Mike, brought everything over to Craig’s parents before we got there.

Hope you are ready for picture overload!

She LOVED the nice & cozy car seat.

She’s a Florida girl through & through, so she wasn’t used to the cold weather. But when she got in the car seat with the extra warm fleece insert she fell right to sleep.

Once we got to Craig’s parent’s house, Mike, Steph & Nathan were already there.  The cousins FINALLY got to meet!

We just spent the day with them and Craig’s parents. We just talked a lot & enjoyed seeing the babies together! Craig’s Mom even made us crab cakes for dinner with NO filler ;)…SO darn good! I can never get enough crab while I’m there. I even ate the two leftover crab cakes one day for lunch cold, I didn’t even care, I just love crab so much!

The next day was the big day- Nathan’s FIRST birthday & we were also celebrating Mike & Steph’s 30th birthdays. (Mike’s birthday is February 24th & Steph’s is March 9th) So it was a HUGE day & LOTS to celebrate!!

Of course the best part of first birthday parties is the SMASH cake!

Nathan went from this:

to this:

In a matter of minutes. It was hilarious! & he definitely enjoyed his cake. 🙂

The birthday boy is also a PRO at walking! I was seriously impressed.

How cute is he?! Those big blues steal your heart.

I would say little Nate Dogg had a pretty awesome first birthday!! 🙂

The other cool part was that a lot of Craig’s family got to meet Gabriella for the first time. She showed everyone how much she LOVED being held & how she is not fond of being put down. 😉

Luckily for her she had a TON of people who were more than happy to hold her!

Someone enjoys eating her clothes. We won’t name names. 🙂

On Sunday G got to meet her boyfriend Smith. They are only a DAY apart! G was born November 5th & Smith was November 6th. She’s a little cougar 😉

They even held hands. Oh boy, we’re in trouble!

I know you aren’t supposed to call a boy beautiful, but isn’t he BEAUTIFUL!? And he was just SO sweet!

Once Gabriella said goodbye to Smith, we spent the rest of the day with Mike, Steph & Nathan and we also got a few family pictures.

Cousins ❤

Craig, me & G$

The whole Notarange family! Craig, me, Steph, Mike, Grandma & G, Papanote & Nate

It was such a fun weekend! Times like that when you wish we were all closer together! The good thing is that we will be seeing them soon- Gabriella’s baptism will be in June or July, so they are all headed down for that & I am counting the days! 😀

Welcome to the World!

Good Morning! Happy Friday 🙂

Guess what?! I messed up yesterday…and today is actually my brother in law’s birthday. Oops! I felt like such a loser because I texted him right when I woke up with a ‘Happy Birthday Brother!’ text…only for him to text me back and say ‘Thanks, but you know my birthday is actually tomorrow, right?!’ HA!! Guess I should of checked Facebook before sending that text 😉

BUT in other news…my sister in law, Stephanie, gave birth to my adorable nephew yesterday afternoon!!!! Nathan is his name, and I CANNOT wait to meet him. I hate that we are so far away, but we will be up there to visit them soon though & I CAN’T WAIT!

Hopefully this is one of his first outfits:

I know you can’t really read it, but it says ‘My Aunt Is Awesome.’ 🙂

I’m also looking forward to seeing him in this onesie:

And I KNOW Steph can’t wait to see him in this:

(how cute is Steph pregnant?! She was ALL belly)

Anyways, I suppose you’ve had enough of my bragging about my new nephew. 😉 So here is another workout for you…for Fitness Friday. I guess I’m sticking with the name, as lame as it might be.

It is a full body workout, and it will leave you feelin’ pretty sore once you are done. I know it looks pretty intimidating when you first look at it, because it is long. But once you get started the time will fly by because you are constantly changing exercises. It takes me about an hour to complete..if I add in the cardio, then it’s extra. This is a great workout for the weekend, since you might have some extra time to spend at the gym.

Full Body Weight Workout

Warm up: 10- 15 minutes of cardio (optional- if you have time, I would do this, if not just go straight for the weights)

All of the following exercises are done circuit style, meaning one right after the other. Finish one circuit and then move on to the other. Each circuit focuses on a particular body part.

All exercises are done in 3 sets, 12 reps unless indicated differently.

Leg /Glute Circuit
Barbell Walking Lunges (12 reps EACH leg)
Stiff Leg Barbell Deadlifts (go heavy!)
Wide Stance Leg Press
Calf Raises (Standing or on calf machine)

Chest/ Back Circuit
Barbell Bench Press
Single Arm Dumbbell Row (12 reps EACH arm)
Cable Crossovers
Reverse Dumbbell Flyes

Shoulders
*Iron Cross Exercise (<—KILLER)- just do as many as you can each set
Barbell Upright Row

Bicep/ Triceps Circuit
EZ bar curl
Straight Bar Cable Pushdown
Alternate Hammer Curl (12 reps EACH arm)
Seated Overhead Triceps Press

Ab Circuit
Hanging Leg Raises
Incline Sit-up- holding medicine ball or weight
Incline Side to side sit-ups (for oblique’s)- holding medicine ball or weight (12 reps each side)

STRETCH!

Now I just want to talk about that Iron Cross Exercise for a minute.
(source)
These things are KILLER & I suggest that you use a LIGHT weight, especially if you have never done them before. That’s why I recommend just doing as many as you can. I know they might not look hard, but you will see what I mean if you try them. They are now one of my favorite exercises; not only do they work your shoulders, but it’s really a full body exercise.

Let me know if you try this workout, I’d love some feedback!!

Last but not least, have you tried this vodka yet??

If you like vodka & you like Swedish fish, you will LOVE this stuff. It’s kind of dangerous though because you don’t even know you have alcohol in your drink. That’s a good, but bad thing at the same time. 😉

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!! Any fun plans??

Craig has been out of town this whole week, so I’m looking forward to him being home tonight. I think we may have a date night!! Should be a fun night 🙂