Nebraska- The Good Life

We had a fun road trip this weekend to see our relatives in Omaha. Having Autumn in a car for a extended period of time is not as easy as it used to be. It is a fun battle of driving a car, while passing different books or toys to her in the back seat so she doesn't get bored and scream like a banshee. Omaha is the perfect distance for a road trip, 3 hours. We did great except for the final 30 minutes.

 Autumn playing in the car on the way to Omaha

As a mother we sometimes overlook things. It is natural. I am so busy with making sure Autumn doesn't hurt herself, cleaning the house, preparing meals, making sure the dogs don't die, working, keeping up with eczema, and so on. Sometimes I don't think about adding new routines to this schedule we got going on. But as Autumn grows older, she needs to learn new tasks. My cousin takes her daughter to wash her hands and brush her teeth after eating. Simple, right? I never thought about doing this. It is good to spend time with other mommies because little things they do work, and I never think about it. Well enough about my rant on with our trip.

Autumn loves her cousin, Emelyn, they were so cute together. We had a dance party. One of my favorite moments was when Emelyn sat on a riding toy and Autumn pushed her around. Then they would both grab a toy with a string and run around with theses pull toys.  Livia, Emelyn's little sister, is still too young to join in on the craziness that being toddler is all about, but I think she enjoyed watching them. Livia definitely enjoyed my monkey slippers.

 Autumn and Emelyn playing in Emelyn's new swing set

 The girls loved playing in the playhouse

Autumn and Emelyn with Great Grandma on Emelyn's first birthday. Look how much they have grown.

I made Emelyn's birthday cake. A lady bug cake which Emelyn called "buggie cake". It is so fun to make shaped cakes for children. They love them! I have already decided I am going to make Autumn a My Little Pony cake for her 2nd birthday.

Buggie Cake

I also got to meet for the first time the other newest member of our family, Christopher. He was such a little sweetie. Brought back memories of walking the hallways with Autumn as a newborn trying to comfort her. Newborns are a different kind of hard. Toddlers are more of the chasing around kind of hard. I think he liked me too though.

 Baby Chris hanging with me

It was a great weekend. We were missing a couple of other little family members that will be joining us for a get together in June, Kasiah and Liam, my cousin Katie's kids. It will be so fun to see everyone together and I will get to meet Liam for the first time.

Last year was the last time all the Lastovica babies were together, Kasiah, Autumn, and Emelyn. In a year the amount of babies has doubled. This year we will have 3 more members Livia, Liam, and Chris to add to the fun.

Now since my family is the only ones that live in Kansas we have a ongoing joke that is the title of this blog. When moving to Kansas, my mom was pretty upset because everyone is in Omaha and she grew up there. This joke, "the good life is in the rear view mirror" we all say everytime we go home back to Kansas.