Big, Exciting Events

I haven't posted in quite awhile, but for good reason.  Tim and I have always know that we wanted to expand our family and have more children.  Because we had such difficult time the first go round, we had to really explore our options and figure out what our priorities are.  We came to the conclusion that we wanted to add to our family through the gift of adoption.  We have been really emersed in the process and are super excited.

We are going through a fantastic agency and completed our Homestudy docs the middle of April.  We were gearing up for a 8-18 month wait to welcome home our newest family member.  We are so excited to say that just a few week later we had been selected by a brave mother.  We met with her and have been matched, so we are expecting the new baby at the very end of September.  We feel so grateful, that she is giving us this most precious gift.

We have a busy summer with Reese and preparing for a new baby, but couldn't be happier.  I'll be posting much more regularly now (I hope).  Were trying to decide if we should let people know the sex of the baby when we find out, or just keep it to ourselves.  I guess we'll decide when the time comes (should be this month).  We are also bringing up the baby to Reese, but I'm not sure how much a 2.5 year old absorbs.

It's a New Year

We've been super busy in the Jarrett household the last month or so and I haven't had much time to write.  Right now I'm doing a cleanse/detox that has been passed down through my husbands family and it's little rough.  The first week I thought I may go crazy, but it gradually gets a little easier.

Reese is still keeping us super busy and were hoping that sometime in the near future we may be able to add another little one to our family.  It was a rough road getting pregnant the first time around and this time were looking at adopting as a great option.  More to come once/if we start the process.

We had a really nice Christmas, but it's always hectic with all the traveling we do and our New Years Eve was very quiet and just the 3 of us.

Recent pic of Reese below.

Goings on

I fell victim to a blogging deficiency once again.   I am really good at it for awhile and then life happens, I get busy and fall off the wagon.  We've been really busy and are gearing up for the holidays.  Here is a brief re-cap of what has been happening at the Jarrett house.

Nephew Jamison Born in July, Reese and cousin Julia got to hang out which they always love.

We started at Cincinnati Gymnastics in August.  Reese loves it.








Halloween Reese was a Cupcake.  The weather was AWFUL, cold and rainy, but it was technically her first "real" Halloween.  We risked it and went out anyway.  She liked it, even though we were out for a whole 20 min.

We went to Shaw farms, had a hayride, pet the animals, had some cider and picked some pumpkins.  My brother in law and sister in law came with us.  We had such a great time and got some fabulous fudge!

Tim and I took a Trip to DC and Baltimore, had a great time.  It had been awhile since we went away.  We stayed downtown, ate at a fantastic Mexican Restaurant Oyamel.  We saw the capital, did a tour of the monuments at night, which was amazing, slept in, took naps etc..  We also the botanical garden which was amazing!  UC also played Virginia Tech at FedEx field.  Tim and I bought last minute field level tickets, took the train and watched a great game.

We had some summer fun with cookouts, park visits like Highfield Discovery Park, Winton Woods playground and lots of trips swimming and to the zoo.  

Tim and I celebrated 8 years of marriage (WOW, time flies), We had a Takacs family reunion this fall with Tim's mom's side of the family.  Reese got her first haircut and turned 2, which I can hardly believe and now we are getting ready for the holidays.  We are doing Elf on the Shelf and Reese named her Elf "Boy".  I'm pretty sure she doesn't really get the concept, but she likes finding Boy each day.  Oh, also looking into adoption to add to our family.  More to come......

Fun Filled Weekends

The last few weeks have been super busy and I haven't had a lot of free time, so Im playing catch up. Tim and I went on our anual couples golf outing the first weekend of August.  This year it was at Buck Creek State Park in Springfield.  We had 12 couples and 3 cabins.  We golfed, some fared better than other, drank, hung out and had a lot of fun!  It is something I look foward to each year and I get to see some friends I don't get to spend as much time with.

Grammie (my mother in law) stayed at the house with Reese while we were away.  Seems like they got in some good bonding time which is great because Reese doesn't get to see her enough.  I took Monday off work to spend the day with the Nugget and the 3 of us went to the zoo.  Reese got up close and personal with the Tigers and loved riding on the train.  Tim and I also went the to zoo the following weekend.  Reese loves the animals.  She got to pet an armadillo and pigs and cows and goats.  She saw the monkeys, gorillas and cats.  She also rode the carosel for the first time and seemed to like it.

Louisiana by Way of Kettering

I took a trip to Louisiana this weekend in a very different way.  We got there via the Fraze Pavilion and Swamp Romp, a free festival that catapultes you right into the heart of the Bayou.  There was Zydeco music, cajun food, beads, dancing and fun!  We walked right in, found the nearest drink station and ordered up a Margarita.  It wasn't as good as a fresh one, but it served it's purpose.  It was a nice night, warm but not to hot or humid for once.  We ate cajun catfish with cheesey potatoes and a shrimp po'boy and both were delicious.  We then headed over to band and listened to the music.  It made me wish for New Orleans!

Me and Tim

Reese with Tim

Reese with Tim

Reese              

Reese wuth G-pa

All Things Wine

This past Friday Tim and I decided to head to Vinoklet.  We've talked about it for awhile and got the push to go from my brother and sister in law.  The four of us, along with my parents, headed on over for some food and wine.  It's really nice there, casual, and I think a great price for what you get.  We had a table that overlooked the vineyard and gazebo and got to watch the sun start to set.  Included in the cost is a wine tasting, a bottle of your favorite, dinner, desert and spending as much time as you want enjoying the vineyards, bocce ball area, cornhole etc...  We started with the tasting and got to try 7 wines.  They only disappointment was that we didn't get to try the Cab.  I am a red wine lover and cab is my favorite, so I would have enjoyed that.  However, all the wines were pretty good and Tim and I Decided to go with the Merlot.  Merlot is not usually my favorite, actually it tends to be my least favorite red, but it was pretty good and called the Cincinntus.  Then we got salad, roll and picked our meat.  You could chose between Steak, Shrimp, Salmon, Cod, Pork Chops, Chicken or Tilapia.  Tim and I chose the Salmon and Shrimp.  You grill your own which was fun and then got our sides.  Green beans, mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes and corn.  It was all you can eat, but we only ate once.  You also got desert.  It was all really good.  We then walked around a little and checked out the grounds before leaving.  I would definitely recommend.  These aren't great pictures, but they'll have to do.  http://www.vinokletwines.com/

Bunbury Fun

So Cincinnati hosted the Bunbury Music Festival on the Riverfront this year.  It's super exciting to think that this could really add to the music scene here and hopefully will be around for many years to come.  There were some really good acts:  Janes Addiction, Weezer and Death Cab for Cutie were the headliners with Grouplove, Guided by Voices, The Gaslight Anthem, Neon Trees, O.A.R., Foxy Shazam, Bad Veins and many, many other acts played on 5 different stages.  Because this was at Sawyer Point and Yeatmans Cove it was really spread out and never seemed extremely crowded.  They had plenty of restrooms, beer and food.  I even got to try chicken and waffles from Taste of Belgium which was delicious!  We went with some good friends of ours and managed to get up close and personal with Weezer on Sat night.  I wish I could have gone all 3 days, but with a toddler it's hard to find the time.  Luckily Grandma and Grandpa were available to get in some good QT with Reese and Tim and I spent the day out together. 

Hello Rivers

Weezer

Me and Sarah

Me, Tim and my BIL Jeremy

Before we went to Bunbury, we went to lunch in the Gateway Quarter and then headed through the newly renovated Washington Park (which looks awesome), hopped through City Flea and then went into Music Hall for some World Choir Game action.  All in all we had a fantastic day and we certainly be back next year!