All Because Two People Fell in Love

It's Official!

2012-01-03T10:12:00.000-06:00

We've set a date

to ring some wedding bells!

♥ June 9th, 2012! ♥

We've got some ideas and I'll probably be blogging

them so that I know what I'm doing. Ha!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T18:31:00.000-06:00

It's the night before Christmas!

We've been waiting for this night all month

and year (if you're like me).

We've done some crazy shopping, eating, and drinking.

We've gone to parties and hosted parties.

We've stressed ourselves out and probably spent a lot of money.

In reality we wouldn't do anything differently.

We do this for our families and our children.

The twinkle in their eyes and their smiles make all the craziness worthwhile.

We should remember that this is the season for giving.

We should also remember why we celebrate Christmas, if you celebrate Christmas,

we should remember our Savior.

Thank you Jesus for this holiday, for my family, our memories, my children, my friends,

and everything in between, big and small! You are the reason we celebrate!

Don't forget tomorrow to just

Merry Christmas!

From my house to yours!

♥

Chocolate Banana Muffin-time!

2011-12-21T08:28:00.000-06:00

Last year HarperCollins Publishers did 65% off of their books for employees employed by News Corporation, for the holiday (thank you!) I'm sure they do it every holiday but last year was the first year I knew about it. Anyways, this year I took full advantage of the 65% discount and lookie at what came in the mail for moi!

What would've cost close to $200 was only about $75! How amazing! And I bought my first cookbook (how sad, haha)! I want to start working on a collection of sorts for the new kitchen that is light years away from being conceived! Anywho, I went through the cookbook this morning and was looking for a banana bread recipe, because we have some very ripe bananas on the counter, and I found one for chocolate muffins! Can't wait to see how good Nigella's recipe works! Up next, chocolate banana muffins! xo

A Christmas House Tour!

2011-12-19T22:49:00.000-06:00

I saw Kelly's Korner doing this post last week and I truly wanted to do it as well but like always there was no time to do it then, so I'm going to do it now! I have never been so behind on Christmas, EVER! This year I was so excited and then it got here and I felt rushed and disorganized and sad but it did get done.

Here's our Christmas decorations for our first home!

Outside lights!

Logan's own little Christmas tree! Next year Mason will get one too!

Christmas Tree 2011! This one really did come all the way from NJ!

The little niche that house developers LOVE down here in the South!

Logan took this picture! It's the tree at the vantage point of a toddler!

Some of the spots that we have found Frank the Elf! He told us we need more shelving!

And our Christmas card this year!

Merry Christmas

Happy New Year

♥ ox ♥

Jingle Jam 2011!

2011-12-14T10:05:00.000-06:00

Chris and I went to Jingle Jam in Tunica for my birthday! It was our first time going to a concert, together, which is sad because we've been together almost 4 years! Anywho, the local radio station put it together and the concert consisted of The Cab, Nick Carter, Simple Plan, James Durbin (American Idol contestant), and Hinder! I think they should've mixed it up genre wise but I guess local stations take what they can get! All in all it was a good show, played good songs (and a lot of my favorites) and Nick Carter even sang an old Backstreet Boys song!

But before we went to Jingle Jam, we checked into our hotel! We stayed at the Veranda, in the Paula Deen suite!! It was the biggest hotel room I've stayed in yet and it was so much fun! Of course I had to take some pics!

Haha I was fascinated by the fact that a telephone was next to the toliet!

Our bathroom! I had a standing shower and a jacuzzi jet bath tub!

These king size beds I keep staying in make me want to upgrade my own bed!

Our living room area!

There was also a half bathroom!

I had to take a pic of the doors because I've never stayed at a place with double doors! I will admit I felt a little bit like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman! Ha!

Our view! You can see my reflection because I have no idea how to keep that from happening.

Ok, now on to the show's pics! Bear with me =)

The Cab!

Nick Carter!

Simple Plan!

James Durbin!

Hinder!

My and the my love!

I'm gonna get a little mushy!

I love you honey! Thank you for making this night and every day, night, month, year possible! You're my greatest support, my best friend, my shoulder to lean on, and everything else! You make me so happy and I can't wait until we complete each other by getting married! I'm a very lucky girl to have you! ♥

Ten on Tuesdays!

2011-12-13T13:24:00.000-06:00

I have so much to catch up on and so little time! So here's a quick (or as quick as possible) ten on Tuesday to catch us all up!

1. We went home for Thanksgiving! It was good but completely filled with drama..It's not the holidays without it but at least Logan and Mason got to meet up with their cousins! I did some damage on Black Friday too! Thankfully we were home by that Sunday!

2. My birthday was 2 weeks ago! The big 2-7! My loves bought me some yummy Gigi's Cupcakes!

6 Different flavors for this birthday girl! Sorry if it's blurry I was playing with the settings on the cam.

Pretty pink presents! The Mac was also part of the present!

3. We've been gearing up for Christmas and it has definitely taken us longer than it normally takes us! Get ready for a Christmas post soon though =)

4. Mason turned 3 months old! He's now in a size 2 diaper, wearing 3-6 months, eating rice cereal, still takes 6 oz. bottles, coos and smiles like crazy, recognizes sounds and voices, and even found his hands! He's also been trying to sit himself up when he's laying down! We've already discussed his need to grow up so fast! I'm not liking it!

A little side by side of the two boys at the same age!

Amazing how much they look alike!

5. Chris and I went to Jingle Jam in Tunica this past weekend! It was a great show and I think it's deserving of it's own post so I'll post pics when I do that too!

6. Wedding update: All the pieces of my dress & my dress came in! Ceremony venue is booked, we found a wedding photographer that we love, bridal party is picked and it's small! We're still trying to figure out our dinner reception, invites, favors, & how we're getting around...Oh and hair, make up, flowers, and suits too! This was supposed to be a small, not big deal wedding and it's turning out to be a big deal type of thing...WTH!? Ha!

7. I'm going back to school and start in January so if my blog suffers a bit, I'm sorry, know that it's not forever! I'll still be reading yours =)

8. Weight watchers is going great! I've hit my 5% weight loss goal and now I'm on to conquering my 10% weight loss goal! One more pound and I will have lost 10 lbs! That's amazing for starting during the most tempting time of the year (Halloween through Christmas)! Now I gotta figure out how to fit in exercise and I'll be good!

9. Logan's going to be in his first Christmas school program! I'm super excited!!

A cute picture for the heck of it!

10. I've been listening non-stop to Pandora radio on my computer! I'm in love with it!

A Conversation with a Toddler.

2011-12-12T08:52:00.001-06:00

This is how typical conversation between me and my son, Logan, goes:

Me: (I'm feeding Mason a bottle)

"Logan, here have some of this [formula]"

Logan: "No Mommy that's yuckies"

Me: "It's not yuckies! You used to eat this as a baby"

Logan: "I'm not a baby, I'm Logan [his last name]s!" (He puts an s at the end of his last name even though there isn't one, ha!)

Honestly if I could bottle up all of his words & quotes I'd have a bundle of them! I usually forget to jot them down or I'm to busy to do so but today I held on to this one in my head and needed to get down before it fluttered away!

Other things he does that makes me laugh: He sings the McDonald's jingle about how the customer is in love with the McDonald's girl (it drives me nuts, I can't stand it, and he knows it!), he sings 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' and mashes it up with some 'ABC's', and he's started playing pretend, the kind of pretend that you play without anything physical...right now he's been handing out make believe (invisible) presents!

Walkin in a Winter Wonderland...

2011-12-07T07:46:00.000-06:00

...Well not really but we're getting snow for a SECOND time this month and I'm excited.

My son on the other hand not so much.

He said it was too cold but Mason could go outside!

Weirdo! Haha..

I ♥ SNOW!

Pretty Wrapping!

2011-12-05T02:49:00.000-06:00

Just looking at these pics of pretty wrappings under the tree make me want to go out and buy ribbon, tags, bows, etc. I wish I had more time on my hands and more $$ to spend. Maybe next year we'll do pretty wrappings. Right now there's dollars to be spent on school, weddings, and house! For now I'll just Pin away and post about pretty wrappings =)

From Etsy : Paperjacks!

Source: sherricassaradesigns.blogspot.com

Source: myblessedlife.net

Source: chatelaine.com

Source: tumblr.com

Oh so pretty! There's always next year! My tree is half decorated.

I need more ornaments. Hopefully tomorrow night it'll be complete!

It needs to be I'm sick of the christmas storage tupperware bins taking up my

dining room!

Happy Birthday!

2011-12-03T00:00:00.000-06:00

To ME!

The big 2-7!

O Christmas Tree

2011-11-30T15:42:00.000-06:00

She's up and she traveled far to get here!

We got her when we back to NJ

(there was a picture of it on our car in NJ, I just can't find it)

and brought her on home to TN!!

She's so purdy!!

And my cutie pie standing in front of "his Christmas tree"

And no post can be complete without a picture of both my babies, in hats...Logan had a hat and he said Mason needed one too! We'll be decorating the tree later on today, it's been slow getting everything up, but it's because we didn't have any functioning lights and everyone knows the lights go up first!! I'll post some finished pics later!

Totally in Love

2011-11-28T23:19:00.002-06:00

Yes, I've broken up with Mr. PC and found the new love of my computer loving life, Mr. MacBook! We met in Delaware on our way back home from NJ. We've only been together for a mere two days but I think it's really an ever after lasting love affair =)

Thanksgiving was eh! It totally could've been better. Next year I'm staying home. Let's see between Logan being super sick with croup/bronchitis, Mason getting sick with bronchiolitis, Chris' family drama that is spiraling way out of control (enough to bring me to tears), my family drama (apparently my grandmother figured it was kosher to ignore phone calls on Turkey Day, also bringing me to tears), and people being upset/mad at me/us for not being able to see them while we were home I couldn't wait to take the 15 hour trip and bring my butt back to TN. But even still we made some great memories. Logan got to play with his cousins, Mason got to meet some of his family, and we got to hang out with family/friends who kept the drama to a minimum! Also me and Chris' cousin did some damage Black Friday shopping! I'm afraid to see my credit card statement when it comes in! EEK!

Mason's 1st Turkey Day outfit!

My favorite part: his turkey butt!

Aunt Sally's famous cheesy onions!

A Thanksgiving photo with my love, who really could've done a better job smiling!

Another good thing to come from taking a trip back to NJ was picking out my wedding dress! Yes'm I did! I can't wait to get it! But first a show of the first couple of dresses I tried on!

Tea length dress! Simple, strapless, making me look really, really short!

Loving the halter and the princess look but a little over the top for what I was going for!

Keeping with the halter top, I tried this one on! I loved the rouging on the bottom but the beading on the top was heavy and again a little over the top, I thought, for an outside wedding.

And then I fell in love with this halter top, chiffon, cascading ruffles, with a sash and some bling, and the headpiece! I fell hard and bought it! Yes I did and our story was the story of the day at David's Bridal! So cool! =)

See the sash from above is going to be in the color that I'm wearing here. My BFF, Mel, is wearing the dress that she and my sister are going to wear, except in the color wisteria! Mel's daughter and Chris' goddaughter are going to wear this dress with a wisteria headband!

Some big steps taken for the big day that's 6 months away! Next up, signing the contract for the ceremony venue, talking to the dinner people, getting invites, sending them out, talking with a photographer, suits, and maybe finding someone to play a violin outdoors for the ceremony part! Oh yeah and I guess that means I really need to pay attention to not going over any points on WW and maybe even start an exercise routine of some sort! Maybe it'll take me out of the funk I'm in!

I Heart Faces!

2011-11-14T17:26:00.003-06:00

It's my first challenge entry!

I usually miss them but not this time!

Challenge:

Autumn Splendor

The challenge said the photo didn't need to show a face but needed a person and who better than my little Buzz Lightyear, surrounded by leaves, a mound of mini pumpkins, and the lake!

Weigh-In Day!

2011-11-06T18:56:00.000-06:00

Today was my first Weight Watchers weigh in! I'm down 1.6 lbs for the first week! AWESOME! I'm actually quite happy with the small, but significant loss. It's definitely a learning experience but I'm motivated by this small loss! I'm doing WW online and today I explored the site and found some challenges and member boards that I'm following to keep myself motivated and sharing my ups and downs. Chris has been eating healthier now that I've been cooking WW recipes and substituting ingredients for healthier ones. Now I just gotta get moving ;-)

Coffee, please.

2011-11-02T22:03:00.001-05:00

source: Jessica Numbers via Gussy Sews onto Say What?

I miss you coffee. Hopefully I can find the replacement carafe soon so we can be reunited.

Happy November!

2011-11-01T08:12:00.000-05:00

♥

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T12:08:00.000-05:00

From the cutest little monster and Buzz Lightyear!
Enjoy all the candy, the costumes & stay safe ♥

It's a New Life, a New Dawn, a New Day...

2011-10-30T22:54:00.000-05:00

I started Weight Watchers today! It totally feels impossible but it's a change and I don't do very well with change. So this is a little motivator for me to keep it up! Wish me luck =) If you've done weight watchers bring on the advice & suggestions, I'm all ears!

L♥VE

2011-10-26T10:58:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had something come through the mail that you wanted to rip open in the driveway? Well that was me yesterday! I was so giddy I did a little dance! What did I get, you might be asking? Well, I jumped on the ErinCondren Life Planner bandwagon (I first saw Amanda's at OurOklahomaNest and then saw Kelly's at Kelly's Korner) and let me tell you I'M IN LOVE! It's ludicrous to be in love with paper and tabs but alas I am! It's perfect! Here are some pics!

The box is seriously cute!

Wrapped in pink tissue paper!

Bubble wrapped!!

My planner love with my babies on the front!

The back of the planner! I picked my own colors: Teal & Red!

Head on over to http://www.erincondren.com/ to see her life planners and other merchandise! She just came out with the cutest personalized iPhone cases!

A Little Bit of Everything!

2011-10-09T23:46:00.001-05:00

This will probably be a little long. The reason I mostly blog is to remember what was going on so that I can go back and use it for scrapbooking and memories but I also having a place for ideas and such. Reading blogs gives me plenty of those and if you're a Pinterest-aholic, like me, you have a place for LOTS of ideas.

1. I bought a new lamp shade from our Pottery Barn outlet here. I still don't know how I feel about it. I think I'm liking the openess of it but Chris is still on the fence about it.

2. Inspired by a blog that I read, I changed the dining room set-up and I like it, but, I think our table is to small in the room. Maybe because that's the only furniture in the room but I think I want a farmhouse table in here. More on that later.

(I probably should've cleaned off my pumpkins..oops)

3. This is the only tree on my block that has leaves turning color and I love it. Yes this is random.

4. I made this delicious meal the other night and was so proud at how it looked I photographed it! It's Balsamic Chicken with Tomato and Mozzarella Topping courtesy of Favorite Family Recipes, a food blog I love!

5. I love Halloween and I love decorating for it but this year I realized that my decorations are not big enough for our house! In the apartments they were perfect sized but not so much anymore. I haven't had the chance to really buy any for this year so maybe I'll deal with what we've got and pick some decorations at the end of the season, real cheap, and buy some next Halloween.

6. My baby boy turned a month old already. Feels like just yesterday I brought him home. He loves his brother, he's back up to his birth weight, he's eating about 4 oz. every 3 hours, he's in size 1 diapers (they're still a little big), he's still in 0-3 month clothes, but has already outgrown his newborn stuff. We love him so much! ♥

7. I'm so excited but nervous to be starting school again in Jan. I'm planning on getting this Life Planner from erincondren.com to keep my life in check. I saw it on Amanda's blog, OurOklahomaNest, and thought it was absolutely perfect for the student/working mom in me! Can't wait to place my order =)

My favorite design!

So far that's what I've been up to. Painting and other home improvements are on the back burner until after the new year. There's to much going on between now and then. I need to get into a routine and then hopefully everything will fall into place. Hope you all have a good week.

Time Flies

2011-10-03T10:22:00.000-05:00

It's October folks!

Where did September fly off too?

Let's hope October doesn't fly off as fast!

Happy October ♥

Happy Weekend!

2011-09-30T12:16:00.000-05:00

It's a really gorgeous Fall day today and I think it'll be like this all weekend here! LOVE IT!

(source: Krystle Haver via Nicole Sexton onto Fall on Pinterest)

Did I mention how much I love fall? ;-)

Hope you all have a beautiful and fun weekend!

♥

Fall TV Lineup!

2011-09-28T12:37:00.001-05:00

When fall comes around I become the biggest prime time junkie! Like EVER! My DVR fills up so fast it's insane! So what am I watching this season?

Mondays:

Love this show!

Tuesdays:

New Girl

Wednesdays:

And only because I love and miss Simon on Idol!

If you're a parent you'll totally relate!

Thursdays:

Sundays:

So similar to Mad Men

(another show I'm watching but on Netflix)

When do I get the time to watch?

Naptimes, bedtime, middle of the night feedings!

I'll be honest I've been a faithful Grey's viewer since it started

and I haven't had a chance to watch the season premiere yet..

I watched the last 3 episodes of Glee from season 2 on the night of the

season premiere...So I don't always get to watch them right away but I try too.

So what are you watching this season? I hope I'm not the only junkie out there!

♥

All images via Pinterest

Life With 2.

2011-09-25T11:46:00.000-05:00

Remember in this post

I had all these things set to do to keep me "occupied"

Ha! I could and have laughed at myself!

Let's see, I did sign up for a trial of Netflix

and started Mad Men.

Not sure what all the hype was about but it is entertaining,

especially during midnight feedings.

I did not get to read all but maybe three pages of The Help or any book

so maybe I'll by the book and read them at my own pace.

With one child it could've been possible to read a 400 or so page book in

21 days but right now it's just not possible!

It took me 2 days to read all the past blog posts that I missed and

I realized I may need to cut back on how many I read...

I started posting new posts because I had so many things I wanted to remember.

My house is not spotless and that makes me feel guilty.

Like I feel guilty for sitting here typing this while my dining table still has remnants from

this morning's breakfast.

Honestly, all I want to do is take a shower, have another cup of coffee,

and read all five magazines that came through the mail.

I want to shut my phone off, the TV off, send the babies off with Chris and have

30 blissful minutes of silence.

But then I'd miss them and want them to come home ♥

Source: lolo-o.deviantart.com via Krystle on Pinterest

It's Fall!!!

2011-09-23T10:08:00.000-05:00

It's officially FALL!!

I believe that it is my favorite season!

I love the leaves changing color

I love college football

I love crock pot meals

I love sweatshirt and shorts weather

I love Halloween

I love decorating for fall and holidays

Pumpkin picking, apple picking, need I say more?

I love everything about this season!!

Hope you're enjoying the first day of Fall!

2.5

2011-09-22T09:50:00.000-05:00

My first baby turned two and half last Thursday
I saw this on Pinterest a while ago and when I read it

it made me tear up.

(Source: http://granvillehouse.blogspot.com/ via Krystle on Pinterest)

It's all true!

I love watching him play with his toys

I love hearing him talk

I'm not a fan of him being fresh or of his temper tantrums

but it comes with the territory of being 2.5 years old.

So these are some things about Logan that I don't want to forget at 2 1/2:

-Cars is his new favorite movie! Oh and he needs his Duplo Lego "Cars" to play with them

-He started repeating EVERYTHING we say clear as day!

So true!

(source: pinterest)

-He became a big brother and loves his baby brother soo much!

-He's become pickier than ever with food..

-He's been in a big boy bed for about a month and I think he's finally adjusted to it =)
-He may be almost three but he's still my baby!

♥

Introducing...

2011-09-21T10:33:00.000-05:00

Mason Thomas!

He was born on the 6th of September

and he's such a great baby.

I couldn't imagine my life without him now,

even if I did gripe about how much I disliked being pregnant.

It's definitely a huge adjustment with two.

I mean I honestly had to make a list of things to do today

and on the top of my list was, no lie, _shower!

(Note: I have showered since his birth I just needed it prioritized on a list so that it could get done in the mornng and not at night)

Anyway, I'll have another post soon.

We've been so crazy lately that I sorta need my blog to put all my thoughts and memories down before I completely forget and I don't want to forget these first few weeks.

Be Right Back.

2011-09-05T22:07:00.000-05:00

I'll be back!

It may be a month or so

(maybe less if I can't resist)

But I'll be back.

There's a baby waiting to be born

That's what I intend to do.

Hopefully there are NO surprises

(via Pinterest)

I have a few things to keep me busy

(aside from children)

I signed up for a free trial of Netflix...

I'll be starting to watch shows like Mad Men & 30 Rock

If there's time I'll indulge myself in reading "The Help"

I have 20 days to read it

Thank you very much to my Nook & local library

Then I'll come back and blog all about it.

♥

September!

2011-09-04T08:26:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again!

September!

Time to break out the fall decorations, college football gear, and warmer clothes.

Time for cooler weather and changing leaves.

Time for fairs and festivals

Back to school and fundraisers

Time for awarenesses.

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

Wear teal this month! Wear teal day was on the 2nd but that doesn't mean

you can't join in on the teal this month.

Not only will you be chic in the newest color trend

you'll be supporting the awareness of ovarian cancer!

New Loves

2011-08-31T14:23:00.000-05:00

Today I took a day for myself. I felt (feel) selfish and foolish but oh so wonderful!

I enjoyed trips to Starbuck's Michael's, Target and then had lunch with my hun at McAlister's!

I love Starbuck's Iced Tea Lemonade Passion Fruit (sweetened) but today I had the White Chocolate Mocha and I totally regretted getting just a tall (small). I didn't know if I was going to like it but I fell for it! Next time I'm making it count =) Oh and it was great with the shortbread cookies, ever try those? They're my favorites...

(via Pinterest)

I bought this cute cardigan at Target (along with the peanut M&M's I've been craving) and some frames for the nursery. On a side note, Target changed their website, and I'm not liking it at all! (That's just me, though)

I can't wait for fall and have already picked out a few things from Old Navy that I want! I decided I'm going to try and be colorful this fall and winter. I'm trying to stay away from safe colors like brown, black, and olive green. I really want a wardrobe instead of just clothes hanging in my closet looking sad. I used to buy clothes all the time and then I stopped. My style is depressing and I started changing that with my maternity clothes but now it's almost time to get out of my maternity clothes, so my regular clothes will need a revamp, as will my postpartum body!

I've had this obsession all summer long with McAlister's sweet tea and had to go there today! So I called up Chris and told him lunch was on me...Sweet, delicious goodness! This coming from the girl who NEVER liked fresh brewed ice tea!

So far a good day! I'm going to go enjoy some quiet time and scrapbook! Maybe I'll even take pictures of the ones I've already completed and share!

Pinterest Picks: Baby

2011-08-29T20:12:00.000-05:00

I realize that my past posts have been about my pinterest finds and, honestly, I don't mean to bore you but I'm really not doing anything blog worthy as of lately, except, well, Pinterest.

Anyways, with the impending birth of baby #2, I've been looking at baby photography and getting some ideas. I really wish Pinterest was around with Logan.

Because fall's just around the corner!

My favorite!

On a stack of books for the book lover in me =)

If Logan can sit still long enough to do sibling pictures

This would be a perfect picture for an announcement!

D-Day is fast approaching for my little one! Can't wait until he's here and to make new memories with him!

Dilemmas.

2011-08-23T17:44:00.000-05:00

I have two decorating dilemmas on the brain right now: Logan's room & the living room.

Logan's room should be easy, right? Wrong! Seriously, I can't find an inkling of inspiration for his room, from the color down to the accessories. I need help and I turned to none other than Pinterest for some inspiration but nada! I'm really leaning towards green but what shade of green? Ahhh, the choices make this hard, plus the fact that we've already painted L's room once and will be repainting it again. (Here are some Pinterest inspiration green rooms):

Chris said doing an accent wall like this again was "So last year" (Really?)

Lowe's doesn't make this color anymore =(

I like this shade of green alot..Might go with this one.

I believe this is wallpaper...

(images via Pinterest)

Okay, so for the second dilemma, my living room. This room carries the hallways and the entrance to the house on its shoulders. Everything would have to be the same color and then be able to coordinate with a dining room that's opened but it's own separate room....

That's just one view of the LR. We want to get chocolate colored couches but I really don't want to do tan walls anymore. I think I'm tanned out...So what to do? I could do a blue living room but what does that mean for my hallways, could they be tan? Chris wanted to do an olive green but I think that's just as overdone as the tan. Again, Pinterest was a source for some inspiration but I also came up with nothing...Here are some of the things I've sorta liked off of Pinterest:

Red with a white accent wall?

Navajo White by Sherwin-Williams

with some coral accents?

A taupe-gray?

Or maybe a color palette like this?

(Images also via Pinterest)

Do you see the dilemma? Way to many choices for a girl with an indecisive nature who has become a Pinterest addict! Ha! If you have any advice pass it along =)

Ready for Fall?

2011-08-22T09:41:00.000-05:00

I know I am! I've been sitting here desperately awaiting the 1st of the September so that I can put out my fall decor (yes, I realize that fall doesn't officially start until the 21st or the 23rd, Ha!).

Sept. throught Dec. are definitely my favorite months. I love the smells, cooking, decorating, baking and dressing for those months! I'm anticipating it's arrival this year for various reasons, one being, a new baby to make new memories with but also I've been a Pinterest addict this summer and have seen some really neat fall ideas.

(Apple Braid Bread...yum!)

Pumpkin pie cupcakes with Graham cracker bottom!!

How cute!? We're growing our own pumpkins so if we get a big enough pumpkin this will definitely be photo opportunity with the new baby!!

(All images via Pinterest)

Life is Sweet.

2011-08-15T08:08:00.000-05:00

I need to keep reminding myself of that, especially, in the final days and weeks of this pregnancy. I'm so uncomfortable and tired I feel like I can never catch up. I know it'll all be worth it when I see my new baby and all my boys together =)

Anyways, nursery is almost done! I can't wait to share the pics and Logan's getting a big boy bed and some much needed attention to his room. I feel so guilty that the baby's room is pretty much complete and Logan's room has been in limbo since we moved in. I foresee a struggle on keeping the balance with my boys...

What else has been new? Not much really. It's been pretty hot and I've kept to the AC most of the summer. Amazingly this morning when I let the dog out it was cold! Could it be that we'll get an actual fall? I sure hope so because I'm ready for fall and Halloween decorations =)

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer ♥ Have a great week and I hope to be back in the blogging swing of things soon!

7 Weeks

2011-07-18T09:47:00.000-05:00

Seven weeks (tomorrow) until I meet the newest bundle of joy. He needs to bake a little longer but I won't lie, I'm terribly uncomfortable. There can't possibly be anymore room for him to grow into on my small frame but somehow he does. Lemme tell you just how painful the Braxton Hicks contractions are nowadays too! NOT FUN!

Either way in 7 weeks we'll have a bundle of joy to bring home and introduce to our first baby and our puppy and family and friends. But he also needs his own space and THAT, my friends, has not been a task I've been on top of.

Here's a sneak peek of what will be going on in this little boy's room:

Here's the bottom half of the walls painted.
(When it's all done I'll revisit what it used to look like!)

The inside of the closet that is more like our storage unit for all things baby.

(Logan modeling the baby stuff)

Sneak peek of the bedding!

Can't wait to see this room come together! I hope our baby doesn't surprise us and say "Hello guys I'm actually a girl!" Ha!

Logan also needs his room completed badly! I painted his room and had an idea and I'm just not in love with it at all! His closet was also acting like a storage area so I took everything out, threw things away, rearranged furniture (don't worry Chris helped with the big furniture!) and tried to make his room feel bigger. This is what I came up with (temporarily)...

I moved his dresser into the closet and moved his shelf to where the dresser used to sit! On the side of his crib are an enormous amount of stuffed animals that I have no idea what to do with but I hate that they're sitting on the floor!

I also hung a DVD rack for Logan's movies and and those 3M hooks for his hats and bags. The other side of the closet is where I put his dresser.

We need to get him a big boy bed soon so I'm sure it'll change yet again in the near future and I (or Chris) will definitely be repainting his room. The bright turquoise is just not melding with me or the rest of the house. So, yeah, 7 weeks and counting! Hope everyone had a great weekend ♥

My No Good Very Bad Day!

2011-07-13T13:21:00.000-05:00

source: www.pinterest.com via Jessica Holland

And the day's not even over! I don't like posting about bad days because no one likes to read about bad days but I still have 11 hours in the day and I've already had a meltdown so this is my no good very bad day so far!

I took Logan to his first story time at the library today (YAY!) and he was good for most of the stories but then his cranky baby self took over and he was screaming "No, No, No" and then turning around and hitting me and my sister. I still don't know how to handle those situations in public but I kept grabbing his hand and firmly telling him he needed to behave in his ear! I was pretty embarrassed but then I had had enough and took him and put him in time out, which ensued more crying and screaming, in the library nonetheless! I felt more embarassed by the sea of onlookers who were watching my son throw his tantrum and me sitting next to him waiting for it to stop! I knew he was tired so we finished up and left.Sti

Then I figured since he was tired he would fall asleep and I could leave him with my sister and run to Home Depot to get some paint samples for the baby's room. I get there, order my samples, browse around, and when I came back my sunglasses were slipping off my head so I put them down for a split second, grab the paints, paid for them, realized I didn't have my glasses, came back and they were GONE! Someone swiped them. I loved those things and was pretty upset. I asked both service desks if anyone had brought them up but no one had. I was on the verge of tears but said to myself they can be replaced it's okay and home I came.

Still being upset about my sunglasses, I indulged in a few Oreo cookies with milk and sat down while Logan napped and then my chipped tooth (which chipped Sunday morning) became a full broken tooth thanks to an Oreo! UNBELIEVABLE. I guess this day could be worse but really a broken tooth sent me over the edge into a full blown meltdown with snot and tears. I really hope my bad day is over because anything else might send me to bed and not want to get out!

I saw the above quote on a board on Pinterest that I follow and thought it was relevant to today. Hopefully the day gets better ♥

M.I.A.

2011-07-12T08:56:00.000-05:00

(source: www.pinterest.com via Jessica Holland)

I've been M.I.A.

I'm sorry.

It's probably because it's

Summertime and we've been outside

I've picked up scrapbooking again

(I hadn't done any real scrapping in a while)

I'm incredibly fatigued

and I just want to veg on my couch.

Logan's really putting the terrible in

terrible two's!

There are 8 more weeks until my newest bundle of joy

makes his debut into the world! Can't wait!

Oh and I don't know about you

But I've been thinking A LOT about Fall & Christmas!

Those seasons go by way to fast!

Backyard Critters.

2011-07-05T12:43:00.000-05:00

The pros to having a garden is growing food to eat and having the satisfaction that you grew it!

The cons of having a garden: BUGS! Critters, creatures, creepy crawlies! Whatever you call them they're still cons, unless, they're helping your garden grow. Here are some of the ones we've found. I warn: they may make you cringe!

Tomato Hornworm. They apparently kill tomato plants, so, since we've found them Chris and I go out there everyday and check our plants. So not cool of them and makes growing our tomatoes and peppers a little more tedious!

From my Google searches this is a Wasp Spider! I could be absolutely wrong but all the pictures I found look like mine so I'm going with it!

A toad? Frog? Bullfrog? Who knows but I know my dog couldn't help but swat at it with her paw, in a playful way. Don't worry I made Chris put it back before dog or child could do it damage!

And here's another week or two worth of growth! I can't wait to pluck off all my green tomatoes, and the peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, and watermelons!!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T10:41:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone is enjoying and having a safe and happy 4th of July!

XOXO

Summer Rut!

2011-06-28T10:36:00.000-05:00

I'm in a summer blogging rut! Today is no different, however, it's been a while, and I didn't want to end the month with only 4 posts!

I'll be spending the day playing the role of Cinderella minus the fairy godmother and the ball! It's a rainy morning so it's the perfect day! I hope to be back with a post on something later =) Hope you all have a happy Tuesday! xo

Father's Day Weekend!

2011-06-21T09:14:00.000-05:00

This is what Father's Day is about! Proudly wearing the shirt that a little boy made for his daddy at school and enjoying the day running around in the backyard. I'm proud that this man is the father of my babies and for all that he's done for both of us! Thank you Chris ♥ We love you so much xo!

And because I love that man so much I decided to try this Cheesecake-Marble Brownie recipe, made from scratch for him, along with making him a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs! I'll be posting about that later but let's just say it was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!

Baby news: Yesterday we had a drs. appointment! Everything looks good and that pound that I had gained my last visit, I lost this visit! My weight has definitely fluctuated this time around, either that or the scale is just off in her office. Anywho, we are now starting the bi-weekly visits to the dr. which means.....WE'RE ALMOST AT THE FINISH LINE!!! It feels like it's been forever but we're at 28 weeks today!! I can't wait to see what he looks like and I keep wondering if he'll look like Logan. Eleven more weeks or so and we'll know =)

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2011-06-14T09:14:00.000-05:00

Has it really been a week or so since I last posted? I think we need to do another 30 day photo challenge! Ha! Sorry, things have been a little crazy and so darn hot that all we've done is read books, play in the kiddie pool, or hide out in the AC! I'm pregnant, remember, for the next 13 weeks, in the grueling midsouth summer! Oh boy!

Anyways, I really thought I had a post about our cute little garden that we had started but apparently I never got around to it! Ha! So here's what our garden looked like in it's beginning days:

They were just babies!

Well let's just say it ain't so little anymore!!!

Garden love ♥

The cucumber plant that is GINORMOUS but has yet to sprout any cukes!

The eggplant. I don't know why we planted it because neither one of us likes it!

The watermelon that is finally growing!!! Maybe we'll have some watermelon by Christmas...

The tomatoes! One of seven plants. My favorite part of these plants is touching the plants and smelling that tomato herb smell on my hands! ♥

Finally a mini pepper...There are probably 4 or 5 of these plants. So it looks like I'll be making lots of salsa!

I'm so proud of how this garden is growing. Every morning I'll go outside to see if something else has sprouted or to see how much bigger it's grown! Chris is doing a lot of the leg work with this garden and I know he's pretty proud of it too.

Bathroom Project Complete...Almost.

2011-06-08T16:12:00.002-05:00

*Blogger, we're NOT friends right now. This is the 2nd time I'm writing this post!*

Logan's bathroom that I worked on a few months back has been done since April, so this is pretty late coming, but since I blogged about it (you can read it about it here) I wanted to finish it up.

Here are the befores:

I had some issues with the towel rack placement.

The light fixture had to go! After buying a light fixture for this bathroom and seeing how much that particular fixture costs I understand why they get used. They're only like $20!

Originally when I took down the towel rack and the toilet paper holder I assumed that the room was painted a chocolate brown but when we took down the medicine cabinet it turned out to be purple!

Filling in some holes. I had bought a light fixture for this room that I LOVED but the base didn't cover the hole entirely. It didn't make sense to fill in the hole and repaint the area again so we just returned that one and bought another.

Now the afters:

The color we used is Blue Lagoon (CI189) by Valspar. We bought a double towel rack from Lowe's (made by Delta) and placed it more in the center of the room. I kept the medicine cabinet because I did like it and we moved the towel paper holder to the side of the vanity, closer to the toilet. I really wanted yellow to be the accent color and was going to go with the shower curtain (pictured below) by West Elm. It wasn't jiving with Chris so we ended up purchasing the one pictured in our bathroom from Land of Nod and ended up using the lime green as the accent color. I still need to get a rug for this bathroom that stretches from the sink to the bathtub at least.

source: West Elm

My biggest splurges on this room were definitely the faucet and light fixtures (both made by Delta). We still need to swap out the beige switches and outlets to white, which we have, we just haven't gotten around to yet. The green tumbler I purchased at Target for $4.99! They had them in all kinds of colors too!

The door knob needs to be changed to match the finish in the bathroom but it's a minor detail that can get changed later! The towels are temporary, since, I'd like to get monogrammed towels with the boys names on them but for the price (bath towels were $4.99 & the hand towels were $3.99 from Target) I can't complain and they matched almost perfectly! Eventually I would like to replace the vanity and mirror but that's a long ways away! Up next: Project Family Room or Project Nursery!

Hot Springs

2011-06-06T08:43:00.000-05:00

Hot Springs was hot this weekend but I LOVED it and can't wait to go back with Logan, when it's much cooler! Ha! I wanted to do something a little special for my love's birthday (which was Saturday) and I thought a weekend getaway with just me fit the bill!

My mom was awesome enough to come down and watch Logan for the weekend. So we left Friday but before we left I went and bought Chris a cake to sing him Happy Birthday with Logan! Logan had fun singing, trying to blow out the candles and of course, eating the cake!

After that we headed out for a weekend away! On Saturday we enjoyed a Duck Tour, which was about an hour and 20 minutes of riding a bus/boat! It was fun and something Chris wanted to do! We visited Madam Tusseau's Wax Museum. I was able to take some pictures but after that my camera died!! GRR! So I didn't get to take the pictures I wanted (and in my defense I thought I had an extra battery, but I didn't).

We visited the springs which were across the street! This picture I took with my phone, so it's less than par but it's beautiful to see nonetheless.

We shopped at various little boutiques in the downtown area and ate at some pretty cute and good places! Later we went mini golfing!! It was so humid and sticky that we didn't take pictures of each other but I managed to get these two with my phone.

Pirates Cove

We didn't get to do all the things that I had listed, like, go their botanical gardens or the science museum, or their water park but those are things I think I'd want to do with Logan too so for sure we're going back!! Here's a list of places we shopped at and ate at:

Places We Shopped At:

The Savory Pantry -- Cute little food boutique. It definitely was a little pricier but I still bought these:

Bathhouse Soapery and Caldarium -- LOVE this little soap boutique! I got a sliver of "Hog Wash" soap, for free, that they make onsite and also two candles: "Fig & Milk" and "Bathhouse Couture"!! I would've walked out with all the candles! But I refrained.

The Winery of Hot Springs -- We did a free wine sampling here! It was free because we did the Duck Tour and the Wax Museum but the wines they make, again, I would've bought them all because they were delish and they're made in Arkansas and some even onsite! We did buy two, one for me (National Rose Park). The other we customized to ask Mason's godmother to be his godmother! Her flavor was Razorback Red Grape Wine!

Places We Ate:Granny's Kitchen -- It was a cute little diner like restaurant! Service was great and food was equally good!

Back Porch Grill -- We went here for dinner and I wasn't that impressed. Our waitress had no personality and kept asking us every 10 minutes or so if we were okay. I will say this, they took our plates away as we finished with them. Not worth $90 though.

The Pancake Shop -- Breakfast food only but awesome pancakes! It was formerly called Mason's Pancake Shop. Go there!

Places We Visited:Hotsprings

Fordyce Bathhouses
Josephine Tussaud Wax Museum
Hot Springs Mountain Tower -- We drove up the mountain, we didn't go up the tower, but we did get to watch a DUI get apprehended! Scary to think he was driving up the mountain the wrong way.

Pirates Cove

National Park Duck Tour--Lake Hamilton -- Fun and interesting way to kill an hour and 20 minutes in the heat!

We came home Sunday after visiting the Bathhouse boutique and having breakfast! But we had a good weekend and can't wait to go back! We kept cool even though it was HOT!! Stay cool this week it looks like another hot one! (I just realized how long this post is, forgive me!)

Strawberry Summer Cake

2011-05-31T11:49:00.000-05:00

I haven't had the slightest urge to take on any cooking or baking, let alone, attempting new recipes. I'm mostly tired and usually find other stuff that is more pressing but last Wednesday I decided I needed to make this Strawberry Summer Cake. I had basically everything on hand and we had an impending tornado warning/severe thunderstorm alert and, so, to keep from freaking out I baked!

The recipe comes from my absolutely favorite cooking blog Smitten Kitchen! She has a book coming out either in the Spring or Fall of 2012 and I can't wait. I love her pictures, her posts, and her recipes! Honestly, I wish we were friends! Ha! I followed this recipe to the "T" without changing anything up. If you want to see SK's original post it's linked above.

Strawberry Summer Cake

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon anilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Directions

1. Preheat of to 350 degrees. Butter up either a 9"-10" pie plate or springform pan (which I used)

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In a larger bowl, mix 1 cup of sugar with the butter, for about 3 minutes, until fluffy. Mix in the egg, milk, and vanilla until just combined and then gradually mix in the flour mixture until it's smooth.

3. Pour the mix into the pan and then arrange the strawberries, cut side down, on top and as close as possible. Then sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar over the berries.

4. Bake cake for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 325 and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the tester comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan.

Smitten Kitchen suggests serving it with whipped cream, which I didn't try but I'm sure is also good! I served it with sprinkled powder sugar, which gave it just enough sweetness, and I also thought about using vanilla ice cream as another alternative!! Definitely an easy cake and one that I will be making again. It was D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

2011-05-29T21:12:00.001-05:00

First off Happy Memorial Day weekend!

I know I'm a week behind on some pics but I also have two recipes that I want to post about plus an overdue bathroom project update! All to come this week!

Pic# 23 (Monday)

Missy ripped apart her first toy and scattered its insides all over the living room!

Pic# 24 (Tuesday)

Love this smiling face =) We were playing with the camera and he kept saying cheese!

Pic# 25 (Wednesday)

This is a strawberry summer cake that I made on Wednesday and it was delicious!! Can't wait to share the recipe with you guys.

Sadly Thursday & Friday I missed out on! I worked and was tired and my head hit the pillow and fell asleep at about 830pm each night! =( Have a safe and happy Memorial Day ♥

Oh Nursery, Oh Nursery...

2011-05-25T11:21:00.000-05:00

This is the bedding I'm going to use for the new baby's nursery. Since we're reusing all of Logan's nursery furniture I don't feel so bad buying new bedding, plus, Logan really did a number on his.

Potterybarnkids.com

My dilemma lies in decorating around this! I love that it has different colors, doesn't have a theme so you can add elements to the room that will still go with the bedding, and I can change the crib sheet without being reduced to just one color. However, I don't want a white nursery, especially when the furniture is white...So I'm thinking of using colors like these:

From Glidden's line: GLG19 Mint Shake, GLB15 Clear Blue Sky, & GLB25 Rich Navy

From Martha Stewart Living's line: MSL154 Cloudless Day & MSL105 Bay Leaf (I actually have another blue and green from her line too but I couldn't find them)

From Behr's line: 520E-1 Coastal Mist with a green like S-H-430 Mossy Green

*Coastal Mist is a tried and true blue that we love because we used it in Logan's nursery*

I've been using Pinterest to get ideas on how to decorate this room and I just can't find anything. I'm not sold on anything just yet but here are some of the rooms I've seen and have leaned towards...

Painting above the chair rail a lighter blue and doing stripes underneath in a darker blue and green.

Doing stripes like this with this color scheme or doing a blue and white stripe is also a possiblity

Or obviously doing the top in a blue and doing bead board from the middle down in white, which is a little more simplistic but also a safer route.

This is also something I'm thinking of adding to the baby's room but instead of using inspirational words doing his first and middle names. Chris suggested doing his whole name but I'm not sure about that yet.

Source: http://pinterest.com/pin/18298034/

Other elements would probably be nautical or beach related only because I L.O.V.E. the beach and I totally miss it! I want my kids to love it too. So what do you think? I mostly posted this to put my thoughts together and have it in written format in my face instead of in my head but if you have suggestions please tell! I'm willing to hear it all. Logan's room is also going to get redone and I'm a little against it because it's totally a theme but he loves Toy Story and if it'll make him happy I'm going for it! More on that later!

Pitbull!

2011-05-23T14:04:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's the Elvis lip thing he's got going on
or the shades he wears

or the way he carries himself

or the fact that he dons a suit in almost every music video

but I find him gorgeous.

Ha! It's most likely my hormones

but he's still gorge...just sayin'!

Hello, Monday.

2011-05-23T08:12:00.001-05:00

It's Monday, it's cloudy, and apparently going to be a little humid with a dash of hot. Now normally this wouldn't bother me but seeing how my body is already swelling, thanks to this lovely pregnancy and seeing how my self-esteem is plummeting after each day, I'm not looking forward to it!

This weekend we tackled some projects, like....

Tackling this monstrosity of a pantry...It's definitely more organized but I still don't like it and I forgot to take a picture after I was done.....

Building a "work station" and then continuing with my repurposing of Logan's dresser
Painting the inside of the closet in the guest room which is going to be the newest addition's nursery. I want a closet system so that we can eliminate the need for a dresser and make the room feel bigger.

I'm having a hard time coming up with a completely non-themed nursery. I know I want nautical or beach elements in it but as far as color I'm at a loss and it's driving me bananas! I was thinking light blue with green but that's what I did the bathroom in (which I'll post about soon).

And before I forget here are my pics a day for last week:

Pic# 19 (Thursday)

A little's boy best friend. He loves his Missy.

Pic# 20 (Friday)

My favorite deputy (or cowboy)!

Pic# 21 (Saturday)

Chris' first attempt at ribs on the grill...They were amazing! He did awesome for a first try and we paired it up with some grilled corn and some potato salad! A great summer dinner =)

Pic# 22 (Sunday)

A peek at a first tomato. So excited that they're doing well out there! This little tomato is growing off a plant that Logan picked up without a tag and we planted it not knowing what it was going to be!

Hope everyone has a great Monday and please keep Joplin, MO in your thoughts and prayers, as they are suffering with devastation and loss from yesterday's tornado.

A Little Bit of Everything.

2011-05-18T16:20:00.000-05:00

I've done a little bit of everything this week and the week's not even over!!

Pic# 16 (Monday)

I bought a kit at Eclectica a while back and found it while I was organizing pictures and the closet. It was a Valentine's day kit and I had these pictures from V-Day of 2010 so I decided to use them for this. I also decided that instead of doing our book chronologically, as I'm doing with Logan's book, is to do it randomly. These pages will probably start our book and then maybe go back to the beginning because our "first" photos are bar scenes and blurry! Our book is a sad one because we don't take as many pictures as we probably should but I'm slowly changing that =)

Pic# 17 (Tuesday)

Me and my baby at the zoo! He was SOO well behaved yesterday that I couldn't ask for a better day with him. I was brave enough to let him walk out of his stroller and look at the animals as up close as he was allowed and let him walk beside me. He was great with my friend's little baby too! Such a fun afternoon.

Pic# 18 (Today)

My puppy all clean! I took a before picture but since they trimmed her up and just cleaned up areas like her tail, behind her legs and around her paws there didn't seem to be a difference! She definitely needed it though. Her nails were sharp as razors and her tail was looking raggy. She smells so good. I may just let her sleep on the bed...then again maybe not!

Hope everyone's having a good week so far! ♥

One Crazy Week.

2011-05-15T14:14:00.000-05:00

So much for blogging everyday! Ha! I try but for some reason when I go to work I tend to forget about my blog and it's probably because I feel I should spend time with Chris and Logan since I spend 12 hours at work...Everything technological gets neglected, I'm surprise I remember the mail!

Anywho, I do have to post my pics of the week, because I did think of them and took pics as I went this week!

Pic #10 (Tuesday)

It was a warm day so I blew up his turtle pool and let him cool down!

Pic #11 (Wednesday)

I'm almost done with my scrapbook closet! Next step is organizing this overflowing box of pictures! Oh, the insanity!!

Pic #12 (Thursday)

A little shopping for the new baby! Thanks for the Babies R Us tip Liz! It was a combined store but much bigger than the one closer to us!

Pic #13 (Friday)

Logan's binky stashed away in my night drawer! I was heartbroken but we bit the bullet and started the weaning process. The first night without it was horrible, the second night was an improvement, maybe tonight will be an even bigger improvement!

Pic# 14 (Saturday)

Chris prepped this whole area for a garden he's excited to plant!

Pic# 15 (Today!)

We went out and bought all kinds of yummy veggies for Chris' garden and I treated myself to these lovely Gerbera Daisies! Now I just need to buy a planter! =)

This upcoming week is gonna be a little crazy too. I need a break! ♥

126 Days!

2011-05-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

Or 22 Weeks along,
or 18 weeks left,
or 4 1/2 months to go

I think say 18 weeks left
doesn't make it sound so far
away like 126 days

or 4 1/2 months!

image via Pinterest--WoolyMammoth

So far I:

Have had only 5 charlie horses too many! My left leg is always sore and I'm always afraid to stretch
Have had the WEIRDEST dreams ever! I'll have to post about one, one day, just so you can read how ridiculously weird it was =)
Haven't even posted on FB about my impending bundle of joy, so my friends on there don't even know!
Picked out a name! Woo!
Thought I looked better this time around, until, I see a picture of myself! Tears always follow seeing recent pictures of myself.
Take walks to maintain weight, not lose it, but I can't help wanting to push myself some more especially when I see fit girls walking the path...Just need to remember I'm creating life...
Discovered a new stretch mark! Just when you thought you couldn't get anymore one more pops out! Again tears followed that discovery!
Unpacked Logan's old baby clothes and smiled!
Have been feeling this baby move and my stomach even moves if I pay close attention; surreal and cool at the same time!
Had two friends deliver--both had girls; My step-sister is next and she is having a girl too! My other friend is due after her! It's the year of baby!
Still fit into some of my pre-preggo clothes (don't know if that's a good thing), but summer's arriving here early (thank you 91 degree weather from yesterday) so I've already order some new maternity clothes from Old Navy! Wish they had a dept. in the store down here!
Have decided not to sterilize myself but go on a 5 year birth control because I still hold on to hope that I may just get a girl...In 5 years!
Need to get the nursery colors picked out and I'm so over blue, so please, help with suggestions! =)
Feel like I'm slighting Logan with a new baby coming and in turn have overindulged in him, hence why his binky is still around.
Hope that the summer goes by really fast because I hear pregnancy and summertime heat don't mesh well!
Can't wait to meet MTP in September.

Loves & Other Things

2011-05-09T09:55:00.000-05:00

Chris pulled off a great Mother's Day dinner, on Saturday, and breakfast, on Sunday morning, but I think he topped himself off in the gifts department. I think next year will be tough to out-do this one:

He recorded Logan's voice saying "I love you, Mommy" and my heart melted and tears welled up in my eyes! It's also really funny to watch Logan press the button a thousand times and repeat it after the bear is done!

Around the bear's neck came this beautiful bauble, an Irish claddagh ring! I had been looking for one in silver but claddagh ring's in these parts are hard to come by, so when I saw this, I begged, pleaded, to get it that day, but no, it wasn't coming home that day. I probably would've bought it myself but I had an inkling it would make its way to my finger =) Father's day and Chris' birthday (both in the same month) will be tough!

My mom made these crocheted washcloths! We tried one out on Logan and it did the job! She also got me a $15 iTunes card, which came just in time, because the one I got for Christmas has like $0.64 left! Ha!

This is what I bought my mom for Mother's day! She's picked up her crocheting again and is starting to get into knitting, as well, and when I saw this on Etsy I knew I had to get it for my mom! The bowl is completely hand-made and the artist did a fabulous job! She also makes vases and small animal sculptures. The vases are awesome because she personalizes them with your name(s). So cute! Here's a link to her Etsy shop, MaidofClay.

And before I forget to post it for today, here's Pic #8:

I don't think the new baby will need any new clothes anytime soon! Ha! Although I will most likely buy him a new coming home outfit! The benefits to having another boy =) Oh and I know I've already filled this post up with pics but I seriously love this picture too!

It puts how small Logan was compared to now and how small this bundle of boy will be into perspective! ♥

Happy Mother's Day ♥

2011-05-08T20:28:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is enjoying their mother's day! I know I haven't been keeping up with my pics a day but I'll post them here now, however, before I do I just want to congratulate two friends who had their babies on Friday and Saturday! My friend Kelly and her husband, Dave, had their baby girl, Mo11y Frances, on Friday! They didn't know what they were having until the big day! She's super cute and I wish I was home in NJ to see them! Saturday my friend, Nicole, who's the proud blog owner of FromOurHouseToYours, and her husband, became proud first time parents to their daughter Luciana Ray! She's super adorable too and her gender was also a surprise! They both get to enjoy their babies today =) xoxo

Okay! Now on to my Pics of a day Nos.5, 6,7 & 8! I decided to let the peanut butter cookies be pic #4 afterall! =)

Pic #5 (Thursday)

"My Baby Bumblebee". That song has been stuck in my head and I just realized that this is a bee towel!

Pic #6 (Friday)

This dog obviously thinks she owns the backyard and all items stored back there! Ha!

Pic #7 (Saturday, thanks to my Mom)

Silly boy banging lids and making a ruckus! Thankfully Mommy was at work..Lucky Grandma, Titi, and Daddy =)

Pic #8 (Sunday)

The reason why I get to celebrate Mother's Day for a 3rd year in a row! Thank you for being everything I ever wanted in a little boy! Can't wait to see how you are as a big brother xo!

I also want to thank my mom and sister for coming out to spend the (weekend) day with me, Chris, and Logan! We had fun, or at least I did, when I was home but I know Logan loved spending time with his Grandma and Titi!

PB Chocolate Chip Cookies.

2011-05-04T08:50:00.003-05:00

Since we've moved into our new house I haven't really baked or really cooked anything other than spaghetti, tacos, meatballs, anything super easy. My culinary curiosity is at a standstill and I blame it on fatigue and doing other things with the house but last night I must've gotten a second wind after I finished sanding down the last two drawers to the dresser because I wanted to bake something.

I decided to make the "Flourless Peanut-Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie" recipe from the Dec. 2010 edition of Southern Living. I was intrigued by the non use of flour and butter and how easy it looked.

Flourless Peanut-Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie
1 cup of creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup of sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. of baking soda

1/4 tsp. of salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

Parchment Paper

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the peanut butter and the next 4 ingredients until well blended.

2. Stir in chocolate morsels (note: I added a handful more of morsels than the recipe called for and I ended up throwing them away because it was to many for the peanut butter mixture)

3. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. The recipe says for more ease to spray the tablespoon with cooking spray but I found this to be more messy.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then move to wire rack and cool for another 15 minutes (note: I don't have a wire rack so I let them cool entirely on the baking sheet and they were fine).

Voila!
This recipe was really easy but because there was no flour the mixture tended to fall apart more easily. I ended up mixing the cookie "dough" before I scooped. They didn't make nice ball shapes but they came out looking like a chocolate chip. Try it! They're not bad just extra peanut buttery =) I'll have a pic a day later ♥

What Have I Started...

2011-05-03T16:32:00.001-05:00

Pic A Day #3

I decided today, since the sun came out, to take apart a dresser in Logan's

room that didn't match with the rest of his furniture.

I was really determined and felt good about doing it!

Three drawers in and I'm on Blogger procrastinating! Ha!

It's taken me oh, about, three hours to get through 3 drawers.

I should just concede to the fact that I'm not a DIY extraordinaire,

at least when it comes to repurposing furniture ;-)

Rain Rain Go Away!

2011-05-02T16:48:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling like my tree today.
I had some grand plans to clean out my closet and go through Logan's toys.
I did neither.

I'm ready for the sun to come back and some milder weather to return too.

This poor tree is weighted down by the amount of water that has been pouring on
us and the surrounding areas.

If you want to see how devastating the rainfall is becoming head on to Terri's blog, at Peace Love & Applesauce. The pictures she posted really show the reality of it all.

It's Potty Time!!

2011-05-01T18:25:00.000-05:00

I almost forgot to snap a picture to start off a pic a day in May! Ha! This may be a real challenge for me since I don't blog on a consistent daily basis but I'm really going to try!

Anywho, we're back to some ugly weather, filled with tornado warnings, thunderstorm warnings, and flood warnings, among other stuff! It makes me anxious, especially after seeing all the devastation that has occurred in the midsouth and south. It was so depressing this morning I decided to take a trip to Babies/Toys R' Us and shop for the new baby and Logan (side note: I miss my Eatontown [NJ] Babies R' Us. They weren't a combined store and I could find everything).

I came home with nothing for the new baby but with a potty for Logan! It's probably best to at least try and start now, so we can hopefully be buying only one box of diapers instead of two, and Logan's been suffering from a pretty nasty diaper rash lately, so I'm hoping that if I can get him on the potty he'll have a better hiney too!

We spent most of the day out and about and when we came home we just placed it on the floor and let Logan sit in it (with his diaper on) and drag it all over the house! We really weren't paying attention to him, Chris was online and I was reading a magazine, when he sat down on it and looked at us and shouted "I'm pooping"! Ha! So we clapped and encouraged him to keep going not really thinking he was going. But he did, in his diaper, but he still went! I'm one proud momma! Now to get him on the potty without his diaper! This is still a dreaded Mommy moment for me but I'm hopeful =)

Potty time!!

You like his "drunken" look? He was talking and getting up at the same time..

Oh, bother!

2011-04-30T16:32:00.000-05:00

Today I was given the rare pleasure of having off from work! Woo! Chris wanted to go strawberry picking and I thought we were going locally except we weren't. He wanted to head over to Cedar Hills Farm and so we packed up for a mini day trip and left, howeverrr, when we got there there was NOTHING going on except a birthday party. It was looking kinda empty so Chris went up to ask somebody what was going on and he was told that they had taken the strawberries over to their local farmer's market and sold out!! The guy there gave Chris some tips and so we decided to head on back home. Hopefully we'll have better luck next time!

On our way to the farm I saw an ice cream shop, not a chain shop, but a privately owned one! I definitely wanted to stop there so on our way back we stopped at Velvet Cream, a.k.a The Dip! OMG! Delish and I don't think I'm saying this because I'm pregnant but I have been nostalgic for some good soft serve ice cream, so I could totally be biased =)

Anyway I had a mix (chocolate/vanilla ice cream) with sprinkles in a waffle cone, Chris had a Reese's Pieces concrete (the equivalent to a Blizzard) and we got Logan a mix in a cup! Amazing! Made me miss local places like Strollo's Italian Ice (which serves ice cream as well) from back at home.

Logan loved it too!

Yes, I'm a brave soul for letting my son eat chocolate ice cream in my car!

I only wished I took a picture of what his white shirt looked like when we got home.

♥

Oh P.S. I'm joining Liz with her picture a day in May!! It's starts tomorrow! Go here to read and see her past posts on a pic a day in May and grab her button (which is below) if you decide to join in on the fun =)

It's A.........

2011-04-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

Without further ado

It's a

BOY!

And here's a profile of our baby in utero!

Approx. weight: 11 ounces at 19wks & 6days

We're thrilled to be having another boy even though I secretly wished hard that it would be a girl! I was really looking forward to bows, headbands, dresses, tights, smocks and all things girly! C'est la vie! I've already started looking at boy nursery stuff, new baby stuff to try, and I'm super excited about pulling out all of Logan's old outfits!

We also have to figure out a name! Because of my secret wishes for a girl, I'd only thought of a girl's name, but now I have to find and love a name for a boy! So far Mason is the only name I like and I think Chris is slowly starting to like it too. So he could be a Mason Thomas (Thomas after his grandfather & uncle) or a Mason William (Williams after his godfather). Or he could be something different altogether! We still have 20 weeks to decide and honestly I'm already itching to get him here!

Happy Belated Easter!

2011-04-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

Happy Belated Easter everyone!! Hope everyone enjoyed the day with family, friends, and good food! This year was pretty low key and it felt good and weird at the same time! Good to just relax and weird because it was just the 3 of us.

Last night after Logan went to bed, Chris and I watched "The King's Speech".

I really did love this movie. I loved that the King had such doubts about himself because of his speech impediment and because of it all, ultimately, made a friend in the end. Now I wasn't sure if this movie was inspired by true events but it actually is. I didn't watch this movie because of the impending royal wedding, coincidence, that I chose this week to watch it, but if you like royalty, history, or LOVE Colin Firth (like I do) I think you'll like this movie too!

Speaking of movies, I want to see Water for Elephants, badly!! Which means I may need to find a reliable babysitter around these parts and read the book! Which I'm currently doing and so far so good =)

On a completely different note, tomorrow marks my halfway mark through pregnancy! Woo for 20 weeks! When we found out that someone else would be joining our family I had a lot of thoughts about what I wanted in the future and after. I was determined not to find out what the gender of the baby is but I have no will power for that! Ha! So I'll be finding out what this little bundle of baby is! I'm itching to pull stuff out and/or buy new things!! I think I get a comprehensive ultrasound around this time too! So excited to see what everything's looking like. It's been a little weird not having an ultrasound every week, like I did with Logan, so maybe that's why I'm a little more anxious and excited!

Sorry for all the randomness, haha, I promise next time to make it a 10 on Tuesday or at least warn you ahead of time! ♥ Have a great week!

9 to 2!

2011-04-20T11:42:00.000-05:00

We had a great time with family these past 4 days! There was tons of laughing, tons of screaming, tons of pictures taken, tons of fun, but as always, good things usually come to an end! We've gone from a group of 9 to the usual two (me and Logan)! Chris had to go back to work today too. Saying good bye was pretty hard for me, especially, and I don't know if it's because I don't like saying good bye or if it's also now combined with my hormones (I think both).

I know I should probably do something productive today but I think I'll wait for another day. Laundry can always be done another day and I think relaxation is just what my hormonal self needs! I need a down day, one for a shower, possible walk, and a moment to either read books, magazines, or blogs, or all three and try to feel the baby move again (which I've been feeling since Friday!).

These things are making me feel a little better:

all images via pinterest

So Excited!

2011-04-11T10:44:00.000-05:00

August 2010

I'm so excited to see these little faces again and their parents too!
Five more days until they get here but we've been long preparing for their visit!

I love watching Logan interact with his cousins.

I know they're excited too!
♥

Tidbit Cards.

2011-04-05T17:02:00.000-05:00

This year we didn't have a big birthday party for Logan but still some people sent Logan birthday gifts and others didn't. I usually include his birthday pictures with a thank you, however, since not everyone sent gifts (which is fine) I decided to make tidbit cards updating on everyone what Logan's been up to lately to send along with his picture. Then on the back of the tidbit cards I wrote a personal thank you to each person who did send Logan something.

Materials: Light blue Bazzill cardstock cut to a 5 x7 size,
Party Hearty "Candy Buttons" cut to a size 4 x 6, and the
white cardstock I tried to cut down to a 3.5 x 5 but it didn't
work out so I cut it to fit within the mat;
Ink: Chalk Box in Lagoon Blue; Yellow ribbon.

The tidbit card design was inspired by my high school friend and fellow blogger, Nicole, at FromOurPlaceToYours, who made her own baby shower invites. They were so cute and the idea was stuck in my head forever! You can view her invites here! Now I just have to find envelopes and send them out this week.

My little man playing with his Woody figure and a random block while Mommy was crafting!

The Backyardigans!

2011-04-04T08:44:00.000-05:00

That's what Chris and I were this Saturday, since I didn't have to work and it was GORGEOUS out! No, we didn't play pretend or pretend that we were on an imaginary island either, although, I'm sure that would've been more fun =P Anyways, I decided that since we'd be spending alot more time in the backyard and that's probably where the kids would be when they visited that cleaning up the backyard was more pertinent than the front...I really don't know what's blooming in my front yard either so I wanted to give it a chance and then maybe make some changes (which I already have planned but one project at a time!).

Before:

There are rose bushes up against the fence.

The bushes on the side of the house and the random bush in the middle of the fence.

Those bushes over on the right.

Look at all those darn and daunting leaves!!

After:

Gone are the bushes. We kept the tree because we believe it's a cypress and here in the south they get cut down to the limbs...So we're experimenting with the backyard one and left the front ones alone...

We got rid of the bush and the rose bushes. I would've kept them but they were overgrown and with Logan going outside all the time it probably isn't a good idea...Plus my dog is always chewing on them, seriously, that has to hurt!

We left the holly tree and the bush because they were on the ends, I got rid of a rose bush and it looks like there are azalea bushes that haven't been able to grow. We kept those but they're sorry looking so they might go too.

Chris cleaning up the leaves I raked the day before. One proud homeowner!

Here's the shed all clean. We found some vinyl siding (which is weird because our house doesn't have vinyl siding) and we found pieces of the shed's roof in the buried wet leaves!

The walk way all cleaned up...I think we need some grass!

The walk way on the other side of the house. It has grass but it's really sad looking too! The dirt here is more clay than dirt so we'll be researching how to grow grass or we'll be investing in a landscaper!

Here's my little man trying to help out. He loved being outside with us!

Bonus Pic: Baby bump pic of my own!! 16 Weeks and counting!

Today it's a rainy mess so I'll be working on the bathroom! We went out and bought new bathroom hardware and I've already found a shower curtain that I think will look great, it's just on back order! I'll post an update about that later!

Bob Villa-esque or Tim Allen-esque?

2011-03-30T14:29:00.000-05:00

It's been pretty rainy and cold here so I've taken this opportunity to do things in the house I've been putting off, including tidying up, I even moved Logan's room around and unpacked the stuff I had stuffed in his closet! Yesterday I spent time on my bedroom, the kitchen, and the dining room! Today, since I had to run to the vet and pick up Logan's pictures I decided why not take a trip to Lowe's. It was going to be home improvement day and the guest bathroom (or Logan's bathroom) was my next room on the hit-list!

This mustardy color is everywhere in my house! This bathroom, the hallways, my dining room, & living room. I'm honestly over it! It's mustard overload!

The placement of the hardware has been getting on my nerves. I know to each their own but this was towel rack was placed high, and I know I'm short, but I felt this was higher than average. So I was more than happy to take them down and spackle them!

I thought I was gonna need tool but alas I did not. I was turning and turning, the whole time, in my head reciting "Righty, tighty, lefty, loosey" but I was getting nowhere! So I grabbed a flashlight and saw the butterfly metal piece that goes in the wall (btw, the technical term is toggle bolt anchor). I have no idea how the heck that comes out so I use my phone lifeline and call Chris. He gets what I'm saying and tells me how to do it. Apparently they don't come out they'll just fall in the wall...I'm not down with that but ok.

Holy holes in the wall! There are FIVE of them!! I spackled them and threw up a slather of paint on various spaces on the wall. Apparently the mustard bathroom was a chocolate brown before. I would've rather that!

This is really the color I'm going for but...

...I think this is where the color is more headed. Either way I think it'll look great with white and yellow accents! So excited to see how this turns out! I also did some progress on my scrap closet/storage area.

It's not done but at least the shelves are up and there are stuff on them. I still need to get some more bins and paper holders...All my scrap paper is still in boxes. I need to change the light fixture, finish painting the molding on the other side and either hang up some pictures or some device to clip my finished pages to...Not sure yet, though! Up after all this is getting the guest room and bonus room ready for a visit Chris' cousin and his family are making in a little over two weeks! We're super excited to have them come down! So how am I lookin', Bob Villa-esque or Tim Allen-esque? Haha!

Outside Livin'

2011-03-23T16:26:00.000-05:00

There's a perk to living in the mid-south! While the Northeast is battling a wintry mix and some cold rain we've been enjoying lovely spring weather! They say it's supposed to get cooler and we'll be getting some rain in the future but who can think about that when you can hang out outside right NOW! The mid-south, though, however, wondrous this mild weather is, is wrecking havoc on mine and Chris' allergies.

The dog was enjoying the weather too!

Logan enjoying my Nook!

Yesterday I suffered on with my allergies because it was overcast, windy and I really thought it would rain but alas it didn't. I did end up taking Logan to the park to meet up with a girl from work who brought her son. Let's just say that I really have no big brother worries at this time! I think he'll be a great big brother!

Logan with his little friend!

Logan has been having some sleep issues. Apparently we turn two and naps are no longer the cool thing two year olds do anymore! Needless to say I thought the park would've done him in but it didn't and I finally had to put him down and walk away. I enjoyed the rest of my book, Mennonite in a Black Dress, in my backyard! He eventually did fall asleep and I became motivated to finish up the scrap closet (storage room). Hopefully by the end of the week my stuff will have it's own place and we can start working on the guest bedroom/nursery.

Today we just hung out, worked on the closet and enjoyed the sunshine yet again! We had Play-Doh success unlike last year where we didn't and I honestly think little boys with their hats backwards are cute =) I also bought Claritin and today we're having a better day =) Hope everyone is enjoying spring!

Oh, darling...

2011-03-20T20:50:00.002-05:00

"Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up

Just stay this little"

--Taylor Swift (Never Grow Up)

2 Years Old
This past Tuesday my little boy turned two!
It breaks my heart to see him growing up so quickly!
I wish he was a newborn again!

I threw a mini Toy Story party for Logan. Toy Story is Logan's newest "obsession"! We wanted to go home for his birthday but with the new house and our jobs it wasn't going to happen. My mom and sister came out for his birthday too! He was super excited when they got here! I made his favorite dinner of homemade mac-n-cheese and it was followed up by chocolate cupcakes! We then opened his presents, which happened to be ALOT easier than unwrapping Christmas presents.

Birthday pancakes!

"You got a friend in me"

Holy whiteness, Batman! Ha!
Logan's birthday "cake"

There were pictures of present time but I never uploaded them! Oops!

I know he probably won't remember his 2nd birthday but I know he had an awesome birthday! I mean, seriously, with a Toy Story theme, what boy wouldn't?!

♥

When It Rains...

2011-03-14T18:05:00.001-05:00

It pours, literally and in a manner of speaking! Today was a pretty rainy and yucky day...After working last night and getting only 3 or so hours of sleep I had to get ready for my long awaited ob visit! Let's say it would've been a good visit had the following not occurred. I had to bring Logan with me and at this visit (my second mind you) I was told that the office had a policy about kids under 12 coming in. I was taken back by this but then they told for vag exams only. Okay I get that. I can live with that. A few minutes later I was told that Logan had to be restrained, that he couldn't bang on the door or the walls. Ok. (I'm already tired, hormonal, and ticking). So I restrain my son by having him sit on my lap and what does any strong-willed child do? Scream and cry for freedom. They later asked me if I could quiet him down..Really? Really?! How would they like me to do that? I was asked if I could take him outside! Um, no. It's raining and cold and I'm here for an appointment. Thankfully Chris was on his way but he didn't make it there in enough time to save myself and the office from a complete. utter. meltdown. I cried and then yelled and told them I wanted a new doctor. I later composed myself and continued my appointment but I believe I will be looking for a new ob/gyn. In my entire life of going to doctors and working in doctor's offices I've never heard nor asked a patient to quiet and/or restrain their child. EVER!

Oh, how I missed Logan's ob dr. just then! I would've given anything to have my laid back, very tardy, doctor back! I would wait in his office for four hours for my 9 AM appointment if only I could go back to NJ and have him again! The one good thing about this visit is that I lost 6 pounds!! 6!!! The other good thing about today's appointment was better when I was told I could go for my ultrasound, which, at that point I hadn't cared much for going to because I was upset, exhausted, and just wanted to crawl into my bed again. The ultrasound wait wasn't long and even though Logan was loud and obnoxious no one asked him to be quiet. We went into the most amazing ultrasound room I've ever been in and this is what I saw on the screen:

It made everything ok, watching him/her moving around like crazy and seeing all it's parts where they needed to be! And of course I asked if there was just one baby! Yes, there's only ONE! Haha!

13 Weeks & Project Time!

2011-03-07T12:20:00.000-06:00

Today marks 13 weeks, woo!

After next week, we'll be done with the 1st trimester!

It's also 8 days until Logan turns 2!!

Can you believe it?

I sure can't!

Here's what 13 weeks looks like:

(babycenter.com)

Today I'm also doing a project at home.

I probably shouldn't be painting but I can't sit idle

and wait for Chris to do it!

It's a closet in the bonus room.

I'm still unsure how I will use it but the plan

for right now is a storage area for my scrapbook supplies.

I wanted to put a counterspace in there but I don't think

there's enough room for all my stuff and a countertop.

We'll see! There's horrible lighting in there so I'm planining

on changing that too!

Hope you all have a great week!

Pink or Blue, We Don't Know!

2011-02-28T17:28:00.000-06:00

It's true!

We don't know and won't know

until around September 13th!

Which puts us around 12 weeks!

We're pretty excited!

Things this time around are a lot different.

For one I have an extreme aversion to food.

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Chicken in particular!

Chris pretty much makes food for him and Logan =(

Except for coffee, which is a favorite now,

as well as, apples & oranges too!

I actually bought some maternity clothes.

I refuse to wear man-wear for 9 months.

I probably won't take pics of myself again.

I'm really self-conscious as it is! Ha!

Here's what 12 weeks looks like:

(from babycenter.com)

Springtime in the South?

2011-02-16T10:31:00.000-06:00

This week, so far, has been the perfect temperatures! Just warm enough to open the windows and take walks without needing the mittens, hats, and winter gear, but cool enough that you can spend it outside in jeans and tee-shirt. I LOVE IT!!!

Logan and I took nice walks today and yesterday! It made me want to go to a nursery, buy some flowers, and start planting. First things first though, the inside of my house needs to be organized and put away! So, here are some pretty spring pictures!

images from WeHeartIt, OldNavy, & Photobucket

23 Months!

2011-02-15T15:37:00.000-06:00

23 months!

Where is the time going?

I wish I could stop time.

What you've been up to:
You've been talking so much more clearer and saying so many more words.

You LOVE your Buzz and Woody dolls.

You enjoy going to "school" & I love the reports and stuff you make.

You're definitely much more defiant, a trait of wanting independance.

We converted your crib to a toddler bed. So far so good!

You love your puppy, your puppy loves you, but you can both be handfuls!

You learned the words "my" and "mine". Everything is yours!

You have great taste in a variety of genres when it comes to music, thanks to me =)

Anything with cheese is your favorite food!

Even though you continually change one thing, for sure, that doesn't is that Mommy & Daddy both love you.

Happy Valentine's Day ♥

2011-02-14T22:11:00.001-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

We spent our day moving and we're finally in our house!

Our dinner was at Panera Bread, with Logan, but who cares we're home.

Aside from moving these were my favorite things about today:

Roses from Chris

(Please excuse the chaos going on in this picture)

A card from my baby that he made at "school"

My baby in a converted crib!! We're hoping he gets it.

So far so good!

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day.

Doctor, Doctor Give Me the News!!

2011-02-08T11:48:00.002-06:00

I've been lazy with being on here and not just here but my life in general...That O.W.L. I was supposed to be living by has been a complete failure (so far)...Unfortunately, now I have to kick it in gear and get motivated because I went to the doctor today and she said my BMI is to high for my height. I'm under 5 foot so anything over 130 is to high and I'm on a no white food diet! I googled it and read up on it some and it doesn't appear to be difficult just an adjustment, although alot of people commented that it was difficult. Has anyone tried this diet? My mom said it sound similar to the South Beach diet...Who knows. Along with that I have to exercise (this is where I'll need some motivation! ha!)

So as promised so long ago here are some pics of the house....These aren't all of them but they are the ones I have on hand.

The living room.

We have an idea to change that niche to something else!

And the paint color is changing too..

Kitchen (1)

I should've told you to brace yourself for that orange color.

Kitchen (2)

Straight ahead is the laundry room (which is the same orange color)

Off to the right is the dining room.

Kitchen (3)

We are replacing the sink...

Master Bedroom

It looks like a dark gray but it's actually a dark olive green.

I'm undecided if I want to keep it or paint over it.

Master Bathroom

That room off to the left is the closet.

The vanity is supposed to be where a tub goes (which I do want)

and the brass, which also needs to go! Ha...I'll need a tutorial for refinishing that!

Bonus room

That color is definitely going. This will probably be a guest room, playroom,

scrapbook room all in one!

There are more pics but I just haven't gotten around to taking them.

Hope everyone's having a good week so far

Happy February♥

2011-02-01T10:18:00.000-06:00

Happy February!

January seemed to go by real fast but also felt real slow some days

I'm excited about February

We'll finally move into our house (at some point)

There's Groundhog's Day

And a few birthdays

But I'm really excited about Valentine's Day

I enjoy the holiday

I'm all about roses, candy, pink & red hearts

I usually like to go out for dinner

But I think I'll try a homemade dinner for two

I asked Chris what he wanted for V-Day

His response:

"A rake and a shovel"

Completely unromantic! Ha!

Some Cold Weather Stew

2011-01-26T10:11:00.000-06:00

Remember (if you read it) in my last post I said I cooked up a wonderful stew using a new recipe? Well, I'm going to post about it today. It seems snow is hitting every region of the country and this is perfect for that kind of a day.

I've only been following Wearing Gackey's Apron for a few months but her recipes are delish and I took her "Snow Day Stew" for a whirl and I loved it, as did everyone else.

Here's her recipe and directions, as they are on her blog.

Crock-Pot Beef Stew

1 1/2 lbs stew meat, cut into chunks
1/4 cup butter
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can tomato soup
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can water
3 carrots cut into chunks
3 large potatoes cut into chunks
2 stalks celery cut into chunks
2 onions cut into chunks
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup red wine
2 bay leaves
Nature’s Seasoning (to taste)

Directions:Brown the beef in the butter over medium high heat in pot or skillet on top of stove.

Transfer to crock pot. Add the soup and water and stir. Then add the rest of the ingredients to the crock pot.

Cook on high for about 5 hours.

*So I didn't have Nature's Seasoning and instead added garlic powder and it tasted good.* Definitely try this recipe out and check out Miss Brittney's recipe blog!

What A Week To:

2011-01-18T17:40:00.001-06:00

Last week was uneventful untilll Thursday:

-Chris's mom and her husband drove down from New Jersey! While they enjoyed the sights of Graceland on Friday we

-Went to see a daycare ("school") for Logan, which, he absolutely LOVED!! He didn't want to leave, and this was just a tour. My heart felt better knowing that my baby was going to do ok so that I could work full-time hours at my job. After the daycare tour, we did our final walk through of the house and CLOSED on it!! So exciting and overwhelming at the same and I'll post some pictures soon! If the day wasn't already overwhelming we threw in adopting a puppy! Yes we adopted a puppy!! Crazy?! Absolutely!

Introducing "Missy", or what she's known for right now. We're not really sold on Missy, but sorta kept it because Logan was able to say it so clearly. She's a 6 or 7 week lab/border collie mix and we adopted her from a local shelter. Logan loves his new puppy but we definitely have to keep an eye on the two of them. One will hurt the other without meaning too. It's like toddlers x 2! To add a little more change to my life, I went and got a haircut. My long hair now short but some much more manageable and it felt so much better! I'll post pics of that soon!

-Saturday we spent most of the day at the Memphis Zoo with Chris' mom and her husband. Logan was beyond crabby and it was cold but it beat sitting at home, which is what we did on

-Sunday! Yeah it was a complete veg day! As was

-Monday. Except Monday we started moving stuff over to the new house and I made a delicious stew, in the crock pot, of course! I used a different recipe that I will definitely use again. I'll post that later too!

-Today, I made a pit stop to Home Depot, picked out some color swatches for the house, and taped away! So there's a lot to show, a lot to blog about, and I still haven't found my camera chargers!! Grrr. Maybe I'll videotape a tour of the house...At least I can find that charger! Hope you guys had an awesome weekend ♥

Painting & Packing Again!

2011-01-11T14:03:00.000-06:00

Honestly, I feel like I just painted and packed not that long and really it hasn't been that long since we moved to TN!

image via

And I would love to take pictures of the progress going on both here and at our new house (which will be ours on Friday!!!) but I've lost the charger to not one but of my cameras! I'm going nuts! Hopefully while we're packing (and painting) I'll find them, or at least one of them!

Pretty Closets.

2011-01-07T12:41:00.000-06:00

Recently I've seen some pretty closets! I've always overlooked my closet, it's just a functional space to store your clothes, shoes, bags, hats, and anything you're trying to hide! But our new house has a great walk-in closet and I want to make it pretty. So this is what I've come up with, sort of, because it could possibly change:

It's just preliminary but I definitely want a mini chandelier in the closet. I want to pull up the carpet and put down some fake wood floor. I also want to stencil one wall like Jesse, from Good Girl Gone Glad, did in the above picture. Paint colors I'm still unsure of, but it'll probably be light only because it is still a closet! Chris didn't see the need to pretty up a closet. I told him to just let me do it, especially, since he claimed the garage and the shed!

Here are some other examples of pretty closets:

Jolie, from Shopping Candy for My New Home, made her coat closet a mini-library! I would love this!!

Jordan Ferney, from Oh Happy Day, converted a closet to be her son's room! It's super cute!!

Jessica, from Lavender & Lilies, renovated her hallway closet into built-in shelves!!

The above closet I found in an issue of Country Living!! I LOVE this closet office and it's where I got my chandelier idea!

How pretty (and super organized) is this closet!! (source: Real Simple)

Hope you enjoyed looking at some pretty closets!

O.W.L.

2011-01-03T12:49:00.000-06:00

No, it's not a Harry Potter reference! It's actually an acronym for "One Little Word", which I was inspired to write about after reading Liz's "OWL" in her blog, Perfect Chaos.

After reading her post, I started thinking what my one little word would be for 2011. I don't make resolutions and, sometimes, I'm even afraid to set goals, as the two are often synonymous for me. But I really thought about this and today while I was showering I thought of my past go getter attitude, my drive, my MOTIVATION.

So for 2011 my goal is to become motivated. I don't know where or how I lost my motivation but I have a few theories. Maybe I got lazy because my current relationship is a lot easier and more loving than my last, but every relationship needs constant work, even the good ones. So I need to motivate myself to give 100% instead of 90%. I need to focus on motivating myself in not only pushing myself to get everyday, mundane activities done, but also to achieve friendships and connections in my state. I need to motivate myself to get to church and find myself spiritually instead of pushing it off.

I realize that I'm still going to have those lazy tendencies but I want them to be few and far between instead of almost daily. I usually give up when the going gets tough because it's easier to give up then keep going. As I type and re-read this I'm panicked because it looks like a tall order for 2011 but I'll take it a day at a time, start slowly and hopefully have achieved where I want to be by the end! I wish everyone good luck for those with goals and resolutions for 2011!

A Look Back at 2010

2010-12-31T12:56:00.000-06:00

Whew do I have a ton of blogs to read! I've been enjoying the company of my best friend who flew in Wednesday from New Jersey!

So many things have happened this year!

Let's see, major 2010 things that happened:

I got engaged! Yay!
Logan turned 1.
Chris got promoted.
In turn, we moved 1100 miles away from home
Chris's brother got engaged to his girlfriend right before Christmas
We bought our first house, not technically closing until 2011, but we started it this year

Minor things
      We visited the states of Kentucky and Arkansas
      We went home to visit our family in Aug.
      I held Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner for the first time
      I made some friends on this blog and in our new state

We also had our fair share of downs this year. We've worked through them and pushed forward! With that said, I wish everyone a safe and happy new year and much luck this coming year! I know it'll be filled with ups and downs but I'm hoping more ups for everyone. I make no resolutions because when I don't keep them I get down on myself but I do have a few goals!   Hugs and kisses to you all for a bright New Year ♥

A Real Simple Apple Pie

2010-12-28T16:44:00.001-06:00

I wanted to make this pie for Thanksgiving but I didn't own a food processor until my birthday so I made it for Christmas Eve instead! It was oh-so-delicious and gone by the end of the weekend! I got the recipe out of my favorite magazine Real Simple. Here's the recipe:

Gingery Apple Crumb Pie

Ingredients

Homemade Piecrust or 1 store-bought piecrust, fitted into a 9-inch pie plate
1/2 cup cup cold unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into small pieces
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 pounds apples (about 5; such as Granny Smith, Braeburn, or Empire), peeled and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions1.Set an oven rack in the lowest position and heat oven to 375º F. Place the pie plate on a foil-lined baking sheet.
2.In a food processor, pulse the butter, ¾ cup of the flour, and ¼ cup of the sugar until large clumps form. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
3.In a large bowl, toss the apples, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and the remaining ½ cup of sugar and tablespoon of flour.
4.Transfer the apple mixture to the crust, sprinkle with the crumb topping, and bake until the top is golden and the apples are tender, 55 to 60 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

You can definitely taste the real ginger in the pie. I used a store bought pie crust and it was still good!! I promise!

Christmas Recap!

2010-12-26T12:55:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. We enjoyed our holiday with Logan and my parents and sister but I missed being able to see Chris' family too, even though we were able to see them with Skype or talk to them over the phone.

Christmas Eve:

I made an apple pie for Christmas Eve. I'll post the

recipe later.

The Legos were part of our Advent Lego Calendar!

Christmas Day:

I got my Cricut! Yay!!

We had so much fun entertaining our family! I just wish everyone lived closer together so we could've seen everyone. I missed that alot. I was so excited that we got a flurry for part of the day, even if it didn't stick! Logan was sorta interested in Christmas this year but not so much. Maybe next year he'll open all of his presents instead of just a few! Ha! Today is a relaxing day and I hope everyone gets to do the same today.

Have Yourself a Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T09:03:00.000-06:00

image via

I'm signing off for the rest of the week!

Parents are coming and I still have loads to do.

But I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

May Jesus give comfort to those who may need it this Holiday season.

Lots of Love,

Krystle

Christmas Favorite

2010-12-22T10:07:00.001-06:00

Aside from the movies, the music, the lights, and my absolute favorite, the tree, Christmas cards are my favorite thing to get in the mail! I love feeling remembered, ha! Last year we hung them on the front of laundry room door (which, I didn't take any pictures of). This year I hung them above the fireplace!

Our cards have grown since I took the first picture =)

I couldn't find a wreath for above the mantle so the cards were perfect for up there!

With that said, I'm going to throw on some Christmas music and start tidying up around here.

Christmas is only 3 days away and I have 2 days before to get our place together.

Contract Pending..Yikes!

2010-12-16T09:29:00.001-06:00

We got our contract on the house yesterday! There's something exciting and daunting about seeing

online, next to the house you're going to buy. Half of me is excited and tickled to pieces about this new adventure, while the other half of me is dredging up every little bit of "what ifs". I keep pushing that half back down. It's only going to feel more real after we do our inspection, which is THIS Friday! I honestly thought they did inspections closer to closing time but that doesn't seem to be the case.

In other non-house related news UPS came to my house last night and dropped off a box with these wonderful titles in it:

Now I know I have a Nook and I rave about it ALL the time but you I just couldn't pass up a deal when it presents itself. HarperCollins has an advantage program for News Corp. and its sister companies employees and thank you Chris for having a job with one of their companies because I was able to get 65% off the cover prices for all these books. So instead of paying $68 and change I paid 27 and change! You just can't beat it! So I'll have to alternate between reading books (old school) and reading them on my Nook! Plus once I'm done with the books I can hand them down to friends who want to read them too. Who knows when I'm gonna get to read though. I need to be packing and painting and then unpacking and painting! Ha!

21 Months

2010-12-15T18:23:00.000-06:00

You've come a long way in a month

You're vocabulary is increasing and becoming clearer

Paw print, blue, clue, apple, tree, three, bye are new words

You jump, for real, both feet off the ground (floor)

I'm sure it's a real treat for whoever lives below us

(I'll remember to apologize when we move out)

Your favorite TV show is Blue's Clues

(Could you tell from the above vocab? Ha!)

You've become real good at opening the fridge

and pulling out what you want.

Your favorite toys are still Tonka Trucks and Little People

Thankfully, you still LOVE to be read to

and still love to look through books and "read" them.

You're still a picky eater, some days you eat lots, and some

days you eat very little, but I've been told that's normal.

We started giving you regular milk, again,

and you seem to be doing well with!

Chocolate milk is your favorite but you

don't get it all the time!

It's a blessing to get to wake up

to your smiling face and your beautiful eyes.

It's a blessing to hold and play with you all day.

It's a blessing to kiss you good night

and wish you sweet dreams.

There are only ten days until Christmas!

I can't wait to see you open your

presents and say "Whoa" and "Wow"!

I know it's gonna be a hoot to watch ♥

Offer Accepted and Other Things

2010-12-13T16:23:00.000-06:00

We officially accepted a fair offer on the house, last night. Now let the fun begin! I'm so excited, nervous, and have only had two panic attacks so that's good! Ha! Honestly, though, I can't believe we're going to be homeowners. We, hopefully, will be closing on the house in January of 2011 and probably won't move in until sometime in February!

This weekend we we've all been sick. Blech. It's not fun, especially, when I need to get some shopping done and sent out this week for our family back at home. We pushed through, though, and got most of the stuff done, wrapped and sent out. Go us! We even got to do some wrapping done for Logan's stuff, but I'm still feeling blech and so is everyone else. Poor Logan's got some teeth coming through on top of not feeling well!

We've also had some pretty cold weather, here in the Memphis area, and I'm loving it! I've had a Starbuck's hot chocolate at least once everyday! I'm sure I've gained some major pounds in the last week but I love warm drinks and soups on a cold, fall (winter?) day! So that's why you see pretty pictures of warm drinks.

Hope you all had a great weekend! Here's to a great week ♥

images via

Cottage Contemporary

2010-12-09T14:54:00.002-06:00

Jesse at Good Girl Gone Glad is contininuing her Q & A series and this week she asked us to define our style. I honestly don't know what my style is but I know what I like so I Googled "cottage contemporary" and had this come up as a search result:

Image from Coastal Living.com

It is definitely what I like. High ceilings, an airy feeling, cottage like, cozy and by the sea! I don't know if my style is a rigid cottage contemporary because I always find I'm mixing different styles (which is probably a faux pas) but if I could find out how to execute my ideas then this is something you might see in my house!

Don't forget to head on over to Good Girl Gone Glad and see how others are defining their style ♥

Wishin' and Hopin' and Prayin'!

2010-12-08T10:31:00.001-06:00

That we get the house!

Honestly, though, I don't know if

it's going to happen.

Apparently there are games to be played!

Well, these games aren't fun and I'm not

a game player. At least these

kinds of games.

I wanted a smooth transaction

so that we could buy a house

and make it a home.

Chris is driving me nuts with his whole

"This is how the game is played"

expression. I don't like it!

So I'm wishing and hoping and praying

that something will change

with this game of negotiations

so that both parties can agree

and be happy!

Weekend Recap!

2010-12-06T12:53:00.000-06:00

We've had a busy week since Thursday!

It started with Starry Nights at Shelby Farms Park on Thursday!

Their light show is soo cute!

If you live in the area I definitely recommend seeing it

if you've never been.

Friday was my 26th Birthday! Woo!

We had dinner at Coletta's, wish was good.

Then came home to have cupcakes from Gigi's Cupcakes.

They aren't Magnolia Bakery's cupcakes but they

were delish!

(I love me some cupcakes!)

Logan enjoying his cupcake!

My Jonathan Adler Nook cover! Love♥

Is it weird that I asked for a food processor?

I can't wait to use it!!

Saturday Logan had his pictures taken

At 8:20 in the AM! Yes early in the morning!

And he did wonderfully

Here's my favorite and this year's Xmas card.

After that we did some Christmas shopping.

Sunday (12-5) was a milestone day for Chris and I!

We made our first offer to buy our first house!

This is the one we've picked to hopefully,

if all goes well, call home. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

I've got some blog reading to catch

up on once we've done lunch and naps ♥

Christmas Layout

2010-12-02T09:23:00.000-06:00

I just got around to scrapping Christmas from last year, which was Logan's 1st Christmas. We had about 3 first Christmases with Logan and tons of fun just watching him interact with his family. I scrapped "Christmas with the Parks" a few months back so here is Christmas 2009.

"Merriest Day"

How cute are the tags?! They were a bit of work but they are cute.

Supplies Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned paper: We R Memory Keepers:

White Christmas "Winter Mittens", "Ho Ho Ho", "Wrapping Paper",

& "Santa's Helpers"; Embellishments: Ribbon: CTMH in Cocoa;

Glitter Brad: American Crafts; Accessory sheet: My Mind's Eye-

The Merry Days of Christmas; Layout credit: CTMH Magic

by Jeanette Lynton "Final Act"

I still have Logan's meet with Santa and another Christmas with the family layout to do! Then, I can possibly go back and finish our hospital pics and months 3-11!

Oh, Christmas Tree

2010-11-29T22:37:00.000-06:00

You really are so pretty! Oh, Christmas tree, Oh, Christmas tree it's been a real journey! And for our Fraser tree it's been a journey! We went to Cedar Hill Farm in Hernando, MS, to get our tree and they shipped these trees in from North Carolina. It's to hot down here for them to build this particular type of tree. Anyways, I absolutely fell in LOVE with that farm! I think watching Logan just run and be happy made my heart melt for this place. We got to see some goats and pigs and Logan was just to funny trying to mimic me making the animal sounds!

The first tree I saw didn't feel like my tree, but the second tree was it! It is so pretty.

The drive home was nerve-wracking, at least, for me. We've never had to drive such a long distance to get a tree home, so we took the long way home, went the speed limit, and made it home, tree and car intact! Yay!

Sorry for the bright light!

Again, I apologize for my amateur photography, I just wanted a pic where you could see the lights

Here she is all decorated and lit! I was gonna do ribbons in place of my traditional red garland but I think with my twinkling lights and my ornaments it would've been overkill so we're going garland-less this year and it looks just as good!

Honestly, I just posted a whole post on a Christmas tree! Hope you didn't become bored but out of all the Christmas decorations the tree is my favorite! I'll have to post the rest of the decor once I'm done with it all!

{Snapshots of Life}

2010-11-26T20:53:00.001-06:00

{4:00 PM}

We were creating memories on Thanksgiving!

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

♥

Head on over to eighteen25 and see who else was creating memories at 4pm!

Happy Turkey Day!

2010-11-25T00:43:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving's Day!

xo ♥ xo

Thankful.

2010-11-22T09:11:00.000-06:00

I'm so thankful for so many things and I think for the most part we are all thankful each and every day for what we have but it's also nice to have a holiday that reminds of these things, people, and places that we are thankful for.

I'm so happy and thankful for airplanes because they flew my future in-laws in from New Jersey to spend time with us and with their grandson. This, in turn, makes me thankful for family.

We had a such a great visit with them. We went to the Peabody Hotel and saw the "marching ducks". They really ran but Logan loved it! We went to the Fire Museum and the boys were in Heaven! We ate a Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken! Yum-o!! They have absolutely the best cole slaw EVER!!!

Sunday Chris and his parents, with Logan, went to Bass Pro Shop. Logan was able to see Santa and he was very scared. There was photographic proof to prove it and as soon as I get it off the site I'll post it because it's the most pitiful and funniest picture ever! His grandparents looked great in the pic though!

We were sad to see them go today! Logan had a pouty face after we dropped them off. I'm sure he's missing them...I know I am. I think I need to start planning our New Jersey trip soon!