My boys.

These two kiddos right here have my heart, forever and ever. They are growing up so fast and I'm so proud of their little daily accomplishments.

Logan- he is SO like his Daddy. Not only in looks, but he is stubborn, and a know-it-all, but he also has a warm heart. He is the second pickiest eater in the house (next to Daddy), but we do still have a few things in common. He is my fellow board-game and game-show lover. He likes to watch Hollywood Game Night, Wheel of Fortune, and Family Feud with me. And he always wants to play board games. Now that he's older its been fun teaching him more "grown-up" games like rummy, phase ten, and yahtzee. He is so smart. He had his first "real" test last week- spelling and multiple choice- and he aced it! :) Definitely hanging onto that one for the scrapbook! So hard to believe he is six years old and in first grade, seems like just yesterday he was a baby. I'm so proud of him.

Brody- To sum it up in one word... hellraiser. Not sure which parent he gets that from. But he loves FOOD, just like Mommy. He would rather share a salad with me than a happy meal. And he loves to mess with all of my things, and play dress up with anything he can find. He's been wearing his older brother's watch for the past week, even sleeping in it. He loves costumes. And animals- he really loves animals. Specifically bears, and elephants, and moo moo cows, and horsies, and birds. He is so destructive lately, but that smile wins me over every time. He's so smart and grown up. He skipped over so many "baby" things because he wants to be just like brother. He refuses to drink out of sippy cup and wants a "real" cup, and he hasn't ridden in a stroller since he started walking. Love him to pieces, my little momma's boy.

My summer bucket list:

At the beginning of summer, I decided to make a little list (I'm the queen of list making), of fun summer activities to keep the kids busy and happy this summer! Since Logan only has seven more weeks of summer before school starts, I doubt most of them will get accomplished, but it will be fun to see how many we can check off the list!

Bowling (kids bowl free during the summer)
Spend some time at the lake
Have a picnic
Chuck-e-cheese
Drive in movie (hoping that Monster's University will be playing soon!)
Busch Gardens
Strawberry picking
Story and craft time at the library
Go see $1 movie
Take the kids to the Home Depot or Lowe's Saturday workshops


So far we've been strawberry picking and planned our Busch Gardens trip. I signed the kids up for the summer library program, but we've the husband's been kind of slacking about actually taking them.

Here's a couple of pictures from our strawberry picking adventures:

(The end result-- yummy!)

 



a birthday for Brody

My little man turned two recently. I can't believe he is growing up so fast! I just want to slow down time and keep him a baby forever... well maybe not forever. Just a little while longer!

To celebrate Brody's birthday, we decided against doing our typical birthday party this year (which we are also not doing for Logan's birthday). Instead, for each boy's birthday, we decided to do somthing special with just them, one-on-one, and then keep things simple and have cake and presents at home.

For Brody's special day we decided to take him to the zoo, since he loves animals lately. He has so many (toy) animals at home that he carries around, and a board book full of animal pictures that he is learning all the names of! As expected, he LOVED the zoo. His favorites were the monkeys, the bears, and the giraffes. Here are some pictures from his special day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think he had an awesome day! I'm really glad we decided to change things up this year. Having the same old types of birthday parties every year is just getting old, and it was nice to be able to spend some one-on-one time with Brody. 

 

Junk drawer = tackled!

So, I didn't manage to get a whole lot done this weekend, but I was able to mark one thing off my "to-do" list. I went through my overflowing junk drawer while the kids were napping and did a little reorganizing. Here's the (embarrassing) "before" shot:


Recipes, cookbooks, magazines, paint cards, menus, sunglasses, cords, greeting cards, random small toys that I've confiscated, scissors, manuals, receipts, scrap paper...Yikes.



And here is the lovely "after" shot. Yay! Organized at last.


My biggest organization was putting all of my recipe cards and print outs into a binder (with menus in the front pocket). So much better! Now I can actually find what I'm looking for instead of digging thru the drawer every time.

I showed the hubby my pretty little drawer and he said, "I give it a week". Gee thanks.

Happy Friday!!

Can't wait to spend the weekend with these two! :)

So much to do, so little time.

I desperately need to get organized! Here are some projects that I really need to accomplish soon!...

Scrapbooking and/or Shutterfly books. Haven't scrapbooked anything since December 2010. FAIL. Pregnancy, holidays, birthdays, baby, and so much more, is waiting to be scrapbooked all nice and pretty. Brody is almost 1, so I need to get on that sooner rather than later.

Organize/decorate Brody's room. Poor kid. Don't most parents decorate the nursery before they come home from the hospital? The rate I'm going, his room might be 100% by his birthday.

Go spring shopping. I'm beginning to think that little elves snuck into my closet while I was sleeping and shrunk all of my clothes. That totally happens, right? I mean why else wouldn't they fit?!

Stain the deck and re-gravel driveway. Think I'll delegate that to the hubby.

Hang photo collage in dining room. I have the frames. I have the pictures. Why hasn't this happened yet?!

Decide on paint color for living room. And paint it.

Clean out junk drawer(s). (I just typed drunk drawer, LOL). Instead of a million receipe cards and print outs- organize them in a binder or (if I'm really feeling fancy), cute little shutterfly book.

Buy easter baskets and put together. I've at least started on this one. Got a few things together, just need to get baskets and finish them!

Plan birthday parties. Thats right, not one but TWO back-to-back parties. These kids are going to break me... Need to:

1. Pick a theme (Brody)
2. Book bowling alley (Logan)
3. Figure out cake ideas (both)
4. Order decorations and invites
5. Figure out present ideas. (Stumped on this one. 5 year olds are hard!)

Ok, at least now I have a game plan. Now if only I could take a week off work to get it all done....

happy hearts day!

I have not one, but three sweethearts to spend my day with! :) I'm a lucky girl.

Here's one of them, after being woke up with a Valentines balloon (he was pretty excited about it).

I smile everytime I look at these :). Happy Valentine's Day!

my new years "to-do" list...

(because I'm not ready to commit to "resolutions" just yet)

A month late, but better late than never, right? Here are a few things I would like to work towards accomplishing this year!

1. Become a better cook...practice makes perfect? I will attempt to fix less frozen dinners, do less ordering out, and sandwiches, and try my hand at actually cooking dinner. Yikes.

2. Redecorate the house. Room by room, I will slowly get there.

3. Not use credit cards...ever. If it can't be paid with for in cash (or debit card, more likely)...it ain't happenin'! Kind of puts a damper on #2, doesn't it?

4. Become more organized. Every aspect of my life needs better organization... closets, kids toys, pictures, documents, cleaning supplies.... you name it!

5. Take more pictures of the kids. My camera always seems to be MIA when I need it most.

6. Try my hand at a few pinterest-inspired DIY (DIM?) projects. Spray paint and glue gun, here I come!

loves and loathes.

Loves:

Zappos. The fancy feast kitten. Miley Cyrus' take on Bob Dylan. Pinterest. Throw pillows. Anything made in a crock pot. Etsy. Tax returns. Madonna's halftime performance. Baby feet.

Loathes:

Football. The new neon fashion trend. Slow drivers. Paper cuts. Trying to figure out/remember HTML code. My bangs. Diets. Paint color decisions. My husbands choice of tv.

baby must haves

Here are my top three favorite baby things, that I cannot live without...

1. Puj tub. Amazing invention. SO much better than bathing your baby in one of those hard plastic tubs and then draining the water out. This fits right in your sink, is soft and cushy for baby to relax in, and then hangs flat to dry. LOVE it! I would definitely recommend it to any new mommys.

2. Tommee Tippee travel bottle warmer. Basically this is just a really fancy thermos, but its so convenient for heating bottles on the go. You fill it with boiling water and then when you're ready, pour the water into the container to heat the bottle. So simple, but genius. And its small enough to fit in the diaper bag.

3. Swaddle. I have a few of these...Brody doesn't sleep unless he is swaddled up! The velcro makes it a little harder for them to wiggle out.

Stationery card

Love Package Blue Birth Announcement

Shutterfly has custom baby invitations and birth announcements.

View the entire collection of cards.

projects

So, I know I'm being incredibly optimistic, but I reallyyyy hope to get a few projects accomplished during my 8 weeks of maternity leave! I'm SO looking forward to some time off work, even though I know I'll have my hands full with a newborn and a almost-4-year-old who will be home with me. Other than being home with Logan for his first 6 weeks, I've always worked a full time job, so this will be a little mini-experience of being a "stay at home mom" for a short while. And to be honest, 8 weeks will probably be all I can handle!

One thing I really hope to accomplish is a creating a photo wall somewhere in my house. With pretty pretty frames. I have tons of pictures that I don't have room to put anywhere, and I'll have a ton more after baby arrives. I've never committed because I'm scared I will put all those holes in the wall, and then change my mind! But, I'm hoping to finally get this done...maybe in the living room over our sofa? Nice frames are so expensive, so I'm thinking I'll just do an assortment of different sizes and styles that I find here and there. Maybe spray paint them all the same color? And I have a really cool wooden letter "K" that I want to incorporate into the mix! Here's some inspiration!

...wish me luck!

I have an (online) shopping problem...

Or more like online "window shopping" problem! I have a new "wish list" every week I think. Here's a few things I'm wanting this week...

1. This rug for our living room.

2. Coordinating throw pillows.

3. These sheers for our bedroom.

4. Used to HATE vera bradley, but the new patterns are starting to grow on me. Love this little bag to take on our cruise in November and hold all the essentials.

5. Cute little bird vase.

6. Wall art for the kiddies bathroom.

7. Sweet little baby hat for newborn pictures (already ordered...yay!)

Office...?

So, with the addition of baby king into our house... we will be losing our office-slash-guest room. For the time being I'm leaving the computer desk as is, since baby will most likely be snuggling with us for a few months anyways! But eventually it'll have to be relocated, and our house is feeling smaller and smaller!

Our options right now will be:

1. Move it into our master bedroom. Which also doubles as Logan's tv and playroom. Hmm.

2. Add a family room/den onto the back of the house. Love this idea... but it'll take time. And money. So it could be a lengthy process! orrr

3. We have about a 5'x3' closet space in our laundry room, that we could turn into a closet-office.
I'm leaning towards #3 at the moment! Here are some closet-turned-office spaces I found online that I'm in love with! Hoping to re-create one of these bad boys with some fun paint or wallpaper and shelving!

Birthday Party Ideas

Logan's 4th birthday is coming up... okay, really its still 4 months away, but I want to get a head start planning since I will also be taking care of a newborn when the occassion rolls around! I have a super, fantastic idea for a theme for his party... but he isn't buying it. He wants a Thomas the Train party even though thats what we had last year. *sigh* Hopefully I can convince him to change his mind! Here's my idea...

Theme: Cat in the Hat/ Dr. Suess (he actually really likes Cat in the Hat...justttt not as much as he likes Thomas).

I would do red, blue and white decorations. In addition to a regular bday cake, I would like red and blue cupcakes with little rhymes on top (similar to these):


As a keepsake, I wanted to get Dr. Suess' "Happy Birthday to You" book and have all the guests sign it and write a special birthday message.


For favors, instead of the usual annoying little "goody bags" (which I secretly hate, just a plastic bag full of expensive junk that no one really wants anyways)... I wanted to give each kid a Dr. Suess book to take home.

And if I wanted to be really cliche, I suppose I could serve some form of green eggs and ham.

Oh! And of course, Logan would get to wear a red and white top striped top hat. Now I just have a whole lot of convincin' to do. If not, my second child is definitely getting a Dr. Suess party next year. He/She will be too young to object!