Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Trips, Moves & Graduation.

Well, I promised an update on Tuesday and of course, as luck would have it, my internet was not working when I got home last night after my 12 hour road trip back home. Bummer man, he delivers well, does he not?

We (we as in me, B & C) headed down to Louisiana for some time with my family last week. The true purpose of the visit was to throw a baby shower for my very pregnant, almost due, sister Megan. She's due with baby Zoe Grace sometime within the next 2 weeks and I can hardly contain my excitement about a little girl joining the ranks of our family. I can finally go nuts over little girl clothes and pink towels and ruffles without actually have to deal with the little girl clothes, ruffles and tutu's :) The shower went well, and we had a fun time enjoying the company of my family for a few days. While I was in Baton Rouge, I also got to meet my bloggy friend Mel!

It was a good trip for sure, but I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I am happy to be home with Drew. Having daddy to help with the kiddos makes life a little easier, and I think the boys behave a lot better when they know that he's here to enforce things. I do have to brag on myself for a bit, because I made the drive from Baton Rouge to Northwest Arkansas in 12 hours yesterday. By myself. With two children under 3. That is no easy feat, especially when you consider one is potty trained and both boys needed to get out and run every so often (we made a total of 5 stops).

And to make life more fun... we're moving. I know, I know. It's so crazy that I laugh about the entire situation (us leaving to go out of town, Drew graduating and us moving... all in 2 weeks time). The move is a total God thing. I hope to blog more in depth about it soon, but honestly I just don't have enough time since I've been busy living out of a suitcase and packing cardboard boxes, all the while trying to keep two baby monkey's from making a mess of the situation, like baby monkey's often do. Thankfully Drew did a majority of the moving while we were gone, so we've just had to finish up odds and ends today, and we'll be completely in the new house tomorrow. I can't wait to show yall pics of everything-- the house is beautiful and was exactly what Drew and I were looking for. Have I mentioned that Drew did all of the moving while he was also finishing his final project for his MBA? I feel like I'm married to superman sometimes :) I'm so glad that Drew is done with his MBA and we can put the long study nights and weekends behind us and finally be a family again.

If you have assumed that I would have taken a bajillion and one pictures while I was away, you are right. But considering flickr takes about two years to upload my pictures, we'll have to split up all of the pictures in batches because I am currently operating off of restaurant and coffee shop internet connections until the internet is turned on at our new house (hopefully it will be fixed by next Monday). For now, I'll leave you with a little sneaky-peak of a few of my fave pictures from the trip and let you create your own captions.


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Monday, February 27, 2012

I'm Alive... I Promise!

Just wanted to hop on here and let everyone know that I am alive. I took a little sabatical from twitter and blogging this past week so that I could spend some much needed time with my family. We drove down to Baton Rouge for a visit and also threw a shower for my sister! The shower went so well and I can't wait to show all of the pictures to yall. We've got a big week ahead of us and while I am looking forward to everything, I'm also a little overwhelmed with all we have to do... big changes in our household that I hope to share with everyone very soon! I will try to post some pictures of the shower tonight-- until then, Happy Monday! :)

Monday, February 20, 2012

Weekend in Review.

I'm proud to say that for the first time in over two years, we have had a weekend that was not interfered with homework. Do you hear it? The angels are beginning their hallelujah chorus. It's only a quiet hum at this point, but in 2 weeks it will be full blown lungs people. I. CANNOT. WAIT.

Saturday Brayden was invited to a birthday party for a classmate of his from Mother's Day Out. It was the first ever birthday party for someone who was HIS friend and not a child of OUR friends. It was a princess party, and for some reason Brayden LOVED having the princess crown. Go figure :)



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While we were at the birthday festivities Daddy and Connor had a little outing to Lowe's. Drew texted me and said "He's SOOOO sweet!" I agree, Connor has such a sweet disposition, and it's so sweet getting to spend one on one time with both of the boys. Makes me appreciate them that much more!

Saturday afternoon it was cold and windy, but we threw caution out the window and played outside anyways :) Connor was like the Michelline man walking around all bundled up. He also threw good tantrums and showed me his awesome pouty lips. He can bring the drama, that's for sure!



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I know this is a blurry pic, but I love it! He was squealing as he was trying to run over to me with Toby. haha!
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"I's gots a pouty face for a king"
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throwing the ball to Toby. He's got an impeccable sense of fashion, don't you think? ;)

Sunday was pretty laid back, with church, a 2.5 hour nap for all (I know, it was as glorious as it sounds) and a quick trip to Target for me and the boys in the afternoon. It was a pretty good day! (It was also the day that Connor turned 15 months old!)



We have a BUSY week ahead of us. One of those busy weeks that kind of gives me anxiety just thinking about it. BUT, it should be a good week, so I'll embrace the business for the cost I guess :) Hope yall have a great week!

i heart faces {hugs & kisses}

When I saw this week's challenege theme was "hugs and kisses", I knew I had to enter this picture from  Pauline and Matt's engagement pictures. This is by far one of my favorite pictures EVER. I love that you can't see all of her face, but you can still tell that she's smiling :)



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Be sure to head on over to i heart faces to see more entries.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

15 Months.

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Lately I've caught myself double taking when people ask me how old Connor is. How can my BABY be 15 months old?! And then I think, "holy cow! Brayden was only 4 months older than this when Connor was BORN!!! No wonder I just about lost my mind!" Ha! Connor has gotten to such a fun stage. He still LOVES me and Drew, can't backtalk that much (although he does throw a fit that will give an Italian Stallion a run for his money), and is starting to really interact with everyone in the family. When I picked him up from Mother's Day Out this past Thursday, he squealed, walked straight to me and held my face as I picked him up, then laid a big wet slobbery kiss on my lips. Ahhhhhh.... melt my heart! Here's a few other things he's been up to lately:
  • He weighs around 26 pounds. He's a CHUNK. He's now wearing 18-24 month, 24 month and 2T clothes. He's wearing stuff Brayden just outgrew at the end of last summer. 
  • He says a few words, but not many. He says "dada", "momma", "nana" (banana), "dah" (dog), "GGGGGG" (Gigi), "whoa", "dat" (that), "no"
  • He's on the cusp of walking 100% of the time. He went to MDO on Thursday walking/crawling about 50/50, and came home walking about 95% of the time. It was so strange! I think being around a few older kids has worn off on him. Sometimes it weirds me out seeing him walking around because I don't really feel like he's old enough to be walking around babbling to himself!
  • He has developed a severe dislike for green veggies, especially green beans. He would eat his weight in bananas, and claps whenever he sees strawberries.
  • Connor is my meticulous, fine motor child. He loves to play cars, trucks, little people, etc. He loves to sit and stack cups and blocks. 
  • He loves to shake it and will break it down to music anytime it's blaring. 
  • He LOVES when Drew gets home. He starts squealing and squeezing his hands together really hard like someone just told him he won the lottery. 
  • He loves Brayden, but also hates the stuff B does to him. You know, like being locked into his closet, kicked in the gut, and wrestled down and then pinned to the ground. I feel for him. 
  • He loves to give hugs. There will be a lot of times when he's playing in the living room and will just come up to me and give me the biggest hug and lay his head on my shoulder. Just melts my heart!

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You know, it's hard to really grasp that in a year Connor will be hitting the terrible twos and I'll have the same toddler issues with him that I am dealing with with Brayden. I think if I have learned anything from parenting is that having the second child gives you a lot more perspective about what to get worked up over.

Connor I love you to pieces and can't imagine my days without you! Thank you for making my life richer! 

Friday, February 17, 2012

Love Letter Link Up Winner.

Yall, I am SO sorry I am just now posting the winner for the Love Letter Link Up. Thanks to all who participated... I apologize I am slacking lately. Here's the winner, courtesy of random.org :
The 6th entry was from Joy at http://mama2camandcassi.blogspot.com/

Congrats Joy! Please contact me within 48 hours to claim the Visa giftcard, otherwise a new winner will be selected!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Baked Cheesy Artichoke Chicken.

When Drew and I first got married, I tried all kinds of fun recipes. Cheesy Artichoke Chicken was one of them, and we loved it. We hadn't eaten it in FOREVER, but over Christmas break I pulled it out to make again while Drew's parents were in town. This is a super easy recipe to whip together, but it presents really well, so it makes it look like you've slaved all day on an awesome meal :) My kind of dinner if you ask me :)

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CHEESY ARTICHOKE CHICKEN 
5 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 jars of marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
sliced swiss cheese (about 6 slices)
salt and pepper to taste

In a 9x13 baking dish, line up the chicken breast. Use the marinade from one of the artichoke heart jars to pour out over the chicken breasts. Chop both jars of artichoke hearts and spread out evenly over all of the chicken. Salt and pepper to taste (I like a lot of salt on mine so I am pretty generous here). Top off the chicken breasts with slices of swiss cheese. I usually lay them like diamonds over the chicken breasts so it covers everything, and normally use about 6 slices. Bake in the oven at 350* for around 30-40 minutes-- until chicken is cooked and cheese is melted. I normally serve with rice of some kind and either okra or broccoli. YUMMM!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

From Shaggy to Short.

If you hadn't noticed in the pictures of Brayden lately, I had let his hair get pretty shaggy. My intention was to let it grow shaggy in hopes he would have Justin Beiber hair. But the longer it got, the clearer it became that while Brayden is a cutie patootie, his hair just doesn't resemble Beibers when it's shaggy. So I decided it was time to get it cut again.

From SHAGGY:


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"I'm getting my hair cut?!?!?!"
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The "I'll make a cute face because my mommy is bribing me with a sucker" pose

To SHORT:
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The "I'm a little stinker and I know it" pose
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Just keepin' it real. I get charged at regularly during photo shoots.
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I could NOT crack a smile out of this boy for the life of me
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to truly understand why he's smiling, please read the story below. Trust me, he's not being sweet.
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He defines mischief more than any child I know.
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Oh, and if you notice in the short haired pictures how his left hand is behind his back? That's because it was in his pants. I kept questioning why he was doing that, and even asked if he needed to go potty. He kept saying that he did not need to go, and I kept insisting he pull his hand OUT of his pants. He eventually obeyed, and proudly showed me a handful of poo. Yes, that's right folks. While I proudly snapped photos of my first born's new haircut, he proudly pooped his pants, because pooping your pants on purpose (and make no mistake, it WAS on purpose) seems like a jolly good time to an almost 3 year old. And gifting said poop to your mom seems like an even better idea. Ahhh... life with an almost 3 year old. It's never dull, that's for sure.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Snow Day

Today was one of those dreamy snow days: enough for the kids to play in, not enough for school to let out (meaning momma got a break during Mothers Day Out), and it was all melted off of the roads by 5pm so Daddy got home safely.

On the way to school this morning I said to Brayden "Brayden isn't the snow beautiful?!" and he replied "NO! This is just a mess! Look at the mess on all the cars!" That boy cracks me up (and makes me worry my OCD cleanliness might have rubbed off on him. I'm trying to not have mom guilt by talking myself into the notion this will make him a good husband someday-ha!).

When B came home from school, I braved the elements with both boys and let them play in the fluffy white stuff. Brayden was SO excited, and Connor was thrilled until he attempted crawling in it, and at that point he threw in the towel. I can't wait until they are old enough to throw snowballs at each other :)

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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Weekend in Review.

(Don't forget to link up with Love Letter Linky Up for a chance to win a $30 Visa giftcard! The linky will be open until Tuesday night at 7pm)

While I sit here and type, I almost wish that you could hear my home... we were all sleeping and enjoying a nice Sunday afternoon nap, but Connor had different plans and he is kicking the walls through his crib slats and screaming at the top of his lungs. He's in the throes of teething and has decided that if he must be miserable than he will attempt to take us all down with him. {Lovely.}

Friday we had a little Valentines get together with several of my friends and their kids. Candice was kind enough to open her home to chaos and destruction (aka tons of kids who are high on Valentines cupcakes and candy). Brayden had a blast with all of his friends and enjoyed exchanging valentines cards with everyone. He had so much fun, in fact, that I had to employ the help of my friend Meredith to carry Connor out to the car, as Brayden left kicking and screaming. His departure of most places brings both utter embarrassment and complete exhaustion in a matter of seconds, and makes me question my sanity in leaving the house to begin with. I keep telling myself that we all once were 2 and 3, and did this to all of our parents and our parents lived. Right?

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He gets his love of icing from his momma ;)
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About as good as we could do for a group shot... pure craziness trying to get all of the kids to look at the camera!

Saturday Drew brought the kids to the gym in the morning so that I could do a few things around the house. It's amazing how much I can accomplish without two little f5 tornadoes following in my path. I picked up the boys before lunch (Drew was studying at this point) and brought them home for what should have been a restful naptime. Unfortunately for me, Connor had slept at the gym so he was not having any part of an afternoon nap, and Brayden bucked the entire system for at least an hour. After our afternoon naptime battles, we packed up and met some very dear friends of ours, The Henrys, for an early dinner at Market Place. I'd love to say we all got to sit and talk the entire time, but Connor decided to make everyone miserable with his teething glory, so most of the time was spent rotating who was going to walk Connor around, and the ones left at the table were left to man the toddler antics of Brayden. Such is life in our home! All things considered Brayden did remarkably well. We left full and blessed, which is all that matters in the grand scheme of things. My Uncle and 3 of his girls came to visit us on Saturday night, so Saturday was chalked up as a day of good fellowship for sure.

Today has been a typical Sunday for us. Church was incredibly encouraging as we listened to an amazing message on marriage. Drew declared the day a day of rest for everyone, including himself, so up until a few minutes ago we've all been enjoying a nice Sunday afternoon nap.


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I love these boys so much!

We're bracing for our first winter storm on the season. It shouldn't be too bad hopefully, and may give Brayden another reason to put on his snow boots, which have sat and collected dust most of this winter. Go figure... last winter I was completely unprepared and we had record breaking snow storms. This year I get a sled and snow clothes for my boys and we haven't gotten a lick of snow (aside from a dusting a few months ago). Hope you all have a great week this week!
 

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