Easter Fun

Don't get me wrong, I've always loved Easter. But this year, with a two year old who finally grasped the concept of the Easter bunny, egg dying, egg hunting, easter baskets and lots of candy, I have to say 2013 was the best Easter yet! Here's how ours went :0)

Never colored two dozen eggs so fast in my life.

Stickers way more fun to stick on ourselves than on the eggs. 

Then getting to eat one that we cracked during the process - yum!

Finding all of the eggs the Easter bunny hid for our special big guy. 

An exception to the rule no candy for breakfast. 

And an over flowing Easter tin that once was his Dad's when he was two years old. Vincent doesn't know it yet, but that's pretty special. 

Easter gifts for big and small. Though our littlest was way more excited about trying to get that bag in his mouth rather than seeing what was inside ;0).

A bubble gun and new sunglasses for our biggest made for lots of fun in the sun once we got to G-Lo's house for brunch. Only 10:30am and the fun just hadn't stopped. 

A babe dressed in his most Easter appropriate colors and enjoying his first warm holiday. 

More egg hunting 

and basket filling.

And one tuckered out little man. 

Life truly is way more fun when you're able to make family traditions, like everything Vincent experienced that Sunday, fun for your children. His excitement over the fact that the Easter bunny came to visit him while he slept and left him so many goodies was the most precious thing to watch and play into. Having an excuse to buy new toys and accessories to fill Easter baskets fulfilled this girl's shopping needs and two weeks later, the fact that they both still want to play with those new toys is a win in my book :0). March never had a more fun day. 

36 Weeks & Happy Halloween!

The count down has begun... and as of today, I have 26 days or less - but let's all pray for less days because unfortunately at this point the excitement of being so close is taken over by my severe complaint of being uncomfortable. More often than not, breathing is hard, sitting kills my back but standing for too long is definitely out of the question. Oh and sleeping.. well that's hit or miss most nights. You know, between having to pee every couple of hours and needing help just to turn over... So basically, I'm anxious to not be pregnant anymore. Or maybe i'm just anxious to carry my baby boy in my arms instead :0) - I think that's it.  The good news from yesterdays doctors appointment is everything looks right on track and baby boy is healthy and doing well in there. She also told me I'm 1 centimeter dilated so that's kind of exciting! Also during todays appointment I pre-registered for labor and delivery. That makes us just one step closer to meeting our baby boy - yay!

Meanwhile, as I continue to "suck it up" these last couple days, we have no shortage of things to keep us busy. The most recent being Halloween!

As you may know, Halloween is definitely NOT my favorite. In fact, it's probably my least favorite of all the holidays. Having Vincent helps make it more fun though. He's the perfect excuse to bring me out of my "bah humbug" attitude towards the day.

So this year, we all got in the spirit. We carved our pumpkin - which Vincent got to pick out at school last week for FREE! Major plus.

And we dressed up!

Just like last year, I ended up buying two different costumes because I couldn't decide. The one he ended up wearing was definitely the cuter of the two - and kind of hilarious. Such a sophisticated little golfer ;0)

And Jay completed the look by playing the part of Vincent's Caddy - the perfect pair!

                 

The weather was perfect so we did some trick-or-treating.

And made out with just enough candy to last us a couple of days. Perfect!

Overall, I'd say Halloween was great this year. I can't say i'm counting down the days until next year but I am excited it's at least out of the way so I can start focusing on some even better holidays coming up next! ;0)

Hope yours was great too!!

Our Valentino's Day

Valentine's Day has never really been a holiday Jay and I go all out for. Most years' we barely even remember to get each other cards. That's why this year felt so special; because we really made the effort to make it that way.

We had homemade dinner shared with our little one (although dinner with him makes every night special). Pasta with chicken and mushrooms in a wine and whiskey sauce - YUM!

A glass of my favorite wine

And a thoughtful gift from my special guy.

My dad used to give me Disney movies for VDay gifts when I was a little girl and I absolutely LOVE how Jay carried on the tradition. Plus he got bonus points for having got me one of my favorites :0)

Finally, Jay got to open his gift from me. 

An album of pictures I had done especially for him. 

Here's a glimpse at some of the pictures I'm willing to share from inside :0) 

A friend from high school started a company called The Pretty Committee and her, along with K.Mari Photography, did my hair, AMAZING makeup and took boudoir-ish photos especially for Valentine's Day. The whole experience was nothing short of memorable but I never once felt out of my comfort zone - which is saying a lot given the circumstances. I was lucky to have my side kick, Chanelle there for support too. 

All in all, it wound up being the best gift I could have ever given Jay. He definitely wasn't expecting it but he seems proud to have gotten it.  And it ended up being as much a gift for Jay as it was for me too. One where I could celebrate having lost all of my baby weight and feel proud and confident about the place I am at now in my life. It's a good feeling. 

Better than the gifts though, this Valentine's Day taught me a very important lesson. That maybe the "every-now-and-then" concept of being romantic is what makes it feel so much more special. And to really appreciate it when it finally makes an appearance :0)

Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day too! XOXO

New Year's Resolution

Christmas and New Year's were particularly nice this year... Or rather last year.. It was so much fun getting to celebrate with out little one year old and be able to share him with all of our family.

There was a lot of reading time with Big Grandpa & Grandma Bonnie.

And plenty of christmas tree lovin

And best of all, there were two families combined to make one amazing Christmas dinner. It was wonderful :0)

Oh and after all of the Christmas festivities were over, this was pretty much how our New Year's went..

But now that the holidays are over and the Christmas decorations are put away, that means its time to relax, right?!.. Wrong! That means it's time for me to get busy working on my New Years Resolution!! And what is my New Years resolution you ask?? Well it's to get my house in tip top organized shape. And I already feel overwhelmed just thinking about the task..

Somehow, in just two and a half short years, our house has filled up with so much stuff!! When Jay and I first moved in together we lived in a one bedroom, one bath apartment and both of our stuff, COMBINED, fit just perfectly. Now, we would be lucky to downsize our stuff into two bedrooms. Although we did add another human being to our household along the way, which is a damn good excuse if you ask me ;0).

Still, my goal for the year is to get rid of stuff we don't use, and to organize our office/guest bedroom/sewing & craft room which sadly includes my mess of a filing cabinet and closet. Just looking at that stupid thing makes me want to give up already and throw it all away. I don't even know where to start with any of it.

But, because nothing but perfectly organized will satisfy me at this point, I've begun the process of getting it all done. And what easier task to start with than organizing yarn?!

This is what it looked like before...

And here it is now!

I went from TWO full drawers of messy or barely used yarn, to ONE perfectly organized drawer that I can easily close. So much better :0).

Eventually, after I've cleaned out the closet in the office, I plan on putting everything into easy access baskets. Ones that match, with pretty little matching labels that all sit perfectly on a clean and organized shelf.. In the meantime though, I at least feel a little satisfaction in completing one task towards organizing the room. After all, rolling yarn into balls was definitely more time consuming and tiresome than I thought. You can even ask Jay, he got to help ;0).

Hopefully, by showing you all of the before pictures of my office I'll be proactive at getting it all organized. I'd love to be able to show finished product pictures before we put our house on the market in May. So stay tuned!!

Oh, and you can pretty much count on one very large garage sale at our house as soon as it gets warm. So much stuff has GOT to go!

Until then, any and all organizing tips would be greatly appreciated :0)

Happy Happy Girl

Because Christmas came early this year. And what better gift to receive than a girls best friend?? Home safe and sound from her travels abroad.

I don't think I realized how much I really missed her until she rang my door bell last night and I burst into tears at the surprise outside. It's an understatement to say that I am SO glad to have her home.

Vincent is too despite the look on his face as he was showered with all the hugs and kisses Chanelle had to catch up on 😊

And if that gift wasn't enough.. Jay and I were more like ecstatic on Tuesday night when Vincent finally got to meet Santa!!

Pretty much couldn't ask for better first pictures with Santa than these. No line when we got there, no crying in Santa's lap, a smile for the camera. and a new Xmas tradition for our little fam. Absolutely perfect.
Thanks Vincent!! (If you couldn't already tell, It's the small things that make your parents happy 😉).

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!!