June 05, 2012

Our Summer Bucket List

summmmmer is here! how is that possible?
here is our summer bucket list::

 go to the zoo
watch fireflies
plant a flower
play in the sprinklers
try out a couple new water parks
blow bubbles
sonic happy hour
visit a party store and pick out a balloon
family fondue night
go to the movie theater
go swimming
go to the lake house
snow cones
play dates with laura and ian
play at the park
watch fireworks on the fourth
ride the miniature train
build a fort
go to pump it up and play
fly a kite
go on a picnic
play hide and seek
paint rocks
put together a new puzzle
s'mores at the lake house
go camping
water balloon fight
go to a rangers game(s)
play with rollie pollies and snails
find a new splash pad
go to lego land with uncle matt
eat at yoko donuts
tie-dye shirts

as you can see...
we've already been having lots of fun around here!

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May 21, 2012

Noah + Einstein



May 18, 2012

Spring Break at the Lake House

So, I'm gonna pretend I'm only a couple weeks late in posting about our Spring Break instead of a couple months. Oops! My mom and I decided it would be fun to go to the Lake House over Spring Break and have a girls + Noah weekend. And then my mom came up with the most wonderful idea ever and said, "Let's invite Nana to come along with us!" I'm so glad Nana ended up coming, because it wouldn't have been the same without her! 

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What a special weekend it was; we had such a wonderful time! I loved watching Noah and Nana spend time together. They built forts, read books, figured out mazes in an activity book, played pretend cooking, put together puzzles... it really brought me back to my childhood and all the fun times I had with Nana. It made my heart smile to watch her play with Noah in the same way she used to play with me. 

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The forecast for the weekend was rain and more rain, and that's exactly what happened. But we embraced the rain and enjoyed every minute of it. It wasn't going to stop us from having fun! We even got out in it and took Delilah ("Aunt Dewiwa") and Samson ("Sam Sam") for walks. And we sure took advantage of being indoors and did a lot of relaxing! It was wonderful!!

This was also the weekend I got my mom addicted to Draw Something. She always gives me a hard time now because I never get on and play any more. :) One evening we stayed up half the night playing that stupid game. There were a couple times I thought we were going to wake up Noah and Nana because we were laughing so hard at some of the drawings. It was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed that time with my mom.

One afternoon we attempted a photo shoot with the doggies and Noah. Yeah. Right. It's was like I was working with three children. :) I did love this picture though.

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Noah loved every minute of our time at the Lake House. He got to ride in the golf cart with Mimi and Nana one afternoon. And on the last day Mimi planned a surprise egg hunt for Noah. Thankfully it was a beautiful day, so we were able to hide the eggs outside. Noah had the best time searching for the hidden eggs!

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Mr. Noah standing with his little tree he planted last Christmas. It will be fun to watch both Noah and the tree grow taller over the years. 

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On our way back home, we stopped by to see Aunt Megan and her new bull dog puppy, Maggie. She was the cutest thing I've ever seen; I couldn't get enough of her.

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I mean, really, just look at that face.

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Gah, she was adorable.

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Noah loved Maggie too. They were so cute playing together.

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And then Maggie's tooth accidently got stuck in Noah's sock and he thought she had bit him. After that, he wanted nothing to do with her. Ha!

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Noah finally forgave her though and said, "Maggie not eat Noah," and agreed to see her again at Matt's graduation. Anyway, it was really fun getting to see Maggie for the first time.

What a great Spring Break we had! We loved every minute of it.

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May 15, 2012

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

i'm loving that josh and i get to go on a date this friday night!
it's been too long. way too long. 

i'm loving that my brother, matt, is moving to dallas this summer!
we are all really excited about having him here with us.

i'm loving my new nail polish rainbow in the s-kylie | nicole by opi. 
it's sparkly and fun! perfect for summer!

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i'm loving how sweet noah looked snuggled up
 at the end of our bed last night.

i'm loving all the spring-y type weather we've had the past
couple of weeks. usually by mid-may it's super hot, so it has
been nice! maybe we will have a mild summer?
hope so!

i'm loving this recipe!!! make it. you will be glad you did.

i'm loving this quote: "run when you can, walk when you
have to, crawl if you must, just never give up." -via

what are you loving this week?
happy wednesday!

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linking up here

May 14, 2012

Twelve Days



count down begins
twelve days
me + josh
off to denver
a weekend away
the color run
can't wait
!!!

May 13, 2012

My Heart is Full


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I am so blessed!
Thank you so much sweet boy for the video and card you
made me for Mother's Day. SO precious!
Love both you and your Daddy!

May 10, 2012

Muffins and Flowers

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Wanted to share a picture of my pretty flowers Noah gave to me this week as a Mother's Day gift. I went up to his school Wednesday morning for "Muffins with Mom" and left with the sweetest pot of flowers in my hand. I just love the adorable flower pot Noah painted! He is quite the little artist I must say. Thank you sweet boy. I love my flowers!

May 09, 2012

Mommy and Baby Gruff

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daddy recently shared one of his favorite childhood books with noah:
the three billy goats gruff, and now noah can't get enough of it.
he loves it and wants to read it over and over again.

he's also taken to calling himself "baby gruff" while josh is
"daddy gruff" and i am "mommy gruff." of course, einstein is the
"yucky troll" who lives under the bridge. since we can't really knock einstein
off the bridge into the water, we have to resort to "hiding in the bushes,"
which are the closest sheets or blankets we can find.

so, here we are: mommy and baby gruff embracing the camera!


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May 08, 2012

What I'm Loving Wednesday

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the bloom theory-- stardust II
 i'll take one of these, please!

loving this quote:
 "pain doesn't tell you when you ought to stop. pain is
the little voice in your head that tries to hold you back because it knows
if you continue, you will change. don't let it stop you from being who
you can be. exhaustion tells you when you ought to stop. you only
reach your limit when you can go no further." -- via

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loving how yummy these low fat fudge brownies look--
no eggs, oil, or butter used!

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i have a love/hate relationship with jillian and her kickboxing video.
mostly i love it because she's giving me a good kick in
the rear and helping me get in shape.

absolutely loving katie herzig new album release the waking sleep
listen here on grooveshark

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May 07, 2012

Newest OSU Grad

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A big congrats to my brother, Matt, for graduating last
weekend with his degree in Architecture from Oklahoma State!

We are all so proud of you and all you've accomplished!
Can't wait to see what God has in store for you. 

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May 01, 2012

Yucky Chawwwms



April 30, 2012

Bye Bye Pull-Ups!

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Noah is officially potty trained! Yaaaay!
No more Pull-Ups for this guy at night. The past couple
of days he has slept through the night without a single
accident. I'm sure we will have a few "uh-ohs," here and
there, but so far, so good! He has done great!! We
are soooo proud of our big boy!

April 26, 2012

Currently

current blog i enjoy reading:
current playlist:
Paint A Face by Neil Halstead on Grooveshark
Never Be Daunted by Jaymay on Grooveshark

current color:

current food:
multi-grain cheerios

current favorite show(s):
mad men

current need:
for spring weather to stay a little
while longer. it's starting to get hot! ack!

current outfit:
wearing pajamas right now, but if i
could pick out any outfit from my pinterest
style boards to wear, i'd pick this one:

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current triumph:
ran my first 5k last saturday!

current bane of my existence:
mosquitoes

current favorite quote(s):
"listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no
matter what. if you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff when they
are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they are big,
because to them all of it has always been big stuff."

current #1 blessing:
having a swimming pool in walking
distance from our apartment 

current indulgence:
dang star-burst jelly beans
i have my mom to thank for that!

current excitement:
headed to stillwater, oklahoma next
friday to see my brother graduate from
architecture school. so proud of him!

current mood:
happy

current favorite product:
burt's bees lip shimmer guava
couldn't go a day without it

current wish list item:
chevron iphone cover-- love!
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April 25, 2012

Embrace the Camera

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swimming.
hot dogs on the grill.
beautiful weather.
a walk around the neighborhood.
spending time together as a family.
=
a pretty perfect ending to our wonderful day!

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April 23, 2012

Onesie Cuteness

I've been dying to share with you the adorable onesies my mom made recently!
In the next few weeks I will be attending a couple of baby showers, so
I called my mom and asked if she could come up with something cute.

 Goodness, did she pull out all the girly stops!
Pinks... frills... polka dots... ahhh so cute!

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I'll be set someday if we have a baby girl. :)

Thank you mom... so much!
You are amazing.

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April 17, 2012

The Past Two Months

Somehow this blog of mine gets pushed aside every couple of months. I so wish I were better at keeping up with it like I used to be, but sometimes I find myself needing a break. I wouldn't even say life has been all crazy and busy... it was just time to step back. But I gotta say, I missed my little ol' blog. And I missed, you, all my sweet readers who take the time to keep up with us.

So here's a quick attempt to catch up on what we've been up to lately ::

:: 
Noah is officially potty trained!!! Yay! He finally gave up his diapers on March 27th, and he's been in his big boy undies ever since. It's bittersweet. As happy as I am that we're out of diapers, I'm kind of sad about it too. There is no "baby" left in him. As for the training, it was totally a breeze. He was just ready. And we couldn't be more proud of him! He has done awesome!

:: I'm running my first 5k this Saturday {Josh ran his first one in March--and did really great by the way}!! I am so excited! Since January, Josh and I have been running using the Ease into 5k app. In the past, I've come close to completing it but never followed through. This time around, I finally did it! And I could have never done it without the support and push from Josh. There were many times I probably would have walked if Josh wasn't there encouraging me to keep going. And now, we are halfway through the Bridge to 10k app!! I'm so proud of us and what we've accomplished together. Being able to run together is a huge blessing, and it would not be possible without the huge support of Noah. He has been nothing but happy to ride in his stroller while we run. Always happy to ride along, never complaining how long it takes or how hot or cold it may be outside. He is a huge part of our success with running. And he will be there on Saturday at our run with my parents cheering us on as they walk the 5k themselves. It's going to be an exciting and fun weekend!

:: Noah loves to sing. If he's not singing, he's humming. It's so sweet. One song he loves to sing goes like this: "Pumpkin, pumpkin, round and fat, turn into a jack-o-lantern just like that!" It's a song my mom used to sing to me. Here is Noah's version of the song: "Pumpkin, pumpkin, round and fat, turn into a jack-o-lator just like that." It is the cutest thing ever. Josh and I always get tickled every time we hear "jack-o-lator."

:: We've been spending a lot of time at our pool already. The water is still a little chilly, but it has just been too beautiful lately not to go out and get some sun. I was thinking this might be the summer Noah learns to swim, but now I'm not so sure. He is pretty timid about getting too far into the water, so I think it's going to take more time then I thought. But that's okay. When he's ready, he will be ready. And when he does, I have no doubt he will be a little fishy in the water!

:: Noah totally loved dyeing eggs for the first time Easter night. We used Kool-Aid to color the eggs and they turned out so bright and colorful. I may or may not have eaten almost all the eggs since last Sunday. Hard boiled eggs are, as Dora the Explorer would say, "muy delicioso!"

:: I love Einstein, but a couple weeks ago I was about ready to ship him off to China. He brought ticks into our apartment, which quickly became infested with them. NASTY disgusting ticks. Gives me the chills just thinking about it again. One day Josh and I pulled fourteen {yes, fourteen!} ticks off Einstein. Every time we took him out to go potty, we had to check him for ticks before bringing him back in. And often, we'd still miss one and not notice it until it had sucked a gallon of blood from him. It was awful; I felt so bad for him. I'm not sure I've ever been so stressed out in my life trying to rid our house of ticks. I spent days cleaning our apartment top to bottom, spraying the house with anti-tick spray, and washing anything and everything that could possibly have been in contact with a tick. The worst was when I spotted a nest of tick eggs in my bathroom after our apartment was pretty much spotless. I had a panic attack that day... it was not pretty. Anyway, to make a long story short {because believe me, I could go on and on}, we haven't had any major problems with ticks lately, and I'm so unbelievably thankful.

:: Diet Snapple Peach Tea is my new obsession since I gave up Dr Pepper. It's some gooood stuff.

:: We had an awful outbreak of tornadoes a few weeks ago here in DFW, and it was just wild! Thankfully no one was hurt, but there was quite a lot of damage done. And this past Saturday I was up half the night worrying about all of my family in Oklahoma and Missouri with all the crazy tornadoes all over the place. Ugh! So ready for tornado season to be over!

Okay, so I guess I had more to share than I thought! I'll leave you with the sweetest face on this planet!

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February 18, 2012

When Noah Sleeps with Us

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Today I saw these funny pictures of what it's like to co-sleep with your baby/toddler, and Josh and I got a good laugh out of them because most of them are so true. Noah is a wild sleeper, so there are nights that get pre-tty uncomfortable. Snow Angels, H is for Hell, and Donkey Kong are three positions we often find ourselves in when Noah crawls in bed with us. But we wouldn't change it for anything; he's only little for so long. I know someday I'll miss these restless (and sometimes very uncomfortable) nights.

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*images from howtobeadad.com

February 17, 2012

Confetti Sunshine Winner!

okay. so sorry it has taken me forever to announce the winner of the confetti sunshine giveaway. my poor baby has strep and an ear infection, so i've been away from the computer for a couple days taking care of him. anyway, thank you for being so patient with me. :)

and the very lucky winner of the confetti sunshine giveaway is... laura who said, "how fun!! you know, of course, that i follow your blog!" congratulations my dear! so happy for you (and i must admit, a little jealous too!) email me to claim your prize!

a special thanks to sara for an awesome giveaway! if you haven't already, check out her adorable blog and shop.

happy weekend friends.
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February 14, 2012

February 11, 2012

Encouragement Cards

A few months ago, Noah and I participated in the Happy Day Project. You can read more about it here if you'd like, but basically, we had a task to complete each day to spread a little happiness to someone throughout the week.
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What an eye opening and awesome week it was. It is so easy to get caught up in what is going on in our own little world, and often we forget to reach out to those around us. I loved that Noah was able to help me with the project; it opened up opportunities for us to talk about loving people as well as giving with a happy heart. I want Noah to learn from a young age to look beyond himself and see that every day God gives us opportunities to share His love to people around us.

So where does Noah learn this? From the example his mommy and daddy set for him. Yep. God has entrusted us this precious child to teach him in the way he should go. It's a big responsibility. HUGE. I'm so thankful God is with us and that we aren't on our own when it comes to parenting (or with anything in life).

I was reminded of the Happy Day Project tonight when I came across this post sharing some adorable printable cards to give out to mommies who might need a little encouragement. I think it's such a great idea. I'll be heading over to Kinko's first chance I get to print off a stack of these cutesy cards to keep with me. Go get yourself some too!

"Let us encourage each other daily, as long as it is still called Today..." Hebrews 3:13

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image above created by photo card boutique