Photo Booth Fun

We had such an amazing time at Sam & Vanessa's wedding this weekend!

They had a photo booth, and I just LOVE how our photos turned out!

My favorite favorite favorite! :)

Can't wait until we get to see all the photos from the day!  

S & V Getting Married

Tomorrow is a BIG DAY.

Tomorrow Sam is going to marry Vanessa! 

He will have a WIFE! She will have a HUSBAND! He will BE a husband! 

How crazy is this!?! :)

He's the best, V - you are one lucky lady.

Okay, okay, and it goes without saying that he is a 

lucky LUCKY man for landing a beauty like you. 

You two bring out the best in each other. Sam is truly happy and I know he has found the one that God made for him. :)

Love you both! Can't wait to stand by you as you 

commit your lives to each other and the Lord!!

WHOO HOO!!!!

Recycled Post about my Ridiculousness

You guys - I just re-read a post I wrote in November 2010, and oh my word. I am so ridiculous. 

For those of you who weren't following the blog then, I've decided to Tell On Myself again!!

Be sure to come back and comment - PLEASE out-do me with your own story! :)

BF/GF Time :)

Last week, Jack and I headed over to Alex & Leighton's house to go for a walk! The kiddos were hanging out on the floor together and Leighton tried to give Jack a smooch! :)

Check out this sweet little video:

Here's Alex with Baby L about to fall asleep!

And I stopped to take this photo because Jack was sleeping, and as soon as I stopped moving he woke up like "Hey Ma - why'd we stop?"

We walked almost 2 miles but it didn't feel like it at all! 

Now, we just need to do it like 3x a week for it to count as exercise...

Pottery Party

On Saturday night, all of Vanessa's bridesmaids got together at River City Pottery to spend time together and paint pottery! It was so much fun! 

I painted a little bowl to set my jewelry in in the bathroom. :)

And here's everyone's all together!

We had a blast and can't wait to stand next to Vanessa at the wedding THIS Saturday!!!!

Fun with (Pregnant) Friends

A week or so ago, Bonnie, her mom Cindy, and Grandmother Cox came over with Patricia to see Jack! Bonnie and Ben are expecting a little boy in August! We are so excited for them! Jack and their baby Brycen will be best buddies, always playing at family outings. :)

And another little boy that's coming even sooner is Ashley & Mike's baby Hank! Ashley is due at the end of April, so Hank could be here anytime now! They are going to be the best parents! We love hanging out with them and can't wait until they join us in the world of parenthood. 

Can't wait to meet Baby Hank and Baby Brycen! 

Easter 2012

This year we had Easter at my Uncle Steve and Aunt Holly's house in Trenton. Their neighborhood and house was badly damaged in the storms last April, and this was the first time we had been there since they have rebuilt. The whole neighborhood looks so different - we missed their house and drove right by! They used to be by a HUGE wooded area, which is now all gone. They have done a ton of work and it really looks wonderful. Bonus - the view of the mountains from their back porch is amazing!

Here's little man with Mimi.

"Suave" Uncle Nick, soon to be sister-V and my big bro Sammy.

Sweet hubby Jason and "I'm-making-a-silly-face-at-Jack" Poppy

My Great Uncle Lee, his wife Carolyn, Aunt Holly, Uncle Steve, Mom and Jack

Jack with Mamaw!

(Matt, my cousin, and his girlfriend Natalie had already left by the time I whipped out the camera.)

Sam has a mustache app on his phone and Nick was making everyone laugh while using it!

Nick is an awesome golfer and he and Uncle Lee were out back "talkin' shop".

After a yummy meal, it was time for some bubbles! Unfortunately the wind was blowing hard in the wrong direction, so they just kept coming back in my face instead of towards Jack!

Then Daddy gave it a go.

And this, one of my favorite sequences of pictures - Jason was tickling Jack's neck and he was SQUIRMING!! It was so cute!

And finally, a sweet photo of our family of 3! 

(compared to last year!)

Happy Easter everyone!!

Pantry: Before & After

At the end of March, I found out about a show called Clean Freaks (link to the whole show!) on HGTV that featured one of my very favorite blogs, iHeartOrganizing! I recorded it and I literally watched is 4 or 5 times. I was INSPIRED! 

My house was a wreck... cluttered and not clean, but this was the kick in the pants I needed to change that. I knew I had the time to do it, I just had to have the drive! I set a few realistic goals and one of them was to organize our pantry. 

Here is the before:

I had already pulled almost everything out of the bottom left before I thought "Hey, I should probably take a BEFORE picture..." There were 2 boxes of oatmeal, a box of Ritz crackers, a box of Club crackers, a cake mix & frosting, a brownie mix, a few packs of crackers, etc. etc. etc. 

Then the whole right side only has one shelf where we keep the spices and our medicines, and all our extra plastic bags. The bottom houses Dash's dog food, and a few stockpile items.

Now, before I got started on all this (and after seeing some of the AMAZING pantries on Clean Freaks - swoon!) I made a list of all the see-through containers I needed to buy to make my pantry into what it needed to be. Then when I actually started, I decided that once I decluttered and organized it, THEN I would decide what extra containers I needed.

Here's the after:

The bottom left has a little green basket full of oatmeal packets (rather than the boxes), and in the middle is a basket holding the sleeves of crackers (instead of all the boxes). Everything else is just reorganized a little bit on the left side and it looks and feels so much better! Then on the right side, I found the green container for $7 bucks at Walmart and filled it with the stockpile items on the bottom and the bags in the top drawer. 

So all in all I spent $7 on this little before and after! 

I may get some more see through containers at some point, 

but for now, it makes me happy every time I open it. :)

Have you done any spring cleaning projects?

(I know Alex has!)

Right Now... :'(

I wrote this last night in a bit of an emotional state. At 10:00pm after almost 2 hours of him crying and trying to get him to go to sleep, I decided to feed him some cereal and fruit and would you know it, the kid was starving! I had tried to nurse him and he wouldn't eat, so I assumed he wasn't hungry, but I think that was the whole issue. He slept from 10:30 to 2:30 (4 hrs.), nursed and then went to sleep at 3am and JUST WOKE UP (6 hrs.)!! YAY!! 


I still wanted to share my thoughts below, because if you're a mommy, I'm sure you know how I felt last night.

Right now:

Jack is sooooobbing. Like uncontrollably sobbing. We are having night #2 of HORRIBLE sleep and it's only 9:30.

Last night he went to bed at 8 or so, then woke up at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, 4:00, then up for the day about 7:45. My oh my. What a terrible night it was... And then tonight, he went down at 7:30 (earlier than usual) and slept until 8:30 and has been awake and crying on and off for an hour now.

Usually things are butterflies and roses over here (truly! we are so blessed!) but I am feeling quite discouraged tonight. I know "this too shall pass", but right now, it's feeling heavy.

In the last few months, Jack has been sick on and off, so while he was sick, I would cuddle and love on him until he fell asleep, because I didn't want him to cry too much. Then as soon as he would get over one thing, he would get something else. Last week he had double ear infections and took antibiotics until Easter, so theoretically he should be better. Theoretically I should be able to let him cry it out now, so that he learns how to put himself to sleep without me. Theoretically.

But he has been SCREAMING again for another 10 minutes while I write this, so I'm going back to try to comfort him. Please say a quick prayer. I know this isn't a huge deal in comparison to so much that is going on, but it is SO TOUGH right now.

Thanks friends.

Easter: This Year vs. Last Year

Let's take a quick look at Easter 2011 and Easter 2012:

I'd say it's been a pretty great year. :)

Jackson's Easter Pictures

The amazing Becca Rocha strikes again! :) 

Thank you so much for capturing these sweet shots of our little Jack! 

Happy Easter everyone!!