Five on Friday!

1. I can't believe that Christmas is next week!! Agh! Where has December gone? The festivities for Christmas start this weekend in the our household. Jason's dad and stepmom are coming up for the weekend and then my family will head in on Tuesday! I can't wait!


2. E went to her first cookie decorating party this past weekend. I think she enjoyed eating the frosting more than actually decorating the cookie. It was still a good time to spend with my good friend, Jessica and have the kids play together.

Decorating? No mommy. Eating. Eating it is much better. 

3. Speaking of Christmas parties, I'm supposed to go to a cookie party this afternoon when E wakes up from her nap. We are supposed to bring a cookie for exchanging,  and I'm bringing a cookie dough truffle. Bonus: it's dairy free!! Hopefully it turns out good.

4. I met a good friend at Chick Fil A for lunch this week for her birthday. E could see the playground from her seat and talked about it the entire time we were trying to eat. After we ate, we took our kids into the play area. I thought for sure that E wouldn't be able to crawl up the steps and would end up playing on the floor. Nope. She took off and was up to the top so fast and had a grand ol' time.  Where did my baby go?!?!

5. I know that there was a you tube video going around Facebook of Pentatonix doing an acapella version of Little Drummer Boy. I liked it so much that I ordered the CD of iTunes. It did not disappoint.  Little Drummer Boy really isn't one of those Christmas songs that I particularly like but I have to admit it's my 2nd favorite song on this CD. Right behind Holy Night. 

Hope you guys have a fabulous weekend! I'll be back tomorrow to share our Christmas card!

Icemaggedon/Ice Apocalypse 2013

So I don't know if you heard but the DFW area had an ice storm last Friday which left everyone stuck in their house for at least 3 days. I love some good winter weather. I may have been the only one squealing with glee on Thursday night as I heard the ice hitting the windows. I seriously don't belong in this town..hehe.

Playing with a doll she saw at the store

 On Thursday morning I went to the grocery to stock up on food so we could have meals until at least the following Tuesday because I knew in a matter of hours the Dallas peeps were going to freak out like the world was ending and clear out the stores =). Good thing I did because this is still the bread aisle as of yesterday at Target. Goodness gracious.



The roads were so bad and covered with ice that Jason didn't go to work on Friday or Monday!!! So we enjoyed a nice little staycation couped up in our house together as a family. We had so much fun. I think E enjoyed all the time she got to spend with her daddy. In fact she keeps asking for him during the day now. It's so sweet.

Our front yard. That may look like snow but it is solid ice. I almost busted several times walking down to the sidewalk area to get a picture of our house.

Jason's car covered in ice

View from our kitchen window

There was little bit a stir crazyness had by all of us  by the 4th day but for the most part I enjoyed being forced to not be on the go all the time and stop and enjoy what is most important - family. 

We had our own make shift water table on the kitchen floor. She had lots of fun with that.

We stayed in our pajamas all day on this particular day and it was nothing short of awesome. 

Being silly with the kitchen bowls that we like to use for hats on most days

Playing with her obsession - scarves

Getting a ride on her bike with her daddy

I even had time to play with my chalkboard sign a bit and do this little saying on it. Not the greatest but I will be doing another one soon anyway. =)

PLUS!! I did a whole bunch of online shopping and except for a few stocking stuffers for Elyanah and ordering Jason's present I have everybody's Christmas presents DONE!!!! I even snagged this shirt for myself because it was major on sale at JCrew Factory, and I had to finish using a gift card there. So it cost me a whopping $5! 

15 months!

Wow I can't believe we are a quarter of the way through your 2nd year! Another month full of changes and fun. I am amazed at how much you are learning and picking up every day. You are so smart!

Here's what you did this last month:

- You are saying more words. Some words this month: Scarf (card), slide (lide), tickle (cle), soft, Mandisa (DIA!), cheese, car, no, eat (eee),  night night -
I know there are others but I just can't remember them all.

- You love to pray. We pray before meals and before you go to bed but now you want to pray all the time. It is so cute.

- Have this cute little sound that you make for the train. It's so so adorable.

- You love to put my scarves on. You are obsessed with them. You drape yourself in them, lie on them,  and carry them around. You just love them.

- You love to be tickled. You will ask to be tickled and bring my hands toward your stomach. You also have these tickle monster hand mittens that you bring to me to put on and then you run away from me so that I can chase you and tickle you!

- You have been enjoying the park when the weather has been nice. You love it. I say the word park and you immediately start saying "slide!" You can now go down the slide by yourself in the toddler section of the park.

- You are OBSESSED with the Mandisa song Overcomer. You request it first thing when you wake up and all day every day! You will say "Dia!" and get so excited when it comes on. It is on repeat at our house.

- You said your first 2 word phrase "More dia" (More Mandisa) Like I said obsessed with that song.



- You know call us Mommy and Daddy and it is the sweetest thing my ears have ever heard.

- You have started to put your hands up in the air when I ask you where something has gone and then start looking around for it intensely.

- You like to go to doors in the house that are closed and knock on them and "kna kna" (knock, knock)

- You have discovered the word no and are starting to say it for everything.

- Have started to recognize your mom and dad in photos

- You still love to dance and love music. You really love for us to hold you and dance around the room with you.

- You are shy at first in new situations and new people. You will grab a hold of me or put your head on me for security and slowly venture out away from me after several minutes.

- You are doing much better with being soft with Lucye and with us.

- You are a mommy's girl right now. You want me all the time. I know there will be a day that won't always be the case so I'm soaking it up as much as I can.

- When we are looking at picture books, you will point to things when we ask you where they are but if we ask you something that you don't know the name of, you will grab our hand and make us point to the object. Ha!

- Will do this little gasp when I ask you questions that make you really excited. "Do you want a snack?" Do you want to go to the park? etc.

- You still love your Uncle Jordan and will follow him to his room when he comes home from school. You love to be around him when he is at home.

- Like to have the blinds open in the kitchen while you eat. I think its because you like to see cars drive by or see what is going on in our neighborhood.

- You finally got a third tooth!

- You finished your second month of swim lessons. You love being in the water. You don't cry when you go underwater at all.

- Still taking 2 naps a day and going to bed around 7:30 although you don't fall asleep until closer to 8.

- You weigh 24 pounds 10 ounces (88%) and are 31 inches (68%).

My sweet precious girl. We love you!!

*Sorry for the long blogging hiatus, With the Thanksgiving holiday and then a sick little girl, I didn't have much time to blog. I have a lot to catch up on.*

Five On Friday!

Yay for Fridays!! Especially cold ones! I'm linking up today with Darci, April, Natasha, and Christina for Five on Friday!


1. So I got an early Christmas present bought for me earlier this week. They were 20% off at Nordstroms and I knew they had to be mine. These babies are headed to my doorstep by the end of the day today. I'm excited because it's supposed to rain on Monday and you better believe I will be wearing them.

2. I am now fully accepting my obsession with scarves. I don't know why it took me so long to discover them but I think they are awesome. They can dress up any outfit. E loves them too and loves to walk around with my scarves all day in the house. Here are just a couple of scarves that I have had my eye on (both from Nordstrom).

3. Speaking of obsessions, E has an obsession with the song Overcomer by Mandisa. We listen to it about 500 times a day. She asks for it when she wakes up in the morning, when she wakes up from a nap and pretty much every waking hour of the day. She even asked for it this morning when I was trying to put her back to sleep because she woke up too early. She had her eyes closed and she yelled out "DIA!"(Mandisa). True story. I think it is absolutely adorable.

4. I can't wait for Thanksgiving next week. We are having it at our house this year. So ready to watch the parade and bake and bake and bake. I plan to make mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie etc. Anything else I'm missing? What are some yummy foods that your family makes every year?

5. Our Christmas decorations are going up this weekend! It's cold outside and there are only 3 weeks after Thanksgiving before Christmas so I want to enjoy it as much as I can. The tree won't be going up until I get a safety gate to go around it but it's already ordered and on its way =).

Happy Friday everyone!

Galveston Vacation - Part 1

So at the end of September, we went to Galveston on a little family trip. ( I know it's almost been 2 months - oh well).  We went for a little three day weekend and it was so nice to get away with our little family. We left on a Thursday night after Jason got off work and stayed until Sunday.

Now when I made reservations to go to Galveston I thought the end of September would be a great time because it wouldn't be too hot but still warm enough we could still enjoy the outdoors. EXCEPT it rained 90% of the time that we were there ALL WEEKEND!! Oh well =). We made the most of it and still had lots of fun.

We woke up on Friday and I enjoyed this view from our balcony. We rented a condo right on the Seawall. We were in the back of the complex but it was still a great view even with the drizzle rain.

After lunch, we decided to go to the aquarium in Galveston. I took some pictures of the beautiful ocean while we were on our way.

Pretty right? 

We had an absolute blast at the aquarium and it was all because of the pure joy that E showed at every exhibit. I will remember this outing for as long as I live. She was just so excited. There was an exhibit with seals that we could go underneath to see them swimming and she kept pointing to the seals and squealing and screaming and yelling. There was even another little girl watching them, and E turned towards the girl and in her yelling and pointing you could just tell she was trying to tell the girl how awesome this was. Most. Adorable. Thing. Ever.

Just insert some squeals and yelling and you can get a sense of the excitement that E had

In front of the penguins because her mom loves penguins and so its obligatory

In the shark cage

After E's afternoon nap, we decided to go walk along the seawall for a bit since it wasn't rainy and the sky was clear. However, when we decided to do this about 10 minutes away from the condo, it started to get really windy and the clouds started rolling in again. We turned around but we still got caught in the down pour. It was pretty funny. Don't worry, Edidn't get wet at all because she was covered in her stroller.

This was after we got caught in the rain and finally made it to cover at the condo

Some more pictures of the waves on our stroll. The waves were looking rough. 

The rest of the night we hung out at the condo and Jason and I watched a movie after E went to bed. 

Cutie pie before bedtime

I'll be back on Saturday for Part 2. Tomorrow is Five on Friday day! Yay!

Toddler thoughts at the park

 That was really fast. Let's do it again. 

How do I get off this thing? 

How many pictures are you going to take momma? 

This shirt of mine is really good. 

I wonder if I will have a throne like this when I marry Prince George like momma talks about

Yelling in the tunnel was fun. It echoes. 

Must do squats. Feel the burn 

There are a lot of sticks here. It may take a while to put them all on this bench. 

FIve On Friday!

It's Friday and it's November! How did it get to be November people? It's going to be Thanksgiving before we know it!

1. I have been a lover of the Boston Red Sox since I went to a game at Fenway Park on a high school choir trip in 2000. I can still remember where I was on the day they won their first World Series since 1918 in 2004. And now..they have won 3 titles in the last 10 years. That makes my heart happy!

2. We dressed E up in her costume last night and took her to two of our neighbors' houses. We didn't really want candy but just wanted others to see her in her cute costume. Is she not the cutest bee ever? She even can do the sound effect of a bee.

3. So I read the book Allegiant that I talked about two weeks ago and well, I was so MAD about the ending!!! I almost threw the book across the room. I won't spoil it but it was not how I expected it to be and 4 days after finishing it, I'm still upset about it!

4. So now that Halloween is over, it's time for Christmas music!! I love Christmas music and would listen to it all year if people wouldn't look at me so weird. Anyways, I always like to get one or two Christmas CDs to add to my collection every year. Does anyone have any good suggestions? I was thinking maybe the Duck the Halls album or Kelly Clarkson's album. Thoughts?!

5. We have no plans this weekend!! We haven't had a weekend in awhile that we didn't have at least one thing on the agenda, and I think sometimes having nothing to do is a good thing. I think I will use this time to clean the house, hang some pictures on the wall, and spend time with my family! 

Hope you have a good weekend!