Hoppy Easter!

Our First Easter weekend with our little munchkin was so fun! Our Auntie Amy drove all the way from Mississippi to see us, so that was extra special....

That's right....just look how pretty she is....

                             

So Greyson, me and Auntie Amy hopped around town shopping, ordering Bridesmaid dresses and such. We also did our own little Easter photo shoot with 'Lil G. (Since this was a homemade photo shoot this DOES NOT count towards the 4 photo shoots per year I get as mentioned in previous post.)

We had a great time, but honestly, I don't know how newborn/baby photographers do it. Greyson was a moving target but we got some great shots. (These are unedited. If I waited until I edited photos, Greyson would be 21.)

I just wanna caption this: "I don't always take Easter photos, but when I do, I hold a stuffed lamb."

Easter day was actually chilly and rainy. Trying to get all three of us dressy-dressed and out the door to church was like a four alarm fire drill. We snapped this pic on the way out the door and it's not our greatest. But I slapped a filter on it and "softened" it up a little bit. Hopefully we are more successful next year. But I doubt it. Greyson will be one and a half and probably running around like a banshee refusing to even wear pants, much less a bowtie.

I snapped this at church.  My boys looked SO HANDSOME! 

Hope you Easter was a Hoppy One!!! 

Friday Favorites

Today I'm linking up with Erika for Friday Favorites!!! Here are some of my random favorite moments from this week!

ONE

Nothing kicks of a good blog post like some darlin' baby photos, right? Here are a few of my favorite snapshots this week! 

Greyson was very excited that his Daddy was on the way home. (My dramatic rendition of Ole McDonald had a Farm probably also had something to do with it....)

Greyson was "helping" me fold clothes. He looks guilty because he had just pulled down a stack of bibs. 

And this might be an all time favorite. We were at a play date on Thursday and I loved G's outfit, so told my friend, Jorie to snap a picture. She was desperately trying to make him laugh/smile, so she made this hilarious pig noise and it obviously worked. Thank you Aunt Jorie for sacrificing your dignity to get my child to smile.

TWO
Speaking of photos of the babe, my sister and I did a DARLING Easter photo shoot of Greyson. (That's a whole 'nother post!) So Jeremie was telling me on the way home from church on Sunday that he's gonna train Greyson to hate taking pictures. I quickly made my stand for photo shoots. I argued that as much POOP, PEE and other bodily fluids that I clean up for that babe should earn me at LEAST 4 photo shoots per year: Christmas, Easter, Birthday, and a Wild Card. (This of course does not include random cell phone pics.) Jeremie still thinks this is ridiculous but I'm holding my ground. 

THREE
My favorite mommy moment is actually a chaotic moment that I'm laughing about now but wasn't laughing about then! Even though my little guy looks like a sweet cherub in the above pictures, he did give mommy dearest somewhat of a hard time this week. Child decided he was gonna skip his afternoon naps ALL WEEK even though he was a HOT MESS in need of an afternoon nap! It wore me out! Anyway, riding in the car does make him sleep, so during Wednesday's hissy fit, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and load him up to go pick up Manny from doggy daycare. Sure enough, the little mister fell asleep and I figured I'd milk the nap as long as I could, so I went to Sonic to waste some time and get a Strawberry Limeade. I was pretty much planning on getting my drink, and perhaps even leaning my seat back and enjoying a few quiet moments before the witching hour. Well, the Sonic boy skated up to my window with such ferver that it sent Manny into panic mode and he started barking like crazy. Cue Greyson and his wailing. I just wanted to cry at that moment. Now I laugh.

FOUR
. Listen. I've had stressful full time jobs. But as a mom, there’s something about that moment at the end of the day when you're watching a SLEEPING baby on the monitor and you finally get to sit back, relax, and have a moment all to yourself! I celebrate this small victory every night with a yummy treat. Most nights, it's a Swiss Miss K-cup.  This week has been caramel Cadbury eggs, and tonight were these YUMMY mini-pies from Trader Joes! HELLO.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Show and Tell Tuesday: Favorite Vacation Ever!

Today I'm linking up again with Mix and Match Mama and Momfessionals to share my favorite vacation ever!!!  

My hubby and I LOOOVE to travel! Other than our honeymoon and a mission trip to Nicaragua, we haven't done too many trips outside of the US. There are several overseas places I wanna see, but I feel like there are SO many amazing and beautiful places within good ole America too!  Jeremie and I also like to pack up for the weekend and go on small getaways to places that are close to home. (Well, we did PRE-baby....I'm sure they will increase once Greyson gets a little more mobile and a little less dependent on 3,541 contraptions that we have to take with us. Look-I know there's some people out there who throw the baby in the car and go..more power to ya. But listen.....when you need the Rock-n-play, the pack-n-play, the enormous infant stroller, the pump, the activity gym....packing for a weekend getaway takes longer than being at our actual destination.)

Anyway-there are different parts of each trip that are my "favorite". The trip to Nicaragua was the most humbling. The garlic rolls at this pizza place in Gatlinburg were probably the yummiest thing I've ever eaten. The Biltmore was the most beautiful home I've ever seen and the charm of Maine is unmatched!

But I think my favorite vacation overall/in general was our 2013 vacation to Wyoming. This trip was broken up into 3 parts: Jackson Hole, Yellowstone National Park, and The Grand Tetons. (Full blog in links.)  I loved this vacation so much because it was SOOO relaxing. (Like, our cell phones would barely work.) Since there is SO much to see up there, I definitely did LOTS of research about how to break our trip up and where to stay, but other than that, everything else was really off the cuff. (I usually have a pretty detailed itinerary including restaurants we will eat at!) We landed, rented a car, and pretty much drove around for an entire week seeing the beauty of the surroundings. We actually put 1,000 miles on the rental car!

Jackson Hole was darling and had some AMAZING places to eat, Yellowstone was breathtaking and so were the Grand Tetons. In the Grand Tetons, we stayed on a horse ranch and our room was right next to this precious little cafe. We ate BLT's with this view.

Here are some more of my favorites......

So you get it.....it was amazing and a perfect trip for us during that time of our lives. Excited to see what our next vacation has in store!

No Joke: Today I Met the Man I'm Gonna Marry.....

TEN YEARS ago that is. That's right, 10 years ago today, on April Fool's Day 2005 I met Jeremie. (And he says EVERY TIME "And it's been a joke ever since"...) 

I was 20 years old when I met J, which put him at 25 which I quickly told him was OLD. Good first impression right? Geez, you can say anything when you're 20.....Or maybe you're just much braver at 20 than the rest of your life. When I met Jeremie, I clearly had NO idea or intention he would be my future husband. If you had told us that day: "You're gonna marry each other", we probably would've laughed.  Not for any particular reason; both of us just didn't really think much of our chance meeting. Well low and behold, we kept running into each other and Jeremie decided he wasn't too old for me and kept asking my roomate (who he grew up with) for my number. (He will deny all this, but this is MY blog and I will report the TRUTH!) I kept brushing it off until one night he straight up cornered me and I spouted out my number so fast I thought surely he wouldn't remember it. Homeboy did. He was smarter than I thought. (Duh, he married me, remember?) And I'll never forget our first phone call. Late one night, I was changing my safari themed sheets (ya'll KNOW giraffes were totally IN circa 2004-2006) and we chatted for over an hour. I hung up and thought: Now that boy actually has a personality....and is interesting....and I loved the sound of his laugh.

The glory days with my darlin'

What started out as a great friendship turned into a love. I knew I loved Jeremie very quickly. But listen. Our "courtship" wasn't the easiest or quickest. After he whisked away to Costa Rica for the summer then New York for a 6 month internship there were lots of tears, tough conversations and long months! But those times strengthened us and finally one day in the Fall of 2006 he told me he wanted to take me RING SHOPPING! I casually agreed while I mentally picked out the perfect ring shopping outfit and immediately called Meg and Mary to SCREAM this news to them over the phone. How I wish I could replay those days like a movie!

So here we are! A few moves and a baby later! Who know April Fool's Day would be one of the BEST days of my life!

Texas Tulips!

The weather this weekend was GORGEOUS so I really wanted to get the fam out to do something fun. (Actually, last weekend was pretty nice too and Jeremie chose a family outing to the local BBQ joint.....see where our priorities lie...well, it was pretty awesome....) 

So my friend had told me about this tulip farm about 30 minutes north of us so we decided to check it out.  And OH MY STARS at the gorgeous field of flowers. Ladies. Is this not every girls dream. A photo shoot a midst a field of tulips. 

Is this not the sweetest thing you've ever seen???? My boys. My heart.

You were able to pick the tulips for a small fee of $2.50 per flower, so J put me on a budget before we got started! ; )

Greyson seemed to enjoy the outing as much as he enjoys any other outing like the grocery store or the mall....with the expectation that he is getting milk within the next 3 hours.  But we sure did have a blast getting our little family out in the warm sunshine after a bitter end to the cold winter!

Maybe our tulip pickin' will be an annual tradition!

Show & Tell Tuesday: (But It's Thursday)...Most Embarrassing Moment

Okay, so our internet has been jacked up ALL week, so I'm finally able to post this.  A couple weeks ago, I decided to link up with Shay Shull's blog with a series called Show and Tell Tuesdays. I've really enjoyed it, and I've never linked up before, so here goes.  

Of course, my FIRST time to join this series was the day we were supposed to report our most embarrassing moment EVER.

Unfortunately, I have MULTIPLE embarrassing moments from busting my rear doing the “Cotton Eye Joe” at our school dance to accidentally sending my boss an email invite to my lingerie shower. BUT, my MOST embarrassing moment happened in 8^th Grade.

Eighth grade was by FAR my favorite! Namely because I made the 8^th grade showchoir, which was something that I’d been looking forward to since 6^th grade.  Our group was called the “Showstoppers”, (doesn’t that just make you wanna do jazzhands right now?) and the day I looked forward to my WHOLE 8^th grade life was the day the Showstoppers got to do an “exhibition performance” for the entire school.  THIS MEANT that I got to wear my flashy blue showchoir dress, hair, and stage makeup to school.  LADIES. You know how big this was. It also meant that I got to show off my MOVES to the whole school, specifically, my first boyfriend at the time. And when I say moves, I DO mean jazz hands and box steps. 

So my dad dropped me off at the crosswalk and I proudly threw on my fake Jansport (because my parents refused to pay $40 for a bookbag) and headed to the 8^th grade area where we waited before the bell rang. To add MORE excitement, I had to walk through the 7^TH GRADE area to get there, which is where my boyfriend was standing since he was a grade below me. I gave it my BEST 8^th grade strut. My boyfriend was staring. My BFF/neighbor (who was also best buds with my boyfriend) was staring. Heck, the whole 7^th grade was staring. I KNOW. Because I was looking smokin’ hot. (And by smokin’ hot, I mean a mouth full of braces, the layered “Rachel” haircut, and blue eye shadow to match my blue dress. DUH.) It was the best moment of my life to date.

When I made it to the 8^th grade area, my dear girlfriends said “KATIE!!! Your dress is completely pulled up and stuck to your bookbag!!!!” They immediately pulled my dress down to cover my already advertised bum. I DIED. WANTED TO DIE.  Granted, I had the bloomers on, but YA’LL. I had just strutted my stuff across campus like it was New York Fashion week.

I had NO interest in performing for the school that day. And between my friends' and neighbor’s CONSTANT jokes, I PAID for my vanity that day. Maybe it was the darn fake Jansport. Bet the real Jansport wouldn’t have pulled it up.

So that’s it! We are human…..we ALL have them! Be brave and share YOUR most embarrassing moment!

And coming up on Show and Tell Tuesdays......

February Fun

February has come and gone but it was a pretty fabulous month! Here are a few highlights.

1) We had our first Valentine's Day with our new little cupid. 

My little family.

TELL ME this isn't the most darlin little valentine you've ever seen!!!

2) We moved Greyson to his crib.

This is actually a picture of him napping in his crib. It's been too dark to get a good shot of him all swaddled up and sleeping at night. And mamas know-ain't NO WAY I'll risk wakin' up a sleeping baby by shining a light in his face. Even for a cute picture.

P.S. For all you people about to private message me about not putting anything in his crib with him to sleep---I DON'T put anything in there at night, but while he naps, I'm watching the monitor and these are his comfort items.

The transition to the crib was not that hard. Greyson already slept great in his bassinet, but he was at the weight limit for it, so we had to move him to the crib. At the advice of my sister-in-law, I had already moved the bassinet across the room for a few weeks so I "weaned" myself off of having him right next to me. The little monster makes some CRAY-ZEE noises in his sleep, so I admit that I am probably sleeping better too.

Greyson likes to fall asleep to a good book.

The activity gym is his main squeeze for entertainment.

3) Nona came to visit!

Couldn't tear these two apart. I was afraid she was gonna stuff him in her carry-on.

4) My sister got engaged! 

Her fab fiance, Adam, surprised her with the SWEETEST proposal on Valentine's Day. He had these signs made up and wrapped in a box. She started pulling the signs out and by the time she put it all together and was freaking out, she turned around and he was on one knee. For REAL. And he secretly videoed it on his Go Pro. YA'LL. It should be a Go Pro commercial. It was the most darlin' thing. So was the ROCK he put on her finger. Brother did GOOD.

So coincidentally, Amy already had a plane ticket to come to Dallas a day early before a work expo she had here last week. So we happened to squeeze in some dress shopping and she happened to say YES to the dress!!!! Greyson and I LOVED being the peanut gallery. (Yes, I was THE person that brought their baby to a bridal store, but I really didn't have a choice. Greyson was perfection and we made it through the appointment without a meltdown or blowout or spit-up on the Casablancas. Praise the Lord.) I might have enjoyed shopping for Amy's wedding dress more than my own because there was NO pressure! She looked amazing and is going to be a beautiful bride!

If you are are shopping for a wedding dress in Dallas Lulu's Bridal is AMAZING.

5) We went to Oklahoma for Jeremie's birthday!

On Friday, we loaded up for our second annual birthday trip to Broken Bow, Oklahoma for J's birthday. We barely made it out of town as the snow started coming down in Dallas! 

J's ideal birthday celebration is getting out of town where no one can find him and just relaxing. Last year, we found these perfect little cabins in the woods with complete furnished kitchens. So we went to the grocery store when we got there and hunkered down in the cabin all weekend. It was perfect because it was snowing there too! So we cooked, sat by there fire, played in the snow and sat in the hot tub! (Well of course, Greyson did not get in the hot tub.) It's so funny, because last year during this trip, we had JUST found out that we were pregnant! Our family still didn't know, and that very weekend, my parents were jokingly (but seriously) sending us text messages about making a baby! HA! Well, one year later...the secret's sure out now! 

My three boys

Greyson's first snowman!

Our cabin in the snow

One necessary component of Jeremie's birthday is a cookie cake. Not a homemade one. Not one from Kroger. Trust me, I've tried both options. It MUST come from the Great American Cookie Company in the mall.  LISTEN. When I called and ordered the cake from the good ole cookie company, I warned the employee on the other end of the phone that I was going to spell out the name, because it was different. From her lackadaisical response, I had absolutely NO faith that this would turn out right. But I have a four month old. And I don't have time to spell my hubby's name 76 times over the phone. And I was right. This is how the cake turned out.

Phonetically, it works.

6) We had our four month shots!

That's right. Our little nugget turned FOUR months, so that meant the dreaded shots. Little man did so good though! I just got the biggest kick out of all his rolls in the mirror at the doctor's office!!! With it being so cold, the only time I really have him undressed is to bathe and then I'm in a rush to get him back in clothes to stay warm. This is cracked me up. Chunky monkey!

And that's it for February! We enjoyed the wintry weather and snow days that Jeremie got to stay home, but I'm happy to welcome some sunshine and warm weather in March!