4th of July Plans

Can you believe the 4th of July is a week from Monday? Where is the summer going? Here are some super cute ideas for your 4th of July cookout -

These cute holders are tin cans covered in scrapbook paper A Thoughtful Place

Marshmallow pops! I'm so making these for a cookout we'll be attending A Thoughtful Place

Mason jars filled with sand. Mason jars just say "summer" to me and they have so many uses! A Thoughtful Place

And let's not forget patriotic attire for the little ones! I love this jon jon from Jolly Rompers. Beckett would look precious in it!

And what summer is complete without the $5 flag tee from Old Navy? Brady already has his!

Making my list and checking it twice

Christmas Eve is a week from tomorrow! Have you finished your Christmas shopping? I have! I have! I'm just waiting on a couple of things to be delivered to my doorstep so I can wrap them and send them off, but that's it.

I've learned that Christmas with a 5 year old is so much fun! He's counting down the days and is so excited to see what Santa will leave under the tree. Here are a few of the things at the top of his list............

Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash - This is funny because he's never been a boy big into cars, but he's been begging for this! In fact, I heard him tell a friend today "I'm getting Criss Cross Crash for Christmas!"

Imaginext Air Craft Carrier - We've had a number of Imaginext toys before and they've always been wonderful, so I expect nothing less of this one.

Despicable Me DVD - We saw this in the theater and I honestly thought it was better than Toy Story 3. Brady thought so, too. :)

Star Wars Lego book - Brady has checked this out from the library numerous times and I think he would be completely crushed if Santa didn't bring it. Good thing Santa bought it weeks ago!

S'Mores Kit

Wouldn't these be a cute gift for that friend who has everything?




From Twig and Thistle

Peppermint Pretzel Wands

How adorable are these? They just may find their way on my baking list for next weekend!

Peppermint Pretzel Wands

Yield: Makes about 2 dozen.

Ingredients
· 10 oz. vanilla candy coating
· 9-oz. package of large stick pretzels (about 8 1/2
· red and green mint candies, crushed

Preparation
Melt candy coating in a microwave-safe 2-cup measuring cup on high power (100%) one to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until smooth. Dip each pretzel into candy coating to cover half of pretzel. Sprinkle with crushed candies. Stand each pretzel, coated side up, in a glass until candy coating hardens.

It's November 18th. Have you ordered your Christmas cards yet?

It’s November 18th. Have you ordered your Christmas cards yet? I have not, mostly because I’m waiting to see if I get an awesome family picture on our vacation next week to Disney World (Disney World! I’m so excited!). But I have been scoping out my options and I think Shutterfly is going to have exactly what I want!

Choosing the perfect Christmas card is a big part of my Christmas planning. Shutterfly has awesome cards and so many choices, so you’re bound to find the perfect card that best describes you and your family. They truly have an option for everyone, including people like me who insist on a card that says “Merry Christmas.”

Feeling more serious? Or elegant? Here you go!

Whimsical?


Is it all about the kids this year?



We also love to do photo gifts for the grandparents and great-grandparents. My grandmother loves to get a calendar and my mother-in-law will love a photo book made from our vacation to Hilton Head earlier this year.

And I was beyond excited to find out that Shutterfly was offering 50 free Christmas cards for bloggers! One of my goals this year is to simplify and save money, and this will definitely help the saving money goal!

So start thinking about your Christmas cards! Time is running out! Merry Christmas!

T-Minus 3 Days

Someone pry the conversation hearts out of my hands!

So, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Is everyone ready? I spent Monday night working on the valentines Brady will take to Awanas with him tonight. They’re getting Spiderman valentines. Last night I did the goody bags and valentines for his class party at school on Friday. These are a variety of Incredible Hulk, Spiderman and Iron Man valentines. One of the great things about having children is all the fun stuff you get to do for the different holidays. I’m loving it!

Brady is getting a Batman toy and a book about sharks for his Valentine’s gift. DH bought a bunch of comic books at a sale a few weeks ago, so that is his gift. I’m getting a Vera Bradley zip-around wallet in Raspberry Fizz. J I’ve been needing a new one for ages, considering the one that I have now is at least 6 years old and probably older. My Fossil wallet served me well, but she needs to be retired now.

Saturday night we’re having a bunch of friends over for dinner. All of us have small children and we don’t really go out on Valentine’s Day anymore, so I thought it would be fun to have everyone over and just make a party out of it. I’m serving lasagna, salad and garlic bread, plus German chocolate cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes for dessert! My friend is bringing fruit for the lactose-intolerant/gluten-free friends that we have. J
So what are you doing on February 14th?

Entertaining Journals and More

We're having a little Valentine's get-together with our close group of friends on Valentine's Day. I love planning parties, as you know, so I'm excited that everyone can make it. The menu will be:
- Lasagna
- Salad
- Bread
- Cupcakes (chocolate, red velvet and coconut)

I'm keeping it super simple. In the past I've made the mistake of making things so complicated that I don't even enjoy the event. No more! This is going to be fun! We're also doing a batch of chili for our two friends who can't eat dairy, gluten or anything else fun. Frances and Mike, I'm talking to you!

My friend, Jennifer, mentioned the other day that she keeps an entertaining journal. Just a little notebook where she writes down her parties and get-togethers, the menu, who came, etc. I love this idea and I'm starting one right now! Hobby Lobby has cute notebooks for $2, so I'm going to get one and get started. Enjoy the rainy, windy weather!

Happy New Year!

Only a few more hours until 2009! I’ll be honest that New Year’s Eve has never been one of my favorite holidays, but I love the promise of a new year and a fresh start. I know, you can start fresh any day of the year, but a new year makes it very inspiring.

I wanted to do a “year in review,” but I just don’t have that much time right now. Maybe on Friday. I’ll also be doing a “year in preview” post.

I hope everyone has a truly wonderful 2009! It's been an amazing 2008, that's for sure. We have many hopes and dreams for our year ahead and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us.

See you Friday!

Is it Monday already?

Good morning and happy Monday! I’m back at work and trying to get back to my regular routine. Getting up at 6am today was hard! Brady let me sleep until 8am most days last week, so today was a rude awakening. Literally!

We had a wonderful Christmas. Everyone got everything they wanted, but more so, we had a great time together as a family (for the most part!). Here’s a quick rundown of the week:

Monday – Brady went to school until 2pm. I had my work Christmas lunch and I ran a few errands before picking him up to officially start his vacation.

Tuesday – I don’t remember us doing too much that day. Brady was wound up for the first part of the week, trying my patience greatly! J We had the Christmas Eve Eve service at church, which I’m sure was beautiful if I could have actually stayed in and seen it (See above!)>

Wednesday – We exchanged gifts with Vivian that morning. Brady gave her a this huge Cars racetrack and she gave him a Red Sox lamp and a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear. The morning ended with them fighting over a car, Brady smacking her, and us leaving early. Thankfully, Vivian is going through the same 3 year old adventures as Brady, so everything was alright. More patience being tried, though. That night my mother-in-law and her husband came over for Christmas Eve. Even more patience being tried. Hahaha!

Thursday – The big day! Brady got up about 7:40am. He knew Christmas was coming, but it didn’t occur to him that this was the day and he should get up early. Thank goodness! But once we got him into the living room, it was every man for himself! Brady loved everything, but his Incredible Hulk figure and his GeoTrax train set were the favorites. We all got many lovely things, including lots of gift cards, which were my favorites. We had lunch around 3pm and my in-laws stopped by briefly in the evening to check out Brady’s haul. A quiet day with no running from one place to another and that’s exactly how I like it.

Friday – DH had to work. Brady and I slept in, then headed out to run some errands and check out the after-Christmas sales at Target and Hobby Lobby. I found a few things, including the Merry Christmas sign I had been eyeing at Target for a while. We then went to Chuckie Cheese for lunch. Brady had a ball. He’s been to Gattitown, but this was our first trip to CC. I forgot that they had pretty good pizza. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. DH got off work early and we just hung out around the house.

Saturday – Cleaning day! To be honest, my housework has really suffered since, oh, November. Thankfully the health department hasn’t made any surprise visits. So Saturday we cleaned the house from top to bottom. Seriously, we cleaned out under the beds, in the closets, organized toys and had numerous bags of trash and junk to get rid of. But everything looked so nice and shiny afterwards!

Sunday – Sunday School and church and then a relaxing day to get ready for a new week. I even took a nap!

Have a great week!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family!

Bye for Now

I'm leaving today at 2pm for Brady's school Christmas party and won't be back at work until Monday, December 29th. Since I'll be enjoying my week off with Brady, I doubt I'll be online much next week. So I am finally taking that bloggy break I talked about!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Friday!

Good morning and Happy Friday!

First off, I hope my post yesterday didn’t offend anyone. Most of the blogs I was talking about don’t try intentionally to make work-outside-the-home moms feel badly. It’s more the whole “Mommy Guilt” that creeps in. I’m so inspired and motivated by a lot of those blogs and I can’t wait to try out some of their recipes, organizational techniques and many other things!

To happier things, it’s Friday! We have a busy weekend ahead with lots of Christmas activities. Thankfully, tonight should be pretty quiet. We’ll just see if Brady goes to bed at a reasonable time tonight or stays up past 10pm like last night.

Tomorrow DH and Brady are going out early to do some Christmas shopping for me (or so they say!). I’ll do the grocery shopping while they’re gone, then we’ll meet up to finish the rest of our Christmas shopping together. I’d love for this to become a tradition for them – each year going out for breakfast, Christmas shopping and some special Daddy/Son bonding time. We’ll do some more baking in the afternoon (orange blossoms, my favorite!) and then tomorrow night we have company coming by for dinner. A dear friend of mine from high school, his wife and daughter are coming from Mississippi to visit some friends near Charlotte and we’re on the way. We’re all anxious to see each other and meet the new additions to our families.

Sunday we’ve got church and the preschool Christmas party during Sunday School. In the afternoon Frances and I are going to the Southern Living Holiday Show House (Melissa, remember when we went to the SL House in Collierville?). That night we have church and then we’re babysitting for the Deacon’s Dinner afterwards. Then it’s home and time to get ready for another busy week.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and gets everything done! Keep smiling!

Weekend in Review

Happy Tuesday!
Well, I don’t have our pictures downloaded yet, but Frances emailed me some from Breakfast with Santa, so I’ll just use those. That was the highlight of our crazy weekend.

Saturday started out with breakfast. It was at the new city hall, which is gorgeous. It’s nice to know our tax dollars are being used for flat screen TVs all throughout the building. The breakfast was really nice – buffet with eggs, bacon, ham, biscuits and gravy, donuts, cereal, fruit, etc. We were expecting a Chick-Fil-A breakfast and were pleasantly surprised! The kids ate, got to play “Pin the Nose on Rudolph,” color pictures and then visited the Big Man himself. Vivian talked big and brave until she got up there and backed out. Brady was a little skeptical and wouldn’t sit on his lap, but did talk to him and pose for a picture. Lennon got a really good one of that. It was a great morning and we definitely plan on doing it again next year.

Then we headed on to a birthday party for 4-year-old twins. They were adopted from China two years ago and it’s been amazing to watch their progression since then. They’re adorable!

We were back home for a few hours, during which DH put up our Christmas lights. Then we took Brady to Karlie and Brina’s house for Date Night. DH and I went to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner. It was so good! We wanted to see a movie, but didn’t have time (and we were too tired), so we just browsed around Target and Barnes & Noble. We all slept good that night!Sunday was church and then we spent the rest of the day at home. Brady and I made snowmen cookies and gingersnaps and we all played puzzles and watching Christmas movies. It was a really nice day.

Tomorrow I’ll have a review (and pictures!) of Brady’s preschool Christmas cantata!

Monday again?

Here's a little teaser from our busy weekend.........

DH got a much better picture of Brady with Santa that we'll get downloaded soon, along with all of the other pictures and a full review of our weekend. Happy Monday!

Pass the lettuce

Happy Friday Everyone!

We have a crazy busy weekend ahead of us. Breakfast with Santa, a birthday party, date night, church, the list goes on and on. But thankfully tonight we have NOTHING to do, so I plan on snuggling up on the sofa with some popcorn, hot chocolate, my two boys (DH and Brady, of course!) and watching some Christmas movies. I can’t wait!

Remember how I did so well on weight watchers a while back? Well, the past few weeks I’ve not only fallen off the wagon, but the wagon turned around and ran over me. It’s been ugly. So now I have to get things together and enjoy the holiday season sparingly, not eating every piece of cheesecake that comes in sight. I’ll be eating lots of these


And less of these

I want to be a dentist

Brady got to watch “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” last night for the first time. Well, we missed the first ten minutes, but we taped it so he’ll get to catch the whole thing soon. He loved it! Rudolph was always my favorite of the “Big Three” – Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Frosty the Snowman.

“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” always freaked me out a little bit. I don’t know why, but it did. But it’s a rite of passage, so I’m sure Brady will see it sometime, too.


“Frosty the Snowman” was just depressing. Poor guy melts in the greenhouse. I'm sure there's an environmental message in there somewhere.



Now for a new holiday favorite, “Shrek the Halls.” We saw this last year and it’s hilarious. I think it was on tv last week, but we’ve got it taped on DVR, too. If you liked the Shrek movies, you’ll love this one.


Merry Christmas!

After Thanksgiving

Good morning! I hope everyone had a great weekend and didn’t eat too much turkey. Sorry I didn't get a post out yesterday. I had a lot to catch up on at work.

We had a great holiday. Thanksgiving itself was a beautiful day. My inlaws came over and I had my annual screaming fit where I kick everyone out of the kitchen. I’m sorry, but my kitchen is not big enough for people to be wandering around in when I’m trying to put THANKSGIVING DINNER ON THE TABLE. People, please! That night we headed up to Garden Ridge and got a few Christmas decorations. Mostly garland and a basketball ornament that Brady picked out for the tree. If he wasn’t so cute, there would be no way that basketball would be on my tree, but oh well!

Friday morning I was out at Target at 5:50am. I know, what was I thinking? Usually I go out around 8am or so to get the deals, but this year I had so much to do on Friday that shopping at 6am was the only option. People are crazy! But I did save $80 at Target and got everything I was looking for. Then I headed over to Old Navy where I got some jeans for Lennon. Then it was back home to pick up Brady and drive him down to my parents house, where he was going to spend the night. Three hours later (they live an hour away), I was back in town and made a few more stops before heading home to get ready for our Sunday School Christmas party that night. We all met up at a Japanese steakhouse, then to a friend’s house for dessert and gag gifts. Trust me, for a Sunday School Christmas party, we brought new meaning to “Dirty Santa!” My word. I’m just glad I didn’t get the pregnancy test as my gag gift to take home with me. J

After a restful night’s sleep, DH and I got up and made a trip to the grocery store before heading south to spend the day at my parent’s and collect Brady. I had images of Brady racing to the door when we arrived, but it was more like Brady racing away from the door and saying “go home, Mommy and Daddy, go home!” Apparently he was having a really good time and we were wrecking his fun. The day was long and draining and we were in the car, driving home by 7:30pm.

Sunday was yucky and cold and rainy, so we just went to church and stayed in the rest of the day. Well, I had to go back up at 4:30pm to decorate the kid’s Sunday School room for Christmas, but that was it.

So that was our holiday weekend. I hope everyone is getting in the festive spirit!
PS - "Christmas Shoes" just came on the radio. I have to change the channel! This song throws me into hysterics every time I hear it! Anyone else?

What I Want for Christmas

Since most of us have already started our Christmas shopping, here are a few things on my list this year:


The Original Necklace by Lisa Leonard with Brady's name on it, of course!

27 Dresses DVD - Rumor has it this will be $5 at Target on Friday

Sex and the City DVD – I think this is on sale at Target, too


Giada de Laurentiss – Everyday Favorites cookbook – Love her shows and her cookbooks.



I’m not sure what else. After last year’s big gift of my pink Kitchen-Aid mixer, there’s nothing major on my list.

I'd also love gift cards to my favorite stores, Ann Taylor Loft and Swoozies.

Turkey Cupcakes and Black Friday

I forgot to tell y’all that I made these cupcakes for my 2 and 3 year olds in Sunday School this past week. They turned out so cute and the kids loved them. And some adults, too!

Right now I’m planning out my Black Friday shopping trip. I’m not the kind of person who gets up at 5am to wait in the freezing cold to rush into the mall. Nope, not me. But I will head out around 7am or so and hit a few select stores. On my list this year?
- Target (super cheap movies)
- Old Navy (I’ve heard they’re doing 50% off the entire store)
- Gymboree. But going to Gymboree would involve going to the mall. We’ll see. It might be easier to order online for them.
- Maybe Swoozies. I’m not sure on that one yet.

Are you planning any Black Friday shopping?

Things I'm Loving These Days

Here are a few things I’m loving these days:

Taylor Swift’s new album. She may be ten years younger than me, but I’m just loving her new cd. Part of it makes me feel like I’m in high school again, but that’s a good thing. You need that some days! It’s a really emotional album, though. I highly recommend it!

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I’ve been watching this every year at Thanksgiving as long as I can remember and now Brady loves it, too.

A new hair cut. I got my hair cut yesterday and it’s amazing how good a new do can make you feel.

My Gobble Gobble tee from Old Navy. McMommy got this shirt first and then I went out and bought it. It’s so cute, but not “Christmas sweater obnoxious.” Thanks, McMommy, for telling us about it!