blissful

playroom changes!

2012-01-27T07:10:00.000-08:00

hi! aren't you glad it's friday?! i am. not a whole lot planned for this weekend-well a pampered chef party that i'm excited about because i'm in desperate need of kitchen tools! and we're having friends over saturday night! but other than that, just some furniture rearranging, spray painting, and

project life-ing!

so sadie's playroom has been in need of a little sprucing up. it's a {small} room with a bunch of toys stuffed into it. but the way i had the room set up wasn't really working for us, so yesterday we did some organizing and rearranging, and now sadie and i both love it!

here is a view walking into the room. i got that adorable pink butterfly at hobby lobby yesterday!

looking into the room...mike found the ABC foam rug at Lowe's yesterday, and it has been quite the hit around here. plus it's educational, so i'm loving it :) the storage shelf i got at ikea forever ago, and the pink toy bins i got at target. i had the shelf on it's side but it takes up less room standing up. i tried to put the toys she plays with more in the lower shelves so they're easy to get to.

i moved my desk/computer against this wall and her table and chairs against the wall too. i had her table in the center of the room but it just took up too much space, so this way she can color/draw/etc. while i'm on the computer. the ABC canvas i *LOVE* ! got it at target last year, and it's just precious (plus educational-do you see a theme with me?)

the CREATE letters my sister and i did at a donna downey class years ago, but i just love them so much still! and the pink floating shelves i got at target on clearance last year.

and here's miss sadie enjoying her playroom!

happy friday!

2 years old!!

2012-01-23T14:30:00.000-08:00

i canNOT believe sadie is 2 years old! she turned two one week ago, but i've been really sick the past week and haven't felt like blogging...anyway, she is a ball of energy and so much fun!

she weighs 33 pounds, wears, 2T-3T clothes, and size 8 shoes

some of her new favorites are playing "campground", using shovels to "dug" in the ground, and painting pictures

she takes one nap every afternoon after lunch and goes to sleep around 8-8:30 each night...she sleeps about 11 hours at night...she recently climbed on top of crib, so we bought a toddler bed but haven't transitioned her to it yet. mainly because mommy and daddy aren't ready for it!!

she uses complete sentences for everything now...we have great conversations each day, and i stay amazed at everything she knows/remembers

-she counts to 16 in english and 8 in spanish

-she can say all of her ABC's and knows her colors

-she knows the words to most of the songs we sing

her favorite shows are little einsteins and mickey mouse club, she loves to watch the tinkerbell movie, peter pan, and cinderella

sadie is all about climbing right now...on anything...no fear at all!

she is sweet and kind and introduces herself to most anybody. we love her so so much!!

here is our 3rd attempt at a family pic the other night ;) oh well.

sadie-isms at 23 months

2012-01-09T11:13:00.000-08:00

although the picture above looks like sadie is sticking the flower stem up her nose, she wasn't!! i just thought she looked so sweet in this picture.

here are a *few* of the funny things, she's saying at 23 months...

"mama, you are the sweetest mama i ever seen"

at the dinner table she will ask mike "daddy, how your day is? how the kids?" cracks us up every time

the other day she was putting socks on her hands and said "this is fascinating"

puts her hands on my cheek and says "don't worry mama, we'll fix you up."

mike put her blanket over her chair and ottoman like a tent and told her to use her imagination. the blanket fell and she said "oh no, my imagination fell over."

if something falls or she drops something she says "uh oh sabedego" instead of "uh oh spagetti-o"...i love this because she usually says all of her words so clearly, so it's cute to have one mispronounced!

i cannot believe my baby girl will be 2 in exactly one week!!

catch up

2012-01-03T11:39:00.000-08:00

wow! these past few weeks have been busy busy!

i have so many pictures from fun activites we've done and no energy to write about them all ;)

so here's the short version...a trip to the museum with friends

quality time with mimi and zizi

fun dinner party

hamburger night with friends

oh and i didn't mention all this fun was laced with mama being sick for 2+ weeks-bronchitis and cold...sadie getting sick too (thankfully not as bad)!

so ready for spring and warm weather!!

what i wore

2011-12-20T16:54:00.000-08:00

i decided to join in the fun this week and post a few "what i wore" pictures!

except i'm bummed because i had a really cute outfit on on sunday and completely forgot to take a pic...but here's what i've got..

outfit above:

cardi and leggings: target

blouse: kohl's??

flats: marshall's

earrings: michele busch

blouse and skirt: downeast basics

earrings and bracelet: michele busch

shoes: jcpenney

tights: probably target?

black tissue tee: target

blouse: anthropologie

skinnies: seven at nordstrom rack

rain boots: target

watch: fossil

tshirt: target

jacket: kohl's

jeans: sevens at a local boutique

shoes: puma

don't know what the weird expression on my face is about on this one!

blouse: anthropologie

jeans: sevens

leopard flats: nordstrom

earrings: michele busch

bracelets: dillard's

watch: fossil

linking up with the pleated poppy!

plus and minus

2011-12-12T14:21:00.000-08:00

negatives today:

-sadie picked up and spilled my starbucks vanilla latte on my favorite seven jeans and pink top

-she wrote in green crayon all over her wool carpet and beautiful glider and ottoman in her room

-i have two ulcers in my mouth that are so very painful

-i spilled an entire bag of gingerbread man cookies on the kitchen floor (that i just bought yesterday)

-i had to take my car into the shop because i ran into my stepdad's car...in my own driveway!

positives today:

-sadie and i had a fun little snack at starbucks (before the latte incident)

-we checked out some really good books at the library

-we both took an almost 2 hour nap this afternoon

-i'm making yummy king ranch chicken for dinner tonight

-we had the best girls' weekend in plano and left the babies with their daddies!

here we are at paradise bakery getting some lunch...kami, mckinlee, and susanne

kali and i

after braving the crowds at the mall for several hours, we took a break to eat a delicious dinner that susanne made, then went to our friend, michele busch's house, who happens to be an amazing jewelry designer, to shop some more! after michele's house, we went to target at 10pm and got snacks and pjs, because by that time, we were hungry again and ready to get comfy...great great weekend!

favorite quote of the day...

2011-12-07T14:49:00.001-08:00

(to a random lady behind us at hobby lobby):

"hi i'm sadie isabella. i'm cute."

on my mind and heart

2011-12-02T11:43:00.001-08:00

i grew up with the calmest mother in the world (really i rarely, if ever, remember her raising her voice or losing her temper.) when she got *really* upset, she would whistle. that's it. just whistle to calm down. so in having that wonderful example of patience, i feel like i have a high standard of mothering to live up to. not that she or anyone else has told me so, but i just feel like i need to stay calm at all times. which i don't. which leads to guilt.

guilt is not healthy. it's not productive. and it doesn't solve anything.

sadie is a very active, lively, and talkative almost 2 year old. she is precious to me, and i love her so so much! but a lot of days, she wears me out. i start the day calm and patient, but some days (like today), i end up feeling exhausted and sad that i've raised my voice to her or spatted her leg.

i wonder if i'm mothering her "correctly"...i wonder if i let her watch one too many cartoons...did i let some naughty behavior go because i'm tired, and then discipline her later out of frustration?

i know that there are real, serious problems out there like not having food or a home for your children, but i take the privilege of being a mama very seriously, and i just want to get it right. i want her to grow up to love spirtual things and to be an encouragement to others.

i want to be the best mother i can be.

i pray for patience and love daily, and i know it's a constant thing to work on (especially when raising kids!)

and i have finally realized, with the help of my sweet husband, i can't control some things. like if she talks too much when she's needing to be quiet, or she doesn't want to eat certain things at mealtimes, or she doesn't always act the way i think she should.

she's unique.

she's a sweet girl.

and i love her more than my own life.

sadie-isms

2011-11-28T14:13:00.001-08:00

hi! we had a great, relaxing 4 days off...it was hard to have mike go to work this morning!

we went to see mike's parents this weekend, so i'll have to post all the pictures, but today i thought i would write about some cute things sadie is saying right now...i try to write down all of her funny sayings, but some days i just can't keep up with everything she's saying!

here are a few from the last couple of months:

-When I told her it was time to eat she said, “ don’t wantnupting (nothing)”

- she saw a little black spot on her fingernail and shesaid “gooness gracious”

-Her diaper leaked and mike went to changeher…as I was walking towards her room she said, “dandy, we’ve got a mess!”

-“mama, hold my baby”

-When I picked up a crayon off the floor Sadie said “wayto go mama…you helped Sadie!”

-Sadie was playing with a lemon today and I heard her say “okaylemon, are you ready to roll?”

-We were outside playing with her balloon and she kept sayingshe was going to do her “super soccer kick” on the balloon.

-When we do something good together she says “go team!”

-And daddy has taught her anytime football is on to say “gowaders.” (go raiders)

-When we’re out and she’s trying to open a door, she says“abre”

-Patted my arm and said “don’t worry my mommy,”then said “I love you all the trees.”

-Says “Sadie being naughty. I stand in the corner.” Thencounts 1, 2, 9, 10, 11

-Takes the wooden end off my desk and calls it “woodpecker”. She was smelling it and Isaid what does it smell like, she said “chicken!”

-After getting money at the bank, as we were drivingaway she said “I appwecirate (appreciate) it!”

As you can tell, there is no shortage of expression and laughs in this house!!

And we officially started potty training today. I was going for the "just wear big girl panties and i'll clean up all your messes until you figure it out" thing...that lasted until 11 am, and then i decided pull-ups would work just fine for us ;)

trip to the zoo with the cousins

2011-11-23T14:16:00.001-08:00

yesterday morning, i took sadie to our local zoo with les' grandkids who were visiting for a few days...it was FREEZING but we just bundled up and had so much fun!

here is sadie with her big cousins, brock, cole, and lauren

her little mouse hat kept her head super warm

in the inside aquarium (we stayed in here a long time because it was so nice and warm)

brock staring down the turtles ;)

lauren on the lizard statue

the kids playing with the rope and gong in the asian forest

sadie dancing on the floor chimes

such a nice little outing! after that, sadie and i went to mcalister's for lunch. i was craving some potato soup and iced tea...we had so much fun!

assembly weekend

2011-11-21T18:20:00.001-08:00

this weekend was our assembly in denton..the theme was "let god's name be sanctified" and it was SO encouraging and full of good talks/interviews and just getting to associate with friends was fun! sadie did so good throughout both days, she colored and was really quiet, but when mike got on stage to give his talk she said "yeah daddy!" really loud...it was cute! this first picture she was obviously not wanting her picture taken, but i wanted you to see her adorable leopard dress that nana made her. i got it monogrammed and it just turned out so cute.

here she is with nana

here we are after the saturday session. isn't that fabric mural gorgeous? throughout the auditorium, there are 4 or 5 murals like this depicting different locations like the mountain, the beach, etc. they are sooo beautiful!

we stayed at the nicest holiday inn with a huge waterfall in the lobby which was a hit with sadie belle.

she tossed and turned for quite a while but once she went to sleep, she slept all night which was wonderful...i, on the other hand, woke up every hour and had to go potty like 15 times (no joke!)

mike and i on sunday at lunch

a family pic

susanne and mckinlee came on sunday! it was so good to have them there!

love this one of sadie and her zizi

a wonderful weekend, but man were we tired last night! i kept falling asleep on the way home and sadie went to bed quickly she was so tired...

happy monday!

family pictures 2011

2011-11-17T18:31:00.001-08:00

hi! how are you? it's been for.ev.er since i posted but i wanted to show you our fall family pictures! my friend, lorrie dunford, took the pictures for us...she was fantastic and i'm so excited that we got some really good ones. enjoy!

wiww and the CUTEST OUTFIT EVER!

2011-10-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

i copied this outfit from my sister's blog last week...which is so funny because she copied an outfit from my blog. aren't we cute?!

top: kohl's

leggings: loft

shoes: target

necklace: planet jill

sadie wanted to be in the picture too!

on sadie: dress maggie & zoe, given by a friend

shoes: see kai run

top: banana republic

skirt: downeast basics

shoes: target (LOVE!)

earrings and necklace: silpada

dress: dress barn

shoes: michael kors at marshall's

top: f21

pants: gap

shoes: steve madden

dress: 201 collective boutique

leggings: loft

shoes: target

necklace: nordstroms

on sadie belle: sailor outfit from babygap

and now for the cutest outfit ever...my mom MADE this! like SEWED it!! she has decided to start sewing again and this was her first project. the ruffle pants are SO adorable and the apron top can be worn as a dress or as a top over the pants...can you tell i'm excited?!

i told her she needs to start an etsy shop because this would sell quick! don't you think?

i'm linking up at the pleated poppy! happy wednesday!

monday off

2011-10-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

mike had yesterday off because of columbus day-only bankers and postal workers and schools have off on columbus day, so we made the most of it. we began our day by having a breakfast picnic in our room while watching disney princess singalong (exciting!)

then we went to the park and played for awhile. sadie loves to cover my shoes with the bark from the playground!

it was so cute to watch mike (trying) to slide down the tiny kid slides with sadie!

our playground does not have those swings with the buckets on them so toddlers can swing alone, so i swing with sadie trying to keep her on my lap and swing in a straight line...

in the little house with daddy

after coming back from the park, mike and i went to lunch at panera while mom watched sadie. i had the chicken artichoke panini-the new one- the first time i ate i was blown away at how yummy it was, but this time it wasn't fantastic. the potato soup was awesome as always. then we went to the vitamin shoppe to get some natural stress relief...mike and i decided we both needed something to help us calm down. ha!

after that, we made our way to the movie theater to see dolphin tale, but apparently every single kid out of school also went to see it, because it was sold out!! so instead we saw the help (2nd time for me) and i still loved it and cried.

sadie was so happy to see us when we got home-i love that she gets so excited to see us-after dinner, we played outside until bedtime. then i finished the book i was reading...sophie kinsella's mini shopaholic. i can so relate-is that bad?!

wiww

2011-10-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

i'm linking up with the pleated poppy for another what i wore wednesday!

outfit above

top: anthropologie

jeans: gap boyfriend

flats: target

outfit below

tank and cardi: old navy

skirt: j.crew

necklace: bp nordstroms

belt: f21

shoes: dsw i think, they're old!

shirt and shorts: j.crew

necklace: same, bp nordstroms

shoes: chinese laundry at dsw

bracelet: not sure, but i wear it all.the.time

blouse: lc for kohl's

jeans: seven skinnies at nordstrom rack

sandals: target

tank and cardi: j.crew

jeans: seven skinnies

belt: f21

flats: target

yay! i finally got a full length mirror in sadie's bathroom with *decent* light, but now my face looks a little distorted! oh well :) and don't mind the potty chair!

top: loft

earrings: f21

jeans: gap boyfriend

excuse the no mascara, sleepy morning eyes look!

top: gap

jeans: marshall's

necklace: again, not sure, but i wear it all the time

flats: target

am i making good use of those red target flats or what?! and the leopard belt from f21? the best $3 i've spent...

updated dining area, a quick lunch, and a festival

2011-10-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

i'm finally getting around to showing you our dining area...i mentioned that i had ordered some chairs from pier one, well they came in weeks ago but i didn't have my table decorated yet, so i'm just now posting pics of it! the chairs are very similar to a chair i found in the ballard designs catalog (do you get that catalog? i looove it)

they are creamy with gray french writing on them and look really good with our dark wood farm table. then i had some rewards bucks at pier 1, so i got these placemats and napkins and napkin rings...if you are looking for napkins/napkin rings pier 1 is the place to go, there are so many choices!

sadie got in the pic. she loves these chairs and tries to climb up on them all the time.

the orange pumpkins were a gift from susanne years ago, i still love them! the big white one and the little sparkly one i probably got at hobby lobby on sale.

saturday at lunch we met susanne and mckinlee at jason's deli for a quick lunch...they were in town because of a wedding the night before, so we had a fun little visit with them. when i was getting ready to leave, sadie was trying to climb in their car and kept saying "sadie just go in zizi's car." ha!

saturday afternoon, mike and i went to an event here called the wine & food festival. we had never been but it was really fun. there were sooo many vendors sampling different wines and local restaurants with tons of food to eat.

it was super crowded...you can see it from the pictures..

my little plate of yummies. my favorites were the chicken spaghetti and the spinach dip. oh and they had a dessert and champagne tent with wonderful pumpkin spice cake!

mike after taking a bite (he's going to love me for posting this one :)

we finished our weekend right by watching pan am last night! do you love that show? i do.

now if i could get rid of the cold i've been battling for 7 days now, i would be much happier!!

have a great monday.

instafriday

2011-09-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

this is my first week to link up for instafriday on life rearranged! i did my instagram app on my phone but for some reason, it wouldn't download to my computer, so i had to edit my pics to give them a little 'insta'goodness! the pic above is my first pumpkin spice latte of the season (non fat milk and 2 pumps of syrup) delish!!

grocery shopping with a menu-the only way i can shop...otherwise i just stand in the aisles and look lost

my sweet sadie belle at her zia's house still in her pjs

riding the carousel with nana..love her expression on this one

and after a long afternoon of shopping

happy friday!

what i wore wednesday

2011-09-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

i'm finally doing what i wore wednesday again..it's been a long time since i have taken pictures of my outfits, but here they are! we are still wearing summer stuff in texas because it's 100 degrees in the afternoons. ugh! but i'm so completely ready for fall. sorry about the bad lighting-i cannot seem to take a good self portrait with the right lighting! (i will keep working on it)

outfit above:

tshirt-jcrew

shorts-old navy

burlap TOMS

bracelet-pandora

outfit below:

tank-bp nordstroms

cardi-ny&co

skirt-target

shoes-dsw

necklace-?

ring-silpada

dress-kohl's

flats-target

rose ring-heidi swapp blossom couture

tank-f21

jeans-seven for all mankind

leopard sandals-steve madden

dress-marshall's

leggings-f21

sandals-target

earrings-world market

i'm linking up with the pleated poppy...

have a great wednesday!

new photo collage and a trip to plano

2011-09-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

when you enter our house from the garage we have a long hallway that i've had pictures on since we moved in, but the pictures we're all in one straight line and i was over it. so last thursday, mom and les came over to hang all the pictures up...i wanted a square of pictures and since i DO NOT measure pictures precisely (i usually just grab the hammer and pick a spot on the wall to put the nail), mom said they would come over and do it for me. thanks mom and les!

they did a great job and now my wall feels fresh and different.

here they are during the process

on friday, we drove to plano to stay with susanne, chris, and mckinlee for the weekend. we had fun shopping and eating and just getting to be together. sadly, i took almost no pictures but susanne took several so i'll get some from her. hilights of the trip: nordstrom's and coach for me, and the beautiful carousel for sadie! oh and we ate at the BEST lunch spot yesterday called zoe's kitchen...i'm still thinking about the food there...chicken kabobs, greek salad, and hummus with pita bread. delicious!!

here we are right before leaving yesterday

today mom, sadie, and i have already been to the park, i ran 1.25 miles, i've done 2 loads of laundry, and i'm going to do a workout video this afternoon...i'm trying to get back to living healthy after several weeks of eating junky.

tonight's menu: chicken piccata with artichokes and angel hair pasta (no pasta for me) and roasted asparagus.

what are you eating this week?

logan's baby shower

2011-09-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

saturday was the baby shower for jennifer's new baby logan! it was a woodland animals theme, and i thought it turned out SO cute!!

the cake sitting on burlap with sunflower beside it

the goody bags were individually wrapped "make your own s'mores" at home

diaper cake with mr. owl (as sadie calls him) sitting on top

jen's mom got all these lovely sunflowers that we scattered around the room...i thought this looked so cute on the entry table

each table was covered in a brown tablecloth with a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper and a sunflower in a milk bottle filled with popcorn kernels. super easy to do!

the gift table with logan's name banner on it (before the TONS of gifts arrived :)

another shot of the cake

jen's mom and sister had this made for big bro, jackson. i loved it!!

drink station

susanne and mckinlee drove down just for the shower..i was so glad they got to come

mck, mom, and susanne-don't they look so pretty?!

jennifer's sister, tonja, mom linda, and me

i had skinny jeans on and cute sandals but in all the pictures i just look like i'm wearing a billowing tent ;)

the desserts table

lots of sweet girls brought yummy cookies to go along with the cake. it was delicious!

the entry table

we had each guest write their name/address on an envelope so jen could easily send thank you cards

the basket was full of diapers and each guest wrote a message for jennifer to read while she's changing logan's diaper

and we played two games-baby word scramble and baby bingo

my two aunts, vicki and peggy, and mom

kathy, jennifer, kami and parker, and dei

susanne and i with jennifer and of course, baby logan

i loved this one of their family-jason, jennifer, jackson, and logan in the tummy

jen and jack with his cake

everyone concentrating on baby word scramble

she got SO many wonderful gifts!! i loved this sock monkey and blanket

hand embroidered burp cloths

a darling cardigan

i was so impressed with mckinlee...she knitted this adorable hat by herself and put it with a cute outfit in a "paint can" gift box!

big brother got so many fun toys too...i always love it when the bigger sibling is included

proud daddy holding up a gift

mckinlee holding baby parker...look at those chubby cheeks, love it

jackson is ready for the big day in his big bro t-shirt!

we had so much fun planning and doing this shower...i cannot wait to meet baby logan james!!

friday morning breakfast

2011-09-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

this morning we met kali at cafe cappucino for breakfast.. it was so fun catching up, and of course the meal was delish! i had my usual ham and cheese omelet with a choc. chip pancake. yum!

mom and kali before our meal came

kali, sadie, and i outside the restaurant

(i got my hair cut this week at a salon in austin..loving it:)

and miss sadie with her new leopard tutu on. i've started buying the brand see kai run shoes for her and i really like them. they fit her wide foot and they are so well made, plus there are such cute styles to choose from.

after breakfast, kami came over to help me make 50 goodie bags for jennifer's baby shower tommorrow. i cannot wait to share pictures of that! we're doing a woodland animals theme, and i think it will be super cute!

have a great weekend :)

me: a to z

2011-09-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

i saw this on a blog and thought it would be fun to do! do any of my answers surprise you?

a. age: 30
b. bed size: king
c. chore you hate: unloading the dishwasher
d. dogs: 2 cocker spaniels, cooper and henry
e. essential start to your day: snuggle time with sadie
f. favorite color: aqua
g. gold or silver: silver
h. height: 5'5"
i. instruments you play: piano
j. job title: stay at home mama
k. kids: sadie isabella
l. live: waco, texas
m. maiden name: beene' (buh-nay)
n. nicknames: dandy
o. overnight hospital stay: when i had sadie-2 nights
p. pet peeve: my sweet husband leaving the scrub brush in the sink and people who talk about how great they are all the time
q. quote: just saw this one on a blog and loved it! "why do we close our eyes when we pray? when we cry? when we dream? or when we kiss? because we know the most beautiful things in life are not seen, but felt by heart."
r. righty or lefty: righty
s. siblings: older sis, susanne
t. time you wake up: depends on how the night goes, usually 8
u. university attended: mclennan community college for my business degree and champions school of real estate for my real estate license
v. veggies you dislike: brussel sprouts, tomatoes (is that a veggie or fruit?)
w. what makes you run late: my sweet husband ;)
x. x-rays you've had: my finger when i stuck my non-gloved hand out to stop a ball during a softball game
y. yummy food: lasagna, creme brulee, chuy's jalapeno ranch dip
z. zoo animal: monkey

and because i don't like to post without a picture...here is my sweet baby sadie almost 1 year ago...can you believe how much she's changed??

happy monday!

weekend fun

2011-09-06T12:09:00.000-07:00

did you have a nice weekend? we had such a nice, relaxing fun time! again, my pictures are in backwards order, but that's okay...so yesterday afternoon, we went to my uncle aaron and aunt peggy's house. they live in a gorgeous home on the river and we just love coming out here to relax. we actually got married here!! between mom, mamajeanne, and i, we brought a bunch of yummy food like ribs, brisket, potato salad, spicy green beans, coconut pies, and chocolate sheet cake.

we played horseshoes and sat out on their back porch and talked and watched the water go by. so peaceful!

sadie was fascinated by the water. here we are on their dock..

sadie with daddy and uncle aaron

after a yummy dinner

i love this one of sadie with her great grandmother...she loved rocking in the rocking chair with mamajeanne while she sang her nursery rhymes. so sweet!

and she loved playing with their beautiful dog, case

aaron let her "drive" the gator which she thought was so much fun

i asked mike after we took this pic if we looked the same as when we got married here 9 years ago, he said "no my hair line has receded quite a bit since then!" and i said "yea and my cheeks have gotten chunkier!" ;)

on saturday night, mom and i went to a lingerie shower for a friend who's getting married this coming saturday. here we are before going to the shower! it was outside in a friend's backyard which was just beautiful...twinkle lights everywhere, french music playing, champagne, and yummy food!

friday afternoon, i put sadie's hair in tiny pigtails and she looked adorable! i was trying to get a pic of her and her pigtails here, but she was too busy walking around in my slippers.

we are trying to do something fun with sadie every friday night, like going to get yogurt or ice cream, or when it cools down going to the park...so this friday mom and les joined us for a little ice cream date!

we went to coldstone creamery but i must say it was very dissappointing...it was blazing hot inside with hardly any lights on and the ice cream was already melting by the time they scooped it into our cup :( the flavors were good though! we got coffee and dreamsicle!

sadie loved it!

friday at lunch, we met loni and kami and baby parker at mcalister's...are those the cutest little things on parker's feet?? they are called toe blooms and she looked so precious! sadie wanted to stand right by her car seat (and try to push it all around the restaurant!)

now back to reality...on my agenda this week: clean this dirty house, buy groceries, find a dress for lauren's wedding, plan for jennifer's shower which is coming up in less than 2 weeks!

happy tuesday!

accent vlog

2011-09-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

hello friday! i'm so glad friday is here AND it's a 3 day weekend! so i decided to do an accent vlog to show ya'll if (ha!) i have an accent...pretty sure it's obvious that i'm from texas, but it was fun to do.

oh and i don't know why my voice doesn't match up with the video-it looks like one of those old movies where the actor's voice didn't match the screen-sorry.

enjoy!

{re}decorating

2011-09-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

i love to decorate! but my living room and kitchen have looked the same since we moved in 3 1/2 years ago, so it was definitely time for a change {in my opinion}. here is a post of what our living room looked like before...

and here is the after. i still have a few things to do, but it's almost there.

this is a view standing at our fireplace and looking towards the entry. i kept the same couch and chair and added pillows and a throw from pottery barn.

sorry the pictures are all out of order but this is on my kitchen buffet. a new lamp and burlap shade from target, a vase of corks that mike had in his office but nobody could see, and a cute vintage planter that i'm going to fill with moss.

i had been looking for something i loved to hang on this wall next to my pantry. i found these beauties at kirkland's on sale. i love that they tie in the burlap of the lampshade, the bits of red i've added, and that they are wine bottle openers!

a view from the entry looking towards the fireplace. that gigantic clock i got at pier 1 for a steal!! and the red tin piece i've had forever just moved locations. the bright red play yard doesn't really go, but such is life with a toddler ;)

this is MY chair! mike has his brown leather one, but this yellow and white striped one is all mine! i got it on major sale at pottery barn years ago and just added a vintage burlap pillow from restoration hardware. changes the look up completely!

the entry..i kept our pictures on the wall from a trip to napa/san fran but changed up what was on the table. the garden obelisks i got at a local store called the attique and the little owl is from pier 1.

a close up

i've had this chair forever and was ready to say ta-ta to it, but we changed up the pillow cushion to a paprika colored one and added a pillow from marshall's and i love it again!

the rug is one of my favorite purchases...a looped wool runner from target.

the mantle is some of the same stuff and some new things...the caramel colored candle holder my mom added to give it some color and the new picture frames are from pier 1 {i really will put some pictures in there eventually}

this is what's sitting on top of the piano. the pictures were already there but i added the 'love' sign i found at marshall's and the urn(?) i got at the attique...a friend told me about the little green candle, and it's the best smell ever!! i got it locally at lily lane home but the smell is tuscan currant. i'll try to get the brand for you.

so there it is! at least what i've done so far...what do you think?

as soon as i get my new dining chairs i'll show you the kitchen/dining area...happy thursday!

mommy breakfast and lunch with nana

2011-08-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

yesterday i met jennifer, kami, and loni for a mommy breakfast at panera's...we had such a good time and got to talk all things baby related...including labor, delivery, nursing, preschool and on and on. it's so nice to be able to talk about all these things with girls who are going through or have just through it! and you know you're not boring them with baby talk because that's what on all our minds ;)

kami just had parker 7 weeks ago and loni's baby addison is 4 months..aren't they precious?!
jennifer is pregnant with logan and due in november and miss sadie is the oldest of the bunch-almost 20 months!! i cannot believe it! she stayed with my mom, and i got to enjoy a leisurely breakfast. but oh man, i forget how tiny babies are...i held parker and she just seemed itsy bitsy to me. (note to self: poof that hair up before you take a picture)
after breakfast i did a little shopping for our house. let me say that i have fallen back in love with pier 1. why did we end our relationship? no idea. but we are back on, pier 1, and oh how i love you! i also went to spice and got some great decorative things for the kitchen and living room. it's really coming together! can't wait to show you pictures. after all that shopping, i decided it was time to relax with a mani/pedi. i got a creamy white on my fingers and a dark brownish/purple on my toes.

today we met mom and les for lunch at mcalister's...do you ever go there? it seems like i'm there all the time. my current favs are the creamy potato soup and the southwest turkey melt. and of course, some sweet tea!

sadie was showing me her teeth here. ha!
and in a serious mood with mommy. i said, "you don't have to smile, just sit still" and this is what we got!
have a fantastic weekend...mine will be full of football talk since saturday is mike's second fantasy football draft...thank goodness, now with his hobby here again, maybe he'll leave the couponing to me :)

the one with the funny glasses

2011-08-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

what an interesting few days we've had...sadie is cutting her last 4 baby teeth and she is waking up at night for 2 to 3 hours which means i am exhausted. added to that, she refuses to go to sleep by herself now so i have to rock her for naps and bedtime! i've struggled with what to do about it, but honestly she is only little once and it's easier for me to rock her than hear her scream and cry for hours. and she is such a good little girl otherwise so i'll just look at it as extra snuggle time, right? ;)

we have had lots of fun lately coloring with crayons, watching max and ruby, and playing tea party. it's too hot to even go outside, so i'm trying to keep her busy inside. her she is playing the pi-no as she calls it (with some awesome bedhead no less)
and i'm really struggling with the "no spending in august" challenge, so since i can't buy for myself, i'm buying for the house and for sadie. does that mean i have a shopping problem?

i did find the cutest little bag to hold sadie's milk and snacks at marshall's yesterday. i'm always in need of kitchen towels so i snatched these up too!

i had already bought her some cute things at children's place on the way back from our trip last week, but i went in again and found this top and skirt and watermelon pj's on sale.
lastly, mike had to go to the eye doctor yesterday, i don't think he had been in like 5 years because he hates anything near his eyes! he feels about the eye doctor like i feel about getting blood drawn! ugh! so last night when he came home he had these ridiculous old people glasses on and i found it so funny...then sadie decided she needed to wear them too. oh my, i laughed and laughed about this one.

on a completely different note, i have decided to redecorate my entry, living, and kitchen! so in typical danielle fashion, i took everything decorative off the walls and tables, and put away all the pillows, so i could start with a clean slate and know exactly what i need to buy...i sort of love the empty space now, but don't worry, i have some cute things planned to buy! i'll show you pictures as soon as it comes together.

happy tuesday!

3 days to relax

2011-08-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

sunday morning we left sadie with susanne, mckinlee, and mom, so we could take a little mini vaca to the gaylord texan in grapevine...i was a little nervous leaving sadie since she seems to being going through a seperation anxiety phase, but she ended up doing just fine!

we ate lunch on the way and then got lost in dallas 3 times but finally made it to the hotel. here is our pretty room. the entire hotel was decorated very rustic and "texan".

the two books i bought to read while we were on our trip...i started to rules of civility and could hardly put it down. it's a very interesting read and made me feel sort of sad when i finished it. the other book is nefertiti which i've been waiting for two years to come out. this is a sequel, and i can't wait to read it!

inside the hotel, there were so many restaurants and shops to look at...this was the riverwalk cantina and it felt like we were at the riverwalk in san antonio. we ate breakfast here monday morning- the omelets were outstanding! i had musrooms, bacon, peppers, and spinach in mine with jack and cheddar cheese!

i loved this little sign...as you were heading to the outdoor pool, they had the cutest tiny wooden house with lots of sweets inside!

a huge guitar train in the atrium

we also went to main street in grapevine which was so fun...they had so many quaint little shops! we stopped by pattycakes for a delicious lemon cupcake.

a cute cow printed ottoman that i rested my feet on. i'm loving this blue-green-aqua color on my toes!

the atrium of the hotel was filled with gorgeous plants, flowers, and trees. i don't what this one is called but i thought it was beautiful.

ahhhh....the best meal at zeppole's coastal italian restaurant

baked salmon with spinach wrapped in a puff pastry with a saffron cream sauce, polenta, and fresh veggies. i didn't get a picture of it-probably because we stuffed it into our faces so fast-but we had an amazing appetizer of baked fontina cheese with mushrooms and tomatoes on crostini. i can taste it right now.

mike eating his meal

and me enjoying mine

i love the sound of water of any sort, so the river running through the hotel and the fountain, was so peaceful

we had so much fun, but could not wait to get home to our little sadie bella!

show me your smile and a shower

2011-08-09T11:45:00.000-07:00

sadie had on the cutest little coral (my fav color right now!) dress from babygap that her zizi got her the other night, so of course i had to take a picture...when i said "sadie, show me your smile" this is what i got! ha! we'll have to work on that smile before school pictures i guess.

on friday night we went to a wedding shower for a dear friend, lauren, who i have known literally since the day she was born...her mom did a wonderful job of giving the shower and had a huge southern meal, cake, and delicious cookies for us to eat.

here we are...

the gift table

there were soo many people there to support lauren and matt

some of the yummy cookies

mom and les

sadly i didn't get one picture of the happy couple! there were so many people there, plus we were trying to eat dinner and keep sadie occupied, when all she wanted to do the whole night was look at the beautiful aquarium in the lobby! but it was a fun night, and i can't wait for the beautiful wedding in a month

...............

speaking of marriage, 9 years ago tommorrow was the day mike proposed to me. i was thinking about that day early this morning when sadie woke up and told me "milk. go get it." haha! i remember that day so clearly and we've lived so much life since then. i can't imagine what another 9 years will bring!

new clothes, recovered chair, and the pool

2011-08-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

i recently ordered a few new things from my favorite stores {j.crew and anthro}...it's a good thing too, since i'm doing a no shopping challenge for the month of august! j.crew was having a 40% already marked down items and anthro just had a bunch of good stuff super clearanced...oh and i promise these things look way better on than on the hanger.

city capris in white and british khaki

love this cute little top from anthro! i wore it with a grey tank and the white capris tonight.

i am in love with this salmon/coral color. lately i have bought so many things in this color. and this is ALWAYS the nail polish color i buy. i'll come home with a new bottle of nail polish and see that i already have 3 other bottles of the same color :) do you do that?

and we finally got the new chair for our bedroom!! my mom gave us this chair and had it recovered in a fun and funky zebra print. it's so nice to sit in it and put my feet up and relax in our room.

so yesterday i had pain in my super low back and this morning it was hurting pretty bad, but i still decided to go run. i probably ran a 1/4 of a mile on the treadmill when the pain got so intense it was doubling me over and i felt like throwing up. i hobbled to my car and mike tried to stretch out my leg when i got home. then mom drove us to see the chiropractor and he stretched my leg and gave me an adjustment...it feels much better tonight, but i guess my muscles were really tense from running and i have issues with my pelvic bone since i had sadie, so combined, it was not fun! after all the drama of the morning, sadie and i went to the pool to swim! kaylee, jackson, ethan, and phillip came too. we ate lunch and got to visit-here are the kids altogether!

happy weekend!

sadie loves her girls!

2011-08-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

zizi, mimi, and nana...sadie loves these 3!

zizi and mimi came to stay with us for the weekend and sadie enjoyed it so much. she always has fun with them and talks about them constantly.

i loved this picture of mckinlee even though her eyes are closed she just looks so sweet and happy. and look at her beautiful nails-not fair for a 12 year old to have better nails than most women :)

when mimi is around, that's all sadie can think about! i love that they are so close and love each other.

sadie belle, mckinlee, and susanne

and nana stopped by to visit today. when sadie sees nana at the front door she stops and squeals "nanaaaaaaaa!" so cute.

happy tuesday to you!

hi monday!

2011-08-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

these pictures don't relate to my post, but i thought they were so cute! susanne took them for me for sadie's 18 month old pics!

it's monday AND the start of a new month! july was sooo super busy, i've hardly blogged at all, but hopefully, august will be a little slower and i can catch up on a few things...

i've started running again! yippee! my goal is to run mondays, wednesdays, and fridays, and do zumba on thursdays. to me, it is so much easier to run on a treadmill than out in the 40th straight day of 100+ temps here in texas! so i've been going to our community workout room and it's super nice and never crowded.
for the month of august, susanne and i are doing a no shopping challenge. so for 31 days, my challenge is to not buy anything for myself like clothes, shoes, or accessories. makeup doesn't count. good thing i just bought some cute stuff from anthro and j.crew last week ;) i will let you know how it goes!
speaking of shoes...i've been having some issues with shoes for sadie. she has fat little feet, not necessarily wide just thick. target shoes are not cutting it anymore, so last week i ordered a pair of shoes from see kai run-love them!! and i got some really cute stride rites at dillard's on sale the other day. i'm thinking for fall i'll just get her 3 or 4 pairs of really good shoes and forget the cheapy ones.
we had our annual district convention this past weekend which is 3 days of bible talks, dramas, and wonderful fellowship. the theme this year was "let god's kingdom come" and it was great! i always feel so refreshed after a weekend of spirtual encouragement. but i didn't take one picture with my camera! i can't believe that!

sadie's new phrase is "where are loo?" for "where are you?" it's hilarious and i love to hear her say it!
i'm now off to cook dinner...this is our 1 unhealthy night of eating before i buy groceries tommorrow-hot dogs and fries-but i bet they'll taste really good!

18 months

2011-07-21T10:50:00.001-07:00

my sweet sadie isabella is 18 months old! i cannot believe it!

she is the happiest, sweetest toddler i could ever ask for and i love her so so much.

here are a few things to know about sadie at 18 months:

-she is 34 1/4 inches tall and weighs 29 pounds! big girl!

-she talks all day long and amazes us with her vocabulary...she's making sentences, the longest so far is "uh oh mama, coopy's barking."

-she wears 24 month clothes and size 6 shoes

-she still loves to watch dora and diego, but is really into max & ruby right now

-she loves the disney princesses and can name all of them. snow white is still her fav!

-she sings the snow white song (from when she's standing at the well...it's called One Song..the cutest thing ever!)

-sadie can count to 11 and say most of her abc's

-when i walk out of her room at night, she'll either say "bye mama" or "sweet dreams"

-she loves to eat most anything, but is not loving milk so much. i have to put juice in her milk to get her to drink it or give her vanilla soy milk.

-her new favorite thing to do is play tea party

-she is so aware of others and how they are feeling...she says "i sorry mama" if she's been naughty and says "please" and "thank you" at the right times

-she loves going the pool which she calls the "swimming cool"

-she loves her puppies cooper and henry and likes to go see them outside

we are so thrilled to be her parents and cherish every day of her precious life!!

yay for days off!

2011-07-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

mike had five glorious days off of work this past week and we made the most of it!! saturday we had a rare and wonderful date night...chuy's for dinner-i got the chuy's enchilada special with the cream tomatillo sauce (very important) and mike got his old faithful chicken salad. both were so yummy and i've been craving it ever since. then we went to a movie. like a real movie in a movie theater. and guess what we saw? a kid's movie! well not a cartoon but we saw monte carlo with selena gomez and it was so good! here we are before our date night...and we had lots of fun play time with daddy. this picture cracks me up-first because mike is wearing sadie's minnie ears and second, because she looks like she would rather be anywhere than posing for a pic!
sunday night we had some friends over and grilled burgers, then monday night we had the best dinner! i got crab cakes from heb but made a homemade remoulade sauce-divine. and paula deen's shells and cheese with bacon, roasted asparagus, and juicy filets wrapped in bacon. (didn't get the steaks in the picture but they were so good)
poor miss sadie has been battling an upset stomach for 10 days now...i will not go into details but it has been messy around here! her tests came back negative for bacteria or parasites so i guess it's some sort of virus, but it's still making me worried. today we loaded up on probiotics and children's pepto. hopefully it will help! in this pic she's showing me the answer to "how much do you love mama?" she does her arms out big and says "this" for "this much." sweetie pie!
and here she is today before going to hobby lobby and home depot...i thought she looked so cute! and she insists on carrying a real lemon around with her everywhere. ha!
i'm about to start a little project involving paint and a rooster and a clock. want to know what it is?

nope. you'll just have to wait and see.

this is vacation

2011-06-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

we were supposed to be on vacation this past week. seagrove beach, florida. gorgeous condo right on the water. THIRTEEN HOUR DRIVE. we (and by 'we' i mean mostly 'i') decided that a long road trip with a mama who gets carsick and a 17 month old who doesn't like to sit in her carseat over 2 hours at the most, was simply not a great idea. so we (i) decided to postpone the trip (until she's 5 ;) and go for a couple of days vacation to the gaylord texan resort. then 'we' decided to forget that and mike and i would just do our trip to florida in august and let sadie stay with my mom and sister. then 'we' decided that 'we' couldn't be that far away from my baby for 6 whole days, so 'we' rebooked the gaylord for today. then miss sadie belle got an upset tummy last night, so the trip was off once again. so 'we' rebooked the gaylord for august for just mike and i...final vacation changing plans count=5.

i think i'm tired and still haven't gone ANYWHERE!

but you know what? it's okay. because vacation to me is spending time with the people i love. and i did that today-so technically, i guess we ARE on vacation.

my two favorite people and i spent some fun time at the pool today...

happy weekend!

p.s. i'm reading my 'vacation' book, the help, right now and can hardly put it down!! so good. have you read it?

summer schedule and museum

2011-06-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

hi! are you having a great summer so far? we are! i was inspired by this post at sunny side up and thought i would share our summer schedule with you...i love to see how people spend their days, so i thought you might want to see how we spend ours (if not-just scroll down to the pics at the end ;)

7-8 am wake up, let sadie play in her crib while i get dressed, do Bible reading, and make breakfast

8:30-9:30 breakfast and cartoons-usually dora, diego, or max & ruby

10- lunch run errands/out of the house activites

monday-buy groceries

tuesday-volunteer ministry

wednesday-story time at the library

friday-pool

thursdays are my day off and sadie's day to stay with nana!

1-2:30 sadie's naptime, which is my time to straighten up the house, watch tv, read, or waste time on the internet...sadly the last option is the most frequent!

2:30-3:30 playtime, reading time, or outdoor time if it's not blazing hot

3:30-4:30 sadie's snack and cartoons...this is my happy hour-not where i sip on a half price margarita although that sounds pretty good-but i can do my daily cleaning chores, get laundry done, have a snack myself, and prepare for dinner...

sadie sits in her play yard + i'm not chasing a toddler around=happy mama

4:30-5:30 cook dinner while sadie plays in the kitchen

5:30-7 eat dinner, then sadie and daddy go outside for their special time each day. they water the plants, pick veggies from the garden, and she usually comes in soaking wet from running through the sprinkler

7-8 bathtime, sadie drinks her milk and is in bed by 8

8-whenever workout or run, shower, personal Bible study, watch tv or talk to mike and sleep!

i thrive on a schedule!! when sadie was tiny i kept asking my sister "when will i have a schedule again?" it was so hard for me because i'm such a planner...but now sadie and i have a great schedule worked out that makes us both happy. and of course, some days or weeks the day doesn't go exactly that way or she sleeps late or wakes up earlier and everything adjusts, but at least i have a plan! are you that way? or do you like to "go with the flow" in the summer?

now on to museum pics...we went the mayborn museum on the baylor campus on friday and had a lot of fun! they have a lost egypt exhibit right now which was really cool (i love anything about egypt or egyptian history). sadie liked sitting on the fake camel the best! then we went to the regular part of the museum that has interactive toys and games...

my hair is dark again...what do you think?

loved her expression here
driving the school bus
happy monday!

fun (hot) friday

2011-06-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

sadie and i spent the day at home today getting caught up on laundry and just enjoying being home...over the last two weeks, we've been so busy-it was really nice to just relax at home!

this is what my closet has been looking like for several days...shocking for me, since you all know my love of organization :) so i had to document how bad it was before hanging all these clothes up! (they were all clean clothes by the way, just not hung up)

and our garage has been bothering me for months, but i had never got around to organizing it...so today was the day...these are the after pictures, didn't want to bore you with messy 'before' pics...

our entry door from the garage to the house...with a 3 shelved shoe holder

mike hung up the bikes several weeks ago but there were boxes and junk all along the walls so i cleaned out most everything (translation-threw it in the trash-don't tell mike ;)

this is the dog grooming area plus their crates for when they sleep in the garage...it was super disgusting, so i sorted all the stuff and cleaned it up...i feel so much better about the garage now, though i was thinking it would be so nice to paint it a calming color and finish the concrete by having it stained...

after all that hard work, sadie and i had a good lunch! sadie had chicken nuggets, avocado, goldfish, and hawaiian delight. i had this stouffer's chicken floretine pita (not sure of the name?) which was soooo good, but probably not super healthy and a salad with balsamic viniagrette.

then after her nap, it was pool time...or as sadie says the "swimming cool"! she loves the water but wasn't sure what to do with this tiny pool.

splashing around

and getting serious playing with all her toys!

such a nice day! and tonight mike is grilling burgers-the perfect summer meal...happy weekend!

another week flies by!

2011-06-15T17:41:00.001-07:00

i really haven't posted anything in a week?! we've had a busy and fun week with susanne and mckinlee visiting! they went home yesterday and i think sadie is missing them...she says "zizi, mimi" a lot and tonight before bed she was saying "zizi coot (cute) mimi coot"

i love this picture of susanne and sadie. so pretty!
in between trips to the pool, family dinners, and shopping, i had a silpada party friday night...silpada is gorgeous silver jewelry in case you haven't heard of it before...danna is a silpada rep so she brought a bunch of great stuff for us to look at! i ended getting some great jewelry free-can't wait to get it and wear it :)
danna and jennifer
susanne, me, and mckinlee
sadie belle was eating breakfast and watching her shows when i asked her to say hi to the camera...here she is waving and smiling!
and before the girls went home yesterday
tomorrow i've got to get my teeth cleaned and have a ton of errands to run while mom watches sadie for me. have a good night!

what we've been up to...

2011-06-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

hi!! i've been a little busy and haven't posted lately, so here it goes...(in list form ;)

reading dora books all.the.time-i'm so glad sadie loves to read and you know dora is pretty entertaining i have to say! thanks braely for all the books!

visiting her great grandmother's house and playing with the cutest miniature chairs and blocks i'm sure i played with when i was little

running again! i made it two miles this night as you can see from my clever little pic.

having too much fun with this little girl!! pool time, sprinkler time, eating lots of fruit, trips to target, watering the plants, wearing new summer pjs...i love it all!

joining facebook...i finally succumbed to the pressure...i know i'm the last person on earth to do this, but i went for it this week! it's a little addictive, huh?
my niece is coming to stay with us for a few days and my sis gets here friday. lots of fun things planned!
and i'm having a silpada party friday night! have you ever been to one or bought their jewelry? it's scrumptious!

night night!

jackson's graduation

2011-06-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

yesterday my friend, jennifer's son graduated from kindergarten!! i remember the night he was born so clearly, it's hard to believe he's already been in school a year!

sadie and i couldn't make it to the actual graduation, but they had a party for him at a park afterwards, so we went to it.

here's jackson eating his cupcake

his cousin, kaylee and a friend, ari...i love the blue icing everywhere!

phillip just dove in face first! too cute!

jackson opening his presents- i asked my mom "what do i get a 6 year old boy for a present?" i'm only used to buying for baby girls ;)

his little friends were so excited when he opened his presents

stacy with her little boy, evan. he and sadie were born a few weeks apart.

danna and phillip

sadie was fascinated with the cooler...she opened and closed it forever!

her little cheeks get so red when she plays outside

a group pic of the kids

it was sooooo hot!! we only lasted about an hour before heading home. when it's this hot, i either have to be inside or in a pool. and it's only the first of june!

happy weekend!

what i wore wednesday

2011-06-01T11:42:00.001-07:00

well i didn't do very good at taking pictures this week of all my outfits, so i only have two little outfits to share! i'm linking up with lindsey at the pleated poppy...check it out for more fashion inspiration!

running around outfit

white tank-gap

tshirt-j crew

bermudas-old navy

shoes-burlap TOMS

necklace-lisa leonard with some vintage pearl charms

bracelet-boutique

rockin' heart ranch outfit

ruffly top (which was labeled a dress...really?)-spice boutique

earrings and cuff bracelet-spice boutique

watch-fossil

jeans-7 for all mankind

boots-cavendars

thanks for looking!!

hi ya'll!

2011-05-31T06:50:00.000-07:00

did you have a great weekend? we did! 3 day weekends feel so much longer and relaxed to me than regular weekends!

here's sadie (with slightly sleepy eyes) saying "hi"

i thought i would share a few of the cute things she's saying right now...

"put it back"-like when she's done with her milk and wants me to put it in the diaper bag

"mike dada"-she knows his name

"mama move"-if i'm in her way! we're working on saying please!

"yano"-for piano

"abc" and "one....two....threeeeeee"

"strawberry cake"-i've been making a few too many cupcakes lately ;)

"pick a bean"-she goes outside with daddy to check the garden every night and he usually lets her pick a green bean

"too much"-if i put food in her mouth that she doesn't want, then she spits it out

"ticka ticka"-she loves tickling

she makes us laugh all the time and is so much fun!

back to our weekend...saturday night we went to an event here called the Rockin' Heart Ranch which is a dinner/ dance and fundraiser for the American Heart Association. the food was so yummy. we had pork tenderloin, twice baked mashed potatoes, spicy green beans, rolls, and banana pudding. what a southern meal, huh?!

i think people have the misconception that if you live in texas, you wear boots and ride horses all the time, but we don't! i usually pull out my boots twice a year...if we go to the fair & rodeo and for this night. since it IS called rockin' heart ranch, i figure i should dress country. i made mike wear his boots too! he is SO from cali-he would prefer to wear cargos and flip flops all the time :)

here are our two attempts at self-timed pictures!

we were laughing about how old we are, because by 9:15, i had heard all of the bellamy brothers i cared to hear, and was so ready to come home and put on my pajamas!

then sunday, mike's sister and bro-in-law came to visit! we had grilled grouper and redfish for dinner, with french fries and mixed veggies...yum. then i made cupcakes for dessert. they hadn't seen sadie since she was 9 months old so they were blown away at how active and talkative she is! they brought her a sweet little outfit and a puppy toy that you pull on a string...she loves it!

now we've got a busy week ahead of us...

happy tuesday!

why am i always the one to have hair issues?

2011-05-26T17:46:00.000-07:00

okay, first things first...the cutie pie...on her "ho"! that's what she calls her rocking horse! ha! or if she wants to ride a pony on my legs, she'll say "mama-ho!" it cracks me up every time.and tonight she sat in the laundry basket forever while i cooked dinner. eating her goldfish and playing with her disney princess dolls. then after dinner, she wanted to get back in with the poms poms from the baby shower last weekend. simple joys, right?!
now...on to my hair. why did i decide to cut 6 inches off my hair again? because i love having drama in my life? sometimes i think so. last thursday, i got my hair cut and hilighted/lowlighted. i wanted an angled bob but not too short. so my hair guy didn't cut enough off and it just looked weird. which was sort of my fault, because i told him to keep it long(ish), but still he's the professional right? so then back to the salon i went friday for him to fix it.

now i don't know if he was just in a hurry or wanted to move on to a paying customer (since i certainly was not going to pay him again 2 days in a row), or if he truly thought he cut it correctly, but it looked AWFUL...so choppy in the back and one side longer than the other. ugh!

i've been living with it for a week, but thankfully got in to see my mom's hairdresser this morning! i told him it was a hair emergency. dramatic? maybe.

he fixed it all up and it looks SOOO much better...but why does this always happen to me? i have had more hair drama in my 29, almost 30, years of life than i care to recount.

so excuse the tired face that needs some fresh make up applied...but what do you think?

what i wore wednesday

2011-05-25T06:21:00.000-07:00

hi everybody! i'm linking up with lindsey for another what i wore wednesday!

tank-gap

dress-old navy

sandals-target (love these!)

bracelet-pandora

chunky clear bracelet-michele busch

my sis told me this outfit looks like i have a black sports bra on underneath the top! ha! (thanks susanne ;)

tank-gap

sheer top-target

skirt-target

shoes-kohls

bracelet-boutique

bird in a cage necklace-boutique

tank-jcrew

skirt-old navy

flips-jcrew

this was the day i cut 5 inches off my hair...it's shorter in the back and longer in the front. what do you think?

sorry this one is not full length!

dress-old navy

feather earrings-f21

and i had on my orange sandals from target

bracelets-from a bunch of different stores

top-f21

shorts-jcrew

flips-jcrew

thanks for looking! happy wednesday :)

kami's baby shower

2011-05-23T06:24:00.000-07:00

on saturday afternoon, i hosted a baby shower for a sweet friend, kami and her baby to be, parker! we did a milk and cookies theme which was so much fun...here is the mama beside the sweets table!

the color theme was hot pink, yellow, and gray. i made the pom poms from tissue paper and hung them from the dining chandelier.

i made the cupcakes-they were strawberry with buttercream frosting. the cute pink and white polka dot cupcake liners i got from hey yo yo. my sweet mom made her delicious chocolate chip cookies, and then we had a candy bar with take home treat bags-watermelon sours, lemon drop, and jelly beans!

i used target brand and starbucks frappucino bottles to drink the milk out of and the cute gray and white straws are from hey yo yo. i got the cute milk containers from hobby lobby and filled them with chocolate and white milk.

we made flower arrangement in mason jars tied with a raffia ribbon

i used pink paislee 'soiree' scrapbook paper for the parker banner along with little embellishments to make it blingy, and we added pom poms to either side of the banner.

we had an advice tree on the entry table...i spray painted tree branches from our yard hot pink and made little yellow cards for everyone to write words of mama advice for kami. it turned out so cute!!

i could not have done all of this without the help of my mom, sis, and niece. thank you so much!

me, mckinlee, and susanne

and our littlest guest was baby addison, who was born 7 weeks early, but she is doing fantastic and is the cutest thing. her mama's due date was tommorrow. wow!

we mainly had sweets to eat, but i did make the yummiest chicken pasta salad and served it with garlic crostini. jennifer brought a veggie tray with the best dip ever.

it was a super fun afternoon and kami got so many cute things for baby parker. i can't wait until she arrives!!

what i wore wednesday

2011-05-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

it's wednesday and i decided to link up with lindsey at the pleated poppy for what i wore wednesday! go check out all the great fashion inspiration :)

here's what i wore this week:

white tank-gap

orange tank-jcrew

shorts-old navy

sandals-steve madden

bracelet and earrings-kenneth cole at dillard's

striped top and belt-forever 21

jeans-lc for kohl's

sandals-dillard's?

purse-coach

sunglasses-chanel

bracelets-boutique

tank-gap

dress-target

necklace-forever 21

bracelets and earrings-kenneth cole at dillard's

shoes-target

top-jcrew

pants-loft

scarf-old navy

flips-jcrew

sweater-target

shorts-jcrew

flips-jcrew

necklace-planet jill

earrings-push present from hubby

happy wednesday!

susanne and chris' 17th

2011-05-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

this weekend we had an anniversary party for susanne and chris. i can't believe they've been married 17 years! we ate dinner at mama baris...a yummy italian restaurant, then had dessert and presents at mom and les' house.

here's the dessert table. so pretty and springy!

nana and poppy got sadie belle a rocking horse on saturday, so here is mckinlee helping her out with it. sadie calls it her "ho" isn't that hilarious?!

the wonderful coconut cake mom made

my devil's food cupcakes with buttercream icing...i've been practicing to get them looking professional. what do you think?

and the most wonderful spice cookies with divinity inside that my grandmother makes!

i loved this one of susanne and mckinlee

their sweet family

mike and i

this is the present i was telling you about...the one that i would like ;)

it's a family rules sign! i had seen them on different blogs and thought they were so cute. i ordered this one off etsy at 41westdesigns

sunday we had breakfast and played before they headed over to chris' parents for lunch. i LOVE this picture of sadie and her zizi!

and this was miss s today before we went to the grocery store...

i bought lots of good stuff at the store this morning-veggies, fruits, larabars, and orangemint water. i start the shred again today for 30 days before our trip to florida. gotta get in swimsuit shape...but, i am oh so proud that i've lost 11 pounds in the last 4 months!! only 4 more to go!

happy monday :)

random friday

2011-05-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

happy happy friday! it's been a good day so far, except for the headache i have...i met jennifer for lunch at cafe cappucino AND sadie's little cold is getting better today. so i think that's a sign of a good weekend to come. tommorrow night we have susanne and chris' anniversary party, so that will be fun. can't wait for them to see their gift. i love it so much i would like one too ;) i'll show pics next week!

for now-a few pictures from our week...

there was a special delivery for me yesterday from my friend, vera. bradley, that is.
miss s is so into the potty room right now. she looooves playing with the toilet paper and she'll tap on the toilet seat and say "potty." this morning, she went into our bathroom and said "potty" so i put her on it to let her try. she held onto me for dear life like i was going to drop her in! and then i took her off pretty quickly. but at least she gets the idea.
yesterday morning there was the sweetest little bird (dove?) on our patio table. i took the pic from inside but loved the way it turned out.
and wednesday we had a horrible rainstorm. the sky was such an intense color!
and lately sadie loves walking her stroller around the house. except she usually turns it upside down and pushes it by the wheels. all kinds of things get strolled around like dolls, books, and cheddar goldfish!
have a great weekend!

hi there...

2011-05-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

i'm finally back! i took a much needed break from blogging and i feel so refreshed and ready to get back to documenting our little life.

so much has gone in the last couple of months, but i'll just show you a few highlights (if anyone is still reading my little blog ;)

april 17th we celebrated the memorial of jesus' death. last year, sadie was 2 months old and so tiny. this year, she's such a big girl and was quite the stinker during the celebration. i brought her diego and dora figures to keep her busy, and she yelled "diego" during the whole evening. ha! i loved this blue smocked dress she wore. she looks so big!

and a family pic

love this expression on her face. this was before going to her 15 month doctor's appointment. she did great even though she had to get shots. she is 33 1/4 inches tall and weighs 27 pounds. my big girl!

this was one sunday before our meeting-i just thought we looked so springy and cheerful.

and last friday we took a loooong overdue trip to plano to see zizi, mimi, and uncle. we had so much fun shopping, eating, and playing.

sometimes i can't believe susanne has an almost teenager and i have a baby!

this sweet girl is the BEST babysitter and so grown up

and sadie loved being outside in their backyard and playing with toys and the flowers. and breaking the kitty statue (sorry susanne ;)

so i'm back and ready for summer! aren't you?!

a break

2011-03-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

hi! i've made the decision to take a blogging break...there are so many other things i could and should be doing with my time. so thanks for reading!

exhausted...

2011-03-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

this is what our weekend has looked like...too much laundry, a sick baby girl, and not much sleep for mommy and daddy.

hope your sunday is looking better than ours ;)

what i wore wednesday

2011-03-23T05:40:00.000-07:00

hi! here's what i wore this week...

tshirt-loft

striped tank-forever 21

skinnies (cuffed)-loft

mocassins-payless (from when i was pregnant and my feet were ginormous)

necklace-michele busch

grey tank-gap

cardi-ny & co

necklace-compass

flower pin-made by me with help from sis

jeans (cuffed)-lc at kohl's

flips-gap

tshirt and cardi-old navy

jeans-guess from marshall's

necklace-planet jill

bracelet-pandora

flips-gap

tshirt-jcrew factory

shorts-loft

sandals-target

here's a close up...aren't they cute?!

i've realized

i LOOOOVE cardis!
i'm always cuffing my jeans
sandal weather makes me happy

what do you love wearing for spring?

i'm linking up with the pleated poppy! happy wednesday!

spring weekend

2011-03-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

the weather was gorgeous here this weekend...a little windy, but beautiful skies and 80 degrees! mike and i attempted to do a project and got halfway through before calling in the professionals-i'll share pics once it's done.

we have these beautiful bushes in our front yard that bloom white every march, and we took pictures of sadie by the bush last year when she was super tiny, so we thought we would try again this year. getting a 14 month old to sit still by a bush is rather hard, so this is the best we got!

and our friends, the amundsens, came to visit this weekend. corey (the dad) was doing a half marathon at baylor...way to go! we had so much fun with them just relaxing and grilling out and letting the kids play. i love how luke and amelia have perfect smiles in this picture and sadie just looks irritated. ha!

their cute little family

and this morning mike was cracking me up as he was getting ready for work...the owners of the bank he works for sponsored a charity golf tournament for the private school they send their kids to, so mike and several other guys at his office had to play golf this afternoon. he was so NOT looking forward to it and hoping he would be on the "bad" golfers team because he is completely not a golfer. he plays only when he has to and doesn't enjoy it...i think it's because it's not fast paced enough for my completely sweet impatient husband! he said "maybe i could be the caddy...no wait. i think caddies have to know what they're doing and like which club to use. maybe i'll just drive the cart." but at least he looks cute, right?!

and miss sadie with a classic picture face...she is way too busy to stop and smile for the camera

i loved this close up of her!

happy monday!

sadie's pictures

2011-03-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

i got sadie's 14 month pictures done at portrait innovations today. i loved them all! but here are a few of my favorites...

14 months

2011-03-17T17:48:00.000-07:00

sadie isabella is 14 months old! she is soooo much fun...i love this age!

she weighs 26 pounds and is wearing 18 month to 24 month clothes
she is in between a size 5 and 6 shoe
the bottle is gone, she's drinking her milk from a sippy cup
she is down to 1 nap a day, right after lunch

sadie wakes up between 7 and 8 am and goes to bed between 7 and 8pm
she just got her 6th tooth

she talks a lot (no big surprise!) some of her newest words are yuckity (yucky), chuck e cheese, mimi (for mckinlee), zizi (for susanne), thank you, throw, wow, oh no, and love
she's very social and says hi to people every time we go anywhere
she loves being outside, picking up rocks and bark, and trying her new skill of walking up and down steps

she loves pushing her babies (snow white and ariel) around in her new baby stroller
she loves playing with blocks and reading books
her favorite cartoon is dora, she asks for dora every day
she also loves the disney princess sing a longs

she has the sweetest personality, but is starting to show her temper when she doesn't get what she wants
she does not have time for things like diaper changes and putting clothes on ;)

she will eat anything! the only thing she hasn't enjoyed lately was tomatoes. some of her favorite foods are pasta, avocado, strawberries, salmon, green beans, broccoli, sweet potatoes, bananas, and of course cheerios for a snack
she likes to help me do things, like clean the kitchen and fold the laundry

she likes to dance and she has this one move that just cracks us up
she is constantly on the move, as you can see from the pictures, so it's hard to get a good picture of her anymore. poor thing knows the flash is coming when i get my camera out, so she squints or closes her eyes nearly every time

sadie is such a joy and we love her so much!

what i wore wednesday

2011-03-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

hi and welcome to another week of what i wore wednesday! i'm linking up with the pleated poppy...go there for more fashion inspiration!

dress-201 collective

leggings-loft

necklace-compass trading

flips-gap

blouse-dillards?

tank-target

necklace-plum boutique

jeans-7 for all mankind

shoes-kohl's

tank-target

sweater/cardi-loft

necklace-planet jill

skinnies-kohl's (lc brand)

sandals-target

thanks for looking! i just ordered some chino shorts from j.crew factory online...so excited to get them for spring and summer. what's your new favorite piece for spring?

inspiration rooms!!

2011-03-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

i have been loving looking at some beautiful inspiration rooms on different blogs this week! i'm ready to change up my living room and kitchen a little bit...not anything major. but i do want to change out pillows and some accessories and give it a fresh look. nicole at meohmy has great taste and a gorgeous house. love her living room...i want those pillows and that rug!

and her kitchen is so bright and airy...this photo inspired me to paint my pantry door!

and sadie (great name, by the way ;) at simply delicious is just inspiring. period. a labor and delivery nurse/new mom/runner/crafty crafter! wow! this photo is of her newly redone master bedroom, but this is the inspiration for my guest room. my mom gave us a beautiful dresser that she had when she was a little girl, so we're repainting it aqua. plus the guest room walls are already this color, so i'm hoping to take some great ideas from this photo and use in the guest room.
and finally, what's a post without a picture of sweet sadie belle?! i love this one of her playing at the park.
happy sunday!

play date

2011-03-10T11:38:00.000-08:00

last friday morning, we had a girl's play date! it was so cute to see the girls together. stella brought mikayla and melena (a little girl she babysits), and linda brought abi. at first the girls all acted really shy, but then they started playing and did really well!

abi stayed pretty close to her sugar (that's what they call linda...isn't that a precious name for a grandma?) she's adorable!

mikayla liked sadie's blocks and her new baby stroller. she strolled her baby around the living room in it.

it's really hard to get three toddlers to sit still and smile for a picture, so this is the best we got!!

we're looking forward to many more fun playdates!

what i wore wednesday

2011-03-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

i haven't done what i wore wednesday in a long time, but i decided to go for it this week! these are some random outfits i've worn over the last few weeks. i'm linking up with the pleated poppy...check it out for lots more fashion inspiration!

dress: anthropologie

shoes: jc penney

earrings: compass?

on miss sadie

dress: dillard's

sweater: old navy

shoes: target
white tissue tee: target

striped tank: f21

skinnies (cuffed): kohl's

flops: gap
grey tank: target

blouse: 201 collective

jeans: 7 for all mankind

shoes: kohl's
mom and sis are in this one!

dress: target

shoes: dillard's

happy wednesday!

toddler time

2011-03-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

we have toddler time at our library every wednesday morning, so yesterday danna and i took the kids! it was so fun and interactive. we read books and sang songs and they have this huge parachute that the kids get to crawl under (the parents too). the first week we went sadie was not too sure about it, but she had more fun yesterday and got a little braver walking away from mama.

here we are

this is a total sadie pose. she always gesturing like this and saying "go?" for "where did something go?"

phillip was so sweet to her. she would throw the plastic ball and he would go get and bring it back to her. here he is riding on the fire truck.

i love doing these little learning activities with her. i wish we had more of them here!

new loves for spring

2011-03-01T17:49:00.000-08:00

i've made a few purchases lately...i have a little bit of an online shopping addiction ;) blouse, loft

pencil skirt, j.crew

blouse, loft

skirt, j.crew

scarf, the pleated poppy

have you found any new springy looks?

random monday

2011-02-28T16:38:00.000-08:00

sadie and daddy at toys r us

well i am still without a new computer....BUT this week i will the proud new owner of a imac desktop!!!! (thanks danna for the suggestion) the desktop mac is going to work for us because we don't take our laptop on the go and it stays in our office all the time. i am beyond excited!!

so a few random tidbits for a monday:

mike's parents came to visit this weekend and took miss sadie to toys r' us and completely spoiled her with a doll, book, stroller for her babies, and a dora purse. she loves all her new stuff. thanks nama and grandpa!
sadie is teething the worst she ever has over the last few days and nights. i am running on very little sleep, and i'm just not used to a fussy baby. hopefully tonight will be better. i've been using motrin and oragel but i just don't want to give her motrin every night, so tonight i'm going to use homeopathic colic calm and see how that works. any suggestions would be helpful!!
today starts our healthy eating plan (again) so i bought all kinds of great healthy stuff at the grocery store today. my snacks will include carrots, strawberries, and sugar snap peas (thanks to erin at sunny side up). i'm trying to include more fish and lean meat for our dinners. and when i need my chocolate fix, i got the 100 cal choc. granola bits. try them, they are delish!
susanne and i have embarked upon a 3 month shopping challenge. we will call it "90 days of quality"- i just made that up susanne ;)- for the months of march, april, and may, we are ONLY buying quality clothing from stores like anthro, jcrew, banana republic, and the loft. we both have this habit of impulse buying cheap things at target or old navy instead of asking ourselves if we really NEED the item, or did we buy just cause it's $10. now you all know my absolute love of target, so this is definitely a challenge people. at the end of 3 months, we're going to see how many things we actually bought and how much we spent compared to our normal shopping habits. feel free to join in our challenge and let us know your results in may!

happy monday!

technical difficulties

2011-02-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

(sadie watching her princess sing a long)

it's been a week since i've blogged...i am having some issues with our laptop. it's old(er) and acting a little weird. now i can't download any pictures from my camera onto the laptop. so for a looooooong time i've been thinking about getting a mac. if you have a mac, do you love it? should i get one?

until i decide what to do i guess i won't be blogging cause blogging is so boring without pictures, right?!

i want to remember...

2011-02-15T08:25:00.000-08:00

this post is more for me to not forget all the cute and funny things sadie is doing and saying at 13 months, but you are welcome to enjoy too!

-the other night, she was walking towards her bedroom door not really paying attention to where she was going, and my mom said, "sadie, turn around and watch where you're going" so sadie stopped, turned completely around and looked at us like "now what?" at least she follows directions!

-we were playing in her room and i said, "sadie let me see your eye. it looks like you have a bite on your eyelid." so she reached down to my shoulder and bit me!! all she heard was BITE i guess!

-she now says 'opa' for oops. we have that book red hat, green hat, and it says "oops" on every page. so last week we were reading it and when we got to the oops part, she said opa!

-yesterday she was being a little handful. in the span of 3 minutes she managed to light two burners on my gas range, bite my shoulder, and nearly fling herself out of my arms!

-when i'm putting her to sleep and she's done with her bottle she pushes it away, says "no ma'am" and throws her burp cloth away.

-sadie loves her snow white doll and carries her around all day.

-she blows kisses with the back of her hand and says "mwahh"

-when she's falling asleep, she pats my chest and says "mama, mama"

-she loves target as much as i do (probably because we've been there 2 to 3 times a week since she was born)!

-we've been taking walks with the nice weather, and she can spot the ducks at the lake. she'll say "quack quack"

-my mom frequently meets us at a store or restaurant or the grocery store, so now whenever we go anywhere, sadie looks around and says, "nana?"

-every night, when she hears the garage door open, she stops and says "dada" and waits for him to come around the corner so she can give him big hugs. she LOVES her daddy so much!

she keeps me smiling and laughing! there is never a dull moment with this baby girl around!

gorgeous day at the zoo

2011-02-13T19:56:00.000-08:00

saturday afternoon, mike took us to the zoo! it was gorgeous weather, and we had so much fun. sadie's favorite was the giraffe. i still love the cheetah. and mike's favorite was the bear.

superbowl (3 days late)

2011-02-09T12:56:00.000-08:00

we went to a fun superbowl party at anita and sean's house! she had everything decorated so cute and had steelers stuff everywhere (along with her matching steelers outfit :)

and tons of yummy food...this is only the snack table!sadie was cute during the game. when they would yell at the tv, she would look around like what is going on here? but she loved the tiny little steelers football anita let her play with.

we left early to put her to bed, but it was a fun party!!

and here she is last night before our meeting. i just love her little curl on one side (my hair flips up on one side too!)

it is super cold here today so we're staying inside. we did her first craft project-a picture of that to come. and watching dora and disney princess sing a long. now it's nap time and then i'm going to snuggle up in my pottery barn throw and read my book.

happy wednesday!

let it snow

2011-02-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

we got snowed in on thursday night/friday morning! it started about 10pm on thursday and kept snowing until at least 3 am...i would know because sadie kept us up half of the night, so every time i passed by the front door, i could see the beautiful snowflakes.

friday morning, we decided to get sadie out in the snow to see what she thought about it. this is not her first snow day, this was. but it's the first time she could walk and play in it.

here she is with daddy she got some snow on her mittens and wasn't sure about what was going on!

this one cracks me up. i was trying to get the huge hood out of the way to see her face, my hat was so far down on my head, you could barely see my eyes, plus i'm wearing pajama pants, rain boots, and my big red coat. texans are so not prepared for winter weather. :)

mike took this one of our backyard. i thought it looked so peaceful and serene.

the front of our house

and last night, we were getting a little tired of being inside, so to shake things up. sadie went on a "walk" around the house. she loved it!!

today, it's 60 degrees and beautiful outside, so we went to schmaltz for lunch (the best sandwiches ever) and took a little trip to toys r us for 1 dora doll...we came home with dora, boots, a soft snow white doll, and three dora books. can you tell miss sadie belle loves dora right now?!

one of my favorites

2011-02-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

so i told you we went on a super fun date night last friday but i didn't tell you where! we ate at the most wonderful restaurant that i could probably eat at weekly. it's called se cocina and it is fantastic. living in central texas, we have more than our fair share of mexican restaurants. in fact, we joke that the only things we have in waco are churches, banks, and mexican restaurants!

so it kind of depends what KIND of mexican food you're in the mood for. like if i want quick authentic tex mex (especially enchiladas) we go to el conquistador. if we're wanting a really good mexican salad, we go to on the border or chuy's.

but if i want mexican food that doens't scream tex mex, and i want good meal presentation,we go to se cocina.
(did you know that eating mexican is so complicated?! :)

so i always get the same thing-the BEST thing-on their menu. it's called grandma's tacos and it is divine. homemade flour tortillas with chicken and monterey jack cheese, with the best rice ever and a scrumptious avocado salad. i can't figure out what the dressing is, but it's slightly sweet and tangy and tastes SO good!

the second best things on the menu-mike's fav-is the brisket tacos. they marinate the brisket overnight, shred it, and serve it in corn tortillas, rice, and the same avocado salad.

i love this citrus-y jar of fruit as you walk in the front door.

it's sort of dark in there (not like creepy dark, just ambient lighting) and they've got canvas paintings of a bunch of famous people. it's very modern looking.

now it think i'm hungry!

oh and as we were leaving, i snapped a picture of the 'famous' alico building in waco. in 1953, there was a horrible tornado that went through downtown waco and destroyed everything, but our tallest building (hehe!) wasn't damaged. it's like waco history...

and now moving on from wonderful food to vomit...

sadie threw up last night. not like spit up, like THROW UP.

long before we had her, mike and i had a deep discussion about him cleaning up the throw up of our future kids. i can't handle it. like internally i have a panic attack if i hear/see throw up. (just ask susanne or my mom. hands over my ears to drown out the sound :)

so it was decided i deal with blood of any sort, fever, broken limbs, and he deals with vomit.

so last night, we're thinking she got choked on a tiny piece of lettuce and got sick after eating a huge dinner. i wont' go into any more details, but it was so yucky and i felt so terrible for her. so after seeing that, i was sick for the rest of the night. i know, crazy right?

thankfully she's back to feeling good today!

have a great thursday and stay warm.

a few new things

2011-02-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

i have been on a mini shopping spree lately and thought i would share some of the cute things i found.

because everyone needs a new swimsuit and cover up in january right?! actually i just loved it and didn't want to wait until june when everything is picked over so i scored these little cuties at target. (disclaimer: all of these clothes look much cuter on then in these pictures) loving the polka dots and stripes right now. got this cardi at target on clearance.

i've been inspired by my sister to look for cute stuff at resale shops, so i found this loft skirt for $13 the other day!

and this cute tunic/blouse for like $3!

sorry about the weird angle on this one! this was my deal of the week...a diane von furstenburg dress that was at the resale for $76 but was 75% off so i got it for $19!! woohoo!

lately i've been loving kohl's and especially lauren conrad's line. her jeans fit me so great and i thought this flowy top would be fun for spring.

and this dress looks so much better on, but i'm going to pair it with some super high red heels.

what do you think? are you liking the stripes thing?

date night

2011-01-31T14:31:00.000-08:00

this first picture was us exactly one year ago on our first date night as parents! sadie was 2 weeks old, mike and i were both extremely sleep deprived, and i remember going to outback thinking 'i feel like i should still be pregnant. this is so weird.'

i think we talked about her the whole time! we were still in the first stages of what a *wonderful* but shocking change a baby makes upon your lives. and here we are exactly one year later. older, wiser, and more rested! ha!

we still talked about her some, but also just spent some time talking as a couple. i think that it is SO important to keep your marriage a priority even though at home all of our attention is on her (while she's awake anyway ;)

we are trying to be better about scheduling time for just us, and making it fun! (not just talking about bills and groceries and boring stuff like that)

thank you mom and les for babysitting on both date nights!!

stir crazy

2011-01-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

i think i am going a little stir crazy...i'm not a person who has to be out doing things all day long, because i do enjoy being home, BUT i have been home for the better part of 5 days now. like i've run to the grocery store or the bank and that's about it. all three of us have colds. so.not.fun. and sweet sadie is the least crankiest of all of us!!

it started with sadie getting a runny nose and sneezing thursday, then i got started getting sick on friday and felt horrible all weekend, then mike started feeling bad saturday night. hopefully we'll all be better in a couple days and we can do some fun things later this week.

but for now...here are some random pics that made me smile.

1. sadie's dinner-we had fish tacos. i got her plate all ready and put it on the table where mike had a beer sitting, so it looks like sadie was going to have a miller lite with her fish tacos. ha!! 2. sadie showing me her new dump truck, which she loves. except the poor thing has been photographed so much that she knows the flash is coming so she squints or closes her eyes completely!

3. my big girl in pigtails!! i think this makes her look like such a toddler instead of a baby.

i hope you're having a great monday! i'm off to dry my hair and drink my hot tea and take some alka seltzer. fun!

oooh-tonight i worked on a little project for my scraproom/sadie's playroom. i will show pictures as soon as i finish it!

can't believe...

2011-01-20T12:59:00.000-08:00

she's already 1!

she has SOOO much personality now, i could write a book!

her vocabulary has increased quite a bit just in the last two weeks and she understands just about everything i say to her.

we went to her 12 mo. check up on tuesday and she weighs 23.9 pounds and is 32 1/2 inches long. at the top of the chart for height!

i can't get her to stay still long enough for a picture now, so this is the best i could do!

yesterday, i put her baby gate up in her room to let her play independently for a little bit. at first she cried, then got really quiet. when i came in to check on her, she was lifting the lid of her diaper genie and sticking her hand in the plastic. yuck! but she thought it was funny.

how can i scold her with a face like that?!

menu monday

2011-01-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

hello. did you have a good monday? i did! i got so much accomplished, and i feel good about that. before we get to my menu for the week, here's a little project i did over the weekend...inspired by this post from becky higgins blog. if you don't read her blog, check it out. she is most inspiring! (thanks susanne for reminding me about her!)

anyway, i had the iron tray from southern living and just spray painted it white and distressed it a little. the black wood candle holder i already had too. the new stuff i got at hobby lobby. i just arranged it on the tray and put some season appropriate items in the glass containers (peppermints and pinecones) and voila! a new centerpiece for our dining table.

and here is my picture of the day today...all of my pantry items after a trip to the grocery store.

after watching nicole richie on "the talk" the other day (do you watch that show? hilarious.) and listening to her talking about the foods she does not give her children, i decided to nix any canned foods and get back to fresh fruits and veggies. i'm not getting crazy and giving my child sugar free vegan cupcakes, but i am making it a point to give her plenty of fruits & veggies and a large variety of foods, especially right now, since she's open to eating most anything. did you think i was never going to post my menu? well here it is...

monday-ham and cheese stuffed chicken breasts, roasted asparagus with parmesan

tuesday-salmon cakes, garlic sauteed spinach, tri color pasta with balsamic dressing

wednesday-ground beef and cheddar casserole, green beans

thursday-beany, cheesey, chicken and zucchini quesadillas

friday-spagetti and meatballs, steamed broccoli

saturday-mushroom, avocado cheeseburgers, waffle fries

sunday-eat out

and lastly, this pic of nana and sadie. this is the face sadie makes now anytime i try to take a picture of her and it really makes me laugh!

front tooth

2011-01-07T09:10:00.000-08:00

this little one kept me up for 2 hours early this morning. i couldn't figure out why she was so sleepy but wouldn't go back to sleep?

the answer: she cut her 3rd tooth. yippee! we were starting to wonder if she was only going to have 2 bottom teeth forever. hehe :) it's her left front tooth, and the right one is about to poke through also. plus she's got 2 more bottom teeth that she's close to cutting. so i guess she'll go from 2 teeth to 6 teeth very soon!

happy weekend.

what i wore wednesday

2011-01-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

hi! well i had decided to quit doing what i wore wednesday because it takes a lot of effort to remember to take a picture and well, really, i was in an outfit slump. (maybe i still am) why when i have a very large closet full of clothes can i not find anything cute to wear? and why do i feel compelled to go and buy the cute stuff i see other people wearing on their what i wore wednesday posts? anybody else doing that?

but here i am again doing another week of pics. so here they are!

grey ruffly top-downeast basics

purple cardi-old navy

skinnies-target

boots-dillards

earrings-compass

ring-michele busch

love pink t shirt-v's secret

green tank-target

workout capris-kohl's?

running shoes (you can't see them) but they are ryka's and they are wonderful!! way helping me to run better ;)

plaid shirt-forever 21

distressed jeans-gap

boots-target

turquoise ring-santa fe street vendor

striped cardi-target

necklace-loft

jeggings-kohl's

boots-target

ring-boutique

bracelet-boutique

gold blouse-loft

skirt-talbot's

belt-forever 21

shoes-?

necklace-forever 21

sadie belle's outfit-target

purple tunic-target

leggings-boutique

boots-kohl's

bracelet-boutique

necklace-word of the year from lisa leonard, charms from the vintage pearl

blouse and skirt-downeast basics

scarf-y wrap thing (what's it called?)-forever 21

boots-dillard's

earrings-michele busch

have a great week!

goodbye 2010

2010-12-31T16:41:00.000-08:00

these pictures have nothing to do with the end of the year, i just thought they were so dang cute!

i can't believe this year is over. what a year!

our plans tonight include s'mores and popcorn and watching the 2nd night at the museum movie. exciting, no?

i will leave you with my sadie belle enjoying her bath...

see ya in 2011.

whew...

2010-12-29T18:19:00.000-08:00

it has been one of those days. it started out not so great with me feeling bad and seemed never ending. by 5:15pm when mike got home, my body felt on the verge of collapse and my eyes filled with tears (just for a second or two) because i was so tired/hormonal and ready for a break. so while i finished cooking dinner for us, he fed sadie. after i gave her her bath, they played so i could sit and read blogs and do nothing. then he put her to bed so i could get in the bathtub. i just so appreciate having a husband who wants to and will volunteer to take care of sadie so i can get some alone time. i love my sweet sadie with all my heart, but at times, a mama needs a break.

so here is my little table beside my bathtub. i lit my volcano aloha candle from anthropologie and mike brought me in a glass of wine to drink while i soaked. the perfect smell of my candle and hot water really relaxed me and was just what i needed. here i am after my bath in my silky pjs, ready to get in bed with my wine and some hershey's chocolate and a good book.

good night!

menu for the week

2010-12-28T14:00:00.000-08:00

i'm a little late posting my menu for the week, but here it is: (accompanied by pictures of sadie and her new kitchen!)

monday- parmesan and artichoke chicken with zucchini and spiral pasta

tuesday-minestone soup, grilled cheese sandwicheswednesday-spagetti and green beans

thursday- leftovers
friday-ham, sweet potatoes, sauteed spinach

saturday-sausage breakfast burritos

not too inventive, but yummy!!

fun times

2010-12-26T17:26:00.000-08:00

well we've had a great weekend. so busy and full of fun fun fun!! (picture overload ahead...)

first of all, our official 2o10 family photo

(taken by my very talented sister) this was at mom's house. so sweet of sadie and mckinlee reading a story

playing in the kitchen

after eating hamburgers that night, we came back over to our house to have s'mores at our outdoor fireplace. they were soooo yummy!

this picture makes me laugh because we have a vast array of different clothing on! it was super cold!

mck's marshmallow was super toasty ;)

quick family pic before our soup and game night...this is the only picture i got this night, but we had so much fun. we had chicken tortilla soup, minestrone soup, a cheese and cracker tray, and brownies and we played fun games.

today, while daddy washed my car, sadie and i went outside to play. i was cracking up because she stood like this the whole time she had the coat on...like she couldn't move her arms because of the thick furry lining. plus the hood was too big and kept falling over her eyes and making her lose her balance. i couldn't quit laughing! but of course i helped her up!

my snow bunny

so we changed into a more manageable coat and hat and she was happy

kisses!

and i loved this one-off center and so pretty of her!

doesn't she look like her daddy in this one?!

my big girl looking at her shadow

hi! (that's her word of choice this week....she says it all day long)

and quite possibly my favorite picture of the week

a cranberry sauce "soul patch"! haha!!

happy sunday!

what we've been up to...

2010-12-23T13:43:00.001-08:00

susanne and mckinlee have been here all week and we've had so much fun!! we got crafty with a necklace project from little miss momma...here's susanne working hard on it and our finished necklaces. aren't they precious?!

and i made a little clip for sadie from the extra eyelet lace!

today, mom treated to susanne and i to getting our nails done. we all got the gel nails with a french manicure. they said it's supposed to last 2 to 3 weeks. that would be fantastic because my nails usually chip after a couple of days!

here we are with our nails! thank you mom!!

and here is miss sadie who is quite the walker these days...

we're off to take family pics and make hamburgers, scalloped potatoes and salad for dessert!

have a great weekend!

11 months

2010-12-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

first of all, look at my sweet sadie belle SIX MONTHS AGO! i can't even believe how much she's changed, and how different she'll look in 6 more months! and here she is today. eleven months ago today i became a mama. it has been the most tiring, overwhelming, beautiful, and fantastic eleven months of my life.

she has made me more patient and selfless and so proud!

here are a few things about sadie at 11 months:

she is so loving. she loves to give kisses to her animals and to her books.
she weighs close to 24 pounds (i think)
she wears 12-18 months clothes
she is in between a 4 and 5 in shoes
she isn't shy and loves to be held by family and friends...as long as mama is in view!

(i was trying to get a picture of her and her frog and this is what i got!)

she loves to eat new things and is off baby food, except for some fruit in the mornings
she is walking
she says mama, dada, nana, oh yeah, no no, hi, puppy, and bye
she still loves baby einstein and likes to watch it in her play yard while she plays with her toys
she is all over the place and into everything! i spend most of my day chasing and/or picking up after her!
she is really into closing doors right now
she loves bath time and like to snuggle in her pajamas at nighttime
she is sleeping 10 hours straight before wanting a bottle, then sleeps another 2 hours usually
she is precious and we love her so much!

what i wore wednesday

2010-12-14T14:09:00.000-08:00

it's wednesday girls! i've missed a couple of weeks, but now i'm back on track!

striped turtleneck-forever 21

earrings-compass

skinnies-target

suede boots-kohl's

tank and sweater-old navy

skirt-anthro

tights-target

boots-steve madden

this outfit reaaaallly needed a skinny leopard belt. i'm on the hunt for one.

tank-target

sweater-f21

necklace-loft

skinnies-LC at kohl's

suede boots-kohl's

long sleeve tshirt-target (love their tissue tees!)

short sleeve tee-jcrew

jeans-gap

boots-uggs

top and skirt-downeast basics

tights-target

booties-dsw
ring-spice

long sleeve t-gap

blouse-anthro

skinnies-LC at kohl's

boots-steve madden

my new fave sweater-loft

skirt-target

tights-target

boots-same steve madden (wow! i wore these a lot)
bracelets-compass

tank-target

dress-dress barn

suede boots-kohl's

belt-not sure f21?

earrings-michele busch

scarf-compass?

sorry for the lack of mascara and lip gloss!

same new sweater-loft

necklace-f21

same skinnies-LC at kohl's

same boots-steve madden
earrings-gift from mil

thanks for looking!!

go see other cute outfits at the pleated poppy...

eater eater

2010-12-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

this baby girl LOVES to eat! i've been giving bites of big people food for awhile now, but have recently switched over almost completely to table food. (she still has baby fruit and cereal some mornings and usually some meat and veggie baby food at night)...but i have never seen a baby eat so many different foods. i'm thrilled about that!

tonight she had chicken and squash baby food, plus some fruit and then ate a ton of green beans and sweet potato that i had cooked. her little belly was sticking out because she had eaten so much!! at lunch i usually give her a turkey sandwich or grilled cheese and usually avocado with it. she adores avocado and shoves it in her mouth as fast as she can. but don't worry, i'm not overfeeding her. she definitely stops eating when she's full! but among the various types of foods she likes to put in her mouth, we have found some other interesting things in her mouth too. and she always acts sneaky when she's got something not edible in her mouth. like i have to pry her mouth open to see what's in there. so far, we've found two spiders (at two different times) with some legs missing. ha!! and today she was chewing on a used band-aid. gross!

but how can you be upset with a little angel face like this??

and for my 1/2 menu for the week...i hate it when payday is in the middle of the week because i have to wait until wed. or thurs. to do the rest of my grocery shopping...so i only have meals planned until wednesday. here they are:

monday-roast at my grandmother's, salad, green bean casserole
tuesday-chicken bow tie pasta (my sis' yummy recipe)
wednesday-soft tacos with avocado, sour cream, and cheese

good night!

catch-up

2010-12-09T18:39:00.000-08:00

(sadie and i at our bible assembly last weekend)

so i've not been feeling very bloggy lately. don't know why.

-we've been super busy the last few weeks and it seems like they continue to fly by!

last weekend, we had our annual bible assembly in north texas and the information was fantastic. the part where we stayed up for 4 hours saturday night because sadie is not used to sleeping anywhere but her bed...not so great.

-this week i've been working a lot and each day seems busier than the day before.

-i've decided to get someone to help clean my house again. i feel like i need to justify it to myself, but i'm working, taking care of sadie full time, cooking every night, and keeping the house straight. is it wrong to want someone to come in and mop the floors and clean my baseboards? i don't think so. plus i'm going to give up some other "frivolous" expenses so i can afford a house cleaner. your thoughts?

-speaking of "frivolous" expenses...have you been to the loft lately? i went today and got some major deals. everything was an additional 40% off regular and sale items. woohoo!

-i was having a bang crisis, so before i got out the scissors, i called my mom and told her i was in the midst of a crisis. she said, "don't get out the scissors! i'll do it for you." ha!! so now i've got shorter bangs and i like them.

-after a listing appointment tonight, i went to the grocery store and bought makeup. i just love going and finding fun make up for like $4 or $5 a piece. i got some new eyeshadow and a new lipstick. of course, origins still has my heart for skin products and foundation...but you gotta love some cheap lipstick sometimes, right?!

happy (almost) friday!