Christmas this Year!

In a few weeks..... we are going on this...

The Norwegian Pearl to celebrate the Holidays with......

these girls......

and this handsome guy....

and this cutie is staying here....Bittersweet!

And it's all thanks too

This dashing Dad/PawPaw!! 

Note:  This will be our 2nd opportunity for a family cruise for the Holidays.. The 1st was with Joey's family, but we didn't have a blog then.. so I am now saying how great that one was and how grateful we were to have gone then too!  It really is a great way to spend the Holidays and I highly recommend it!!  We are so blessed with Family who like to travel and do fun things together and we are looking forward to our upcoming vacation (goodness knows, Joey and I could def use one!!) I am a little sad to leave my little guy, but I know he will be in good hands and I'm sure I'll manage :) 

Happy Holidays everyone!!  Now, gotta go get ready to move first! yuck!

**what are ya'll doing this season?!

Two GREAT Blogs!

Just wanted to put a plug in for two of my new fav blogs!!  The first is Makeitandloveit.blogspot.com She is an amazing gal that creates just about everything under the sun!!  The thing I LOVE about her blog is she walks you through the process or provides you with the pattern, etc.  She has the cutest ideas too!  Be sure to check it out!!

Secondly, for you couponing guru's this site is awesome!!  They just recently posted a link to coupons for tarjee wipes that are FREE after coupon!!!!  She is constantly updating with lots of good stuff so be sure to check this one out too!  Hope ya'll like these as much as I do!! :)

oops - the link to this one is lookingwell2009.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Sewing!

I have recently started taking sewing classes and I am LOVING it!! It's so fun to be able to create something start to finish and then having the gratification of knowing that you did it!!!  My first project was the leopard print tote bag (don't look too close :)  I just finished my 2nd project.... this fun half apron!!  This one was pretty easy and took me a lot less time than the tote bag... I think I am getting the hang of it!!!

18 Months

From the beginning...... Our baby just turned 18months!!  I can't believe how fast time flies!!!! He has grown so much in this short time.  He recently went to the Dr. and has completely caught up and is in the 80th percentile for height!!! NBA?!  :)  JJ is such a sweet, fun, cute, funny, active.. (could go on and on) boy and we are so happy and grateful to have him in our family!! Love you honey...please indulge the pic overload! :) 

Trick or Treat?!

 Happy Halloween everyone!!!  We had a lot of fun this year!!!  Last night we attended our church's Trunk or Treat and JJ seemed to really enjoy the festivities!!  I had the most fun dressing him up in his costume!  He was an 80's Rock Star (inspired by Bret Michaels)  It really turned out pretty Awesome, if I do say so myself!!!  He was in full character too, rocking out on his guitar, acting rowdy and he even ripped his shirt off half way thru the evening... LOL!!  We got together with some friends tonight and went trick or treating around their neighborhood, this was a first for us!  JJ didn't know what to do when the people put the giant bowl of Candy in front of him.. It was soo funny, he just kinda stayed there with his hand right on near all of the Candy staring..... It seemed like he was thinking oh man, I better make the right decision, it all looks soo good!  Haha :)  Anyway, we had a fun time, I put on a witch hat and played a little with my Makeup and that was about it, Abbey dressed up yesterday for her Trunk or Treat so I just thought I would throw her pic on here too!  I hope ya'll all had a great Halloween, we are throwing a party next year for sure!!!!! 

Polly want a cracker?!

Apparently we have a Parrot living amongst us and his name is.....JJ! :) This little boy all of a sudden has decided that he is ready to talk!  He has been jabbering for a while now, and not a little either, A LOT!!!! Today though he was walking around behind me repeating every one words that he could after me!  I was like, uhhhh hellllooo is there an echo in here?  Hahaha :) it's so cute!  I am excited to be able to start actually talking to him and carrying on cute little convo's with him.  No telling what he will come up with.  I'm tellin ya that kid is hillarious!  He definitely is full of personality!  This new discovery has also made me very aware that we need be cautious of what we say in front of him.  If the parroting continues I would hate for anything less than cute and appropriate to come out..:)

Speaking of Personality I have been racking my brain trying to come up with something super cute/original for Halloween this year.  I just couldn't decide, until finally it him my like a lightning bolt while brainstorming with a friend! Thanks Morgan!  I can't tell ya what it is, it would ruin the surprise.... But it is HILLARIOUS, CUTE, & TRULY ONE OF A KIND!!! I am so excited to dress him up, we tried it on last night to surprise Daddy when he got home from work and he about died with laughter!!! (in a good way)  Let's just say this is going to be one of those priceless pictures to show JJ when he is oh about 18 and brings his girlfriend over!!! (can't wait for that! :)

We are MOVIING!!!

I am so excited to announce that we are MOVING!!!!!!!  Before you freak and say what? Where? No, of course not out of our beloved Charlotte, just right down the street!  We are going to be new residents of Blakeney!  We got a Townhouse in the Blakeney Preserve and I am just counting down the days till we move in!!  December 12th is our move-in date!!!!  It is sooooo time to move out of this apartment!  It's funny how things change, compared to our teeny tiny Logan, Ut apartment our Ballantyne apartment was HUGE when we first moved in..... oh how times have changed!  JJ has run us out!  We are officially overrun with toys, clothes, junk....you name it!  Not to mention the Dog living right on top of us too!  Some days I have to admit the Dog gets the brunt of my spacial frustration..

This NEW home will give us so much more space on TWO levels, an extra bedroom, TWO CAR GARAGE (NO MORE STAIRS!!!!!!!) I am so excited! We will however, be leaving our awesome home ward of Pineville and entering a new ward of Waxhaw! I am sad to leave, but excited for change too! :)

Fabulous Fabric

Isn't this fun, funky, & fabulous?!

Stay tuned for my finished projects....... :)

Cooking Show

I got the itch to cook/bake today!  It was rainy and what's a better indoor activity than making yummy food?!  Abbey came over and we played one of our favorite games where we pretend to be our favorite peeps from the Food Network and had our very own cooking show!!  I'm telling you what entertainment talking while cooking is not as easy as it looks!  Rachel Ray drives me insane, but she sure is good at yapping away while she is whipping up her various dishes!  Abbey's fave is Mrs. Paula Dean, I really like her too!  She is like the perfect southern G-Ma! 

Our Dishes:  Black Bean Corn Creation

I had this at a party once and then kind of made it my own!

It is delish!  One of my favs for sure!!  Super healthy snack, really fills you up, has an awesome burst of flavor in your mouth, goes great with tortilla chips or just straight from a spoon :) I really can't stop eating it once I start!

Ingredients:

1 can of drained/rinsed Black Beans

1 small can of sweet corn - drained

1 medium tomato or 2 small romas

1/4 of red onion -chopped

1 ripe avocado - diced

Handfull of Diced cilantro

sprinkle with mexican cheese  - shredded

1T. vinegar

salt

pepper

Mix and enjoy!!

I think Abbey likey!!

Pumpkin-Choco Chip Balls

Fall is my fav time of year!!  This is also one of my fav recipes.  It is very yummy, very easy, and not too fattening!!  Three of my favorite things, what's not to like?! 

Ingredients:

1 can of pumpkin pie filling

1 box of spice cake mix

1 bag of semi-sweet choco morsels

Mix all ingredients together until thoroughly blended

Preheat oven to 350 and Bake about Tablespoon size balls for 12 minutes

Hope you enjoy this fall treat!

Reception #2

Tiffany & Shaw continued their wedding celebration in Charlotte this past weekend at the Monteleone Residence.  It was really beautiful, Estela did a great job with the decor and the food selection!  The highlight was definitely this breathtaking gourmet dessert table with almost every dessert imaginable!!  It was beautiful arranged and decorated, presentation really is key!  We really enjoyed spending some more time with the new Mr. and Mrs. Carter.  I can't believe they have already been married for a few weeks!!  Congrats guys, we love ya!!

Nanny's Birthday!

This past Sunday we traveled to my Dad's hometown of Winston Salem, NC to celebrate my dear Grandmother's 86th!!  It was a wonderful trip!!  We went to lunch and had a great time socializing with family!  Happy Birthday Nanny, We Love You!!

17 Months!

I say it all the time, but I really cannot believe how fast time flies!!!!  This post is dedicated to my pride and joy, JJ!  He is all of 17 months old now and just full of life! Never a dull moment at our house, he is definitely all boy and into everything!!  He has a really fun/funny personality and it has been so amazing watching him develop into his own little person!  What a gift being a parent really is!  I wouldn't trade it for anything!  With that said, Joey and I are, however, very excited and looking forward to next month because our big boy will be going to....THE NURSERY! HIP HIP HOORAY!  I'm not gonna lie or sugar coat it, church has been a little bit of a challenge the last couple of months... Probably more so for Joey than for me, and I am so thankful for his support!  I couldn't be a primary teacher without him helping walk the halls for the last 2 hours of church with JJ:) Our routine has gone as follows: Me out in the foyer for the first hour with him, (because he can't sit still for more than 5 minutes..) than Joey takes over for the rest of the time till church is over.  So needless to say we are looking forward to a little bit of a break, and I think JJ will really like it too! I am also happy to report that he has completely caught up developmentally (due to prematurity) and we couldn't be happier!!  We have been really blessed that he didn't have any "major" health problems and we are just so thankful to have a happy and healthy boy! 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Dallas, TX

We had a wonderful time in Dallas celebrating Tiffany & Shaw's wedding! We also got to see and spend time with a lot of family. It was a fun, relaxing vacation. Congratulation Tiffany & Shaw!! The Beautiful Bride

Our little Fam at the end of the Reception (we all look a little disheveled...JJ and Joey were groomsmen and I was a bridesmaid!)

JJ playing at the airport

Kisses for the Aunt Tiffany

JJ and his cousin Sophia. They were so cute together!

Tiffany and her Bridesmaids (minus Michelle, her sister and maid of honor & Me)

Zach and JJ

Happy to be off the plane!

Well, we made it to Dallas and back successfully!! I am happy to report that JJ did great on the plane... I was worried for a few minutes, but then the benadryl kicked in...!! :) Yup, that's right I had to, don't judge! We all passed out too and managed to take pictures of each other without one another knowing, until after the fact. Here is the beginning of the trip in reverse order!! Daddy is asleep!

Mommy and JJ are asleep!

Getting ready to take off!!

Professional Picture Preview!

My good friend Lindsay is an amazing photographer!!! She took JJ's pics a few weeks ago and we were able to sneak a few family shots in too!! I couldn't be happier with how they turned out!! Thanks Lindsay you are the best!! If you would like to see more of her work click here!

College Bound

Well, Kelsey has headed off out west to College and I couldn't be more Proud of her!!! I am going to miss her dearly, but she is going to have a blast!!! We had a great week getting ready to say goodbye and making the most of our time together! We had Pedicures, GNO, Family swim party and just hanging out almost every day!! Love you Kels we are gonna miss ya!!!
Kelsey don't go!!!!

Can you tell?? Who do these feet belong to?

Left=Kels Right=Candace Hahaaha

We gave her a mini scrapbook to take with her!

Goofing off!

GNO

Confessions of a Bottleholic!!

Yes, it's true I have a confession to make.... MY 16 MONTH OLD CHILD IS STILL ON THE BOTTLE!!!! There I said it! However, if you take away 2.5 months (due to prematurity) then technically he is only 13.5 months old and it doesn't sound as bad! Truthfully I had every intention of weaning him before now, but one thing led to another and time just flew by and before I knew it he was 16 months and still on the bottle and sucking down formula!! Yikes, I gotta get cracking!! Originally, I had decided that I did want to wait a little past the "traditional" 12 months to give him a little extra nutrients, the boy just doesn't eat that much!! I have, however, officially decided that this will be the last can of formula that I purchase!!!! Enough is Enough!! I am ready to use that extra 30 bucks on something else!! I have been slowly increasing the whole milk to formula ratio, in hopes that the switch won't be too traumatic!! Any tips for successful bottle weaning would be much appreciated?! How long should I go with just milk in the bottle?! At this rate he'll be carrying that thing around till he's 3 and a half!! LOL Just kidding!! Can't you just picture JJ going to Primary for the first time with his bottle and saying, "what?? I was a preemie!" hahahahaha!! Yeah right, more like... what? My mom thinks I am a baby! Anywho, just thought I would make me my confession, now that I have done so publicly I am motivated to hold to my goal of weaning him once and for all!!!

Other Happenings...

We have had a good summer, not too busy, not too boring!! It seems toward the end we had a lot of things going on, so I got kind of slack on my postings!! So this post is just kind of a mixture of random pics that I never really know what to do with!! Enjoy! :)

JJ LOVES to read!!! He also has absolutely NO interest in the TV, I guess that is a good thing? Sometimes I really wish it kept him occupied for at least a little bit! I'm sure it will one day!

Daddy and Son!

JJ copies the dog by putting things in his mouth and carrying them around, as illustrated in the pic above... (yes those are tampons...oh dear, into EVERYTHING :) So Silly!!!

Our little climber!! We really have to be watch him with his new found love for climbing on things... (he loves quietly dumping over the laundry basket and standing on top of it) eek!!!

We had dinner with Aunt Michelle just before she headed out to Utah to begin Graduate School to be a Teacher!!!

I just got overwhelmed the other day with how quickly my baby is growing!!! He truly has become a toddler!! I dressed him in this outfit one morning and it just hit me like, Whoa!!! You are big!!! :(

My Big Boy...sneakers and everything!!!

Birthdays!!

In August we celebrated two family Birthdays......
This handsome young guy.....(my younger bro!)

And the lady in the middle of all the kiddos (my Mom)

*Happy Birthday Adrian and Mom, Love ya'll!