Heart racing-ly cute valentines

See what I did there?? Is racing-ly even a word??

Since Jacob is in school this year and I have  z e r o  free time, I needed a cute and easy valentine idea for all his classmates. I also wanted to go with something that Jacob enjoys, because they are from him after all- right?? ;)

Look how cute these turned out! And let me tell you-  e a s y, e a s y, e a s y!!

I threw together the printable in Photoshop real quick, printed them, cut them, glued them to construction paper, bought 84¢ Hot Wheels from Target, glued the cars to the paper and TA DA! So simple.

 

The hardest part was keeping Jacob from ripping all the cars off the paper before the month of February!

Soo...whatcha think? Do they get your heart racing? ;)

Christmas 2014

This Christmas was relaxing but high-maintenance all at once. I guess that's the best way to describe the newborn phase in general, huh?

 

We originally planned on having all the family over on Christmas Eve for a little brunch (thrown by my mom and MIL), but both the boys had colds and I didn't want my niece to come over and get sick too. So, my parents and sister were the only ones to join us. It was perfect! We opened presents, ate breakfast casserole, cheesecake and cookies, played with all of Jakey's new toys, and snuggled my favorite present, Mr. Judd.

 

On Christmas Day, we just hung around the house as a family of four (EEK- still love saying that!) and played with Jacob's toys and watched movies.

Since Jacob opened all the gifts from us and grandparents on Christmas Eve, he just opened Santa's gifts on Christmas Day. It actually worked out great, and I hope we can do that every year moving forward. I think he was able to really focus on the gifts by spreading them out over two days.

Santa brought Jacob a Mack truck (from Cars) and several die cast cars to go in the hauler. It's what he's been saying he wanted for months now, and I think he was pretty happy!

 

I made chocolate monkey bread, a la Mix & Match Mama. It was delicious, but HUGE! We barely put a dent in it.

We attempted to get a picture of the boys in their matching pajamas, but Jacob was being a turd and then Judd peed on himself. This was the best we could do. :)

 

 

And then Judd had a wardrobe change, which I had to document because it's his FIRST CHRISTMAS! Those eyebrows...

 

And lastly, we finally let Jacob open his big present from his Coco (my MIL). He was totally scared of the Big Wheel at first, but warmed up to it and took a few laps around the house. He's such a crack up!

Anyways, I hope y'all had a lovely Christmas with lots of family time and yummy food! I feel so incredibly blessed this year, but can't help but look forward to next year and how much fun it'll be!

 

Thanksgiving 2014

Our Thanksgiving morning started off with a Texas sized toddler tantrum. No better way to celebrate, in my opinion. After about an hour of tears and flip flopping, we finally got to enjoy our cinnamon rolls and coffee while watching the Macy's Parade. I always used to love that parade as a kid, but now I'm kinda confused by it...you barely even see the floats and balloons, it's mostly just celebrity interviews and Broadway performances. Not exactly what a 2 year old wants to watch. Or me for that matter! Ha!

We spent the rest of the morning tidying up around the house and cooking. With only 6 people + 1 toddler + 1 baby, I didn't have to put the turkey in SUPER early, which was nice!

I decided to cook my turkey a different way this year. I'm mildly obsessed with The Pioneer Woman right now, so I attempted her turkey "recipe." It was strange to not smother the bird in broth and EVOO and stuff it with carrots, celery and onion (which is how I normally do it), but I think it turned out good! Everyone was complimentary, even Jacob!

As good as the turkey turned out, I think the winning dish was my Nutella pie. Ohhhh lordy! So delicious! This pie would be good any time any day. I'm already thinking of making it for Josh's birthday in March.

Everyone arrived around noon, the kids played a bit while I finished up the side dishes. I just love watching these cousins so so much and cannot wait for years to come. Makes this mama's heart so happy!

Next up was meal time! All the food was delicious, special thanks to my sister-in-law who brought ALL the side dishes! My pregnant self was definitely appreciative of that!

The kids, once again, had a blast. Haha, and the dads got a good workout.

After lunch, Jacob took a siesta and we all ate pie. Yum! Then we took family pictures and kicked everyone out. :)

Love all these folks, especially my little family. These boys (all 3 of them) make my world go 'round!

I hope y'all had a lovely holiday! Let the Christmas decorating commence! :)

Father's Day

We had such a fun and relaxing Father's Day weekend. Honestly, I'm kinda jealous that Mother's Day wasn't as relaxing. Oh well!

We started off the weekend with lunch at Hutchin's BBQ with my parents and sister. Saturday happened to be my parents' 40th wedding anniversary, so we kinda had a joint celebration.

 

 

After Jacob's nap, we went swimming and had Popsicles. Jakey loves his daddy so much. 

On Sunday I made a breakfast scramble (Josh's favorite breakfast) and Josh tinkered around in the garage. 

After Jacob's nap, he watched old school Donald Duck cartoons on the iPad while Josh and I watched some World Cup action. I'm kinda addicted to the WC this year!

 

Josh is such an amazing father, I just can't even imagine doing this whole "parenthood" thing with anyone else. He's so selfless, patient and fun. I love watching him with Jakey, and cannot wait til Baby #2 comes and he's a daddy again! 

 

 

So cheers to you, Josh! We love you so very much!

Jacob's 2nd birthday party

We had Jacob's SECOND birthday party this weekend at our house, and I would consider it a success. My energy and motivation were seriously lacking this year (thanks preggo brain), so I went for a pretty low-key party with friends and family. It was so low-key that I completely forgot to bring out the fruit tray I prepared! Ack!

 

Anyways, here's some of the decorations and pictures from the party.

 

I sent a BUNCH (I think 90) Instagram pictures directly from my iPhone to Walgreens, had them printed and taped them to the wall in the number "2." I love looking at all the pictures and had such a fun time putting them all up and reminiscing. It's absolutely incredible to see his transformation over the past year!

 

 

And no party of mine is complete without a personalized chalkboard by moi. I was pretty proud of this one.

I always put the desserts on our buffet. It's kind of in a walkway/pass-thru to the kitchen, so people can walk by the cake and admire it. In addition to the cake, I also had a family friend make these adorable cookies. I somehow missed a close-up of the cookies, but they were sooo cute!

 

 

This year, I decided to make the cake myself. Which was fun, because I also got to destroy it too! Ha!

I used a few of Jacob's birthday presents (the construction trucks) on the food table as "props." We had Chic-fil-a nuggets (which I swear are my new go-to party food- so easy and everyone loves them!), queso, pretzels and cheese balls. Should've also had a fruit tray...oh well!

I quickly and cheaply made this wreath with a foam wreath form I had, and some caution tape I bought at HobLob (which I also used to wrap a pillar in our house). I think it turned out perfect for the day!

I leave you with a few party pictures, most of which include ME being WAY MORE excited than Jacob. Haha! Soooo typical!

 

Jacob got so many trucks and tractors. I swear every time he opened a new present, he was freaking out! It was so so cute!

 

And, a picture of our little family. I still cannot believe our sweet baby is TWO! I think I've had a harder time swallowing TWO than I did with ONE!? How is that possible?!

 

Jacob's 2nd Birthday Inspiration: Construction Crew!



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I can hardly believe Jacob's SECOND birthday is just around the corner. I swear it seems like yesterday we were celebrating him turning ONE! I say it all the time, but where on Earth does the time go?! Goodness!!

This year I thought a construction theme would be fun. Mostly because he's obsessed with trucks and things that "go", plus I can pretty much DIY everything and Jacob will just keep all the props to play with later! Win | Win in my book!

The party will be in the afternoon, so I won't serve a full meal like last year- just some easy finger foods, and cake and ice cream, of course! I love the idea of incorporating actual Tonka trucks on the food table, too.

 

We're giving Jacob a large wooden swingset for his birthday, so that'll hopefully keep the kids busy in the backyard! We just have to put it together in the upcoming weeks...cough, cough...

Hope you're having a lovely "pre-Friday!" Cheers!

Our Easter

We had one of the best days ever yesterday! I'm still on a high from all the family time. We are truly blessed.

 

My parents and sister, and Josh's mom came over early on Sunday morning and we all went to church together. Jacob went to the nursery because, well, he cannot handle sitting still for more than 5 minutes. It allowed us to enjoy the service and soak in the beautiful music and moving sermon. I felt God' presence in that place, and it will surely take me through this week!

 

 

After church we came back to our house and Jacob had a little egg hunt in the backyard. The dog helped him, of course.

 

 

This little boy would hunt eggs ALL day if we let him! At first he was just putting the eggs in the basket, but after awhile he realized there was actually stuff IN the eggs. We gave him goldfish, Teddy Grahams and 2 Hershey Kisses.

 

 

After all the eggs were found, and candy was consumed, we headed back inside to play with his loot from his Easter baskets. Yes, its plural because Jacob has the best grandparents a guy could ask for!

 

I made a delicious brunch, with breakfast tacos and fruit salad. Unfortunately, I didn't get a single picture of the table or food. Boo! Oh well.

The day was a success and we all slept really well last night.

I've been singing this hymn all morning. Like I said, I'm still basking in the Glory of God! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and Easter.