Jacob - 17 months

I feel like the worlds worst mom. These mirthdays keep flying by and I hardly even flinch! Ugh! I realized it was his 17 month mirthday in the car around 4:30 yesterday, so I immediately snapped a picture when we got home because I was off to bootcamp. He obviously wasn't in the mood to take a picture, but I like this one because its a true resemblance of what he's like these days. Totally rambunctious and super FUN!

 

 

Age: 17 months
Height: (don't go back until 18 months)
Weight: (don't go back until 18 months)
Milestones: He's starting to learn animal sounds, even though he can't say "cow" he knows that THIS is a cow and it says "moo." His favorite animal right now is the elephant; he sees elephants EVERYWHERE! And immediately goes "brrrrr." It's sooo cute!! I bought him an elephant toy in the dollar spot yesterday and he literally trumpeted the entire trip. I'm constantly just naming things, basic things, EVERYTHING, shapes, colors, animals, sounds. I can tell he's catching on, so I think it's working. I worry a lot that we aren't teaching him the right stuff, so this is reassurance to me. He's also starting to climb on everything. I found him ON the coffee table the other day. What the heck?! He's also trying to jump, it's so cute...he never actually leaves the ground, but he bends his knees and bounces a little bit. I also put his stool in front of the bathroom sink and he loves getting up there and looking at himself in the mirror. I'm trying to make teeth brushing more fun (so far NOT his favorite thing), so I thought watching would be good. We'll see...
Sleep: It's funny how last month I was bragging about his awesome sleep, and then he goes through a Wonder Week (and the time changes- ugh) and now we're ALL over the place. He wasn't sleeping more than 10-11 hours for a while there, but he's finally back to sleeping 12 hours at night. Naps are generally around 1 and last 1.5 hours.
Eating: Mealtime is still my least favorite time of the day. I have to constantly change up what we eat, and how we eat it, otherwise he has no interest in eating.
Clothes size: 18-24mo in Old Navy and Gap, but otherwise he's in 24mo or 2T.
Diaper size: Size 5 Cruisers
Best Moment: we've done a lot of fun stuff this month. I'm really glad he got to spend a weekend alone with Josh and bond. I'm trying to do little things away from the house for them to bond more.
Worst Moment: I honestly can't think of one. Great month!
Favorite toy: This is getting harder and harder. He's really loving his slide in the backyard lately, and now that its actually cooler we've spent a lot of time outdoors. He loooves running around the backyard.
Teeth: 8 total, still no molars! Shoot me now!
Looking forward to: Thanksgiving and starting to decorate for Christmas.. Holidays with kids are SO MUCH MORE FUN!

Halloween 2013

Jacob was a golfer this year, complete with the Payne Stewart vest, shorts and stockings. I bought the costume a month or so ago, and he totally outgrew it!! (I don't know why that surprises me?!?!) So I had to cut the feet out of the leggings and he couldn't wear the shoe covers. He looks crazy-cute anyways.

We started the day with a fun play date at the park with our Baby Buddies. Jacob wouldn't even stop playing to eat lunch! Crazy kid! All our friends were dressed up, too. Such a fun trip, and actually the 2nd Annual Halloween Lunch for our Baby Buddies.

We decided to take Jacob out for a little trick-or-treating, and I'd say it was SUCCESS! We met up with two of our neighbors who each have 4-year olds. They were seasoned trick-or-treaters, so poor Jacob was struggling to keep up. But he had a blast! It was so cute watching him run behind them from house to house. He would run up to the houses and knock and even tried going IN a few houses! Yikes! Haha!

 

We only out for 30 minutes or so, Jacob was whipped! But it was a blast! I can't wait until next year, he's totally going to be into it.

And with every holiday, I have to do a little year to year comparison. When will this stop completely blowing my mind?! How on earth do they grow so fast?!

 

Homemade Grout Cleaner

My dad is a tile contractor. He did all the tile in our house, including all our floors, backsplash and master shower. He's the bomb.

But he literally comments on our grout every single time he's over. We sealed it when it was first laid, but we never re-sealed it (which you should really do every year). Sooo it's kinda black now. 

I decided enough was enough. So I tried out this easy homemade grout cleaner my dad told me about and WOW! No scrubbing and not a whole lot of mess. Sounds too good to be true, huh? Think again my friend... LOOK at that before and after! Whoa!

 

Here's the instructions:

1) mix together 1/2 cup baking soda and 1/4 cup white vinegar in an open container (like a Tupperware container)

2) use a spoon and cover your grout lines with the mixture 

3) let sit for 20 minutes

4) wipe up with wet cloth

5) I personally had a lot of leftover grit on my floor, so I mixed together 1 part vinegar and 1 part water in a squirt bottle and mopped my floor with it

6) after you've cleaned all the grout and cleaned up all the residual, I suggest sealing your grout with a sealant

Girls Weekend 2013 - Fredericksburg

Okay, I think I've finally recovered from my girls weekend and can effectively write about it.

 

Gosh...WHAT a fun weekend!!!! I literally had so much fun! We all did! I went to Fredericksburg, TX with my two bestfriends from HS. They are the type of friends that can go months without talking (sometimes we do) and pick up exactly where we left off. No judging. No negativity. Just fun and laughs. Such a healthy friendship.

Enough with the sappy stuff, let's get into the recap...

 

I drove down to Austin on Friday morning, and we headed out that afternoon. It's about an hour and a half from Austin (just SW on 290). It's a gorgeous and easy drive. Everyone living in Austin should go out there. Like all the time. If we still lived there, we'd go every weekend. No joke.

 

We started out the weekend with a delicious dinner at Cabernet Grill. If y'all make it to Fredericksburg, you HAVE to eat dinner at CG. It's soo amazing! From the menu to the wine list to the desserts. Amaze.

 

 

I had the filet, Lauren (middle) had the seabass and Maggie (left) had the chicken fried ribeye. Everything looked (and was) so delicious! We had a phenomenal apple crisp with (get this) homemade salted caramel ice cream. OMG. I could've lived in that bowl.

 

After dinner we had one beer at this local dive (totally not our scene) and headed back to our B&B. Speaking of, we stayed at the Main Street Retreat Carriage House. It was perfect for the three of us! Two queen beds, full kitchen, nice bathroom, etc.  Every night we all cuddled in one of the beds and giggled and talked about stuff.  Here's a cute pic from the first night...

 

 

Saturday was the bomb. We had soooo much FUN! I just can't get over it!!! We started the morning with some crumb cake and coffee provided by the B&B. And headed out around 11am.

 

Our first stop was at Grape Creek Vineyard. We had an awesome tasting room lady who was so friendly and generous (if you get what I mean). Grape Creek is getting good. Josh and I went there in 2010 and we weren't that impressed. Totally different this year. All the reds were delish! Full bodied and smooth. And Maggie even found a few sweet wines that she loved! We all decided to join the  Wine Club because they don't sell any of their wines commercially (i.e. nowhere else but in their tasting rooms). I actually really like this business model. It makes the wines more exclusive, and allows the management to focus on their wine production instead of commercializing it. Anyways, we had a blast here (and ended up coming back the same day- more on that later). We left sufficiently buzzing. Haha!

 

 

Our second stop was Becker Vineyards. If you know anything about Texas wines, then you know Becker and you've probably snagged a few bottles from your local grocer. Becker doesn't disappoint. I love that I can buy a bottle at my local Kroger for $10-$15 and know that I will enjoy a little piece of the Texas Hill Country all the way up in Dallas. The Becker tasting room is BEAUTIFUL! They had it all decorated for Fall with pumpkins everywhere. Gorgeous!!

 

 

By the time we were done at Becker, it was like 2 and we were fungry and drunk-ish. So we went back to Grape Creek and grubbed on some street tacos from their food truck. I love that some of the wineries are doing this now. It's so perfect while spending the day drinking wine.

 

Since we joined the Grape Creek Wine Club earlier that day, we were able to sit on their "VIP Patio", have another FREE wine tasting and eat our food and listen to the live music. Perfect! This is a picture of us from the "VIP Patio."

 

 

And of course we had to get a picture in front of the vineyard...

 

 

After GC, we headed over to Pedernales Cellars. When Josh and I were in Fredericksburg in 2010, we fell in love with Pedernales Cellars. And THANKFULLY, it didn't disappoint. I say thankfully because I was hyping it up ALL DAY to the girls. Just click on this link and you'll see half the reason why we love this place. That view...sigh...

 

Anyways, back to our visit at Pedernales Cellars. We got lucky and did our tasting with the Tasting Room Manager. He was knowledgeable, friendly and a good salesman. I decided to join their Wine Club as well, because they only sell a few wines at grocery stores and liquor stores (some up in DFW) and let me tell you- PC is KICKING ASS in the Texas Red Department. Literally every single one was incredible. I bought 7 bottles of wine! All red! And all seriously good. I can't wait to crack open one and share with Josh.

After our tasting, we each got a (complimentary) glass of wine and sat on their gorgeous patio. We chatted, enjoyed the view, and most of all enjoyed each other's company. It was sooo much fun! LOOK at that VIEW! Total panorama of the Texas Hill Country. I can't say enough good things about this place.

 

 

On the way out we took a few more pictures. We were really happy by now.

 

 

 

On Saturday night we got pizza from Fredericksburg Pizza Kitchen. We sat on their patio and ate and drank (its BYOB) and were probably way too loud. Conveniently, I don't have any pictures from this stop. That's probably a good thing.

 

After dinner, we dropped by Hondo's on Main and rocked their socks off. Three 6-footers dancing like fools! Everyone loved us!

 

We only stayed there for a little bit. Got in a few line dances, a few couple dances with ourselves, and a few spilled beers. And headed home.

 

Gah...we wound up passing out pretty early and actually got to sleep in Sunday morning. Score.

 

Sunday we had breakfast tacos and coffee at Mahaley's Café and walked around Main St for a little shopping. We headed back to Austin early and made my long drive back to Dallas. I was so sad to leave the girls, but ready for be back home with my boys.

I bought the girls these cute monogrammed Vino-2-Go tumblers from EverythingDecorated on Etsy for the weekend. They were a good way to drink our wine at the B&B and mayyyybe a little on the road (no judgies).

 

 

Overall it was such a fantastic weekend. I'm running out of words to describe it, so I'll just leave you with these awesome napkins I found. I think they sum up the weekend perfectly.

Until next time, my sweet sweet friends...

I miss you already.

Virtual Halloween PJ Party!

Hi friends! Happy Hump Day!

 

Today Darci at The Good Life Blog and Meredith at The Tichenor Family are hosting a super fun virtual Halloween PJ Party! We, of course, had to participate because I'm obsessed with pajamas and I'm pretty much game for any excuse for an impromptu photo sesh of my sweet boy.

 

 

The virtual Halloween PJ Party doesn't stop at a blog link-up though!! If you don't have a blog, you can use the hashtag #HalloweenPjPartyLinkup and show-off your Little Ghosts & Goblins on Instagram and Twitter! I cannot wait to see all the babes dressed up! I will probably search that hashtag a hundred times today.

 

Anyways...without further adieu...here is the picture of my Little Pumpkin Head.

 

BOO, y'all!

He is loving all the Halloween stuff around the house and in stores. Although I think he's going to freak out when he sees all the kids dressed up on actual Halloween. Speaking of...are y'all taking your kids trick or treating? What time do y'all go?? Jacob is normally in bed by 8, so we would have to go right at dusk. Is that acceptable? And does Josh need to stay at our house to pass out candy?? I'm having a hard time with all the details (shocker...). Let me know your plans!!!

Weekend Recap

Our weekend was good. Really good. With cooler temps, we can finally get outside and enjoy all the fun things to do this season! 

We finally took Jacob to the pumpkin patch at our church. Pumpkins don't grow in this part of the world, so when I say "patch", I really just mean a place where lots and lots of pumpkins are displayed. Hahah!! 

We had a blast watching Jacob run around all the pumpkins and play with the hay. We settled for a few small pumpkins for decorations, as we had planned a carving day on Sunday with family.  

 

 

I swear he picked up every single pumpkin there.

 

 

And this is how it really looked. Love this picture!

 

On Sunday morning, I got my hair cut. Getting ready for my GIRLS WEEKEND next weekend. I cannot wait. Although I think I already miss my nugget.

Anyways, afterwards my sister and her (now) husband came over for a little family fun. We went to the park for a bit, then carved pumpkins, drank beer and ate some yummy buffalo chicken chili.

Here's a few pictures...

I made a Mickey Mouse pumpkin, because, well, I'm lame and obsessed with my son. Josh made the awesome holey pumpkin with his drill because he loves playing with power tools. My sister made the creepy Nightmare Before Christmas pumpkin and my BIL made the smiley one (freehand, no less-wow!).

It was such a fun fall day with family. I love love love this weather and plan on spending A LOT of time outside in the upcoming week.

What did y'all do this weekend?? Anything fun!?

State Fair of Texas

We took Jacob to the state fair for the first time today. I'm so excited to start that tradition with him, and eventually all our kids! So fun!

We went to the auto show first, because Josh is eyeing a new truck and, well, that's what dudes do. Jacob loved climbing in and out of all the cars too!

Then we made our way to the Fletcher's line for a corn dog. And bonus, we were right in front of Big Tex. The perfect combo!

When Big Tex would talk, Jacob would look around so confused. Haha!

Then we went through the petting zoo. I think since it's been raining for the last week, EVERY school was there today. Unfortunately that made the petting zoo a bit chaotic. Jacob was in total overload mode. But I think he liked the goats. 

Then the camel literally attacked some kid and stole his cup of food. He was probably pissed Hump Day was over, just saying. And we quickly evacuated. 

And of course we had to sample some of the fried delights. 

Fried pizza...

Fried Nutella...

Texas Twisted Taters (my personal fav)...

I somehow managed to make it to bootcamp tonight, although I felt pretty terrible. But hey, isn't that what the state fairs all about?! ;)