It's the freakin weekend

I am proud to say that I made it through the week and that both children AND the dog made it to...

TGIF!!!

Enjoy the hubby being home

Soccer Game

Laundry

Grocery Shopping

Sister Time

Enjoy the cooler temps (hopefully)

and then, on sunday, I'm going to Warrenton!!

So excited.

Enjoy your weekend!

Update to Serenaded by Screams

Just incase you were wondering, Langston made it through the night.

It was a ROUGH night but we made it to the morning...

Serended by Screams

As I sit here typing I am being seranaded by the screams of my 3 yr old.

This mama's nerves are bad.

I love that little Langston, I SWEAR i do, but I just do not know what to do with him lately.

From the minute I pick him up from his daycare to the last seconds of him screaming himself to sleep, it is a battle. And his teachers say he is amazing and so fun to have in class, I think one of them even refered to him as a "joy"; I'm glad he's being good for someone, I just wish it could be me some days.

It doesn't help that the hubby has been out of town and I'm flying solo so there is no relief, no tag teaming him when I've had enough.

AAAnd then I have this mommy guilt set in.

The little voice in my head that says:

-enjoy the time you have with him in the evenings since you put him in daycare all day

-tons of parents NEVER have help and you can't swing it for a week alone

-He's feeding off your strees, if you calm down so will he

-Well he learned that behavior somewhere

-why can't I get him to stop

But then it spirals from there because he just. wont. stop. screaming.

Even as I am typing this I am feeling bad because I am sharing this negativity and who wants to hear my sob story, but isn't this better than me going in there?

Surely it is. Just sayin.

He is soooo strong willed, much like his mama, which I love most of the time.

He is independent and even at three knows what he wants.

But strong willed is one thing, defiant and tantrum throwing are another.

The Terrible Three's really are....well, terrible!

Piecing Together Some Love

Let me start by saying that I have THE most amazing BFF in the world and I could not function without her.

To show her how much I LOOOVE her I decided this year that I was going to make her a quilt for her birthday. I think I decided this in March and her birthday is in August, so I had plenty of time.

I decided on what I thought would be a "simple" square quilt. Four fabrics cut to squares, sewn together to make one big 12 x 12 square. Easy enough, right?

My plan was to join the large squares together with a coordinating blue fabric. I showed Lauren, my amazing neighbor and friend my plan one day and she suggested adding orange to the border... (I loved the idea but did NOT want to do it because it seemed hard)

But, I listened and it got me to here...

Lauren was totally right, it added a ton of character and I loved the addition.
This is the quilt all pieced together and ready to go the the quilter. And even though I planned ahead and had MORE than enough time to finish in a timely manner, I am a procrastinator at heart and this never would have been done on time without my Momma and my Amazing Sister Anna. They were HUGE lifesavers. THANK YOU!!!

Now I only piece the squares together and then takes the top and bottom to a lady here locally to "quilt it together". She has a machine as big as my living room that makes it look like this...

back view


And here's the front view, totally complete.

It was a total labor of love and I am so proud of myself that I actually finished it.

And Abby loved it (at least she said she did ;) HAHA ).

Dang I love that girl!

Salted Caramel? Yes please!

On Friday I treated myself to a Salted Caramel Mocha Frappuccino from Starbucks and let me just tell you it was AHHHmazing!! The perfect drink to usher in Fall...

Doesn't it look delicious?!?!

Well it was and I have been thinking about it ever since, must be something about the salty/ sweet combo but it had me hooked at the first sip.

So Sunday morning while blog surfing I came across these beauties

at Gallamore West. They are pumpkin cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream icing.

I will let that sink in for a minute. Of course I decided right then and there that I had to make them and I did, from scratch, just like the genius over at Gallamore west. And they were good and rich and so fall.

I wish that I had pics to show you but my camera totally wigged out on me this weekend, they looked pretty much like the pic above except my icing looked no where near that good (but as long as they taste amazing, and they did, who cares what they look like...)

Extra Amazing Pic

I was not kidding yesterday when I said Langston was a terror at our family picture shoot, but you would never know it by looking at this picture.

And that is because Melissa Pickens is AMAZING!!

The temps are dropping, here's to a fantastic first weekend of Fall, Ya'll!!

Family pictures were a bomb

No that was NOT a typo, I did not mean to say family pictures were "tha bomb", as in awesome and great. Nope, I meant what I typed, they were A BOMB!

For starters I did not wear the most practical shoes, great for pictures, not so great for wondering though fields of tall grass looking for the perfect spot. This was the first time we used this new photographer, and bless her heart she probably thought I was Krazy with a capital K!

Langston was definitely exhibiting his terrible three's are worse than terrible two's attitude and I was so frustrated.

She assured me that there were good shots and that it will all be fine, i'm doubtful and we'll see if my children make it through the night.

(just kidding....kindof)

Ugh...Ants!!

Yesterday after it rained (for the first time in months) I was outside and noticed a small ant pile forming on the edge of our sidewalk leading to our door. While I wasn;t excited about the ants, I was excited to see the pile because hopefully that means they are moving out of my house! So I had the hubs put some spray on them (nip it in the bud before they get too comfy I thought).

Boy was I wrong, they must have LOVED whatever he put on them as this morning it had quadrupled in size. I mean really, that is ridiclious ( and I don;t think this pic even does it justice)! And of course the boys want to get as close as possible to see the ants crawling around.

UGH! I hate ants!

puttin together a look

So after waaay too long of procrastinating family pics, I FINALLY scheduled them.

For Thursday, yes, this Thursday.

I am a little excited but mostly nervous because we all know that the minute the kids figure out it's picture time they turn into little demons.

Here is the foundation of our look and the hubs and boys will coordinate with me.

I decide on a dress after scouring the internet for inspiration and fell in love, I don't traditionally wear a TON of dresses but maybe I will start.

And, ever since my sister visited over the summer and Keddie saw that her son has a tie, Keddie has been begging for one.

I found this one last week on clearance at Children's Place and thought it was adorable. Well the minute Keddie saw it he ased if he could wear it for pictures. Of course I said yes!
Those are my jumping off points, well see what else I can come up with to pull it all together.

I love getting Mail

I do love getting mail, but GOOD mail. Not bills or junk, but things intended for ME.
That's part of the thrill of online shopping is that I get to anticipate the arrival.

I have been doing a LOT of anticipating...
I ordered this 3 weeks ago (no joke, 3 weeks!!!), and I finally got it yesterday

Yep, it Jillian Michael's 30 Day shred and for me it starts TODAY!!!

This past year & a half has been crazy and I recently realized that pieces of me were missing, so in a concentrated effort to get those pieces back, This is my first step!

I will let you know how it goes ;)

Langston turned 3!

Can't believe my baby is THREE!!!

His birthday was in August, so this post is a little late but I do the best I can.

And believe it or not, this is the best pic of Langston from the entire day. (please note the super cute shirt that his mommy made)

Big brother is never one to shy away from a pic.

We had the party at Pump it Up, this is them watching the safety video.

I always make my kids bday cakes, they think it's cool and I like to try new things.

This year Langston wanted a Scooby party and this is what I came up with. I am NOT a professional, so I think it came out okay & he LOVED it so that's all that matters to me!

Blowing out his candle..


I used dog bowls to put party treat in ...

There were cupcakes with supercute scooby- themed picks that my amazing friend Lauren made.

Bennett & Delaney

Cousin Niko does not look thrilled to be there.

Megan & Cole

Londyn & Taylor

Kim, Katherine & Me (two of my oldest friends)

After the party we had waaay too many cupcakes leftover and I did not want to bring them home with us. So we stopped by one of our local fire deptartments and dropped them off. The fireman that was there was so nice, he let the boys go look at the truck and climb around on it and do the lights and sirens.

It was a great end to a great party (and hopefully the firemen enjoyed the cupcakes)!

Chelsea Handler with the BFF

Let me start by saying that this post got lost in my drafts so it is NOT timely at all.

I think it was in July...

Me and my bff, Abby, both Luv us some Chelsea Handler. When we found out she was coming to H-town we jumped and got tickets before she sold out.

Here are some pics from our fun night.

Me, on our walk to the theater.

I guess we didn't want to forget where we were, HA!


We had a blast

Abby is such an amazing friend that she stood in line to buy me a book and then stood in a line again so we could meet Chelsea and get it signed.
AHHHH-mazing!

Where's the pic of us and Chelsea you ask...Oh they have a no pic policy while she's signing books!
What A DIVA!!
Oh well, we had fun!!

Showing Teachers Some Love

With Keddie starting Kindergarden this year and Langston moving up to a new classroom at his school, I wanted a way to know what their teachers like.
We don't do a TON of gifts throughout the year, but I think it is nice to show how much we appreciate them a couple times throughout the year.
I didn't want to just ask " so, what do you like to get" as I'm sure they would not appreciate being put on the spot and I'm sure it would have been an akward conversation.

So what's a girl to do??

Then one day, while blog surfing, I found this

over at Life Sweet Life.

How perfect is that?

Pretty amazing I think. A little teacher questionairre if you will.

Just what this mommy was looking for.

And that my friends, is why I heart blogging. Problem? Solved!

Ready for fall...

Happy September 1st!

Ususaaly I am a summer girl but oh my goodness it has been hot and dare I say it but I am ready for Fall!!

I know it will be a little while longer before we get the fall temps but I can get ready with decorating and a little wardrobe updating...

I loove decorating with pumpkins and I especially adore the white ones...

Fall means its time for the pumpkin patch and the adorable pictures with the kiddos

And boots, I mean come on who doesn't love a great pair of tall boots (so cozy)

they look so comfy...

And fall means that my current wardrobe will double because I can throw a sweater over the tanks I've been sporting all summer ( I want this cardi)

And don't forget scarves, maybe one of my favorite accesories...

I think fall might be my new favorite time of the year

Now we just need the weather to catch up with the calendar.

Happy Fall Ya'll!!