TGIF!!!

Happy Friday Everyone!
This is going to be a good weekend, my best friend from high school is coming to visit me and I am participating in a relay for life garage sale (i will probably spend some money there as well). I just got back from a garage sale and found a really nice bedside table that i am going to re-do. Yep, that's right, my first attempt at being crafty! I will keep you posted.


It is also Friday Follow- it's a great opportunity to "meet" new people, and new blogs. You follow them, and they follow you!

Here's how it works

Here's how YOU can join the Friday Follow celebration:

•* Click on above button to get to one of Friday Follow's sponsors, One 2 Try

•* Grab the Friday Follow button and include on your Friday Follow blog post.

•* Follow the Friday Follow hostesses: One 2 Try and Midday Escapades

•* Follow as many other blogs on the linky as you'd like

•* Take a moment to comment on the blogs telling them you're from Friday Follow

•* Follow your new followers!







The Girl Creative is hosting New Friend Friday
Welcome to New Friend Friday! Just go check out The Girl Creative's awesome blog and add on to the mclinky- search out new friends and followers!
It's a great way to get your blog noticed and to gain some new friends and followers.

Twilight Thursday- Yea!! and funny text from hubba wubba

First things first- head over to The simpler life
where Jan is graciously and awesomely hosting TWILIGHT THURSDAYS (yes i used caps because I am excited). You have to go check out her cute blog and link up if you are a twilight fan!!!





Team Edward, Team Jacob, or Team Switzerland (you just can’t pick one)?
Team Edward 110% - always have been and always will be

Besides Edward, who is your favorite Cullen?
Carlisle- he is so smart, genuine, and gentle

Have you seen the movies, and if so, did you like them/think they did the books justice, etc?
eh, I like the actors for the most part and they are okay but they just don't beat the books and my imagination- I am curious as to how the last book is going to turn out in film, it is my favorite but there is just so much I don't think they are going to get

How did you find out about Twilight and what made you decide to read the books?
My sister told me about them (she is 4 yrs younger than I) but she has good taste in books!

What was your favorite part of the series?
vampire baby

What, if anything, did you dislike about the series?
Bella's stupidity

Who was the most interesting villain?
Jane

If you could choose one character to know more about, who would it be and why?
the baby (yea i know, i am a total mom)

Tell me about your most embarrassing “Twilight” moment…cause we all have one!
I don't think I really have one other than the constant teasing my husband gives me for rereading twilight ALL the time!






Now, I really thought this was funny so I just have to tell you. I went and got my toenails done the other day and was gone for a whopping 2 hours. the hubba wubba stayed home with Olivia. While I was gone, I realized that I forgot my cell phone, when I got home I had a text message from the hubba wubba that said: "I called the government and put Olivia on the no fly list- she is a little terrorist."

I about peed my pants I was laughing so hard when I read that! I can't even imagine what he would do if he had to stay home alone with her ALL DAY!

It's a Social Parade

It's a Social Parade at Smart and Trendy Moms




It's also Welcome Wednesday at Take it from me

How a bad day turned good :)

So Olivia is still trying to get these 2 teeth through and they are just torturing her so she has been miss grumpy pants today and who can blame her, but it's definitely making things rough. Then she face planted it on the hard kitchen floor today and the poor thing cried so hard she could hardly breathe ( you know that cry that just breaks your heart) Thank God nothing was seriously wrong with her, but she has definitely been having a bad day.
Then my half gallon of milk spilled everywhere in the fridge, so I had to clean that out, all while my child, and the boy I babysit created a disaster area in the living room so Yea- I get to go clean that now.


But then, I get on here and found I received my first blogging award EVER!!!

Versatile Blogger Award!




The Rules for the award are:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic! (in no particular order...)

4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.





So I would really like to thank Iheartthesecrazykids at A Trio Of Boys. You have just made my day from bad to good!!



7 things about myself

1. I don't cook (at least not very often)
2. I am obsessed with the Dave Matthews Band
3. I love to swim and am always the first to jump in the lake
4. I really really want to be crafty and sew cute dresses and tutus and make hairbows and scrapbook, but I don't know where to start ( I guess I just need to do it)
5. I hope someday the hubba wubba and I can own a restaurant
6. I would have 7 kids if I had the money and resources
7. I am the WORST dancer ever

The 15 Fabulous Bloggers who will now receive this award are (in no specific order):

1. Crazy Daisy
2. Laundry Hurts My Feelings
3. Honey Pie Accessories ( I want to be as talented as her!)
4. The Cottage Home (also because I want to be as talented as her and I want her house, I mean cottage)
5. Theta Mom
   
6. Love Actually
7. The Girl Creative
8. The Mommyologist
9. As The Forest[e] Grows
10. Moo Moo Mama
11. This Mama Rocks
12. The Chronicles of a Housewife
13. Adventures in Diapering and Beyond
14. Making the World Cuter
15. Cupcake Dream

I hope everyone gets a chance to check out these really great blogs that I can't live without!!
Thanks again for the award A Trio of Boys


I can't resist adding a few pics I took the other day of my princess

giveaways and recipes

Tuckers Take Tennessee is giving away $15 worth of hair bows for your little girls and they are being featured on Honey Pie Accessories. Hurry, contest ends tonight.

Crazy Daisy is doing Tuesday Tastes, go post or vote for a recipe. It's really fun!

A Day In The Life Of Me

First things first, I am officially addicted to blogging- I think this is coolest way to document my life as a SAHM, and Olivia's milestones. But, I am also overwhelmed because of the amount of amazing people, amazing blogs, amazing recipes and crafts that I am coming across. How do you people keep it under control, if I don't stop soon I am going to be following like 400 freaking blogs!! Okay, that was an exaggeration but there are some amazing people out there do amazing things.

Poor Olivia just can't catch a break, she has 2 more teeth coming in, bringing the total count to 7 teeth all in less than 3 months which means mommy can't catch a break either but I am a huge fan of teething tablets. She is also trying to walk, she can walk along the couch and kitchen table bench pretty well, and I am pretty sure she could win a marathon just crawling. It makes my whole day when I turn around and find her following me around the house. She is almost sleeping through the night, Thank God! It is just absolutely amazing to watch her grow into this little person (personality and all). She talks all the time, I have absolutely no clue what spp, tff, and grb mean but she still tells me about them anyways. Her range of mobility is amazing as well as her strength, she can hold a squat position for quite some time while she plays with her little friend in his jumparoo. These are some of our professional pictures we had done around Easter time (thanks again Mom)


I started my first day(okay this is like my 3rd attempt at trying to complete all 30 days) of Jillian Micheals 30 day shred today and it kicked my butt as usual but I am hopeful that I can do it because I am desperate for results (see above picture and you will know why). Unfortunately one of my downfalls in life is that I am a major foodie and I love food. It doesn't help that the hubba wubba is trained to be a professional chef (he even knows how to make sushi and can make any recipe into his own). He is an excellent cook and does the majority of the cooking with me as his sou chef. We recently had some fresh caught catfish ( he is an excellent fisherman) and we decided to try a recipe out of one of our favorite books- A Hungry Monkey by Matthew Amster-Burton. You have got to try this recipe. He says it lands in his top 10 favorite things to cook and eat which says a lot!!
Hope everyone is having a great Monday

Join the race

While October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the month of May is full of opportunities to join the Race For The Cure with the Susan G. Komen foundation. If there is one near you, please sign up or donate a few dollars, every bit helps. The money helps fund research, and education, if you sign up for a race- you should know that 75% of the money stays in the community to help with education, screenings, and treatment for women with breast cancer.
Please look at the Susan G. Komen website and see what you can do to help.

Happy Mother's Day To Everyone!

Happy Mother's Day
I hope everyone is having a wonderful day with their families. I know that I am, this is my first Mother's Day and I am so thankful for my beautiful daughter that words don't even describe it. I enjoy every dirty diaper, snotty nose, giggle, smile, mess, and temper tantrum. It is all worth it to have a piece of me crawling around with a big old grin, it is worth every cuddle, hug, and nap in my arms. I look forward to every step, word, bike ride, and school project.( I just hope it doesn't go by too fast.)
I will post some pictures later of us, but right now I want to brag a little bit. First off my mother sent me a large framed trio of pictures of my daughter and some gorgeous silver swirly earrings with a pearl dangling down. My wonderful husband got me purple calla Lillie ( my favorite flower) and necklace that I have been eyeing for a while from magnabilities.com
The wonderful thing about them is the ability to match whatever your wearing while spending minimal money to look fashionable. The magnets are only $3.00 each where I live and the beautiful silver snake chain was only $35. The magnets come in all kinds of styles, and colors. I love mine so much and can't wait to build up a collection of magnet.



I want to give a big shout out to my mother! Mother's sacrifice a lot for their children and my mother is no exception. She never felt the need to buy herself new clothes, it was always us kids. She did not have a career because she was a stay at home mom and while it is a very personal and different choice for everyone, that is the reason I have chosen to stay home with my daughter. I feel that it benefited me tremendously growing up to have my mom there and I appreciate her for that. My mom is my best friend, and even though we live miles away from each other, I love that she makes me feel right at home just by talking to her on the phone.
Thank you mom for everything you have done for me, and my family. I love you so much, Happy Mother's Day. I am also extremely proud of her for doing awesome on her weight watchers program so keep it up mom, you are doing great!

my mother and I


Olivia and I 2 days after she was born


Olivia and I (3months old)

Tutu's, Bow's, and Crayons OH MY

I have a little girl, so of course I am all about everything girly! I am in a tutu obsession right now and trying to find the perfect one for my little princess. I am absolutely in love with nelliebugs.com. She makes the cutest tutu's ever! They have amazing color and depth to them. You can also find more about her right here.
That is her blog, there is more information there about her facebook giveaways and pictures of the crayons that she makes. Her etsy page is right here also. Please check it out, you won't regret it. There are tutu's, bows, crayons, fairy sets, crayons, and flip flops on there.

yes that is a crayon! how cool is that!

my family

Little baby shoes

I just have to share these, I find them absolutely adorable. A friend of mine went shopping and brought these home from Spencer's. We are not normally people that dress in punk, or skulls but these are too cute and I can't wait for the weather to warm up so Olivia can wear these.

My scrapbooking awaits me

I have oodles and oodles of scrapbooking stuff and just never have finished. I prefer the old fashioned way more so than digital scrapbooking because I enjoy the 3-d elements you can add along with the texture it creates. But, I have a problem. I lay everything out but I can never make myself glue it on there and make it permanent because I am so worried that I can do something more to it to make it better. I know, I know I am the worst perfectionist ever because nothing ever gets done because I am worried it's not going to perfect the way I want it to be, so I just don't do it. Well I am jumping out of my comfort zone and just doing it, first project will be Olivia's birth and newborn days. I will keep you updated as to how it turns out, this is what my mess looks like right now.

These are the websites I am going to use for inspiration and motivation

http://projectcenter.creativememories.com/traditional/project-ideas.html- this one is project ideas for traditional scrapbooking and is very neatly organized by category to help you pick a layout idea

this one is a really great scrapbooking blog with a ton of links at the bottom for even more ideas- this one is a favorite
traditional scrapbooking blog

Vegetable Garden

I can't believe I have a green thumb, well so far at least. I have planted a pot of herbs and I also started my pumpkins, green beans, and sweet peas. They are going on their 3rd week, now Winter needs to go away so I can actually plant them outside along with the rest of my vegetable seeds.
This is my progress so far

Books that are great for parents

I have come across a few really helpful, funny, interesting books on my quest to be the best parent I can be. For starters, I found the What to Expect When Your Expecting book to be very informative and fun to read. It is written by Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg, and Sandee Hathaway, B.S.N. They also have the What to Expect the First Year.

For breastfeeding, The Nursing Mother's Companion was a lifesaver, and that is written by Kathleen Huggins, R.N., M.S. She is also the author of The Expectant Parents' Companion which I have not read but I am sure it is also very good.

We all know just how much sleep most parents and their young children get and it's not a whole lot. My cousin in law recommended Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weisbluth, and it has been a godsend, it really does work! It addresses everything from the science of sleep to sleep habits for children from 0 months to adolescence. I highly suggest it.

My favorite of all is Hungry Monkey- A Food Loving Father's Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater, written by Matthew Amster-Burton. It is a funny read about his daughter's eating habits from breastfeeding to Pad Thai later when she is older. There are alot of fun, and healthy recipes in there, we are trying the Thai Catfish Cakes this week!

I also like the KidCo BabySteps book that shows you how to transition from one solid food to the next, their food mills and food processors are really great products to. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I have, they are all very helpful.

Mother's Day History - History & Origins of Mothers Day

Mother's Day History - History & Origins of Mothers Day

My new project

I have decided to take on a new project- Blogging! I think this will be a great way for my friend and family to experience what is going on in my life since we unfortunately so far away from those that we love the most. I am also using this as an opportunity to take on things that I have always meant to do but never finished, such as my scrapbooking, sewing, gardening, and cooking endeavors. I hope everyone enjoys!